Auto-Tweet your Google Reader Shared Items without using any third-party services

Google Reader is one of the most popular Atom and RSS feed aggregator service from Google. It allows you to share the articles you like with your friends (followers). You may want to link your Twitter account with Google Reader so that whenever you share something, the same will be shared on your Twitter stream as well. I wrote a script back in Jan 2009 to semi-automate the same. But, the script has stopped working as Twitter supports only OAuth authentication now. There are lots of third-party apps / plugins available to do the same. But, you will have to connect to those services with your Google / Twitter credentials. Here is a simple way to auto-tweet your Google Reader Shared Items without using any third party service.

Steps to Auto-Tweet your Google Reader Shared Items

1. Feed Discovery. Whenever you share items on Google Reader, you will have a Public atom feed associated with your account. To know your feed URL, go to “Your stuff” > “Shared Items”. “Your Shared Items” page will open up. Click on the “show details” link at the right top corner. Details will show the Feed URL associated with your shared items. Note: Make sure your items are public. Click on the “sharing settings” to change the settings of your shared items.

2. Burning your Feed. The next step is to burn your feed. You can use Google’s FeedBurner. Go to http://feedburner.google.com. Copy / Paste the Feed URL (from step#1) in the ‘Burn a feed right this instant’ text box. Click on ‘Next’. In the next screen, FeedBurner will ask you to provide the feed title and an address for the feed. After providing the details, click on ‘Next’. FeedBurner will burn the feed for you. It will show a screen to setup FeedBurner stats. You can do it later. Click on ‘Skip directly to feed management’.

3. Linking with your Twitter Account.  The last step is to link your Twitter to the feed which is just burnt. Go to the ‘Publicize’ tab and select ‘Socialize’ option from the sidebar. Click on ‘Add a Twitter account’ button. This will open the Twitter page asking you to sign in to Twitter if you have not signed in already. Then, it will ask you to authorize access to your Twitter account for Google. Allow access to Google. After adding the Twitter account, you can configure few settings like formatting options, item count, items filtering, etc. After choosing the desired setting, click on ‘Activate’ to activate the service. That’s all. FeedBurner will periodically check for new feeds from Google Reader shared items and post them on Twitter stream automatically. Note: Your twitter account is linked directly with the Google account without having to use any third-party service.

This is what I would recommend – Read it on Reader, Share it on Twitter. Enjoying reading and happy sharing.

-- Varun

[How to] Filter out updates on Facebook News feed

Facebook is a social networking site as opposed to Twitter which to me is a broadcasting medium. But, Facebook has been widely used for broadcasting messages as well. Similar to the Twitter timeline, your Facebook news feed often gets flooded with updates carrying similar message. Facebook handles these cases to a greater extent than Twitter. Facebook tries to group messages based on the sender, application and other parameters (like events). If a person is spamming your news feed, you can hide the updates from that person. You can also hide the updates from a particular application. The only missing feature here is the ability to hide updates on a particular topic. That is where my script will be useful. It is an extension to the script written for Twitter.

Features

• Filter out topics. Filter out updates containing a set of words from your news feed (works on profile pages also). You can enter multiple words separated by a comma. This will prevent your news feed getting flooded with the similar updates.
• Filtered count Indicator. The filtered updates are not gone for ever. You can clear the filters to view them. The number of updates filtered out will be shown intuitively on the ‘Filters’ menu itself.
• Remember your settings. The script has the ability to remember your filter settings on the browser and will reload the same when you sign in again. Also, the script applies the filters on new incoming updates as well (with a max time lag of 15 secs).
• Hide the ‘Likes’ from friends. (v 1.2) If you don’t care about what your friends are liking on Facebook or on other sites, you can use this feature to hide the ‘Likes’ on your news feed.
• Hide the friend connection updates. (v 1.2) Whenever a friend of yours is connected to another person, Facebook will notify you about the new connection on your news feed. If you are not interested in knowing who has be-friended whom, you can disable the friend connection notification using this feature.
• Hide the attachments. (v 1.2) Enabling this option will hide all the attachments on your news feed. This includes shared videos, photos, links, etc.
• Hide Facebook Places. (v 1.3) Enabling this option will hide the check-ins from your friends.
• Hide Facebook Questions. (v 1.3)
• Hide Facebook Ticker Section. (v 1.4). Facebook added a new section called “Ticker” which shows all the activities of your friends. It pushes the information that are already available on your friends’ profile. This section adds too much of noise to your news feed. Use this option to fix the section.
• Show only the filtered posts. (v 1.4) Enabling this option will show the posts which match the search text specified. This will be handy if you want to know what friends say on a particular topic. Thanks to Raghu for the idea.
• Hide Unread Count. (v 1.5). Facebook added a new feature called “Smart Lists” and showed the lists on the news feeds page. The unread count of the lists / groups clutters the UI. Use this option to hide the unread count.

How to install?

Compatible Browsers: Firefox 3+, Chrome 4+

Firefox 3+

• Install the GreaseMonkey add-on for Firefox from here and restart the browser.
• Get the script by pointing your browser to this.
• GreaseMonkey Installation dialog box will appear. Please click on the “Install” button.
• You are all set to use the script. Refresh the Facebook homepage. ‘Filters’ menu will appear next to ‘Account’ menu.

Chrome 4+

• Chrome has native support for GreaseMonkey scripts. No additional extensions are needed to use the script.
• Get the script by pointing your browser to this.
• You will be prompted with a security alert. Please click on the ‘Continue’ button.
• The script will be installed as an extension. Refresh the Facebook homepage to see the ‘Filters’ menu.

The script might contain few minor UI glitches. Please let me know if you find any. If you feel some other feature is missing in Facebook, please reach out to me. I shall try to extend this script. If you are looking for a similar solution for Twitter, try this script. 

Update: A new version (v 1.2) is available with three new features – Hide the ‘Likes’ from friends, Hide the friend connection updates, Hide the attachments. You can download the script from here.

Update-1: A new version (v 1.3) is available with two new features – Hide updates from Facebook Places, Hide Facebook Questions. You can download the script from here.

Update-2: Version 1.4 is just released to Userscripts.org. Features included: Hide Facebook Ticker, Show only the filtered posts. You can download the script from here.

Update-3: Version 1.5 is just released to Userscripts.org. Features included: Fix for new Facebook UI, Hide unread count of Groups / Lists updates. You can download the script from here.

Userscripts.org seems to go down frequently these days. Here is an alternate link to the script. Source code is available here.

-- Varun

[How to] Filter out tweets on New Twitter interface

Twitter has been rolling out the preview version of its new interface and I got the chance to try it out just few days back. One of the basic functionalities which is missing even in the new interface is the ability to filter out tweets. Twitter is a nice medium for catching up on the latest happenings. But, at times, you might get bombarded with tweets (all of which carrying the  same message) about the same topic from different people and might have to miss some important ones. Filtering is a must-to-have feature in an application like Twitter but Twitter is yet to realize the need for it. However, this feature is already available on some of the popular Twitter clients like Tweetdeck. I have written a simple GreaseMonkey script to add this functionality to New Twitter.

Features

• Filter out a person. If a person on your timeline is on a spamming spree, you can temporarily unfollow him / her using this feature. Typical example for this could be a person attending a conference / tech talk and live tweeting from there. His / her tweets might not be applicable outside the conference room. You can use this feature to temporarily unfollow the person.
• Filter out keywords. Filter out tweets containing a set of words. You can enter multiple words separated by a comma. This will prevent your timeline getting flooded with the trending topics.
• Remove hyperlinks. In the past few weeks alone, there were two different cases of XSS attack on Twitter. This feature will safeguard you from these sort of attacks to some extent by removing all the external links from your timeline.
• Filtered count Indicator. The filtered tweets are not gone for ever. You can clear the filters to view them. The number of tweets filtered out will be shown intuitively on the ‘Filters’ menu itself.
• Remember your settings. The script has the ability to remember your filter settings on the browser and will reload the same when you sign in again. Also, the script applies the filters on new incoming tweets as well (with a max time lag of 15 secs).

How to install?

Compatible Browsers: Firefox 3+, Chrome 4+

Firefox 3+

• Install the GreaseMonkey add-on for Firefox from here and restart the browser.
• Get the script by pointing your browser to this.
• GreaseMonkey Installation dialog box will appear. Please click on the “Install” button.
• You are all set to use the script. Refresh the twitter homepage. ‘Filters’ menu will appear next to ‘Messages’ menu.

Chrome 4+

• Chrome has native support for GreaseMonkey scripts. No additional extensions are needed to use the script.
• Get the script by pointing your browser to this.
• You will be prompted with a security alert. Please click on the ‘Continue’ button.
• The script will be installed as an extension. Refresh the twitter homepage to see the ‘Filters’ menu.

The script might contain few minor UI glitches. Please let me know if you find any. If you feel some other feature is missing in Twitter, please reach out to me. I shall try to extend this script. If you are still on old Twitter and looking forward to one such script, try this script. If you are looking for a similar script for Facebook updates, try this script.

Userscripts.org seems to go down frequently these days. Here is an alternate link to the script. Source code is available here

-- Varun

This week on Twitter [Sep 05, 2010]

In an effort to make the Twitter news available on a daily basis, I have created Varunkumar Nagarajan daily based on my tweets and the tweets of people whom I follow. I will continue to post the “This week on Twitter” series here.

Science & Technology

• Smallest Full Moon of 2010. Link.
• TEDxAmazonia. In the middle of world’s largest rain forest. Link.
• Eclipse day at GooglePlex 2010. Link.
• After Apple & Google, Yahoo jumps into TV. Link.
• Firefox 4 Beta 4 out. Link.
• MIT testing self-assembling solar cells. Link.

Industry News

• Kevin Rose steps down as CEO of digg. Link.
• Google acquires Angstro to compete with Facebook. Link.
• Google buys SocialDeck. Link.
• Google backs out of JavaOne. Link.

Social Networks

• Facebook testing “Subscribe” – its version of follow. Link.
• Twitter in Real Time. Link.

Google

• Call phones from Gmail. Link.
• Gmail gets priority inbox. Link.
• Blogger turned 11 and Google organized BloggerFiesta worldwide.
• Useful Gmail shortcuts. Link.
• Google releases Chrome 6 on its second birthday. Link.
• Google mobile gets a cool new YouTube channel. Link.
• Google can read SVG documents now. Link.
• Google reader gets full screen mode. Link.

Gadgets

• One-click rooting for Nexus One. Link.
• Unicode fonts on Android. Link.
• Apple Music event 2010. New iPod Touch, Nano announced. Link.
• Official page of Samsung Galaxy Tab. Link.
• The great big spreadsheet of all known Android devices. Link.

India

• Landline telephone number may soon sport a 10-digit number. Link.
• Book KSRTC bus tickets from your mobile. Link.

Programming

• Lazy loading of JavaScript. Link.
• Binding Python and Mozilla DOM. Link.

-- Varun

This week on Twitter [August 15, 2010]

Science & Technology

• Street level imagery from Microsoft. Street Slide. Link.
• Sun eruptions spit plasma at Earth. Link.
• Eco-friendly USB rechargeable batteries. Link.
• Kindle games. Link.
• Helicopter game using HTML5. Link.
• Make your old add-ons work with Firefox 4. Link.
• Skype files for IPO. Link.
• Mathematical breakthroughs. Link.
• JQuery for mobile announced. Link.
• Amazon opens UK Kindle store. Link.

Social Media

• “Who to follow” is live on Twitter.
• Twitter’s short link service. Link.
• “You both follow” feature is live on Twitter.
• Twitter now even more Torrent friendly. Link.

Google

• Google launches multiple account sign-in. Link.
• Google discontinued Wave. Link.
• Google’s Ultimate demo system. Link.
• Google updates the Contacts in GMail. Link.
• Flipping for Gesture search. Link.
• Product development at Google. Link.
• Google unveils Voice actions for Android. Link.

Gadgets

• JailBreakMe, the first web based Jailbreak for iPhone. Link.
• RIM announces its first touch phone. Blackberry Torch. Link.
• Two new Android based smart phones from Moto. Link.
• HTC Wildifre available in India for 16K. Link.
• Nexus One officially became a developer phone. Link.

India

• Malaysia plans new Visa system (VFS) for India. Link.
• Indian Govt. forms programmers’ army to hack systems of hostile nations. Link.
• Mobile Number portability by Oct 31. Link.

Sports

• Stumpy is chosen as the mascot for the 2011 cricket world cup. Link.

Events

• Speakers announced for TEDxChennai. Link.

-- Varun

This week on Twitter [August 01, 2010]

Science & Technology

• Why People think computers can’t. Link.
• Yahoo! Japan to use the Google search in future. Link.
• Oracle rebrands Java. Breaks Eclipse. Link.
• Time saving auto hotkeys for windows. Link.
• Firefox 3.6.8 released. Link.

Social Media

• Twitter testing inline photos and videos. Link.
• Twitter begins user stream testing. Link.
• Facebook questions beta is out. Link.

Google

• Google’s CEO says there is no need for ‘Google Me’. Link.
• How to get a Google Nexus One. Link.
• Google docs to get a new file type “Punch”. Link.
• Google CEO announces Zynga partnership. Link.
• Upcoming GMail features. Link.
• YouTube launches a music video discovery page. Link.
• YouTube’s new embedding code supports HTML5. Link.
• Google places for Android gets Yelp like interface. Link.
• Play hidden snake game in YouTube. Link.
• YouTube increases the max video length to 15 mins. Link.

Gadgets

• Jailbreaking iPhone is legal now. Link.
• Apple announces new products on its store including Mac Pro and Magic Trackpad. Link.
• Froyo for Samsung Galaxy S leaked. Link.
• Froyo for HTC Incredible leaked. Link.
• Amazon reveals new Kindle. Link.
• Smartpen – a pen which records and playback what you wrote. Link.
• Android user interface stencil kit. Link.

India

• ISB iDiya 2010, a national social idea challenge announced. Link.
• IT dept has extended the last day for tax filing to 4-Aug-2010 due to technical issues on e-filing site.Link.

-- Varun

This week on Twitter [July 25, 2010]

Science & Technology

• OpenStack. Open source cloud computing software. Link.
• Nokia Siemens acquires Motorola wireless unit for 1.2Bn USD. Link.
• Deploy your own satellite for $8000. Link.
• Regular expression for finding prime numbers. Link.
• Windows 7 keyboard shortcut. Link.
• What the hack? Link.
• Yahoo! Open hack day Banagalore 2010 was a grand success with 430 hackers and 110 info geeks.
• Intel Capital invests in cloud-based game streaming service Gaiki. Link.
• Piezoelectric batteries. Link.

Social Media

• Yahoo! Pulse available for everyone. Link.
• Facebook officially crosses 500 million users. Link.
• Apple’s real problem with the white iPhone4. Link.

Google

• Google introduces user policy management for Google Apps. Link.
• Google re-designs its image search interface. Link.
• Screen capture extension for Google Chrome. Link.
• Google Chrome tells you when sites are down for other users. Link.

Gadgets

• Apple iPhone 4 coming to India in October. Link.
• Swype Input interface sneaks into Windows 7 demo. Link.
• Google Nexus One sold out. Link.
• 58.8% of Android handsets run a recent OS version. Link.

India

• How to use the Indian Rupee symbol on websites? Link.

-- Varun

This week on Twitter [July 18, 2010]

Science & Technology

• The most important algorithms. Link.
• Space saving furniture. Link.
• Mouseless, the invisible computer mouse. Link.
• Amazon hooks students with a free year of Amazon Prime. Link.
• Amazon opens Super Computing service. Link.
• "SiteOnMobile" takes internet to the masses with low-end mobiles. Web access via SMS. Link.
• Which came first? Chicken or egg? Scientists say its chicken. Link.
• Apple buys Google Earth like product. Link.
• OpenSuse 11.3 released. Link.
• The world's only immortal animal. Link.
• Firefox 4 Beta 1 released. Link.
• Adobe Flash is going 3D. Link.

Social Media

• Employees challenged to crack Facebook security, succeed. Link.
• Twitter confirms analytics product. Link.
• Facebook's Open Graph going mobile. Link.

Google

• Google's URL shortener for your domain. Link.
• GMail gets rich text signatures. Link.
• Update on China. Link.
• Google Maps gets shortened URLs. Link.
• Google secretly invested in Zynga, preparing to launch Google Games? Link.
• Google's anagram easter egg. Link.
• App Inventor to ease application development on Android. Link.
• Picasa web integrates with Picnik. Link.
• Google Maps celebrated its fifth birthday. Link.
• YouTube hit by HTML vulnerability. Link.
• 4K videos coming to YouTube. Link.

Gadgets

• Android targets China and India for growth. Link.
• Browsing experience Android vs iPhone 4. Link.
• Apple iPhone 4 catches fire. Link.
• World's first mobile phone projector. Its Android based. Link.
• Apple to give away free cases to iPhone 4 users suffering from death grip. Link.
• Nexus One changes in availability. Link.

India

• New Delhi Traffic Police issuing notice to violators using photos on Facebook wall. Link.
• Indian Rupee gets a symbol. Link.
• Tatkal booking made easy for common man. Link.

Sports

• Spain won the FIFA World Cup 2010.
• World's best off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan to retire from Test cricket. Link.
• Tickets available for World Cup Cricket 2011. Link.

-- Varun

This week on Twitter [July 04, 2010]

Science & Technology

• Firefox 3.6.4 released with crash protection. Link.
• HTML5 showcases of Google, Apple and Microsoft. Link.
• Firefox 3.6.6 released for patching the frequent Flash player crashes. Link.
• Cell phones as eye doctors. Link.

Social Media

• Facebook launches Hover-cards. Link.
• Twitter to publish shopping deals through @EarlyBird account. Link.
• Google Me social networking to take on Facebook. Link.
• Facebook unveils suggested interests list. Link.
• Facebook unleashes Open-Graph search engine. Link.

Google

• Google Spreadsheet adds format painter. Link.
• YouTube’s world cup Easter egg. Link.
• Google apps training and certification tools for teachers. Link.
• Google to use more HTML5 features in GMail. Link.
• Google’s update on China. Link.
• Google adds real-time web analytics to Blogger. Link.

Gadgets

• Infibeam, India has announced its Windows and Android based tablets named “Phi”. Link.
• The newly launced Apple iPhone 4 has reception issues. Link.
• Microsoft Kin discontinued after just 48 days. Link.
• Android Vs iPhone 4 multitasking compared. Link.
• Yahoo gets serious on Android development. Launches Y! Mail and Messenger for Android. Link.
• Android 2.2 Froyo rolled out to all the Nexus One users. Link.
• Amazon Kindle for Android released. Kindle for iPhone to have audio and video support. Link.

India

• Infibeam has launched its own brand of mobile phones in India. Link.
• Facebook, Hyderabad India is hiring 500 people. Link.
• Mukesh Ambani, D.E. Shaw close to Joint Venture. Link.
• Get address proof from Indian Postal department. Link.

Events

• TEDx events in India. Link.
• Dev Camp, Chennai on July 10. Link.
• Seth Godwin in India on July 07. Link.

Misc

• The next version of Eclipse IDE “Helios” is out. Link.

-- Varun