Some quick bullets, and a slide show, from Cory Ondrejka , so this post has *some* substance. I agree that Second Life has done quite a bit to further the advancement of Virtual Worlds. As technology advances (Moore’s Law anyone?) I imagine we are going to see innovation really accelerate.

Fact: I have accepted an invitation to join the Association of Virtual Worlds’ Advisory Board along with Chadrick Baker, Lori Bell, Bruno Cerboni, Dr. Sara de Freitas, Francesco D’Orazio, Michael Drew, Rahul Dutta, Cynthia Freese, Sasha Frieze, Dr. Hanan Gazit, Darius Lahoutifard, Dr. Chang Liu, Andrew Peters, Liz Ryan, Colin Trethewey, David Wisotzky and Zafka Zang. Quite a crew of very smart people and future thinkers…I am honored and hope I can make a solid contribution. Release is slated for tomorrow…

Rumor: A preview of CISCO’s telepresence application was described to me as “jaw dropping”. Hope to learn more…source- trusted.

As I said earlier about virtual world growth.

I partially disagree with the “unique marketing opportunity” as that is only part of the equasion. As someone who spends quite a bit of time studying “virtual worlds” I think the bigger bets are on collaboration, eroding work place silos, training, fast prototyping and business interactions. Bank on it- other countries are.

Here is the slide show from Cory…lengthy yet interesting if you look at virtual worlds in context to other technological growth…keep in mind that Spore is coming down the pipe…

 

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2l life annenberg Cisco cory ondrejka CSCO metaverse metaverse history Second Life second story SecondLife usc virtual worlds

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GoodReads.com is taking off as a social reading and recommendation platform.

This seems like a good opportunity to remind the thinkers and Hive Minds at QuizAxeHatRack they might want to check into the novel, Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson (Life isn’t all Snowcrash). Not only will the Hive get exposed to neat topics like Van Eck phreaking but a really neat chapter going on about RIST.

“RIST is a bit-pattern designator is a random series of bits used to uniquely identify a RIST. For example, the organism traditionally designed as Earth (Terra, Gaia)has been assigned the designator 0577. This Web site is maintained by 11A4 which is a hive mind. RIST 11A4 assigns bit-pattern designators with a pseudo-random number generator. This departs from the practice used by that so-disant ”hive mind” known to itself as the East Bay Area Hive Mind Project but designated (in the system of RIST 11A4) as RIST E772. This ”hive mind” resulted from the division of ”Hive Mind One” (designated in the system of RIST 11A4 as RIST 4032) into several smaller ”hive minds” (the East Bay Area Hive Mind Project, the San Francisco Hive Mind, Hive Mind 1A, the Reorganized San Francisco Hive Mind, and the Universal Hive Mind) as the result of irreconcilable contradiction between several different semantic memes that competed for mind-share. One of these semantic memes asserted that bit-pattern designators should be assigned in numerical order, so that (for example) Hive Mind One would be designated RIST 0001 and so on. Another meme asserted that numbers should be organized in order of importance, so that (for example) the RIST conventionally known as the planet Earth would be RIST 0001. Another semantic meme agreed with this one but disagreed as to whether the counting should begin with 0000 or 0001.Within both the 0000 and 0001 camps, there was disagreement about what RIST should be assigned the first number : some asserted that Earth was the first and most important RIST, others that some larger system (the solar system, the Universe, God) was in some sense more inclusive and fundamental.

A hive mind is a social organization of RISTs that are capable of processing semantic memes (”thinking”). These could be either carbon-based or silicon-based. RISTs who enter a hive mind surrender their independent identities (which are mere illusions anyway). For purposes of convenience, the constituents of the hive mind are assigned bit-pattern designators. The genetic part of the memomes share 99% of it’s contents with the data set produced by the Human Genome Project. This should not be construed as endorsing the concept of of speciation (i.e., that the continuum of carbon-based life forms can or should be arbitrarily partitioned into paradigmatic species) in general, or the theory that there is a species called ”homo spaiens” in particular. Also, The semantic part of the memomes are still unavoidably contaminated with many primitive viral memes, but these are being gradually and steadily supplanted by new semantic memes generated ab initiao by rational processes. ”

Good read…

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Jim Kukral does his Daily Flip, Sam Harrelson does great how-to’s- see this one on the Amazon Kindle, Scott Jangro (from the days of the Jangro Cam) manages to Vlog too…practically everyone I know does video.

Everyone, except me.

To be frank I simply suck at video- I would much rather podcast. I just cannot get into the vibe…so I made a video about how I feel about making videos. You know how stressful making videos can get. (Yeah- I made alot of of gun videos…)

See Guns, Lights and Action

Target Acquired Video

Thank You For Your Business

P.S. Word to you Brian Clark…Bring on your RPGs Obiwan. I can’t wait for the  next ARG. 

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Old Post So This is Dated Material

This Reuter’s interview holds some major clues. Adam Pasick interviews Mitch Kapor at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. If you are old enough to remember the days of Lotus 1-2-3 then you might recall Kapor as the founder of Lotus Development Corp.

If you are a privacy and security buff you might recognize him as a co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

A Few Highlights as fast as I could transcribe them as I was multi-tasking…

Mitch Capor admits to drinking a bit of kool-aid, per his self, talks about:

- New 3D camera project that can store massive amounts of information is on the horizon- this will change Second Life.

- Second Life is diverse, profitable (no revenue disclosure), they learned a lot of lessons, BUT their current model will have to change. (no surprise)

- Second Life is all about:

3D-Editing and…

Minority Report Style Reports (WTF?)

One important observation was that the PC market itself took fifteen years to “mature” and 3D worlds, by themselves, are as complex, if not more so.

Creation of Business Opportunities

Another interesting mention.

Major Themes included:

- Year of Restrictions including VAT, gambling bans and

- Linden Labs must scale

- Two big obstacles- Software limitations and orientation

Caught off Guard

- Second Life was caught off guard a bit by big media explosion and in some ways this new virtual world glimpse frustrated many people. (Second Life hype cycle is really a function of marketing and a natural oscillation.)

Some words from Phillip

Phillip goes on to say as Second Life matures the content gets better. I agree. This was the same for affiliate marketing industry. In my own experience you had a huge influx of new people drawn to an industry because the barrier to entry was low. How things have changed.

For a company that embraced a user-generated, user created- your world- your imagination entreprenurial spirit Linden Labs simply doesn’t seem to understand how to generate revenue from this type of content, or, to teach or model ways to empower publishers to do it.

Pick a side…as for the recent trademark police…I will get to that soon enough. I have seen ups and downs in Second Life and as an avatar who has contributed to the economy in a significant way I can tell you that selling objects intra-world is a royal pain. Fun- yes. Painful- more so.

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Two divergent, yet similar posts came in, one from Skype, one via e-mail. Both from trusted sources and sources I follow and interact with on Twitter as well as in Second Life- odd overlaps.

For those who don’t “get” Twitter- you probably won’t. (Note to EV we are still working on that blackjack game.)

I’d feel worse about my inability to convey to others any level of understanding of why Twitter is important but in comparison to some explanations I’ve seen and heard, I do a decent job. But, unfortunately, we all fail because we drift into explaining Twitter by telling how we use it. But the most amazing thing about Twitter is this: everyone uses it differently.

It’s a little like trying to explain the telephone by describing what people talk about on the phone. “Telephones are devices that teenagers use to spread gossip.” “Telephones are the devices people use to contact police when bad things happen.” “Telephones are the devices you use to call the 7-11 to ask if they have Prince Albert in a can.”

The Electric Sheep company talk about the value of virtual worlds and how all of us in the “know” know they are still quite immature. That is o.k. People, serious adults, like to laugh at a name like Twitter or a concept like being able to “fly”. It is odd that my kids don’t. They are little kids they haven’t closed down their minds and lost their magical thinking. To play- to do. That is where innovation, interaction and real learning happen.

Sheep say-

Marketing gurus have always said that word of mouth is the best form of advertising (”where did you get that dress?”) but under a broadcast advertising model that was hard to tap into. Both virtual worlds and product review systems allow your customers to engage with each other directly and become your best sales people.

I continue to believe that word of mouth doesn’t work well across the social graph, i.e. across multiple degrees of separation. Word of mouth online (where you cannot see or respond to the actual dress someone is wearing) is derived from trust and trust is derived from shared experience. Shared experience is real time, and the best form of real time communication online today is virtual worlds.

Four Keys to Twitter and Virtual Worlds

As a “so-called” marketing guru I can sum up how I see it. Twitter and virtual worlds are very simple on the surface.

- Trust

- Communication

- Being Human

- Connecting with Others

That is why I am not so concerned about the scalability of Second Life at the moment. People have meaningful, serious interactions inside the Grid and develop trust. Take one look at Flickr or Twitter and you will see Second Life is really a powerful engine that shoots out a lot of interaction, and some friction, but it is very meaningful. Look at how the output scales on other terrain!

Communication, Conduits, Catalysts and Connections

Because people have developed trust, they are communicating as open human beings and making connections. Twitter, Second Life, Facebook, etc are all just conduits and catalysts for this rather wholesome process. Don’t worry about the purpose, or getting it just right (there are better approaches, but just play a bit, you don’t even have to be you and other people will help you along)- you really can’t screw it up too bad because the platforms are used in radically different forms from person to person. Like Second Life- just stop mass marketing- start creating or sponsoring wholesome and good things and let nature take its course. Evangelists, fans and friends will form if you are just receptive and make an investment into the people. Loosen up- let them have control.

I could sit and count all day the revelations made between these two diverse terrains, but I won’t. You’ll just have to find me there and communicate and discover I am a human {with good and bad traits} that enjoys connecting and hopefully trust will follow and I can connect you to someone and vice versa. Social chain reactions are real and Twitter like-conduits should be in EVERY enterprise. Less time meeting, more time knowing.

What am I doing right now?

Evangelizing…

There is no magic spell or “mumbo jumbo”…don’t take it too serious and have fun. Caveat- don’t be flip and forget the importance of communication.

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An update on the microloan to Saleh Lie. if you recall the story I blogged here a few times the last few months.

Saleh Lie is forty-years old and married with one child. She sells clothes and with her previous loans she diversified her business so that she now sells onions, sauce pans, tomato paste, etc. Saleh also opened a small shop in Kabala’s market and employed her nephew to run it. She is planning to expand her business and build a small family house. Saleh said she would like to save some income to build a small house for her grandchildren.

The business you have loaned to, run by Saleh Lie, has made a repaymentof $28.00. The total amount repaid is now $140.00. This repayment will be divided amongst all the lenders who helped to fund this business, depending upon the percentage each lender contributed.

Find out more about Kiva, micro-loans, and how you can get involved by reading on Saleh’s story.

Kiva & Second Life

Educator Fleep Tuque also noted Kiva is making a foray into Second Life, a move I think makes perfect sense, and I noted AM Radio’s charity concert featuring a very talented ColeMarie Soleil and his work on grain sales (AM Radio may share some numbers with me in the future.). In addition Beth Kanter has quite a nice interview on how non-profits can leverage Second Life. (Makes note that someday i need to annote the “collisions” that had to happen to bring me to that concert to hear ColeMarie Soleil and how I later met AM Radio at a charitable build I was involved with.)

Scale of System, Scale of Process

However, and I plan to write on this if my ailing back cooperates (I was trying cartoon stunts in my car again-I have feline blood perhaps..shakes head- I live.) Linden Labs really needs to step up to the plate to make it easier to do. This is based on examining a couple of million worth of Linden micro-transactions that have nothing to do with rentals. As an online Jedi once told me- scale is everything.

Old Ideas - New Terrain

I have my own ideas, based on real-world affiliate marketing mechanisms that people have been writing about for about a decade at Revenews, on how this can be done in a manner that rewards content creators with not only good will, but self sustaining commerce and a better time had by all. Linden Lab cannot do it all, and I appreciate the huge task, but they most enable sustainable creation.

On that note I will add that it isn’t just about charities, but about many newly minted entrepreneurs, many amateur, who support their families or supplement their income on virtual work! This will sound very familiar to those with long time roots in the performance marketing industry now moving into next gen marketing.

For example, a colleague and friend Tim Storm who I met in the late 90’s, always at 2 am on a cruise ship for years it seems. Tim was a one-man shop, like myself, and now runs an ethical and vibrant community providing dozens of jobs and serious dollars. The conferences have morphed over the years and now Affiliate Summit is a gathering of well over a thousand twice a year. Metaverse developers and creators- think “partnership” or I can point you to a historical blueprint that will show how 96% of you, me, and who knows- will probably fare.

Monolith 8 to Primula Rasa

Speaking of which some have asked about Monlith 8 (my own operation that continues) and now Primula Rasa, a project design lead by the talented, and prototypical developer in his own right, Timeless Prototype. An individual I really regreted not getting to meet in Chicago. The questions are in particular around my role n the build (e.g. the big space ship?). Right now I am sustaining it- let’s see how that goes.

As for the build let us leave it at this- a study of artificial life, micro-transactions, genetics, evolving story lines and system dynamics. This is stage one and hardly out of development…but feel free to drop in and explore. Rhetorically I ask perhaps we need less emphasis on the virtual campus and using the technology to create useful or thought provoking simulations? At any rate this is the result over a long series of conversations on metaverse history (thanks to Prokofky Neva for ranting enough that I got some clues from the Sim’s Exodus) with a number of some of the top thinkers in the Second Life metaverse…(so glad you all found Monolith 8).

Pictures & An Out Take or Two

For the amusement of some a few out-take photos during the build process- note leaping was not programmed into the organisms behavior and you will find the current ones are far more colorful than the original grey- evolution?. As an aside, this one has nothing to do with Primula Rasa, but I find it quite amusing. And it hurts to laugh right now. Another great photo by krystine qinan. The only “ghost fish” and a gorgeous shot of the actual ghost fish cave.

You can find it covered here at the Grid Live (on the fish) and an overview here- even a beta photo using Wind Light. Ian also has a great write-up at Eightbar with lots of stunning photos.

The things that initially attracted my attention were the fish that Timeless has created. Not only are they fantasticaly articulated and organic in their swimming motion but whilst we were talking the fish took an interest in us and congregated around the jetty we were on. Timeless days he has seen all sorts of unprogrammed but interesting behaviour as the fish take an interest in their surroundings and each other. He got me to hover in the water and a fish decided to lift me up and ‘rescue me’ clearly not scared of the predator AV

Having spent a little time watching things grow and happen it is intriguing how much more involved you can feel as the environment changes around you. The fascination of both the simple patterns of nature with the uniqueness of each part of the landscape as things grow and then die to respawn elsewhere is really good.

I know that under the covers there are some intersting pieces of code, but like all good alife it seems simple, the rules are simple, yet it causes (just like simple flocking) a very complex looking and attractive feel

Delphic Region Primula Rasa

In the old pictures the description reads like this:

Primula Rasa: An Interactive and Immersive Experience

Do you enjoy new realms? Do you like to curate or study organisms? Let your imagination free at Primula Rasa- the Primitive Slate….Still Under Wraps…for now…

Now reads:

Primula Rasa

Two forces converge from hyperspace to unlock the secrets of beings thought long gone from the Delphic System. Studying the land of Ever-Motion holds surprises both sinister and beautiful . Primula Rasa- the Primitive Slate…Stage I

There is a notecard updater system provided by Jiminy Roo. If you want the occasional update as the build will change as the story line progresses. We are also entertaining sponsorships, but that is down the line. Right now feedback is great- feel free to drop me a notecard with any thoughts…I simply can’t answer every IM, but will read every single one.

Virtual Rumors

I also plan to put some rumors to rest shortly, like the acquisition of the islands Delphic, Tacitus, Phaedrus and Daedalus, or a alleged buyout of a famous avatars digital creations- ColeMarie Soleil perhaps? and the odd or end-am I the same Wayne Porter in Playboy advisor this month (obviously yes considering some of the e-mail)? Or perhaps my avatar (we are NOT the same- I cannot reign him in) actually told the SL citizen police and fire marshall that Prok was his mother or some strange tale and that is why he needed locked up while trying to simulate a miniature riot (it was a joke). Let’s put that one to rest- of course he did and was informed of his retardation via Twitter (not to mention her own). Never take things or self too seriously.

Of course the academic question might be- were events on Twitter causing the large crowd to grow inside the metaverse during the “simulated arrest’ acting as an outside catalyst or is this just a case of Nassim Nicholas Talebitis? (Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and Life)

“My major hobby is teasing people who take themselves & the quality of their knowledge too seriously & those who don’t have the guts to sometimes say: I don’t know….” (You may not be able to change the world but can at least get some entertainment & make a living out of the epistemic arrogance of the human race).

Well Mr. Clark of GMD… I really don’t know!

3D social networking affiliate marketing AM Radio attention avatar photos ColeMarie Soleil corwin chevalier Fleep Tuque jimini roo Kiva micro lending micro transactions microlending microloans Net Lifestyle primula rasa Second Life second life Timeless Prototype twitter Video Games virtual economics web2.0

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Second Life, the wild west of the “metaverse” often requires the ability to acclimate to an idiosyncratic culture and complex jargon. How do you know when you have passed into the realm of the accomplished? That you have mastered enough of the culture to blend in? One or more of the following have happened or probably apply….

1 ) Your think your spouse and children are actly strangely. Rathar than admit you have a problem, the most logical conclusion must be they have been replaced by someone’s ALTs.

2 ) A new resident pulls the most offensive object they can from a freebie box, in this case a set of realistic sculpty canine genitals, and screams. You do not even bat an eye let alone flinch and keep looking for a decent skin. Your friend, a scripter, examines the miniature build and quickly fashions it into a gun.

3 ) Ruth is no longer a name or a book of the Bible, but an unfortunate, yet curable disease where you become a pseudo-hermaphrodite with extremely poor fashion sense. The only cure is a re-bake. This operation requires no flour, sugar, or yeast.

4 ) Getting from here to there becomes a TP while AFK remains AFK, OK is and always will be- KK.

5 ) Sit and push are not activities for a porch swing, but defensive and offensive modes.

6 ) You are concerned about privacy at your private beach front property because of the recent number of invisible tortured prims named _sand_ turning up on your zero mass scanner.

7 ) You see two people dancing poorly in real life and mentally access channel one and think the word “sync”.

8 ) Your friend, an accomplished builder, complains of tennis elbow although he does not play any sports. You try to tell him it could be his reflexive item scanning habits. He doesn’t
even respond when you mention trying to cut a prim or two out of every single, rock, bench, or tree really isn’t worth the time it takes to examine them- which he will systematically do everywhere you go mumbling about “prim conservation”.

9 ) The sim owner calls you a prim whore for using Temp on Rez.

10 ) Alll Santa Claus hats or ill-made sofas left in a sand box are probably shape deformers.

11 ) As an American you begin to use the metric system for land measurement and realize it is actually more efficient.

12 ) A new and ill-informed user comes in world interrupting a conversation with a friend and demands to be taken to the “sex rooms”. Your friend yawns and asks politely- “What species?”, explaining to the neophyte that it pays to be very specific on the grid.

13 ) You can’t wait to get home to rez your gifts.

14 ) You know that people wearing boxes are the defacto cultural signal of someone negotiating a complex GUI and not a fashion statement, or they may have no payment on file.

15 ) ‘xcite has nothing to do with search, but a place where some people go to upgrade their virtual sex life.

16 ) ll(insert crude word here) is really funny.

17 ) Marriage becomes partnering and usually lasts the span of an incubation cycle of sea monkeys. From start to dissolution it costs less than 50 cents if the Linden holds at 260.

18 ) You know that the Linden is a product and not currency.

19 ) Achieving orbit is normally a “bad thing” requiring you to re-log, although you may have tried a parachute more than once just to see how long it took.

20 ) Your friend tells you he has “won” Second Life. You ask him what level did he reach?

3D social networking Gaming Net Lifestyle Satire Second Life Social Networks Video Games

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Obsession with Tests

Lately I have received a lot of links in my e-mail to online personality tests, compatability tests, etc. It seems that Facebook is one giant “fun quiz”. I left school because of all of the tests- still they haunt me. However for all you gluttons of punishment here is a battery of OOS tests. (Read the privacy policy.) They charge nothing and try to provide you with the results as soon as you submit your answers. Your privacy is important to them, per them, and in some cases the results are often used in research. ahem- on with the the tests. My favorite was Find Your Star Wars twin. If I found them- I would run.

Twins: An Interactive Personality Test
This site lets any two people, regardless if you’re actually twins, compare your personality and behaviors on a number of criteria. This test utilizes well accepted psychology instruments and gives you instant, free, and anonymous feedback on some aspects of your personality and behaviors. You’ll learn a bit about your personality, and optionally, a bit about some of your past behaviors and experiences.

You don’t need a twin or second person to fill our survey out: you’ll still get meaningful results in the preliminary results. The data from this site is being used for twin research.

Are you a Freak?
A psychology test which measures your need-for-uniqueness level. Take this freak test to find out just how unique you really are! Please, this is for posterity’s sake, so honesty counts — you won’t get an accurate answer unless you actually answer seriously!

The Morality Test
Discover what your morals say about your personality! This test examines those aspects of thought and behavior that relate to commonly accepted notions of right and wrong. The following survey assesses your moral attitudes, particularly as they relate to your religious and cultural background. By “moral” they mean those aspects of thought and behavior that relate to commonly accepted notions of right and wrong, and to selfish and unselfish actions.

One need not be religious to be “moral,” although religions do tend to espouse moral codes of behavior. There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, and your responses are anonymous, so please be as honest as you can.

You will receive feedback about your moral attitudes, relative to those of other respondents to this survey. You will also receive feedback about your personality, relative to other survey respondents. Read their consent form, which explains your rights as well as the benefits of this free, anonymous test. Answer these questions honestly; otherwise you won’t get an accurate answer.

Do-Re-Mi’s: What Your Music Tastes Say About You
Find out what personality traits you have based upon your musical tastes! This test reveals your music tastes on four different dimensions and explains your personality based on these factors. What does your taste in music say about your personality? Find out with this quiz! This psychology test will tell you how other people see you based on what types of music you listen to. Results are instant, free, and anonymous.

Big Five Personality Test
This test measures what many psychologists consider to be the fundamental dimensions of personality.
Take this psychology test to find out about your personality! This test measures what many psychologists consider to be the five fundamental dimensions of personality. As you are rating yourself, you are encouraged to rate another person. By rating someone else you will tend to receive a more accurate assessment of your own personality. Also, you will be given a personality profile for the person you rate, which will allow you to compare yourself to this person on each of five basic personality dimensions. Try to rate someone whom you know well, such as a close friend, coworker, spouse, or other family member.

Are you a blurter or a brooder?
…and how this affects your love life
Who is right for you? How does the way you deal with your emotions influence your relationship satisfaction? This test measures a personality characteristic that determines who you relate to most effectively. Who is right for you? How does the way you deal with your emotions influence your relationship satisfaction? This psychology test will give you information about yourself and also act as a guide to your relationships. This test, the Brief Loquaciousness and Interpersonal Responsiveness Test (hence b.l.i.r.t.), measures a personality characteristic that determines who you relate to most effectively.

The test was written by psychologists at University of Texas and is valid according to rigorous scientific standards.

Find Your Star Wars Twin

Using a standard personality psychology test, this website can tell you which traits you have in common with characters from the Star Wars movies.

Read our consent form, which explains the benefits of this free, anonymous test and your rights.
Answer these questions honestly; otherwise you won’t get an accurate answer.
This test is free; your results will be displayed as soon as you submit your answers.
The test will take around 5 to 10 minutes.
The test was written by a psychologist at U. C. Berkeley — it is well-accepted and widely used in the personality field of psychology.
Learn more about the Big Five by reading answers to commonly asked questions.

About the OutofService.com Tests

From the site and creator Jeff Potter.

OutOfService.com, created by Jeff Potter, has run personality and self-awareness tests since 1997. The tests are derived from scientific psychological research and the feedback provided to participants is based on statistical analyses of large amounts of data, unlike many other “tests” on the web.

Many of the tests on OutOfService have been developed in collaboration with several respected researchers and professors as parts of ongoing research. Most notably, Dr. Samuel Gosling of the University of Texas has provided thoughtful guidance and opportunities. [But any errors on the site are mine and mine alone! -Jeff] The site has been featured in everything from tabloids and underground zines to the New York Times, US News & World Report, CNN, the London Metro, the BBC, ABC News, Slashdot, and even the SciFi channel. In the first five years, the site has received many millions of unique visitors, and word continues to spread.

The feedback given to visitors like you is based on the average scores of tens of thousands of responses, taken from this same website. Your results are generalizations that show only how your responses compare to those of an average web surfer. We’ve done comparisons between traditional and web-based methodologies, and while differences do exist, they are very minor. This means that your results are good representations of your personality, in general.

We want to emphasize that we are talking about generalizations here, and these generalizations don’t apply to all people. To illustrate, consider the generalization that men are generally taller than women. This does not mean that every man is taller than every woman. Instead, it means that, on average, men are taller than women. This same logic applies to the feedback that is given on this site: it generally describes your personality quite well, but if it doesn’t fit, you may be an exception to the rule!

The name OutOfService can mean two things: a sign that something is in disrepair, or that the matter at hand has been done out of service for the benefit of all. Hopefully you will find the fun nature of the tests on this site to be thought-provoking and the results enlightening.

Privacy and The OOS Tests

Again from their site:

outofservice.com respects your privacy! Any information regarding you collected from this site will be treated as confidential as described in this document.

This site collects the following types of data on visitors: web log files detailing which web pages are visited and psychology data recording visitor’s replies.

Web log files are kept for my use in analyzing traffic patterns on this site and improving the site for users like you. They are not shared with anyone, nor is any attempt made to link the log data with individuals who browse the site.

Psychology test data is recorded for psychology tests on this web site and is used for academic purposes by professors and research staff at accredited universities and reviewed institutions. The results of this data is analyzed and released in aggregate statistics, usually in academic journals and conferences. By submitting a survey to outofservice, you acknowledge that your answers will be recorded. Your answers are entirely anonymous and you will never be identified individually; your answers cannot be connected with your name or identity.

- Free IQ Tests with Social Networking. Tickle offers tests on relationship, career, style & beauty, mind & body and family. Their most popular tests, per their ranking methods, include: Are You a Secure Lover? ,The Attraction Factor, How Bright Is Your Aura? , Ayurveda Body Type Test , The Influence of Birth Order, The Brain Test ,The Brainteaser Test,The Chakra Test ,Career Personality Test ,The Communication Style Test,The Confidence Test ,The Corporate Culture Test , and What’s Your Destiny?

Tickle, unrelated to outofservice, is the leading interpersonal media company, providing self-discovery, and social networking services to more than 17 million active members in its community worldwide. Formerly known as Emode.com, Tickle was founded on the belief that personal insight and connections to others could be both scientific and fun. Tickle was founded in 1999 as Emode.com by James Currier, who developed an early passion for Internet technology, new media and social sciences. Currier envisioned how the Internet could be used to help people learn more about themselves and better connect with others in a mutually beneficial environment based on trust and respect. Today, the company employs more than 50 people and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

In collaboration with leading psychology and marketing experts from Harvard, Yale, Duke, Northeastern, Washington University in St. Louis, SUNY at Albany, and The University of Kansas, Tickle was the first company to combine consumer insight with state-of-the-art digital technology to generate personality reports uniquely positioned to offer outstanding results. The company offers more than 200 tests (more than 60 of which are PhD-certified) and is the leading provider of online testing services.

Word of caution from Wayne…

…using advanced algorithms it is very possible to take two different data sets and isolate who individual people are. I won’t go into the science of it, but it is very possible. Check the privacy policy of testing services to see how they use your data.

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While playing another round of the obnoxious, yet horribly addictive pirate game at Facebook I noted an advertisement for The Facebook Lending Community. (According to the intra-house inventory these are served at a measly 0.50 CPM. It has to be low when they are using incentives for installs of Mywebsearch or Zwinky or “free screen savers”. Yes you can get the value added software in exchange for a load of 1000 in-game gold coins to firm up your pirate armada. Better yet the de facto “complete a questionnaire and subscribe to a bunch of CPA priced offers to get a free case of soda pop or a shopping card” and 1000 gold kind of deals abound.

The Facebook Lending Community
Where you can borrow and lend money,
bypass the banks, and get better rates.
Need Money?
Easy online application.
Rates start at:
7.62% APR

Got Money?
Invest in trusted borrowers.
Average portfolio performance:
11.84%

Average portfolio of 11.84%? Not a bad return.

What is This All About?
According to the site “We are not a bank: with rates like these, we’d be out of business Lending Club is a lending community where you borrow and lend money to fellow Facebook members. We operate as cheaply as we can, providing better rates on both sides of the loan.

All members’ identities and bank accounts are verified. Borrowers are credit-checked. We report payments to credit bureaus just like banks do, so this can help build up your credit.”

And they go on to extol the benefits of social lending:

Better Rates for All of Us
“While banks typically pay 5% interests on savings accounts and charge a 12.32%* interest rate for personal loans, Lending Club offers an alternative: members lend and borrow money directly among each other online, bypass the banks and get better rates.”

Peer-to-Peer lending, or social lending, is not a new concept. I recently covered philanthropic micro-financing. Much earlier I covered true P2P lending sites, again perhaps better termed “social lending”, like the Prosper service. Prosper operates as an online auction site where people with dough can lend money directly to people without any.

Borrowers set the maximum rate they wish to pay and lenders set the minimum rate they want. Prosper matches borrowers with lenders and manages the loan repayment. You can even earn referral money to the tune of a $25 kill fee for bringing in a lender and the lender also receives $25 as soon as as they fund their first loan (subject to a 30 day cookie and 90 day start-up period after a successful conversion to a lender).If you refer a borrower you receive 0.5% of your friend’s loan amount as soon as the friends first monthly payment clears. Get it while you can the referral program ends on December 31, 2007.

At Revenews I also covered several different services and/or financial peer driven networks well over a year ago while talking about “whuffie”.

Fries with my Whuffie?

From the cyberpunk novel Down and Out… the usual economic incentives have disappeared from the book’s world. Whuffie has replaced money, providing a motivation for people to do useful and creative things. A person’s Whuffie is a general measurement of his or her overall reputation, and Whuffie is lost and gained according to a person’s favorable or unfavorable actions. The question is, who determines which actions are favorable or unfavorable? In Down and Out, the answer is public opinion. Rudely pushing past someone on the sidewalk will definitely earn you negative points from them (and possibly bystanders who saw you), while composing a much-beloved symphony will earn you positive Whuffie from everyone who enjoyed it…

Second Life could use a Whuffie system, and they sort of had one- the problem was it was based on the Linden, but I digress…from the Revenews’ post I’ll draw a couple of examples:

Snip…

ZOPA: UK equivalent of Prosper. The name, ZOPA, stands for Zone of Possible Agreement, a negotiating term identifying the bounds within which agreement can be reached between two parties. Coined concept of “FreeFormers”. Freeformers were identified as displaying different attitudes towards many aspects of life, including their money, and Zopa has developed a credit referencing process that goes beyond credit bureau information in order to establish consumers’ attitudes towards money, as well as their credit-worthiness.

BillMonk: New start-up engaged around “Social money”- the informal currency between friends and they have a blog. (Yeah guys I’m blogging about you at your request.)

Again, nothing new although at the time I blogged the piece at Revenews I spoke to BillMonk and they were not quite out of the gates. Over a year and a half later all the services I referenced seem to be operating fine. If it were 2001 it might be a different Phillip Kaplanesque kind of story. ZOPA and Prosper seem to be very much like Lending Club. However, I ran into Lending Club on Facebook via a banner advertisement. “F8″ they call it internally. Perhaps just “Fate”? I wonder why Prosper didn’t get their first?

Lending Club does have a complex set of rules based on the licenses which are granted state-wide. Currently, at time of writing, they are not licensed in South Dakota, Rhode Island, Oregon, North Dakota, Nevada, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Idaho, California. Don’t worry even if you cannot borrow, if you live there you can still lend. The rest of the states fall to a whole bunch of different Minimums, Maximum Interest Rates, Late Payment Fees (15-Day Grace Period), Unsuccessful Payment Fees, you can see the lending terms here.

I find it interesting that you could potentially, but absolutely, put the financial hammer down on someone residing in Alabama, Georgia, Montana, New Hampshire and Utah. Yes, now you too, the empowered consumer, could possibly dole out the bone-crushing misery that has long been reserved for credit cards, banks and the alley-HQ operations of loan sharks carrying clubs and brass knuckles. The max rates in Alabama, Georgia, Montana, New Hampshire and Utah reach an astounding thirty (30) percent state maximum.

Lending Club works closely with “industry leaders” to offer their own “comprehensive person-to-person lending platform”.

How do they do courier all that cash around?

BankServ. BankServ is the financial services processor handling the submission and receipt of ACH transactions. BankServ supports over 400 banks in 52 countries and operates a PCI-compliant data center.

For the curious what is PCI-compliance and why so many acronyms?

I believe being PCI compliant is a nice way of referring to the adherence to Payment Card Industry Data Security. In 2004, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard was created in a joint effort by the major credit card companies American Express, Visa, Discover and MasterCard . In the summer of 2005, the PCI DSS regulations were standardized and implemented. Naturally every credit card company has its own security policy.

- American Express: Data Security Operating Policy (DSOP)
- Visa: Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP)
- Discover: Discover Information Security and Compliance (DISC)
- MasterCard: MasterCard Site Data Protection (SDP)

To keep merchants marching to the tune of protecting our credit card data the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) was birthed in the fall of 2006 with a goal of having everyone that should be PCI compliant on board with the program by the end of 2008. At the current rate Visa U.S.A is projecting that 65 percent of all merchants will be PCI compliant by the end of 2007. The over-arching requirements are building and maintaining a secure network, protecting card holder data, maintain a vulnerability management program, use of strong access controls and routinely monitoring and testing a network. It goes all the way down to basic and common stuff like don’t use default passwords, performing vendor audits to ensuring credit card information is encrypted when being sent over public networks. That’s the short of it. We should know when they are really successful when crackers finally make the switch to chop-shopping WoW accounts instead of carding.

As for the latter- acronyms are fun- that’s why.

Forget Whuffie…They use one of the Big Three

Credit information is obtained through TransUnion. TransUnion is a global leader in credit and information management with 50,000 customers on six continents, supporting more than 500 million people worldwide. I am not sure where TransUnion has ever “supported” me, but that is how the system is setup.

F8 (Sounds like a Top Secret Plan or a Function Key or maybe “Fate”)

According to the privacy policy , and I am sure many will sleep soundly knowing they are certified by TRUSTe…

About Our Facebook Application

Lending Club maintains an application on the Facebook application platform known as F8. Facebook users can register for a Lending Cub account by coming through Facebook. This entails adding the Lending Club “application” to your Facebook profile (also free). Once the Lending Club application is installed, users get to a “landing page” on Facebook governed by Facebook’s privacy policy. No personally identifiable information is collected while on the Facebook landing pages. By clicking on these links from the Facebook landing pages, you will be taken from Facebook to the Lending Club site.

It is good to know it is governed by Facebooks’ liberal and well tuned privacy policy- also bearing the TRUSTe seal. I do mean liberal. All sorts of things leap out at you…for example:

However, while we have undertaken contractual and technical steps to restrict possible misuse of such information by such Platform Developers, we of course cannot and do not guarantee that all Platform Developers will abide by such agreements. Please note that Facebook does not screen or approve Platform Developers and cannot control how such Platform Developers use any personal information that they may obtain in connection with Platform Applications. In addition, Platform Developers may require you to sign up to their own terms of service, privacy policies or other policies, which may give them additional rights or impose additional obligations on you, so please make sure to review these terms and policies carefully before using any Platform Application. You can report any suspected misuse of information through the Facebook Platform and we will investigate any such claim and take appropriate action against the Platform Developer up to and including terminating their participation in the Facebook Platform and/or other formal legal action.

It is best to just read it all so you are informed. That being said I think social lending is a good thing and Facebook is certainly here to stay and willing to introduce you and I to new concepts like social lending. This is perhaps one reason, out of many, Microsoft got a whopping 1.6% stake in Facebook for approximately $250 million.

It’s social…
It’s the future…
It’s our fate…f8

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Down the Second Life Rabbit Hole ala CSI Miami..no CSI NY

It should have been Miami in my opinion…TheGridLive carries some interesting news and trends in this piece on Second Life and CSI NY, CBS, and Second Life hitting mainstream TV. I really don’t think the mainstream is ready, but there you go. From the piece.

He also describes the thought process behind the Down the Rabbit Hole episode, such as having the sim after the show that people can do stuff in and interact with, they are calling it the CSI:NY Virtual sim, where they have recreated the Flat Iron Building, not sure if that is right but it is the one you see in the Spiderman movies and episodes of Friends, they have recreated Times Square, the Chrysler building, the Empire State building, he says they have recreated every inch of New York city, so it really is a virtual representation. It will take you through an orientation process and then right after the show you will be able to do some cool things like a facial reconstruction game, puzzles and memory games, for the intermediate player you will be able to play Murder by Zuiker, a blog written by him in which you have to find one crime scene a month and the one who comes closest to giving the correct explanation of what happened wins a prize.

The last thing is Murder of the Month, where you can fly around virtual New York city, find crimes, solve the crimes, go to the virtual lab, be hands on inside the lab, and go to the Cisco teleconferencing system and deconstruct and solve the crimes every month. The same lab that you see in the show, will be the same in the virtual lab, with an audio/visual department, where you can trace, do fingerprints, do an autopsy, think about that, do an actual autopsy on a body to gather evidence, so you can be the CSI in first life and in Second Life, he says.

Some Points to Note

— CBS makes a strategic investment (correction- NOT an acquisition) in the Electric Sheep Company who are also making the OnRez viewer platform a direct market competitor with SLEX. Long neglected it is good to see it getting some attention although I think both platforms will fill different niches and bridge platforms will rise too.

— CSI NY, which means CBS, is making a foray into Second Life. I am a fan of the show and Second Life, but I am not so sure how they will mix together on network T.V. or will they be able to incubate large scale community. There are obvious uses for simulations in Second Life…we will have to wait and see. I know the Havok4 engine should help and no doubt I have seen demonstrable IMPROVEMENTS in the Second Life GUI and customer service response the last two months. (Thanks Dee Linden). Then again, they had nowhere to go but up….

— Pay Attention: Powerhouse, Cisco Systems, is a prominent sponsor behind all of this…with buys on the CBS tie-in pages pitching “The Human Network”. As a West Virginia native I have to cheer Cisco on through regional nationalism if nothing else. I really think they “get the picture”, or I hope they do and they aren’t planning a “Myspace with clunky social aspects”.

— Think “unified communications + collaboration + social networks + security”. Let us not forget their CEO, John Chambers, is dyslexic- he likes video and micro-chunked information. Maybe they should check out this emerging ARG. See Brian Clark’s schmeldritch.com. I plead the fifth, but I am punking him.

— If we look at their behavior, or not so recent behavior in Internet time- March of 2007- DNA and scalable tech based acquisitions and mindset- this was obvious. Cisco executives are banking on social networking and the general Web 2.0 phenomenon as pipelines to shift around Internet traffic, and thus traffic over their routers and other networking gear. Given the moshpit in the industry I can see why.

Previously, Cisco provided presence on a separate, optional server to what was then called Unified CallManager. Cisco also added the Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator, which puts presence, corporate calling, and unified messaging capabilities as an application on BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian OS and, eventually, Brew handsets. Other additions to the Unified Communications System includes a new Wi-Fi phone; upgraded its MeetingPlace 6.0 Web conferencing with Flash for better PowerPoint viewing; the Cisco voicemail system, Unity 5.0, with handsfree and security functions; Cisco’s contact center with e-mail and chat integration and created special technology bundle for SMEs.

,

TEN MILLION NO SET BACK TO “SOCIAL MEDIA” BUYING BLITZ

Despite losing $10 million to a fraudster Cisco isn’t done with their social media acquisitions either. The company bought select assets of privately held Utah Street Networks, the operator of the social networking site Tribe.net and is on the lookout for more. Ugh. Tribe.net? OK…they wanted the infrastructure- not tribe.net- good.

So Tribe.net will remain independent and since the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, we don’t know what they are paying, but I am sure it is a drop in the bucket.

Speaking of Cisco I recently found out their CEO and Board Chairman of Cisco is a native West Virginian (well born in Cleveland, but moved to Charleston as a tot), as were other key founders. Some WVU alumni, some Marshall. Either way chalk one up for the Appalachian technologists no one knows exists. Didn’t know that did you? Go ‘eers, go Thundering Herd.

Silicon Hillbillies. Love us, hate us…get used to it.

Copious Buckshot Fired Feedback on the CSI:NY CBS Second Life Crossover Show

From this post at Pacificrimx the author also notes that Cisco was a sponsor. No real surprise given their foray, albeit rather bland, into Second Life and their appetite for “social media” DNA as I noted above and months ago. They are in Second Life for a reason. They want to gather the skills to negotiate the slippery turf of a metaverse. Rumor has it they encourage all employees to sign up.

Henry Jenkins interviews some of the people at Electric Sheep about the cross-over.

Dusan Writer comments on the potential for a “tipping point” as 400+ sims were brought online to handle the load. What if…that didn’t work? I was in-world and did not watch the show. Aside from a couple problems with assets not uploading for a brief period, the Grid thrummed on without a hitch while avatars bet on how long before the Grid would tear apart. It didn’t. The Second Life website went down for a bit, but the Grid, incredibly, worked well. Maxing at no more than 40k simultaneous users.

- Second Life Insider gives their preshow take based on the commercial.

- GayGamer.net chimes in with the extended presence of CSI:NY in Second Life.

The list goes on and on and on- just hit the blogosphere or RSS reader of choice. Second Life, hate it or love it…

What was Everyone Anticipating?

Not sure. Knowing major networks I was figuring we might get a much better pixel resolution of say… Tron, with avatars doing all kinds of things they probably can’t. What they pitched…

The episode will see Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) entering Second Life to pursue a killer who has killed a Second Life user in a case of virtual stalking gone too far. CSI:NY fans will be encouraged to join Second Life and investigate the case by following a link on the CBS website. CSI:NY will have three options for CSI-related inworld activities. The first option will allow viewers to walk around virtual New York buildings and visit a CSI lab and play forensic games.

The second option consists of a game called “Murder by Zuiker,” a unique murder plot which can be solved by users finding clues. The 100 people who come closest to solving the murder will win virtual gifts.The big tie-in gives new users the ability to become CSI investigators, complete with field kit and tools, and are given a chance to interview suspects and to solve the murder featured in the actual CSI:NY episode. The episode itself will apparently end in a cliff-hanger with the solution not revealed until February.

Down the Rabbit Hole with Sketchup… Alice

Now for a tangent…

I also noted a local paper in Huntington, WV (a recent “hyper-local” acquisition according to their purchasers) and a local university press releases corroborates that Google Earth is working with Marshall University to prepare a virtual tour of the university in three dimensions using Sketchup and Google Maps. The buildings are created using Google’s free Sketchup software and they are then uploaded to the Google Earth Warehouse. From there they are await review and accuracy checking by Google. After the 3D structures are reviewed, they become part of the Google Earth application. Did I mention they bought Sketchup from In-Q-Tel, and In-Q-Tel is sponsored by the CIA? I probably did, not that it is a big secret or anything.

Do I think Google and Second Life will go in the same direction? No, not at all and this is due to corporate vision and risk versus reward behavior. Although I know some Lindens have defected to Google…(Hi Hunter.)

I am Banking on “Zs” and Heterogeneous yet Linked SIMS

Hollywood glitz aside I am looking forward to the future. I am ready for the change over the next 2-3 years. X, Y, Z- it is all about the “Z” variable- depth. This depth allows us to measure or model those “new metrics” everyone talks about- I think we have killed the page view and replaced it with stickiness- still not good enough.

Think “Curiosity + Engagement + Word of Mouth”. I figured this out in July (O.K. I am slow), and if marketers want to know when developer “Bleys” finishes up with “Project MicroPepper” drop me a line. My observations from early summer below…I stand by the analysis on Facebook (which MSFT just dumped in almost $250,000,000.00 for a 1.6% stake), problems with MySpace, and what Linden Labs really needs to do.

- I feel Facebook’s success is predicated on their wise choice to attack the weird angle of a delicate time- renegotiation of college social networks…and their almost incredible illusion of an extension of privacy. Zero privacy, read the TOS…background etc- not a secret- just cleverly wrapped. (Sam please quit messing with my social AI- hanging out in the desert does not mean we lived together).

- Couple that wise choice with control of mass and the velocity at which this mass moves. It has to be somewhat “safe”. Something that MySpace has failed to do, as Chris Boyd points out time and time again, and why they are trapped in this impression/click world of defectors. Once again let’s philosophically call it the Z variable- it lacks “depth”. Facebook offering up an API lets the community give it all kinds of depth, but they do contain the aesthetic to where you can operate without getting knifed by malware and if you leave the system they are sure to reinforce the fact you are leaving the system! Very astute.

So while everyone chucks bad food at applications like Second Life (primarily due to the ridiculous amounts of perceived freedom, in some ways a low barrier to entry, poor protection for content creators against system gamers, a hideously steep learning curve coupled with complex GUI) the parallels are very similar and valuable. Whether it fails it or not may be largely predicated on LL’s ability to nurture trust, making it secure, reformation of their GUI, and making it more pragmatic and perhaps the rate of adoption of post-humanism among society. I know there are many trans-humanists in Second Life which is even further evolved or devolved depending on your POV.

I will leave it at that, well maybe I won’t. Second Life fever will catch again, after flagging in the press, so I may just blog on the topic until someone throws a mega prim my way…

Some CSI Second Life Videos below.

Sample CSI:NY - CSI:NY in Second Life Videos from virtualworldsvideo.com

CSI NY Video 1

CSI NY Video 2

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Started weeks ago, never finished, there may have been changes since. However, this serves as a convenient starting point plus some important caveats.

Mobile Texts (SMS) on Facebook

BASICS & US SHORTCODE

- Mobile Texts should be turned on for

- You can update your status or search for people texting FBOOK (32665). Use either the digits or the characters.

- 32655 is the 5-digit US shortcode for Facebook. All texts sent to and from Facebook will begin with 32665.

- Once set allows pokes, messages, wall posts and friend requests which will be automatically sent to your phone.

- Currently Facebook Mobile works with Cingular, Nextel, Sprint and Verizon.

COSTS of FACEBOOK MOBILE

- Facebook does not charge you, the user, for using Facebook Mobile.

- However, your mobile provider’s standard rates for sending and receiving text messages still apply.

- If you have a plan with unlimited text messages, which I strongly suggest if you plan to use SMS, Facebook Mobile claims that it will not cost you anything- this is true, at least not money. Your privacy is another matter. You must weigh the costs.

WHERE AND HOW TO SET SMS PREFERENCES

Facebook SMS Preferences

From this page you can get set the following:

A] Toggle Text Messages Either On or Off

B] Display:

– Pokes
– Messages

C] Toggle Display by Sent by, either

– Everyone or
– Friends of Friends or
– Only My Friends

D] Comments

– Mobile Uploads or
– All Photos & Notes

E] Whose status updates should go to my phone?

– Option to Select by Name of Friend(s)

F] Whose mobile uploads should go to my phone?

G] What times should texts be sent to my phone?

– Either Anytime or
– Select Time Range

H] Option Not to receive a SMS if logged into site.

I] How many texts should be sent? (Message cap for 24 hour period)

– 5,10,15,
– 20, 25, 50,
– 75, 100 or
– Unlimited

J] Should a confirmation text be sent when I poke, message, or wall post from my phone?

-Toggle
– Yes or
– No

MANAGING PHOTOS or NOTES FROM MOBILE to FACEBOOK

To upload from your cell phone straight to Facebook you optimally should follow these two steps.

A] Add Facebook to your phone book. One entry for Photos and one for Notes.

Facebook Photos
photos@facebook.com

Facebook Notes
notes@facebook.com

B] Send Facebook a photo or a note via mobile.

Pick up your phone and snap a photo, type in a note, or you do both. Once you have added Facebook to address book.

-To add pictures to your album(s).
– Send Photo to: Facebook Photos

- To create a new note via cellphone.
– Send Message to To: Facebook Notes

ACCESSING FACEBOOK VIA PHONE OR PDA that is WAP ENABLED or a phone with a MOBILE BROWSER e.g. Safari on the iPhone.

- Mobile Browsing offers reduced functions, but most communications are active.

– Web Enabled Browser:
– Surf to: http://m.facebook.com

- Phones with WAP Support:

– Surf to http://www.facebook.com/wap.php

Example of options using WAP access.

A] Home
News Feed, pokes, messages, status updates, Other.

B] Profile
Look up profile information.

C] Friends
Gives Status update and last time updated. Option to Message or Poke.

D] Inbox
Standard Facebook Inbox

E] Photos
Check out the latest photos from friends.

QUICK FACEBOOK SMS COMMANDS

Get profile infoinfo john smith

Update status @ Your Message Here

Get cell cell john smith

Message msg john smith whats up?

Poke! poke john smith

Fire fire john smith

Wall post wall john smith happy bday

Add a friend add john smith

Write a note note this is a mobile note

Set Status I am Whatever your are doing.

Check Status stat to a friends message.

Turning off notices from cell phone.

text “on” or “off” to FBOOK (32665)

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY AND UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANS

Privacy Settings: http://www.facebook.com/privacy.php?view=network

FINAL WORD OF CAUTION

Most Facebook applications are made by 3rd party developers, in particular for the enterprise, these applications may not have gone through complete “information hygiene” processes. Be careful what you install- no matter how fun it seems. If you must install it- limit the access to your information.

TERMS USED or to EXPLORE

WAP: Acronym for Wireless Application Protocol. WAP is a widely used set of protocols that standardize the manner in which wireless devices, such as cell phones and some PDAs, are able to access parts of the Internet, such as e-mail and the Web.

SMS: Acronym for Short Messaging Service. Short Messaging Service is a protocol which allows text messaging via mobile phones.

PROTOCOL: The ‘language’ spoken between computers or devices to help them exchange information. To get more technical this is a formal description of message formats and the rules computers and/or devices must follow in order to exchange those messages. The rules make it possible the exchange of messages between users on the Internet or any network.

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In an effort to move on from more morose posts, I will do so. I thank everyone for the deluge of e-mail, comments, IM and even phone calls. Some people shared some very interesting, intense and often very personal stories- thank you.

For the record, I have not gone underground (thanks for paying att