The Exodus

Fall of 2011, and Facebook is rolling out a real-time ticker and their Timeline. And people are freaking out. I was all set to play with the timeline thing; thought it might be kind of cool, but... there's something else... FB follows me around the web, wherever I go, taking notes and reporting back to the rest of the FB world what I am up to. I don't even have to hit a "like" button or a "share on Facebook" link; it just knows where I went. 

Hmph. I don't even like someone following me around a store... much less around the web. 

FB is starting to feel like one of those flying bugs that won't leave me alone. It's annoying. And... it's invasive. I don't really WANT everything I do broadcast to the world, thank you... Seems that a lot of my friends feel the same way. A lot of them are cancelling their Facebook accounts (or planning to -- I'm curious about whether that's an easy process or a difficult one). A lot of them are porting over to Google+, which is finally becoming active instead of a silent wasteland. Myself, I pulled Facebook off of my main browser (Firefox), and launched Safari for the first time on this machine (which meant it was a browser with no preferences or cookies or history), and quarantined Facebook over there. If it's not going to play nicely with my other browsing, I just have to separate it. 

Bad social network. No cookies.

To DIY or Not To DIY, that is the question.

My sister Nancy makes a valid point in her comment to my last post ... it's not appropriate to restrict graphic software to use only by industry professionals. Not in this day and age of do-it-yourself everything. I have mixed thoughts about this trend.

I like very much that there are tools available independent artists like Felicia Day and Projected Twin to bypass the big studio entertainment business blockades. They can create and distribute their own creative work, gather their own audience, and stay in direct contact with them at the same time. The tools are getting more sophisticated, and while "The Guild" may never have the special effects of a Speilberg blockbuster... it doesn't need to. It's great and it's out there, and it's not by Paramount or 20th Century Fox or Tristar. Yay all over that.

On a smaller scale, there's a self-checkout at the library, and at the grocery store, and of course the gas station... do your own taxes online... ok, still good...

How about going to WebMD to self-diagnose? How about going to one of these online trading sites to pick some investments? There are lines drawn for things that can affect your health, like purchasing certain medications, but there are many other things that you get to do all by your own little ole self, whether you are able to make wise and informed choices or not. Granted, you're not going to lose your savings or your health if you choose to create a jpg when you really need a gif; I'm just wondering at what point it becomes more problematic than convenient to do it all yourself?

Yes, this is an extremely silly comparison. I bring it up as two points on a wider scale. Maybe there should be a scale of 1 to 10, where sewing on your own button is a 1 and doing your own appendectomy is a 10.

Acronym Soup

I've learned to dread the phrase "Can you send me my logo?" Years ago, that just meant sending a sheet printed logos in different sizes. Easy. Now it's this whole ordeal requiring a full-blown inquisition... what format do you want? ("Oh, I don't know...") OK, how will it be used? Is it being printed? Digital or offset? ("huh?") Somehow I have to extract a bunch of technical info from a non-technical person in order to know whether to make an rgb.jpg or a cmyk.pdf or a spot color .ai or an indexed .gif. If I just send them whatever I have on file, I inevitably get the phone call saying that wasn't what they needed... can I send it another way.... no, that wasn't it... could I just talk directly to their printer/web designer/engraver/sign maker and see what it is they need...

My opinion: The proliferation of desktop publishing software to the general public has been a wretched development. I almost think you should have to be licensed before you are allowed to handle these bytes of data. And Word should have some kind of a warning label. "You probably can't use this software for what you are planning to do."

Hello, new Mac

My trusty old Powerbook G4 finally passed into silicon oblivion... I took it to the nearest Mac shop for responsible recycling. Seems strange to think that it's not here anymore, even though I haven't been able to use it for a while (the graphics card sputtered out after a long illness). That little machine had become a part of my home. I was all moved into it and had it all set up, and could generally find whatever I needed even through the digital clutter. I must admit, it had become a pretty fair reflection of how I live in the real world -- too many notes-to-self on the desktop, too many old and unused applications still loaded, too many long-completed projects left on the hard drive, too many started but not finished projects left to keep the finished ones company.

And now here I have a brand spanking new one! It's spiffy, it's speedy, it's minty-fresh and has scads of available disk space. And no clutter at all! How long can I keep it organized? I wonder, if I can get a handle on keeping this little digital lap warmer clean, will it motivate me to keep the rest of my home clutter-free?

Probably not. But for right now... hello, zen. This is nice.