Category: Internet

Birt þann

The negative effects of Facebook

I have now, at 02:00 UTC put my Facebook account on deletion schedule in about 14 days. The reason is simple. I find that rules of Facebook to be working against me. In my case is that I want to meet new people. Facebook strictly (by there own rules) does not allow this. Since Facebook is meant for existing social contacts. As such, it is not tool to find new friends and new contacts. The thing with me is that I like trying to make new friends when I feel that is possible.

I am in no way new on Facebook. I started my Facebook account back in the year 2007. That is good 6 years active on Facebook. That is a really long time for being on a social network. During this time the mood on Facebook has changed. It was nice at first, mostly because Facebook was new at the time and people used it to connected to new people or long lost friends (at the time). Now it is not. It has turned into something else. I do not have the word for it. I did try and make new friends on Facebook. But recent changes in Facebook means that is now impossible. I did make new friends on Facebook that I now hold quite dear, even if I have never met them in person yet (working on doing so. But it is going to take a while due to me being poor and the travel costs are high).

There is also other aspect of the Facebook that I had not considered properly. Being always connected to people can be bad, in fact. It can be worse then being stuck with people all the time. We all need a break from each other on regular basis. Facebook in theory (as intended to work) does not allow for that option. It also „adds“ new social obligations to people. That they might be inclined to follow for a short period of time, until they start to ignore them completely. This has happened. Something else is also happening. People are moving away from Facebook. They have as I have descried here. Discovered the negative effects of Facebook and do not want any part of it. So they delete there account and never look back.

I am never going to return to Facebook. At least I do not expect to change my opinion on it due to this discovery of mine. I do not like this negative effects of Facebook on relations between people. It is damaging and often this damage is permanent and in worst cases cannot be repaired at all. I am not going to leave the social media just yet. I am still going to be on Twitter and Google+ for now. There is also one thing about too much information. It is damaging and unhealthy in my view and that is what Facebook does. It gives people unhealthy amount of information about other people. This breaks down relations between people and has damaging effects on the social structure in the long run. That is just my view. I have no data to support this, so this is not scientific claim.

Birt þann

Why Facebook is the biggest pile of crap ever invented

You know what Facebook is? A social network where you cannot meet new people. I am not joking. They say so them there self right here.

facebook.fuck.you

Facebook. Where you cannot meet new people at all! For a social network. That is not social at all.

Not only did they force log me out of my account when they did this. They also forced me to cancel my outstanding friend requests with the threat of blocking or delete my account. But you know what Facebook also does not. Provide you any way to keep track of friend request. If a friend request is not answered. I assume it has been deleted. I have no way to know if it just in place with people that I have send friend request too. That is because Facebook does not tell me what friend requests I have sent out. In fact, if I forget I have no way of knowing at all.

facebook.fuck.you.2

Facebook forced me to cancel my friend requests with the threat of blocking or deleting my account on Facebook. I am going to take the effort off there hands. In two days time (20th of April). I am going to be off Facebook for good. Since I am not going to accept this type of crap from a company that claims to be running a social network. But in fact is in it self is so anti-social it forbids you to meet new people online. In two days time. I am just going to stick with Google+ and Twitter. I do not accept this crap as I say from Facebook. It is unethical and in fact Facebook is choosing my friends for me. This is nothing else and is never going to be anything else.

Bye Facebook! I am not going to miss you since you started to behave like an asshole.

Birt þann

The internet company that you cannot contact via email

Google Inc is a internet company. But the thing is you actually cannot contact them directly via email or support. Since neither can be found on there web site. Here is a image to prove my point.

Google.inc
Google cannot be contact easily. There is no online support to speak of (below basic minimum). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This is the sorry state of Google Inc. They might be worth US$ 71.71 billion today. But they do not have any customer support to speak of when it comes to things like Google Adsenes, Google+ and more. So if you hit any issue with Google services. You can be sure that you have no way to let them know of the fault in question or make any suggestions or complaints to them. This is what happens when Technocracy got into the corporate world.

Birt þann

Writing is a job and it is not easy doing it

I got a comment today on my last blog post on about asking for donations on Iceland geology blog. It was of the same nature as before. I should not ask for donations in order to survive the month. Because when I had payed all my bills I had nothing left to buy food with. I do not know what this people where expecting me to do. But I guess they where expecting me to starve and end up in a hospital as the result. To be clear. I do get some money from Google Ads and Infolinks. But this income is little and I only get paid from it every 2 to 4 months (Google Adsense). I haven’t had a payment from Infolinks in over 6 months now. This is because my blog on earthquake and volcano activity in Iceland is not a high volume traffic web site. The reason for that is simple.

It is new and building up a strong and steady readership takes a long, long time. It actually takes more then 10 years. Here is a good example with Universe Today. That blog was created in the year 1999. I did find it in the year 2003. That is 4 years later. By then he had decent amount of readers. There is a difference between me and Universe Today. The creator of Universe Today had a job that he was able to live off while he was building up his blog and space news do not require constant attention (if you want close to real-time information on event) as earthquake and volcano activity often does. It also takes time and often effort keeping the geophone network up and running properly. Software updates, hardware fixing (if needed) and buying replacement parts when something breaks down due to old age (and a lot of usage). I also review earthquakes that I record. Make gif images of them if I need to post them online and a lot more that I do in the background when I am preparing a blog post for my blogs (this goes for all of them). Checking history of the volcano or earthquake area is something I also spend a lot of time on. As history is important and I need to know what has happened in the past (if possible) in a volcano or a fault line area. So this is a lot of work for me. Often taking hours to days from start to finish. Then there is maintain the WordPress software, upgrades, reading emails that I sometimes get and many more details that I have to attend to.

When I ask for a donation. I am not begging [internet begging]. As in return people get a working blog (and ebooks when I publish them) from me with updated news on what is happening in Iceland. A working geophone network that I maintain with my own cost (and it is not free to run it. Far from it) and time. I am no more begging then Universe Today is begging by asking for donations them self. This is also not a volunteer work that I am doing (more or less). As the cost is just too high for me to carry alone. I can’t afford to hiring a team of people helping me with this. As then I would have to pay them salary, so they can pay there bills and buy food for them self and there families. I live a lone, so I just have to pay for food for my self and pay my bills for my self. People have no idea about the work I put into this blog. What I have mentioned here is just half of it. But you can be sure that I put a lot of effort into this blog and I am going to continue to do so.

Blog post updated. Minor text fixes applied.

Birt þann

Why I am leaving Facebook for good

I am leaving Facebook for good. The reasons are not complicated. I find the timeline feature annoying. Then there are Facebook apps, self-promotions and award games that are plastering my newsfeed like a bad case of pop-up infestation by an malware. Along with people that have turned into narcissist, as that is what Facebook allows them to do. I also find Facebook lack of respect for privacy of people disturbing.

There is also an illusion of connectivity on Facebook when it comes to people. Sure. There are people on my Facebook list that I do keep in contact with. I even call them regularly. But how many people are that. A bit less in then 10 people in my case. The rest I had contact with. But I do not today. The Facebook would allow me to keep in contact with them. If they where them self interested in doing so. In most cases, that is not the case. It is also an issue on Facebook that today there are no friends list. As once where on Facebook. But with that it allowed you to group people in accordance to how well you knew them. Today it is just one friend list. I am going to loose contact with some people. Sure. But I am not sure that I was in any serious contact with them to start with. But those who want to keep in contact with me can do so without any problems at all. I have sent directions to them with Facebook. As Facebook is not the only way to keep in contact with people. There is email. But there is also Google+ and Twitter for instance that can be used to keep in contact with people. There is also email to keep in contact with people.

So there it is. Why I am leaving Facebook for the above reasons. But I am not leaving social media as such. I am just leaving Facebook. I am going to remain active on Google+ and Twitter. As I like the approach the Google+ and Twitter gives people how want to watch see what I am writing. Without actually having to be my friend as is the case on Facebook (the subscribe option fixed that a bit on Facebook. But it is and always is going to be limited solution to this issue).

I also left MySpace for similar reasons at the time. I did test once or twice to restart an account there. But I did delete them soon again. There was no point and MySpace had not change into anything useful for to communicate to people. I am however not expecting Google+ or Twitter to be such a place. I regard that an place that I can share my writing with anyone how has interest in reading what I have to say. I have been Facebook users since the early days. But I did create my Facebook account in the year 2007, on 26 of March that year (Facebook did not forget this). Many people find it „wrong“ that I am leaving Facebook. Since it is used to keep in contact with other people. It also seems to be the clues that Facebook is making us more lonely (The Atlantic: Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?). But being alone is something that I have a lot of experience in and I do not recommend it.

My Google+ account can be found here. My Twitter account can be found here.

Birt þann

Why the music industry is fucked

Here is why the music industry is fucked and for good.


From youtube vevo channel viewed from Denmark. The copyright owner is a greedy self interest bastard. This image is free to use for everyone. Just credit this blog.

I like this artist. I want to watch here music videos the legal way. But when the copyright holder is limiting this artist viewing in the world. It tells a big story on why the music industry is losing for everything today. It is not because of „piracy“. It is because the music industry is run by people how are out to make an profit for them self. Not to make the art available for the people. and to make sure that it’s artist have a good living out of it. The music corporations are pocking the profit for them self and they feel no shame in doing it.

The music industry is fucked. Because of it’s own greed and nothing else. They can not blame it on ordinary people getting the music it love with the internet. When it made unavailable where they live.

Side note: The movie industry is in part fucked for the same reason. But not just as badly as the music industry.

Birt þann

Steam Valve new EULA

I did see today that Valve Steam had new EULA that I had to agree on (in order to use my games). What I found interesting is this you have to agree to in order to continue using Steam. For my part. I am going to forward this issue to consumer authorities in Denmark in next few days (I currently lack time to do so. I also need to find the contact details), as this terms might be illegal under EU law. Since taking away people rights (class action suites are sometimes legal in EU countries, laws are different between member states in this regards) cannot and should not remain legal for corporation to do so. As is being done in this case here.

Now the EULA text in question is like this.

[…]

12. DISPUTE RESOLUTION/BINDING ARBITRATION/CLASS ACTION WAIVER.

[…]

An arbitration is a proceeding before a neutral arbitrator, instead of before a judge or jury. Arbitration is less formal than a lawsuit in court, and provides more limited discovery. It follows different rules than court proceedings, and is subject to very limited review by courts. The arbitrator will issue a written decision and provide a statement of reasons if requested by either party. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU AND VALVE ARE GIVING UP THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT AND TO HAVE A TRIAL BEFORE A JUDGE OR JURY.

YOU AND VALVE AGREE NOT TO BRING OR PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION, PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ACTION OR COLLECTIVE ARBITRATION, EVEN IF AAA’s PROCEDURES OR RULES WOULD OTHERWISE ALLOW ONE. THE ARBITRATOR MAY AWARD RELIEF ONLY IN FAVOR OF THE INDIVIDUAL PARTY SEEKING RELIEF AND ONLY TO THE EXTENT OF THAT PARTY’S INDIVIDUAL CLAIM. You and Valve also agree not to seek to combine any action or arbitration with any other action or arbitration without the consent of all parties to this Agreement and all other actions or arbitrations.

[…]

This Section 12 shall apply to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. If the laws of your jurisdiction prohibit the application of some or all of the provisions of this Section notwithstanding Section 11 (Applicable Law/Jurisdiction), such provisions will not apply to you.

[…]

It is unfair in the legal scene that corporation remains the power player in this case. While the user (consumer in this case) has no right or limited rights to do something if fail or fall apart due to error or mistake of the company in question. This time around it is Steam and Valve how are taking away people right in the EULA update.

Birt þann

The mobile broadband bubble that is soon to collapse

There is a new bubble ongoing in the tech world. It is an mobile bubble. This can be seen in increased numbers of mobile devices. Be that from mobile phones to pad computers of all types and sizes. This mobile bubble has also lead to shortage in spectrum for high-speed mobile devices. This has some solved up to a point by re-allocating former frequencies that where once used to broadcast television signals. But at current rate, that is only got to work for next five years or so. Based on current speed of the mobile bubble.

Other problem with current mobile bubble is the fact mobile phone companies have not started to phase out older technology. In this context I mean 2G (also known as GSM) mostly. As 3G is rather new technology and 4G specs are not ready yet (LTE-advanced, true 4G network). The current frequency shortage is not because of lack of frequencies. But because mobile phone companies have not been phasing out older GSM technology. Until the older and obsolete technology that is GSM is started to be phased out slowly. The current situation is not going to improve frequency and technology wise.

It is also a problem that mobile companies have over sold the broadband ability of the 3G network. That has resulted in slower connection for the end user. Phone calls that should have gone over 3G get’s redirected to 2G transmitter (with following battery drain on the mobile phone). But that is something that I have seen during past few years when I have been using 3G on my mobile phones. This does not happen in low usage areas. But such areas are uncommon in most countries. This over selling of 3G abilities has forced the mobile companies to go over to next 4G like technology. Even if is far from being ready by the 4G standard. But when it comes to mobile broadband. The formula is always number of users and number of available transmitters in the area that can be used. For that reason, when there are too many users and too few transmitters. This problem is also going to plague users on 4G when the time comes, even if it has not already started to do so. At current time I do not use 4G and I do not own any 4G capable mobile device. It is also a fact that mobile data is way more expensive then data over ADSL/Fiber or Cable. That is something most users do not know when they start to use mobile broadband full time in there homes.

Many mobile users have solved the problem of slow 3G systems by going back to ADSL/Fiber/Cable internet connections. But that way they can bypass slow 3G network and data cost that also follows them. This has made mobile companies a bit unhappy. As they are in fact loosing money over this fact. But I doubt there is anything that they can do about it. As for current problems. I do not expect them to be solved any time soon. As there are no signs of the mobile phone companies are going to start and phase out GSM phones and stations any time soon.

As for my self. I did turn off 3G on my Nokia N8 and Nokia C2-01 phones. The reason being that I mostly use my mobile phone for voice, rather then data. While the mobile phone companies are directing voice calls to GSM. I do not see any reason to have it enabled while current situation is ongoing (voice calls being directed to GSM). I am just going to turn on 3G when I do need to use my mobile phone as a modem. But that is going to happen once in while. The reason why I don’t turn off GSM and just use 3G is because when 3G transmitter is overloaded with data. Voice call quality drops fast, in fact. It drops so fast I have got into the problem that people cannot even hear what I am saying over the phone. At least until my mobile phone switches over to GSM network. For that reason I do not use 3G network only.

I am one day going to switch on 3G setting, along with GSM setting. But I guess a lot needs to change before that happens I guess.

Birt þann

Why Facebook is broken and going broke

If you ever wondered why Facebook stock is going down. It might be down to the fact Facebook behavior to it’s users is like the behavior of the guy how did create it towards people, like a asshole (according to the movie Social Network). It behaves towards it’s users in the same manners more or less. So when you get odd messages like this one from Facebook, remember. The guy how founded Facebook is most likely an asshole. Behind shady set of rules on Facebook. It is clear that Facebook is the most un-user friendly social web page out there. Not only limits it’s friend possibly to 5000 friends. But it also treats it’s users as they are all idiots who do not know what they are doing.

That includes messages like this from Facebook when posting on public statues. You also get similar message when you add some people on Facebook and you do not share any friends with them at all. Both of these can get one suspended off Facebook permanently. Facebook staff also do not have to give you any reason to suspend you. The idea that Facebook users have any say what happens there is just an illusion at best. Total lie at worst. I am going with the second option.


Picture of Facebook messages. This picture is released under Creative Commons Licence.

My best advice is that people backup there Facebook profiles. As one day they might find them self suspended or banned off Facebook. With no way to return back to Facebook.

Birt þann

Why I dislike Mobile broadband idea for home use

I am currently using mobile broadband until I get connected to 20Mbps ADSL connection. This time while I have been connected to 3G mobile broadband has shown me one thing. Mobile broadband for home use is an bad idea. Only for that reason it is expensive given the data amount that is needed to buy, compared to ADSL for instance. Speed is slow, because 3G/4G transmitters are overloaded with users and signal noise in the area of the transmitter only gets higher with more users.

It is my personal recommendations that people only use mobile broadband if they are travelling, or if they are not heavy internet users (in all cases, it is unlikely). Mobile broadband can also be used while waiting for proper connection with ADSL/Cable or fiber.

So if you are thinking about getting 3G or 4G internet connection. Don’t do it. Get ADSL or Cable (it depends on your country how well cable or ADSL performs. But here in Denmark they offer 100/50Mbps over cable today and up to 40Mbps ADSL connections in some areas). As 3G or 4G solutions are in fact no good, as stated before. Unless it is on mobile or while during travel.