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I know, if you were just born then this is already old news about Facebook being used for everything except actually living your life. But quit running from the truth and acting like you are too good for such a thing as being social on a network. The truth is that Facebook is instantaneous information in your face internet intensity. The internet is supposed to be all of that allowing people across the globe to communicate with each other easily with fast speeds.

Email has been the first choice for communication, mainly in business, replacing the telephone. This AirTrans commercial is a funny one explaining this trend.

But there is a figure on the horizon, and it is in the shape of an ‘F’: yes, Facebook is coming out with another idea to make messaging better. Not that it isn’t better already, I mean we have come along way from lighting signal fires and dialing a rotary phone, but how much more can we communicate better, faster, easier?

Well, let’s email Facebook and see what they have to say.

I haven’t heard back from them, but I got an instant response on Facebook, and this reveals the appeal for Facebook to combine email with instant messaging: contact. Everywhere you go online or anywhere that is related to sharing business, videos, music, ideas, advertising, you see a link to put it on Facebook. It is a connection that goes where email cannot go.

So when CEO Mark Zuckerburg remarked about comments concerning the revamp of the social messaging system Facebook and how it will be the ‘Gmail killer’, he said “It’s not email.”

What is it? The new Facebook will allow you to get email on Facebook. Wow, after all the virus and hack breakdowns that Facebook has had, I am surprised they are tempting such a thing. We will probably be hearing about people being hacked and having to call Geek Choice to clean up all the viruses on your computer, but until then if you live life on Facebook then this new edition will fit the bill perfect.

Email and instant messaging are becoming the normal ways to communicate, talking is awkward, email is less personal and you can put your thoughts down easier to communicate better.

By combining the two, the new Facebook will grab multiple types of communication such as email and turn it into a more real-time messaging service. Say you use Gmail to get messages from clients and since you run your business on getting updates from customers instantly online; receiving fast updates beats out regular email since you will get all you need on Facebook.

To wrap this up, Facebook is just looking to pioneer out from the boundaries of their target market, almost like Google has been doing for the past couple years. They are looking at voice-chat and new ways to communicate.

Talking face-to-face is just boring, it is so much more fun writing it down and adding a smiley face!

A new internet browser has hit the scene of an already crowded stage. It goes by the name of Rockmelt, and it is a change from the regular browser scheme. What Rockmelt does is use your Facebook ID to log onto the browser, anywhere in the world, and allow you to surf the net faster and easier. Behind the stage of internet browsers is the maker of Netscape. Has everyone forgot about this guy? Well he is back, and it sounds like better than ever.

The future is here. Rockmelt is here to reinvent the web. The primary purpose of Rockmelt is making the browser able to keep up with your friends, consume information, and search faster. It works on Windows and Mac’s right now for desktops and laptops. A Beta version is being released today, you can download it at rockmelt.com. If you go to the site, you will see an icon asking if you would like to be ‘Invited’ to use Rockmelt. Wow, it looks like this new browser is V.I.P. status, and you get on the list until they are  ready to let you in.

What is cool is that the CEO of Netscape, Marc Andreeson who helped start the Netscape Communications Corp., is fighting back against the same web browsers that put him out of business. He is doing that by funding these two men who founded Rockmelt, Eric Vishria and Tim Howes, and they are looking to change the way we use the internet.

In an interview with them on YouTube, they gave a sneak peak at the features of Rockmelt and what the catalyst is for the change. Instead of just an ordinary web browser like Chrome or Firefox where you click on a search link, wait for it to load, and then go back to the search page, Rockmelt turns the internet into a magazine enabling you to ‘turn the page’ so to speak. This sounds like a new era in the Internet age. Everything is on the internet, and it seems like everyone is on Facebook, so by integrating these two into one browser, Rockmelt can open the door to new ways to game, commerce, or just socialize.

The test of the browser was actually performed through Google’s web browser Chromium, but it can be used through Firefox or Internet Explorer. One requirement to be able to use the features of Rockmelt is having a Facebook account. If you have an account, and you get invited, then you are able to look at your friends to see who is doing what on a side-panel. On the other side-panel to the right is your favorite sites that you visit the most, and in between is the ‘magazine’ style search engine and a faster way to surf.

Netscape is back in action by sneaking in the back door with a whole new way to browse the web. Do not be surprised to see this type of browser become the main stream of using the internet.  Be sure to check out YouTube’s video of Rockmelt, as well as sign up to get into this new and exciting way to use the internet.

In this era of social networking, where the internet has become our main channel of communication, sharing pictures has become a routine activity.

Finding hosts for those pictures is as easy as surfing to any number of free sites that offer storage and linking of as many pictures as you would like, where the simple generation of a fresh url allows you to link your image on whichever forum you’d like to broadcast the latest exploits you’ve captured.

Zscreen is an amazingly convenient tool that not only captures screens from your computer, but it also uploads those images to you the most popular image sharing services you on the net – TinyPic, ImageShack, Flickr, TwitPic, and others.  Additionally, those urls can be minimized with url shortening services like TinyURL and bit.ly.

Supporting more than two dozen services, Zscreen captures content and shares it, sparing you the hassle of having to visit a website to upload those images. Once the image link has been generated, you can share it with as many people as you’d like.

This is an excellent tool for those of you with a penchant for sharing pictures. It’s free and easy to use, but available only for Windows users.

If you’d like to make use of Zscreen, you can get it here.

Having so many friends on Facebook, it’s difficult to keep track of just how many photos of yourself that others have tagged. From that office retreat back in April to a family picture taken during the holidays, tagged photos can pop up out of nowhere, with you unknowingly present in some of them. Instead of asking them for a copy of that photo, you can use Photograbber, a neat utility that simply collects all of those photos in which your friends have tagged you and others.

Installation is simple. After its completion, Photograbber will scour the walls of your various friends for those pictures they’ve tagged. After selecting the Facebook friend from whom you want to grab, Photograbber will retrieve each and every one of the photos, storing them in a directory that you specify.

Photograbber doesn’t allow you to select which photos you want. When using it, Photograbber collects every tagged photo. Additionally, there is no way to preview the photos you’ve received, as Photograbber doesn’t provide any thumbnails of the images. You’ll have to open each photo to see what’s included.

We should also note that this will require that you’re actually friends with the individuals from whom you’re culling the photos. Depending on their privacy settings, you may find that Photograbber is unable to collect the photos.

If you’re someone who just needs to collect the photos of your Facebook friends, including those that feature you, this is an excellent and easy way to do so.

You can download Photograbber here.

In this age of social networking, where making the public privy to the happenings of our personal life has become something of an industry, picture sharing is as common as sending emails. Whether you’re uploading a picture to Facebook or any number of the other sites you frequent, it’s important to pay close attention to the size of the pic you’re uploading, many of these sites placing restrictions on the size of the picture you’re sharing.

In the past, resizing pictures was something you did manually, using one of the various photo editors that included a feature for that purpose. Now, there’s a tool that runs in the background, automatically resizing your photos whenever you  upload them.

It’s a free utility called Shrink Pic, and it’s an extremely convenient tool for those who frequently upload or attach photos. It monitors your uploading, silently resizing the picture whenever you upload, attach or – if transmitting via an Instant Messing client – send it.

According to the definitions you set before using it, Shrink Pic automatically resizes the images, uploading the compressed image once it’s complete. Even if you’re uploading multiple pictures, which can be the case when using Facebook, Shrink Pic works to resize every last one. It moves fast, too, working almost instantly.

Shrink Pic doesn’t touch your original picture, moving the resized pictures to a temporary directory. If you want to disable the program, you need only deactivate it with an option available in the system tray.

Free and available for Windows only, Shrink Pic can be downloaded here.

Of critical importance to any of you who use social networking sites such as Facebook and the various applications to which you can subscribe while using them (think Mafia Wars, etc.) is the recent news of the RockYou Database being compromised by hackers.

Occurring on December 4^th, the RockYou Database was infiltrated by the nefarious types who scour the internet for penetrable networks from which sensitive information can be retrieved and used for criminal purposes. Username and passwords were stolen, along with any other information that the RockYou application retrieves upon your use of it.

If it’s any consolation to those of you who might have fallen prey to this theft, none of the usernames and passwords have been published, but there’s nothing stopping the thieves from making them publically available – or selling them, even — when they’re so inclined.

The company behind the RockYou app is largely to blame, carelessly storing the information in an insecure text format. In addition to Facebook, other social networking sites that use the application have seen their users’ information hijacked, including Myspace and email services such as Gmail.

If you use any of these social networking sites, we strongly suggest that you change your password immediately, particularly if you’re someone who uses the same password for every site on which you’re a member.

Geek Choice works hard to stay on top of the latest security issues to help keep your computers safe. If you have any questions about the RockYou hack and how it affects you, or if you’re concerned that your web accounts or computer may have been compromised, give us a call at 1-800-GEEK-HELP (433-5435) and our techs can help.

Sources:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/14/rockyou-hacked/

http://www.securitywatch.co.uk/2009/12/14/security-problems-with-social-networking-persist/

http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/12/15/rockyou-hacked-32-million-account-passwords/

http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/personal-data-at-risk-after-sql-flaw-discovered-2750

When using social networks such as MySpace or Facebook, privacy is of paramount concern, with the details of your private life sensitive enough that you might want to restrict the availability of that information to those people you trust.

Today, Facebook unveiled a revamped privacy interface, affording its users even more control over how their information is filtered to those viewing their pages. With over 350 million users, making it the world’s largest social network, Facebook is hoping this gives its users more flexibility over how they’re able to manage what they share amongst the community.

Per Facebook, the new changes include:

• They’ve removed regional networks, finding that the various communities have become so large as to make its initial purpose inapplicable. Instead, users will be able to share information to friends, family, or publically.
• Users will have a tool that assists in setting up their privacy, though the default settings will automatically block that information which is particularly sensitive.
• No matter what the item you’re sharing, you will now be able to control who sees it, whether it’s loved ones or the public.

If you’re curious about what this means for your account, Facebook explains the changes in more detail here.

If you’re a Facebook user who also happens to be a frequent user of Yahoo!, there’s some good news that should pique the interests of those looking for a new way to check the updates of your Facebook page and share news culled from Yahoo! to your Facebook stream.

Announced today, with a planned rollout in the first half of 2010, this comes by way of the Facebook Connect initiative that will be integrated across Yahoo! Servers worldwide. As told by Yahoo!, this effort will serve as a bridge between the over 500 million users of Yahoo! who also participate in the growing community fostered by Facebook.

Services such as Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo News, and Yahoo! Answers will be fully merged with the Facebook service. You’ll be able to update your Facebook status from those various Yahoo! Components or do as you usually do – directly from your Facebook account.

This is just one of many synergistic efforts devised for the express purpose of drawing the internet community closer, taking advantage of its ever-evolving technology to promote the exchange of information and democratize its use.

For Facebook users, we’d like to remind you that Geek Choice has its own Facebook profile, where we make regular updates to keep our clients informed.

You can get more information about Facebook Connect  here.

For users of Facebook, the popular social networking site, it’s been reported that the company has made a recent addition to its features that may pique the interests of those who spend a good amount of time uploading pictures. At its core, Facebook is a social networking tool, allowing people the world over to connect and establish new relationships while rediscovering old ones. Part of the experience – for those who aren’t shy – is uploading the photos that reveal the life they lead outside of the Facebook community.

A new photo uploader utility is now included within their Prototypes directory, the beta depository where new features are tested before being unveiled to the general public. Introducing a considerable improvement in the process of uploading photos, which has always drawn complaints for its decidedly buggy and difficult nature, this upgrade will surely come as good news to the millions of Facebook users who upload almost 2 billion photos a month to their accounts.

Unchanged since its debut in 2005, the current Facebook uploader still employs what many would describe as an antiquated model, relying on a third-party ActiveX control and a Java applet. Facebook, when assessing the state of its uploader and how it could be improved, decided to break from that reliance.

The new version shows an immediate improvement, with faster uploading and the ability to view other Facebook pages while the photos are being uploaded. Yes, uploading photos takes place in the background, thanks to the entire process being rewritten by Facebook’s engineers – using HTML and CSS, with the background uploading supported by Javascript.

Installing this new update is easy. To do so, you should visit the Prototypes page, where you can locate the new tool and launch it for your profile. Once that’s done, you’ll be asked to install the plug-in the next time you wish to create a new photo album. The process is quick, leaving you with a new user interface that’s beautifully intuitive, with easier navigation and a cleaner appearance.

As with any new application, particularly one still in the beta stage, security concerns rank high. If not properly debugged, the tiniest hole in the security of the program can compromise an entire system, when exploited by a crafty hacker. Facebook has also included a neat mechanism that thwarts any attempt to use the new uploader to circumvent security. If a security breach is uncovered, Facebook has a “kill switch” that will remotely deactivate the plug-in.

Facebook is curious about the community’s response to this new feature, asking that users report any issues that arise during its use. At this juncture, with it still being tested, it’s to the community’s benefit that any problems are brought to the Facebook’s attention.

For those who want to try the new uploader, you can grab it here.

As we all know, social networking is all the craze, with everyone from our children to the family dog posting updates on their social networking site of choice — the most popular ones being Myspace and Facebook. These sites allow you to stay in touch with family, catch up with old friends you’ve lost contact with, and introduce bits of your life for public consumption.

While these sites are tremendously beneficial for the aforementioned uses, particularly when it comes to remaining in touch with your close circle of friends, they also leave many unsuspecting users vulnerable to the prying eyes of unwelcome visitors. It’s always advisable to be vigilant when using the internet, and your use of these social networking sites should be no different.

Be very careful with the information you post on your site, making sure not to reveal anything that you wouldn’t want a stranger to know. Everything that you post becomes public, down to the most sensitive detail you decide to divulge.

If you don’t want the neighbor down the street knowing what time you arrive home from work, don’t post it.

If you’re not sure your employer will take kindly to you taking a sick day to go to the beach, you might want to refrain from revealing that bit of information on your Facebook wall.

If you think your parents might experience discomfort when reading about your latest tattoo, you might want to make your Myspace page private  (in the event they’re not on your friends list).

These are powerful networking tools that afford their users the ability to connect with a myriad number of people, for multiple reasons, from business to the recreational. If you have any questions about their use, feel free to ask.