10 years ago, I'm designing away on a PowerMac G4, and I never would consider using anything less. Today, my workstation is compacted into a smaller and cheaper iMac, and it's more than able to get the job done. Not to mention, my iPhone is quickly becoming my primary computer for all my daily tasks. This made me wonder if I'm losing my power user status, or maybe this is just the way the industry is going. Are smaller machines becoming the norm even for the power user? Share you thoughts.
UPDATE: Poll Results 9/10/10 - 9/17/10
Do you consider yourself a power user?
83% Yes
16% No
00% What's a power user?
00% Meh
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Your Location Is Lame!
There is an ever growing popularity in location-based social networking sites like Brightkite, Foursquare, and Gowalla that allow users to tell their friends where they are. Twitter has even joined in on the fun and added geolocation, and there was an announcement today that Facebook would be unveiling location features next month.
These services can be useful for a variety of reasons such as sharing a bad experience at a local business or posting a photo of a beautifully plated entree at a nice restaurant. However, in my opinion, it seems what was a well intended means of dispensing useful information attached to a specific location has made a turn for the worse. The quality of content created has decreased as the popularity of location-based sites increases. Not to mention, most users sync their check-ins on Twitter and Facebook for an endless loop of annoyance.
Here is my list of the 3 most annoying people using location services:
1. Mayor Of Lame Locations. This type of user has no business using location services as they never go anywhere cool. They repetitively check into places like the gym everyday. You stick to your workout regimen, and while I commend you for it, I don't care when and where you work out. Other lame locations include fast food restaurants and the dentist office. Just stop abusing location services and your friends with your lameness.
2. Check-in Whore. This is the person who goes to a place for only 5 minutes just so he or she can tell the world they where there and then moves on to the next place so they can check in there too. They may also travel just so they can check-in at new locations trying to prove to the world how exciting their life is. Well guess what, it's not exciting; it's annoying. Thanks for flooding my Twitter homepage & Facebook news feed with dozens of locations a day and not inviting me to any of them.
3. TMI Locations. No location is too sacred for these users to keep private. They have no regard for the safety of themselves or their family. They have no issues posting their home address or the exact location of the elementary school they just checked into to post they were dropping their son or daughter off. Are you crazy? Please, use a little common sense and think before broadcasting your location to the world.
As more and more social networks jump on the location-based bandwagon, I'm curious what direction users will take it. Will something useful develop from the content or is location check-ins just going to be another thing I block in my Facebook news feed?
UPDATE: Poll Results 3/9/10 - 3/16/10
Does it annoy you when friends sync location-based sites to Twitter & Facebook?
25% Yes
25% No
50% Meh
These services can be useful for a variety of reasons such as sharing a bad experience at a local business or posting a photo of a beautifully plated entree at a nice restaurant. However, in my opinion, it seems what was a well intended means of dispensing useful information attached to a specific location has made a turn for the worse. The quality of content created has decreased as the popularity of location-based sites increases. Not to mention, most users sync their check-ins on Twitter and Facebook for an endless loop of annoyance.
Here is my list of the 3 most annoying people using location services:
1. Mayor Of Lame Locations. This type of user has no business using location services as they never go anywhere cool. They repetitively check into places like the gym everyday. You stick to your workout regimen, and while I commend you for it, I don't care when and where you work out. Other lame locations include fast food restaurants and the dentist office. Just stop abusing location services and your friends with your lameness.
2. Check-in Whore. This is the person who goes to a place for only 5 minutes just so he or she can tell the world they where there and then moves on to the next place so they can check in there too. They may also travel just so they can check-in at new locations trying to prove to the world how exciting their life is. Well guess what, it's not exciting; it's annoying. Thanks for flooding my Twitter homepage & Facebook news feed with dozens of locations a day and not inviting me to any of them.
3. TMI Locations. No location is too sacred for these users to keep private. They have no regard for the safety of themselves or their family. They have no issues posting their home address or the exact location of the elementary school they just checked into to post they were dropping their son or daughter off. Are you crazy? Please, use a little common sense and think before broadcasting your location to the world.
As more and more social networks jump on the location-based bandwagon, I'm curious what direction users will take it. Will something useful develop from the content or is location check-ins just going to be another thing I block in my Facebook news feed?
UPDATE: Poll Results 3/9/10 - 3/16/10
Does it annoy you when friends sync location-based sites to Twitter & Facebook?
25% Yes
25% No
50% Meh
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Who Makes The Dish Taste Best?
I brought some ceviche I made last night for lunch today. As I plated my colorful combo of citrus marinated seafood and chopped vegetables, a coworker walked into the break room and said, "I'm interested in what white girl ceviche tastes like. You make it different, right?"
To which I replied, "I didn't know there was right or wrong way to make ceviche."
To the best of my knowledge, there are many highly acclaimed chefs that create dishes with influences from different ethnic backgrounds than their own. Do you believe ethnic background plays a role in making a meal taste more authentic or does it really not matter?
UPDATE: Poll Results 3/2/10 - 3/9/10
Do you have preconceived notions about how the food will taste when you see who the chef is?
66% Yes
33% No
00% Meh
To which I replied, "I didn't know there was right or wrong way to make ceviche."
To the best of my knowledge, there are many highly acclaimed chefs that create dishes with influences from different ethnic backgrounds than their own. Do you believe ethnic background plays a role in making a meal taste more authentic or does it really not matter?
UPDATE: Poll Results 3/2/10 - 3/9/10
Do you have preconceived notions about how the food will taste when you see who the chef is?
66% Yes
33% No
00% Meh
Monday, February 22, 2010
Do You Use Your Real Name Online?
Recently I've been debating over using my real name over a pseudonym on social networks and my blogs. I see a 50/50 split between people who do one or the other. When I Google around on this subject, privacy, stalking, and hurting your chances of getting employment are reasons sited for not using your real name online. Advantages for displaying your full name include branding yourself and helping others relate to you on a more personal level.
I also have a family to look out for, and I wouldn't want to put them at risk just because I put too much information on the web, but I'm not sure something as simple as a name can put me or my family in danger. I feel we are more likely to run into bad guys in real life than dealing with some cyber stalker.
At first, I was uncomfortable with entering my full name on social networks because I didn't want anything to show up in Google search results if someone Googled my name, but I found out I can't hide from people who want to know information about me. For under $40 you can get all the dirt on anyone through various sites, and I was surprised just how much information was available for free, including: my age, my maiden name, people I'm related too, current city and past cities I've lived in including the zip codes. All of which could set me up for identity theft easier than anything I've ever posted on Twitter.
My conclusion: If I'm going to be part of the social world wide web, I might as well use my real name and make sure I maintain a positive value attached to that name. If someone Googles me, they can see all the greatness I have contributed through quality tweets such as:
I'm curious, do you use your real name online or a pseudonym? Do you believe there are any implications of publicly displaying your full name, and if so, what are they?
UPDATE: Poll Results 2/23/10 - 3/2/10
What is your online name comfort level?
42% Full name
00% First name only
00% Pseudonym
57% Depends on the site
I also have a family to look out for, and I wouldn't want to put them at risk just because I put too much information on the web, but I'm not sure something as simple as a name can put me or my family in danger. I feel we are more likely to run into bad guys in real life than dealing with some cyber stalker.
At first, I was uncomfortable with entering my full name on social networks because I didn't want anything to show up in Google search results if someone Googled my name, but I found out I can't hide from people who want to know information about me. For under $40 you can get all the dirt on anyone through various sites, and I was surprised just how much information was available for free, including: my age, my maiden name, people I'm related too, current city and past cities I've lived in including the zip codes. All of which could set me up for identity theft easier than anything I've ever posted on Twitter.
My conclusion: If I'm going to be part of the social world wide web, I might as well use my real name and make sure I maintain a positive value attached to that name. If someone Googles me, they can see all the greatness I have contributed through quality tweets such as:
@digitalAngel I could go for sushi or a bologna sandwich.
I'm curious, do you use your real name online or a pseudonym? Do you believe there are any implications of publicly displaying your full name, and if so, what are they?
UPDATE: Poll Results 2/23/10 - 3/2/10
What is your online name comfort level?
42% Full name
00% First name only
00% Pseudonym
57% Depends on the site
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Facebook's Privacy Strip Tease
Facebook is pushing its users to make their profile information public, and as with any change the popular site makes, there is a lot of controversy surrounding it. As a member of numerous social networking sites, some public and some private, I have mixed feelings surrounding my privacy settings on Facebook.
First, to begin with the all too over-used comparison between Facebook and Twitter. On Twitter, I know my updates are public, therefore I don't post all my business there, and I don't use my full name on my profile because I don't want my tweets to showing up in Google search results above my portfolio site when I do a vanity search. Facebook on the other hand, advertises itself as a place to share your life with your family and friends. Maybe some people use the term "friend" more loosely, but to me, a friend is someone I would want to hang out with in real life, hence 95% of my Facebook friends are people I know outside of the interwebs. The privacy of Facebook allows me to post more intimate details of my life, as well as photos of my son to those I am comfortable showing that information to. Twitter and Facebook serve two different purposes for me and they do it well just the way they are.
I understand that Facebook is a free service that has the right to make changes to their site and policies as they please, but if they continue to knock down the walled garden, there is a lot of personal data I will have to delete and status updates and photos I will no longer be able to post, making it useless for how I want to use my account. And yes, I understand that Facebook has update by update privacy control, but those controls are not available on the iPhone app which is my main way of using the service.
Twitter provides simplicity. You sign up and can start tweeting away instantly. Facebook is the PC of the social networking world. You sign up, and have to spend some time setting up privacy settings for each section of your profile and creating friend lists to control who can see various parts of your profile before you ever post your first update.
My biggest problem with Facebook's privacy strip tease is: What are their plans for any publicly shared information? Will all my updates and photos eventually show up in Google search results attached to my full name? Will my profile picture be used in an advertisement on another friend's page? I would be more open to making more of my profile public if Facebook would be more open with me.
UPDATE: Poll Results 1/12/10 - 1/19/10
Is public the new social norm?
20% Yes
60% No
20% Meh
First, to begin with the all too over-used comparison between Facebook and Twitter. On Twitter, I know my updates are public, therefore I don't post all my business there, and I don't use my full name on my profile because I don't want my tweets to showing up in Google search results above my portfolio site when I do a vanity search. Facebook on the other hand, advertises itself as a place to share your life with your family and friends. Maybe some people use the term "friend" more loosely, but to me, a friend is someone I would want to hang out with in real life, hence 95% of my Facebook friends are people I know outside of the interwebs. The privacy of Facebook allows me to post more intimate details of my life, as well as photos of my son to those I am comfortable showing that information to. Twitter and Facebook serve two different purposes for me and they do it well just the way they are.
I understand that Facebook is a free service that has the right to make changes to their site and policies as they please, but if they continue to knock down the walled garden, there is a lot of personal data I will have to delete and status updates and photos I will no longer be able to post, making it useless for how I want to use my account. And yes, I understand that Facebook has update by update privacy control, but those controls are not available on the iPhone app which is my main way of using the service.
Twitter provides simplicity. You sign up and can start tweeting away instantly. Facebook is the PC of the social networking world. You sign up, and have to spend some time setting up privacy settings for each section of your profile and creating friend lists to control who can see various parts of your profile before you ever post your first update.
My biggest problem with Facebook's privacy strip tease is: What are their plans for any publicly shared information? Will all my updates and photos eventually show up in Google search results attached to my full name? Will my profile picture be used in an advertisement on another friend's page? I would be more open to making more of my profile public if Facebook would be more open with me.
UPDATE: Poll Results 1/12/10 - 1/19/10
Is public the new social norm?
20% Yes
60% No
20% Meh
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