onfocus

Social media monetization pains. I figured the Instagram acquisition was about driving traffic and content to Facebook, not serving ads. Seems short-sighted.

Mat Honan is experiencing a nightmare cascade failure of interconnected services. This is a good reminder to back things up and make sure your passwords are unique for each service.

Not only words, but it's important to think about all of the digital artifacts of living. They're all moving toward the domain of companies in the name of convenience. This conversation explains some of the problems with that. [via waxy]

Vint Cerf on Google: "...we couldn't run our system if everything in it were encrypted because then we wouldn't know which ads to show you. So this is a system that was designed around a particular business model."

"Sears used to sell houses by mail." Someone please put old catalog pictures side by side with modern pictures of those houses still in use.

"From now on, when I want to visit Facebook, I’ll be using the private browser setting in whatever browser I’m using." This is my new strategy too. What a hassle.

ok, this is worth getting upset over. Update (9/28): Facebook Fixes and Explains.

"If you’re into experimentation, manual focus lenses, or just enjoy 'vintage' gear, at around $50 it is a bargain..." Nice review of an old 50mm Soviet lens. eBay, activate!

Why "Love it or leave it!" isn't a valid response to criticism of social networks.

Interesting look at "password padding" to create memorable AND secure passwords. [via Ask MeFi]

"We’re not going to have a jobless recovery. We’re going to have a jobless future." Painful post to read but it makes sense. Now what?

"When people say there are no easy solutions to our problems, I don’t think they are thinking hard or creatively enough. If our problem is that we don’t have enough technically trained Americans, why are we not focused like lasers on educating people?"

"The kind of naming policy that Facebook and Google Plus have is actually a radical departure from the way identity and speech interact in the real world."

"A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen said Wednesday he was only doing it as a hobby." A hobby? Oh, that's ok then. ... WHAT?

"The people who most heavily rely on pseudonyms in online spaces are those who are most marginalized by systems of power. 'Real names' policies aren't empowering; they’re an authoritarian assertion of power over vulnerable people."

"...there will always be the open web for the geeks, the misfits, the eccentrics, the control freaks, and any other term we can think of to proudly express our healthy skepticism of giving up too much control over what really should be ours."

Dave Winer is correct: "Have the courage to stake out your spot on the open web. Fill it with delicious treats, and connect it to others. That's creativity."

Some things for companies to keep in mind when releasing "anonymized" data for research.

This is a free ePub book about SQL indexes. Loaded up on my iPad for light reading.

This article includes an interesting use of social media for identity obfuscation. "...we create bogus individuals around client names. One person could be a photographer, one person could be a chauffeur, or whatever. We develop about 15 to 20 web sites and create all these social media sites around you. Now if you are traveling somewhere and someone puts your name in, they are going to locate those 20 other people before they get to you, depending on how much information is known about you."

Crowdsourced documentary about life across the world on a single day: July 24th, 2010.