Yearly Archives: 2010

Is Facebook’s Facial Recognition Going Too Far?

Posted by Steven Swafford on December 30, 2010

digital faceThe facial recognition feature is technology you may take for granted when you upload images on Facebook.

The point of view that I take is technology is only as good as those that use it. What am I saying you may ask? All technology has good and bad points and the individual behind the use of the technology makes the difference. For example, just because I have the freedom to publish my thoughts that does not give me the right to do so should it cause harm to another. Using common sense should always be the focal point and as technology rapidly changes it is more important that ever that you understand the services you’re using.

If you’re concerned with you face being tagged then you will want to pay close attention. According to Facebook, for any reason you don’t want your name to be suggested, you will be able to disable suggested tags in your Privacy Settings.  Just click ‘Customize Settings’ and ‘Suggest photos of me to friends.’ Your name will no longer be suggested in photo tags, though friends can still tag you manually.”

Currently, you have the option of untagging photos you’ve been tagged in by friends. To accomplish this just go to the photo and click your name. There is no sure fire way to prevent friends from tagging you in photos, but you can prevent others from seeing the photos via your tagged name.

  • From the Account menu in the upper right corner of your profile, chose Privacy Settings.
  • Underneath the list of your current privacy settings, click “Customize settings.”
  • Scroll down to “Things others share” section.
  • Next to “Photos and videos I’m tagged in” click “Edit settings.”
  • From the “Edit settings” prompt that appears on your screen, use the drop-down menu to choose “Customize.”
  • In the “Custom Privacy” prompt that appears, you will see a drop down menu next to “These people.”
  • From the “These people” menu, you have the option of choosing who can see photos via your tagged name. You can set it to “Only me” or you can add specific Facebook friends who are permitted see those photos via your tagged name. Here, you also have the option of preventing specific Facebook friends seeing photos via your tagged name.
  • Save this option. As with other Facebook privacy settings, you can change it at any time. You just have to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kHGsKnf3_I

I personally have seen a great deal of conversation concerning Facebook’s facial recognition technology, but I simply do not understand what all the concern is about. I do agree with Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security vendor Sophos comments that Facebook should make this feature an opt-in rather than and opt-out. If you’re a fan of Google Picasa this technology was implemented back in 2009 with Picasa 3.5 and unless you have been living under a rock more and more of our lives is becoming digital.

Client Interface

picasa client interface

Web Interface

picasa web interface

My question to you is simple; does Facebook’s facial recognition go too far? What are your main concerns with this type of technology and how the companies we engage with each and every roll out such technology?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iREJiSgIxAk

Is this the future?

Introduction To Web Accessibility Presentation

Posted by Steven Swafford on December 18, 2010

The goal is universal design that is integrated and equal: Don’t make disabled people use a different Web structure but make it so they can use it too.

What are you doing to address accessibility?

Running Win7 On MacBook Pro With Parallels Desktop 6 Or VMware Fusion3

Posted by Steven Swafford on December 8, 2010

MacBook ProToday I want to take about my experience with Parallels Desktop 6. Just a few short days ago upon purchasing a MacBook Pro, I installed VirtualBox in order to run Windows 7 and the development tools that I need to do my job. While VirtualBox worked, it just seemed a little clunky in my opinion. My biggest complaint was full screen mode well was not entirely full screen. Other than this issue everything else seemed to operate as I expected, but it just was not an ideal solution for me.

What I was really seeking was the experience that I am accustomed to on my PC laptop and therefore I begun looking at other products. It was not long before I found a conversation at StackOverflow titled “Best VM Software for Mac OS X?” As I read the question and answers it was clear that much like anything else in technology people have their personal preferences and VM Software was no different. The two key players seemed to be Parallels and VMware Fusion3 so I decided to give them both a test drive since they both provided trail versions. I have high expectations and maybe my experience will help others make a decision about which product to consider.

Vendor Media

Parallels Desktop 6

I started off with this product mainly because my research turned up that more people were happy with Parallels over Fusion3. Once I had downloaded the trial version I begun the installation of Windows 7 and I must say that they install was fast and painless.

Parallels Install

After what seems like less than 15 minutes the installation was complete and I was sitting at the Windows login screen. Just as a side not if you wish to try out Google Chrome OS within Parallels, Gilberto J Perera has this topic covered in an article titled How to Download and Install Chrome OS on Mac with Parallels 6.

The user experience was nothing short of amazing. I love the fact that the Windows OS felt like it was installed on the hard drive and while full screen mode is always nice, I found that enabling Coherence was the choice for me. Seamless integration of Windows and the Mac desktop is the best of both worlds, see for yourself.

Parallels Coherence

Take notice that there is a Windows folder in the application dock where I can access the Windows Menu as well I can access this menu in the Mac desktop toolbar. Also you can see that I am running Windows Explorer and as I indicated the access to both operating systems just simply works and works very well for that matter. The alternative is full screen and it works well also, but only one desktop is actively visible.

Parallels Full Screen

VMWare Fusion3

It is important to note that since I started with Parallels and I therefore have a virtual image of Windows 7, Fusion3 has an option to import that image. Now this makes sense because these two products are in direct competition. Importing the image was just as quick and painless as was the install under Parallels, in fact it imported perfectly without any interaction. Once I was up and running there were three view options which are single window, Unity, and full screen. I tried each of these and they all worked well. The only issue that I noticed was at times the screen flickered and acted as though it was having problems with the graphics display. While this disruption was brief it was annoying none the less.

Full Screen

Fusion3 fullscreen

Unity

Fusion3 Unity

The screen shots above depict that this product works well in either view. I like the fact that the Mac desktop and the Windows desktop are running in cohesion and the ability to access features from Windows was a nice bonus which was accessed directly from the VMWare dock icon.

Conclusion

Overall both products worked as expected, however I decided to purchase Parallels over Fusion3 mainly because it did seem a little faster and just made me feel much more comfortable from a usability perspective. At the time of this article the price points were very different because VMware is offering a $30.00 rebate.

VMware Fusion3: $79.99 and now $49.99 after $30 rebate
Parrallels Desktop 6: $79.99

Now, maybe the rebate is something that I am reading more into than I should, but it does make me wonder if VMware is in direct competition with Parallels why knock of $30.00. Could it be that sales are low? Could it be Fusion3 is an inferior product? Could it be that VMware is simply putting out a great sale?

There you have my opinion in a nutshell. I realize that I did not cover the low level details of the products nor was it my intent to do so. Therefore the final question I pose to you, what virtualization product do you use on your Mac?

Screen Capture Tips In OSX

Posted by Steven Swafford on December 6, 2010

MacBook ProToday begins my first post concerning the Apple MacBook Pro and OSX. For those that know me personally, it is no secret that I am a Windows fan and a .NET developer, but recently I was looking to purchase a new laptop and I decided upon the MacBook Pro with the i7 Intel processor and I am extremely happy with this laptop so far. In preparation on getting Windows 7 installed in a virtual instance on my Mac I needed the to perform screen captures for a future post and while these tips most likely are not new to many readers they are to me and I just wanted to document these tips for others as well.

  1. To capture the entire desktop, press Command-Shift-3. The screen shot will be automatically saved as a PNG file on your desktop.
  2. To copy the entire desktop, press Command-Control-Shift-3. The screen shot will be placed on your clipboard for you to paste into another program.
  3. To capture a portion of the desktop, press Command-Shift-4. A cross-hair cursor will appear and you can click and drag to select the area you wish to capture. When you release the mouse button, the screen shot will be automatically saved as a PNG file on your desktop.
  4. To capture a specific application window, press Command-Shift-4, then press the Spacebar. The cursor will change to a camera, and you can move it around the screen. As you move the cursor over an application window, the window will be highlighted. When you have the cursor over a window you want to capture, just click the mouse button and the screen shot will be saved as a PNG file on your desktop.
  5. Another method for capturing screen shots in Mac OS X is by using the Apple utility, Grab, located in the Applications > Utilities folder, I was not even aware it existed until someone told me of it. Grab allows you the ability to capture in four different mechanisms and these are selection, window, screen, and timed screen.

There you have it, not only do I know how to perform screen captures, but maybe you have learned a new tip in this area. Do you have any favorite software or tips in the area of screen captures? Feel free to leave a comment and share your knowledge with others.

T-Mobile And AT&T 4G War Is Never Dull

Posted by Steven Swafford on November 30, 2010

3d character eating popcornSit back, grab the popcorn and prepare to be entertained. I am a T-Mobile customer and I waited to hear from others before upgrading to the MyTouch 4G in the event this new phone was not as good as the marketing made it out to be.

I must say that so far this phone has exceeded my expectations and the only negative thing that I have to say is about the preinstalled software it comes with, I personally do not like my electronics jammed packed with applications that I do not like. Now there may be a way to uninstall this software and I just have not found the answer. If you know how to uninstall some or all of this software please leave a comment detailing the steps. I know T-Mobile is working to expand their 4G coverage and unfortunately it is not in the area where I reside, however the lack of 4G in my local area is not enough to taint my opinion of this phone. It is fast and feels extremely comfortable in my hand. Just take a look at what others have said:

It is the top android phone now and it is the fastest processor wise, and has hspa + high speed internet at NO EXTRA CHARGE….yes it blows my iPhone 4 away…..

I just got 5+ mbps on speedtest over my phone, and I’m on hsdpa, not hspa+….

I love how my phone has no lag whatsoever. Just pure speed here….

It seems that T-Mobile and AT&T are having some friendly back and forth words over on their Facebook pages that you may want to check out. In fact T-Mobile has a a page entirely dedicated to fans showing off the 4G speeds out in the real world. Now I must say that I love the fact that T-Mobile has taken a play from the Mac vs PC marketing and I find it amusing that the iPhone is the bread and butter of AT&T wireless and Android has become a strong competitor.

T-Mobile MyTouch 4G “No Shirt”

T-Mobile MyTouch 4G “Piggyback”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RN0tP7GLfk

T-Mobile MyTouch 4G “Digging”

T-Mobile MyTouch 4G “New Ride”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKG4B7wFJUo

T-Mobile myTouch 4G “Glitchy” BOGO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EdUKSwQcsg

So what do you think, is AT&T beginning to show fear in the face of the MyTouch 4G device? My last question is to those of you that are die hard iPhone fans. Have you looked at MyTouch 4G firsthand? Would you consider the switch and if so why?

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