Facebook - The Graphic Mac

Rant: Stop worrying about your privacy – you aren’t that important

Internet
24 Oct, 2011

Stop complaining about your privacy on social networks and just think about what you post before you post it. What you share is up to YOU!

The last few months, tech sites on the web have been filled with stories of privacy invasions by Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Santa Claus. I’ve grown so tired of hearing about it because for the most part, it’s A) your own fault for not understanding how to configure the site preferences. And B) you shouldn’t worry about it, because you simply aren’t that important.

Let’s take Facebook for example

With the recently-released Ticker on the newsfeed page and the yet-to-be-released Timeline update to your Profile page, people are barking at the moon that their status updates are now out there for the world to see; thus invading their privacy. Well uh, I hate to tell you this but, THEY ALWAYS WERE. And isn’t that the whole point of a SOCIAL network? (more…)

Why you won’t be quitting Facebook – despite the changes

Internet
3 Oct, 2011

The last two weeks on the Internet have been filled with articles covering the changes that recently appeared on Facebook (the Ticker), and the more drastic changes to your Profile that will be arriving shortly. Like every other previous Facebook change, people are so frustrated that they’re threatening to leave Facebook. Uh-huh, sure. Here’s why you won’t be quitting Facebook any time soon.

First of all, the new Profile page (see image below) will take some getting used to. In order to take advantage of what it has to offer, you’ll most likely want to add some additional information. I say want to, because if you’re like most people, you probably like playing with new toys.

The new Facebook Timeline Profile page is actually pretty nice

The new Timeline Profile view offers viewers an easy way to scroll down through your life on Facebook much more easily – via the Timeline bar on the upper right of the page. Want to see what your friend was up to in 2002? Easy, just click the 2002 date in the Timeline bar and you’re zoomed right into place in their Timeline.

The uproar is that it supposedly “invades your privacy” because it puts all your posts in plain view for everyone to see. Well, I’m here to remind you that this has always been the case. It’s just a little easier to find now. (more…)

How to upload a photo to your preferred Facebook Album on your iPhone

Internet / Mac & OS X
29 Jun, 2011

If you use your iPhone to upload photos you take on the go to your Facebook account, you may be annoyed that Facebook automatically created an album called “Mobile Uploads” and places the photo there.

If you’re like me, you’d rather place them in your carefully crafted custom Albums, like “family” or “friends” – and there is a way to do it.

Uploading a photo to your preferred Album from the iPhone Facebook
app isn't as easy as it should be - but there is a workaround

First, on your iPhone Facebook app, click on the Photos icon and tap the Facebook Album you would like the photo to be uploaded into.
Next, either choose a photo you’ve already taken from your photo Library, or hit the camera button in the upper right corner to take a photo.
Finally, select your photo and give it a caption, then hit Upload.

Your photo will now appear in the Album you chose in the first step. I’m not sure why Facebook doesn’t make it easier to choose your preferred Album, but this workaround does the trick.

Facebook invades your privacy again: Now giving out your home address

General
17 Jan, 2011

This past Friday night, Facebook pushed out a new update to the service which allows any developer to gain access to your contact info, including home address and cell phone number. They announced this after business hours, most likely so the vast majority of tech-savvy media outlets were home for the weekend.

Facebook pulls a fast one on users: gives away even more of your private information

I never entered my home address or phone number in my Facebook profile, but if you did, I would recommend you delete the info now before developers intent on spamming your phone and home mail box get a hold of it.

In Facebook’s defense, they DO ask you when an app requests this info. But Facebook also knows darn well that the average user isn’t going to understand what it means or how to deal with it. The fact that they announced this on their developer blog late on a Friday night just goes to show you that they know it’s sneaky and you probably wouldn’t agree to it if they put it right on your profile page as an announcement.

The intent of this is feature, I’m sure, is to allow you to log-in to other sites using your Facebook account and when you purchase something, you won’t have to enter that private information manually. But I don’t buy it. Not only does every browser on the market already have a basic auto-fill function, but there are numerous extensions and plugins that also accomplish this – such as 1Password.

30 Mac OS X apps and utilities I love: Part 3

Mac & OS X
10 Jan, 2011

Over the years I’ve installed a lot of commercial software, shareware and freeware on my Macs. I love trying new apps. That being said, most of what I install gets used once or twice, then discarded. Last week I published 10 of my favorite apps in Part 1, and another 10 in Part 2. Today I conclude the series with 10 more apps that I love to use.

The applications listed below contains a few “old timers” and several Johnny-Come-Lately apps that have found a permanent home on my Mac.

Snapz Pro X

The last few years has seen several fancy-pants screen capture utilities come to market. They all look spectacular, but I’ve stayed with Snapz Pro X because it offers the perfect balance of features at a reasonable price. Snapz Pro X offers everything you would expect in a screen capture utility, with the added ability to capture video and audio of your Mac’s screen (a feature I love to use when a web site attempts to prevent downloading of audio or video!). When it comes to static image capture of your screen, Snapz Pro can capture your entire screen, specific windows, or user definable portions of your screen with a keyboard shortcut, and save it in a number of formats. It also gives you the ability to keep the cursor visible, keep or remove drop shadows, add watermarks, and much more. Snapz Pro X with video capture capability costs you $69 and is well worth it if you do a lot of screen captures.
(more…)

Site News: New mobile version of the site, and new Facebook page

Site News
11 Oct, 2010

The new Graphic Mac mobile site

You may have already noticed, but I thought I would share the news anyway. This past week I created a completely separate Facebook page for The Graphic Mac. So if you were following my personal page on Facebook, you may want to “Like” the new page page to catch the updates. I created a Discussion area on the new page as well, so if you have questions, comments or just want to chat about something in particular, feel free to post away. I plan on sharing links, and leaving comments about all things Apple and Adobe that don’t necessarily warrant a full article here on the site.

The second bit of news that will only affect readers who view The Graphic Mac on their iPhone or iPod Touch device.

I’ve set up a mobile version of the site that strips away most of the design of the site and just lists the articles to click on. The article graphics are still there, but it makes it much easier to navigate the site this way. You’ll still have the ability to search, and view topics by category, as well as see if there are any comments on the article (the little red badge on the date icons); it’s just a little easier on the eyes. I hope you like it.

Rant: Stuff that ticked me off last week

General
13 Sep, 2010

I’ve never been at a loss for things that leave me scratching my head or gouging my eyes out when it comes to what I read on the Internet. There’s just so much stupidity out there just waiting to be discovered.

I spent the entire week trying to figure out why my stupid Apple Time Capsule has all of a sudden decided that it will allow me to access any web site on the Internet except my own. Since I wasn’t writing for this site, I had plenty of time to catch up on the supersize cornucopia of stupid found scattered across the intertubes.
(more…)

Free DVD to iPhone conversion software

Internet / Mac & OS X
2 Aug, 2010

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, or simply wish to convert video to a number of formats, you can get a free copy of iSkySoft’s DVD To iPhone software just for friending them on Facebook, and giving them your email address.

This free app promotion ends this week, so go to iSkySoft’s special Facebook page now, click the Like button at the top of the page, provide your email, and download the software. In about a minute you’ll receive a license number in your email to activate your free copy of the software.

Use Facebook chat service in iChat

Internet / Mac & OS X
1 Jul, 2010

I’m not a big “chat” kind of guy, but I do use my Facebook account to chat with friends once in a while. The problem I have is that I hate that Facebook’s chat lives in the web browser. It’s a pain, and I would much rather use Mac OS X’s iChat app.

Fortunately, you can set up iChat to work with Facebook’s chat quite easily. This offers you the features of iChat, with all your friends on Facebook.

You’ll need to know your Facebook username, which if you’re unsure, you can get here.

Setting up iChat to use Facebook chat is easy

Here are the simple steps to get iChat up and running with Facebook chat:

Open iChat and hit Command + , to bring up the preferences
Click the Accounts tab at the top of the iChat window
Click the + symbol at the bottom left of the window to add an account
In the Account Setup window that pops up, add the following:
Account Type: Jabber
Account Name: [your Facebook username]@chat.facebook.com
Password: Your Facebook password
Click the arrow next to Server Options to view the server inputs and enter the following:
Server: chat.facebook.com
Port: 5222
Make sure the two checkboxes are UNCHECKED

That should do it.

Google to add social networking to Gmail?

Internet
8 Feb, 2010

According to an article at Macworld.com, Google is about to make Gmail more social. According to the article, Google plans to make available the ability to update your social status, much like popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, right from within the Gmail interface.

I’m not sure how well that will go-over with Gmail users. Personally, I feel like the Gmail service already lacks enough features that they should focus solely on email features, rather than adding non-email ones. At the same time, I feel like email is a private thing, and I don’t necessarily want any sign of “socialization” in there at all. Besides, the Gmail interface is already a cluttered mess as it is, I’m not sure how they could work-in social networking without making it completely unusable.

I’ve been longing for a way to update my Facebook and Twitter status in a single location that I’m already using; something that fits into my existing workflow.

There are plenty of services out there that would allow me to update my social networks, but they would require me to visit yet another Web site to do it, and that means yet another set of usernames and passwords to remember. No thanks.

With Twitter having the lock on micro-blogging, and Facebook having 400 million users and an expanding feature list, including the world’s largest photo-sharing service and reports of a full-blown email Web-client coming, you have to wonder just how long Google can afford to sit on the sidelines and watch.

Tagged: Facebook