ReplayTV RTV5508 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder
Similar to TiVo in function, ReplayTV offers extended features, beyond the function of your standard DVR. Specifically, Replay’s networkability allows the sharing of media files (including movies) across ones home network. DVArchive allows Replay owners to download and save video from their Replay, a feature restricted by the proprietary encoding used by TiVo. This was the big x-mas gift of 2004, I think my family will be thanking me in 2005.
The Lord of the Rings - The Motion Picture Trilogy (Special Extended DVD Edition)
I’ve been biding my time for 3 years, waiting for this box set to be released. Finally, the full extended editions of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy are mine. This is an amazing epic trilogy brought to life, brilliantly by Peter Jackson. While I have yet to find the 18+ hours required to take in all content of the set, a preliminary sampling holds a great deal of promise. The packaging itself is wonderfully designed with textured tomes for each set of 4 DVDs constituting 1 of the 3 films. My sister purchased this set for me for xmas. I plan to enjoy it whole heartedly. (*****)
Norton SystemWorks 2004 - AntiVirus, Utilities, Passwords, Cleansweep
Frankly, you can't argue much with FREE. So far so good, though it does slow down my startup time. Though I think maintaining a clean registry will have long term benefits. (**)
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).
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 ...
... 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 ...
... 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.
Posted at 11:59 PM in Current Affairs, Social Commentary, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)