Geek in Heels - Page 164

Jan 25, 2010 • In Facebook, Personal, Relationships, Web

Facebook No More

A few weeks ago, I deactivated my Facebook account.

The funny thing is that although I had 350+ “Friends,” I’m pretty sure that not one person noticed my absence.

Not even my husband. (Thanks, hun!)

While the whole prospect made me a bit sad — because this essentially meant that something horrible could’ve happened to me and no one would know or even care — I began to realize that my life as a whole was better because I’ve cut Facebook out of my life.

Too Big, Too Much

I was probably among the first 10,000 to join Facebook in 2002 2004 (thanks Sherry for the correction). My university was only the second or third to have a Facebook network (remember when you were required to have an .edu email address to open a Facebook account?), and when I received the invite I obligingly accepted.

I played around with it a bit, but soon abandoned it for the more-popular Friendster.

Fast-forward to 2006. By this time, Facebook had gained quite some ground among university students. But it wanted more. So it made its boldest move yet: it opened its doors to anyone who wanted to join.

Soon, everyone seemed to be talking about Facebook. It had been so long since I had last logged on that I couldn’t remember my password — I had to log back into my jhu.edu account (whose password took a while for me to remember too) and retrieve the darn thing just to be able to log back into my account.

Now, Facebook has over 350 million users worldwide. Not only are practically all my friends on Facebook, but so are corporations, marketers, and small businesses. There are fanpages for practically everything you can think of, including obscure products and mundane concepts.

Sure, my friends would regularly update me on the going-ons in their lives, post pictures and videos, and share interesting tidbits they’ve found on the web. And I did enjoy these things…

…but only for a while.

Soon, it just became too much.

The Corporatization of Facebook

Facebook first began to lose its appeal to me when at my old company, my employers decided to hire a “Facebook consultant” to publicize and monetize our brand.

The price of this consultant? A staggering $25,000.

As part of the marketing team, I was required to attend these sessions where the consultant would teach us the ins and outs of Facebook. How to create an account. How to create a fanpage. How to add friends. How to share links. How to—

—wait.

I already knew how to do all this stuff. And what’s more, I knew it better than this schmuck who was charging us $25,000.

When did Facebook become so essential as to necessitate the hiring of overpriced consultants?

It only got worse from there.

The not-so-private privacy settings. Products being hawked at me left and right. The incessant, unnecessary chatter.

And there’s the fact that Facebook owns all the information I’ve unloaded onto its servers. Even though I’ve quit, all the details of my account are still stored in its database. Pictures. Status updates. Wall posts. Everything. So there is no way to really quit.

As if that didn’t make me uncomfortable enough…

High School, Part Deux

When did Facebook become such a popularity contest?

Comparing numbers of friends/fans. Checking to see how many people “liked” your status update. Looking to garner as many comments as possible.

There are also those who create fanpages for themselves or their friends. No, not the kind where you develop a fanpage for your business or brand. The kind where the sole purpose of the page is to shout, “Hey! I’m awesome! Won’t you please acknowledge that fact?”

Gossiping. Cliques. Peer pressure.

I, for one, hated my high school experience and I have no plans to return.

How Eliminating Facebook Changed My Life

I no longer feel the urge to check my Facebook page every 10 minutes.

I no longer feel pressured into becoming fans of, or joining groups in which I have no interest.

I no longer wonder why certain people de-friended me on Facebook.

I now have more time. Time to read, work, and find new sources of entertainment.

I am now using more traditional methods of communication to reach out to my loved ones.

And I now comment more frequently on friends’ blogs — as opposed to hitting the “like” button or commenting directly on Facebook — which I believe to be more personal and better appreciated.

Am I missing out by quitting Facebook? Sure, I may miss minor announcements and daily updates from friends. But I figure that if it is something important, I will hear about it through alternate means.

Because Facebook is not the only form of communication or being “in the loop.” I just hadn’t realized how much I, like many others, have made it so.

Will I ever return? Perhaps. But for now, I am content sans Facebook.

Our Pick for Super Bowl XLIV

**Who are you rooting for?**

Glee Japanese Promo

I know this has been posted in numerous places around the ‘net, but it’s too good not to share…

For a while there I really thought they made a Japanese version of Glee featuring sumo wrestlers!

Via Angry Asian Man.

BookBook Laptop Case

I’m loving this laptop case from Twelve South.

Via Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

Shiba Inu Cam, Part Deux

In December 2008, millions of hearts shattered when six shiba inu puppies, whose lives were broadcast for all to see on Ustream, were adopted to effectively end the feed.

Today, that big gaping hole in my heart was filled.

Yes, that’s right — the shiba inu puppy cam is back! The second litter consists of 3 boys and 2 girls, born this past Saturday, January 16th, to proud mother Kika.

I guarantee that many additional hours will be spent with the video in fullscreen mode. Even my dog Comang is entranced!

Zen Humidifier

How GORGEOUS is this humidifier? Made of Japanese Cypress, it uses no electricity; water is naturally drawn through the wood and evaporated into the air. And according to Okada, the Japanese firm that designed this piece of art, this process evaporates water six times faster than if left in glass.

Okada calls this device “The Mast” because it resembles a sailboat. I discovered this lovely creation through the blog of one of my favorite writers, Clive Thompson, who calls the Google translation of the product page poetically mutilated:

Like a yacht sail (mast) the wind, the natural moisture to dry air liberality, also allows them to subtle and refreshing fragrance of cypress. Its appearance, we thought a yacht floating in the cool water and soft drinks will also give a visual sense.

How to use: Please put the water on the boat portion of the mast.

Absorbs water and sails made from scrap parts of the Seeds of cypress, cypress and give a faint fragrance of Hodoyoi natural moisture.

I’m not sure if the online store ships to the U.S., but I sure am tempted to find out!

“Be Afraid… Be Very Afraid.”

I love, LOVE scary movies. Even the cheesy, stereotypical fares dripping in red corn syrup.

So when I finally got my hands on 2009’s phenom Paranormal Activity, I immediately curled up on the couch with a bag of microwave popcorn and pressed “play” in anticipation of high horror.

My verdict: ‘Eh.’

There were some scary parts — I’ll give you that — but the movie itself wasn’t that great, in my opinion. I really didn’t find it that scary, and couldn’t understand how so many of my friends declared it the scariest movie they had ever seen.

Later, I was to find that the version I had watched was the original version, while the theatrical release version had a different ending. Nonetheless, the synopsis of the theatrical version does not sound much scarier.

I still stand by my stance that The Shining takes the cake as the scariest movie of the ’80s, while Event Horizon was the scariest flick of the ’90s.

“I am home.”

As for the ’00s? I leave that one blank. There were some contenders, such as Dawn of the Dead (which I consider more of a satire than a true horror movie), but I firmly believe that not one movie makes the cut.

What about you? What was the scariest movie you’ve seen? Do you have any recommendations for horror flim nuts like me?

‘Calvin and Hobbes’ Snowmen

This. Is. Awesome.

To see more Calvin and Hobbes inspired snowmen, check out 38 Snowmen Nightmares: Calvin and Hobbes In Real Life.

Motorola Droid Review

J isn’t one for extravagant gifts, but this past Christmas he gifted me with something I had been drooling over for a very long time: the Motorola Droid.

I convinced J to order the phone through Amazon, since its $149.99 pricetag was a lot more attractive than the $199.99 offered by Verizon Wireless stores.

(Note: Amazon is now selling the phone for $119.99 with a new contract!)

I had never ordered a phone via Amazon before, so I was a teeny bit nervous. I was soon to discover that my nerves were not for naught:

Amazon did not give me an option to port my existing number. They (or Verizon) automatically assigned me a new number based on my billing zip code. I had to wait for the phone to arrive, then call Verizon customer support in order to use my existing number on my new phone.
However, I must admit that Verizon made the porting very painless. The entire process took about 3 hours: 15 minutes on the phone with Verizon, and the rest waiting for the number to be ported.

The phone I received was not brand-spankin’-new. How do I know this? When I peeled off the protective film, there were fingerprints on the screen. Yes — under the protective film.
J told me to return the phone to Amazon for a replacement, but as far as I could tell, there was nothing wrong with the phone save for that one tell-tale fingerprint. So I decided to keep it.

Despite these small obstacles, overall I am very, very happy with the phone. It’s hands-down the best phone I’ve ever owned, and I’ve owned twelve different phones since 1999!

Now, on to the pros and cons!

Pros:

This thing is fast. One of the biggest problems with previous Android devices is that the hardware could not keep up with the software. The Droid’s Arm Cortex A8 processor certainly keeps up and then some. Although the Droid runs a newer and more advanced version of Android than the HTC G1, I could immediately tell the difference in the “snappiness” of each phone.

The web browser is amazing. When I first navigated to a site, the page loaded as if I were on my laptop. All I could do was let out a squeal. I use the phone’s browser even when I’m home! (Because there are times when this blogger is too lazy to drag her ass 8 feet to her laptop.)

The navigation system is top-notch. I do not drive much, but there were many times that I sorely missed my LG Voyager for its navigation system. Sure, the G1 (and other smartphones) have Google Maps and its navigation feature, but the Droid’s navigation takes full advantage of the phone AND the superior Verizon network. Don’t believe me? See Droid vs iPhone: Which Has Better GPS? Oh, and there’s also the fact that you can use voice-search on the Droid’s navigation system too…

The Droid goes into “car mode” when attached to the optional car mount,
which can be mounted on the windshield or the dashboard of your car.

The design is TDF. I heart, *heart* the sleek angular design (I tend to prefer angles over curves on my gadgets).

The build quality is superb. The phone feels solid in your hands, and I could definitely tell that Motorola did not cut corners on parts.

The 5 MP camera comes equipped with flash. ‘Nuff said.

I finally have a clock for the bedside table! A small confession: we do not own a single clock in our house. As for alarm clocks, we’ve always used our cell phones. So in addition to the car dock, J also purchased for me the multimedia station to place on my bedside table.

The “dock mode” screen in all its glory

The phone goes into “dock mode” when placed on the multimedia dock (which also acts as a charger). As you can see above, not only does it tell the time, it also displays the current weather, and has touchscreen options for music, picture slideshows, and the alarm clock. When you touch the little lightbulb, the display dims like so:

(Yes, that is my basal body temperature thermometer right next to the phone.)

The battery life is superb. Even after a full day of talking, texting, using the GPS with the talking navigation system, picture-taking with flash, AND latching onto various WiFi hotspots, I usually still have 1/4 of the battery remaining.

However much I want to go on and on about the Droid’s merits, no device is perfect, and the Droid is no exception…

Cons:

The keyboard sucks. One of my main reasons for choosing to go with the Droid over the iPhone, the newly released Nexus One, or even the über-sexy Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is their lack of a physical keyboard. However, the Droid’s keyboard just plain sucks. The keys are tiny with no gap between each key — even my teeny weeny fingers have trouble typing on this thing!

The screen seems to attract grease and dirt. The anti-glare coating used on the Droid acts as a magnet to fingerprints, grease, and dirt. I have read that using certain protective films can help alleviate the problem so I might try this method.

This is more of a gripe against the Android system rather than the Droid, but I wish there were a desktop application for managing Android devices. I personally believe this is one of the greatest advantages that the iPhone has over the Droid. Since this topic has been rehashed on numerous sites, I have no doubt that the Android team has a desktop application on the way. The real question is: when will it be ready? And, on a more personal level, will it be Mac-compatible?

So there it is. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll do my best to answer them!