I was reading an article the other day about how Facebook has grown and how it dominates the picture hosting arena. The figures are staggering with around 40 million photos being uploaded a day. That’s 2000 photos per second! The server power needed for that amount of data transfer is pretty huge and Facebook is already pretty well known for their customised server solutions which are hosted at various companies.

Facebook's Data Center

Mzansi

Just got word of a local start up called Mzansi. Mzansi is a South African word for, ummm,  “South Africa”. A really good name for a local start up I guess.

Mzansi is a URL shortner pretty much like any other URL shortner. Enter your extremely long(ish) URL and get a nice short one that you can use anywhere, forever. Exactly like this http://mzan.si/XJvM. Mzansi bagged the mzan.si domain which keeps the URL nice and short which is exactly what a URL shortening service needs to be doing.

Logitech acquire LifeSize

Logitech – arguably the global leader in webcam technology – has aquired LifeSize Communications – a global leader in HD communication. It makes sense really. Take the guys who make cameras that allow you to see your friends from around the world and join them with the guys who provide a quality communication means for this and you have yourself a really good partnership.

“We believe the video communication opportunity is at an inflection point, providing us with a significant growth opportunity as we bring new technologies and added value to office and home environments,” said Gerald P. Quindlen, Logitech president and chief executive officer. “Through our combined strengths in high-definition, high-quality webcams, ease of use and interoperability, we plan to capitalize on this opportunity by delivering disruptive price/ performance offerings to the market. Logitech is a leader in PC video communications and LifeSize is a leader in HD video communications in the meeting room. Together we can make life-like, HD-quality video communication mainstream.”

The reality of chrystal clear communication with family, friends and colleagues is upon us and Logitech are making big steps in making sure they are right up front in their offering.

Sounds great. Obviously the recession didn’t hit all of us that hard!

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) are the addresses of the internet. They are what you type into the top of your web browser to go to a website. Like everyone needs a pair of shoes (ok almost everyone) the internet needs URLs. With websites and blogs being started on a daily basis and “social sharing” gaining SPAM like traction these seemingly meaningless lengths of characters have actually started to become pretty damn important.

So why do we use URL shorteners? Well, for two mean reasons. The first is to make your URL’s more manageable. When you have a URL like http://www.jimsandsallysfamilyblog.com/2010/02/17/the-day-we-all-decided-to-start-shortening-our-urls it is plain to see why having a smaller 20 odd character URL would be much easier to share. The other reason is to save characters. With services such as Twitter only having 140 characters at your disposal, it is quite easy to see why having http://www.jimsandsallysfamilyblog.com/…shortening-urls would be a big waste of valuable real estate.

So if you have missed the ummm… buzz about Google Buzz then here is a quick video to get you up to speed. Not to sure if it will be a Twitter killer but it does seem to have the features that count to make it a useful social network. Full report coming soon.

HIV911 Logo

There is no doubt that HIV is one of the most prolific diseases ever. Yet the world, mostly Africa, is struggling to come to understand that the only cure is prevention at the moment. However we cannot ignore those who are already affected by it and it is great to see start ups like HIV911 coming up and trying to make a difference.

You gotta hate those moments when you type out a very personal email and you actually send it to the wrong Sam or Bob. Especially when that Bob or Sam is the person you gossiping about and even worse when they are your boss or colleague that sits across from you. Hopefully a new feature on Google Labs will rectify this.

In the past, Google has introduced Gmail Labs additions like Mail Googles (to prevent those potential drunk-dial by e-mail moments) and “Undo Send” which let you cancel sent messages if you act fast enough. Gmail Labs has a feature for the user with lots of contacts with similar names, “Got the wrong Bob.”

Basically if you have a lot of contacts with the same name you might select the wrong Peter or Simon when sending the mail. What “Got the wrong Bob.” does is check to see the groups of people you send mail to and look for irregularities when adding people. So if you have a group of people that include Peter M in the mail group and you add Peter Z, it will then let you know that you could be sending to the wrong person.

You have to love GMail Labs.

Google Maps South Africa

As of Wednesday, Google Maps will now have detailed maps of many South African cities and towns, including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and East London. This will give you access to a ton of information about our cities such as maps, directions and business information in certain areas; and you will be able to do this through any web browser or via Google Maps for mobile  on certain mobile phones.

It was just the other day that we talked about Google Docs and the possibilities you have with using it but there has been something very important missing; something that is easily the number 1 cause of the internet’s growth and it’s ability to index so much information – sharing, which plays such an important role in any application.

Google Docs Folder Sharing

Google have not ignored the request for this and have now added the ability to share folders you have created on Google Docs. This is great for when you have a number of documents you want to share and collaborate with numerous other people.

Facebook Logo

Groups are the relic of Facebook, they have been around for years and have allowed people to join and discuss a common interest. They are probably close to one of the most used features on the social network. Yet they have not seen much of an update for quite a while now. This is changing as we speak.

The problem with the Groups has been that what ever happens in a Group stays in the Group. That is said in a non-underground society kind of way. With the groups being so isolated many people have lost interest or totally forgotten about that particular group leading to the conversation becoming stagnant. So Facebook have now decided to let Groups join the stream as well, this means seeing updates and communication on your home page like you see your friends and Pages updates.