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Post image for How To Use Chrome Instant Search to Test Twitter Status Updates & Use Reserved Characters via Web Intents

Back in May, I wrote a post on “How to Pre-Populate Twitter Status Update the NEW Way via Links & Web Intents“. Essentially, Twitter updated the method for creating a link to “tweet” using their new Web Intents platform. Many developers (e.g., of WordPress plugins) and other designers are updating their code to support this new (and better) way of creating a link that tweets out some content.

In my post, I only provided a few ways on how to do this, but recently I got a question from someone who was using the new method but having issues using the ampersand (“&”) in their content. When they were putting it in (even using the HTML code of “&” or just alone as an &), the tweet was cutting off right at the “&”.

I found the solution and in the process, discovered a really cool way to test it all out using Google Chrome.

So, first how to craft a properly formed Web Intents tweet, then the Chrome trick used to test it out.

Using Reserved Characters in your Tweets

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Post image for How to Pre-Populate Twitter Status Updates the NEW Way via Links & Web Intents

About a year and a half ago, I posted a “How To” article to teach people on how to tweet out messages from your website via a URL or web link. Unfortunately, that method no longer works as of a few days ago. Twitter has updated the process for doing this. However, I now have the NEW way to do this which seems to be working just fine.

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Twitter recently moved over to its Web Intents platform and what that means is that buttons (yes all of those older “Tweet” buttons are broken) and link that use the old query string that I outlined in my previous how-to article are broken and will not let you tweet out your messages. GASP!

The new Web Intents method is actually an improvement, in my opinion, and allows for more interactivity. If you aren’t logged in, for example, you will be asked to log in.

How To Pre-Populate Twitter Statuses the NEW Way

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Post image for LocalMind Makes Social Check-ins Engaging, Interactive and Helpful

We all know about social check-in services like Gowalla, FourSquare and even FaceBook Places. These services allow you to announce that you are at a particular venue, event, company or location, quickly and easily all via your mobile device. With some, the more places you go, the more credibility and achievements you get (e.g., badges). Some people might question why anyone might want to do this. Well, now with LocalMind, a new service that was recently announced, you can actually get some value from these check-ins.

Personally, I don’t use check-in services very frequently but I know many other people who do, all of the time. Those concerned with privacy probably won’t be as active as those who travel, visit many locations or just want to share what they are doing. When I go to certain events, I check-in to just announce that I’m there and see who else that I know might be there as well. But that is pretty much it. There are obvious privacy and security concerns that you should think about when using these social check-in services (see this article on TechCrunch about PleaseRobMe.com). And this is one of the reasons why I stopped doing these check-ins.

That is, until I learned about LocalMind. What LocalMind does is actually add value to your check-ins, as well as provide value to others who might need information about the place where you are. Here’s how it works in a nutshell, but I will go into it in more detail later. You first need to download and sign up for the LocalMind service. There is an iPhone app and an Android beta app currently. Then, you connect your social check-in services like FourSquare, Gowalla, Twitter or Facebook Places. The rest is pretty simple. You are ready to ask or answer questions about places that you are at or might be headed towards.

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So, why would you want to do this type of thing? Sure, the social check-in services are fun…for a while, but if you are like me, they don’t add too much value to your life. What if you wanted to know more about the place that you were going…like how long of a wait it is at a particular restaurant or if there are iPad 2′s in stock at your local Apple store. It’s easy enough to just take a chance and go to the place and hope and pray that things will go your way. But with LocalMind, you can do some “research” ahead of time.

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I wrote a review of the Isotoner smarTouch Gloves last month…definitely a great product. Today I learned about a pretty cool charity program that Isotoner is doing via Twitter that I thought, in the spirit of holiday giving, should be shared.

I also just learned that the donation window has been extended through the holidays.

The info below explains what you need to do to donate a pair of these gloves to Matthew 25: Ministries, but essentially you simply need to tweet that talks about the Isotoner smarTouch gloves and has the hashtag “#giftoftouch“; with just that single tweet, a pair of gloves will be donated.

So read on about this and take a few minutes to tweet about it!

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“Where’s the Pause Button” – TweetDeck’s User Stream Preview is Real-time Web

August 2, 2010

I was lucky to be one of the first 5000 people to get access to test out a new version of TweetDeck called “User Stream Preview.” In this preview build is the ability to use Twitter’s new Streaming API which essentially turns the Twitter firehose on full blast. In the past, you were at the [...]

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HTD’s Tech News Snippets – July 22, 2010 (Flipboard, Google Voice, Router Hacks, Safari, AT&T & Twitter)

July 22, 2010

Some really interesting news floated by today. Flipboard is a pretty interesting iPad app. Be sure to check it out. But you may have some issues hooking up your Twitter and/or Facebook feeds. I’m still waiting…and waiting…and waiting for Google Voice to be approved. Is your home router hackable? Be sure to read the article [...]

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Keep Track of your Kids through Social Media & a Cell Phone, But BE CAREFUL!

May 28, 2010

I have always been a big proponent against the use of Social Media by children, especially when they are in elementary school. Interacting with Social Media is not something you want your kids doing at an early age, at least not until they can really understand its implications. However, as they grow older and more [...]

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From Virtual to Physical – Actually Meeting Another Cast of Dads Member!

May 20, 2010

This past Tuesday, I had the good fortune to actually meet one of the Cast of Dads members in person, Jeff Sass from Dadomatic.com. Jeff happened to be in town for the SF MusicTech Summit and since I’m based in San Francisco, we managed to meet up at an event called SFBeta. Our backgrounds are [...]

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