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…Just for Fun.
Facebook Testing a “Stalker Button”
Sep 3rd
Facebook is apparently testing a new subscription feature that would allow users to receive alerts any time a specific friend takes certain actions on the social network.AllFacebook reports that it has noticed the new feature popping up on friends’ profiles. FacebookFacebook
told the blog, “This feature is being tested with a small percent of users. It lets people subscribe to friends and pages to receive notifications whenever the person they?€™ve subscribed to updates their status or posts new content (photos, videos, links or notes).”In other words, when you click to subscribe to a user, you’ll get a new Facebook notification in your notifications bar at the top of the site or on the mobile device of your choosing any time that other user posts content. We’re not sure yet if you can subscribe to someone who’s not a friend, which is much more stalker-like, or if notifications include likes and comments (right now, it sounds like they won’t).
are hoping this is an opt-in (or at least an opt-out) feature. If Facebook thinks subscriptions are a useful for the majority of average users, people who might want to get special notifications for family members’ or loved ones’ activities, they’re also potentially damaging if rolled out to jealous “frenemies,” vindictive exes or nosy bosses.What do you think of the “subscribe” button? Is there anyone in your life you’d subscribe to? What about others subscribing to you — would you like or dislike that feature?Let us know your thoughts in the comments.[img credits: AllFacebook and jvk]
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Read the rest here: Facebook Testing a “Stalker Button”
HOW TO: Track Hurricane Earl Online
Sep 3rd
Hurricane Earl is expected to wreak some havoc on the East Coast this Labor Day weekend. According to the the National Hurricane Center, Earl is expected ?€?pass near the North Carolina outer banks tonight [Thursday]?€? and approach southeastern New England Friday night.?€?President Obama has declared a state of emergency for North Carolina, and FEMA has deployed teams to North Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.Whether you live near the National Hurricane Center?€™s official ?€?Forecast Cone?€? or you?€™re one of the 34.4 million people who planned a trip for this weekend, you?€™ll want to keep an eye on Earl. Here are some resources to kickstart your tracking:
Government Resources
The National Weather Service
NOAA?€™s nowCOAST
NASA Earth Science Office
Weather Media Resources
MyFoxHurricane.com
The Weather Channel
AccuWeather.com
Google Maps Mashups
Ibiseye
map. It?€™s especially useful for finding at what time and with what intensity the storm is expected to reach a specific point. A graphical synopsis of the storm?€™s winds, pressure and wind field is also available.StormAdvisory
Weather Underground
Stormpulse: A Hurricane Tracking Dashboard
Mobile Resources
- The Weather Channel App for iPhoneiPhone or BlackBerryBlackBerry Rocks!The free version of the Weather Channel?€™s app for both iPhone and BlackBerry will alert you to weather advisories in your area and check in on the current forecast. The iPhone version comes with an updated local video forecast as well. If you want more from your weather source, a $3.99 iPhone version of the app comes with access to an entire video center and a database of beach condition reports. The Weather Channel also claims this is the only weather app with animated future radar.
- Hurricane iPhone AppAnything a storm tracker could want: animated satellite and radar, computer models, NHC bulletins, forecasts, your distance from each forecast point and all the vital stats (including wind speed, direction and pressure). You can keep this $1.99 app on your phone after Earl has passed for the latest updates from government hurricane centers.
- Hurricane Wallpaper Android AppDownload this $0.99 AndroidAndroid app, and you’ll never be without your weather map. You can keep the current National Hurricane Center?€™s Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Activity image up on your phone as your wallpaper.
- MyFoxHurricane iPhone AppThe resources of MyFoxHurricane.com (as discussed earlier in this post) in a $3.99 iPhone app. Get access to breaking news and videocasts from the site as well as radar and satellite images. You can also look at past hurricanes in your area to see how Earl compares.
- Hurricane Hound Android AppThis Android app shows the storm’s current position, projected storm track and storm warnings on a Google map. It also lets you know how far away you are from the storm at any given moment. And it?€™s free, which we like.
- AccuWeather.com iPhone AppNot fancy but still free, AccuWeather.com?€™s iPhone app will alert you to weather advisories in your zip code. Aside from accessing the usual web forecast, you can also access video forecasts for your area.
- Hurricane Central Web App Tired of downloading apps? Hurricane Central is a bare-bones mobile site for hurricane information. It pulls maps, advisories and other hurricane announcements from the National Hurricane Center.
Twitter Resources
- @VisitNC: The official tourism site for North Carolina, the state which is predicted to take the brunt of the blow, is tweeting travel conditions and beach closings as well as posing some interesting questions, such as, ?€?What message in the sand would you write for Hurricane #Earl??€? It’s good to see them keeping a sense of humor.
- @CNNweather: Breaking news from CNN, including new weather warnings and forecasts.
- @breakingweather: AccuWeather.com?€™s TwitterTwitter feed for breaking news (including hurricanes).
- @TWCBreaking: If you prefer the Weather Channel to AccuWeather, this is its very similar breaking news Twitter feed.
- @MyFoxHurricane: Twitter resource from Fox?€™s dedicated hurricane website (mentioned above).
- @hurricanes: The Science News Blog?€™s hurricane coverage, which focuses on the Atlantic region.
- @wunderground: Severe weather warnings and updates from Weather Underground.
- @stormpulse: Frequent storm updates and advisories on tropical storms and hurricanes.
- @NASAHurricane: NASA is equipped like no other organization to cover hurricanes (e.g., they’re able to fly directly into the eye of a hurricane). Follow this feed so you don?€™t miss their updates.
- @hurricanetrack: Let someone else track the hurricane in person. Get live video streams from HurricaneTrack.com.
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More Social Media Resources from Mashable:
– 5 Fun FarmVille Accessories – Facebook Privacy: 6 Years of Controversy – A Brief History of Digg – 20 Cool Twitter Accounts for Daily Fun and Inspiration – 7 Cool Chrome Extensions for Twitter
Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, EricHood
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The Facebook Skit
Sep 3rd
Penn Masala presents The Facebook Skit, a parody of Enrique Iglesias’ song Hero. Check out Penn Masala on Facebook at: www.facebook.com Penn Masala is the world’s first and premier Hindi a cappella group, formed in 1996 at the University of Pennsylvania. www.pennmasala.com
Read more here: The Facebook Skit
New York’s Newest Law Aims to Protect Online Daters
Sep 3rd
It’s something you’d expect to hear from your mother, not your government, but New York’s newest laws are all about exercising common sense when looking for love online.Sounding like something between a schoolteacher and a public service announcement, the Internet safety act will require online dating websites to warn their users about the potential perils of web-based romance.The caveats seem like the kind of best practices any mindful Internet user would have internalized years ago. Things like not giving out your physical address and providing your own transportation on initial dates, for example, are no-brainers.But the act also includes clauses about not revealing your employer or last name; a simple search engine could be used as a tool for stalking or much worse in the grimmest scenarios.And another point made in the act is proof of how much dating has changed in the past 20 years: Users are warned against giving out their phone numbers in the first volley of e-mails back and forth between themselves and any strangers they may meet on a dating site.Basically, the government is trying to make sure dating websites do everything they can to keep users from releasing identifying information until it’s safe and appropriate.Although online dating is a huge business, we can’t imagine many companies having a problem with this requirement of consumer awareness, depending on how it’s carried out. In fact, such a law might even be beneficial on a national level. One other state — New Jersey — has enacted a similar law already.What do you think of the Internet safety act in New York? Do you think it’s an appropriate, common-sense measure for dating websites to have to take? Or is it a futile reaction to Internet-linked violent crimes, which may have little to do with dating sites specifically?Let us know your opinions in the comments.
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Continued here: New York’s Newest Law Aims to Protect Online Daters
Morning Brief: Ubuntu 10.10 Beta, Plex Partners with LG, Verizon Prepaid Plans
Sep 3rd
This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G, America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology.
Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.Ubuntu 10.10 Beta Now AvailableThe first beta for the next version of the popular Linux distribution Ubuntu, dubbed Maverick Meerkat, is now available for testing.While the final release isn’t expected to ship until October 10, users who aren’t afraid of encountering some bugs are encouraged to download and test the new version.For netbook users, the Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition features a brand new default user interface designed to better take advantage of screen proportions for smaller devices. The desktop version will feature improvements to the Ubuntu Software Center and faster boot times.Users can download Ubuntu 10.10 beta 1 from Ubuntu.com.Plex Partners with LG to Take On Apple TV, BoxeePlex, a popular media center for Mac OS X, has announced that it will be partnering with LG Electronics to bring the Plex platform to LG’s 2011 NetCast line of HDTVs and Blu-ray devices.On the Plex blog, Co-founder Elan Feingold discusses how Plex will now be able to compete with Boxee and the Apple TV, while remaining free to use on a Mac or iOS device (Android coming soon) or via an LG HDTV or Blu-ray player.Plex, which like Boxee is a fork of the original XBMC project, recently released its latest version, Plex Nine. For users interested in running their own home media server, Plex is a very attractive option.Verizon Offers Pre-paid Data Plans for Some SmartphonesVerizon Wireless will be offering no-contract prepaid data plans for some smartphones later this month. The company will be offering a $30 per month unlimited data pay-as-you-go plan for eligible devices. Multimedia phones (non-smartphones with media features built in), customers can prepay $10 per month for 25MB of data, plus 20 cents per megabyte over that limit.Eligible smartphones include select BlackBerry models (Curve, Storm, Storm2, Tour, Bold); the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus; Motorola’s DROID, DROID X and DROID 2; and HTC DROID Eris, HTC DROID Incredible.Prepaid smartphone data plans will be available on September 28.Further News
- Six Apart is shuttering its Vox blogging service on September 30. No new posts can be created after September 15, and blogs will be inaccessible after September 30. Vox has a page dedicated to helping users migrate their content to TypePad, Posterous or WordPress.com.
- Apple’s new iTunes Ping social network is off to a rocky start. Facebook turned off access to the app and musicians are confused as to how to actually use the service. Many international users continue to be unable to access the service.
- Google Wave may live on as its own stand-alone project known as “Wave in a Box.” Let the jokes begin!
- Facebook has just introduced a remote logout security feature. This means that when you accidentally decide to check Facebook from your boyfriend’s computer, you can log out before he gets smart to the fact that you’re chatting with other guys on the side.
Series supported by HTC EVO 4G
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Continue reading here: Morning Brief: Ubuntu 10.10 Beta, Plex Partners with LG, Verizon Prepaid Plans
Facebook Fever!
Sep 3rd
Have ya got the FB Fever? hahaa 
Add me on Facebook! www.facebook.com Subscribe for more! 
www.youtube.com
Read the original here: Facebook Fever!
Apple Introduces “Ping” Music Social Network and iTunes 10
Sep 2nd
” that he described as FacebookFacebook meets TwitterTwitter for music.Ping allows users to follow others, just like Twitter. You can follow artists or your friends to find out what they’re listening or what they’re creating. It has custom song and album charts, a news feed, 17,000+ concert listings, and is available to 160 million iTunes users. Ping will be available not only for iTunes on the desktop, but for iPhone and iPod touch as well.Jobs also touted the growth of iTunes and the iTunes store. He announced that more than 11.7 billion songs have been downloaded through iTunes. 450 million TV episodes and 100 million movies have been sold through Apple’s music software, while 35 million books have been downloaded through the iBooks store.iTunes 10 is available starting today.
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See more here: Apple Introduces “Ping” Music Social Network and iTunes 10
What I Learned From My Purple Star Lenses
Sep 2nd
Today I completed an exercise of going back through all of my purple star lenses, adding each of them to a new lens, a purple star lensography of sorts. After I was finished, I realized that I had learned something very important about myself and about crafting lenses.
What I learned isn’t anything new. In fact, it’s something that many of us offer as good advice to new lensmasters on a regular basis. That advice? Make lenses from your heart.
Another way of stating it is to write lenses on topics you’re passionate about, things that mean something to you. The reason that is good advice is that the end result is meaningful and, almost always, of a higher quality than when you write about something to which you have no personal connection.
Of my 14 purple star lenses, almost all of them are what I would judge as very good to excellent lenses. There are a couple that, frankly, I’d place in the “good” category; I’m not so sure they quite measure up to “very good.” And it turns out that the best of the best are on topics that I felt passionate about or had a strong personal connection to at the time they were written. The just “good” lenses, not so much.
Of course I know that I’m not able to judge my own lenses totally objectively, but after three-plus years on Squidoo I know an excellent lens when I see one, even if it is my own. I know how to recognize a “good” lens, too.
My point, which I’m not sure I’m stating very clearly, is that if quality matters to you, if you want to make a truly great lens, then put the money motive on the back burner and choose a subject that is really, truly close to your heart. If just “good” is good enough (and sometimes it is good enough), then settle for a subject that will meet some other goal or objective, such as increasing your earnings.
As for me, from now on I’m going to weigh more carefully my passions and my motives when I choose a topic for a lens and do my best to make each lens purple star-worthy by injecting into it a little piece of my heart.
Read more: What I Learned From My Purple Star Lenses
Facebook Connect Disappears from iTunes Ping
Sep 2nd
Late last evening, Apple released iTunes 10 and its new Ping social network to the public. Assuming you were able to access the service, you may have noticed the ability to add friends via Facebook Connect, a feature we mentioned in our first-impressions post last night.That feature disappeared earlier this morning, as first noted by Peter Kafka. So where did the feature go and why did it disappear? According to AllThingsD, Facebook was responsible for turning off Apple’s access to its Facebook Connect API. Typically this API is open to just about any application developer. However, with higher-volume apps (think social games and services with lots and lots of users), Facebook apparently requires a special agreement for these kinds of connections.According to AllThingsD’s sources, an agreement between Apple and Facebook couldn’t be reached, so Facebook cut off access. Apple subsequently removed the feature from its service. Users can still be added by searching by name or via e-mail address. However, it’s important to note that the e-mail address is the one associated with a user’s iTunes account. I have a special iTunes-only address in place, which means that anyone who wants to follow me will have to use my name.This isn’t the first time Facebook has turned off its data hose to another company. Twitter briefly introduced a Facebook follow feature before Facebook shut off access.Apple and Facebook have worked together in the past, most notably with the Share via Facebook option first introduced in iTunes 9 and the App Store Facebook Page.As it stands, if you did manage to use Facebook Connect with iTunes Ping last night, the app itself is still visible in Facebook and you can see which friends are also connected.We would be surprised if this feature didn’t make a reappearance at some point. That’s a good thing, because Facebook is becoming the de facto social graph for many users and makes the friend discovery process much easier.We’ve reached out to Facebook and Apple for comment on this particular issue.
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More here: Facebook Connect Disappears from iTunes Ping
Ping Is the Last Nail in the Coffin for MySpace
Sep 2nd
, I would be shaking in my boots.Earlier today, Apple launched iTunes 10, the latest rendition of its wildly popular music software. Really though, iTunes 10 is just a vessel for PingPing, Apple’s new music-centric social network. Available immediately to iTunes’s 160 million+ users through the desktop, iPhone and iPod touch, Ping is a social network where users can follow their friends and their favorite artists.As Apple CEO Steve Jobs described it, Ping is FacebookFacebook + TwitterTwitter for music. It centers around a newsfeed of what your friends are listening to and watching through iTunes. It provides custom song and album charts, as well as 17,000+ concert listings and, of course, deep integration with the full library of iTunes content.Ping’s Potential Effect on MySpace
.Wouldn’t it be easier to get people to preorder right from within iTunes? Yes, and that’s what Apple is hoping will happen. By getting people to interact with artists in iTunes, it hopes to sell more digital records. Artists have the same goal, and deeper integration with iTunes will surely help them achieve it.Nail in the Coffin
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