[Tip] Google Talk And Google Buzz Text Formatting Tips

gtalk

Google Talk is quickly overtaking the Yahoo and MSN when it comes to instant messaging (IM). Lots of people are using Google Talk either through their native desktop version or the Gmail version of the talk client. With many features like video chat made available to the users, Google Talk is one IM client that has gained lot of popularity among the users. But not so many option to format text unlike Yahoo Messenger and other IMs is a let down for Gtalk users. But Google talk do have some lesser known  formatting styles that are in my honest opinion sound a bit difficult to implement as these have to be used manually by typing rather than to be able to select by a mouse click like in other popular IMs. Here we are listing down all the possible styling tips that you can use while you do a chat with your friends in Google talk.

Google talk text formatting

Tip 1: Use Bold Text

To make your text bold during your chat, enclose the text inside “*” (asterisks)

*Your text here*= Your text here

Tip 2 : Use Italic Text

To italicize the any text just enclose it in “_” (underscores)

_Your text here_ = Your text here

Tip 3: Use Bold + Italic Text:

Use

_*Your text here*_ = Your text here

Tip 4:  Use Strikethrough Text

To strikethrough a text in your chat, enclose the text inside “-“ (dashes)

-Your text here- = Your text here

Bonus Tip: The good thing here is that you can use all the above tips in your Google Buzz too.

Google hasn’t yet made the underline font feature available to the Gtalk users. However, you can suggest the Google Talk team to activate this feature.

If you are an excessive Google Talk user, you will definitely find all the above tips handy.

Google Buzz Official Share Buttons Released

Google Buzz Logo

We had earlier posted about Google buzz counter buttons for websites.

Google has today announced the official Google Buzz share buttons for websites.The unofficial buttons that we have been using till now are created based on Google reader.As Google raises the point correctly, not every Buzz user uses Google Reader nor not every website owner is so tech savvy to implements hacks for using Buzz buttons.

Many sharing platforms including ShareThis , Meebo, Shareholic, AddThis and AddtoAny have added buzz in their sharing services list.

Get’em :

If you are a webmaster and want to get Buzz button widgets for your websites, visit this page and configure the buttons for use and copy-past the JavaScript in your site where you want them to  appear.

buzz buttons

Follow Techrena:

buzzStuffFollow

New In Buzz: Inbox Notifications Control & Easy-To-Find “Mute” Link

Google buzz Official logo

Ever since Google has launched Buzz sometime ago in last month, many voices have been raised over the privacy concerns for which at one stage Google had no other option but to reply.

Now after just surpassing the first month of the Google Buzz, Google has once again modified a feature to give users more control about Buzz posts coming in your Gmail inbox.

1.Until now, Google used to send all your buzz posts (in which you participate) directly to your inbox for better and faster accessibility.But now you have been offered the options in your buzz settings to choose which buzz posts should reach your inbox.

Visit your Buzz settings tab in your Gmail settings page,

Find “Send buzz posts to my inbox when:”

  • People comment on my posts
  • People comment on posts after I comment on them
  • People comment to posts after I am @replied on them

Select the proper option according as you wish (see the below screen shot)

Buzz-settings-Gmail

2. You’ll be notified why a particular buzz post has been sent to your inbox and also “Mute” link that you can easily find in the message.

On the top of your each post in inbox, you will see a message explaining why a particular posts ahs been there in your inbox, it’s more like a Facebook / Orkut feature, telling Mr. X has commented on your post , or you have been @replied, etc.

You can also find the “Mute from inbox” link just to left side of the explanation message that stops subsequent comments taking the conversation back again to  your inbox.

buzz-inbox-settings-example

Google says that it’s the first of the series as part of the noise reduction @ Buzz

If have liked this, you may also read our previous posts about Google Buzz counter for your website and Google Buzz desktop Apps.

Buzrr Offers Google Buzz Counter

Buzrr logo

Buzrr re-buzz

With Google Buzz setting itself as another social content sharing tool, there are more and more easier sharing options are being introduced by developers.

We have previously talked about Google Buzz desktop applications for easier buzzing.Now a website called buzrr.com has come forward to offer the Google Buzz count button service similar to that of tweetmeme.com’s ‘retweet’ service.

Buzrr Google Buzz count button

Implementation:

If you are using Blogger.com blogs, visit buzrr.com to get the code to be inserted in your blog’s HTML source

If you have a WordPress blog, you can download the newly released plugin from here:

Download:

Buzrr_wordpress_plugin

Well, the share count buttons list is growing endlessly (Retweet, F share chount, now Buzrr) 🙁

Twitter Is Hitting 50 Million Tweets Per Day !!

The world’s most popular microblogging site Twitter has revealed site metrics in a blog post earlier today.

As per the data chart provided, you can see that the number of tweets per day have been are on the rise exponentially and just crossing 50 million mark in Jan-Feb 2010.

Twitter tweets per day chart

The number of tweets per day have gone up from 5,000 tweets per day in 2007 to 300,000 in 2008, to 2.5 million per day in 2009, and now they have grown enormously to 50 million tweets per day (600 tweets per second on average).

These values are exclusive of the tweets from twitter accounts marked as spam.Twitter however has to go a long way to if it wants to beat the giant sites in its genre like YouTube that serves a billion videos every day and Facebook where users spend 8 billion minutes per day.

Search Engine Land blog has an interesting post comparing Facebook, twitter and the new bee Google Buzz:

Facebook status updates: 700 per second
Twitter tweets: 600 per second
Buzz posts: 55 per second

Google Buzz Desktop Apps

We have been constantly writing about Google Buzz ever since it was announced last week.

We had mentioned how to test it before starting to use it in Gmail, we had written about the Google Chrome extension for Buzz that displays your buzz notifications without needing to open Gmail in new browser windows or tab.

And most recently we have come up with the tip to How to Completely disable Google Buzz from Gmail,

Tip #1.And today we are covering one more tip about Google Buzz, not actually a tip but we are talking about a desktop application for Google Buzz called “Google Buzz Desktop” (GBD).

GBD is based on Adobe AIR platform, installs and works smoothly.

Buzz Desktop Application Adobe airFeatures:

* Updates every 2 minutes
* Emulates iPhone version of Buzz on desktop (Like mentioned here)
* Works on any platform/browser.

DOWNLOAD

Tip #2 You can also create your own desktop application as a Site-Specific Browser (SSB) app for Google Buzz.There’s a guide at mashable (using Prism) on how to do it.But actually it’ creates SSB web app for Gmail not Buzz alone.This tutorial isn’t just for Buzz alone, you can create SSB apps for any website that uses cookies for login info and you want to simultaneously use multiple accounts at the same time.

google-buzz-fluid

Google Responds Again Over Google Buzz Privacy Concerns

Google Buzz official Logo

Well, Google has responded for the second time in the week of the launch of Buzz over the continuous increase in concerns regarding the privacy of the users using Google Buzz .

Google has taken some steps to address these main concerns (if not all), over the Buzz, adding some settings to it.

It’s very rare that see hear the word “sorry” from Google, like this one:

We quickly realized that we didn’t get everything quite right. We’re very sorry for the concern we’ve caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback.

There have been mainly 3 updates in Google Buzz settings from Google based on the user feedback.

#1 No auto-following only auto-suggesting: Google has disabled auto-following in Buzz, you will see auto-suggestions suggesting people to follow instead.

Google Buzz follow suggestions techrena.net

#2 Buzz will not connect your public Picasa Web Albums and Google reader shared items automatically.

#3 Disable Buzz completely:  Google has added a link under settings in Gmail tthat allows you to hide, or completely disable Buzz from Gmail

Hide Or Completely Disable Google Buzz In Your Gmail

Well, it seems Google is hearing all those privacy concerns raised all over the web by the users that made Google to respond quickly and yesterday they have updated Google Buzz with an option to completely  disable or turnoff it from your Gmail account.

Just follow these steps to know how to do this:

  1. Go to the bottom of your Gmail page, i.e navigate to the region that is located below your email messages appears.
  2. You’ll find options like “Last account activity”, “Gmail view” etc.
  3. Under “Gmail view”, locate “turn off buzz” link and clicking on that one will relaod your Gmail but without Buzz

Turnoff Google Buzz

There’s another way you can do it (I doubt that this setting is not available to all users right now)

  • Go to seetings

Gmail settings link

  • Locate “Buzz” tab under settings, under this tab you will find an option “Disable Google Buzz Completely” also you have option to “Hide Google Buzz in Gmail”

Disable Google Buzz Or in some accounts, this show/hide option may be located here:

Hide Google Buzz

Extension Focus: Google Buzz Updates in Google Chrome

Google Buzz was launched a couple of days ago, and many Gmail users all over the world are still in the process of exploring the various features of it.

And the app developers are busy developing Buzz-based applications just like we are flooded with lots of Twitter apps ever since its launch.

If you have become a fan of Google Buzz and want to have easy access to it, well here’s some good news for you.If you are using Google Chrome, you can make use of the extension called “Chrome Buzz” from the Google chrome extension gallery.

When you install this, you can see all your buzz notifications right from an icon that’ll be placed next to the address bar in Google Chrome.Well, you can just read the buzz updates, but there’s no way you can comment on the updates, make a note.

Google buzz updates in chrome

No Google Buzz Yet? Check How It Works Even Before It Comes To You

Google Buzz has just been announced and it’s only available to few unlucky [:)] fellows initially.But if you are curious to know more about it or to use it before you could really get it into your Gmail, well there is a way for you, folks.

Trick here is although Google buzz is not available for all users at present, Google buzz layer by default has been activated to all the users.That means when you log in using your iPhone to Google Buzz page, you can actually see the Buzz layer where you can post updates and read updates from your followers and find more people to follow.So we are now going to spoof our User Agent to be as ‘iPhone’ so that we can see the Google Buzz mobile features in our big desktop screen.

STEPS:

Step 1: Go get a copy of Apple Safari browser and install it on your PC.

Step 2: Open Safari, open Settings by clicking on the ‘gear’ icon on the right most corner of the window and click preferences.

Preferences in Apple Safari

Step 3: Preferences window will be opened up.Go the ‘Advacned’ tab in the window and check “Show Develop menu in menu bar” option.Click ok and close the Preferences window.

Show Develop Menu in menu bar Apple SafariStep 4:  Navigate to “Develop” menu bar in your Safari broswer and under ‘User Agent’, select Mobile Safari 3.1.2 (iPhone or iPod touch)

User Agent selection in Apple SafariStep 5: Go to the address bar and type buzz.google.com and you’ll see your Google buzz page similar to the one shown below.

google buzz mobile preview

Please note that “Nearby” in Google Buzz doesn’t work here as it works in an GPS enabled phone.

Via