Twitter’s busy letting the world in on the sheer volume of apps that have been developed for the service and how they are going to help foster more growth in the near future. TechCrunch is convering the event and tells us

Twitter’s Director of Platform Ryan Sarver just took the stage at LeWeb a couple of minutes ago, and shared some announcements with the audience about the future of the platform and the effect this will have on the ecosystem.

He also shared a milestone for the company: Sarver said 50,000 registered applications to date have been built using Twitter APIs.

The roadmap ahead:

Transparency: “we need to be more public about our policy and intentions”
Communication: “we need to be out there and let our developers know what’s going on”
Utility: “we need to keep providing our robust APIs and enable third-party developers to thrive”
Profitability: “when our partners succeed, we succeed” (more details coming early 2010)

Of course, since this is Twitter most people will laser in on the P word (profitability). Some of the significant ‘details’ around these areas is that everyone will have full access to the data stream in 2010 (what that actually means is TBD). Look for a new website for developers with dashboards and the like for the development community.

Also, as a sign that the development of apps is truly a big deal there will be a Twitter developer conference in 2010 called Chirp in San Francisco next year

The conference, which will be geared towards developers, is likely to be similar in some ways to Facebook’s F8 conference that is held each year in San Francisco. Not too many details were given but there is a landing page up already for the event (which is scheduled to take place sometime in 2010).

So Twitter continues to flourish and develop to try to handle the continued growth despite some concern about visitor fall off recently. I suspect that some of the developers are the very reason for this ‘concern’ as many people access Twitter through third party apps to begin with and those growing numbers are not tracked by these number crunching entities.

Looks like 2010 is going to be another big year for Twitter.

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Hampton explained on the European Public Policy Blog, "Until now, our small policy team in Brussels worked from temporary abodes.  From now on, you can find us at Chausse d’Etterbeek 180 1040 Bruxelles, right in the heart of the European quarter."

A satellite view of the address makes it look like a very nice, green spot – exactly the sort of place you might expect Google to set up camp.  Unfortunately, Street View’s not available in the area to allow for a closer inspection.

Details about price, square footage, and other relevant stuff are also lacking (although Hampton promised that bright, Google-y furniture is on hand, along with a number of game consoles).

Anyway, it would appear that this move signals a real intent on Google’s part to become and stay involved in European politics.  Hampton wrote, "We hope to make our new Brussels Googleplex a periscope for policymakers peering into the future of the Internet."

Related Articles:

> Google Maps Takes Another Crack At Real Estate

> Plan For Impressive "Yahooplex" In Motion

> Twitter Lines Up New Office Space

John Letzing wrote earlier today about a campus plan that involves 13 structures and 3 million square feet.  "Yahoo’s proposed campus is made up of sleek, six-story buildings set amid landscaped grounds and expansive plazas.  It bears a resemblance to Google’s Mountain View headquarters, dubbed the ‘Googleplex,’ which is situated less than 10 miles to the northwest," he reported.

Then here’s another important detail: Santa Clara City Planner Carol Anne Painter told Letzing that the Santa Clara City Council could approve the development early next year.

Just don’t go submitting your application to Yahoo (if you feel this is a sign of success and an expansion) – or betting on its bankruptcy (if you feel otherwise) – quite yet.

The company told Tom Krazit, "Yahoo purchased 42.5 acres of land in Santa Clara in July 2006.  We submitted initial plans to the City of Santa Clara to redevelop the property in August 2008 and plans are currently with the City to procure entitlements for developing the land.  We are taking the proper steps to secure approval for the development of the land.  We continue to evaluate our real estate portfolio on a worldwide basis to ensure it best supports our business."

Related Articles:

> Twitter Lines Up New Office Space

> Microsoft, Yahoo Miss Deadline Agreement

> Yahoo Provides Homepage Overhaul Stats

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Google Reader gets a new feature which recommends new RSS feeds to you–based on your current feeds and web history–and also receives "drag & drop" functionality–allowing you to re-order your feeds and easily move them to new folders.

Both new features were the handy work of ex-interns at Google!

What these two features have in common is that (ex-)interns played a significant role in delivering both of them. Nitin Shantharam (UC Irvine) helped create the user interface for recommendations, while Olga Stroilova (MIT) had a hand in the algorithms that generate them. Meanwhile, drag-and-drop was the brainchild of Brad Hawkes (UMass Amherst), who was our intern the summer of 2006, and returned to join the Reader team full-time earlier this year. As RIE (Reader Intern Emeritus), Brad paved the way for the great student help that we’ve had this year. Also to be mentioned is Jason Hall (Kent State), who was behind many interface improvements that have been live for a few months already. All told, our interns (and ex-interns) have done great work this year!

Here’s how Google Reader’s recommendations work…

When you visit our discovery page, you’ll see quite a few feeds that we think you may find interesting. "Interesting" here is determined by what other feeds you subscribe to, as well as your Web History data, all taken into account in an automated, anonymized fashion. (To learn more about how our recommendations work, see our help article about them).

And here’s how the drag and drop feature looks…

It looks like the features will appeal to different audiences. Those users that don’t have a lot of feeds, or are just setting up their account, will likely find the recommendations of some use. Personally, I’m more interested in the drag and drop function. I use many folders to arrange my RSS feeds, but the ones I really enjoy reading are often buried in the middle of the list. It’s nice to be able to re-order the list to my preference.

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Obama maintains that technology is key to solving many of the problems facing the United States in the 21st Century. An important element in this philosophy is the appointment of a national Chief Technology Officer, who will oversee the implementation of the proposed "transparent" government. 

The promise to uphold Network Neutrality principles was reiterated, as was a commitment to ensuring "the full and free exchange of information among Americans through an open Internet and diverse media outlets.

Among others, Obama’s plan includes the following:

Protecting the openness of the Internet

–    Making sure users are free to access content, to use applications, and to attach personal devices to the network. They also have a right to receive accurate and honest information about service plans
–    Preventing monopolistic and duopolistic broadband providers from discriminating against websites that are unwilling to pay for equal treatment 

Encouraging diversity in media ownership

–    Under this umbrella Obama includes the creation of "Public Media 2.0," which will be the vehicle by which "the Sesame Street of the Digital Age" and other educational programs will be created
–    Though it was unclear exactly what was meant by this, Obama "will require that parents have the option of receiving parental controls software that not only blocks objectionable Internet content but also prevents children from revealing personal information through their home computer."

Safeguarding the right to privacy

–    Making sure data bases used for fighting terrorism are not used for other purposes
–    Updating surveillance laws so that intelligence gathering is done under rule of law
–    Upping the FTC’s enforcement budget to better fight against cyber-criminals, phishers and spammers

Opening up government to the citizens

–    Creation of the Chief Technical Officer to ensure the government and its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services to do their jobs
–    Making government data available online in universally accessible formats to allow citizens to make use of that data to comment, derive value, and take action in their own communities.
–    The ability for citizens to watch a live feed of Executive Branch appointees as they conduct significant business
–    Creation of a web site, a search engine, and other web tools that enable citizens easily to track online federal grants, contracts, earmarks, and lobbyist contacts with government officials.
–    Allowing the public to review and comment on the White House website for five days before signing any non-emergency legislation.
–    Requiring Cabinet officials to have periodic national online town hall meetings to answer questions and discuss issues before their agencies.
–    Reform and use of the Universal Service Fund (funded by phone taxes) to ensure broader broadband deployment and better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum

The job description goes like this:

"Director Real Estate and Workplace Services (HQ/NorCal) – Mountain View

This position is based in Mountain View, CA.

The Director of Real Estate and Workplace Services/HQ Properties, NorCal is responsible for the delivery of all aspects of real estate development, transaction management, project management and workplace services (office management) for all Google offices located in the Northern California.

This position will liaise with company leadership to establish an overall strategic facilities plan and execute the plan within the framework of the global real estate plan, budget and service delivery methodology. This position reports directly to the Vice President of Real Estate and Workplace Services."

The above job description clearly indicates the future plans of Google to build a new location. But till now there is news from Google’s side.

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Palo Alto Becomes Facebookplex?

First, to define Facebook’s unofficial campus.  “In addition to their main offices at 156 University Avenue and 164 Hamilton Ave, they recently opened up a third office across the street at 151 University, and will expand into another building on Hamilton sometime this fall,” reports Valleywag’s Megan McCarthy.

With Facebook’s (presumably) deep pockets, that’s driving up costs; McCarthy notes, “office rents on the Peninsula have jumped 13 percent last quarter and 39 percent over last year.”  And because “[e]very Facebook employee living within a mile of the offices receives a $600 monthly stipend,” it’s not just office buildings that may be growing more expensive.  After all, couldn’t you handle swapping your commute for a large sum of cash?

Still, it seems that Facebook’s presence is causing a lot of traffic issues.  “Parking has always been scarce in downtown Palo Alto and Facebook has not made that situation any easier,” writes McCarthy.  “There is a six-to-eight week waiting list for parking passes issued by the city government, and, until a new employee receives that pass, he or she either parks in surrounding residential areas or moves the car every two hours. . . .  Jim Merryman, Facebook’s director of real estate, recently joked that parking tickets from Facebook employees were a boon to [the] local economy.”

Hmmm.  I don’t think Facebook’s got anything quite like the Googleplex, but just as Google is synonymous with Mountain View, it appears that Facebook and Palo Alto are merging.

This led The New York Observer’s John Koblin to ask, “Is Google about to create a city-based campus in Chelsea, much like the one it created in Mountain View, Calif.?”  Koblin then pointed to a lot of evidence that suggests things are heading in that direction.

“The California-based Internet giant has expanded its city headquarters at 76 Ninth Avenue by 49,000 square feet, increasing its total presence in the building to 360,000 square feet,” he wrote.  “At the same time, across the street, there’s a major lease agreement for more than 100,000 square feet at Chelsea Market at 75 Ninth Avenue with a deal close to being finalized . . .”

There’s also the DoubleClick acquisition to consider – if it goes through, Google will presumably inherit the agency’s New York offices (and they’re located on Eighth Avenue).

So what’ll it be: Goo York?  New Google?  Both seem appropriate, and judging from Koblin’s evidence, the existence of the place is inevitable – all that’s left to do is pick a name.

Melanie Carroll of the Palo Alto Daily News reports, “Google, which already occupies 900,000 square feet on top of city-owned land, will use a portion of nearby office space to house research and development facilities, according to Mountain View’s newly-passed 2007-08 budget.”  So that’s a 34 percent increase – one has to wonder what Google plans to do with all that room.

Company reps weren’t able to talk about that, however (as a matter of policy), when Carroll contacted them, and WebProNews doesn’t expect to have better luck.

Still, “Mountain View resident and self-described gadfly Don Letcher” was more than willing to chat with the Daily News writer.  “Google is hiring 15 people a day and causing huge parking problems,” Letcher said – perhaps overestimating that number on the local scale, but actually underestimating it globally.  “It just ruins the city.  I’ve been here so long.  It changes the complexion of the city.”

I dunno.  As someone who’s visited the Googleplex, I can say that it didn’t seem too awful (on the contrary, it was quite nice).  And plenty of places, from Iowa to North Carolina, have virtually (and perhaps literally) rolled out the red carpet for Google installations.

In any event, the Googleplex is going to get much bigger in the coming months and years.  This may, in turn, lead to a number of other interesting developments.