Facebook Privacy and FTC Settlement

The Washington Post writes a brief Q&A re: Facebook and their privacy policies.

“On Tuesday, Facebook agreed to settle federal charges that it violated users’ privacy by getting people to share more information than they agreed to when they signed up to the site. As part of a settlement, Facebook will allow independent auditors to review its privacy practices for the next twenty years. It also agreed to get approval from users before changing how the company handles their data.”

A Web of One?

Video posted by Mike Atrix via fb: How the social internet works to filter what information you receive and a call for action.

Keeping Up With Social Media (and Everything Else!)

Eva Abreu writes:

I’m currently teaching an introduction to Facebook class for ages 50 and older, offered through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Rutgers University. We finished the second of 10 classes last week; however, Facebook just introduced several changes so the previous material that I covered is now obsolete. That’s how fast the changes are taking place and how confusing it is for casual users of Facebook to keep up with the changes.

Just as Kurzweil predicted, because technology is growing at an exponential rate, and we just happen to live during a time where we’re experiencing the later end of the growth curve, the amount of changes that we need to keep up with and how quickly they occur is gaining speed (until the Singularity takes place?).

Well…until that happens, we need to be on our toes! No more “I learned it, so I don’t need to revisit the subject”. No! Get used to constantly having to revisit the subject and relearn it. Information and change will not be settling down anytime soon. As scary as it may seem, you must remain flexible, open and willing to experiment at any and all stages of your life.

What an exciting time we live in!

Everything is a Remix

I copied this from Kristina Bell Di Tullo via Facebook. Enjoy this video on creativity (and the user experience) by Kirby Ferguson:

Everything is a Remix Part 3 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

I’m very interested to see part 4!

Vector Drawings Created Using a Pen and Paper

Drawing using a tablet is pretty cool, but is definitely not the same as drawing with a pen in a sketchbook. Wacom has addressed this issue this their new product Inkling. I’m not endorsing this product, seeing as I never tried it. But the concept is appealing. I hope it works as well as I want it to!

Schizophrenia can be simulated…

…within a computer program meant to mimic learning within the human brain. One more step towards understanding the origins of this often debilitating disorder, and support of the hyperlearning hypothesis.

Read more here and here.