TechnoRani

Facebook Revamps

Facebook recently announced a number of important changes. These include Subscribe Button, News Feed Ticker, Smart Lists, the revamped Newsfeed …. and the major announcement: Timeline. The announcements were made at Facebook’s F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco in September. I had the chance to see Mark Zuckerberg speak at the conference.

Here’s my take on some of these changes. I’ve had a chance to try Timeline myself, so read on!

Subscribe Button

Facebook now allows you to make your personal profile more public. You can now allow allow others –friends or not– to subscribe to your public update. I spoke about this to a few friends. This is more conducive to celebrities, pundits, journalists, etc who want to build their visibility but don’t necessarily want to friend strangers. It’s akin to subscribing to an RSS feed, but within Facebook, you as the subscriber remain faceless. This sounds more like a Twitter follow. Does anyone see this as counterintuitive to community? In addition, what will this do to the newsfeed. Currently, Facebook algorithm allows newsfeeds from people whom you’ve recently interacted with. My assumption is this is negated once you activate the subscribe button. The content you’ve subscribed to will show up regardless and may push your friend’s content further down the feed.

News Feed Ticker

News Feed Ticker shows all the actions performed by your friends, your Facebook Pages and your subscriptions. The real-time News Ticker pretty much shows what’s happening on your Facebook right now. It looks like this contradicts my earlier comment about Facebook algorithm allowing newsfeeds from people whom you’ve recently interacted with ie the relevance seems to be disregarded. So do I really care if someone that I haven’t spoken to in years, suddenly shows up on my news feed ticker LIKING a Farmville app? I don’t think so. Another point, a friend of mine, Claire brought up: Now your boss knows every little thing you do on Facebook once they have a ticker that monitors every action. I say #fail on this point.

Lists

Facebook Lists is Facebook’s answer to Google Plus Circles. You can essentially create and use different lists to follow or track posts by designated friends, people and groups. Facebook will create the following lists for you: Acquaintances, Friends, Work, School, Family and Your City. This is expected but is a little too late especially for the teens on Facebook who forever wanted to select who they post what content to aka Mommy voyeur. This is the reason for the mass teen exodus from Facebook in the last year.

News Feed

This is a minor upgrade to the News Feed that exists today and as such it might not be as relevant as the others. Top Stories and Recent Stories have now replaced Top News and Most Recent news. Top Stories are news snippets that Facebook thinks might be of interest to you, whereas Recent Stories is the chronological feed of your news. You, as a user can see a ‘blue’ triangle above each feed and mark it as a top story. Top stories have traditionally been those that had the most engagement. Now, with the addition of the triangle, users can directly vote up their favourites.

Timeline

This is the most significant change to Facebook. In Zuckerberg’s words, Timeline allows you to tell “the story of your life.” “All your stories, all your apps, a new way to express who you are”.

As you go back in your Facebook history, the Timeline will summarize some of the highlights from that year to “tell the whole story of your life on a single page. What I do like is that Facebook has now taken all that data and presents it in Timeline, allowing you to scroll back through time. This replaces the nauseating click on “older posts” that only brough you to the previous activity. Remember what you had posted when you first joined Facebook back in the day?

Here’s what I learned from my first crack at Timeline. Thanks Brad for sending me the link if you want to turn your profile over to timeline. Considering I’m not an frequent user of Facebook, my timeline turned out OK. I must admit it looks very cool: it took all my recent activity: Wall posts, subscribes, Likes, open conversations and revealed a nice scrapbook that was all about me. My friend reminded me of Intel’s version of the Museum of Me.

Apps in your Timeline

Facebook recently opened up its platform to applications. These apps will allow Facebook users to enter almost everything they do into the social network – what they cooked for dinner, what book they’re reading and what page they’re on or what bike trail they just biked.

So…. LIKE is no longer the “it” verb. Now Facebook allows you to “Read”, “Cook”, “Watch” and also allow users to click on this apps directly on your newsfeed as a “frictionless” or seamless opt-in. For example, Through streaming music services like Spotify, you can update your friends with each song being sent through their earphones. This update will quickly pass through the News feed Ticker on Facebook.

I like this idea, although there is still a barrier for Canadians who don’t have access to Hulu or Spotify because of CRTC rules.

The idea of de-prioritizing LIKE is a hindrance for brands. But for the user, this elevates the power of friend recommendation and if the brands have strong advocacy, they can easily capitalize on this new change.

I can’t wait to use this feature on Facebook. If you want to see it in detail, please go here: Timeline.

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By Hessie Jones, WhatsYourTech.ca

Zip.ca - a User Perspective

       By Mark Orton, WhatsYourTech.ca

I like DVD’s.  I like to wander the video store and check out what’s available, read the descriptions, watch the trailers being played and just immerse myself in a world of entertainment.  This to the chagrin of my wife who makes her choices in minutes and can never understand why it takes so long to select a movie.   But it’s my video version of the library.  Unfortunately the experience is hard to come by now as the major players like Blockbuster are leaving the marketplace, leaving a few neighbourhood stores.  They too are becoming few and far between as more and more people turn to downloading and video on demand services.

Having read the hype (good and bad) surrounding the new Netflix in Canada and Tim Teatro’s articles on his experiences with the product,  I searched  for an alternative that would give me, at least to some degree, the physicality of a DVD.

That was Zip.ca.

As an incentive to try the service, there is a 30 day free trial, which provides for three DVD’s out at one time with an unlimited number for the month.  Normally the package would cost you CAD 24.95 plus tax.   Registration is simple and when your account has been set up you are ready to go shopping.   And the list is long.  More than 82,000 selections, covered in 25 categories including Canadian.   If you are a television fan, there are more than 9,000 selections including classic BBC series to modern day Canadian productions like Warehouse 13 and Flashpoint.  Quite frankly you can lose track of time scrolling through the selections.  Or you can use the shortcuts provided including what’s new, most popular and recommendations. There is also an easy search using titles, actors and directors.

When you find a movie you like, simply hit the zip button and it’s placed on your Zip list ready for delivery.  The suggestion is to maintain a list of 20 movies to allow for regular delivery. Watch for ‘Hidden Gems’. These are ones that are not new releases that have been highly rated by other members and are ready to be shipped.  I suspect that padding the list with ‘Hidden Gems’ provides some breathing room because it looks like it seems to take time to get new releases.  I’m well into the 30 day free trial and have asked for several new releases from the past three months but so far in three shipments I haven’t seen any.   In order to maintain a regular delivery schedule, Zip will send you an e-mail when your list becomes low encouraging you to add more choices.  They also send regular updates on the status of shipments and returns.

One plus to the service is no due date and no late fees.  No longer do you have to scramble to get the movie back to avoid paying a penalty.  You basically control when you want to watch it.  The service works on the principle that when you return the DVD they send you another one.

Shipping is free both ways. And while I have read other customer’s complaints about poor shipping mine has so far been consistent. Selections which come from one of four locations in Canada have arrived within two days of being shipped and returns have taken the same amount of time.

In addition to the mail order service, Zip also has kiosks in locations in Ontario and Montreal at Metro supermarkets.   The process is relatively simple.  Select a movie, pay with your credit card with prices starting at a dollar a day plus HST and take your selection home.  You can rent a maximum of three movies at a time.  While selection is limited it does give you access to top new releases.

Is the mail order service worth it?   With a free 30 day trial, there is no downside.   If you don’t like it, simply cancel it before the free period ends.  If you do like it, you can choose from a number of packages available ranging from CAD 5.95 all the way to CAD 49.95.   Zip.ca has designed packages to fit any lifestyle which can be changed as circumstances dictate.  I like the service and plan on continuing after the free trial period ends.  It’s a win-win situation.  I get to continue to browse the virtual shelves and read about the movies and view trailers all in the comfort of my home.  And my wife, well she is just happy she doesn’t have to wait while I make a decision.

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Steve Jobs made me think differently about technology

        By Ted Kritsonis

In light of Steve Jobs’ passing, there has been no shortage of articles exemplifying just how much of an impact this man had on the way people thought about technology. I count myself among them, though I didn’t really realize who he actually was until the late 1990s.

There is perhaps a little bit of irony in the fact that I had my first real taste of an Apple product after Jobs had been ousted as CEO. I was only about eight years old at the time in the 80s, and one of my school’s computer labs was outfitted with Apple II’s. A year later, in my Grade 4 classroom sat a solitary Macintosh Classic, of which I was pretty much the only one using it.

Naturally, I didn’t know it at the time, but this one-on-one time with Apple’s products was to shape my taste for technology for the rest of my life. The small box and diminutive screen with its blue glow was elegant for its time, and I liked the graphic user interface where a click and double-click served two different functions.

It was in stark contrast to the MS-DOS computer my dad had spent so much on in 1987. Typing in code and working with those big floppy disks wasn’t my cup of tea. I liked interacting with icons. I preferred opening and closing windows. I needed to feel like I was using an intuitive machine.

Though there was always access to PCs, which were in great abundance at every turn, a Mac was also firmly planted in my home, too. People thought I was nuts. “No one uses those”, they said. “They’re so expensive for no reason”, was another prevailing thought. And one of the best — “You know Apple is going to die, so why keep using a Mac?”

But Apple didn’t die, and the Mac began its comeback with the iMac in 1999. I used these in college and they were slick for their time. It was one of the first signs that Apple under Jobs was going to be bucking a trend or two. Gone was the floppy disk drive in favour of a CD drive. Mac OS 9 soon gave way to OS X, the operating system that paved the way for iOS on the iPhone and iPad.

But even as late as 2004-05, I was still hearing the “You actually use a Mac?” lines. Invariably, when I had retorted by asking if they had actually used one themselves, they shrugged and said that there was no software for the platform, so it wasn’t even worth considering. Funny how some of these folks were saying this with an iPod in their pocket.

I’m reminded of this because it’s exactly what Jobs managed to turn around. He changed the perception of not just the products Apple makes, but also that of the Apple brand. In the space of his second tenure at Apple, he also changed the game more than once. To go from being considered an afterthought to developers and vendors, to essentially dominating the burgeoning world of smartphone applications and accessories is the stuff fiction is made of.

But this is the real deal. Jobs took us all into a world that may have seemed like a labyrinth to some, yet ultimately simplified it before we knew it. What I admired most about this approach was that it had a lower tolerance for mediocrity. It wasn’t enough to just make a product, it was integral to wrap a lasting experience and feeling around it. I don’t think he ever used this analogy, but the way women buy clothes and shoes is perhaps a fitting example of what he had in mind.

I was never an “Apple fanboy”, whereby I had an almost cult-like devotion to the brand. And my job as a tech journalist made me even more objective, given how much product I work with. But I do understand where the feeling comes from. For a long time, Apple users were a fringe group, mocked and chastised by PC users who viewed them as mindless diehards.

Jobs may never have dreamt that Apple would become the most valuable company on the planet under his watch, but the post-Jobs era also marks the end of the prevailing mantra of “us against them” that kept the fringe alive. Apple isn’t the underdog anymore, and the conversation has changed. It’s gone from “You use a Mac?” to “Why don’t you have an iPhone?”

Regardless of brand loyalty or personal feelings, this shift should be applauded. Not just for the sheer magnitude of its accomplishment, but because it’s a clear indication that innovation is alive and well. It’s a clear sign that Jobs succeeded in getting a large mass of people to think differently about how personal technology can be.

In the end, I feel I owe Jobs gratitude because products he helped design were instrumental in helping me do just that. I’ve gone from being part of a fringe, so to speak, to being someone in tune with the latest and greatest in the tech world. I really felt I was thinking differently in the past, and I now realize that I still do.

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