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Well, democracy is running wild around the world!

As the United States plans on lifting the embargo on Cuba, we see a move by Facebook to allow a democratic vote to set the “Terms of Service – the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Facebook Principles”. A move that is quite in contrast to the move that Facebook made about two months ago when they told all users that they own all the users content on the site. But why make such a huge 180-degree turn? Why let people vote? Can it really be democratic? These are only answers that time will tell, and the actions of Facebook in the next few months will really show the users and the world if they believe in democracy or if this is just a big hoax. 

Some interesting points to keep in mind are the following;

1. Will Facebook users even read the proposed changes document? It is to be assumed that most users of Facebook are not aware of the right that they have given to Facebook originally and further more don’t have the patients to read the suggested changes.

2. Will Facebook China be allowed to vote in a democratic election? Since China has not had a democratic vote politically for years, it can be assumed that the governing rulers will not want to allow such freedoms. As well all other non-democratic countries, will they have a chance to vote?

3. Will Facebook be opening themselves up to a world of unexpected user expectations by suggesting that they are now democratic? It would be assumed that by letting the users vote on this topic that Facebook users may now expect and want to vote on all other future changes since this precedent is being set.

It is a good move in my opinion to let users vote and get involved, I am not sure if I would say it is the best idea because once pandora’s box is opened it will be very difficult to close and now Facebook users will expect to vote all further changes. This might cause even greater push back against Facebook in years to come; as it can me assumed that Facebook will not want to release control.

By Jon M. Cohen

Looks like the boys over at Research in Motion have finally jumped on the “App Store” bandwagon. Following in the footsteps of both Apple’s App Store on iTunes and Google’s App Store for the Android OS. Today RIM launched their very own branded App Store called App World. A move that is not totally surprising considering the great success that Apple has seen. But the Blackberry App World has a long way to go to catch up with Apple’s 35,000+ Applications. With the upcoming App Store for the Palm Pre being highly talked about, it was a smart move for Blackberry to get the ball rolling on this App World program. The only question is if it is not a bit too late? The App market has become over saturated in the last number of months and as evidence to that we see the ongoing discounting of Apps in the iTunes store. These discounted prices unfortunately destroy the basic value system for all other Apps on all other platforms. Therefore when we look at the 475 apps that Blackberry is offering we cringe at the idea of paying $11.99 for Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile or $9.99 for SplashMoney Personal Finance. What most Apple developers have realized over the past 10 months is that the correct pricing for Apps is in the sub $4.99 price point. It is to be assumed that like any free market economy that as soon as more Apps are made, and their is a greater competition that the prices will be lowered.

You can download your own copy of the Blackberry App World HERE.

System Requirements

To ensure that your BlackBerry® smartphone will support BlackBerry App World™, it must have the following system requirements:

BlackBerry® Device Software version 4.2 or higher

BlackBerry smartphones with trackballs or SurePress™ touch screen

BlackBerry App World is only available to customers in US, Canada and UK and may not be available on all networks

How to check your operating system from your BlackBerry smartphone:

Click “Options” from your BlackBerry smartphone

Select “About”, then click. Your BlackBerry smartphone operating system information will be displayed

By Jon M. Cohen – New Media Specialist

By now you must have seen the changes that have taken place on your home page on Facebook. I  have heard the uproar from the community about how ugly it is and how hard it is to use. So let’s set aside all the complaints, sit back and look at why this change was needed and what will be the long term gain to the Facebook user lover.

It should be noted that every 6 to 9 months the good people at Facebook have felt the need to change the look and feel of this amazingly popular website. The last change we saw only affected the design and the look. This time  in addition to the look and feel, Facebook has cleverly changed some of the functionalities, including the change to the home landing page and to the user’s personal page. You may ask why they would make the change besides wanting to piss off more than two million users. Well my smart-ass answer can be summed up in one word, “Darwinism.”Yes that’s right, these changes are meant as a form of evolution. Remember only the strong survive and  when the owners of Facebook were not able to purchase their biggest competitor they needed to adjust the Facebook site to compete with and offer similar functions.

I assume you have heard  of Twitter  but just in case it is a social networking site that features “micro-blogging.” Twitter has really tipped in the last few months and with celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Jimmy Fallon, and Britney Spears it is no surprise that more and more of mainstream web users are really giving it a go. As a result, Facebook needed to make some major changes to its systems. Granted,  Twitter only has 300,000 users which is a small user base when compared to Facebook. The truth of the matter is that Twitter is a real threat to Facebook. Twitter’s 140 character “Tweets” can easily be compared to  Facebook’s status update section and so it was an easy choice for the Facebook team to change that status update to “what’s on your mind?” Now with these basic functionality changes and a redesigned home page (that looks a lot like the Twitter home page) Facebook can start to roll out some of the same functions that Twitter currently offers. Let’s face it, Twitter is where the web is going so if Facebook can grab the audience then it will insure a long life  as a social networking website. Therefore in the long run, users will actually gain functionality by these changes. We will still see some minor changes to Facebook in the months to come. One change  to look for is the removal of the “Friends” cap, which is currently sitting at a maximum of 5000 friends. Going forward users will be able to have over 100,000 friends on Facebook.

I leave you with this final thought, if printers and scanners can join to become an all-in-one printer, why not try to use the new Facebook and empower yourself to see all that social networking and “micro-blogging” have to offer. You may be surprised by the outcome. Feel free to follow me on Twitter, CLICK HERE

By Jon M. Cohen

Loving Twitter is not a crime! Not using it to it’s potential is not a crime either, but it is a shame if you don’t really see all that Twitter can offer you. Unlike other social media websites Twitter has an API that is open and allows for developers to create applications that can be independent of the web browser. One fairly new application is TweetDeck, based on the amazingly versatile Adobe Air language. TweetDeck, still in Beta has a great deal of useful components to it. Of course you can do all the basic features that one would expect from a Twitter application. Functions like: posting a tweet, seeing friend’s timeline, and seeing direct messages. The things that really stands out for me with TweetDeck is the added features that come built in to this application.

Since TweetDeck is an Adobe Air based application it is easily installable on all three major software platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux).

Some of the most useful features in my opinion are “TwitScoop”, “Twitter Search”, “Stock Twits”, and “Groups” 

    * TwitScoop is in my opinion the most useful feature that TweetDeck offers. What you get with this feature is the ability to see what are the most popular buzzwords being posted on Twitter. So if you want to know the trends or the topics that the whole Internet community is talking about? Then the answer can be easily found with this feature.

    * Twitter Search is a powerful and very useful tool that will allow you to type in a keyword and then TweetDeck will create a section for you to see all the tweets about that keyword.

    * Stock Twits is just as you assume a tracker for your favorite symbols from any of the major exchanges. It is fast and easily customizable to the users preferences. All that is needed is to signup at the website and configure your portfolio.

    * Groups, this may seem like an expected feature for any Twitter application, and frankly it is common in some. But what TweetDeck does differently with its configuration and the power behind this feature is what sets it apart from all other competitors. With the groups feature you can choose which tweets you want to see while not seeing all the other people you follow. 

A few other nice parts about this application is the ability to pick the color scheme you want, as well the settings allow you to tweak the Twitter API on refresh rates. 

TweetDeck still has some room to grow and it is apparent that it is still in Beta. With that being said I would still highly recommend it for all Twitter users. In my opinion it is a must have application for all Twittter users. Get your own copy of TweetDeck here.

TweetDeck Full screenshot

By Jon M. Cohen

As most consumers embrace new technologies like digital cameras, digital camcorders and MP3 players is can be assumed that  today’s average consumer will find them-self with more and more files that become highly important and can’t be lost.  As more content is created the more we realize that the internal hard drive in computers is not large enough to handle the information that we hold so precious. It comes to a point where we need to increase our hard drive to hold all that information. Below are some basic tips to ensure that you buy the best replacement hard drive for your needs.

My first tip is the most important; and thus I suggest that if you only read one part this is it! When you are ready to change your desktop computer hard drive it is key to know what kind of connector is needed from the desktop’s motherboard. The two most popular options are ATA (also know as PATA) or the newer SATA (Serial ATA). It sounds like a very simple tip, but 70% of people are unsure and are unable to answer this question when they walk in to their local computer retailer. For anyone who is not sure what I mean by this significant difference; the only reasonable comparison that one can make is the difference between gas engines and diesel engines. Therefore, when you go to refuel your car you can’t put diesel fuel in a regular gas tank.

Size does matter! Buy the hard drive for the future. When you get to the store you may have options between 250GB, 500Gb, 750GB, 1000GB (1TB) and maybe even 1500GB (1.5TB). The right size is going to vary depending on your use. My rule of thumb is to get three times larger capacity. So if you are using a 250, then get a 750GB; if you have a 500Gb then a 1.5TB is the right amount. The good thing with most desktop computers is that you can have multiple drives in the computer. Therefore to reach 1.5TB you can use 2 x 750Gb. As drive sizes get large and prices go down I would always encourage people to get everything in one drive. This option offers less failure rate and gives improved speeds and performance.

Lots of people will tell you that one brand is better then another brand. The truth of the matter is that some brands are in fact better. The failure rate for any brand is almost all equal over a 12-month period. The same way that if you buy a really good car (like Bentley or Ferrari) you will still need service and you will still need to get service done for it. The point I am making is this; all technology can breakdown. Just make sure you are prepared. You should have some kind of backup solution. I know I sound a bit pessimistic, but it is better to be safe then sorry.

Speed, Speed, Speed…my last tip is that when you have a chance to get a new hard drive you should take advantage of any speed boosts with the technology. Over the last number of years we have seen the change from 5200RPM to 7200RPM drives. This means a faster read and writes speed. As technology improves, we will see that 10,000RPM or faster drives will be more common. Therefore, when you have a chance to upgrade and get a new drive you should take the fastest speeds you can afford.

Since you are in a position to upgrade or change your desktop hard drive I hope you keep the above mentioned four points in your head.. Find the perfect drive that meets your needs… Look for the fastest speed for the biggest drives and don’t get hung up to much on brand and lastly make sure you get the right kind of connection for you computer’s mother board.