C0rk.W0rd

Feeding Frenzy (A different Take on Facebook's New FEED Feature)

Some of you may have read my cautionary tail about facebook being some kind of crazy CIA funded intelligence gathering tool, and despite my not being able to disprove that, I'm actually commenting on something different tonight.

Regular users of facebook may have noticed the facelift the site received sometime today. A blog on facebook does a pretty good job of explaining the new feature, so I won't bore you with the details of what it is, what it does, and how it works (that's what links are for).

The addition of this feature has generated a number of complaints from long time users who have gone sofar as to threaten to leave the site. Talking with some friends directly, they're simply uncomfortable with the transparency these feeds create. Friends can now see all the activities going on among members of their social networks. While I'll admit that I found the depth of what was provided somewhat troubling, I am inclined to play devils advocate, and point out some of the things users should consider before they point fingers at facebook's developers ...

Perhaps one of the most troubling realities with social networking sites like facebook and myspace is that users tend to forget that this is still the "internets" --- You know... the series of tubes. The semi-educated among us learned long ago to think long an hard before putting anything up on the net that might present problems later -- "Everything on the net is discoverable." Some of us learned this faster than others. Nevertheless, the social networking sites of today have created an illusion of privacy which users are unknowingly apathetic towards or simply choose to ignore outright ...

If you're looking for information on anyone 16-28yrs where do you think you'll find more information... A Search Engine ? Or myspace? Or facebook ? -- Now what if you had their resume. Pretty easy wouldn't you say?

... I don't mean to suggest that people that put personal details online are foolish or downright stupid. I myself disclose a great deal about myself via the net, but have always done so with the notion that anyone with the time a motivation could discover these details. But now lets assume that systems like facebook are impenetrable, and that your information is only available to those you've defined as 'friend' -- Even with this layer of ignorance in place, facebook users are still outraged? - about their own naiveté one might suspect.

Consider that the information you're so 'outraged' about being presented is information that any of your 'friends' would be privy to when they visit your profile. So you're basically angry that facebook has made it easier to access information that users already had access to? Information that you voluntarily supplied in the first place and knowingly presented for public display. There is a false sense of privacy WITHIN the false sense of privacy. Users make the assumption that their 'friends' lack the time and motivation to 'check-in' for changes as frequently and effectively as this feed mechanism. While this probably and accurate assumption, it is certainly not a safe one it re-confirms this 'false sense of privacy'.

Most facebook users login daily to see what is happening with their network of friends, not to make modifications to their own profile (although this could occur in the same visit as a result of a 'friends-page' visit). The feed simply supplies the information they're already seeking in a chronological and easy to understand fashion with links to the appropriate pages, should they require more details. These items are perfectly easy to ignore should they choose.

In the grand scheme of things, I can understand why people feel the way they do about this new feature. It brings information and events which they could previously pretend were anonymous and invisible to the attention of others. It's worth pointing out that despite the lack of privacy customizations available which pertain to this NEW feature, facebook does supply a number of privacy mechanisms which are underutilized. This leads me to the unexpected benefits which would emerge from the abrupt presentation of this feature ...

• Users must face reality when it comes to the information they present about themselves online -- make appropriate changes to ensure they're only sharing details they're comforable sharing
• Those previously ignorant to facebook's privacy features will utilize them (as they should) to restrict access to their information -- hopefully this will not serve to reinforce that false sense of privacy I mentioned before... It's still the Internet
• Friend-Addictions will be fought as members re-evaluate who they've included as friends -- You can no longer assume that they're NOT reading about your life 24x7

... There are about a dozen more points I would like to make about this recent fiasco, but I fear I might go on too long if I haven't already. Suffice it to say that those who are outraged about this new functionality need to take a look at themselves, think about what information they're making available and to whom, and consider their own 'voyeuristic' adventures before assuming that their 'friends' aren't taking regular note of changes to their profile.

Please bear in mind that I still consider this new functionality surprisingly freaky, but take issue with those who view this as a gross and perverse (overstep) by facebook. Because I know I haven't addressed all possible lines of argument, I await your critiques that I might address in the comments section or in proceeding posts.

That's One Mighty Crock!

It seems that a rather abrupt change in luck has taken the life of Steve Irwin (known to most as the crocodile hunter). While filming off the Australian coast for a new series ironically titled 'Ocean's Deadliest', Irwin's heart was punctured by a Stingray's bard.

The fatal wound has been described as 'extremely unlucky' as the bard had to penetrate the rib cage in order to puncture the heart.

"Is this guy out of his mind?" -- I'm sure that phrase has been uttered more than a couple times in reference to Steve's stupefying willingness to interact with and seemingly agitate some of the world's deadliest animals. His death being the result of a freakishly unlucky accident as opposed to a "the guy was attempting to tame a Bengal tiger while dressed in a steak-suit?" IS fortunate.

Crikey!

Snooze bar phenomenon

I was up pretty late last night, tweaking a playing around with this new blog design, so it should come as no surprise that I was a little groggy this morning. I had one of those blink moments where you feel like you've only been resting a minute, when in fact it has been an hour.

I woke up with plenty of time to doze before heading to work, and put my head back down to awake almost an HOUR later. It was one of those stirring moments where the first words out of your mouth are a string of expletives.

It WAS that timing where you wake up with enough time to do absolutely NOTHING. In that time and place you must simply accept that you're going to be late, and go about your business at a normal and calm pace. I've never been very successful at letting things like that go, but I think my time on the west coast has mellowed me out to where I can. I even stopped for coffee on my way to the office.

A new look

As you may already be able to tell, I'm playing around with some new style ideas for c0rk.w0rd. Tweaking the style to be cross-browser compatible could take a little while, but I hope you can all appreciate the direction I'm taking things. I really think that this new look 'spruces up the place' -- for lack of a better description.

As always, I'm open to your input when it comes to this new design. How is it rendering in YOUR browser of choice? -- Everything looks good in firefox, but I have seen some odd behavior in IE7.

... More frequent updates are on the way as I modernize and consolidate my web properties. Check back for more in the coming days!

MeeboMe

I realize that this doesn't demonstrate a great deal of 'variety' in terms of the items I choose to address in this blog, but I think this is just too cool to overlook...

The Web 2.0 application 'Meebo ' (which I mentioned a few posts back) has release a companion product called MeeboMe. MeeboMe allows users to embed a chat window within their webpage using a code snippet. When someone visits the website with the embeded chat, the website owner (if singed into the standard Meebo client) can 'see' that someone is currently navigating their page and can IM the browsing individual. Additionally, the browser can IM the page owner if their status is shown as online.

To 'hopefully' demonstrate how this works and how quickly and easily it can be deployed and used, I've embeded a MeeboMe chat window in the sidebar of this blog. Feel free to IM me if I'm online... and if I'm conscious... I'll IM you back.

Imagine blog readers being able to instantaneously begin a dialog with the blogger. This creates a whole new level of on-demand interaction and access on the web.

<sidenote>I'm currently experimenting with new page layouts/designs -- an 'updated' version of C0rk.w0rd will debut in the coming weeks --- once I find something I'm happy with. In the meantime, please forgive any rendering anomalies</sidenote>

FDA

The FDA is now recondiering an over the counter form of the 'morning after pill' classified as an "emergency contraceptive". In order to be approved, the FDA expects Barr Phramesidcals to supply a "sufficiently rigorous" plan for keeping the drug out of the hands of individuals under the age of 18.

If taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex, the pill can reduce the risk of pregnancy by 89% by delivering a high-dose of a common birth control ingredient. Researchers and controception advocades predict that the availability of such a drug could reduce the 3 million annual unplanned pregnancies to 1.4 million.

It is interesting to note that the FDA cited public comments as the reason for the reversal of their decision to postpone a decision on the pill indefinitely.

Degrees of Mutilation

Ok... So I just need to get something straight...

The Israelis are killing UN forces with munitions supplied by the US. <sarcasm>Well that's just super.</sarcasm> -- I can't believe this stuff.

... Further comment is on the way.

Of all the things going BOOM...

Oh so many things to comment on… N. Korea, Ken Lay, Gaza… what should I touch on first. Easily one of the most devastating news items of the day: Amanda Congdon departs popular video podcast Rocketboom…

I cannot tell you how upsetting this is to a loyal Rocketboom viewer. While I cannot be sure of the extent of Amanda’s contributions to the creative elements of Rocketboom, I do know that her on screen (big, small, and portable) persona contributed significantly to not only the popularity of the show, but the humorous delivery of the material. Moreover, Amanda’s activities within the video podcasting and online media community render her a savvy visionary.

Rocketboom was an amazing show. It was always my first stop when I woke up in the morning – starting my day off with a smile. Fortunately, Amanda’s comments on the ‘Rocketboom Breakup’ in her own blog ‘Unboomed’ lead one to believe there are new projects in the works. I can say without hesitation that I have more confidence in future success of Amanda Congdon than in Rocketboom's ongoing success.

Welcome Back!

This is a post written to inform the occasional readers of this blog about the changes that have been made in my life and what this means for the future of this blog. It breaks from my traditional post style to give a great deal of ‘life event’ information, but I feel that having additional information about some recent life events will lend some perspective to my future blogging.

Having completed my Bachelors and Masters at Drexel University in March, I’ve relocated to the west coast for work. I’m living in a suburban town just outside Seattle, and working for a ‘large software company’. Needless to say, I’m very excited about this new phase of my life. Working is going great and I’m excited about exploring the area now that Summer is here and the days are bright and sunny.

There are obviously more details surrounding this major life changing events. These details will be saved for future posts designed to give you insight into the blogger behind this blog. That said, you can expect more frequent posts and a blog facelift shortly.

Irishman's Philosophy

There are only two things to worry about
either you are well or you are sick.

If you are well,
then there is nothing to worry about.
But if you are sick,
there are two things to worry about
Either you will get well or you will die.

If you get well,
there is nothing to worry about.
If you die,
there are only two things to worry about.
Either you will go to heaven or hell.

If you go to heaven there is nothing to worry about.
But if you go to hell,
you'll be so damn busy shaking hands with friends
you won't have time to worry!

Breaking Wind

As a proponent of alternative energy, I was pleased to read this article discussing a recent  for prinvestigation of 'wind power' feasability off US coasts. The result of the study was a framwork for powering america using offshore wind power.

One of the most promising areas for this kind of development is the New England coast. The study concludes that a fully developed (off-shore) wind powered energy system could meet if not exceed current dometic energy demands... wow... When do we start?

Is it W2 time already?

I don't know how many of my readers are hip to some of the Web 2.0 projects coming to the web. Having tried a number of these services and applications, I thought I would tell you about some of the more promising ones I've tried. I'm only going to talk about one per post, though, because if you're a regular reader, you know how long I can go on.

As I've grown older, IM has become less and less important to me.  Text based conversations with individuals who I know and talk to frequently are tiresome. Nevertheless, IM does provide a nice utility for getting quick answers to questions and coordinating weekend plans. Despite some of my issues with IM, I do like to try every new IM client that shows up -- AIM, DeadAIM, AIM Triton (beta), GAIM, Trillian, etc. Many of these products share features, and about the only thing I can say is that I generally prefer non AIM(AOL) produced clients. Oh, and I will say flat out DO NOT INSTALL TRITON!!! (no link for a REASON)

I tend to prefer applications which cut back on crazy features and enhancements and simply deliver well designed performance w/ enough features to make the app useful. This brings me to Meebo. Meebo is a browser based IM client that I've pretty much turned into my primary IM client. Like many alternative clients, Meebo combines AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, and Jabber chat services so that there is no need to run multiple applications. The elements of Meebo are the same as would be expected in your standard client --- buddy list, IM windows, Away Messages. While Meebo lacks a number of standard features (profiles, away message storage, etc), it adds new, and arguably more useful features like 'sign on invisible'.

For people on the go, this service is a major improvement over services like AIM Express. Meebo employs AJAX web programming techniques to delivery an advanced interface which responds like a standard application, but is contained within a browser. AJAX also allows this Web 2.0 application to run without downloading annoying (and potentially dangerous) browser plug-ins. I showed Meebo to a few friends at Drexel, and now I catch them using it every time I see them in the computer lab. Meebo claims to have served 21,000 simultaneous users, and is averaging about 340,000 daily logins.

Check out Meebo for yourself!

Can we get one of those Magna Carta things?

One of the most troubling things to come out in the last few months, is the president's domestic spying program. This confirmed, for every paranoid citizen out there, that the government is in fact spying on you. According to reports, Bush authorized the NSA to spy on American citizens as a means to thwart terrorist plots to attack America. So what is significant?

What this means is that Bush gave the NSA blanket permission to collect information (spy) on anyone they suspected of terrorist activities. These information gathering techniques could include phone tapping. By blanket permission I mean that the NSA would no longer need to obtain court warrants to launch these types of investigations. You know, those things that prevent government agencies from exceeding their power and violating the rights of the citizenry.

So who gave Bush the right to authorize this... well... that's even more entertaining. First, the administration has stated that FISA (the act that regulates this kind of thing) should be considered unconstitutional if it does not allow this kind of domestic surveillance. So if you violate a certain policy, and you don't wish to be punished for it, you just tell everyone that you don't like the policy and poof -- you're off the hook? The second part of this is the Authorization for the Use of Military Force. You remember, that thing that the administration interpreted as "go invade Iraq" -- It also came up a few times during the election. While FISA 'does' allow for unrestricted domestic surveillance, it only allows it to be conducted for 15-days after declaring war -- We're a little beyond that, now.

The obvious issue here is that the President exceeded his power in authorizing this surveillance. Whether the provisions of FISA are too restrictive is a matter for congressional review, not something to be side-stepped. It is for this reason that Samuel Alito's comments about executive power were so important. To those who would say, "but I trust that the President it trying to protect Americans and regardless of the law the intention to do good is there." -- The point of this is not 'intentions' the point is the violation of laws put in place by congressmen and women to protect the rights and privacy of their constituents.