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Renowned microblogging service Twitter recently issued an announcement that all links shared on the Twitter.com site are to be shortened automatically through their own t.co URL shortening system.

The links will be reduced to a much more concise length of 19 characters – with an ellipsis to show once the Tweet has been sent.

Whilst each individual link will be given their own unique t.co ID, the links shown on Twitter will appear as abbreviated versions of the originating sources so as to give the users an idea of where their click will lead them to.  This in itself is an extremely clever approach, especially in cases where several URL-shortened scam links have redirected the users to the wrong location.

An example of the URL shortening:

However, several other URL shortening services will still be noted around Twitter, particularly that of Hootsuite which gives their users an insight regarding the analytics surrounding each link. Twitter users will not have to worry about using the social networking site’s shortening system as their sole source of abbreviations, as third-party applications will still be available on Twitter.com

Remember that time Rupert Murdoch bought social media site MySpace?  Well forget about it – as the Fate of the networking arena will soon be decided within the next two weeks, according to technology sources.

The Australian MySpace office has since closed down, with many of the staff sent their separate ways late 2010.  However, News Digital Media are currently locked in meetings regarding the ownership of the online advertising sales duties for the site.  Rebekah Horne, NDM’s head of international, has reportedly said that a statement will be released within the next few weeks concerning the future of MySpace.

Although a current employee, Horne herself will be heading to pastures new in the form of DMG Radio, taking on the role of chief digital officer – where she will be rejoining Lachlan Murdoch, a shareholder with a 50 per cent stake in the broadcasting company.

Head of digital media for News Corp, Jonathon Miller, told US press last week that the business was “two weeks” away from being informed of the drawn-out conclusion of the relegated site.

A school in Canada has suspended one of its students after he posted sarcastic animations on YouTube, resulting in the police authorities siccing his movements.

Twelfth-grade student Jack Christie created the media outside of school hours away from the Donald A. Wilson Secondary School in Ontario, developing cartoons as part of the Jack Christie Talks to Children series including “The Feheley 6900” (where his BlackBerry devastates a Secret Evil Military Base in which he ridicules smartphone advertising), “Corporate Whistleblowing” (travelling to the eighth dimension in order to overthrow the Mango King) as well as “Run for the White House” (poking fun at Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey by suggesting invasion to Sweden, and destroying a caterpillar).

For an 18 year old male, the animations are in line with the expectations of the average student imagination.  But whilst it may seem humorous to those not offended by dead insects, it clearly leaves a certain distaste to those upholding a professional image – such as, being a representative for educational institutes.

Spokeswoman for Durham District School Board Andrea Pidwerbecki said: “If something is considered detrimental to the positive moral tone of the school, it doesn’t necessarily have to happen inside the school [for us to get involved].”

But for Christie, he believes he has freedom of speech – as well as humour: “They’ve unfairly judged me and judged my character based on something I made for entertainment,” he said.  “I have the right to post videos on the Internet on my own time.”

Security experts have issued a warning to Doctor Who fans researching alleged online extracts from the widely anticipated mid-season finale – those attempting to do so will find themselves victims of a sneaky scam.

Should you try to search the next episode of ‘A good man goes to war’ on video-sharing site YouTube, any results given will direct you to third party websites, using the excuse that the excerpt is too long to be uploaded.

Visitors of the sites are then asked to fill in a survey in order to access the so-called (non-existent) media, and in an attempt to get it over and done with, many users may end up rushing through it and sign up for unnecessary and expensive services, as well as impart personal information.

Experts have warned for fans to sit tight and to wait for the episode to air this Saturday on BBC One.

GFI Software security researcher Chris Boyd says that the recent scam is not the first time Doctor Who fans have been tricked.

“The same thing happened when the last series finale was due to air,” said Boyd.  “There was also a bit of an issue with various Doctor Who games doing the rounds, too.  As always: avoid.”

Whilst links to virus-ridden websites are yet to be seen, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“Everything we’ve seen so far is the usual fake video/survey nonsense, but there could well be malware in the offing between now and Saturday,” added Boyd.

MacBooks are one of the world’s most popular purchases, but in the case of Joshua Kaufman, is also a popular theft.  During a burglary in Kaufman’s home, his beloved MacBook was stolen – and whilst Californian police did nothing about it, Kaufman decided to take on a more active approach.

The Oakland resident had previously installed an application known as ‘Hidden’, which is designed to track the whereabouts of the stolen property; and through taking images via the inbuilt webcam, Kaufman could see exactly what his new owner was doing.

Following the March 21 theft, Kaufman decided to collate numerous snapshots and location data courtesy of the spy software, which was then sorted and given to the police.  However, after the police failed to take any action, Kaufman took matters into his own hands and created a blog called ‘This guy has my MacBook’; and began Tweeting photos of the thief which were then noticed and retweeted by thousands of other Twitter users.

Shortly after, Oakland police had taken 27-year-old taxi driver Muthanna Aldebashi into custody – and is now currently in jail awaiting trial.

A representative from the Oakland police authorities said that the reason no immediate action was taken after being issued with Kaufman’s evidence was due to three officers having to deal with 2,400 thefts monthly.

Maybe they should replace them with MacBooks instead.

Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has served as a lifesaver for many a curious soul, and whilst it’s viewed in quite the controversial light, the website has finally received some well-deserved acknowledgment for helping students out in their darkest hour.  A professor from Canada has said that using Wikipedia, despite its widespread criticism, has enabled pupils to deliver better standards of work.

However, this is done not through students looking up information on the inconsistently informative site, but by asking students to produce their own material for the service.  Due to the fear of being potentially caught out for plagiarising published content, this has allegedly motivated students to create their own work.

Instructor at Douglas College in British Columbia, Brenna Gray, conducted an experiment by assessing “approximately 70” youngsters undertaking her first year Canadian literature programme.  Given the role to create or update biographical facts on relatively unknown Canadian writers, the students amassed a range of academic data and references as their source of information.

Gray reported a significant increase in motivation after the students were warned that their work would be published on Wikipedia.

“They were way more careful about citations and about information being correct,” she announced.  “The fact that Wikipedia is a public space where the information that they have researched is going to be read by other people…that made them take the assignment much more seriously.”

Whilst a revolutionary approach to teaching, this in effect puts a spin on hardworking teachers lecturing lazy students – and allows for hardworking students to lecture ‘lazy teaching’.

Google’s resident search expert Matt Cutts and his company’s web policy team came under fire recently after it was alleged that the search engine were currently under investigations for antitrust violations.

Conference website Launch.is featured a blog post claiming that due to Google facing a number of security breaches, all manual search involvements have been ‘frozen’. – however, whilst the post remained unsigned, a link to the post was tweeted by Jason Calacanis: “Government Investigations Have Frozen Google’s Manual Search Results”, read the tweet.

In regards to the recent post, a Google spokeswoman said: “This report is completely unfounded and false, and nothing has changed in our approach.”  The statement went on to say that “computer algorithms are the most scalable way to deliver relevant results.  However, manual controls are necessary to improve the user experience in very limited cases, such as security concerns, legal issues and spam.”

Matt Cutts has strongly denied the claims, and went on to Twitter to clear his name – previously leaving a comment on the post: “@Jason  That’s false.  I left a comment on the blog post to debunk the headline and store.”  The Public Policy team for Google’s official Twitter account also left a statement, saying: “@Jason  This report is completely unfounded and sale, and nothing has changed in our approach.”

But the post itself makes absolutely no sense, as it is not possible to carry out a web search without the use of manual controls, and it seems that Google have got the last laugh – both through admitting to manual interventions, and giving them yet more publicity.

When it comes to web hosting, you want to make sure you make it and not break it – as finding the appropriate hosting solution is essential in maintaining a decent website.  The first thing you need to do is to understand the definition and importance behind unlimited hosting.  Many companies will offer unlimited hosting services, but unfortunately, no such foolproof system exists.   However, you’re already faced with a problem – as all companies claim to be able to provide unlimited hosting.

But this isn’t to say you cannot find an appropriate web hosting provider; by following these simple tips you can ensure that you’ll find a service that meets both you and your website’s needs:

1.       Safeguard your credit card information.  It’s not so much the idea of theft that is a worry, but rather the misuse of such sensitive data.  Several web hosting agencies have been accused of continually charging accounts even when the customer has long gone cancelled their subscription.  Always check your statements to ensure you aren’t being further billed, especially when trialling new web hosting services.

2.       Check the terms and conditions for the web host site you aim to use.  The last thing you want to experience are the issues of cost and time, so always check the refund policy – and check again.  It is easy to misread jargon, and any worries you may have are best settled with the web hosting company’s customer service team.

3.       Should your websites specialise in a number of areas, experiment with other web hosting services for an idea of what type of solutions are out there.  If one of your websites suddenly goes down due to a technical hitch, at least you can have peace of mind that your other sites are fully operational.

One piece of advice that is essential is this – ensure your websites are all functioning smoothly.  Instant gratification comes at a price, so make sure you get your money’s worth with long term web hosting success.

Apparently we can’t seem to get enough of Twitter these days, and thanks to the Ryan Giggs and Imogen Thomas fiasco, everyone in the world will know of Twitter (as well as know who Imogen Thomas is – finally).  However, with so many misleading reports and not to mention, super-injunctions, it’s easy for news to get lost in legal translation – especially in the case of a BBC report wrongly accusing Twitter of revealing details of the site’s users allegedly breaking privacy injunctions.

“Our policy is notify users and we have fought to ensure user rights.  Sadly, some are more interested in headlines than accuracy,” stated Twitter’s general counsel, Alexander Macgillivray.

During a speech made at theG8 forum held yesterday, Twitter’s newly appointed European manager, Tony Wang, found himself the victim of a smear campaign following a BBC journalist coming to his own conclusions following comments stated by Mr Wang.

“Platforms should have responsibility not to defend the user, but to protect that user’s right to defend him or herself,” he said.

“If we’re legally required to turn over user information, to the extent that we can, we want to notify the user involved – let them know and let them exercise their rights under their own jurisdiction,” he added.

“That’s not to say that they will ultimately prevail, that’s not to say that law enforcement doesn’t get the information they need, but what it does do is take that process into the court of law and let it play out there”.

The BBC stated that the Twitter representative was in a way warning Twitter users that they could be subject to legal action should they be found guilty of breaking privacy injunctions following tweets posted relating to the affair.  This was strongly denied by Macgillivray, who provided proof of Wang’s comments by posting a series of tweets in his defence.

Remember how the world was meant to end on May 21?  Well don’t take your panic hats off yet – as apparently 89-year-old Bible scholar Harold Camping miscalculated the date.

According to the self-proclaimed prophet, doomsday is now taking place on October 21; but judging by the mayhem it caused on the original date both online and offline, it looks as though the another type of world will be in a frenzy – the social media world.

Social media monitoring firm Crimson Hexagon assessed various tweets referencing the rapture, and found that a large majority (67 per cent) were joking about the apocalypse, with a few (10 per cent) condemning Camping for his predictions, with many (9 per cent) even making plans for a doomsday party.

“The whole world is under Judgment Day and it will continue right up until Oct. 21, 2011 and by that time the whole world will be destroyed,” he revealed in an interview.

Change the date to April 1 and *maybe* people will start believing Mr Camping.