Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Returning to Facebook after a year out
It was probably inevitable. After just over a year without Facebook, I'm back. Why? Actually, for the same reason that I left.
That reason is that Facebook is too good to miss - and that's why I'm back. I'd "closed" my account for a number of reasons. The main ones were that I was tired of "vampires Vs zombies" and other nonsense, and that Facebook had originally been a friends-and-family thing only ... but that quickly changed as business connections started adding me. The line between business contact and friend is a a very blurry line in many cases.
This time I'm back with a dumbed-down, locked-down profile. It took about 20 minutes to go through the various settings and tighten my security preferences away from the very liberal defaults ... 12 hours later I have 35 friends - a mixture of business and social contacts.
It's good to be back. Yes, really. It had become clear that I was missing out ... "oh, I posted those photos on Facebook" was a comment I heard many times - followed by the "oh I guess I could send you a couple of them". Not being on Facebook was requiring people in my network to make the extra effort.
Together with Twitter, it should be a powerful combo. As I've previously commented, Twitter gives me the feeling that I really know the people I'mstalking following a lot better. Add in Facebook and we're going to get really intimate - as long as you let me share.
As for what's on my Facebook profile? Well, my friends are welcome to take a look. I've turned off the infamous "Wall" (this is Facebook sans frontieres) and won't bothering with any third-party add-ins, quizzes etc. Just the plain vanilla version. I've already added a couple of pictures from a weekend skiing trip and I'll probably add more stuff that gives the impression that I'm a wholesome, sporting, family man. Which of course I am.
That reason is that Facebook is too good to miss - and that's why I'm back. I'd "closed" my account for a number of reasons. The main ones were that I was tired of "vampires Vs zombies" and other nonsense, and that Facebook had originally been a friends-and-family thing only ... but that quickly changed as business connections started adding me. The line between business contact and friend is a a very blurry line in many cases.
This time I'm back with a dumbed-down, locked-down profile. It took about 20 minutes to go through the various settings and tighten my security preferences away from the very liberal defaults ... 12 hours later I have 35 friends - a mixture of business and social contacts.
It's good to be back. Yes, really. It had become clear that I was missing out ... "oh, I posted those photos on Facebook" was a comment I heard many times - followed by the "oh I guess I could send you a couple of them". Not being on Facebook was requiring people in my network to make the extra effort.
Together with Twitter, it should be a powerful combo. As I've previously commented, Twitter gives me the feeling that I really know the people I'm
As for what's on my Facebook profile? Well, my friends are welcome to take a look. I've turned off the infamous "Wall" (this is Facebook sans frontieres) and won't bothering with any third-party add-ins, quizzes etc. Just the plain vanilla version. I've already added a couple of pictures from a weekend skiing trip and I'll probably add more stuff that gives the impression that I'm a wholesome, sporting, family man. Which of course I am.
Labels: facebook, social networking
Monday, March 02, 2009
A near miss
On the day that experts predict a slump in PC sales, I just missed a motherboard burn-out ... a rogue USB port was to blame. It had stopped working and rather than throw it away take it to an electronics waste recycling point, I fiddled...trying a replacement power supply with the same(ish) power output.
The result: A catastrophic FAIL. The PC reacted badly - it blew all its cooling fans at max speed for four short bursts and then switched off. No shutdown, just off.
And of course it had everything attached to other USB sockets - the expensive fast CF flash card for the D-SLR, an iPod, a printer ... you name it. Fearing the worst I opened up the case and had a good sniff around (like a parent short-cut checking on a baby to see if the nappy needs changing!) but couldn't smell that fearsome smell of burning electronics ... so gingerly reconnected - and ... it all works.
Except that rogue USB device. That's in the (sin) bin.
The result: A catastrophic FAIL. The PC reacted badly - it blew all its cooling fans at max speed for four short bursts and then switched off. No shutdown, just off.
And of course it had everything attached to other USB sockets - the expensive fast CF flash card for the D-SLR, an iPod, a printer ... you name it. Fearing the worst I opened up the case and had a good sniff around (like a parent short-cut checking on a baby to see if the nappy needs changing!) but couldn't smell that fearsome smell of burning electronics ... so gingerly reconnected - and ... it all works.
Except that rogue USB device. That's in the (sin) bin.
Labels: tech
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