Twitter users in Pakistan can now tweet and receive tweets!

I came across this website, Mob2weet, which lets users in Pakistan use Twitter via SMS over their cellphone - all for the price of a typical SMS cost. The website provides the service for free, but outgoing SMS rates apply.

It's pretty simple - they haven't used 0Auth yet (which is Twitter's authorization system, but they expect to by tomorrow i.e. 19th August 2009) but you can safely sign in with your credentials.

Here's how it works briefly: you send an sms with your registration details to a specific number (they have network specific numbers, but you're free to choose which number you pick) and once your registration is confirmed, you'll get all tweets from your Home screen.

Don't want to receive updates from a specific user? Send "off " to the number, and those alerts will be turned off. Sending "off" will disable all alerts.

You can even DM your fellow friends, and receive them too.

I know this service will help reduce the SMS email costs that I have to pay Telenor - since it's a perfectly good alternative to receiving news on your cellphone for free.

So far, all networks are supported, but the code for Telenor subscribers isn't up yet (you can use another telco's number instead - since it won't make a difference).

The website isn't much - it only gives you instructions. I guess they're trying to get the SMS service up and running first, then possibly make a front-end later on. But it definitely looks promising (and I went WOOHOO! on Twitter today). They're also on Twitter too!

Translation Party

There's a new site in town - Translation Party. It's one of those sites that help you see whether your English phrase meets a totally wrong translation after repeated translation. They use Google's translation bot to convert text into Japanese, then back into English, and back into Japanese and so on, until they find an equilibrium (both translations yield the same message).

It's fun to fool around with. I know typing in "xbox" gives around 40-something results, and then gives you "However, copy, Xbox, copy of a copy of all" as the ultimatum.

Now where did it get that from?!

TechCrunch noted that by typing "May the Force be with you" gives "October 5 power, to please".

Not productive, I know, but fun to play with.

One rival to Google: "Bing-hoo"

Ever since the announcement of Microsoft's and Yahoo's partnership, it's around the blogosphere that there's now only one major rival to Google: and that's Bing.

In the deal (the details can be found everywhere on the internet - use Google ;), Yahoo will replace it's search with Bing (and other changes will take place). This means no more Yahoo! (sob).

Is it for the better or worse? Google thinks it's not good (and they have every reason to be threatened, considering how quickly Bing's gaining momentum in it's market share) and MS/Yahoo think it's good (since this is a market controlled by one major player, and the smaller ones don't really stand a chance without consolidation).

What can I say! Good luck to both companies!

MP3 Repository(ies)

Okay - not exactly an MP3 repository, but it's one of those streaming sites on the net that not only have good quality songs (as in, audio quality) but also have a fairly decent library. Grooveshark is one website that I'll stick to even though Imeem seems to be getting more users now and then. Reason being

1) Grooveshark's got a more simplistic, easy to navigate interface
2) The sound quality on Grooveshark is generally good (as you have the option to report certain songs that have bad quality, thereby ensuring consistency and quality)
3) Unlike Imeem, where you're bound by a 30 second restriction on some files, Grooveshark doesn't have that limitation.

There are stream rippers available on the internet (which will be in another review) and you could use them for both websites, but if you've heard a few songs on Grooveshark and Imeem, you'll know which is the clear winner.


As far as the interface is concerned, I took a screencap of the two sites as of this blog post. See which is more streamlined

Imeem

Grooveshark