Twittering Taco Truck

This week’s Sunday Funny is from the Truth-is-Stranger-Than-Fiction category. Kogi BBQ in LA may not be the only one, but it is different. They combine Korean and Mexican food in a taco truck that Twitters their followers the location of their next taco fix.

If that whets your appetite for more, you can check out Kogi BBQ on the web, or follow KogiBBQ on Twitter.

Tip o’ the hat to Current.TV for the video.

Google Wave Video Overview

Earlier today I shared the announcement of Google Wave — the new, as-yet-unavailable web app that might — if Google has their way — revolutionize the way we do email, instant messaging, communicate and collaborate. Now we’ve got the entire Google Wave keynote from the Google I/O developer conference. See it for yourself, then share your opinion. 

Is Google Wave the next best thing since sliced bread? Or is this yet another Google product destined to wither on the vine?

Is Google Wave the New Email?

This week at the Google I/O  developer conference, they announced what they describe as a whole new communications platform. It incoporates email, IM and integrates other communication mediums like Twitter, and it is called Google Wave.

Google Wave takes the various communication and collaboration streams that you currently use and ties them all together in “waves.” It’s similar to the threaded conversations in Gmail, but incorporates IM, Twitter posts and using the Wave API, anything you want to build. 

Wave was created by brothers Lars and Jen Rasussen and Stephanie Hannon in Google’s Syndey, Australia offices. Lars explains, “Wave is what email would look like if it were invented today.” 

MG Siegler at TechCrunch is at Google I/O and has written great review with his initial perceptions. Note that Siegler’s comments are based on a demonstration, not a hands-on review. His thoughts? Simply put, Lars may be right. 

Google Wave shows a lot of promise. You will be able to use Wave as a “product” built on HTML 5, but you can also embed “waves” on your blog or website to allow direct interaction. And you could even host waves on your own servers, making it an intriguing choice for collaboration behind the firewall. 

What’s interesting is that Wave incorporates some of the real-time features that have made their way into the limelight via Twitter, FriendFeed  and (most recently) Facebook. Updates to a wave show up in realtime without a page refresh, and search also updates realtime. 

Google plans to make Wave open source. You can read more about the Wave protocol at http://www.waveprotocol.org/

What do you think? Could Wave be the future of online collaboration?

If the 60s Had Twitter

This week’s Sunday Funny comes courtesy of the Joy of Tech, who asks “What would the sixties be like if they had Twitter?”

Celebrity Twitter Overkill

Happy Mother’s Day, folks. For this week’s Sunday Funny we bring you the long-awaited sequel to Twouble with Twitter: Celebrity Twitter Overkill! 

Gotta love the jump the shark reference. Now tweet this to your mom and give her a reason to smile on Mother’s Day! 

 

Microsoft Releases Facebook for Windows Mobile

Microsoft has released a free Facebook application that gives Windows Mobile 6 users a way to stay connected on the popular social network. 

MobilityMinded has a great walkthrough of all the features, with screens. 

The only glaring omissions from this app are the lack of Facebook chat and the ability to view comments to photos.

The Bottom Line

This app isn’t perfect, but it’s good. If you use Facebook and have a Windows Mobile 6 device, it’s worth checking out. 

You can download Facebook for Windows Mobile 6 here.

Thanks to jkOnTheRun for the heads up!

Share Your Location via GTalk

The growing popularity of mobile phones with GPS and other location technology led to the recent launch of Google Latitude — a cool tool that lets you choose to share your geographic location with your contacts. 

Now Google has announced a couple tools that let you share that information — with fairly generic location — with your contacts via Gmail and Google Talk. 

Note that Latitude is not yet supported by all phones, even if they have built-in GPS. Access Latitude on the iPhone and today you’ll get a “Coming Soon” message. Didn’t those go out of style in the 90′s, shortly after “Under Construction” pages?

Currently Google Latitude will work with Android-powered devices such as the T-Mobile G1, most color BlackBerry phones, most Windows Mobile 5.0+ and Symbian S60 (Nokia) smartphones. And soon (we are promised) the iPhone. 

But if your phone is supported, you can setup Google Latitude, then give the Google Talk location status a try.

What does Google Talk Location Status actually do? Not much, really. It auto-detects your location and then changes your Google Talk status to the city you are currently in. In other words, no need to worry that Google will rat you out when you tell the missus you have a late night at the office.  

And for those privacy freaks who are worried that Big Brother is watching, remember this: just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they are not out to get you.

And for those of you who can’t share enough, you can also check out the new Google Public Location Badge that you can embed on your blog or web page. Pretty much the same idea as Google Talk Location Status, but with a pretty map to go with it.

Twitter, Swine Flu and Panic

Twitter is great for watching uniformed panic unfold.

With thanks to xkcd for their twisted Twitter humor, and a nod to Andrew Long at socialmediatoday for bringing it to our attention.

Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone 1.1

It’s been less than one month since the initial launch of Yahoo! Messenger for the iPhone, and the Yahoo! Messenger blog reports that an updated version is already available in the iTunes App Store. Yahoo! Messenger 1.1 promises an improved reliability and sign-in experience — a big problem for many early adopters.

The Yahoo! Messenger app remains free, works with both the iPhone and iPod Touch, and now supports the landscape keyboard — a nice touch if you log a lot of hours on IM.

Yahoo also added a “Report a Problem” feature that gives you a direct channel back to Yahoo for problems or even suggestions.

Yahoo product manager Sarah Bacon also thanks everyone for sharing their feedback on the beta version 1.0. 

Here’s some additional feedback: Change the “available” indicator in the contacts list from yellow to green (like every other online indicator on the PLANET!). Please. 

More screenshots below, courtesy of Yahoo: