Google have today announced and launched their latest social venture "+1". The new and fully integrated feature allows users to give websites a "public stamp of approval", viewable to friends who come across the result in search. Think of it as a kind of Facebook 'Like' for search results.

This is undoubtedly the big G's hardest push into social so far, and although 'the like button' is now well seeded within the internet community, Google's traffic monopoly sets them in good stead for the title of content sharing champion.

So, where do you sign up? Despite the hype, the function is only in 'experimental mode' and therefore resides under Google labs, the company's opt-in-only site where new and upcoming features are tested on consumer guinea pigs. Want to get in on the herd? Then read on...

Who reads the small print? We all kinda know we should, but we all kinda... don't. But who can blame us? It's hard enough just keeping up with all these hot new websites, services and social networks, without spending half our online time reading through their hundreds of pages of legal terms and technical jargon, right? Lets face it, these big brands could sneak just about anything in there without us knowing *cough Facebook*, and it's down to individuals such as the folks at PhotoFocus to take one for the team, read through the filler, and find out if anything juicy lays beneath.

According to PhotoFocus.com, Twitter's terms of service are home to a couple of profoundly startling obligations. The first of which pretty much states that Twitter owns every peice of content you send through their service, be it written, audio, photo, video or anything else:

"By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed)."

Surprisingly, this specific detail isn't the worst of their findings, as the terms then go on to read the following...

Earlier today Twitter's CEO Evan Williams took to the stage with creative director Biz Stone at their San Francisco headquarters to announce a brand new Twitter.com.

The new and even simpler two-paned site expands Twitter's functionality, allowing users to click on Tweets to view linked content such as photos and videos. The company have paired up with 16 different partners including YouTube, Vimeo, Ustream, Twitpic and Flickr, to provide the smoothest, richest experience possible in a web application.

As well as some significant front-end changes, the entire back-end architecture has been re-built to drastically improve speed, and ensure browsing and creating Tweets remains as agile a process as possible. The brand new site starts rolling out today to a selection of users, but will become available worldwide over the next couple of weeks.

For more information visit Twitter.com/newtwitter and watch out for the #newtwitter hashtag.

Cast your mind back to 2007. Steve Jobs famously announces the iPhone, loaded with a full HTML web browser and Wifi connectivity. Well the interest in the platform quickly sparked a slew of browser-based utilities and with the addition of the 'web apps' section to Apple.com, the iPhone was firmly seeded as one of the hottest development platforms around.

Apple have launched announced launched the next major update of their iTunes software: iTunes 10.
Alongside some minor streamlining and UI tweaks, Apple have developed their own built-in social network called Ping.

Ping is 'a social network for music', a place where artists, listeners and friends come together to share their musical interests and tastes. The network resides within the iTunes store on your iPhone, iPod Touch or computer, and allows you to post statuses and other media to your feed, whilst 'following' your friends and favorite artistseses updates.

At a glance, the whole concept sounds completely un-original. Steve said himself "it's sorta like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes" but the more you think about it, and the sheer number of people who download and rate music on iTunes every day, it's even more surprising that they haven't tried something like this before.

Since the dawn of Apple's mobile marketplace, app makers far and wide have been grinding their teeth in frustration towards Digg's limited developer API. The most any iPhone enthusiast has been able to achieve with their application so far is the ability to list and bury stories from the social service, a handicap strong enough to banish Digg apps from most peoples phones full-stop. But now, rocking a new API and the will to go mobile, who should come up with the next generation of story shoveling application but the pioneers of social news themselves. Here's Digg for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Okay so we ought to know better than to get exited by Apple's vapourous blueprints, but Patently Apple's latest findings have been provoking some serious buzz. The premise is a proximity based social network that takes location aware web 2.0 to the next level via the iPhone.

Okay so us brits aren't famed for our technolust, but just because we're not born and bred in silicon valley doesn't mean we don't know a thing or two about about Tech & 2.0, right?

In a recent survey conducted by global public relations company Lewis PR, a ready and raring rep took to the streets of Britain to find out how many of us really know our Blackberrys from our Apples with a variety of modern technology orientated questions aimed to unravel the UK's general knowledge of internet, computing and consumer electronics. Read on for a cheap laugh at our expense...

That's right folks, the world's richest man aka. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has indeed joined Twitter! The PC pioneer posted his first ever tweet about four hours ago:

@BillGates "Hello World." Hard at work on my foundation letter - publishing on 1/25.

His profile sports Twitter's 'Verified Account' badge, indeed confirming he's the real deal. This has also been backed up by Twitter's own @caroline in recent tweets. So what you waiting for? (Except some serious traffic!) Give some entrepreneurial lovin' to Mr. Billy G himself, and don't forget to follow up G-star CEO Mr. Eric S Word up!

Back in October Google signed a deal with Twitter to include real-time tweets in search results to provide users with up-to-the-minute updates about their keywords. Now Google searchers have started to noticed a huge step up in Twitter-Google integration as many results offer a 'Latest Results for...' Twitter widget displaying the most current mentions of the keyword in question. For example a quick Goog' search for 'gigabyt3' returns us the scrollable tweet box above about half way down the page.

Google highlighted this new feature and more at the real-time search event on December 7, giving an insight into what is to come for search, SEO and live media in general.

Read on for full video coverage of the event...

Since the Internet became a force to be reckoned with we have stood aside and watched a variety of hacks, houxes and pranks courtesy of social media and the odd crafty internet goer. This week has proven to be no different with Twitter user and best man 'Anon' rigging his newly wedded freinds honeymoon bed to Tweet out everytime the bride and groom get 'on the job'. Hillarious right?

The Twitter account @newlywedsontjob has been attached to sensors placed under the bed that send out Tweets everytime the lucky couple start and stop bedroom activities, along with a 'Frenzy Scale' rating!

There is no doubt whether Twitter has become this years hot topic or not, and with it a sea of controversy from all angles. It doesn't help that we are Tweeting whilst being burgled, driving and blown up, but now the question remains.. 'To follow or not to follow?'. Let us examine as we look at the Top 3 most contraversial online Twitter tools...