Ethics In Technology: Web2Rule
What constitutes ethics in modern technology, specifically web-related? It’s a broad question, and one that is intensely debated in the realms of Privacy, Net Neutrality and Intellectual Property Rights. What about data manipulation, though? Where does that fit in to the ethical landscape? Classically, the public has railed against the manipulation of data — such as news sources and histories — for the benefit of companies and governments and the like, while at the same time accepting that such manipulation is likely both commonplace and and historical institution unto itself. Such acceptance is the reason things like conspiracy theories exist. Currently, these same viewpoints are often applied to common-use technology companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Google, all of whom have been accused of manipulating their technologies to further both their political agendas, their pocketbooks, and pretty much whatever else suits the search for a good story.
What about end-user manipulation of those same technologies? Is that acceptable? Web2Rule, a new service for internet marketers that allows for en masse manipulation of search and social media results, brings that question to the forefront.
The Tech Geek’s Travel Guide
Traveling can be an adventure if you’re a tech geek. If you’re like me, the days leading up to a vacation are spent getting your tech in order, so that you’re prepared for both travel and for your destination. I’ve previously written about what’s in my laptop bag, but the gear you take with you is only one part of the equation. There are apps and other considerations to keep in mind. Today, we’ll take a look at what you need to do to prepare for your trip, by discussing my own preparations for an upcoming trip. I travel mostly for pleasure, so I’d love to hear how the rest of you prepare – especially if you’re a road warrior who frequently travels for work.
My Phone Dillemma: I’m Ready for a Change and I Want Your Opinion
Well, that time is finally here. My 3 Year (bloody) Contract with Bell Mobility (one of the Big 3 rip-off artist/cell phone & communications companies on the northern half of the North American continent) has less than a year left and I’ve been presented with a $100 hardware upgrade and about $300 in data credits. The data credits can be applied to the hardware too, leaving me with a substantial discount on any phone I would like to get. So the question is… which one? Bell is finally carrying the iPhone 3GS and has some older Android phones, as well as some Blackberries and newer-model Windows Mobile phones like the Samsung Omnia II. Currently, as some of you may recall from previous posts, I’m rocking the marvellous workhorse of the Windows Mobile world, the HTC Touch. Love the little beast, but it’s got to go. Time to pave the way for something faster and smoother and generally better than Windows Mobile has been able to offer me. I’d love your help! I am so torn at the moment, that I have been ripping at what little hair is left on my head trying to decide.
Save my scalp! Help me save myself from patchiness! Read on and then throw your opinions at me in the comments (and don’t be afraid to have fun with it)!
Apple Neuters OrbLive, After Users Pay For It
We’ve previously written about Apple’s capricious App Store review process, which has caused great frustration for users of Google Voice and other apps. Users of the OrbLive app for iPhone have recently felt Apple’s bite, in a manner that makes the Google Voice fiasco look trivial. OrbLive users recently found out that they didn’t get what they paid for – they had key functionality stripped out of their app in an update, after they’d purchased the app. To make matters worse, some users are complaining that the update notes didn’t advise them that this functionality was being removed. Read on for the full story, and then let us know if this makes you leery about getting an iPhone, or keeping your iPhone if you already have one.
Social Follow: All Social Networks in One Highly Configurable Button
Earlier this week, we covered a tool that helps you increase the followers of your blog. Now let’s look at it from another angle: What about increasing the followers of -you-? If you think about it, you are a probably member of a score or three social networks by now, many of which attract different follower types; so what about a tool that allows users to follow you on the social network of their choice — and all with just one easy button? Now wouldn’t -that- be swell? Social Follow will do just that. Think of it as a sort of AddThis… but just for you.
Be Productive With Your Voice, using Dial2Do
On our Posterous site, we previously discussed ReQall, a task manager and reminder system that allows you to record tasks with your voice, using some pretty impressive voice transcription. But why stop with tasks, calendaring, and reminders? What if you could use your voice to do much more, such as to send email and text messages, listen to and send messages on Twitter, and have web sites be read to you? Well, you can, using Dial2Do, a service that lets you call a phone number, and perform certain tasks with your voice. Read on for the myriad of ways in which you can use Dial2Do to stay on top of your life.
Increase Blog Traffic and Find More to Read with Redanyway
Redanyway is a very easy and apparently quite effective way to increase blog traffic and create a direct line of interaction with your readers — as long as they also have a Redanyway account, of course. That’s the nature of the social network beast though, so it is not a surprise. The difference here, however, is that it is not you or your photos or what you are up to at the moment that people are following — it’s your blog content. With Redanyway, your blog is essentially your profile. People can follow you and be updated when you post in much the same way as a feed reader, but with the added benefit of a cool widget that will not only entice people to click, but will also advertise you in other ways (like interactive snapshots of your Twitter followers) — and that’s only the beginning.
Threadsy: Facebook, Twitter and Email All in One Happy Place
Remember, back in the day, when email was one-dimensional? The good ol’ days when all you had to do was remember one contact list and deal with one inbox? Well, those days are long gone, buddy. Today, we are in a world of social media: connecting and sharing with the planet at large in as many ways and as quickly as possible. Workplaces everywhere are banning social media because people are addicted to it and they just ain’t gettin’ nuthin done. Nuthin’. Yep. We are also in a world of the high speed degradation of da englich langage, loosing it fastr den wat wuz expected — but that’s another post (ohh that pained me!). Threadsy can’t help you with that last bit or the work bans — you’ll need to look to yourself, your conscience, and your pocket computery phone for that — but Threadsy can help you out with the constant jumping from webpage to webpage or tool to tool to deal with your three main inboxes: Email, Facebook and Twitter.
Gdgt: Social Networking for Gadget Lovers
The name may be short on some vowels, but gdgt is not short on fun if you’re a gadget hound. As Wikipedia describes it, gdgt is a social networking website that specializes in consumer electronics. Think of gdgt as Facebook for gadget lovers, rolled together with an interactive inventory list of tech items that you own now, have owned in the past, or want to own in the future. Sprinkle in news, discussion, information, and social interaction with other owners of those gadgets, and you have gdgt. Read on for a more detailed description, and then us know in the comments if you use gdgt, or if you think you might give it a try.
Keep Your Contacts in Sync Across Platforms with Soocial
If you’re like me, you use many different services for communication. From Outlook, to Gmail, to my iPhone, I have multiple ways to stay in touch. The problem? Until recently, I had my contacts spread out among those platforms, in no coherent fashion. I had no problem keeping my frequent contacts consistent among those platforms, but when it came time to find contact information for someone I hardly contacted, I’d find myself digging among all my platforms, not sure where I had saved that person’s information. Those problems ended when I discovered Soocial, a contact management service that will keep your contacts synchronized across multiple platforms. Soocial is actually quite simple, and consists of two main features – synchronization and backup. Read on for a discussion of each, and then let us know in the comments how you keep your contacts in sync.
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