Free Antivirus from Microsoft Arriving Next Week

Microsoft will release their free Security Essentials (codenamed Morro) anti-malware software on June 23 next week as a public beta. Security Essentials will run on Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Microsoft’s current product, Windows Live OneCare, will be discontinued.

Example of a "clean" PC

Security Essentials contains many features, including real-time protection, rootkit protection, and more. Security Essentials is light on system resources. I’d even dare to say that it’s leaner and meaner than Norton Antivirus 2009.

Example of a computer at risk

You’ll be able to download Microsoft Security Essentials on Tuesday, June 23 by hitting this big download button. No registrations or renewals will be needed; instead, it updates automatically. Right now, though, it doesn’t work.

Twitter: The Must-Know Conventions, Tricks, and More

So you probably recently joined Twitter after your friends pressured told you about how great it is. But now that you’ve joined Twitter and sent your first few tweets, now what?

Basics

Twitter isn’t all about just tweeting or following.

• Find out what people are saying about you! On Twitter’s homepage, select the @yourusername tab. This tab collects all mentions of your username.
• Direct message. Is your friend following you? Are you following them? Great! Direct message allows you to send messages to them. It’s faster, quicker, and more awesome than email.
• Favorites. Mouse over any tweet and click on the star to mark it as your favorite. Access all your favorites by clicking on the favorites tab on Twitter’s homepage.
• Search! Find out what’s going on in the world. Twitter displays 10 trending topics and also lets you enter queries to search the Twitterverse in real-time.

Get a client

Tweetie for Mac

Power users of Twitter never use the web interface. Desktop applications allow you to manage multiple accounts or have added features. Personally, I use the app Tweetie, which is exclusive to the Mac platform, but of course there is a plethora of other choices. Adobe AIR applications like Twhirl or Seesmic Desktop. You can find more apps at Twitter downloads, or even more at the Tweetie fan wiki.

And don’t forget to get a good client for your phone. For iPhone and iPod touch, TweetDeck is a great choice.

The Conventions

Want to sound unintelligible to the newbies who just joined Twitter? Easy! Use some Twitter conventions. We have them all listed right here.

• The @ Symbol: Used to refer to another user on Twitter. For example, you might say: “@SupahAsian and I just argued over something.” When put at the very front of a tweet, it is known as a reply. UPDATE: You should click the arrow next to the tweet to reply to another person. This lets Twitter know which tweet you are replying to, letting you see the full conversation thread if you want to. (Thanks, Kevin!)
• RT: RT stands for retweet. It is used to restate, word-for-word, what another Twitter user said. For example: “RT @Grant_Lin: Wow- I just found out that I like to type things in this box and erase and just type some other random thing in after…repeatedly.”
• OH: OH stands for overheard. Use it when you overhear something that you want to tweet. For example: “OH: I told her let’s watch Dora, but this time, I’ll be the explorer.”
• #: The number sign is known as a hashtag. Use it to refer to a topic. For example: “Apple just announced new MacBook Pros! Cool! #wwdc”
• via: Similar to RT, but used when you edit what another user said. For example: “I think they’re equally illegal. (via @Grant_Lin)

Just a tip: Gracious Twitter users don’t use up all 140 characters when tweeting. This is to leave room for others to RT.

Short URLs

Because the maximum number of characters per tweet is only 140, sharing links can be a pain. Luckily, services like bit.ly or tr.im turn super long URLs into tidy short ones. Both services allow you to quickly post stuff to Twitter once you’ve shortened a link, track statistics, and more. Most desktop clients shorten URLs for you.

Share Pics

How do you share pictures on Twitter? Easy: Twitpic. Twitpic is a service that allows you to quickly take or upload a photo and share it on Twitter. Most desktop clients already integrate support for Twitpic. You could also use it on your phone.

Feed your blog

A great way to advertise your blog is to feed it into your Twitter stream. Use Twitterfeed to make sure that all your blog posts also get put automatically in your Twitter stream.

That’s that for our quick Twitter Must-Know Guide. Feel free to tell us about your own favorite Twitter tricks by emailing us at theworld@daylenyang.com. And be sure to follow @daylenyang (that’s me!) on Twitter!

Preview Fonts with Flipping Typical

Ever wanted to compare your installed fonts through your browser? Flipping Typical is just what you need to do that.

Upgrade to Snow Leopard for $10

You probably know that the price of Snow Leopard when it comes out will be $29 for all Leopard users. But did you know that you could get it cheaper? Today, Apple detailed their Mac OS X Up to Date program, which means that if you’ve purchased a qualifying computer or Xserve on or after June 8, 2009 that does not include Mac OS X Snow Leopard, you can upgrade to it for only $9.95. Here are the details.

Customers who purchase a qualifying new Mac computer or an Apple Certified Refurbished computer from the Apple Online Store on or after June 8, 2009 that does not include Mac OS X Snow Leopard can upgrade to Snow Leopard for US$9.95 plus tax. Remember your completed order form must be postmarked or faxed within 90 days of the date of your purchase of a qualifying computer (described in this offer) or by December 26, 2009, whichever is earlier.

If you purchased your computer directly from the Apple Online Store, follow one of these links to participate in the program. Subject to terms and conditions.

• US Customers
• Canadian Customers (English)
• Canadian Customers (French)

If you purchased your computer from an Apple Retail Store or an Apple authorized reseller, follow one of these links to participate in the program. Subject to terms and conditions.

• US Customers
• Canadian Customers (English)
• Canadian Customers (French)

If you purchased multiple qualifying systems on a single invoice, you can either (1) purchase a Single-User Upgrade Kit for each qualifying product, at a cost of US$9.95*; or (2) purchase fewer Single-User Upgrade Kits and request the Right to Copy for the remaining qualifying products.

Customers who purchase a qualifying Xserve [ MA882LL/A, MB449LL/A. Z0E7, Z0FR, Z0GM ] or an Apple Certified Refurbished Xserve from the Apple Online Store on or after June 8, 2009 that does not include Mac OS X Server v10.6 Snow Leopard Unlimited Client software can upgrade to Mac OS X Server v10.6 Snow Leopard Unlimited Client for US$9.95 plus tax. Remember your completed order form must be postmarked or faxed within 90 days of the date of your purchase of a qualifying Xserve (described in this offer) or by December 26, 2009, whichever is earlier.

If you purchased your Xserve directly from the Apple Online Store, follow one of these links to participate in the program. Subject toterms and conditions.

• US Customers
• Canadian Customers (English)
• Canadian Customers (French)

This is just another good thing for consumers. Coupled with the free iPod touch deal, you could really save a lot of money by using this to your advantage.

WWDC 2009 in 3 minutes

Don’t have time to watch the WWDC 2009 Keynote? Then WWDC 2009 in 3 minutes is just for you! This video summary covers the iPhone 3G S, new MacBook Pros, Snow Leopard, and iPhone 3.0 software.