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9.27.2011

Memolane Is The Best Timeline!

Last year I told you about a service called Memolane, they are an archiving site set up in a timeline format. Recently, at f8, facebook revealed the next evolution of their profile called Timeline; which I believe is an incorporation of a Memolane style service. Mockery is the best flattery, or so the saying goes; I guess it means something when Mark Zuckerberg wants to steal your idea. Of course, the Timeline is still under development and they are still fixing bugs and glitches; but Memolane is already a better product/service.

Not to long ago; the post may even still be showing below, I don't post much; I told you about a persistant bug at Memolane that wouldn't allow you to change your default facebook photo. I later edited that post after hearing from Megan at Memolane to assure everyone that they did have a fix and do care about customer service, even though they use GetSatisfaction which is particular about who they give customer service to; but that is another post entirely. We are talking about Memolane, and checking back with a follow up.

Memolane of greyeyesgabriel.
I really like this service and believe it is the best archiving tool with the best potential; I plan to use it for all of my blogs and feeds. There is a timeline at the bottom of the lane for quick reference back to a certain day; and a 4 way scrolling feature which allows for easy navigation. They show just about anything you post from anywhere on the web; as long as you have the attached the service/account which you are planning to archive. It will pull in all of your posts from any feed you submit to the lane, all the way back to the beginning; my personal lane starts on May 22, 2001. Being an archiving service, I don't visit it much myself; but I did go back to change my profile photo.


As you may recall; that was the bug issue that I originally posted about. I followed the directions that was originally given (yes, I still remembered) and removed my facebook service from the lane. Then I added the facebook service back to my lane. It worked; this time the reauthorization changed my profile photo to my current profile photo which was my first universal avatar. Much better and great job to the guys, and gals at Memolane; I can't wait to see what other services they develop for and what else they have planned. I highly reccomend and endorse Memolane for your social RSS archiving needs.

9.26.2011

Facebook; Friending & Unfriending

It had been reported that the new Facebook Timeline profile had a glitch that allowed users to see when their "friends" had silently "unfriended" them in the profile. I am actually happy to report to all of you "privacy" fans that the glitch issue has been fixed by facebook. I learned this from one of my newest developer friends, Edouard Gatouillat; who is the creator of one of my favorite facebook apps, Unfriend Finder.

Unfriend Finder works from a Javascript installed via Greasemonkey within your web browser making it secure. Unfriend Finder will track your friendlist, although it may take it a little while to start tracking. But once it does it will monitor your friend requests sent, denied, and accepted; but the best part of the script is that it tracks those that "unfriend" you on facebook. But it doesn't just tell you that you are unfriended; it lets you know if your friends have deactivated/reactivated their accounts, it lets you know if they left your friendlist or even if they blocked you. You can download and install Unfriend Finder from their website; I think you will appreciate the simplicity of this app and the knowledge of knowing who left your friendlist and when; even if it doesn't provide a reason why they left. Unfortunately, it doesn't locate the archive of unfriending from the past; but once installed; you will never have to guess who left your friendlist again.

I have thoroughly tested and continue to use Unfriend Finder on my facebook profile; I have been looking for something like this for a very long time. It is a tool that I wouldn't want to be without again, in fact I highly endorse it! Go to the website and install Unfriend Finder for your facebook profile on every browser you use.



7.25.2011

Google+ vs. facebook = RockMelt

RockMelt. Your browser. Re-Imagined.


I have been using the RockMelt browser since it's beginning; for those that have never heard of RockMelt, it is based around your facebook Open ID. You need to log in to facebook to use all of it's integration features, which allows you to have all of the features of facebook without being on facebook. 


Where it gets really interesting is that they use the Google Chromium platform to build this specialized browser. As many of you know by my posts on facebook, I recommend Google Chrome because of it's Sandbox feature that hackers don't like. The Chromium Open Source project allows web developers to build their own browsers based on the Google Engine. 

I find that using this Google/facebook hybrid gives me advantages such as being able to use Google Apps, and the ability to share over the social web with the click of a "share" button. This way I am able to share what I post on G+ flawlessly with facebook. Both have their own unique advantages; why should I throw away using one popular form of social media over the other? If I have the opportunity to integrate using the 2 or more most popular social networks into my webwork, then wouldn't that just strengthen my SEO? 

When everyone started talking about facebook taking the #1 spot from Google; I was quick to point out all of the reasons that it wouldn't happen. The latest moves by Google to revamp and update their code for ease of integration of Google accounts just supports what I have said all along, Google became #1 for a reason and they have stayed true to their original model while innovating the web for more simple communication and sharing. Google is proving that Open Source is Social! Facebook is sure to copy another winning formula from upstarts to integrate into their platform; that is what they do best, copy what is working for others.


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