The list of companies that use their software to gather and subsequently sell marketing data grows every day. Do you think it is mere coincidence that Google ads seem to frequently follow your recent on-line searches? Have you ever wondered why Google offers you all of their services (search, e-mail, on-line documents, 411 service) for free? Well, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they are using all of the data you provide for profit and to further refine their technologies. Tim O’Reilly has a (now fairly dated) blog on why he believes Google started offering their 411 service that I am inclined to agree with: Google is using the “millions of voices, millions of accents to train speech recognition systems”. Why not, right? Well, it turns out Google isn’t alone (*gasp*!!!1!!)

“Parents who install a leading brand of software to monitor their kids’ online activities may be unwittingly allowing the company to read their children’s chat messages — and sell the marketing data gathered.” Today, Michael Masnick of TechDirt, turned me onto a story that “one of the top providers in the space doesn’t just monitor what kids do for parents, but collects all the data — including the text of chat room discussions — and resells it to marketers.”

Software sold under the Sentry and FamilySafe brands can read private chats conducted through Yahoo, MSN, AOL and other services, and send back data on what kids are saying about such things as movies, music or video games. The information is then offered to businesses seeking ways to tailor their marketing messages to kids.

A reminder to parents and non-parents alike… learn about software before installing and using it. Apparently there is an option available for parents to opt out of this information “sharing”, but it is only available via the company’s website. You know those annoying “Terms of Service” agreements that we all scroll and click through without reading? Well, maybe it’s time we starting paying a little more attention, eh?

I read an article, “Back-to-school advice for safe & ethical social networking“, that picqued my curiosity as a new parent. Even though I really don’t have to worry about Dwight Jr. participating in social networking for at least a few more years, I’m trying to start thinking about those kinds of situations now.

Try to become familiar with the technology your kids use. That doesn’t mean you necessarily have to be their friend on Facebook or MySpace, but before you start trying to control how they use social-networking technology, make sure you understand it.

I think this is great advice, not just for social networking, but for everything kids (or your spouse, for that matter) are into – especially technology. I definitely have fond memories of my parents wanting to be involved in things I was excited about… especially when they would sit down for a game of Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Star Wars Battlefront or Axis & Allies. Having a common frame of reference for talking about my hobbies with my parents? Priceless. (Yeah, yeah, I didn’t include a list of things you can buy for $13 on debit Mastercard. Meh.)

Larry Magid, the author of the article quotes some great guidelines from Hemanshu Nigam, the Chief Security Officer at MySpace, for social networking behavior. It’s geared towards kids, but we all need to be reminded of these rules.

• Post with respect: photos are a great way to share wonderful experiences. If you’re posting a photo of you and your friends, put yourself in your friends’ shoes and ask would your friends want that photo to be public to everyone. If yes, then you’re uploading photos with respect.
• Comment with kindness: compliments are like smiles, they’re contagious. When you comment on a profile, share a kind word, others will too. [Note from Dwight: Speaking of Comments... I love to see them on my blog... *hint, hint*]
• Update with empathy: sharing updates lets us tell people what we think. When you give an opinion on your status updates, show empathy towards your friends and help them see the world with understanding eyes.

not bad, eh?

3 of the Top 10 Endearing Habits of a Geeky Spouse:

10. Always having access to caffeine. And knowing all the various sources, relative amounts and prices. If you’re not a morning person, or need a pick-me-up in the afternoon, you can be sure the geek in your life will be able to find you some caffeine, even if it’s Sunkist or Barq’s.

9. Being romantic in unusual ways. Because who wouldn’t love to be wooed with Shakespeare in the original Klingon or a poem written in Elvish? Red roses are nice, sure, but they’re so … mainstream. When was the last time someone gave you a flashing LED heart?

8.Finding the best deals in grocery stores. Not everyone will notice that, even though the 12-pack of Coke cans is on sale for $3, it’s still not as good a deal per unit as the 2-liter bottle at its regular price of $1.29. But a geek will — we knew math skills would come in handy one day, even if nobody else thought so!

…

Saw this article on wired.com and had to share!

Check out the rest of the article, “Top 10 Endearing Habits of a Geeky Spouse” on wired.com

I blogged earlier about our tendency, as humans, to reveal more than we ought in on-line communication through portals like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Yet, these are but a few of the ways in which we often fail to safeguard the rights to privacy that we defend and claim to cherish. A NY Times article says that researchers refer to this as the “privacy paradox”.

normally sane people have inconsistent and contradictory impulses and opinions when it comes to their safeguarding their own private information.

Today, Google announced a new service called Google Latitude – a new service for mobile devices and “iGoogle” that allows users to views the location of their friends and loved ones (who have opted to share the information). It’s a pretty cool idea – basically you (the user) can opt to other specified users to see your geographic location and vice-versa. Purportedly, this information can be adjusted per “friend” to show the best approximation of your location, a city-level view, hide your location entirely or even to provide intentional false information. “No honey, I’m not out boozing it up with the guys… I’m… at work… <typetypetype> … check Latitude.”

<keep reading after the jump!>

More »

Too much Facebook makes all teenage girls depressed.

Chris Matyszczyk wrote a CNET article, disagreeing with a study done by Stony Brook University, which claims that:

excessive co-rumination–perhaps you would refer to it as “chatting with your friends about your problems”–by text, e-mail and on social-networking sites leaves impressionable teenage girls more prone to anxiety and depression.

He claims that if it wasn’t Facebook it would be “bathroom gossip”, text messages, phone calls, slumber parties… you get the picture. Having never been a teenage girl myself, I can’t really attest to this (hopefully Chris cannot either?), but it seems to me that the persistent and “open” nature of Facebook goes beyond text messaging and slumber parties and is asking for trouble. Not just for teenage girls or even the female gender – I think it can be a problem for anyone.

<keep reading after the jump!>

More »

So… time to genereate some readership in my friendly little blog. Unfortunately this blog is not topical at all and thus, doomed to failure. However, Seth Godin has a pretty good little (big) list of things to do to increase traffic.

Perhaps just posting more frequently than once every 3 months? hmm…

Edit: I forgot to include a link to the list in my original post, so here it is: How to Get Traffic For Your Blog

Candi posted a pretty hilarious (and tragic) story about trying to shop for a bathing suit (why do we still call them “bathing suits”? I mean, seriously… ) with her 2 year old. I shed a few tears while reading… had to post.

So… yeah… Gwen and I were eating dinner at Texas Roadhouse tonight for our annual “We don’t care about the Super Bowl so let’s go out and eat while the restaurants are deserted” experience. We were talking about the usual (for us) – Babies. It was during this conversation that it came to light that I have never – ever – changed a diaper. Gwen thought that was pretty funny – I told her that I could probably figure it out. How hard could it be… right? RIGHT?!

Hmm… well, I’m not so sure now. So… I decided to Google it. The results seemed information, but not very interesting. I then proceeded to search for “change diaper” on YouTube and within say… 30 seconds? … I was rapidly closing my browser window. I then went back to “the Google” and found my way to an informative article.

Here are some of the most important steps, quoted for your convenience:

1. Make sure you have everything you need nearby to change a diaper.
2. Lay your baby on his back on the changing surface. If you are using a changing table, it’s recommended to use the safety straps.

Wait, wait, wait… safety straps? This is getting out of hand. Perhaps I will just try my luck.

Meh.

I purchased Call of Duty: World at War (COD:WAW) last week from STEAM and have spent quite a few hours playing both the single and multi-player modes of the game. World at War is a return to World War II (WWII) for the Call of Duty series – a change that I welcome after having spent a few years away from first person shooters (FPS) set in that time.

The single-player mode was not earth-shattering – the genre has not been radically enhanced as a result of this game… but I don’t feel it has been degraded either. The game play is solid enough, though the scripted “Infinite troops rushing until you reach the next checkpoint” nature does feel a bit forced on occasion.

The sniper levels were a bit too short for my liking and without any real “use” at the end of the day. No grandiose assassinations or organizations that only “I” can tumble. Still… enjoyable.

Playing “gunner” on an amphibious plane, rescuing sailors in-between gunning down Japanese “PT boats”. I can only imagine having to make the decision between continuing to fire on enemy boats or reaching down to grab the sailor in the water screaming for help… wow.

The multiplayer… meh… the leveling is almost too fast – compared to Call of Duty 4, at least. I’m already on my third “prestige level”. One thing I have enjoyed is the surprised expressions I imagine on enemy’s faces when a “Private” lead the opposing team.

The weapons are all familiar to anyone who’s playing a WWII FPS before, the BAR, the M1 Garand, the Thompson and the MP40… even the Springfield sniper rifle complete with scope. What’s new to the scene are the “perks” (introduced with COD4 I believe?) that add a new dimension to the “same old” gameplay. That… and the freakin’ dogs! Get 6 kills in a row and you’re entitled to a pack of dogs that fights for you… running around the battlefield mauling enemies who aren’t fast enough to “pump them full of lead”. The dogs are much more effective at killing that “you” are… if they get within reach they automatically kill you sending you to a quick “kill cam” shot of your death repeated for your viewing pleasure.

Summary: worth some play time, especially if you’re new to the Call of Duty series, but don’t expect it to change the first-person shooter genre.

So…Gwen and I decided it was time to try to have a baby.

Three weeks ago we found out that we succeeded on our first try! Haha! When we started trying, we decided that it would be really fun to surprise our family on Christmas morning before telling anyone. Wow – it was definitely tough waiting. There were definitely a lot of funny conversations during those three weeks – it’s amazing how often you notice baby conversations when you can’t tell anyone that you’re having one.

Christmas morning finally arrived and we totally surprised both of our families on Christmas days. We definitely have some incredible videos footage. (I think I’ll get a chance to upload that tomorrow).

I’m stoked!