friends

Regular Crave readers have seen a steady stream of products unveiled in the months since the Transportation Security Administration issued guidelines for "checkpoint friendly" bags, which let you zip through airport security checkpoints without removing your laptop.

Eager to see how manufacturers would tackle the new product category, we obtained a handful of bags--from the huge Mobile Edge ScanFast Backpack to the tiny Solo Netbook Mini--for real-world testing. At first we were concerned that TSA agents wouldn't know about the new bag designs and would make us remove our laptops anyway. But we carried several of … Read more

FriendFeed introduced a new feature on Friday, giving members the option to get updates from the social network as soon as they happen through standard instant-messaging protocols.

Each IM contains the first few hundred characters of the post, along with a small permalink that takes you straight to it. Like the recently introduced live feed, the idea is that you can quickly track and respond to the activity of your friends while they're still around.

To help turn down the fire-hose of information, users can whittle down whether they want to see everyone's interactions, or just those from … Read more

If you're a United Kingdom dweller feeling left out of U.S.-only services like BuyYourFriendADrink.com there's light at the end of the tunnel. Launching Friday is Get Them In, a new way to buy your friends food and drink items right on Facebook which can be redeemed at various U.K. pubs and retailers.

Unlike BYFAD, Get Them In is not just centered around bars, and it works in grocery stores too. Purchases of drinks and snacks are made through Facebook using PayPal, so you've got your entire list of friends available in one place. … Read more

Social aggregator FriendFeed has just rolled out a new option for its users to post some or all of their FriendFeed activity over to Twitter.

Earlier on in the start-up's life the functionality was introduced to send replies (via FriendFeed) to other people's Twitter messages. This worked as long as you had plugged in your Twitter credentials to give the app permission to post as you.

This new system is similar to that model, although it can be set to do this for everything you publish to FriendFeed. Users can also select which specific services they'd like … Read more

Snipd, a Web clippings service we profiled in September, has just opened up to everyone. Its claim to fame is that it lets you clip bits of the Web including text, images, and videos, all without having to download any software or register for an account. The first time you use it via its tiny bookmarklet, it simply creates an account for you, which can be claimed later on.

One of the things that separates it from something like Evernote, is that your snippings can be found in a public directory--at least by default. It fully supports keeping items private, … Read more

If you have a MySpace or Facebook account, you know how hard it is to ignore friend requests. And in no time, you end up with a long list of buddies that contains mostly people you've never met or even talked to before. The definition for "friend" has never been more blurred.

In reaction to this and to bring back the true meaning of buddy-ship, on Monday, Clubbyclub announced its new social network to provide a private and safe place for friend groups, like student clubs, schoolmates, and sport teams.

This means random surfers can't find … Read more

Since Jeff is out today, we grab our favorite guest host Clayton Morris from Fox and Friends to help us keep the juices flowing. Wilson hops on the board and, before we have a chance to get into any of the stories in today's rundown, we plummet into Clayton's favorite topic of conversation: SUPERHEROES! We discuss potential Spiderman 4 villains, Batman hype, Iron Man eBay auctions, and before we know it, the show is over. This show is for supergeeks only!

After you listen to today's show, do yourself a favor and listen to Clayton's own … Read more

On Thursday afternoon social aggregator FriendFeed pushed out its new look to all its users.

Several things have changed since the company launched its beta program late last month, with the biggest being the look and feel of the site, including a change in navigation from the top of the page to the left side. The heart of the service still lies in linking up various sites you use, but as part of the re-design the FriendFeed post box was also given an overhaul with the inclusion of photo hosting.

The biggest change besides the look is one of the … Read more

It's the M&A deal of the century: FluffFriends got bought!

The virtual-pet application built on Facebook's platform, which once permitted me to display a penguin named Bill Gates on my profile and invite friends to give him a nice hug, has officially been acquired by the Social Gaming Network. A price was not disclosed.

FluffFriends makes money through a virtual currency that translates to real cash, with which members purchase items to spruce up their pets. A release from the Social Gaming Network said that since January, the game makes an average of 192 percent more … Read more