As you may remember, Twitter opened up their archive service to English-speaking users back in December of 2012, after promising the service for a few months. With the Twitter archive, users get to look at every single tweet they ever made – including retweets. It’s a nice trip down memory lane, but beware: it’s pretty painful to see how much of a Twitter-noob you were when you first began.

If you want to obtain your Twitter archive, simply go to your settings (desktop). Scroll all the way to the bottom and you’ll see a link the says request your archive.” Once you click it, Twitter will let you know that it may take a few minutes to prepare. When it’s ready, Twitter will email you a link.

Twitter archive adds Danish, Filipino, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu

— Twitter (@twitter) March 21, 2013

Twitter has been busy adding language support for Twitter archive. Earlier this month, they added support for another 12 languages: Dutch, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, & Spanish. That brings the total up to 25 languages supported by Twitter’s archive feature.

Microsoft unveiled its support timeline for Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.8 recently, and both operating systems will have their mainstream support ending sooner rather than later. In fact, both will stop receiving support next year with Windows Phone 8′s support running out July 8, 2014; and Windows Phone 7.8′s support running out on September 9, 2014.

This short support lifespan pretty much confirms that Microsoft plans to take Windows Phone into an annual release cycle. A job posting from earlier this month suggested as much, and there’s the persistent rumor of Windows Blue. The latter could prove interesting if it cuts support for desktop Windows earlier than usual. Windows 8 should be in no danger of that for the time being, though, as its mainstream support ends in 2018.

Some consumers may be a bit sore over Microsoft ending support for Windows Phone 8 so quickly, but the company is just following the lead of its competitors. It’s rare to see any manufacturer support a mobile operating system more than two years after its launch.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft updates Windows Phone 8 devices to the latest Windows Phone operating system, or if it will require consumers with older phones to upgrade to hardware. We can only hope for the former, but don’t be surprised if Microsoft pushes for the latter.

[h/t: Engadget]

Your Twitter Archive is now avail. in: Dutch, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, & Spanish.

— Twitter (@twitter) March 11, 2013

After making promises for a few month, Twitter finally began to allow English-speaking users to download browsable tweet archives back in December. These “Twitter Archives” contain all types of outgoing communications including tweets and retweets – from the very beginning. “Tweet Zero,” if you will.

“We know lots of you would like to explore your Twitter past,” said Twitter last year.

In order to obtain your Twitter Archive, just go to your setting, scroll to the bottom, and click the “request your archive” button. Twitter will warn you that it may take a little while to prepare, but when it’s done they will email you a link.

“While you can go to Stack Overflow or Google Groups, we realize some of you may need 24×7 coverage, phone support or direct access to a Technical Account Manager team,” says Brett McCully from Google’s Cloud Platform team.

There are four tiers:

• Bronze: All customers get access to online documentation, community forums, and billing support. (Free)
• Silver: In addition to Bronze, you can email our support team for questions related to product functionality, best practices, and service errors. ($150/month)
• Gold: In addition to Silver, you’ll receive 24×7 phone support and consultation on application development, best practices or architecture for your specific use case. (Starts at $400/month)
• Platinum: The most comprehensive and personalized support. In addition to Gold, you’ll get direct access to a Technical Account Manager team. (Contact Sales for more information)

Here’s another way to look at it:

More info here.

Netflix adds that in the coming months, it will be adding more help topics to the new knowledge base.

Netflix was recently in the news, along with a slew of other companies, after pulling advertising from the embattled Rush Limbaugh Show. Netflix made a statement on the matter, after some subscribers complained about an alleged affiliation with Limbaugh:

“Netflix has not and does not purchase advertising on the Rush Limbaugh show. We do buy network radio advertising and have confirmed that two Netflix spots were picked up in error around the Rush Limbaugh show. We have instructed our advertising agency to make sure that this error will not happen again.”

As of now, Netflix and Rush Limbaugh are no longer affiliated.

It sounds silly, but Fagin, actually brings up some fairly interesting points. He even went so far as to issue a press release. It begins:

There aren’t too many words that exist in Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary that conjure up more offensive and sleazy images than that of a “spammer.” It’s pretty much the equivalent of an online pickpocket or con artist.

Nonetheless, the first time David Fagin saw he was being blocked from sending friend requests on Facebook, as well as being labeled a spammer, he didn’t think much of it. Then, when it happened again, and he was informed that he was in danger of having his account deleted, he tried to resolve it by reaching out to Facebook’s support department – only to discover they don’t have one.

He also put out an opinion piece for AOL News, where he included the above screenshot of messages he received from the social network. “When Facebook labels you a spammer, the first thing you must do before you’re allowed to use the site again is go through a humiliating ‘checklist’ of boxes, in which you’re forced to admit you’ve been a bad boy and promise not to do it again,” he writes. “I, like many others, have no life, and sometimes spend hours a day on Facebook. So tell me, what is the point of a feature that hits you with dozens of friend suggestions every hour, then clamps down on you and treats you like a registered sex offender when you take them up on it? Isn’t what they’re doing, for all intents and purposes, entrapment?”

I’m no lawyer but getting rejected from the site and unjustly being labeled a spammer would almost seem a bit libelous. Nobody wants to do business with a spammer.

“Some might say ‘What’s the big deal? It’s just a stupid social networking site,” he says. But, when you’re talking about arguably the biggest online presence the world has ever seen, one that’s currently worth more than Microsoft, and there’s no way to reach a live human being, that might be something for the FTC and/or congress to at least think about.”

The worth more than Microsoft thing has been questioned, but that’s not to say he doesn’t have a valid point. Facebook is becoming more and more a directory of where to find a person or a business online. It’s huge and growing. “Half the world now uses Facebook as a primary means of communication,” Fagin writes. “With the other half surely to follow by next Tuesday. So, If you don’t think being threatened with banishment from Facebook is a big deal, try to imagine what it would be like to live in the ’70s and be accused of making phony phone calls and banned from using AT&T.”

He says (despite the link to let the company know in the message at the top) he was unable to reach a human about the issue. Some of these big Internet companies are notorious for the difficulty involved with getting them to hear complaints, even when said complaints are completely valid. Certainly plenty of people have had similar issues with Google, but Facebook’s whole existence is based on communication and friendships. It couldn’t hurt to be a little more open on the support side of things.

It’s not like they can’t afford a team to handle support in an adequate fashion. WebProNews and parent company iEntry aren’t anywhere near the size of a Facebook or a Google, but we do have millions of subscribers, and our modestly sized team (compared to these giants) is able to respond to any emails they get with support-related issues.

“It’s not just the support issue, either,” Fagin said. “Facebook is actively contradicting their own policies. On one hand, they tell you not to ‘friend’ anyone you don’t already know. On the other, the site constantly bombards you with names of people that Facebook themselves suggests you should ‘friend’, as you already have multiple friends in common. This also runs in direct contradiction with the spammer label. If everyone on the site is only supposed to be friends with people they know, then everyone is a spammer. As, no one knows two thousand six hundred and eighty-eight people, personally. Not even Donald Trump. Not to mention, Facebook wants you to connect with as many people as possible. That’s how they get their advertisers salivating; by everyone ‘sharing’ and ‘liking’ their favorite things. Only being connected to thirty-six people doesn’t really do much for the folks at Coke or Starbucks. But a thousand connections, who can all spider off to another thousand, now that’s viral marketing at its finest.”

Clearly, Fagin’s whole suit is simply to make a point – hence the $1.00 amount. The story’s probably already picked up enough coverage in the press for that point to have been heard. Whether or not it will have an impact remains to be seen. Facebook certainly has plenty of more pressing legal matters to attend to:

Technology companies like Google, Microsoft, Dell, and HP, and groups like FreePress, Media Access Project, Public Knowledge, and the New America Foundation want the US government to allow the development of devices that tune in unused spectrum for mobile broadband and other wireless functions.

The WIA says the use of white spaces will reveolutionize communications in America. "We are living through a critical juncture in communications history — a moment when technological innovation has the opportunity to dramatically improve our access to information and quality of life,” said Michael Calabrese, Vice President of the New America Foundation and Director of its Wireless Future Program, in a statement.

“Much as telephones, radios, and TVs revolutionized telecommunications in previous generations, white space devices will transform every aspect of civil society. White space devices provide an innovative platform for a new generation of technologies, services, and applications — they are the building blocks of a 21st century communications infrastructure."

Shortly after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rejected a white spaces device in August (FCC engineers neglected to test the backup device, much to Microsoft’s chagrin) saying that it neglected to detect the presence of other signals, Google and the other tech companies formed the White Spaces Coalition in order to press their cause together.

Google’s membership in the WIA also follows the company’s formation of the Open Handset Alliance, a network of 30 tech and mobile companies looking to develop interoperability between mobile devices on wireless networks.

In addition to promoting the benefits of white space use, the WIA will work with government officials to bring white space use to reality. Google’s Washington Telecom and Media Council Richard Whitt says the company is throwing its support behind two bills introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives to open up white spaces for broadband development. Whitt says Google is also working with FCC engineers.

The major foes against all this openness traditionally have been the telecommunications industry giants like AT&T and Verizon (though they’ve been, at least superficially, suddenly on board), because opening up new avenues for broadband delivery opens up competition as well.        

But in the case of white space, the major opponent has been the National Association of Broadcasters, who fear use of the buffer zones will interfere with broadcast television signals.

Churches, too, have expressed concern that use of white space devices would interfere with wireless microphones, which operate in the white space frequencies also.

The WIA argues that such concerns are "myths," and offer five pages of myth-busters at their website. 

Both the major search engines have been executing some algorithm changes causing the usual ranking turmoil for webmasters and site owners over the last week.

While Google has made no formal announcement, the subtle mention of some tweaks associated to the new site links enhancement "twice the sitelinks" might have been the clue.

Site owners have been sharing mixed stories in the forums, with one reporting his listing dropped from being ranked 19th to outside 1000 – overnight. Others are suggesting their listings have been up and down in a matter of days. Here’s a couple of the other comments at webmasterworld:

"…My biggest site has been jumping from SERP#1 to SERP#-16-20 and back several times…"

"…my ranking is fluctating and in whole there is loss in visitors…"

Yahoo! on the other hand announced the changes with the release of its X-Robots-Tag support. According to their post:

"…we’ll be rolling out additional changes to our crawling, indexing and ranking algorithms over the next few days. We expect the update will be completed early next week, but you may see some changes in ranking as well as some shuffling of the pages in the index during this process."

At this critical time of year for most online businesses, these index and ranking updates will be an unwelcome surprise. Have you seen your rankings change over the last week? – if so, share your experiences.

Comments

The Yahoo Messenger blog noted this preview release sports an entirely new interface. This draws from the Windows Presentation Foundation, Microsoft’s graphics subsystem in use with Vista.

The user interface and core functionality represent the areas of focus Yahoo centered on in building the client. Tab organization, enhanced emoticons, and the ability to skin individual IM windows list among the features.

As with other versions of Yahoo Messenger, this client can IM Windows Live Messenger clients. People can drag and drop contacts from Yahoo Messenger to the Windows Sidebar gadget and track them from there.

Plenty of work remains for Yahoo to do with the Vista version of Messenger. 64-bit support is on the list of future developments, along with almost every multimedia and messaging feature that isn’t a direct IM to another IM client.

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