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I am in complete agreement with you, and FB has just positioned to flight. Search today news for "Facebook hires former Bush regulator for privacy defence". Keep in mind this issue cross country borders.
FB's agenda is very simple. Their business model is to monetize on user information and the related activities. We, the users, are FB biggest asset!
Just last Wednesday FTC and 15 other privacy groups sent a letter to Congress that charges Facebook with engaging in unfair and deceptive trade practices in violation of consumer protection law. InformationWeek article.
Even though this is at least a year away, Congressman Boucher has just released (yesterday May 4th) this "Discussion Draft of Privacy Legislation" which covers Internet privacy, geolocation privacy and specifically on page 13 ( Sec 3 a.4) "Notice and consent to material change in privacy policies):
Draft Legislation: http://www.boucher.house.gov/images/stories/Privacy_Draft_5-10.pdf
Executive Summary: http://www.boucher.house.gov/images/stories/Privacy_Discussion_Draft_Exec_Summary_5-10.doc
Privacy_Draft_5-10.pdf (80KB)On a related note. Privacy conscious users, will be interest in Facebook last week launch of "Instance Personalization" which is automatically opted-in for all users, including sharing user info with partners.
Lots of information posted in the last few days. Use your favorite Internet search for "Opt out of Facebook Instant Personalization"
e.g. http://www.google.com/search?q=Opt+Out+of+Facebookâs+Instant+Personalization
In a BusinessWeek article, FOX stated "Having our movies rented at $1 (@ redbox) is grossly undervaluing our products" and FOX currently has a distribution ban against Redbox. Redbox has filed a lawsuit (on Aug 12) against FOX aiming to lift the ban.
IMHO, Redbox doesn't have full rights to the movies, for the same reason that it is illegal for anyone to purchase a DVD (software/movies) and charging $1 admission for viewing without prior arrangement with the copyright holders.
Now think Google, and the basemap that is licensed by either TeleAtlas(GDT) and NavteQ, who are the copyright holders of the street basemap.
There are many new risks associated with disruptive play - but sure is good for the patent law attorneys.
On the topic of lesson learned, I have also been wondering what we can learn from the failure of the American Express social media site MembersKnow.com that was launched about 2 years ago, and was shutdown a month ago.
Interest post, as for me, my pic is already at my bio page at edr, and the reasons I use the current avatar is because I believe it is better in represnting the technical aspect of me; as well as, the era of early 80s games from Japan, where/when I was hooked !
Ah... Einstein's theory of relativity! Anyone remember atomic clocks in space, such as those in GPS, run slower than on eart...
I just "bing" this http://www.metaresearch.org/cosmology/gps-relativity.asp
In general don't falls for high mega-pixel cameras, it is the quality that matter the most, not the quantity.
As manufactures fit more pixels into the consumer grade sensor ( ie small size CCD), they get less lights ( due to the many more circuits to wire the many more pixels) results in poorer, noisier image.
While shopping for digital camera, best is to look for the size of the CCD not the # of pixels. My 1st D-SLR, I purchased from over 10 years ago takes better picture (dynamic range and color saturation) than my 300 dollars 10 mega pixel SONY digi-cam.
The next thing to look for is the quality of the optics.
Try Internet search for article on how many pixels camera is on the Mars Rover... you'll be surprised.
The pixel counts matter only when you need poster size outputs, or for some reasons you need to digitally zoom in to certain area ( due to bad composition). For computer or web viewing, check the size of your computer monitor, 1600x1400 is only 2.2 mega-pixel!
Keep in mind that as hardware gets cheaper, the software costs become relatively more expensive. Although there are many openSource solutions, if everyone add all the same business software on the netBook, the software licensing bill is going to close to double.