Not THAT e-card.

One e-card you don't ever want to get. Nooo, it's not happy birthday. Nooo, it's not get well soon. Nooo, it's not congratulations. It's hey, sorry, but I may have given you syphilis, and I don't see you often enough in my real life to tell you in person. Have a nice day. The newest thing in e-greeting cards appears to be a nifty little one that notifies all your 'friends' that they might have been exposed to an infection.


From the NYT:

The e-card, which allows the sender to select the disease involved and includes links to public health sites and services, is part of that strategy.

“Notifying the person exposed to a sexually transmitted infection is the critical piece in preventing further spread.”

Ummmm, I don't even know where to start with the problems with this sort of service from In Spot. Not that I'm not against the spread of disease, but sometimes I have to wonder if I am the only one concerned that our society needs oops-I-gave-you-an-STD e-cards?

Recommended Reading

Thanks Amazon. Thanks for the recommendations, but between you and me, you suck at recommending things for me to read!

Amazon always sends me these "we recommend..." or "we think you'd like..." emails. I always want to scratch my head and say, why? Why do you want me to read these Amazon?

No, I don't want to purchase
The Lady as Saint: A Collection of French Hagiographic Romances of the Thirteenth Century
Laboratory Investigations: AP Environmental Science
Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity (Ucla Fowler Museum of Cultural History Textile Series, No. 2)
Lucia Etxebarria Amor, curiosidad, prozac y dudas
The Scandal of the Speaking Body: Don Juan with J. L. Austin, or Seduction in Two Languages

Nope, Not Interested.

I suppose the reason my recommendations are so off has something to do with me buying presents and textbooks for classes online. It really throws off my "recommending database."

According to some friends, apparently Netflix and YouTube aren't so great at recommending movies or videos respectively. Way to go fancy algorithms. You'll never fully capture how human minds (or shopping habits) work!

Internet Advertising

This article in the Washington Post is very interesting. It talks about how website owners can make 10 times more money from advertisers by tracking users for the purpose of displaying tailored advertisements.

The article says:

The growing practice of "behavioral targeting," or sending ads to online users based on their Internet habits, is now under scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission, whose review could shape not only Web advertising rules but the character of the Web itself.

For while public interest groups argue that compiling profiles of largely unsuspecting Internet users ought to be illegal, online advertisers and publishers respond that their ad targeting tactics protect privacy and may be essential to support the free content on the Web...

Behavioral targeting promises to bolster sagging online ad revenue with a more profitable approach.

Interestingly, on Facebook within the past few months I've noticed advertisements that are almost creepy--like they know too much information about me. A few ones I noticed were: "Want To Learn Spanish by Teaching English in South America?," "Be a Fan of Empowerment," "Te Gusta Julieta Venegas?" and "Put a Link to Us on Your Blog for Cash." There were more too.

It's like they somehow peeped at my info and said hey, these are ads that this girl is likely to click on. To be honest, it makes me uncomfortable.

***
Oh, and after writing this post I googled "advertising" and the first link that popped up was for Facebook ads: "Reach the exact audience you want with relevant targeted ads."

I'm feeling even more uncomfortable...

Robots that Flirt

With a post on robots a few days ago, I felt it appropriate to post about robots that flirt now (and I thought hugging robots were bad). They have a new-fangled thing that frequents singles chat sites to gather information from suitors. They pretend to be a person looking for love and derive as much info from them as possible. The robots come in different profiles, from "romantic lover" to "sexual predator." They can respond to questions much like a real person can.

The artificial intelligence of CyberLover's automated chats is good enough that victims have a tough time distinguishing the "bot" from a real potential suitor, PC Tools said. The software can work quickly too, establishing up to 10 relationships in 30 minutes, PC Tools said. It compiles a report on every person it meets complete with name, contact information, and photos.

This is a new level of robot creepiness.

WikiScanner

Want to sneak a peek at just who is editing our well-loved friend, Wikipedia (the bane of every professor who has ever assigned a research project)?

WikiScanner reports specifically when somebody messes with wikipedia who probably shouldn't mess with wikipedia.

The crimes it tracks include:

"Wholesale removal of entire paragraphs of critical information. (common for both political figures and corporations)

White-washing -- replacing negative/neutral adjectives with positive adjectives that mean something similar. (common for political figures)

Adding negative information to a competitor's page. (common for corporations)"

A NY Times Article speaks about the issue too.

Internet users have spotted plenty of interesting changes to Wikipedia by people at nonprofit groups and government entities like the Central Intelligence Agency. Many of the most obviously self-interested edits have come from corporate networks.

Last year, someone at PepsiCo deleted several paragraphs of the Pepsi entry that focused on its detrimental health effects. In 2005, someone using a computer at Diebold deleted paragraphs that criticized the company’s electronic voting machines. That same year, someone inside Wal-Mart Stores changed an entry about employee compensation.

This dilemma seems to appear in every wiki environment. What's stopping hotel owners from posting rave reviews of their own rooms on travel sites? When anyone is allowed to contribute, well, just about everyone with an invested interest will.

And, the most important question we arrive at then is, is it even unethical for certain people/corporations to change information floating around on the Internet when it is about them after all. I know if someone used ugly adjectives to describe me, I'd want to get in there and make them sound a whole lot more positive. Where is the line between subjective opinion and cold hard truth?

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about the issue, but I am sure that I don't want to be an Internet information dupe. Thanks Wikiscanner for attempting to keep wiki's more honest.

Click-ity Clack

Ever wonder what other people are searching for on the Internet?
Ever stop by your favorite search engine and think, gee, what should I type in here?
Ever think that maybe you aren't searching for the 'right' things?

In case you answered yes to any of those questions (or even if you didn't) THEWEBLIST.net is a pretty spiffy idea. It lists the top several most popular clicks at over 15 hot websites, like del.icio.us, digg.com, Google News, wired.com, Youtube, and news.com.

THEWEBLIST.net is a snapshot of what people are clicking on around the Internet right now. A single page with the latest news and stories from some of the Internet’s most popular websites.

Doesn't look like there is anything profoundly interesting right that this minute. I guess Internet searchers are disappointing right now. Get to your search engines and promote better links people. I want quality articles.

PS. I also want that ladybug computur mouse. It's just too cute to stand. Mine is boring right now, and I need a giant red bug to wrap my fingers around.

♥ Virtual Love

Have you been wondering how to type those cute little hearts in your text while typing?

Yeah. Me neither. But I learned by accident, and now I can use a ♥ any time I want to. I can soften all my words with one little symbol.

I can say for example: "Screw You!♥," "Loser♥" and the popular "I ♥ you, not."

Really. I don't have issues.

But the secret is: Push Alt and then press the 3 on the number pad.
♥♥♥

I heart blogging!

When blogging for the whole world...

A thought about blogging.

I love how you can post whatever. I love how you can write/design/post freely without constraint. The only problem is that there is no protection for you, the writer/artist/creator. If I write something profound, but put it on the web, I can no longer ensure it is truly mine. People anywhere can claim it as their own. Anything exceptionally worth while you can't really post if you think there is ever a chance of its publication. Sigh, the struggle of an artist who wants to share their talent/work with the world. It is really the public who loses in the end.

In the ancient days private creation and thought was, by nature, public domain and never governed by petty rules of ownership and copyright. It's hard to find a balance between the two in which both the individual and society win. As it is now, often both entities end up losing; and that is not good for anybody.