Now you can chat on Twitter with the characters longer than 140 characters

On Wednesday, August 12, 2015, Twitter’s Product Manager Sachin Agarwal announced in Twitter’s blog that the most used micro blogging app Twitter has decided to remove the 140-character limitation from Direct Messages.

If you’ve checked your Direct Messages today, you may have noticed that something’s missing : the limitation of 140 characters. You can now chat on (and on) in a single Direct Message, and likely still have some characters left over” wrote Sachin Agarwal in Twitter’s blog.

For Twitter’s user, this should be a great news because now they can chat on Twitter freely without worrying about the limitation of words they can type. But, please be noted that such change is currently only available for messaging through Direct Messages and not for tweets, which will continue to be 140 characters only.

Today’s change is another big step towards making the private side of Twitter even more powerful and fun. You may be wondering that this means for the public side of Twitter. In a word, nothing. Tweets will continue to be the 140 characters they are today” said the product manager of Twitter further in the blog

After done removing the limitation of 140 characters from Direct Messages in Twitter itself, Twitter promised the further improvement by rolling out the change across Android and iOS apps, and even on third party apps such as TweetDeck.

We’ll begin rolling out this change today across our Android and iOS apps, on twitter.com, TweetDeck, and Twitter for Mac. It will continue to roll out worldwide over the next few weeks. If you can’t wait to try out longer Direct Messages, be sure you’re using the latest versions of our apps so you get the update right away.

So, when Twitter is going to break the 140-character limitation for tweeting in public side ? Let’s just wait for this big moment (HRD).

Twitter.com

Thunderbird 38, now with more Great Features

Thunderbird-1I’ve used Mozilla Thunderbird for years as one of my favorite email client. Compared to Microsoft Office Outlook, the main reason why I choose Mozilla Thunderbird is because it has a portable version which available to be downloaded from PortableApps.com. So I can bring it everywhere I go. It’s really a handy email app for me.

If you’re a Thunderbird user and has updated to the latest version, you may find out that within the latest Thunderbird 38 version, it has been packaged with the calendaring extension of LIGHTNING (a thunderbird extension to organize your schedule and events in a calendar which is fully integrated with Thunderbird email. Using this add-on you can manage multiple calendars, create daily to do list, invite friends to events, and subscribe to public calendars).

As explained in Mozilla Support website, the integration of Lightning into Thunderbird will give a big advantage for previous Lightning users, because a compatible version of Lightning is always available with Thunderbird. It is also a great opportunity for Thunderbird users that have not been using Lightning as it becomes easier to process emails that contain invitations.

The integration of Lightning into Thunderbird of course does not mean that you must use Lightning. After updated to the latest 38 version, you will soon find out the existence of a notification bar at the bottom of the Thunderbird window. You may further free to choose to disable Lightning or keep it for good.

Here is the list of new features within Thunderbird 38 :

  • GMail supports OAuth2 authentication, removing the need to manually select “allow less secure applications” in Google options for the account
  • Ship Lightning calendar addon with Thunderbird and enable with an opt-out dialog
  • Filter sent messages
  • Filter messages when archived
  • Enable search in multiple/all address books
  • Add support for Yahoo Messenger in Chat
  • Support internationalized domain name URLs for RSS feeds
  • Show expanded columns in folder pane
  • Allow file-per-message (maildir) local message storage
  • Add a learn more link to support page in feeds subscribe dialog
  • Add reading position marker line to conversations
  • The editor for twitter should show inputtable character count

So, if you have not prefer Thunderbird as your email client, you should give it a try and see by yourself how it helps you organizing your email and how it can faster your work done. Get the latest 38.1.0 version from Mozilla.org or the latest portable version from PortableApps.com (HRD).

TOMATO is A Fruit or A Vegetable ?

TomatoOnce my kid asked me, “Daddy, tomato is actually a fruit or a vegetable ? When I was at school I raised this question to my science teacher but she told me to go ask my Mommy at home. Then, I went asked mommy she told me to go ask Daddy, instead. So now Daddy, I’m asking you tomato is a fruit or a vegetable?”

Have you ever wondered this ? Is tomato a FRUIT or a VEGETABLE ?

Oxford Dictionaries says that the confusion about ‘fruit’ and ‘vegetable’ arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant. As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits, such as tomatoes or bean pods, may be called ‘vegetables’ because they are used in savory rather than sweet cooking. So, the answer to the question is that a tomato is technically A FRUIT, but it’s used as A VEGETABLE in cooking.

A fascinating thing about the question if tomato is a fruit or a vegetable is that the Supreme Court of the United States actually had to decide what the tomato is.

In 1893, in Nix v.Hedden case, the U.S.Supreme Court states that, under U.S. customs regulations, the tomato should be classified as a vegetable rather than a fruit. The Court’s unanimous opinion held that the Tariff Act of 1883 used the ordinary meaning of the words “fruit” and “vegetable”, instead of the technical botanical meaning. The Tariff Act of March 3, 1883 required a tax to be paid on imported vegetables, but not fruit. The case was filed as an action by John Nix, John W. Nix, George W.Nix and Frank W.Nix against Edward L. Hedden, Collector of the Port of New York, to recover back duties paid under protest. Botanically, a tomato is a fruit because it is a seed-bearing structure growing from the flowering part of a plant.

Quoted from JUSTIA US Supreme Court website :

Botanically speaking, tomatoes are the fruit of a vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans, and peas. But in the common language of the people, whether sellers or consumers of provisions, all these are vegetables which are grown in kitchen gardens, and which, whether eaten cooked or raw, are, like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, and lettuce, usually served at dinner in, with, or after the soup, fish, or meats which constitute the principal part of the repast, and not, like fruits generally, as dessert.

So, what do you think about it ? Is TOMATO a Fruit or a Vegetable ?

FORBES’ 100 Richest Tech Billionaires in the Universe

FORBES just released the list of 100 Richest Tech Billionaires from Around the Globe.

As quoted from the website (www.Forbes.com), the list was done by the following methodology :

For the list, Forbes chose to exclude telecom and media in our definition of technology. We included people active in hardware, software, social media, online gambling, and high-tech manufacturing. We used stock prices at the close of business on Friday, July 31 to value publicly-traded fortunes.

At the top of the list, Bill Gates, currently the world’s richest man and co-founded Microsoft, the world’s largest PC software company, has been ranked number one among tech tycoons, with a net worth of $79.6 billion, originally from Microsoft. In February 2014 Bill Gates stepped down as Chairman of Microsoft and taking on a new post as technology advisor. Under his leadership, Microsoft became a giant in software industry and helped make PCs commonplace.

Following, ranked number two is Larry Ellison, Oracle Chairman and Chief Technology Officer with net worth of $50 billion. In 2014, he was crowned by Forbes as the third-wealthiest man in America and as the fifth-wealthiest person in the world. He stepped down as CEO of Oracle in September 2014, but remains the company’s chairman and chief technology officer.

Crowned at the third position of the list is Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, an online merchant of books and later of a wide variety of products. Forbes pegs Bezos’ net worth at $47.8 billion with more than 90% of which lies in his 18% stake in Amazon. Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994 after making a cross-country drive from New York to Seattle, writing up the Amazon business plan on the way. He initially set up the company in his garage. On August 5, 2013, Bezos announced his purchase of The Washington Post for $250 million in cash.

Following is the top ten chart of 2015 Richest in Tech crowned by Forbes :

  1. Bill Gates – Net Worth $79.6 billion, Origin of Wealth : Microsoft
  2. Larry Ellison – Net Worth $50 billion, Origin of Wealth : Oracle
  3. Jeff Bezos – Net Worth $47.8 billion, Origin of Wealth : Amazon.com
  4. Mark Zuckerberg – Net Worth $41.2 billion, Origin of Wealth : Facebook
  5. Larry Page – Net Worth $33.4 billion, Origin of Wealth : Google
  6. Sergey Brin – Net Worth $32.8 billion, Origin of Wealth : Google
  7. Jack Ma – Net Worth $23.2 billion. Origin of Wealth : Alibaba
  8. Steve Ballmer – Net Worth $22.7 billion, Origin of Wealth : Microsoft
  9. Laurene Powell Jobs – Net Worth $21.4 billion, Origin of Wealth : Apple, Disney
  10. Michael Dell – Net Worth $19.4 billion, Origin of Wealth : Dell

CLICK HERE to explore the complete list of Forbes’ 2015 Richest People in Tech.