They have a new News Feed tool showing you whose taking up most of your news page. This new tool will let you unfollow them without unfriending them. There’s also a tool for hiding posts from your feed and you can tell Facebook whether to unfollow or see less of a certain author, friend, page or app. For years, Facebook has been making suggestions on who we should friend or follow. This can be annoying at times. But if you ask most Facebook users, this annoyances pales in comparison to feeds and pages full of repetitious, boring and just plain irritating posts.
So for many, this should make Facebook life easier. I’ll have to read less about drama between two exes. I’ll be reading less posts with F bombs and looking at far less pictures of deformed people or near naked people. On the other hand, this new tool makes me more conscious about what I post. While being unfollowed hurts a lot less than being unfriended, it’s still a blow to the ego. Will you be using this new tool on your feed?
Good news: One day you can have a You Tube with no commercials or any other advertising. Bad news: You’ll be the one paying for it.
You Tube CEO Susan Wojcicki is working around the clock to make this social medium a better place. One option includes ad-free service. It would be up to the customer to decide whether deal with advertisers or pay a monthly fee for no ads at all. In May 2013, You Tube allowed channels to sell either videos or subscriptions. For example, if a TV show wants to put reruns for the previous season, they can charge .99 cents per episode or $9.99 for the season. She also talked about the relationship between You Tube and it’s parent company, Google, and other ways You Tube can make profits. Another thing Ms. Wojociki noticed it You Tube is being uploaded from smartphones and mobile devices at least half the time. As of today, You Tube attracts over a billion visitors a month, and has made over 5.6 billion dollars in ad revenue alone in the last year alone.
I bring this up because it’s obvious ad revenue is paramount to You Tube’s success and has been for throughout the company’s nine year history. So for those of us (I’m talking to myself) fearing we’re all going to have to pay for You Tube, I wouldn’t worry. They’re smart enough to know not to let this good thing go. I understand how some are tired of the ads and would rather pay out of pocket. And I appreciate paying for subscriptions for certain shows. But You Tube needs to keep that advertising option open. Keep in mind these are just options being thrown around, except for channel and video subscriptions. Nothing is set in stone. These are just You Tube’s options. What do you think of these options and how would you make You Tube, already good, even better?
How many of you have Siri, Apple’s voice over the iPhone? Am I the only who thinks sometimes Siri can be a little too real, intelligent and quick witted for a smartphone voice? Well, for one 13-year old boy and his mother, Siri might just be the best friend they’ve ever had.
The boy’s name is Gus. He has autism, a disorder that can be socially crippling for any child. According to the New York Times story,? the Mom notices when Gus was questioning Siri about the weather, and the conversation between a teenager and his phone became a little deeper. Gus complimented Siri about her helpfulness and asked her if she wanted anything. Siri replied, “Thank you but I have few wants.”? As early as eight years old, Gus has always had a fascination for travel and weather. But sometimes mom got? exhausted at the constant questioning. So one birthday, she got Gus an iPhone, and the conversations have never stopped. No topic is off limit is off limits between Gus and Siri, whether it be music, etiquette, marriage, even correction. Check out the story in the article of when Gus’s brother curses at Siri. And at thirteen, in the midst of this maze called adolescence, the questions aren’t going to get any easier. I hope Siri is ready.
All too often I read about how technology can be a potential danger and intrusive to society. But it takes stories like this to remind us what good it’s doing in the world. Through Siri, Gus is getting a great education and even greater companionship. Siri is helping him open up to society. I don’t know if he would have gotten that otherwise. Gus is heading into his teen years, years that can be difficult and burdensome for any young person. So Gus and Siri are going to need each other more than ever. What dating advice will Siri give Gus?
Nobody is immune to natural disaster. We know it. Facebook knows it. There’s been several times where I’ve used Facebook to reach out to friends in harm’s way, or they’ve checked on me during disasters. Facebook wants to make this process even easier.
They introduce Facebook Safety Check. When disaster strikes your area, Facebook will give you a check-up notification. For example, if your town, city or county is hit by a severe thunderstorm, tornado or earthquake, Facebook will ask if you’re okay, based on where you are. That will be based on a city in your profile, last location, and/or the city you’re using the Internet in. You can select “I’m Safe” and have it put to your news feed. If your friends are in a danger zone, you can see their ‘I’m Safe’ notification on your page. Unfortunately, there has been too many disasters since Facebook’s inception in the mid-2000s. But what inspired the social media conglomerate to incorporate this app was the devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. Facebook’s Japanese engineers saw how important social media was for relief workers to communicate to disaster victims, and victims to connect to each other. That’s how the Director Message Board was born, and the response was swift.
From that perspective, I respect and applaud what Facebook is doing.? During these times of crisis, social media is sometimes the only means of communication that can be had. But personally, I’m not that big of a fan of Facebook Safety Check. If my city were to be hit with danger, I’d want to send out a personal message to assure everyone of my safety, and I’d like a Facebook friend to personally contact me if they’ve been through something. I’ve seen an example of the safety check message and it just sounds too generic. Wouldn’t you rather get a personal message from a real family member, friend, colleague, or significant other in times of trouble?
Facebook doesn’t seem like the place one would choose to remain anonymous. Now they’re working on an app where you can still be you…well…kinda.
This social media site is working on a mobile-app where users can get on, through their page, but not have to use their own names, thus remaining anonymous. In fact, secrecy is being taken so seriously on this app that the people revealing this app insists on remaining anonymous. The app should be released in the weeks to come, or at least we should hear more about it by then. The ironic thing is this is virtually the opposite of what Facebook has built itself up to be. It’s always prided itself on the real you reuniting with real family, friends and people from yesteryear. Facebook product manager Josh Miller leads this anonymous app creation. If this app is successful, it will let users to use aliases to talk about subjects they may not be comfortable with online, or in real life. Planning is very much in it’s early stages. Will this app allow anonymous photo sharing? And how will this work with friend interaction? Recently, Facebook has seen the importance and increasing popularity of anonymity. Like earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said app makers can use anonymous tools to log in.
But will the anonymous app work? Like anything else, this app can be used for good or evil. This app can be used to protect users from cyber bullying, extortion or exploitation. But an anonymous user can also use this app for criminal and down right wicked purposes. In an era where privacy may as well be on the endangered species list, I can see the concern and why many would want to remain anonymous. Some of my Facebook friends use nicknames as their Facebook headings. If you were to use a Facebook anonymous app, how and why would you use it?
Computer Geeks in commercials? Yes my friends it is true. Meet Joe, our technical manager here at Computer Geeks. Joe is the friendly face you will normally see if you pop into our Beacon Hill office in Boston, MA. And more than likely he will be the one saving your bacon when you computer goes down. ?We often sit here on our blog and give you the latest and greatest in technology day after day, but every now and then, it is good to pimp the actual service that we offer.
Computer Geeks provides on site computer repair service, within 24 hours of your phone call. Computer Geeks has been around since 1996 doing computer repair. ?We service anything from virus removal on you Nana’s home computer to installing 20 computers and 2 servers at your new law office. Computer Geeks can handle it all. We are open 7 days a week and even on holidays. If you are in the Boston area, you can feel free to stop by our office on Beacon Hill and drop off your computer, or just stop by and ask us a question.
Also, we are not just a PC crowd here at Computer Geeks! Our technicians are versed in both MAC and PC. So bring us your Apple computer and we can fix it too! We can even help you transfer from Mac to PC or the other way around. Whatever help you need with your computer, Geek ?Choice is there for you, when you need it.
Some of the other Computer Repair services we offer include
