Gadgets and Much More

New Social Network Gadgets.

Why don't you try a DreamScreen from HP?


Every time you think you are on top of all the new technology that is being invented another one is there. According to a New York Times online article that I just read, there is a particular photo frame by HR called the, DreamScreen which adds social networking, Internet radio and a media player.

The $249 DreamScreen 100 is a 10.2-inch display that would be right at home on your bedroom nightstand (it has a built-in world clock radio and calendar). The Wi-Fi-enabled device also displays a five-day weather forecast so you know what to expect outdoors before you go outside and then you can make a choice to carry an umbrella or call in a snow day. The device also can display Snapfish photos and your friends’ Facebook status updates, and play Pandora Internet radio as well as 10,000 other radio stations. It connects to your networked PCs and can stream photos and videos from home PCs. (It will not stream D.R.M.-protected content, however, so those older iTunes files won’t play.) I think I might buy a DreamScreen for myself to see how useful it would be to organizing my days.
http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/hp-adds-social-networking-to-photo-frame/?scp=1&sq=social%20networking&st=cse

Sharing Stories and Much More.
I was reading another New York Times online Technology article that I wanted to share about how many sites are offering ways for readers to post content to their favorite social networks. For example, the NY Times website offers links to post articles to Twitter and seven other services, including LinkedIn and Yahoo Buzz. The site of The Wall Street Journal has links to share its stories on Facebook and nine other services, including MySpace and Fark.com.
Inducing people to share links has become big business, and it is all about driving traffic back to a site and increasing ad revenue for many businesses. Young companies like and ShareThis are the giants of this particular corner of the Web, syndicating their catalog of sharing buttons — at no charge — to major Web sites, and developing ways to make money by selling data about who is sharing, and how much, back to Web publishers and their advertisers. To read the entire article just go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/business/27ping.html?ref=technology


Amazon’s Kindle Book Reader May Enable Social Networking.






Another interesting NY Times article by Brad Stone, “Will Amazon Open the Kindle to Developers?” that I want to share is about the Kindle book reader may soon feature ways to add to our social networking abilities. We know that e-readers have limitations but, Amazon is enthused about giving their customers a device that does a lot more. What Amazon could do, however, is release a software development kit and open up the Kindle to third-party applications, turning a device with a single purpose — reading — into something that is conceivably much more flexible.

The future of the Kindles capabilities can lead to interesting possibilities in more applications that are useful to businesses. Companies like Facebook or Goodreads could add social features to the Kindle; game developers like Zynga could create nongraphics-intensive games like poker or chess for the device. There could also be educational games, or programs that take advantage of that rarely used keyboard and Kindle’s “experimental” Web browser.
If Amazon opened up, “all of a sudden you’ve gone from a device that is great for reading books and maybe newspapers and magazines to something that has a real utility for business people and also for consumers,” said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at Forrester Research, which recently began surveying consumers about what other types of content they would like to see on e-readers. Let’s see where Kindle’s can go in the new technology world.
There is a lot more new technology and gadgets that will be made available to us all and it is hard to keep up with everything. I will continue to look for more interesting new gadgets that engage us in our social networking.

To read the entire aritlce go to:

http://bits.blos.nytimes.com/209/09/25/will-amazon-open-the-kindle-to-developers/?scp=2&sq=new%20gadgets%20for%20social%20networks&st=Search

Social Networks Can Help Solve Crimes

Social Networking Can Help Solve Crimes!
I was reading “Here Comes Everybody” by Clay Sharkey the other day and it discussed how a simple case of a lost sidekick cell phone received an enormous amount of attention through the use of social networking. Apparently, the phone was left in a cab and ended up in the hands of a 16 year old teenage girl from Queens N.Y. As the story unfolds, I was amazing how this simple case exploded into something like an international spy novel. The story was released by someone with technology experience who posted it on MySpace and other bulleting boards that got around very quickly to others who became interested in assisting with trying to locate the phone for his friend who had all of her upcoming wedding plans and contact information in this phone.
I don’t think that this should have gone as far as involving the NYPD to arrest the girl who had it because it was lost property in the first place. This could have been brought to a small claims court by the owner of the phone instead of going this far. Many people felt that returning something that was lost for the rightful owner is something a Good Samaritan would do and I agree with this fully. In fact, the other day, a boy that is my neighbour left his basket ball on my property and left for the week on vacation. I kept the ball and returned it to him when I saw him the other day and he and his parents was very grateful for my good deed. This world would be a better place if people would think of others before they act.
Well back to social networking. Because of the amount of social networking involved in this story, it showed a good example of how many people can be connected by this new technology. All you have to do now is post an interesting story and see how many people read, respond or comment on it. We have started to give out so much of our personal information through sending photos, emails and using Social Networking Websites (SNW), that we call attention to ourselves whether we want to or not. With the speed of the internet, our information can travel at the speed of light and once you hit the button and send it, it is hard to retract or control it. This can be a problem! Therefore, what do we do to control it?

Why climb aborb:

Social Networks – Why is everyone climbing aboard:?
Social Networks – Why are so many people and organizations now using Face book, Twitter, etc. to communicate?
Social networking is rapidly transforming the way millions of people worldwide connect with each other. By using websites like Face book, MySpace, Twitter Flicker and more, people can share experiences, media and information through these electronic social networks and who knows what other new ways of communicating with other will develop in the future. I am starting this blog because I have seen a number of my friend joining Face book, therefore, I had to join myself in order to keep up with everyone that I want to keep in contact with. Web 2.0 is a term used widely to describe the “renaissance” of the Internet to its original roots as a place to connect individuals and share resources online. Within the scope of Web 2.0 is social networking, a term used widely to describe websites that use public or semi-private profiles to connect users with like interests. Millions of people use social networking websites to connect with colleagues, friends, relatives and even strangers everyday. In addition, many organizations are now widely using social networking websites to attract and analyze customers to glean information about spending habits, brand preference and trends.
Social networking websites (SNW) require members to create profiles to gain entrance to the website where they can connect you’re your friends. User profiles can be public or semi-public and allow the user to view profiles of others on the SNW. While the word “networking” usually implies creating relationships between strangers, social networking strives to make visible the already created relationships between people. Many websites have default restrictions on who can see your personal page. MySpace and LinkedIn allow users to choose whether or not they want their website to be public to the world or just to “friends.” Facebook on the other hand, allows only users in a “network” to view and recall other users in the “network”. Within these websites, users have the right to change default settings and even deny access to those within their “network” These sites provide users with an informal yet important approach to creating and solidifying relationships online and off.
To build relationships you must join a SNW, and users are prompted to find other “friends”. These relationships may not constitute friendship in the traditional sense since users have various reasons for connecting with people they may not consider offline friends. Once users have started building their contacts on the “network,” approved connections are listed on the site for other “friends” to view or search for someone you may know. These websites usually mine data from existing email accounts by downloading contacts to the site. Once the information is transferred, the “network” notifies you which of your contacts are members of the site (usually by displaying an icon) and those who are not. You are then given the option of sending invitations to any and all of these contacts or even searching for new contacts throughout the “network.” This can be fun but, I have noticed that you are prompted to look for other people on the SNW that it thinks you may have common interest that may also be a possible friend. This can be annoying at times because I usually do not know any of these people.

Social Networking is creeping up!

Social Networking is creeping up!
9.23.09 L. D.
Since social networking seems to be the latest thing that people want to do to stay connected to family, friends and possible friends. I have asked most of my friends if they use a social network and most of them are using Face book. I use face book as well and I am concerned about a few things that I have heard about when people post a profile. Many of my friends do not get on everyday because they are too busy. There are a few who post regularly and some don’t. When they do post photos of places they were at, it is like I was also with them enjoying the event. This is a good way to keep connected if you are friends. The one thing that I have become very worried about is what they call “creeping”. This is when someone looks through a wall post, pictures, comments or tweets of someone that they don’t know or if they are not really friends with just because they are curious. This is kind of “creepy” because it is invading your privacy because you are not in any way known to the person who posted these things about themselves. I know that when you use these sites that there is a possibility of people getting into your personal post and photos but this is not right!
I have heard that there are some people who try and creep an ex-boyfriend or girl-friend to see what they are doing after they broke up. I would think that this is something like stalking a person online instead of in person and this can be just as frightening. This may be something like a horror flick, such as, Halloween where Michael Myers is stalking people he wants to take revenge on. Where does this stop? Do you really want people to know all of your business and all of your moves throughout the day? This is really none of anyone’s business. I would think that you probably do not want them to know that much about you so you better be careful about what pictures you post and what you say.

Another concern about creeping is that parents should be aware of social networking and how this can become a serious addition to kids that want to make friends and get attention from others. Their profiles can lead to someone creeping them and parent need to monitor their kids online activity before it leads to serious consequences.
It is very tempting to creep someone because they are not actually stalking them in person. This is done discretely online and it is hard to monitor this. The wrong person may become obsessed with someone they think they are interest in and it can be dangerous. What do you do to prevent “creeping”? You can set your profile to private. If you want someone to see it, allow them to see your limited profile. We all have to remember that social networking should be fun and an open communication that is safe to use to stay connected to the people you love and have been friends with and cannot stay in touch with because we live to far from them and is hard to communicate. Be careful what you do and beware of the creeps!