Image via Wikipedia

PCWorld’s Facebook Timeline Privacy Tips: Lockdown Your Profile article points out the concerns for how easy it’s for Facebook users to be able to devour past Facebook comments, events, daily wall posts and more of any Facebook user through Facebook newest feature known as Timeline.  Indeed, it’s quite unnerving for how easy it’s for someone to look up your Facebook history by using Facebook Timeline feature, but then again a wise person should not have posted something so private on a very public medium such as Facebook!

In fact, Facebook Timeline feature might have a backlash effect against Facebook.  Facebook users might become ever more conscious about what they will do and post on Facebook, therefore the level of Facebook activities might be shrunk in time.  Then again, it’s only a speculation of mine, because I don’t have a crystal ball of how the future will look like!

For having said a wise person should not post something so private on a very public medium such as Facebook, I fear even myself sometimes might forget to practice what I had preached.  Nonetheless, it’s good to know Facebook does in fact allowing you to tightening up the privacy to certain extend so Timeline feature won’t expose the things that you’ve posted and wanted to be hidden away from the prying eyes of the public.  I guess one can always follow the tips in the article above and lessen the effect of Timeline, but to be wise one should always post something one care not for the world to see on Facebook and keep the rest to oneself.

Related articles

• Facebook too force users onto timeline (theinformativereport.com)
• Facebook Users Not Happy Over Timeline, New Profile Design (inquisitr.com)
• Just one in ten Facebook users supports ‘timeline’ feature (telegraph.co.uk)
• Just one in ten Facebook users supports ‘timeline’ feature – TODAYonline (todayonline.com)
• Timeline Looms, But Few Users Like it, Survey Finds – PCWorld (pcworld.com)
• Over 50% Of Facebook Users Worry About Timeline (allfacebook.com)
• No Thanks, Facebook: Poll Suggests Users Don’t Want Timeline (techland.time.com)
• Facebook Timeline Looms: What You Need to Know (pcworld.com)
• Attention job seekers: Fix your Facebook timeline now (mnn.com)
• Facebook’s controversial ‘timeline’ feature is supported by just one in ten users (dailymail.co.uk)
• Facebook Timeline Becoming Mandatory For All Users (darkerme.com)
• Everyone is being forced to get Facebook Timeline pretty soon, so shut up. (toiletfodder.wordpress.com)
• Facebook Timeline a concern to users, Sophos poll reveals (it-sideways.com)

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CrashPlan is one of those very flexible backup solutions for regular users I have seen in years.  Best of all, it’s easy to use and free.  Of course, CrashPlan free version has less features than paid version.  Paid version of CrashPlan has around three different paid plans.  One of those paid plans caught my eyes is the family plan where CrashPlan allows you to backup the data of 2 to 10 computers to unlimited online storage known as CrashPlan Central.  Other features are incremental/differential backup, supporting three major computing platforms (Windows, Linux, and Mac), allowing to add multiple backup sets, email, chat, and phone supports, and much more.  At now, CrashPlan 10 GB online storage + unlimited local storage plan costs about $24.99/year or $1.50/month for one computer; unlimited online storage + unlimited local storage for one computer plan costs about $49.99/year or $3.00/month; unlimited online storage + unlimited local storage for 2 to 10 computers plan costs about $119.99/year or $6.00/month.

Anyhow, I’m trying out CrashPlan myself and I think it will be my permanent backup solution.  CrashPlan allows you to try its paid version for 30 days without being charged.  If users don’t pay CrashPlan after 30 days, CrashPlan will automatically switch users to free plan.  By the way, CrashPlan will not ask for your credit card until you actually purchase a CrashPlan paid plan.  So, I’m using CrashPlan’s 30 day trial period version (of a paid version) at the moment without having to give up my credit card number to CrashPlan just yet.  Nonetheless, I think CrashPlan had me, because after 30 days I might want to pay up for a paid plan.  In case you’re still curious about CrashPlan, why don’t you check out the video I made on CrashPlan right after the break?  Enjoy!

Related articles

• CrashPlan Comes To Android, Allows You To Retrieve Your Backed Up Files On The Go (androidpolice.com)
• Synchronization Is Not Backup: Confused? Read These 8 Helpful Tips (smallbiztechnology.com)
• CrashPlan Creator Code 42 Software Joins Enterprise Device Alliance (themactrack.com)
• Meet Code 42, Accel’s first Big Data Fund investment (gigaom.com)
• CrashPlan debuts first apps for iOS, Android (ipodnn.com)

Image by RahulG. via Flickr

Update:  Before you go on reading the rest, please read this correction.  Netflix will air Lilyhammer show next month.  If you check out Lilyhammer on Netflix now, the show will not be available.  I guess, until next month then.

Forbes reports Netlfix airs its own original show Lilyhammer.  The shows is about a mobster who got shipped to Norway, because he entered a witness protection program.  From watching the trailer, I think the show is along the category of mix elements of crime and comedy.  Nonetheless, I don’t really know since I haven’t watched the show yet even though I have Netflix account.  I’ll be checking out the show soon.

As long Netflix can launch more original shows, I think Netflix will be a force to be reckoned with.  Unfortunately, I think Netflix will always be held hostage to Internet Service Providers, because they actually have to rely on the networks of Internet Service Providers to deliver the contents.  It’s understandable that several big Internet Service Providers are also providing their own TV programs.  The conflicts between Netflix and big Internet Service Providers are bound to happen and continuing to happen as things are that obvious between them.

Netflix might want to try to launch satellites of their own to partly break free from Internet Service Providers.  You never know if the big Internet Service Providers decide to become unreasonable.  Also, you never know new law and regulations might become inhospitable toward the services that Netflix provides.  Having a network which Netflix can totally rely on to deliver contents is probably invaluable to Netflix’s future.

I think Netflix is heading in the right direction by providing Netflix original shows.  I do not know how much I’ll like or hate Netflix’s Lilyhammer show, but I know I’m still waiting for Netflix’s the House of Cards.  If I’m right, Netflix might air the House of Cards in late of this year.  Check out Lilyhammer trailer right after the break.

Sources:

• http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/03/could-the-new-netflix-exclusive-series-lilyhammer-breath-new-life-into-online-television/,
• http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/03/netflix-to-debut-original-series-lilyhammer-next-month/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=
  feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Related articles

• Netflix bets on more exclusive programming with Lilyhammer (gigaom.com)
• Sure Netflix Has Great Unique Programming (If You Like Norwegian TV) (forbes.com)
• How to Pick Right Broadband Internet Service Providers (websudasa.com)
• What to Look For When Selecting a good Internet service provider (leccoworkshop.com)
• More than half Netflix’s streams are TV shows (guardian.co.uk)
• Netflix’s own state of Arrested Development (arts.nationalpost.com)
• Belarus Said to Restrict Access to Foreign Websites (pcworld.com)
• More Than Half Of Netflix’s Streams Are TV Shows, Not Films (paidcontent.org)
• Netflix on global spree (go.theregister.com)
• Netflix Drops Qwikster Plan (slashfilm.com)

Image by tuchodi via Flickr

According to Associated Press article “AP IMPACT: When your criminal past isn’t yours” on Yahoo News, the irony of digitizing citizens’ records is the inaccuracy of such digital records have and had screwed some people’s lives big time.  The many purposes of turning background records and other sensitive information of citizens on papers into digital records are probably to speed things up, make things more accurate and easier to update, and to efficiently manage such records in ways that paper record filing system would not be able to compete against this modern filing system.  Unfortunately, as we find out that the advantages of having digital records store in sophisticated databases are sometimes fall short.  For an example of how our modern filing system has fell short, Associated Press reported a woman named Kathleen Ann Casey had a hard time of finding job as various background check companies had pulled up her digital background which filled with incorrect information.  It turned out that the criminal charges of the other Kathleen Ann Casey was filed onto the digital background record of the real Kathleen Ann Casey (i.e., real is a relative term in this case).  Data entry went badly?  Perhaps!  But could it be related to the carelessness of the background check companies?  Nobody would know for sure, but mistakes came from background check companies had real consequences to real people.

The whole idea of having digital records so the filing system could be more effective in ways that paper filing system could not offer, but it turns out humans are prone to make mistakes as always.  After all, it’s still the humans that have to convert or enter the information into the digital records, whether that be background records or other stuffs entirely.  What is more troubling is that the records that background check companies scour from public resources cannot not always be accurate, and the pile up of wrong information can digitally stack up, higher and higher.  So much for filing records digitally, right?

Perhaps we can always cruelly say to the people who are unlucky enough to have their background records file incorrectly by background check companies — “tough luck,” but what if you’re the one who have to go about correcting your background record?

I think background check companies do serve good purpose.  Companies do not want to hire criminals, and so background check companies provide a must needed service for companies that care about hiring clean employees as in without criminal records.  As background check companies become evermore crucial to the whole hiring process for most companies, I think someone must come up with a way to audit background records better.

We cannot ignore the damages that might be caused by mistaken identities.  Also, we cannot go back to old day where we would file records on papers, because the whole filing process which involves with digitizing records are way more efficient and faster.  With such efficiency and speed, I think there must be a way to double check and audit the background records so mistaken identity won’t be so easily occurred.

Of course, it’s easy to say so, but how to come up with a solution and implementing it?  I’m not a genius and not having any experience in the field of addressing something like this, therefore I won’t know if there is a solution to this current problem.  Nonetheless, I do feel it’s crucial that someone else must be the hero and steps up to provide a solution to address the errors while digitally filing background records.

Let not forget about implementing high computer security standard to prevent unauthorized access to such sensitive digital records.  It’s not because digital background records cannot be seen, but it’s more of preventing someone with hacking skill to be able to manipulate such digital records.  After all, these digital records such as background records are having real effects on people’s lives.

At a time when our economy is still struggling and job isn’t easy to find, people are not going to be very capable on carrying on with their lives, and bad luck such as having to be identified with wrong background information might just make the whole idea of surviving the hard time much worse.  To make matter worse, Associated Press reported few background check companies refused to update the correct information on certain background records.  Furthermore, Associated Press reported some states wanted to bring in more revenues by selling data of criminal files in bundles to several background check companies, and the worse part was that such data might have errors and therefore might lead to more problems.

In summary, I think background check companies are useful to corporations and small businesses, but these background check companies must work with a higher standard in auditing people’s background records to prevent background check mistaken identities.  The whole modern approach of digitizing records is here to stay, and I don’t see anything wrong with this.  Nonetheless, since digital records have made the update and search process much easier and faster, I think such efficiency should provide more than enough extra time for someone or an entity with the power to audit important digital records such as background records to actually prune through these records evermore carefully.  It’s great to actually know digital records aren’t always accurate, and in the case of wrong background record one can be reminded of the not always accurate digital records and look up their digital background information to see if their background is indeed their actual background.  The real question is, can one go about convincing background check companies that you are who you are and not who they claim you to be?

Source:  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ap-impact-criminal-past-isnt-182335059.html

Related articles

• AP IMPACT: When your criminal past isn’t yours (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Charity organizers should face criminal checks (cbc.ca)
• Physicians Background Check – Perform a Criminal Record Search on a Doctor (microphone-film.net)
• University background checks to cut number of middle-class students (telegraph.co.uk)
• Pa. college: Sandusky worked with team despite failing background check (cbssports.com)
• Weaknesses in America’s training of foreign pilots (economist.com)
• Flawed Data – Mined by Corporations Online Provides Background Checks Riddled With Errors – Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 7 (ducknetweb.blogspot.com)
• Jerry Sandusky Apparently Still Coached At A Small College Last Year Even Though He Failed The Background Check [Penn State Scandal] (deadspin.com)
• City Room: City Finds Willing Gun Sellers Online (cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Private Gun Sellers Knowingly Break Rules: Report (abcnews.go.com)
• Yahoo News, AP, ever so sloppy with the facts (bokertov.typepad.com)

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PCWorld‘s article “What You Need to Know About Your Klout” introduces me to Klout, and I’ve to say I like Klout already.  Klout is unique!  Instead of copying Quantcast and Alexa, Klout isn’t aiming to gauge how popular a website has been, but it’s aiming to collect, analyze, and project how influential a person has been in the digital world.  Klout claims that it might even help an influential person in the digital world to be acknowledged by the real world, consequently such a person might be able to create a certain credibility in the real world such as in a new job.  Klout helps connect people who have high Klout scores with brands, and by doing this brands can give out perks to Klout participants such as trying out free products or getting invitations to events.

Like it or not, if you are participating the social network trend such as using Facebook, you probably have shared more things about you than you really would have loved to.  Yes, it’s a dangerous thing to share so much about yourself with strangers and friends you barely know on the web, but some people love it.  Some people might have more than one social network account, but others who only have one.  Some people use all sorts of nicknames for different social networks, but others who would just use one Internet identity for all of their social network accounts.  In my opinion, Klout might light a torch so it can shine on certain people who are being neglected by the majority of the social networks, and these people have to have the love and the will to share more of themselves to the digital world.

How might Klout help light a torch for some people?  Well, Klout is trying to analyze the social network data, connect the dots, and measure the social actions of the Klout participants; Klout tells the worlds (i.e., digital or not) who these people are.  By analyzing lot of social network data and connecting the social network graphs of Klout participants, Klout can get clearer pictures of certain people in regarding to their social network influences.  Perhaps, Klout will eventually become a standard measure of someone’s social network influences, and we know nowadays this often means something in the real world too.  People can get fire from their jobs for what they represent themselves on social networks.

Did you know that a person’s Klout score can shrink if he or she fails to influence their social networks in some ways over a period of time?  I don’t know what sorts of algorithms Klout uses to measure one’s true influence among the social networks, but it seems Klout is seriously going about doing it.  If Klout is sophisticated enough, I think Klout does have a chance to influence how people come to trust one another through Klout measurements.  Will this be a good thing if people begin to trust one another through Klout measurements?  I don’t know, but as long Klout isn’t easy to be gamed, then Klout should be a reference point for someone to make a rough assumption on the person he or she wants to share or follow or connect with.  Still, Klout itself has to carry out high standard for privacy and do no evil behavior in order for itself to be taken seriously by everyone.  So, Klout, you should do no evil, OK?

I read Klout Privacy, and it seems Klout won’t share your data with anyone unless you give a consent to do so.  Of course we can never be sure about an honest claim of any entity in regarding to do no harm but only good, but if you like you can take Klout at their word.  Klout claims that if a perk involves in delivering good, Klout will send such a good to your address but will not sell your address to anyone.  Klout won’t gather and analyze your private data unless you give a consent to do so.  Of course, without your consent to analyze and connect your private data, Klout won’t be able to be as accurate as it can be about your social network influences.  Still, I think Klout could be effective on measuring your social network influences without the need of accessing your private data.

I like Klout since it’s trying to do something unique as in measuring one’s social network influences.  Still, Klout might not be a good idea for people who loath social networks for obvious reasons.  Some people might depend on Klout to get somewhere in life if Klout earns real clout in both digital and real worlds.  This means Klout itself has to hold itself to a very high standard of trust.  Do you Klout?

Source:  http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/246435/
what_you_need_to_know_about_your_klout.html#tk.rss_news

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• On Klout (davemadethat.com)
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• My Klout Experiment (eoghann.com)

Image by AJC1 via Flickr

A small UK mobile network which is known as giffgaff sounds like heaven!  I have just only heard of it, and so I can’t really make head or tail of it.  Nonetheless, so far I understand that this is UK service only (for now), but if I’m wrong, please do correct me.  The mobile network giffgaff claims is that it hands over most mobile responsibilities and powers to the mobile users themselves.  As mobile users invite more users, they get more goodies from giffgaff such as free minutes, cash, and so on (correct me if I’m wrong on this).  No long term contract, and as giffgaff saves costs of not having to spend on hiring large staffs and maintaining several core business infrastructures, giffgaff can pass down the savings to giffgaff users in goodies such as free minutes, cash, and so on.

Before users can start using giffgaff, they need to have their smartphones unlocked and order a free SIM card from giffgaff.  On giffgaff official website, it shows the phone plans in £10 to £20 range.  Just take a look at its cheapest plan (£10) and get a rough idea why giffgaff can look very enticing to some mobile users.  For paying just £10 a month with giffgaff, mobile users get 250 UK minutes, unlimited UK texts, unlimited Internet, and free to giffgaff (I think this is about calling between giffgaff users is free).  After the inclusive minutes of £10 plan have been used up, extra minutes will cost somewhere 10 pences per minute.  Texting and surfing the Internet with giffgaff are truly unlimited, and so there will be no tariff on these two services for users who use £10 plan.  Voicemail per call will cost 8 pences after the inclusive minutes in the £10 plan have been used up.

In my opinion, giffgaff is still a company, therefore its main focus is still all about making profits.  Nonetheless, giffgaff is rather unique in a sense that it’s competing against other big mobile players in the arena of bringing down the costs for mobile users.  One big drawback I can see with giffgaff is that it’s somewhat depending on the members of giffgaff community to provide customer supports.  Customer supports provide by other members of giffgaff can sometimes be varied in helpful to non-helpful.  The standard for providing ultra good customer support isn’t existed.  This might prevent some people from having good customer/user experience with giffgaff.

If mobile network giffgaff continues to grow, I think some entrepreneurs in the United States might try to replicate the formula.  Bringing down the mobile monthly payment and costs are definitely two of the many priorities that mobile users in the United States have in mind.  With business model of giffgaff, I think mobile users in the United States might love it.  In fact, you never know that giffgaff model may thrive even healthier than how it’s in UK.  What do you think?

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• GiffGaff blames O2 gaffe for mobile outage (go.theregister.com)
• Touchscreen Phones vs Keyboard Phones [Victoria Tagg - PPC & SEO] (ecademy.com)
• The cheapest way to get an iPhone 4S in the UK (jonworth.eu)
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SkyDrive app for iPhone is good but can be made better!  I can’t make the same comment for Windows Phone since I don’t have a Windows Phone.  Why it is good but not really good?  Unless I’ve no idea what I’m doing, it turns out that I can only upload individual photo or video but not entire folder of photos or videos at once onto SkyDrive with SkyDrive iPhone app.  Imagine people who have thousands of photos and more than a dozen of videos on their iPhone would have to take ages to upload all their contents onto SkyDrive using SkyDrive iPhone app.

The uploading of a photo from iPhone to SkyDrive using SkyDrive iPhone app is simple and easy.  Just tap on the sharing icon on the upper right corner of the iPhone screen, you can then tap on the Add a Photo or Video button to add a photo or video.  Right underneath the Add a Photo or Video button, you’ll see Create a Folder button which allows you to create a new folder for storing more contents.  Sharing a photo is easy too.  By tapping on a photo to view, tap the photo again when it is in full screen mode to reveal the sharing button on the upper right corner of the iPhone screen, and tap on the sharing button to review the Send a Link button.  Tapping on Send a Link button, you can send a link to someone’s email to allow a person to view or view and edit your photo.  Above the Send a Link button, there is a Download button which allows you to download a photo easily in case you have deleted such a photo from iPhone and wanted to recover it from SkyDrive.  Deleting a photo or a video, users have to view a photo or video in thumbnail mode, and then slide the finger from left to right on the thumbnail photo of a photo or video to reveal a Delete button.  Tap on Delete button to remove the photo or video from SkyDrive.  You can also delete the whole folder by viewing the folder in thumbnail mode and slide a finger the same way you do with a photo or video.

In summary, SkyDrive iPhone app is very limited in features.  The uploading and sharing of photos and videos are easy as pie, and so SkyDrive iPhone app deserves a praise here.  One other cool thing about SkyDrive iPhone app is that it allows you to take a photo or film a video immediately from your iPhone and upload to SkyDrive directly.  Altogether, SkyDrive iPhone app needs more features, but it’s still awesome since it allows users to interact with a free 25 GB of storage space on the go.

Side Note:  I’m baffled of not knowing how to upload a document using SkyDrive iPhone app.  Sure, iPhone isn’t a great tool in creating and editing documents, but I think this app should allow users to upload documents nonetheless.  Just a thought!

Related articles

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• Microsoft posts SkyDrive app for iPhone, Windows Phone (ipodnn.com)
• Microsoft launches SkyDrive for iPhone: 25GB free cloud storage (digitaltrends.com)
• SkyDrive – Microsoft Corporation (itunes.apple.com)
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Image via Wikipedia

Watching Netflix on Linux is possible, but it’s not possible in a sense that you can watch Netflix directly on Linux.  Netflix is  using Microsoft’s Silverlight to stream movies.  Unfortunately, Silverlight isn’t fully working with Linux, therefore Linux users have to watch Netflix on Windows or Mac machines.  To circumvent the problem, Linux users can install VMware or Parallels or VirtualBox to run a Windows or Mac virtual machine.

This setting works for me.  I use VirtualBox to run Windows 7 virtual machine.  My virtual machine has at least 3 GB of RAM, max on graphic card memory, Bridge network, Guest Additions installed with experimental 3D hardware support, and guest Windows 7 is up to date with all software.  If you don’t have at least 3 GB of RAM for your Windows 7 virtual machine, you can try to start with around 500 MB of RAM to see if this is stable enough to do most things virtually within a Windows 7 virtual machine.  If not, you can always bump the RAM up little by little until your host machine runs out of RAM (i.e., RAM reserves for a virtual machine).

A weird snag I encountered while using the setting above is that Chrome isn’t working well with Netflix.  I had to use IE9 to watch Netflix smoothly.  Chrome tends to pop Netflix out of fullscreen mode and then Netflix goes black, the stream of the movie stops, and so everything else.  With IE9, I can watch Netflix in fullscreen mode without trouble.  I haven’t yet tested Firefox with Netflix in this sort of virtual environment.  Perhaps, Firefox might work, but I clearly do not know!

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Some major brick and mortar retailers are worrying how Amazon could best them at their own games by rolling out Price Check app that help customers use their stores as showrooms.  Amazon could always allow customers to see better deals on Amazon through Price Check app.  Furthermore, Amazon could possibly allow customers to purchase products directly on Price Check app, but I don’t know if this is truly possible since I haven’t yet tested the app.  I just say Amazon could do it if they want to.  If they have done so, then that’s exactly my point.  I think this could potentially cripple retailer stores.

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I think Amazon is creating a new trend where more online stores will copy Amazon promotional approach.  We may never know, but if this specific approach becomes so effective, major brick and mortar retailer stores could lose big time.  Perhaps, in the near future, only true online retailer stores (i.e., as big as Amazon or even bigger) could afford to open brick and mortar stores so customers could experience the wall garden experience.

My use of the phrase wall garden is to compare what I mentioned to how Steve Jobs executed his business philosophy.  That is, Steve Jobs preferred in having Apple owned the hardware and software platforms through and through, and he went even further by skipping the third party retailer distributors and built the many brick and mortar Apple stores.  I think the successful existence of brick and mortar Apple stores might be an excellence model for online stores to create the wall garden experience Steve Jobs adamantly worshipped.

I think sooner or later, some smart online stores might program their apps to allow the lowering of product prices on the fly so customers will save money more and the online stores will make more money at a faster rate.  Of course, the algorithms for such apps need to be super smart, otherwise online stores could sell products way below the profitable point and end up lose more money than they would want.  Brick and mortar retailer stores might see this as constant price wars.  Obviously, I don’t think brick and mortar retailer stores can beat this kind of tactics, because such physical stores need to have ways to monitor product prices of online competitors and then change prices in the moments.

I can also see mom and pop stores that serve local communities lose out to online stores if people love to frequently use mobile apps to compare products at physical stores against online stores.  Such phenomenon will drive mom and pop stores out of business.  Perhaps, the future can only embrace brick and mortar stores that truly have big online presences.

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