~~~o0o~~~
Friday, February 27, 2009
Websense or No Sense?
Websense was out of whack today. We have this annoying filtering software on our work PCs because we need to filter the library's public computers and the only way to do that is have it on the network. Normally, not much of a problem. A few things slip by, especially when they're part of feeds in my feed reader, or the occasional naughty LiveJournal userpic. But today, everything seemed to tic off Websense. This is a screen cap of my Twitter page. Click on the image to make it larger and somewhat more readable.
It refused to show me today's Pooch Cafe, too. For those of you who don't know, that's a daily comic strip about dogs. Is there any wonder why I think filtering software is ridiculous?
~~~o0o~~~
~~~o0o~~~
Thursday, February 26, 2009
I Will Follow You
According to Blogger Buzz, Google Friend Connect has been combined with Blogger's Following feature. And if you already had been using Friend Connect and have Following, Google reset the Following status to Anonymous. Apparently, even if you never really used Friend Connect, and just added it to your Google account to see what it looked like, that counts, because all my Following blogs shifted from publicly to anonymously. I have 25 blogs I follow this way (well, I actually read them in Bloglines, but I wanted these to show in my Blogger profile, and I wanted to try out the feature), so I just changed them all back to Publicly, and discovered I also had to click a box to add each to my profile.
I would have preferred the options to all be on one screen, but in Manage (in your dashboard, for the blogs you follow), once you click on the settings for each blog listed, to change from anonymous to public, you click that link, then get a popup where you adjust the settings, Save, then back on the main screen for that blog, click Done. Okay, that probably sounds confusing and I can't do a screen cap right now. It's easy, but more clicking than I would have liked to have done 25 times.
I suppose I should really look at Friend Connect now.
~~~o0o~~~
I would have preferred the options to all be on one screen, but in Manage (in your dashboard, for the blogs you follow), once you click on the settings for each blog listed, to change from anonymous to public, you click that link, then get a popup where you adjust the settings, Save, then back on the main screen for that blog, click Done. Okay, that probably sounds confusing and I can't do a screen cap right now. It's easy, but more clicking than I would have liked to have done 25 times.
I suppose I should really look at Friend Connect now.
~~~o0o~~~
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Facebook About Face
Well, maybe. At the least, a moratorium and a clarification. I still think content should be removed when someone deletes their account, which implies they no longer want anything on the site. I left a comment to that effect on the Facebook group where feedback is being sought.
The power of the internet! Nothing escapes the people. And the people can make a lot of fuss, online and off. So, we'll see how this shakes out, but I'm glad the people running the place are paying attention. Meanwhile, I was a bit amused by people on LiveJournal saying they are glad they don't use Facebook and this is one reason why. I hope those weren't the same LiveJournalers who freaked out over changes in LJ policies over the years, or panicked about new ownership, or... well, you get the picture.
It's the nature of the beast. Every social site does something to rile up the user base now and then. It may even be required. (<-- Tongue firmly in cheek)
~~~o0o~~~
The power of the internet! Nothing escapes the people. And the people can make a lot of fuss, online and off. So, we'll see how this shakes out, but I'm glad the people running the place are paying attention. Meanwhile, I was a bit amused by people on LiveJournal saying they are glad they don't use Facebook and this is one reason why. I hope those weren't the same LiveJournalers who freaked out over changes in LJ policies over the years, or panicked about new ownership, or... well, you get the picture.
It's the nature of the beast. Every social site does something to rile up the user base now and then. It may even be required. (<-- Tongue firmly in cheek)
~~~o0o~~~
Monday, February 16, 2009
Political Breeding
My Liberal Identity:
You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.
Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com
Found on ZenYenta 2.0.
~~~o0o~~~
This is Disturbing
I'm not sure how this slipped past me. I don't recall any big announcement from Facebook about a change to its Terms of Service, but Consumerist has the details. Apparently, even canceling your account won't prevent Facebook from using your content. Deleted? Ha! In your dreams.
I use Facebook for personal photos I want to share with friends. My other content is mostly culled from my blogs or are links, plus thumbs of some recent uploads to flickr, songs I've bookmarked on Pandora, and other tidbits to connect my online persona with the actual me for people I know offline. I doubt Facebook would want any of this and I'm not going to stop using it, but I will be more cautious. I went through a lot of trouble to convince some friends to join Facebook so I could easily share private pics since I couldn't get them to join flickr and make a private group or my personal pics friends only there. Facebook has other things to offer, so it was a good fit. I don't know any other site as popular and workable. MySpace, IMO, is a mess.
I honestly don't know what Facebook gains from this change. Why would they want or need the content from deleted accounts? Why can't they live without it? I understand about the granting of the license for current accounts, what with moving things to and from servers and all, and the language of the TOS is pretty standard. It's the archival content rights issue that is rather mind boggling.
~~~o0o~~~
I use Facebook for personal photos I want to share with friends. My other content is mostly culled from my blogs or are links, plus thumbs of some recent uploads to flickr, songs I've bookmarked on Pandora, and other tidbits to connect my online persona with the actual me for people I know offline. I doubt Facebook would want any of this and I'm not going to stop using it, but I will be more cautious. I went through a lot of trouble to convince some friends to join Facebook so I could easily share private pics since I couldn't get them to join flickr and make a private group or my personal pics friends only there. Facebook has other things to offer, so it was a good fit. I don't know any other site as popular and workable. MySpace, IMO, is a mess.
I honestly don't know what Facebook gains from this change. Why would they want or need the content from deleted accounts? Why can't they live without it? I understand about the granting of the license for current accounts, what with moving things to and from servers and all, and the language of the TOS is pretty standard. It's the archival content rights issue that is rather mind boggling.
~~~o0o~~~
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Grab Bag Post
A lot of people are freaking out, in newspapers, on blogs, about President Obama's poor vetting process that has resulted in some cabinet nominees withdrawing due to tax issues. And I agree that it's unfortunate. And yes, he's not as experienced as other candidates. I was supporting Hillary Clinton, after all, until Obama won the Dem nomination, mostly because of her experience (as well as her views).
However, no one is going to be perfect, and no one is ever fully prepared to be president, I'm sure. Some grow into the role quickly, some need time, and others flounder for 4-8 years. But two positives have emerged from this mess. The first, that Obama quickly claimed responsibility, is as has been noted in many places, a nice change from the previous administration. The other is a bit more subtle, I think. Our new president has had his first failures, early on, while he's still got majority support of the country, with plenty of time for him to learn from his mistakes. And now we don't all have to wait and wonder when he'll stumble. He did it already and he took ownership of it. And he's demonstrated that he can learn. I'm sure he'll learn a lot from this experience. In my mind, he's passed his first test of his character.
And it has finally given David Letterman something to joke about with the new administration.
~~~o0o~~~
TwitterSheep lets you make a word cloud of your Twitter followers bios. Pretty nifty.
~~~o0o~~~
Speaking of Twitter, today proved how useful, meaningful, and even entertaining it can be. I've been following DipNote, the official Twitter feed of the State Department. Today, they tweeted Secretary Clinton's Townhall meeting for State Department staff. Granted, there isn't a whole lot of detail one can get from tweets, but being able to follow along while I was at work, during quiet moments at the reference desk, was not only cool, it was amazing for both the openness of this administration and the way the administration is embracing current technology.
~~~o0o~~~
However, no one is going to be perfect, and no one is ever fully prepared to be president, I'm sure. Some grow into the role quickly, some need time, and others flounder for 4-8 years. But two positives have emerged from this mess. The first, that Obama quickly claimed responsibility, is as has been noted in many places, a nice change from the previous administration. The other is a bit more subtle, I think. Our new president has had his first failures, early on, while he's still got majority support of the country, with plenty of time for him to learn from his mistakes. And now we don't all have to wait and wonder when he'll stumble. He did it already and he took ownership of it. And he's demonstrated that he can learn. I'm sure he'll learn a lot from this experience. In my mind, he's passed his first test of his character.
And it has finally given David Letterman something to joke about with the new administration.
~~~o0o~~~
~~~o0o~~~
Speaking of Twitter, today proved how useful, meaningful, and even entertaining it can be. I've been following DipNote, the official Twitter feed of the State Department. Today, they tweeted Secretary Clinton's Townhall meeting for State Department staff. Granted, there isn't a whole lot of detail one can get from tweets, but being able to follow along while I was at work, during quiet moments at the reference desk, was not only cool, it was amazing for both the openness of this administration and the way the administration is embracing current technology.
~~~o0o~~~
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