Fruux, the free alternative to MobileMe, has been deemed too similar to Apple’s own MobileMe solution. The developers behind Fruux submitted their desktop App to Apple months ago to be featured in Apples’ Software Download Page. Yesterday they received this short but clear message:

Hi,

fruux’s feature-set is too similar to Apple’s MobileMe (http://www.me.com).

Regards,

Apple Downloads

Duh. That IS the whole point!
Fruux is similar to MobileMe except for one notable difference: it is free!

Fruux was planning on offering an iPhone version of its software too but is seriously reconsidering that now. If they can’t even get a link from Apple’s Downloads page they can be pretty sure they won’t be accepted in the iPhone store either. Why spend money, time and sleepless nights on a product you know won’t ever be officially accepted?

Apple thinks competition is good. Except when you are competing with Apple’s own products.

Earlier this week I wrote about a recent poll done by Intel. They found out that that 46 percent of women and 30 percent of men would rather go without sex for two weeks instead of giving up access to the Internet.

Some people seem to have their priorities mixed up. I’m leaving it up to you which part of the poll I’m thinking about.

For start-ups focus is important. If you are running a start-up you certainly don’t have time for any social activities. Focus is everything! Check out this example of extreme focus:

Do you remember what you said when you first used Twitter? Do you remember when it was – or who you were with?

The text of My first ever tweet.

Actually, neither did I – until I came across My First Tweet – which, unsuprisingly, will find your first ever entry on Twitter. It’s not guaranteed to work if you’ve twittered more than 3,000 times, but it’s worth trying out anyway.

If you can find it, go ahead and add your first tweet in the comments. Who was the earliest adopter among Next Web Readers? I started twittering on March 2nd, 2007… and you?

Gmail has introduced a neat and fast pdf viewer.

Two developments here:

• Google wants every single other web/ tech company dead. Last months they’ve challenged MyBlogLog, all browsers, every collaborative search engine, satellites , you name it. Now it’s up to Acrobat. You don’t need that program anymore. Creating pdfs and reading them can all be done within Google Docs and Gmail.
• Man! This online office is getting better and better

Applies just as well to Facebook, Linkedin and every other social network out there. Found at the HubSpot blog.

I wonder when we will see more interactive interfaces for handling information like this. We all complain about information overload but stick with the old fashioned interfaces we are used to. Wouldn’t it be cool if our RSS feeds would swim by, like fishes, and appear bigger, smaller or brighter if they are more important?

What if Google would present search results like this? Would it work?

What about CNNs newsticker? Can i get one of those on my own monitor displaying feeds from Google Reader and Subjects from my email inbox? I could just work and casually look at the viewer at the bottom of my screen now and then.

Stare at Aqua for a few minutes and more possible interfaces will start appearing before your eyes…

Via AltSearchEngines.

Google Friend Connect has integrated with Twitter! 

What does this mean?

Well, when you join a Friend Connected site, select your Twitter profile, discover people you follow on Twitter who are also members of that particular site. Of course, you can also tweet away about the new cool site you’ve joined…but you’re doing that already right?

Another interesting move in the battle between Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect. Just join forces already!

via Google Blog

Every country/ state/ city has its group of Twitter geeks who frequently meet-up to discuss life and have a beer or two. I sometimes attend these meetings in Amsterdam and love to check tweets the morning after. I’m always surprised by the detailed coverage of what’s nothing more than a good night of binge drinking.

However, in some countries mobile Internet hasn’t experienced its big breakthrough yet. Brazil is one of them. So what happens in the case of an offline tweetup?

Twittering on napkins…

There! I’ve said it! Posting offline updates on napkins really happen. Here’s the proof:

Are you as surprised as I am about the almost perfect Finder avatar imitation? The other friends of Lúcia Malla seem to have some problems with drawing though. What about a calligraphy book for Christmas?

For everybody whose interested in the Northern European tech scene, Arctic Startup is a great source. Of course, we cover the basics, but Antti Vilpponen and his team don’t leave any details uncovered. Oh and yeah, most of the times we grab the highlights from their blog. Yep, guilty.

No more cupcakes?

Like this one: Ville Vesterinen reports that the loyal Finnish Jaiku community slowly turns its back to the Google-owned microblogging service. He noticed a Jaiku discussion (in Finnish) where the symbolic rats jumped off the sinking ship.

Who can blame them? I hear from several sides that, just like Pownce, Jaiku had some issues which nobody resolves. Before you know it, my co-editor Zee is dancing on your grave because you didn’t listen to your users.

Vesterinen points out several painful issues: feeds aren’t coming through and the SMS service has been disabled for three days now (sounds familiar). But the major reason: you’re missing out on a whole lot of interesting conversations when ignoring Twitter.

I have to admit, twitorfit is puerile, silly, and quite useless. But I love it – it reminds me of when @bomega (edit: I’m @boris now!) announced he was an ‘influential twitter’ and I responded he might just be an influential twit. The idea has taken shape rapidly from a few ideas twittered recently – see the twitorfit blog.

The premise is very simple – you rate Twitter users, based on seeing their avatar photo, as ‘twit’ (low score) or ‘fit’ (high score). You can also ask people to rate you automatically when you vote, and see your own score. Vanity. Always popular.

I just updated my @clarocada avatar with a Christmas theme, and so far, am cursed by mediocrity at about 4.8! But my @certainhost avatar was proudly on the ‘twits list‘ last I checked. You can also find new people to follow on Twitter, naturally.

(A note for the Twit or Fit authors: It would be great to see an individual’s twitter biography, as well as their last tweet — this is what I often look at when deciding whether to follow or not).

UPDATE: My loyal readers and followers have taken my score down to 3.75 (and plummeting) and I have just noticed there’s a widget you can add. Please click to humiliate me further:-