Geoff Fox: My Permanent Record
Back when I was in school teachers would always scare me with stories of how my exploits would end up in my permanent record. I believe this is it! – Geoff Fox
Here’s a screengrap from my friend Wayne in Hong Kong. All these women want to meet him.
Now I feel bad! I thought I was savvy about all the Facebook scams and spams. Guess not. Here’s a screengrap from my friend Wayne in Hong Kong. All these women want to meet him.
Obviously these are phony accounts set up to try and extract something from poor Wayne and the rest of us!
Maybe she didn’t do it directly, but by giving permissions to a Facebook app provider she was the enabler.
I’ve written before about how Facebook is becoming a spammer and scammer’s paradise. Obviously they’re not reading my blog. It continues to get worse. That’s worrisome as Facebook becomes more our virtual town square every day.
You just got spammed on your Wall, by someone simply tagging you in a photo. Interesting way to do it.
That was a message from my friend Peter. He saw how another friend seemingly tagged all me and all her other friends inside a graphic that was really an ad. She says she didn’t do it.
OKAY….i did not sent anyone a message or poke you….DO NOT OPEN ANYTHING….IT IS A VIRUS…..
Maybe she didn’t do it directly, but by giving permissions to a Facebook app provider she was the enabler. Most of us have grown used to clicking approval or permission without looking at what we’re doing. That is always the case with these attacks.
Facebook approves these scummy apps automatically. That’s got to stop! Facebook is a famously profitable enterprise worth billions. It’s time they took responsibility for what goes on within their virtual walls.
And then there’s this:
C’mon Facebook. Really?
Don’t feel obliged to use it, but if you see something I’ve written you’d like your friends to see click away!
I made a quick addition to my blog overnight with the addition of a Facebook “like” button. It’s now at the bottom of every entry. Clicking this button is similar to clicking “like” on Facebook in that it will be noted on your wall. That’s good promotion for me. I admit it.
Don’t feel obliged to use it, but if you see something I’ve written you’d like your friends to see click away!
Please let me know if you see any problems with this (or any other blog function).
I discovered livestream.com this afternoon. By this evening I was live streaming! It was a good opportunity to interact a little with my viewers.
I discovered livestream.com this afternoon. By this evening I was live streaming! It was a good opportunity to interact with my viewers.
I liked livestream’s control room type app a lot. It let me stream my webcam and switch back-and-forth between it and my computer’s screen. That allowed me to show webpages and photos to illustrate my points.
What I didn’t like was the app crashing halfway through my chat!
Because I’m new and haven’t yet been verified by livestream I was limited to 50 participants. My quota was quickly filled. Wow! Thanks.
I have jumped through livestream’s hoops and hope to have unlimited capacity soon.
The response on Facebook and Twitter was positive. I will be back.
It’s not a question of being able to police their apps. Facebook’s got the money. They just don’t want to spend it.
For about the zillionth time I’ve killed a scam which appeared on my Facebook “wall.” If you’re on Facebook you’ve seen it or something close. There’s a photo of a winsome young woman always dressed, but still provocative. It’s flanked by come-on text promising the video that got her suspended, or drove her father to kill her, or (the latest),
Sofia, 22 yrs Girl from Chicago committed Suicide before a Cam after breakup. First time a Live suicide death video of true lovers in the history on a Cam (Weak hearts dont watch
The fact that some Facebook friends were curious about seeing this “Live suicide death video” is troubling in its own right. Still, it’s a scam! I don’t know exactly how the scammer intends to extract something from me. It’s a scam nonetheless.
Why does this happen? Sure there are crooks, but Facebook is complicit.
It’s obvious Facebook does a really poor job of screening the apps they allow to live on their platform. Any human would instantly recognize what’s going on, meaning Facebook doesn’t have humans involved in the screening process before an app goes live.
Apps can even ‘tag’ the photo with someone’s name. Tagging is supposed to mean you’re in the photo. Accent on the word “supposed.” Tagging moves the photo to the ‘tagees’ wall as the photo above was moved to mine. More incentive for the scam artists courtesy of Facebook!
Facebook has made a conscious decision about how much your safety and security is worth! I think their decision is misguided!
From Business Week January 11, 2011: Both The Wall Street Journal (NWS) and The New York Times (NYT) appear to have gotten their hands on some of Facebook’s internal financial results as part of the offering documents that Goldman has been giving to high-net-worth investors in its new fund. The Journal says Facebook had net income (i.e. profit) of $200 million in 2009 and revenue of $777 million. While figures for last year weren’t disclosed, the Journal adds, “analysts have said the company’s revenue last year could be as much as $2 billion, fueled by advertising growth.”
It’s not a question of being able to police their apps. Facebook’s got the money. They just don’t want to spend it.
How long would we allow scammers to set up shop in the mall? I’m not sure websites have the same legal liability to provide safety as a shopping mall, restaurant or bank. Maybe it’s about time they did?
You’ve got to hand it to Google. They’ve found a way to get others to cleverly promote their sites… then hook me enough to write about it.
I want to hate Google. They’ve become too big and powerful. Then the thing that just happened happens. Hatred gone!
Damn you smart guys!
It started as I was heading to Google to translate some Hebrew I found on a friend’s Facebook wall¹. Before I could summon Google Translate I noticed a tiny line of text below the search box.
You’ll laugh. You’ll cheer. You’ll actually like tech demos. Demo Slam
Tech demos! This stuff calls out to me. I am so nerdy. It’s geek porn!
Astoundingly, Google has found a way to turn product demonstrations into a spectator sport. Think “Battle of the Bands,” but for tech demos.
The one I was shown pitted two very dissimilar groups.
The first was two young women who ordered Indian food in Hindi using the afore mentioned Google Translate. They typed in the phrases they’d most likely use, kept the browser pages with the translation open, called the restaurant, then allowed Google to ‘speak’ the words on demand.
When their food arrived it was just what they’d ordered!
The second group was four guys who wanted to see if they could convince Google Goggles they were at Mount Rushmore. They built a model mountain then dressed themselves as the Mount Rushmore presidents. Using an iPhone they shot a photo of themselves.
It didn’t work the first time, but with a little tweaking Goggles saw the photo and brought up the Mount Rushmore result!
I’m voting for the Indian food girls, but these were both well done and VERY nerdy.
You’ve got to hand it to Google. They’ve found a way to get others to cleverly promote their sites… then hook me enough to write about it.
¹ – I didn’t click because it looks like an Israeli Facebook scam! See, we don’t have a corner on the scuzz market. This one has to do with sex and the Israeli version of Big Brother 3.
If Facebook is going to get into messaging in a big way as they said last week they need to stop these scams before they hit my inbox. The legacy email providers have already learned how.
I got a Facebook email from Jonas Ugwudekede today. Well, that’s what the return address said. The email was ‘signed’ by Kyrian Madunagu and included a ‘real world’ email link with yet another name. It makes no difference. Most likely none is the real name of the person who sent it.
Though the email offers $40,000,000 the sender really wants to extract cash from me. It’s a ‘419’ or advanced fee scam. Ground zero for these is assumed to be Nigeria. The scam itself is actually older than the Internet! These things used to come via snail mail.
This is the first time I’ve gotten a ‘419’ via Facebook.
To the scammer knowing my Facebook name is more valuable than knowing my regular email address. Facebook has some personal information and links to my friends you can’t easily get elsewhere.
If Facebook is going to get into messaging in a big way as they said last week they need to stop these scams before they hit my inbox. The legacy email providers have already learned how. For Facebook to have any credibility they’ve got to step up too… right now.
I’m not talking about posts in bad taste, but scams and links to viruses which pop up on my wall like dandelions in the spring! Facebook seems slow in stopping these
Facebook announced their new messaging plan yesterday. On the face of it it sounds great. Unified messaging without regard to platform.
That’s my clumsy way of saying what Facebook’s Joel Seligstein wrote:
Today I’m excited to announce the next evolution of Messages. You decide how you want to talk to your friends: via SMS, chat, email or Messages. They will receive your message through whatever medium or device is convenient for them, and you can both have a conversation in real time. You shouldn’t have to remember who prefers IM over email or worry about which technology to use. Simply choose their name and type a message.
Great, except I don’t trust Facebook.
I think Facebook does a terrible job of policing what its members post. I’m not talking about posts in bad taste, but scams and links to viruses which pop up on my wall like dandelions in the spring! Facebook seems slow in stopping these. With Facebook mail that problem will only get worse.
Facebook also drops the ball in policing the apps that run on its platform. Clicking a Facebook link shouldn’t lead to a scam, but it often does.
Beyond that Facebook has played fast-and-loose with privacy. Their money is made by selling your eyeballs! You are not Facebook’s customer and your concerns will always fall behind those who send cash Facebook’s way.
With a half billion members Facebook could become the Internet equivalent of too big to fail! We might be forced to put up with their shortcomings.
At the moment I will look warily at making Facebook the gatekeeper for my messages.
In both cases my ‘friends’ were making mass mailings without regard to whether their product or client’s product was worthwhile to me. This irks me.
I had to block two Facebook friends this afternoon. It seems they were friending me on behalf of their business so they could send commercial email. Because of Facebook’s inherent friend-to-friend trust there’s not the same kind of spam filtering you find on more traditional email.
In both cases my ‘friends’ were making mass mailings without regard to whether their product or client’s product was worthwhile to me. This irks me.
As it is I already ignore friend requests from businesses. Businesses shouldn’t have personal accounts. They do. This seems to be poorly policed by Facebook. Maybe it’s not policed at all.
When Facebook becomes more pain than fun it will disappear. I will miss stalking your photos.
For the Phils pitcher Roy Oswalt scored from second on a play where he ran past the third base coach’s very visible stop sign then slid into home wearing a warmup jacket and gloves! The only thing missing was a red cup full of beer!
As you might imagine the Foxes spent the day watching the Eagles then the Phillies. We weren’t disappointed. Both teams won.
Interestingly neither game was carried to Cablevision customers in some of the Philadelphia suburbs. I hope Cablevision paid their customer service operators hazardous duty pay today. Let the cursing begin!
Both games had interesting moments. Kevin Kolb the Eagles quarterback aired it out and played like the passer he’s supposed to be, but disappointingly never has been. For the Phils pitcher Roy Oswalt scored from second on a play where he ran past the third base coach’s very visible stop sign then slid into home wearing a warmup jacket and gloves! The only thing missing was a red cup full of beer!
On a day like today it is difficult not to take advantage of technology. The Eagles game wasn’t on TV here so I borrowed a friend’s DirecTV to-go package. Computer quality is good, but not yet as good as a broadcast channel.
We watched the Phils live on Fox through the DVR allowing us to pause the action. Actually that’s where technology came back to bite me!
As Ryan Madson pitched to the Giants in the ninth I opened Facebook. For me there were two outs to go but on Facebook a friend had revealed the game was over. Oops.
I tried to tell Helaine I didn’t know, but it’s not the kind of thing anyone hides well. Certainly not me.
This is the story of two Facebook posts that moved across my wall a few minutes ago. They’re from a woman who’s my Facebook friend, but who I don’t know. I’d seen some sad posts from here earlier
Sometimes I just don’t quite know what to do. This is the story of two Facebook posts that moved across my wall a few minutes ago. They’re from a woman who’s my Facebook friend whom I don’t know. I saw some sad posts from here then this:
Alone crying n ready to do somethng so rash once done can never b reversed.. sorry to those hurt along the way..
As I was looking wondering what if anything to do another post scrolled by. She’d added two new friends!
Not as depressed as outward appearances show? Seriously, this doesn’t seem like friend adding time.
I did send her an email.
Don’t know you, but reading your wall. You OK?
Twenty minutes later there’s no response.
I have over 3,000 Facebook most of whom I really don’t know. It’s late on Saturday night. People are in various stages of impairment, but posting away. Most likely everything’s OK.
Around 30 minutes after my original posting I got an email reply.
Kind of you to check on me.. i guess a good hard cry and sleep makes things better? dunno will find out
I suggested she stay with friends.
To say Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is portrayed as having little regard for others is an understatement. Yet as much as I wanted to hate him I couldn’t. There’s someone else in the movie to hate.
We went to see “The Social Network” this afternoon. That’s the new movie about Facebook written by Aaron Sorkin. If you check Facebook more that a dozen times a day you’ll be going too!
Wondering why Saturday afternoon? Just look at the box office numbers from Friday night alone when 2,771 theaters sold $8,000,000 in tickets! We didn’t want to get shut out or be forced to sit in the first row.
The movie traces Mark Zuckerberg: geek, nerd, socially awkward smart smart guy Harvard student who had the idea (sort of) and wrote the code that made “TheFacebook.com,” and then Facebook a social phenomena.
To say Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is portrayed as having little regard for others is an understatement. Yet as much as I wanted to hate him I couldn’t. There’s someone else in the movie to hate. More on Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) in a moment.
As Zuckerberg’s creation begins to take off he becomes more in demand. His application crashes the Harvard computer network at 4:00 AM. He is hit on by beautiful Asian groupies¹ as “The Facebook” usage continues to surge. Finally, Sean Parker the business oriented co-founder of Napster enters his life as an evil angel.
Standby. I’ll get to Parker soon.
The story is told in anecdotal flashback spawned from a series of actual depositions. Whether the anecdotes are true is anyone’s guess. Sorkin says:
This is a nonfiction story about two lawsuits that were brought against Facebook at roughly the same time where the defendant, the plaintiffs and the witnesses all came into the deposition room and swore an oath.
Of course everyone’s deposed testimony differed. There’s a lot of truth to pick from. Recently people who should know have said there’s a lot more fiction than fact. Who’s to say? Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately) for Zuckerberg the movie will probably trump history!
What’s not in dispute is Zuckerberg did pay an eight figure settlement to a group led by identical twin Harvard students who said Facebook was really a project they proposed and he agreed to code for them. Also not in dispute is a payment to Zuckerberg’s original partner who was squeezed out under pressure from Sean Parker but walked away with cash and a perpetual website credit line.
OK–Parker time.
Sean Parker is a real life character. Though Sorkin’s script makes him “the Napster guy” I immediately went to Google. I remembered Napster’s genius as Shawn Fanning. We’re both right. Fanning was the coding guy. Parker was the business guy. Fanning was the only one I’d heard of until today.
Sorkin makes Sean Parker the biggest schmuck here. All Zuckerberg wanted was for his website to grow so he would be validated. Traffic was his goal. He says (often) money is not his motivating factor. It was Parker, as Zuckerberg’s Svengali, who convinced him the ultimate target should be cash and convinced him to screw his best friend and co-founding partner!
You see why it’s easy to hate him?
It’s funny considering the subject matter but this was an action picture with a rapid pace. As with anything Aaron Sorkin touches the writing was tight with no dialog wasted. I was envious of the partying college life I saw (a life that sadly didn’t exist… or more likely just didn’t invite me while I was in college) early on, but not at all envious of the dark path Zuckerberg followed to success.
I never saw him happy. Money really can’t buy it, can it?
¹ – The movie makes a point of the fascination Jewish men have with Asian woman. I can’t explain why except to say it’s true. The movie tries to make the case it’s a two-way street. I’ve seen little… OK, no… evidence for that.
Some people see the little links I put on Facebook leading back to posts like this and never think to click! I’ve had people click the Facebook “like” button or even post a Facebook comment within seconds, long before anyone could have read my thoughts.
Before I click of the button which allows a new entry on this blog a page appears loaded with stats. It shows how many people have read and commented and how many pages I’ve published. I’m a few short of 4,400 pages tonight. Scary.
When this blog began there was no Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr. Blogging was new and cool. Hey, I was once new and cool! Tempus fugit.
A question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately: Have Blogs Lost Their Reason For Being?
Nearly every day I struggle whether to put something here or on Twitter or Facebook. It’s a tough choice. Sometimes I divvy things up but it seems so arbitrary.
Some people see the little links I put on Facebook leading back to posts like this and never think to click! I’ve had people click the Facebook “like” button or even post a Facebook comment within seconds, long before anyone could have read my thoughts.
In the 140 character universe these entries are too long. Often my subjects are too complex. Does anyone need to spend four or five minutes learning what Geoff thought?
I’ve considered shutting this bad boy down. The only thing keeping me from doing that is here I’m master of my own domain–literally, not in the Seinfeld sense. I do own this domain! And of course I hold onto the archives.
Posts on social media are transitory–here today, gone tomorrow. I like that incorrect guesses I made seven years ago are still here.
So the blog stays… at least for now. I continue to consider my options.
Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter have their advantages, but are they really better?
I stalk you on Facebook. OK–stalk is too strong a word. I look at people’s profiles. Please, someone tell me I’m not alone in doing this.
I’m on Facebook. I suspect you know that. I’m easy. Friend me¹. I’ll friend you back.
It’s more fun than I anticipated.
I wonder how many friends I’ve lost because I make a lot of noise on Facebook posting at a reasonably steady clip? Facebook doesn’t say when you’re de-friended. Oh the humanity.
I stalk you on Facebook. OK–stalk is too strong a word. I look at people’s profiles. Please, someone tell me I’m not alone in doing this.
Most friends are ‘normal’. I also have some really strange friends. Admit it. Some of you are a little out-of-round.
I love the pictures. I can tell a lot about you by your pictures. This is the photo you chose to represent yourself. These are the people you want to be seen with!
There is a trend (more with young than old but not exclusively so) toward self shot photography. This photo is from a Facebook friend who said it was OK to post it here. She’s a perfect example.
It represents a shift in how photography is perceived. It is much more casual and more personal. Photography used to accompany an event. Not today. Photography is always around.
There are two types of ‘self shot’ seen on Facebook. One tries to properly point the camera from the end of an outstretched arm. The other is shot at a mirror with the camera casually held to the side. Neither existed pre-digital.
The mirror shot makes the bathroom our most photographed indoor location!
Here’s a quick summary of some of my friends’ thought tonight.
The guy who took this picture said his hand was unsteady because he just smoked weed. LMAO!!!!
So proud of my Jr. Pee Wee Cheerleaders tonight.
likes History and 38 other pages
Ok woman, you know you messed up you can fix it or get the hell gone. Either way I’m good.
Good night, I can’t keep my eyes open any more…this farming is exhausting!
If I didn’t enjoy I wouldn’t come back.
¹ – This offer applies exclusively to people. I usually resist friending businesses.
You don’t have to be on Facebook or Twitter. You do have to respect the new social media for the mere fact you have viewers and potential viewers who think it’s valuable.
I read some quotes today from a well respected anchor on a program with national reach. Who she is isn’t as important as what she said.
“I don’t have Facebook, and I don’t tweet. I don’t know what all this tweeting is about,”
You don’t have to be on Facebook or Twitter. Much of what goes on on both is insipid. You do have to respect social media for the mere fact viewers and potential viewers think it’s valuable. Being dismissive or disrespectful of your audience’s likes is seldom the road to success!
It’s no secret I hope people who read my blog or are friends with me on Facebook will also watch me on TV. I’m glad to open this personal connection. It’s valuable on a variety of levels.
A zillion years ago when I worked in Florida I watched a guy (probably a few decades younger than I am now) who seemed to be going through the motions. I was around 20. It upset me.
I made a commitment back then: never be him.
If you don’t keep up as the environment which surrounds you changes you’re just going through the motions. Who wants that?
