Think Before You Update

Over on my outdoors blog (whitespider1066) I have been talking about the outdoors industry not really getting social media ("Not so social outdoors").
I also have some (and I say this myself) some great photos of a swan I took on my iPhone.
Over on whitespider1066 I advocate the Chase Jarvis mantra of the 'the best camera is the one with you'. Which usually means the iPhone 3G and it's 2 megapixel inbuilt camera.
There are posts over on the other blog where I have talked about the apps I use on the iPhone to edit photos.
But I will be covering some other iPhone apps over there as well in the near future that deal with OS map data and the GPS. It's the logical place for me to discuss these apps in detail.
But my point in the post I wrote yesterday is that the iPhone and now the Android phones are becoming conduits to the social networks that we use. They enable us to post updates and check what is going on in our networks from where ever we are. Whether this is using a geolocation based network like Foursquare to say "I'm here whose around?" or posting photos.
Yes with this location based stuff there is always the "but you are broadcasting you are away to potential burgulars". Which is true. BUT. Yes there is a but. What we need is people to put in a little more thought into what they broadcast on the social networks they are on, and also who they friend.
Let's look at Twitter, that is a pretty open social network. It is also one that I would think twice about broadcasting my where abouts on.
If using something like Gowalla and Foursquare, don't just friend every Tom,Dick and Harry. Because you are broadcasting your location you really need to know the people that you friend on these networks. It's a personal rule I like to use on these networks, no strangers, I need to know the people.
I also apply this rule to Facebook. But on Facebook you have more control over who gets to see what. And I would recommend that folks use these controls.
At the end of the day though you should always THINK before you post to a social network. Whether that post is some location based info, or a picture or just I'm doing such and such. THINK "what happens if this gets out to the wrong people?"
Also THINK before you accept some-one as a friend on a social network. Ask yourself "am I happy that this person knows where I am, or sees my photos, or reads my updates?"
Just applying common sense to the whole social networking stuff will help so much to avoiding those embarrassing situations. Maybe it's time we started teaching our kids, and ok us adults as well how to use these social networks. It really is surprising how many people don't know how to control their Facebook settings, or think about what they are posting. We need to educate.
These social networks are a great communication tool, that allow us to keep in contact with friends and family, make new friends, and share our ideas with the world. We just need to think a bit more and learn how to use these tools properly.

Some Windows Mobile 7 Thoughts

On Monday at a developers conference being held in Barcelona Microsoft previewed to the world Windows Mobile 7. This is the release of Windows Mobile that Microsoft are hoping gets them back in the game against Apple and Google.

From the reaction I have seen online so far it does sound like Microsoft may have done just that.

But there are a few caveats with this coverage and the opinions being expressed at the moment (including this one here). No one has a phone with this on at the moment and nor have they used it. Phones with Windows Mobile 7 on are not due out until the end of 2010 I believe.  These phones will be from some of the usual Microsoft partners which includes the biggie HTC.

HTC are really the leaders outside of Apple in designing smart phones. They have been doing it for years now, mainly with Windows Mobile and more recently with Google Android.

So until folks have a Windows Mobile 7 based phone in their hands and they are using the final production version of Windows Mobile 7 we really won’t know whether Microsoft has really pulled it off and got themselves back in the game.

It’s also a long time between now and the end of 2010, in that time there is an expected version 4 of the iPhone OS to be released. Plus there is very strong reasons to think that we will see at least one if not two more major releases of Google Android.

One thing I am sure of though is that Nokia and the Symbian OS are an also ran and we are seeing the possible death throws of that OS. That is despite the recent open sourcing of the Symbian OS and making it free to other manufacturers. It comes across as too little too late, or to hammer the point home even more shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted. Don’t get me wrong Nokia will still make phones I just think they will move eventually to Android for their smart phones.

The Palm Pre is also going to be an also ran if not already dead. I have seen rumours that production has been stopped currently on the Palm Pre range. Whether this is due to the supply line being at full capacity or that they are just not selling and well you get the picture. The Palm Pre was always a last throw of the dice for Palm. A gamble that is not paying off.

RIM and the Blackberry they have yet to respond properly to all the above. I’m not writing them off yet. But based on their attempt to take on the iPhone in the past I’m not holding my breathe.

The main points are we need hands on, we need to see how it compares to the expected updates from the competition, and only then can we make a better more informed discussion about this all. But in the meantime it does look like Microsoft have stepped up to the mark.

Sorry Another Virtual Revolution Rant

I don't know why I keep doing this, but once more I find myself watching The Virtual Revolution on the BBC.
From my previous two posts I think folks know how I feel about the series. I do feel that a more apt title for the show would be "stating the bloody obvious".
For me the show is full of tired cliche shots that I have taken the mickey out of in previous posts. I mean they have so many shots of the woman walking down a busy street as if she was in the Matrix (see that Youtube clip I embedded in the previous post). Each show does get more and more like a real life parody of the Spike Milligan sketch I also linked to in the first post about this series. It's almost as every sentence she says to camera is filmed at a new more exotic location than the previous one. Or to mingle it up she is seen staring off into infinity in deep thought.
Dr Krotoski tries to qualify herself as an expert on the subject by claiming to have researched and written about the web over the last ten years. Who hasn't? So she is as qualified as me and most techies on this subject then. Where is our all expense paid filmed global holiday cunningly disguised as a "documentary" about the internet?
So I am going to leave you with the same shot that they finished this weeks show with. Me sitting on the beach with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance tapping away on my laptop, followed with me strolling along the shoreline looking lost in thought as the waves break on the beach.
Yes the shots were as tacky and pointless as that. And at our expense!

More Secrets Of The Virtual Revolution Revealed

Been watching that BBC Virtual Revolution program again. I know I know I'm a sucker for punishment. But after having seen this youtube clip from another BBC program I believe, although about the news, also applies to this show as well.

It's amazing how close the Virtual Revolution follows this clip.