Suprablog HQ

I did some thinking recently about Facebook Connect. With its proliferation and certain sites marketing it pretty heavily, I got to thinking about why I generally don’t want to use it. It boils down to the fact that I’m not sure what particular interaction any site or application using Facebook Connect will have with my Facebook profile.

How will it notify users of my profile that I’m using the application, if at all? Is there any sort of guarantee that it won’t notify in certain ways? At least sometimes I want to be able to post in a way that I know for certain that the information I create in one context (a cooking site, political site, technology site, doesn’t really matter), won’t be automatically shared on my Facebook profile in any way. It’s actually not related to wanting to keep this information private from any of my Facebook Friends, as I don’t mind if they stumble upon it some other way, but I don’t want explicitly to notify my Facebook profile because I don’t want to publish in that “identity context”.

So from a branding perspective, Facebook needs to do a better job creating structure around what Facebook Connect is and what the social protocol/contract is around its use in every case where it’s used.

Certainly some of this is vestiges of the massive inundation of application notifications people used to get in the earlier days of Facebook, which put me in the habit of disabling every application and never installing any because I don’t want the notification overhead.

Perhaps Facebook could have a different designation for something like a “Facebook Login”, restricted to only authentication and the use of my Facebook name and Avatar. Then “Facebook Connect” could represent where any activity could possibly be notified back into my Facebook profile.

Until then, I’ll hesitate to use Facebook Connect until I have a better sense of how it will work in any given case. The “transaction cost” of using it is simply too high, by forcing me to figure out in each case how to manage my identity. This is similar in some respects to why microtransactions haven’t taken off, because the cost of making the decision often exceeds the value of the transaction itself.

Connecticut community college computer systems are at risk of becoming infected due to users performing non-work related activities. A newsletter was sent to all staff and faculty which loosely said: “Don’t do non-work related activities online or we will confiscate your computer!” I feel this was a little harsh, especially since I’ve not worked with the IT department in four years…but whatever. It’s true though.

Malware is any malicious software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system. Unlike years ago when malware was primarily created by “computer geeks” as pranks to demonstrate their mastery of the computer, today’s malware is increasingly the result of organized criminal activity aimed at collecting identification or financial data. Today, sophisticated “infections” record user keystrokes and transmit the data in the background to sites in other parts of the world.  And the activity is growing at a pace that anti-virus vendors can’t keep up with. In 2008, there were over 2 million new malware variants discovered – more than the total of all prior years combined.

Interesting statistic-Even at 100% productivity, security software can only protect a computer from 80% of threats. (according to a press release from The CCC) According to the US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) anti-virus software is not the be-all end-all for computer security.

Because it relies on signatures, anti-virus software can only detect viruses that have signatures installed on your computer, so it is important to keep these signatures up to date. You will still be susceptible to viruses that circulate before the anti-virus vendors add their signatures, so continue to take other safety precautions as well.

Recently on the BBC, there was a news article about a man who used trojans to hijack people’s web-cams. Key hacking sites are known to disseminate malware, along with the vast majority of pornography sites. Email attachments are a big concern to me, due to the fact that so many of the people I know will open scam attachments thinking they are okay because they are supposedly from people they “know” or sources they trust. The US-Cert has this to say:

Resist believing email chain letters that claim that a well-known anti-virus vendor has recently detected the “worst virus in history” that will destroy your computer’s hard drive. These emails are usually hoaxes (see Identifying Hoaxes and Urban Legends for more information). You can confirm virus information through your anti-virus vendor or through resources offered by other anti-virus vendors.

The best way to stay protected is to stay informed! Do the research first before downloading anything or visiting sites without checking their security. The US-CERT has useful information found here too, that all should read.

Last.fm is my favorite thing online. What is it? It’s much more than an online radio service. Add a mix of social networking to streaming music and ooh statistics, and you have last.fm in a nutshell. For every song, every album, every band, every genre, and every tag there is a dedicated statistic page all syncing with your library as you listen to your personalized radio.

The statistics is pretty awesome. Last.fm’s ‘audioscrobbler’ scrobbles–or records–songs you listen to and builds charts, kind of like top 40, only way better. For people like me who have had the service for years there are statistics going back to the first song you ever listened to. You can browse your listening habits and discover new artists that you might like all based on the tracks you and other people listen to.

Like a particular band? Put “Muse” into the music search box, and give them and their similar artists a listen! You can ‘love’ tracks, ban tracks, and tag tracks. On my profile I have several tags to create playlists. You can listen to “neighborhood radio” and find out what your peers listen to.

The coolest feature on last.fm is probably the Music Compatibility feature. When visiting somebody else’s profile, a small bar will display showing your compatibility with their music tastes. This makes making friends online so easy. Adding friends is a mutual thing as it is on Facebook, each person has to reciprocate the friend request.

If you want to add me, look me up: http://last.fm/user/doormayhew

Facebook. Myspace. Livejournal. Youtube. Last.fm. Deviatart. There are so many websites that people use to put themselves ‘out there’ for the world to see. My generation is a generation of communication and identity. And yet, my generation is also the generation of internet piracy, and also the generation that came up with anonymous web browsing and downloading. I find it ironic when I find tweets on twitter about the latest torrent downloads. Common sense about piracy is one would want to do it secretly, axxo. The internet for my generation is designed for anonymous exhibitionism. A paradox, yes. But not one hard to understand. 

Exhibitionism is the act of putting one’s self on display. Anonymity is the exact opposite-hiding one’s self. Both words bring to mind one website in particular…Myspace. 

I will use Myspace as an example. Almost every parent knows of Myspace and the dangers of having a Myspace page. Internet bullies, pedophiles and good old fashioned creeps hang out there, pretending to be someone else. And yet thousands of people flock to Myspace everyday to create personal profiles.. Surely Myspace itself is not inherently evil, but user beware of what you put out in the public eye. Employers, significant others, and others use the information found on these personal profile pages to their benefit, whatever that may be. Some people use this site to spy on the lives of family members and or friends.

Myspace was the first really prominent one out there and ended up under fire by the media quite often. Facebook has tried to squash the anonymous “fake” profiles by putting it in their terms of service to use their real name. Some of my friends still don’t. These friends still mind having their name googled apparently.

On the flip side of things, we have private browsing efforts and private downloading programs and ip address ‘veils’ and proxy servers all to mask who we are when on the internet. What would happen if you got caught looking at something nsfw or downloading free music illegally? Your isp calls the athorities for the latter and you get fired for the former. So, naturally, people want to do risque things online and not get caught, so they do their darndest to hide who they really are. 

And then, there are some that respect the fact there is no privacy and that it’s all relative in the long run. If you don’t mind everyone knowing your business use the internet. Once you put it out there it’s never going to be private again.

Psychologically, the commercial world is rather daunting. Stores are built not only to appeal to the public but to also overstimulate one or more senses. We see this in large department stores as well as grocery stores and even small shops. I repeatedly see customers in a trance-like state in the shoe store I manage. I call this behavior ’shopper’s fog’. The symptoms seen from afar are rather humorous: disorganized walking, mumbling, poor eye contact, talking to one’s self, being oblivious to signage and personel, as well as compulsively destroying displays.

Does that sound like you while shopping? Would you like to avoid and even change this behavior? These seven steps can help.

1. Make a list (and follow it!) What this does is to keep the mind focused on what you need rather than what your eye wants.

2. Look for signs. Find what you need by using signs and going to your destination. An example of this is going to the pants section in the tall area.

3. Speed it up! When preparing your list, organize it by aisle. In store, don’t wander looking for what you need wasting your and other shoppers’ valuable time.

4. Bring reinforcements. Bring along a companion and send them on ‘missions’ getting things on the list. With kids especially this becomes a fun and productive activity and teaches good shopping habits.

5. Smile and wave. Greet personel and acknowledge them. Good etiquite is being polite and courteous right back at employees offering you assistance.

6. Observe with your eyes. Displays are made to attract and appeal to the customer. Don’t look at displays with your hands unless you are going to put it back the way it was.

7. Utilize services. Ask for help whenever you need to. Make sure you are polite and courteous and the assistant will help you in whatever he or she can. This makes your shopping trip go smoother and helps improve employee’s customer service skills.

So if you can’t stand shopping because it makes you feel like a zombie or you love shopping but it just takes too long or you have a bad time shopping, try my advice. I can assure you it works on both the shopper side and the company side. You won’t feel in a fog, and you’ll be a joy to associates.

In my last post I went on a slight rant about the Pirate Bay. Hopefully by now, our readers know where we stand on internet piracy- i.e. it’s an illegal activity and illegal activity is bad. But the question still remains: is bit torrent therefore as a protocol bad?

First off, bit torrent, for those of you living under a rock, is an extremely effecient file transfer protocol. The vast majority of file transfers however are copyrighted material such as movies and music. The MPAA and INTERPOL are trying to put the kabosh on this kind of file transfer much like similar forms of piracy. Of course, internet piracy will always be around in some form, but because so many people use this form of protocol, it is naturally the biggest target.

So, is it inherantly evil, this protocol? Quick answer: no. Bit torrent is a super fast form of transferring large files from one computer to another without corrupting the data. Huge disc images or .iso files can easily be distributed along with other types of files. I personally have used it to transfer giant data heavy 3d model files between myself and a friend working on a film together. Downloading Linux distros is a breeze with bit torrent. In fact many software companies distrobute software and updates via “download managers” which essentially uses this protocol without actually saying so. Pretty sneaky, eh?

Laws protect the protocol now, but with it under so much fire, who knows its future?

With my BlackBerry on at last legs, or the battery at least (I hope), I figured I would use a blog post as an excuse to do some research on possible new phones.

Since I’m a technologist, I try to choose devices that will inform me somehow on the market. Since I don’t own an iPhone, for example, it’s hard to know much about the experience and what everyone’s all talking about.

However, I’m still not sold on the iPhone despite having played around with it a bunch, and I have a lot of interest in the Google Android platform. I first learned about the technical underpinnings of Android from this presentation (warning, long and technical):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm6Ju0xhUW8

So, I’d like to own an Android phone to use it as an excuse to hack on it. As much as I love my BlackBerry, I’m willing to give another device a shot where I think it has a chance at creating a large ecosystem and market around it. For example, I don’t think the Palm Pre has enough momentum yet despite its being a very innovative and sophisticated product.

Unfortunately, the only carrier in the US that currently sells Android phones is T Mobile, and I will not use them. They screwed me out of a lot of money and I don’t like them at all.

However, if this rumor is true:

http://www.androidcentral.com/motorola-sholes-runs-android-launch-verizon

It means that Verizon might be having an Android device coming to their network. I’d happily switch to Verizon from AT&T even though I’ve had a fairly good experience with AT&T and my BlackBerry Curve. It seems like the Motorola Sholes will also be available for AT&T as well, but one thing I couldn’t figure out in my research is if it would record video, something I would like.

As I ran across this site researching:

http://www.mobilewhack.com/2009/07/index.html?page=2

it occurred to me that there’s such an incredible amount of activity and excitement in the mobile space in general. It would be cool if there were a retail store that only carried the coolest phones on the market from around the world, with instructions on how to run them on local networks if possible. At least it might put some market pressure on the companies to open up their networks a bit.

One such device I’d love to see in such a store is Nokia’s N900:

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/08/28/an-early-peek-at-the-nokia-n900/

I really liked the Nokia phone’s I’ve owned in the past, but they haven’t had a mainstream smartphone in a while, or at least it seems that way to me. The device seems rather powerful, but it’s hard to imagine their creating a developer ecosystem around their software stack, even if it’s based on Maemo Linux.

Here’s an example of the type of applications that developers are creating around Android (although I’m sure there are some for the iPhone as well):

http://www.talkandroid.com/1264-layar-mobile-augmented-reality-app/

It’s an “Augmented Reality” mobile browser. More evidence of the innovation going on in the mobile space.

Finally, here’s an excellent article about creating new highways and parking lots with intelligent solar panels instead of asphalt:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/solar_roadways.php

Let’s hope they figure out a way to include some type of WIFI GRID as well! :)

We have, ourselves, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our Internets, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.Even though large parts of Internets and many old and famous trackers have fallen or may fall into the grip of the (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) and all the odious apparatus of MPAA rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the ef-nets and darknets, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Internets, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the baywords.org, we shall fight on the /. and on the digg, we shall fight in the courts; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, the Internets or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the Anon Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in Cerf’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

Signed;
The Pirate Bay Crew - Now until needed

Arrrr, they be walkin’ the plank tho’ they speak. No matter what they try to do they will be shut down eventually. Yes, yes, everyone knows file sharing is illegal according to the MPAA and FBI and INTERPOL and whoever all else. Sad to say though, everyone has done it at least once that I know personally, and usually for things as innocuous as Linux distro downloads. Music, movies, TV shows and software are among the most popular things to download and People are trying to find work arounds to stay annonymous. Is there such thing as annononimity  on the internet? I don’t think so, not even with things like the Tor Network, famous for Onion routing. I do not say the biggest torrent tracker online will be shut down lightly. I have followed a number of trackers’ demise in the recent years, and sad to say, no matter how hard The Pirate Bay fights back, they will lose the war. So many have gone under, and it will never stop till somehow one of two things happens: one, piracy will be legalized (yeah, right) or two, all internet piracy has been shut down (might I give another mighty yeah, right).

The science of bit torrent is amazing, and I have read many an article concerning how it all works. Sadly the purpose of this editorial is to express my dismay in the fight The Bay puts up. It’s inevitable, whatever global server hosts them will be brought down, no matter what business proposal is made to save The Bay will come to a crushing end. It’s just sad, and they should learn to put up the white flag of surrender.

Texting on the one hand is amazingly simple and time effective. On the other, they are still limited length-wise and more and more people use “txt shrt-hnd” which to me is just lazy. Instant messaging too has its drawbacks…especially when going mobile. Sadly IM turns into “txt shrt-hnd” because of the allotted length of the messages on cell phones.
Now back in the olden-days there was good old fashioned message boarding, one of my many loves. There is no mobile messaging equivalent…yet. Mobile email almost cuts the mustard but it falls short with the subscription fees which are often mucho expensive. If only there was a mobile device to do all of our communicating with us in what ever form we choose…
In my last post I briefly covered what I want in such a device. I’m kind of talking about a cyber-wallet to carry digital forms of currency, identification and personal effects. It could make calls: local, long distance, and international. It could even do terse messaging, email and collect RSS feeds for its owner. And it wouldn’t work outside range of its owner. All for a flat fee. Sounds nice doesn’t it? I’d call it the mySphere…which runs Supraphere. Could it happen? For sure!

The global mobile economy is something that completely threw me for a loop this past weekend. I was at a three day seminar in Amherst, and in the 5,000+ audience, nearly everyone had a cellphone and was texting or calling or on the web. Thankfully they were not using them during the sessions, but still, that is a lot of money going into the hands of the mobile industry.

How could the mobile market be booming still with the price of milk skyrocketing? Well, in short, it’s just essential to have a phone. It doesn’t really matter if you can afford to eat, you’ll just die without a phone of some sort. I just bought a new UTStarcom TXT8010 from Verizon, and I actually go to bed with it beside me. It’s vital to have a cell, even just for an alarm clock.

My experience at the convention triggered an idea. A grand one.

What if everyone had a cellphone that contained all their information in it like a wallet? And what if all that information was secure by two ways: one, by using Suprasecure cloud computing, and two, by only operating when near the owner of the phone, much like many car keys on new cars are?

Sounds like a dream, no? It soon may become possible.

Now for the sales report. I chose Verizon not only for the fact that I use them, but nearly everyone I know has Verizon too. Word of mouth sales must be a contributing factor in sales as well as the “in” network for texting and calling. Here’s the facts for their wireless sales.

• 87.7 million total customers, up 27.7 percent; 85.2 million retail customers, up 27.8 percent; 1.1 million net customer additions, excluding acquisitions and adjustments, all retail.
• 27.7 percent increase in total revenues; industry-leading retail postpaid churn, 1.01 percent; data revenues up 52.6 percent; 28.8 percent operating income margin and 46.3 percent EBITDA margin on service revenues (non-GAAP).
• Integration of Alltel operations on schedule

I got all that information here. Good stuff that is. As for AT&T, the facts are below.

• 1.4 million net gain in total wireless subscribers to reach 79.6 million, up 6.7 million over the past year
• 1.2 million retail postpaid wireless net adds, the company’s best-ever second-quarter total — up 29.0 percent from results in the year-earlier quarter and up 31.8 percent versus the first quarter of 2009; record low postpaid subscriber churn at 1.09 percent
• More than 2.4 million iPhone activations in the second quarter, reflecting a record-setting iPhone 3GS launch; including iPhone, more than 3.5 million increase in 3G integrated devices in service (handsets with QWERTY or virtual keyboards in addition to voice functionality)

Just thought that was interesting. I have an AT&T cell phone as well, but sadly the LCD screen broke. The warranty is up on it, and the company will not even address the broken screen. Sad to say, I don’t like AT&T.

So there you have it.