Facebook posts

A few of my friends like to call themselves gamers. That is to say, a few of my friends who are not already (real) gamers like to label themselves as such. Perhaps you know folk like these. These folk play Farmville, and believe it qualifies as a videogame in more than name only. These people annoy gamers, non-gamers, friends and enemies alike with unrelenting Facebook notifications inviting one and all to partake in… whatever it is Farmville players do? Arrange flowers, or something? Anyway, I’m kind of letting my Farmville hate get away on me, here. That’s not the point. The point is that intelligent,…

My parents don’t know jack about the internet. We’re talking nothing more complicated than basic email. We’re talking, like… you know those real long, embarrassing parental messages they tend to leave on Facebook, because they don’t ‘get’ the unwritten laws of social networking? Actually, my mother doesn’t even know what Facebook is for. Bad example. Whatever, you get what I’m talking about. The 50+ crowd aren’t typically the most social-savvy folk. So it only adds insult to injury that a 100-year-old tree in Belgium is Facebooking with the best of them. The best of them, of course, being…

I’ve talked before about how no one in the tech industry is happy with the color of grass in their own patch. Apple wants to be Facebook. Google wants to be Apple. Microsoft wants to be anyone but Microsoft. Well here’s a rumor that could practically write itself. Mike Arrington at TechCrunch is reporting that according to internal sources, Facebook may be planning to release their own cell phone. The benefits of a Facebook phone are obvious: automatic contact integration, using names instead of numbers to make calls and of course, full Farmville integration for the agriculture junkies. But the…

If you’re at all a social network enthusiast, you’re probably interested in – or at least peripherally familiar with – Diaspora, the would-be Facebook killer that’s been the belle of the social networking debutante ball since its Kickstarter account went nuclear. Last evening, Diaspora’s source code was released to developers (well, everyone, but I for one am a little coding-dumb), and the public at large was finally given a glimpse of the (possible) future of social networking. For the moment, it looks a hell of a lot like Facebook. Honestly, that’s not a bad thing. Facebook’s got the right…

Facebook is, as we speak, rolling out a remote logout feature that will aid those who have absent-mindedly forgotten to sign out after a high-octane creeping session. The feature allows you to see a list of devices from which you’re currently signed in – your phone, your computer, the school’s computer, the library’s computer, the local display iPad, etc, and axe the session from any to all of those devices. It also logs the length of the session, and software used. Pretty zazzy. Honestly, in terms of privacy – which historically, of course, is not Facebook’s forte – this is a totally great new addition….

Hey, I don’t suppose you’re the type to buy people gift cards for special occasions, are you? Cuz, like, not to peg you as a lazy douche or anything, but you might be interested to know that Facebook Credits giftcards are soon gonna start showing up at the checkout at your local Target. The cards will allow your thoughtless self to say ‘I have no idea what you like’ in amounts of $15, $25 and $50, and absolve you completely of any mind or effort required to provide a loved one a truly unique gift. Besides, of course, the effort required to visit your local Target – overlooking the fact that you could just visit…

For years now, what web sites do with our data has become a serious problem in the online world. From confusing settings on Facebook – like their recent decision to again set strange defaults in Facebook Places – to online banking, how information about our lives is protected, distributed and use online has become a real issue. The big sticking point? Every individual site has its own rules about how it uses data. That means that not only do users have to carefully parse the user agreements for each site, they have to keep track of any ongoing changes. Think about that: that’s like you having to read…

A new study by Pew Internet suggests that more old people than ever are using social networks. Now, before the nethers of some of Techi’s most well-aged readers get all puckered, I’m defining ‘old’ as 50 and up. Come on now, that’s fair. You’re old. Deal. Last year, it was approximated that only 22 percent of internet users over the age of 50 were using social networks to stay in touch. (Frankly, us in the twentysomething demographic didn’t mind that at all – those who have their grandparents on Facebook know what I’m talking about – but you didn’t hear that from me). But fast forward 13 months, and that…

If you hate Facebook, mark the date September 15th in your calendar. The guys from Diaspora, the anti-Facebook, have announced that their product is ready to ship and will be open sourced in mid-September. The software began life as a Kickstarter project looking for $10,000 and ended up pulling in $200,642, allegedly including a donation by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Various alternatives to Facebook exist, but none provide the same full circle of social connectivity. Diaspora has the lofty goal of capturing what people love about Facebook while completely alleviating the security and…

Regular readers of Techi know that we love Digg and that, most of the time anyway, Digg loves us. So when Digg rolled out version 4 of its social aggregation site – or v4 as many have called it – many, including us, were excited, particularly because there have been rumors of Digg’s waning influence. The refresh promised to not only reinvigorate the platform, but also make it competitive with the massive influence of Facebook and increasing presence of Twitter. Alas, not all is well with the new Digg. In fact, many people are downright angry at some of the changes and flaws with the new site. Complaints…