Nadir Nasir's Blog

Reverse Graffiti Project

2009-06-26T04:05:00.002+06:00

This Reverse Graffiti Project is absolutely amazing. There is always one guy who comes up with an unimaginable yet very simple idea! Watch the video below, it is amazing how he cleans walls instead of painting over them to create art. Lovely.

WARNING for using US English as my default Browser language!

2009-06-17T03:07:00.000+06:00

This is wired! On my regular late night browsing, I came across this site that was offering fonts for download then I click a link, when the page loaded, I see a huge red box on the top that literally says

Warning: Your browser claims that you are a speaker of United States English. If this is not correct you should update your browser and OS language settings to correctly reflect your native dialect.

I wonder why!

Facebook Privacy Flaw - Disable CSS to view Private Accounts.

2009-06-08T05:29:00.000+06:00

I was playing around with some new web developer addons in my Firefox while on Facebook and I pressed a key combination which disabled the CSS styles for currently opened tab of Facebook. I was on a profile page of someone who has set their details not to appear if the viewer is not her friend. I just scrolled down and saw the profile picture of that person which really amazed me to see something that wasn't there before (in normal layout).

I tried this on a few other private profiles and everytime I was able see the profile pictures of those who were not my friends. Apparently, facebook hides the information (display pictures) using CSS! How ridiculas can it be! I think of it as a serious privacy flaw.

WHAT THE SCRAP!

2009-05-29T23:51:00.000+06:00

Can anybody tell me what is the practical usage of this SCRAP that Microsoft pasts when every you copy some text from Ms Word?

I hate Microsoft and this is yet another reason why!

Screw You Microsoft!

Bank Alfalah Credit Card Says "No Advance Payments Please"

2009-05-16T03:32:00.001+06:00

I've been using Bank Alfalah credit card for over 2 years now and for me the service has almost never created any problems. Contrary to what a general opinion is about credit cards, I have (Alhamdullilah) never been a victim of pretend-mishaps like cheque misplacement, surprise charging etc. To avoid such over-charging or paying what you didn't spent, there is just two things one can do. 1. Pay before the due date. 2. Pay in hard cash at the branch. Yes paying bill in cash does have extra charges of 110 Rupees (as of this date) but it is worth spending as you get to see them input your payment in the system, so you can be sure that you paid and they received. Instead of using a drop box or cheque, this is the most reliable way of paying.

Anyway, there is another very common opinion that there is no real reason for using or even having a credit card. But given that Pakistan does not have a PayPal service and all the wire transfers have fees that is somewhat more than the amount itself! So what's left for making payments abroad or on Internet? My main reason for having a credit card is to do online payments (being in the web business). When it comes to Internet the first thought is of Credit Card Frauds or
Internet scams etc. So what's the precaution for that? Well there is! Every card (as far as I know) in Pakistan is blocked for Internet payments, (and no, you can't use your Debit Visa on Internet), which means that if your card number and verification number is released, no one can misuse it on Internet. Which is good! My card is also inactive for Internet transactions and I ask them to activate it when I need
it, I do the payment and I have it inactivated again as soon as I am done.

But since the last few months I am being told in every call to helpline for activation, that there are 100 Rupee charges for Internet activation! That was quite a shock for me! because if you call any helpline and ask them to do something, should they charge when there is no actual resource being used!? Anyway, hundred rupee was not such a big amount and given the economical situation and the fact that the
card which is "free for life" didn't apply a yearly fee to it, it was acceptable enough.

Then guess what! last time I paid the bill, I paid around 5K above my actual bill, so I was assured that I can use my card for a while now without worrying to pay instantly. I also knew that a payment was due in a couple of days, so what's wrong in paying in advance!? So today the time came when I had to activate the card on Internet... I called up the helpline (042-111-225-786) and asked the gentleman to have the card activated. He asked some verification questions and then said "Sorry your card can't be activated on net"... I was baffled to hear
that, so I asked him why... He told me that it was because I had paid in advance. The interesting part was that he said "Why did you pay in advance, tell me the reason" (exactly these words) in a tone in which a grandpa would ask his grand son "Why did you break the toy, give me reason" I was offended by that, but I held myself and asked him that what does he propose as I have a payment on the Internet due right now! I told him that I knew this payment was due so I paid in
advance... He was disgusted for god knows what reason and said that it is the "Company Policy" that you can't activate on Internet when youhave a positive balance! That was ridicules in its complete nature, so I said to him... "Okay, so we should pay within the 15 day time and we should pay exactly the amount due, we can't pay any late because then bank will get "angry" and charge the late fee, but we also can NOT pay in advance as it is also frowned upon by the bank!? He said, Sir G
this is a policy... I cut him there and asked him to give me a solution for the payment that I have to do right now. He then did some keystroking on his keyboard and said "I'm allowing it now, but just for this time, take care next time and DO NOT pay in advance"

I usually do not make posts about bad customer experiences, but this one is something that had be thinking. I still don't get what is the reason for such a grandpa-type attitude and what could possibly be the reason for the bank to frown upon advance payments! If any of you people know, please share your thoughts! I'll be happy to know!

Using IE 6 Message

2009-05-05T03:33:00.000+06:00

Pardon the language :) but being a designer myself I also feel so strongly about making sites "IE 6 Compatible". IE 6 is history people!

Fired for Facebook: Don’t let it happen to you

2009-05-05T03:10:00.000+06:00

Apparently - talking crap about your company will not be taken lightly. So be careful when you open your mouth - especially on social networks. :) Here is the article I came across, I though to share with your people.

It all started with an innocent "tweet"–a post to the micro-blogging site Twitter. Connor Riley, a 22-year-old pursuing her master's degree in information management and systems at University of California, Berkeley, wrote:
Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.
Cisco employee Tim Levad saw the post and responded with his own tweet:
Who is the hiring manager? I'm sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the Web.

That exchange exploded into what is now known as the "Cisco Fatty" incident–other Twitterers picked up the posts, and soon the Internet was all atwitter about a prospective employee who squandered a job opportunity in this dire economy for saying something stupid online. Riley ended up writing a post on her personal blog apologizing for her tweet, explaining that she was being sarcastic and that she'd actually already turned down the offer.
OK, so no real job loss here, but the incident begs the question: Can social media get you fired? Ask Dan Leone, and the answer is a resounding "yes." Leone, a Philadelphia Eagles employee, was bummed when Eagles player Brian Dawkins signed with a rival team. So he posted his state of mind on Facebook:
Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver … Dam Eagles R Retarted!!
Days later, he was canned by the Eagles.
What you post online, whether it's on your personal blog or at a social networking site, matters. (Who can forget Heather Armstrong, who got fired several years ago for writing about her job on her personal blog, Dooce.com? The episode launched the phrase "getting dooced" to mean being fired for blogging about work.) But I think social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook pose a bigger threat, because it's easy to get lulled into the feeling that we're just posting comments for our friends' consumption. I don't even think employing the most stringent privacy settings–like having your profile or thoughts available to "friends only"–is much of a safeguard. It just takes one person to create a screenshot of something you write that could haunt you for life. So next time you post something online, err on the side of caution. Assume the everyone in the world can read it–and would you really want them to?

Source: http://moneyfeatures.blogs.money.cnn.com/2009/04/21/fired-for-facebook-dont-let-it-happen-to-you/#comments

Illustrator CS3 I/O Error

2009-05-02T02:48:00.001+06:00

Hi folks! I hope you have found yourself looking at an error while trying to save an illustrator file that says I/O Error. I believe that is just because you don't have much space left on your hard drive to save the file to that specification location. I was quite frustrated for what type of error is this and never thought of the fact that it could be my issue than of illustrator's. Although I would appreciate if they could have just said "You don't have much space to save this file" or something like that instead of "I/O Error".

Tasks in Outlook

2009-05-01T02:17:00.001+06:00

No wonder why outlook is so "fast"!

I hate to use outlook for email, but I have for office emails. Check the attached screenshot, it shows two tasks - simple "sending" and "receiving" but says "6 out of 7 Taks completed". How dumb a software got to be to do something like that. Microsoft SUCKS!!!

# 003 Dummails!

2009-04-29T17:38:00.001+06:00

The Magical Eye Test

Can you find the B
(there are 2 B's) DON'T skip or your wish won't come True...

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRBRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRBRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR

Once you've found the B

Find the 1

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIII1III
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Once you found the 1........... ...

Find the 6

9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999699999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999

Once you've found the 6...

Find the N (it's hard!!)

MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMNMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM

Once you've found the N...

Find the Q...
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO

Make 2 wishes!

>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>> >>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>

OK, NOW THAT U MADE A Wish, IT WILL COME TRUE...
ALL U HAVE TO DO IS FORWARD
TO 5 PEOPLE BUT
IF YOU FORWARD TO MORE IT WILL HAPPEN SOONER!!!

I got myself an AMD 16-core PC (aghhmm-itel-lover-aahmm)

2009-04-27T02:11:00.000+06:00

ME: Hi you, its the year 2011, and I got myself a (dual-dual-dual-dual-dual-dual-dual-dual)-Core PC.
You: Hey hi, I didn't get that...what did you say?
Me: Oh I'm sorry... I mean I got myself an AMD 16-core PC (aghhmm-itel-lover-aahmm) :-)
You: Wow really!
Me: Yea, read it for yourself dude! When are you from! Like 2001!

Google Search in Year 2084

2009-04-21T21:50:00.000+06:00

This is relatively possible :)

IE Blank Space after IMG tag - Fix

2009-04-06T03:23:00.005+05:00

There has been an issue that is bothering me for quite a while now. Whenever I place an image in my HTML and start the text just after it, it shows blank spaces in IE. Firefox never renders a blank space unless &nbsp tag is displayed. IE (all version before 8) shows a blank space. I don't know why! This is the reason why I hate IE from the bottom of my core!

Anyway, I tried everything, but it keeps coming back. I tried to align the image towards the direction in which it shows space, but no use. Here is the screenshot of space that IE shows. There is an IMG tag and next starts a div with repeated background defined via CSS.

Here is screenshot of how Firefox (correctly) displays the design.

The fix is that you have to remove all the white space from the code, see the image below (click it, thumbnail is very poor quality). Notice the selected area in the code below.

This is how it should look like. In short don't let dreamwaver autoformat your code, as IE (dumbass) will take it as blank space

Coded Example:

<img></img>
<div>></div>

it should be like,

<img></img><div>></div>

I hope Microsoft discontinues its products, especially the INTERNET EXPLORER! :)

Super Concept Bikes Part 2

2009-04-04T04:25:00.001+05:00

Super Bikes! If Honda Pakistan starts production, I'm definitely getting one of these bad boy! :)

Mass Hysteria: Almost as if in a movie!

2009-03-13T03:12:00.001+05:00

I came across this article about a social illness that has showed up in central America, in which a group of people are affected contagiously. The primary symptoms include breathing problems, shaking, anxiety excreta, it has also been reported that in later stages the affected individuals seize to remember where they are and refuse to recognize anyone around.

The thing so freaky about this is that it is an illness that affects the behavior or multiple people at the same time. It is contiguous while no one knows how it is transmitted or transferred, and more over no one knows how it starts - what causes it and above all there is no cure. It is almost as shown in some Hollywood movie like The Invasion or Resident Evil or something!

Source

Email: Gmail starts sending mails from Future :)

2009-03-13T02:01:00.001+05:00

This event is about to be held in EXPO Center, Karachi for which I was invited for the exhibition. The interesting part is that Google tells me that the email was sent "-1" minutes ago. Which means that if something is sent 1 min ago, it is past, if it is sent 0 minutes ago then it is present and if it is sent "-1" minutes "ago" means its future isn't it :D

Kind of funny that I was able to capture that just as the email was sent. Though I'm curious that how it could happen!? (No it is not edited) What time stamp does Gmail attach to the emails sent? Is the Gmail server time and the scripting not going along with each other lately? Or is Google literally "so ahead of its time" :-p

Mega Super Bikes!!!

2009-03-12T20:06:00.004+05:00

Ever since I sold off my bike all I could think about is heavy heavy and heavier bikes! And then this comes to me in an email, man that kills me! Especially the one ridden by the pretty lady ;-)

If someone knows the origin of these pictures please share

Email: Spammers Now Target Facebook

2009-03-12T02:14:00.001+05:00

I have now stared receiving this email in my spam folder (once again thanks to Gmail for such a great spam filter) telling me that someone uploaded a video of a girl who danced in some party and someone is very shocked! :).

It is supposed to be from messageserver##(at)facebook(.) com and points to something like htp://facebook.shared..... Yes a dancer video! who wouldn't click it. I just went in the spam folder to click "delete all spam messages now" where my custom-made purple label for social websites grabbed my attention and so I though I should share with you guys.

In my case it was gmail who filtered it and added a big notice in red at the top of the email that this might not be from who they claim to be so be careful. What if I was using Outlook to grab my emails or Hotmail or Yahoo? I'm once again lucky to have not clicked it and get my credentials / privacy compromised.

But for all you guys out there, be careful what you click.

Have you guys received any such emails in the recent past or that you know of? Please share!

Wanna see what a .docx file looks like!

2009-03-09T22:56:00.000+05:00

Have you ever got into a position where you wanted to pull your hair off just so you can extract images enclosed in a "fabulous" Microsoft Words file. Well if you are using the old version, having the .doc extension - keep pulling your hair :)

BUT, if you are on a Word 2007, with the .docx file extension, I could show you how you can get everything out of the file. You know I really hate Microsoft especially its approach to "conceal" everything thing. Just 10 minutes ago I wanted to extract a couple of images from a word file, well not exactly a couple of images - a couple of "hundred" images actually. I tried everything, I tried to copy paste into Photoshop but that stupid Microsoft Word won't copy it to the clipboard so Photoshop could get it. NO! I tried to export it as a web page, thinking it would make an html file and a folder just next to it with all the files in it so I could get my images from there, but guess what, I did that and it added an underscore (_) instead of the last charachter of image file extension. It turned ".jpg" into ".jp_". I do know how to solve it, but I don't want to do it in a hundred file. Anyway I tried taking the print-screen and then pasting it in photoshop, I mean I could do it but it would take like forever to edit all the pictures that way, saving files and making new files etc.

So here is what I did, I heard that Microsoft 2007 file format (that ends with an "x" at the end of its old-version extension) is all XML based, I tried out multiple things like renaming it to xml etc but then I did something that slit-opened the file and showed me everything it has in it. I really appreciate Microsoft's move to make its file XML based so it would be compatible with other programs / standards.

Here is what you can do to extract the images from a .docx Ms Word file.

Duplicate your .docx file
Rename the file to .zip instead of .docx - You don't wanna do this "filename.docx.zip" just "filename.zip"
DO NOT make the file a zip file (i.e. "add to archive") by using WinRAR or any other zipping program, just RENAME IT
and when you have renamed your .docx to .zip just double click (you need a zip file viewer to view the file)
You will find all the things in there in proper folder hierarchy.
Go to the folder "word >> media" and find all the images there.

Voila! Don't you just love it when you can rip apart files and use the pieces for your own purpose :D

Website Robustness and Integrity - A true benchmark

2009-03-02T02:16:00.002+05:00

When it comes to website robustness, security and privacy control, there is nothing better than the local Pakistani websites run by people who don't even know the abbreviation of www. Here is a typical example of a (supposedly) locally managed website called pak wheels. The security is so tight that they don't even allow the registered seller of the "wheels" to give out their number and contact information on the website. Okay I agree, in the section of comments you can type in your phone number if you want to in words or whatever. But take a look the image, it says at one place "Sorry, you must be logged in to view seller's info", just in the next section it says and actually provide the sellers "personal" info with name contact number even age :)

GUYS!!!! This is what you get when you pay 5000 Rupees and expect a 100++ dunamic website with unlimited hosting and .pk domain name!

Have you ever heard of something some quality designers sometimes talk about -called NO-SPEC

Flickr Lie'r

2009-02-25T00:50:00.001+05:00

Funny is it, they say it's 12MB but it's really almost 15. Why would they do that! :)

Hotmail Catching Up or Messing Up!

2009-02-19T03:57:00.001+05:00

I just can't help hating hotmail and the whole damn interface, I have gmail opened all the time when I am on my computer, there is hardly ever anything that irritates me as a user. But hotmail, I login (only if I have to) just to find a couple of more irritating things. Today when I logged in, I was expecting to see the email that a client sent me and was anxiously waiting for the reply. We spoke on the messenger about the email, he CC'd me on my gmail and when I replied to that email days ago from my gmail, it turns out that it never got delivered to him. This has been the case with him and me for other times in past as well. Apparently when I send him the email from gmail, he doesn't get it, but when I send it from hotmail it always gets delivered. On the other hand, why I love gmail is that every email from hotmail gets into my gmail just fine.

Anyway, today I logged in my hotmail and guess what, a notice saying that now the disk space in hotmail is ever-increasing. Which is supposed to be a good thing, but it was presented to me in a way that I really felt irritated. I was there to reply to the clients email, I'm short on time and it loads to slow but as soon as I enter the password I see a stage where there is nothing but two lines telling what hotmail has recently updated with a continue button. Tell me, what should I do about this recent update!? Stare at this for the next 1 hour!

Now here's the deal, my goal is to just reply (I see a "1" in my msn window for email) I type the hotmail URL in my address bar, first I had to see "you have 1 new email". Well goddammit I know I have 1 new email! I went to settings and cleared it to just show me the inbox directly as I login. So I sign in, now I see a new notice, telling me that you have unlimited disk space and a little more visual space for my messages. But that's not all, I also see a check box saying "don't show this screen again" and a continue button. Why can't you just show this message in the inbox at the top!? Why do you have to add an additional step and increase the amount of work that the user has to do before he could get down to his own business. And you call yourself user-friendly. Well if you are user-friendly then you are turning out to be a lousy friend to me (sorry, I do have hard feeling).

That is why I admire and use Gmail for everything, from emails to tasks, documents, everything. I say that by giving unlimited space to the user is not going to kill the competition neither its going to make the users' life any easier. I mean the way Gmail takes care of the users is just splendid. Just now, as I type this blog (which BTW is in gmail and I'm just going just to shoot the email to my blogger address to post) I stopped after the third paragraph to do a proofread, after 5 or 10 seconds of typing-inactivity, the size of the text area got expanded - removing the scroll bar, so the reading experience would be better while I'm reading. I don't have to scroll and break the reading experience. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about, Gmail Rocks, Hotmail Sucks!

Facebook respond to the voice against it's new TOS

2009-02-18T01:32:00.002+05:00

Okay based on the subject of my last post just yesterday, the CEO of Facebook - Mark Zukerberg has responded by making a post on facebook about his new Terms of Service -- Seems like he was waiting for me to write it up on my blog :p

In his post he seem to clarify why facebook requires the License to own the content and keep it even after you die. He says that (1) without having the license he can not make our content available to our friends on facebook, (2) he needs to keep the contents as archived because, for example, you have sent an email to a friend and later you decide to close your account, the same email that was sent my you will be deleted from your "Sent Items" folder, but will be kept in your friends "inbox" folder and that's why they need to keep a copy of your content. Well it does make sense!

He also assures facebook users that facebook will not misuse our contents in any way that we may not like, his pep talk on the blog seem to me as if he wants people to "trust" facebook and keep using it. In his post he have created an impression that the contents will only be used on the facebook domains and no where else, and everything written in the TOS is for our (users) own benefit.

BUT, my toughs are... (which I tried to comment on his blog, but found the comments disabled)

That's a very good explanation and I probably believe what you say, but my primary concern is that if you can think of 20 words that just mean "use"... when you say "use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers)"... Can you not add your clarification into these type of words and edit this TOS once more?

I agree to you a 100% but when it comes to legal issues this blog doesn't mean anything, what does mean something is the TOS page and what it has written in it using 20 alternate words for one word, meaning almost the same and that is "its mine now, ha ha ha".

You may need to clarify when you say "Publicly perform or display", what "public" are you referring to? is it the advertisers, looking for targeted ads? When you say "edit, modify" what sort of editing do you refer to? And above all when you say "Create Derivative work and distribute (through Multiple tiers)" what exactly are your "tiers" and what sort of "derivative work" do you intend to create from user contents.

You need to clearly mention where our information will go, on which domains it will be presented to and what parties may have acces to our content such as law enforcement agencies, advertisers etc.

With the number of current facebook users, I highly doubt that there would be any significant affects if a few hundred users quit using facebook because of this. But at least one should be careful of what he posts. People seem to take online social networks very lightly and differently than real life social grouping, what I believe is that online social network is a place where you need to be more careful than the real life because you don't know when something comes back and bite you on your face - don't forget everything on the Internet is in written / material form and you have allowed it to be owned by someone else.

Update: I saw an article just after making this post, the article is about a killer posting on Facebook about his time in jail. Read the complete article that tells how many criminals and even criminals doing time use facebook FROM PRISON -- for cryin' out loud.

Still feel like posting your families and friend up there?

Now The Playground Own Everything You Bring In With You

2009-02-17T03:31:00.002+05:00

Oh that cruel sign-up process where you have to fill a minimum of two to a maximum of 15 or more text fields to get yourself registered somewhere on the web. It has a small check box just above the "sign up" button, having a line of text "I agree to all the Terms and Conditions", which you have to check to complete your registration. If you don't check it, it displays a pop up or a message in red saying you must agree to the terms and conditions to complete sign up. If you do even think about clicking the link and seeing whats in it, you get haunted by the amount of text that loads up in front of you, even if someone hold their breath and starts to read, the language used in it is so hard that a person either feel ashamed that he doesn't know good English, or gets agitated and close the window.

However if you notice something that went against your will and you object about it, they'll say that you have already agreed on this before you signed up with us. They'll fish-up lines from the river of text and show it to you and you won't be able to do anything about it.

The same is with the recent change in facebook's - 3,700 words in 315 lines -Terms of Services. Updated on February 4th 2009, claims that all the content that is uploaded by any user with any set of privacy settings is now the property of Facebook and facebook has the rights to do whatever it wants to do with it (well that's in simple words).

The original text is, (I have faded-out text that will get you pulling your hair out. But if you want to read it all, be my guest!)

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.

Source: Facebook Terms of Use - if you dare, read it all, if not, do check out the sections License and Termination.

You may also read more here. It apparently also highlights the fact that even if you close your account or delete the content, the content will still be kept with facebook in archived form, and can be used by facebook whenever and wherever it wants.

You may also join the facebook group "People Against the new Terms of Service (TOS)"

Good Luck to all of you who post yourself, your family, friends, loved ones, in short, your lives on facebook. Its like you went to a playground with your family, your Frisbees and your lunch and now the playground owns everything!

After all this, if you are still wondering why this is bad, take at the look at Google's Paper on Issues of Privacy on Social Web.

Imagine There Is no GOOGLE!

2009-02-15T21:46:00.001+05:00

Imagine if there is no Google for one day!

A good article written by David Petherick

What if there was no Google - right now? Goog, gone! What would that mean for the way that I work online? So I'm writing this article in a theoretical situation, where suddenly, there's no Google. read more...

Another article showing the alternates to all Google Products in case there is no Google anymore. You've got to have your options open :)

Scary though, but a good one isn't it!