Stuffs

In an attempt to challenge Twitter and Facebook, Google launched its very own social networking service last Tuesday, known as Google Buzz. As announced on its blog site, Google Buzz is built into users' GMail accounts and allow users to post status update (similar to that of Twitter), share photo and videos.

Leveraging on the Google Map, it also allows the service to publish the geographical location of the users. Unfortunately, to many users, analysts have spelled out that Google might have come along a little too late.

(Read more about Google Buzz...)

According to sources from the McAfee report, the .com domain is found to be Number 2 as the Riskiest Domains in the world. It follows that the next most popular .net domain is placed in Number 7.

The rise of such risk results in Internet users worldwide to lose trust in these websites, particularly countries domains, such as China, Philippines and Singapore.

These domains are found to be highly used in phishing and spamming activities. Potentially, they are likely to serve viruses to the world.

Google Wave is Google's latest innovation. A couple of weeks back, I requested an invite to try out Google Wave. Just at the start of this month, December 1^st to be precise, Google sent me a congratulation note that I have been provided an account to Google Wave. I am thrilled!

Along with this account, I am also given 8 additional free invites, which I am allowed to send to any email account (preferably Google account).

As such, I would be offering my readers first hand opportunities to be trying out Google Wave account. Here is what I need you to do:

Write a comment below in response to "Why do you think Google Wave will benefit you"?

5 top commentators, based on the responses will be given invites. Remember to include your email address, together wiith the comment. Closing date is December 31^st, 2009.

New Updates!!! (12 Dec 2009)

As of today, I have sent out 2 invites to my readers; in other words, there are only 3 invites remaining up for grab. Act fast now!

Skype has just released a piece of news on its blog site. Skype has recently closed a deal with a group of new investors, with the deal valued at US$2.75b.

Give this distribution, eBay still retains a bout 30% of its stake on Skype, with the investor group led by Silver Lake controlling the remaining 70% of the share.

Background Information

Group of investors includes Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Joltid Limited and founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.

Will this move gives end-users a better support for Skype? We'll have to see in times to come.

Twitter has, once again, released a new "beta" feature - known as Retweet. I happen to receive this invitation, as I was part of the beta group.

How this works? It's simple. Users will get to see tweets as "retweets", or rather forwarded tweets, in a new interface (see sample screenshot above). Users who still does not have this feature will see retweets prefaced by "RT".

New Updates (Nov 22, 2009)

For clarity, I have provided another screenshot of how it looks like in actual tweets below.

Good news for all Hotmail (Windows Live Hotmail) users, Microsoft has integrated the Windows Live Messenger into Hotmail, such that you can log on to Messenger even when you are doing your email. No more downloading of client software - all integrated into Hotmail.

Users can chat directly from Hotmail Inbox, share contacts between two people and even see online friends and get ready to chat with them. Furthermore, there are future plans to improve Hotmail by allowing users to check other email accounts from one place, with storage space that grows as you need it. Interested? Find out more here.

This morning, I was treated with a surprise. MSN Home page has a new look. From the traditional blue background, we now see a completely different theme, using a white background instead.

(read more about MSN new look...)

How time flies, here we are again to welcome SITEX 2009, after successful years in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Economy crisis might have affected worldwide since last year, but evidently, IT and Consumer product sales have not declined. Therefore, if you are looking for Christmas gifts, this is a good starting point.

This year, SITEX 2009 Fair will feature 36 new exhibitors, including 3 overseas vendors (BuyRule from Korea, Manda Photo Services from Hong Kong and TravelSIM from Estonia) - covering a wide range of digital and IT products, including but not limited to media players, gaming software, home entertainment system, mobile phones, smart phones and others.

Similar to past years, there is a lucky draw and a "Ladies Go Tech" lucky dip, offering customers with a chance to win attractive prizes.

(Details on SITEX 2009, click here...)