Is There Life After Facebook?
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on May 29, 2009 by admin in Technology
Friday, May 29th, 2009And are you tragically un-hip if you keep using it? Don’t worry. We have ideas for you.
Well, apparently not, if you’re over 55. However, there are some interesting things going on out there. For one, Microsoft is launching Bing, their new “Decision Engine”. Make sure you understand the distinction, they’re worried that you’ll think it’s just another search engine. Nope, this one will make decisions for you. Finally. I’ve been waiting for something that does that. Although it’s easy to hate Microsoft, I’m personally looking forward to trying it. Google, for all its warm, fuzzy, Googliness, has become the bane of my existence when it comes to search. And what about Twitter? Well I and many people who are smarter than I am feel it’s already peaking. Which means, in a way, that it has a lot of life left in it, but some users will stay on board, many stop using it quickly, and most importantly, the hip people leave when the masses move in. Maybe the ability to search Tweets with tools like Topsy will broaden the interest. My bet? Back to the awesome Googliness. One of the main things that draws people and retains them with Facebook is the multitude of methods to interact easily. Unfortunately, Facebook fails rather miserably with things like chat functionality and a more versatile “inbox”, both of which should have been a no-brainer, in my opinion. A strong possible contender here is Google Wave, which, if they can bundle it all together flexibly with tools like Google Voice or PhoneVite would be a real winner. I would be ecstatic if a networking tool like Facebook allowed me to easily switch from a chat or inbox dialog to a cellphone voice or text dialog. So the questions arise. Am I pathetically uncool if I keep using Facebook? Where are you going after Facebook?
It’s Okay To Be A Twitter Quitter
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on May 3, 2009 by admin in Technology
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009The future of the social web? Real time search, recommendation tools, and better aggregation.
My head’s going to explode if one more person tells me why Twitter is the next big thing, or uses the term Google Killer or Facebook Killer. It’s just my opinion, of course, but anybody who claims to know where the web and social networks are headed on a granular level is just regurgitating what they read on tech blogs, or is someone you’d like to make friends with, because they will soon be very, very rich. All the same, this is a pretty interesting time for the web. The obvious trends right now are real time search, social networking, and recommendation tools. When someone makes the simplistic statement that Twitter’s the “next big thing” after Facebook, they’re missing three profoundly important points: 1.) The services are completely different in nature; one is a closed, user-defined network, the other is an outward-flowing stream of information available to anyone. 2.) An estimated 60% of users stop using twitter after one month, and 3). The “next big thing” is already happening. Most would agree that the next big thing is some version of the open web, and if you think about it, that’s what a lot of us are striving for: some kind of reintegration of all the services we’re using. That’s why one of the coolest short-term “Twitter Killers” is making such a splash right now; Seesmic Desktop just added Facebook feeds to the existing tools they had for Twitter. Between Seesmic Desktop and services like NutshellMail, you should at least be able to get your lifestreams under control. I’m personally considering a more effective alternative: unplugging
What’s Your Facebook Footprint?
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on April 19, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Sunday, April 19th, 2009Does the green movement’s use of the web cancel itself out?
Last year we wrote about how Ford was having a Fiesta, and that you weren’t invitado. Well, they’re finally going to market the car next year in the states, and they apparently picked 100 bloggers from over 4,000 applicants to pump their product through social networking. Which all got me wondering. What is the carbon footprint of our time spent on the web? Well, apparently two Google searches produce the same amount of CO2 as bringing water to a boil on your stovetop. Some other examples: the total of electricity consumed by major search engines in 2006 was nearly 5 gigawatts, which is enough to power Las Vegas on the hottest day of the year. What about the trillions of spam messages sent annually? They consume enough electricity to power 2.4 million homes, and release as much carbon dioxide as 3.1 million cars consuming 2 billion gallons of gasoline. Which begs the obvious question: if that’s the impact of spam, what about porn? Based on all of this, will the benefits of buying a Fiesta be undone by all the blogging and Facebooking about them? You decide. Current estimates would put Facebook’s overall carbon footprint at half of New York City’s (thanks mostly to all those photos you share!). That somehow doesn’t sound as bad as the fact that Avatars in Second Life consume as much electricity as actual Brazilians, but it’s still a hefty figure. Fortunately there are lots of Facebook apps to help you manage your carbon footprint. If you actually take this topic seriously and want to figure out your carbon footprint, there a plenty of resources like the LowImpactLiving.com Impact Calculator, and this WSJ article takes a good look at a few products and how their footprints are measured.
Brains – They’re Not Just For Breakfast Anymore
[ Comments Off ]Posted on April 17, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Friday, April 17th, 2009Does taking quizzes on Facebook mean you’re stupid?
As a person who (like many) spends a little too much time on Facebook lately, I’m a little perplexed by reasonably intelligent people who spend a lot of time taking inane personality and pop culture tests, and then publicly displaying the results. I guess it’s a kind of vanity combined with curiosity, which in an ideal world would be true self examination. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that when given expert advice, the brain shuts down, which this Wired article tries to use to explain why we listen to idiots like Jim Kramer of CNBC. Be careful though, because if you listen to Jim too much, you’ll end up poverty-stricken, and that’s not good for your brain either. It’s kind of sad that in a world where people’s brain development suffers because of malnutrition, people are not only eating perfectly good brains (I mean, you’d expect this from a politician, but y’know…), they’re also slicing them up for research to figure out how they work. Don’t they realize that HowStuffWorks.com already has it figured out? I also find it interesting that in spite of the fact that we have mindmapping tools to offload some of our processing, a tech support person can still be dumb enough to be indistinguishable from a chatbot. Which is pretty disturbing to know if you’ve ever tried to carry on an intelligent conversation with the award-winning artificial intelligence named Elbot. Anyway, if you really feel like taking a quiz, try these tests on the BBC Science site. They have the benefit of not making you look like an idiot on Facebook. I personally scored perfectly on everything except morality. And if you want to enhance your brain power, read Brain Rules
Five Effective Habits Of Highly Annoying People
[ 3 Comments ]Posted on April 14, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009You’re probably too busy to read this, but these are excerpts from a draft of one of two books I’m working on.
1.) Not Having Time
 I’d love to! But I’m just buried with these spreadsheets! |
How many times a week does someone tell you how busy they are? I mean, you yourself are probably busy, right? Admit it. At least once in the last two weeks, when someone asked you if you want to have lunch or coffee, you’ve probably hesitated, and said something like “I’d love to, but I’m SO BUSY lately. Can I get back to you?” Well. Where the hell did you find time to read this crap I’m typing right now? I mean, I’M busy. I’m writing crap for YOU to read, so you can tell people you’re too busy to have coffee with them.
And what about the people telling you that THEY’RE too busy? Well, they’re lying. I caught them on Facebook. They really should ponder the fact that when they take a “What Kind Of Intestinal Microbe Am I?” quiz, it shows up Read the rest of this entry »