Users of Facebook know that it has a chat client which allows them to instantly message their Facebook friends when logged in. Until recently, that service was limited to just Facebook, preventing users from communicating with their Facebook friends when using other instant messaging clients (AIM, etc.) — unless those friends were already included in the user’s buddy list.
Some time ago, Facebook announced plans to link Facebook chat?s compatibility with XMPP-Jabber, the chat protocol implemented for Google Talk. Doing so would make Facebook Chat available for use with any IM client. After those plans were announced, Google never elaborated upon its development, leaving many to suspect the plans were scuttled.
However, just yesterday, Facebook announced the development of the chat client had been completed. With this available, users now have the option of using Facebook chat with any instant messaging client of their choice.
For those already using a multi-protocol client, configuration for use of this new feature is simple. All you need do is add a new Jabber or XMPP account, with the username following the username@chat.facebook.com model. Your password will be the same one you use for Facebook. For those who have not yet created a Facebook username, you?ll have to visit your settings page to create one.
After setup is complete, your Facebook friends will appear in your buddy list, becoming immediately available for chat sessions. Initially, it might prove a little confusing, as those Facebook friends who aren?t included on a friends list will appear in your instant messaging client?s buddy list. Without being automatically sorted, you?ll have to organize your friends by creating separate buddy lists. Though this might seem somewhat aggravating, it?s merely an additional step for those of you who absolutely need your friends organized in distinct groups.
This new service includes everything from your Facebook chat client, including profile thumbs and the ability to set your status as idle. Being new, the discovery of glitches are inevitable. Feel free to share them with us.
Social networking is all the craze, and this is just another means of staying tuned in to what your friends are up to.
You can read about the new Facebook Chat feature here.
Having so many friends on Facebook, it?s difficult to keep track of just how many photos of yourself that others have tagged. From that office retreat back in April to a family picture taken during the holidays, tagged photos can pop up out of nowhere, with you unknowingly present in some of them. Instead of asking them for a copy of that photo, you can use Photograbber, a neat utility that simply collects all of those photos in which your friends have tagged you and others.
Installation is simple. After its completion, Photograbber will scour the walls of your various friends for those pictures they?ve tagged. After selecting the Facebook friend from whom you want to grab, Photograbber will retrieve each and every one of the photos, storing them in a directory that you specify.
Photograbber doesn?t allow you to select which photos you want. When using it, Photograbber collects every tagged photo. Additionally, there is no way to preview the photos you?ve received, as Photograbber doesn?t provide any thumbnails of the images. You?ll have to open each photo to see what?s included.
We should also note that this will require that you?re actually friends with the individuals from whom you?re culling the photos. Depending on their privacy settings, you may find that Photograbber is unable to collect the photos.
If you?re someone who just needs to collect the photos of your Facebook friends, including those that feature you, this is an excellent and easy way to do so.
In this age of social networking, where making the public privy to the happenings of our personal life has become something of an industry, picture sharing is as common as sending emails. Whether you?re uploading a picture to Facebook or any number of the other sites you frequent, it?s important to pay close attention to the size of the pic you?re uploading, many of these sites placing restrictions on the size of the picture you?re sharing.
In the past, resizing pictures was something you did manually, using one of the various photo editors that included a feature for that purpose. Now, there?s a tool that runs in the background, automatically resizing your photos whenever you? upload them.
It?s a free utility called Shrink Pic, and it?s an extremely convenient tool for those who frequently upload or attach photos. It monitors your uploading, silently resizing the picture whenever you upload, attach or ? if transmitting via an Instant Messing client ? send it.
According to the definitions you set before using it, Shrink Pic automatically resizes the images, uploading the compressed image once it?s complete. Even if you?re uploading multiple pictures, which can be the case when using Facebook, Shrink Pic works to resize every last one. It moves fast, too, working almost instantly.
Shrink Pic doesn?t touch your original picture, moving the resized pictures to a temporary directory. If you want to disable the program, you need only deactivate it with an option available in the system tray.
Free and available for Windows only, Shrink Pic can be downloaded here.
Of critical importance to any of you who use social networking sites such as Facebook and the various applications to which you can subscribe while using them (think Mafia Wars, etc.) is the recent news of the RockYou Database being compromised by hackers.
Occurring on December 4th, the RockYou Database was infiltrated by the nefarious types who scour the internet for penetrable networks from which sensitive information can be retrieved and used for criminal purposes. Username and passwords were stolen, along with any other information that the RockYou application retrieves upon your use of it.
If it?s any consolation to those of you who might have fallen prey to this theft, none of the usernames and passwords have been published, but there?s nothing stopping the thieves from making them publically available ? or selling them, even — when they?re so inclined.
The company behind the RockYou app is largely to blame, carelessly storing the information in an insecure text format. In addition to Facebook, other social networking sites that use the application have seen their users? information hijacked, including Myspace and email services such as Gmail.
If you use any of these social networking sites, we strongly suggest that you change your password immediately, particularly if you?re someone who uses the same password for every site on which you?re a member.
Computer Geeks works hard to stay on top of the latest security issues to help keep your computers safe. If you have any questions about the RockYou hack and how it affects you, or if you’re concerned that your web accounts or computer may have been compromised, give us a call at 1-800-GEEK-HELP (433-5435) and our techs can help.
When using social networks such as MySpace or Facebook, privacy is of paramount concern, with the details of your private life sensitive enough that you might want to restrict the availability of that information to those people you trust.
Today, Facebook unveiled a revamped privacy interface, affording its users even more control over how their information is filtered to those viewing their pages. With over 350 million users, making it the world?s largest social network, Facebook is hoping this gives its users more flexibility over how they?re able to manage what they share amongst the community.
Per Facebook, the new changes include:
They?ve removed regional networks, finding that the various communities have become so large as to make its initial purpose inapplicable. Instead, users will be able to share information to friends, family, or publically.
Users will have a tool that assists in setting up their privacy, though the default settings will automatically block that information which is particularly sensitive.
No matter what the item you?re sharing, you will now be able to control who sees it, whether it?s loved ones or the public.
If you?re curious about what this means for your account, Facebook explains the changes in more detail here.
