If you have been using Snap’s Snap Shots on your site or have been browsing sites that use them, by now you already understand the comfort of having the facility both as a web page designer, host and user. It is this exact comfort and download link-free web page technology that DocStoc intends to extend to all your documents using their brand new DocShots feature.

The tool allows you to convert any document on a website into a link that provides an instant online document preview. This obviously saves downloading time for users and helps the web hosts in making their sites look a lot more attractive too. The best part though, is that it’s easy to use and is a free service for your Word, PowerPoint, PDF, and Excel files.

Using DocShots is also pretty simple and easy. All you need to do is sign up for the feature and after copying and pasting the html code, you can get an instant hovering preview link on the desired document. You can even specify the size of the preview window and that of the pop-up window.

While SmartLook has been offering a similar facility for long, the new DocShots are far faster and easier to use, making them an instant hit already

Pretty sleek isn’t it?Anyone been using them?

If it’s not broken, don’t fix it! That’s why many webmasters choose not to update for the latest release of WordPress, but when it comes to WordPress 2.7.1 you should consider it as the new version has received some pretty good reviews from all around and has been hailed as one of the best bug-free version among all the ones dished out thus far.

More like a maintenance release than a security release, the new 2.7.1 update fixes 68 tickets and one of the pleasant aspects is that if you’re already running wp 2.7 it will only take like 10 seconds and a push of a button (via the Tools → Upgrade menu) to have it up and running on your blogs. Or you can download it.

For WordPress fans, the biggest positive out of the new version is the highly improved Plugins Directory Search which now uses Sphinx to power all the search requests. It works far better than any of the plug-in directory searches from previous versions and the few lingering bugs in this new tool will be fixed in the next release according to the guys working on it.

The initial 2.7 version has been so good – considering how much things evolved since wp 2.3 or wp 2.5, that there has been little that needed change, but with the 2.7.1 update working so well, WordPress has decided to put away the 2.8 version for a while and bring it out when it is fully ready. Wise decision indeed!

Google has offices in South Africa headed up by Staford Masie, Stephen Newton (both resigned – no new country head announced yet?). Their goal is to expand the search giant’s advertising reach in emerging markets like in SA. Their office is a colourful combination of iconic Google items such as bean bags and lava lamps. Not quite the Google campus everyone dreams of working at in Silicon Valley but it’s a start.

Props to Graeme for sending through the photos. View our office photos archive here

There are adventurous minds that feel great companies and lasting dynasties are built in turbulent times, and SynthaSite wants to prove they’re among those.

As pioneers of the Web 2.0 movement and on our list of SA startups to watch, they have just roped in a whooping $20 million as funding from Luxembourg-based Reinet Fund S.C.A. in a Series B funding bid. While normally that is no big news, it gains extra significance in times when the economy is moving slow and investments are dwindling.

The story behind the funding of Reinet, managed by the Rupert family of South Africa, is  a surprise in itself as it was not too long ago that the company themselves filed for bankruptcy. But that was averted by funds induced into the Reinet Fund S.C.A by the Lehman Brothers and it now seems that SynthaSite has reaped benefits from the deal.

Involved in helping anyone interested in designing, improving and maintaining their own web space, SynthaSite has recently introduced a number of new features including an enhanced user interface, 60,000+ widgets, domain registration, shopping cart features and a blogging platform.

The new capital that has come its way apart from the $5 million made earlier will help further take the developing company based in both San Francisco and Cape Town a long way forward. We’ll have our eyes on you guys!!!

How in the world is Twitter ever going to make money out of what’s on offer right now? Well those thinking like this seem to be an outnumbered minority compared to the vast majority which is showing faith in the popular micro-blogging tool.

Image courtesy of yatenkaiouh

Twitter has managed to raise (once again) more venture capital funding – $35 million from Benchmark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners. This adds significantly to the $15 million and the $5.2 million that they previously got. The new funding round puts values Twitter at around $250 million and as the minds behind the blogging phenomenon chalk out their plan to generate revenue, the additional ‘green’ in the bank gives them some sweet extra time to start generating revenue.

On their blog Twitter has already assured users, investors and others who are interested, that they still possess good chunks of cash from their previous deals, which only makes the company stronger and more vibrant (who wouldn’t want cash when you can see economies being slammed down to the ground?).

Twitter has been assuring everyone (since long) that a business model is indeed being crafted and while that still is being fine tuned under the wraps, it sure seems that there is plenty of time for it to be put in place.

It was not very long ago that Microsoft paid a staggering $240 million for 1.6-percent of shares in Facebook. That forced everyone to believe that the company was well worth over $15 billion in the market.

Image courtesy of pshabBut that little investment by Microsoft seems to be more a gesture of commitment and goodwill towards a hopeful future partnership rather than an accurate estimation of the Facebook stock.

In a recent goof up, the social networking giants themselves revealed that they value their stock at $8.88 per share, putting the company at a market value of just around $3.7 billion!

The startling new revelation came up when the Associated Press was able to retrieve some details from the transcript of a June court hearing held over a legal settlement between Facebook and ConnectU, which had blacked-out segments in them. While it is hard to imagine how Facebook would make such a naive mistake, it does substantiate the growing opinion that the company is not worth as much as the $15 billion.

The fact that Facebook rates itself almost 3 times less, is an indicator that sometimes hype can easily conceal facts!

We are indeed addicted to the Internet and the varied delights it offers to us, but how many hours does the average teen (on whose shoulders the future of this nation ‘supposedly’ lies) spend on the web each week?

A British research group – the Cybersentinel, has surveyed that the American teen spends a good 31 ours each week online.

Now, that may not be a whole lot if you are someone whose profession demands you to sit in front of your desktop/notebook, but this is just someone spending 4.4 hours/day surfing sites, messaging buddies, watching YouTube and of course taking a “good” look at porn.

According to the numbers, teens spend 3.5 hours a week instant messaging their friends, two hours on YouTube, three hours a week on homework help and an hour and forty minutes a week, on porn! That seems to be plenty of time away from books one could read, places they could visit or classes they could take.

On the flip side that could even be time which would otherwise be spent on mindless TV. So whether you love it or not, the American teen is hooked to the net and for the better or worse that will be a trend that will continue to grow. So, where do you stand in comparison?

Image by streetlife

It was not very long ago that the young owner of Tumblr, David Karp, said that they were going to try and buy Yahoo. But apart from the little gest, it is now being rumored that Yahoo indeed is considering the possibility of buying the start up that is rapidly ascending the popularity charts.

While shelling out a sum in the order of $50 million to bring in Tumblr under its umbrella – a cheap bargain for Yahoo compared to what it might have to shell out for a site like Twitter – the deal for now seems to be more of a rumor than a reality.

For starters, David Karp and his employees do not seem to be really happy with selling out their little “gemstone” just yet. One reason could be the fact that they managed to raise $4.5 million in December, an investment which reportedly valued the company at $15 million. Other than that, on Yahoo’s side things do not seem too bubbly with their woefully bad management when it comes to acquisitions.

So in other words, if it’s not making money immediately, it is unlikely Yahoo’s already hit pockets can afford to throw away another $50 million to the wind. We’ll have to see whether it sticks or not. What do you think?

[via ValleyWag]