GetItNext Blog

Getting the Last Laugh…Blocking Access on Facebook

Bad break ups, separated or divorced or just plain stalked, we all know of one or more people that we hope never to see again.  Because of this, some people are afraid to join Facebook or speak candidly on the site.  Fear no more!  You can permanently block a certain someone from ever finding you!

To do so, go to your profile page.  Click on “settings” in the blue tool bar and select “privacy settings” in the subheading.  At the bottom of the page, there’s a box labeled “Block People”.  Type in the person’s name you wish to block and click on “block”.  Taking it a step further, click on “search” and select “search visibility”. Scroll and select “customize” from the subheading.  The “only friends” option will allow only your friends to see any information of yours.  This will disable anyone from finding you on another friend’s list.  Also, be sure to block your information from all or some of your networks under the same subheading.  And, always remember to save your information when making changes!

Spring Cleaning: Ending Friendships on Facebook

In the beginning, you are caught up with the numbers and the thrill of finding names you remember.  Then reality, if there is such a thing on Facebook, sets in.  Let’s face it, in these tough times, the last thing we want to do is read about is more doom and gloom, status-comment complaining from the dramatic “friend”.  Then there are the “friends” who are constantly online but never seem to have any time to check in with you.  And then there are “those friends” you are pretty sure just wanted to see your photos to find out if you gained weight or lost hair.  The tell tale sign is the generic, solo wall comment: “How’s life?  Beautiful family you have.”  And they are never to be heard from again.

At some point, you will feel the need to rid yourself of the Facebook Friend clutter.  Besides the aforementioned criteria, the only advice I will give you is not to delete friends while drinking or during PMS.  To begin the purge, pull up your entire Friend List.  On the right, there is an “x”.  To delete, click on the “x”.  It will prompt you with a reminder (just in case you click on a real friend) and remind you it cannot be undone.  Rest assured, they will not find out about it.  However, how humorous would it be if you opened the Home Page to see “LOSER ALERT! John Doe is no longer friends with Jane Doe.”?

Photos, Privacy and Facebook

Ok…photos and Facebook go together but privacy?  Yes, there is such a thing!  The more you Facebook, the more your home page feels like a pictorial spread in a tabloid.  But it’s not just our friend’s photos we are seeing. We are seeing the private lives of people not included on our own friend lists. 

I have two words for these people: privacy settings.  If you have not selected any privacy options when posting your photos, it becomes public information to everyone on Facebook via a comment your “friend” makes to the photo.  Even more frightening, this allows a “non-friend” to flip through the entire album.

To change the privacy settings on your own photo albums, go to your profile page.  Click on “settings” in the blue tool bar and select “privacy settings” in the subheading.  Select “profile” and a list of options are displayed.  Half way down, there’s an option for “Photos Tagged of You”, select it, and change the setting to “friends only”.  Under that, in blue writing, click on “Edit Photo Albums Privacy Settings”.  All your existing albums will be displayed and you can change the privacy settings for them at this time.  As long as you remember to “save” the changes, the new information becomes effective immediately.

Happy and Safe Facebooking!

GetItNext WillitBlend Challenge - Sanyo Xacti E1

I was about to write a review about the Sanyo Xacti E1 Waterproof Digital Camcorder but I couldn't resist the urge to see this cool electronic device blended to shreds.  You see I just got done watching Guitar Hero go up in flames by the guys over at Will It Blend.  So Will It Blend, if you're listening I'd like to see you fill up the blender with water, turn on the Xacti E1 and drop it in.  I think it would be funny as hell watching this thing get chewed up underwater.  Oh and by the way, we'll even send one over free of charge.  Just let us know if you're interested, fill out our feedback form and we'll coordinate the details.

Searching eBay made easier.  GetItNext

Are you safe on Facebook? 5 Ways to Behave Securely on Facebook!

Are you one of the over 34 million users currently on Facebook? If so, your privacy and identity may very well be at risk.

First launched in early 2004, Facebook is a Social Networking website which reportedly adds 100,000 new users every day. It's popularity is simply phenomenal and while the website provides users with an incredible way to reunite with friends from previous 'lifetimes', the dangers of online personal information sharing lurk below the shallow waters...

Sophos, one of the premier network security companies, is warning users of social networking sites such as Facebook, myspace and many similar sites, of the dangers that can arise from sharing personal information with friends, and sometimes strangers. The company's research showed that 41% of users divulge their personal information (email address, phone number, etc.) to a complete stranger. While the Sophos study highlights a number of interesting facts, the truth is that Facebook will continue to dominate the social networking world. In response to the overwhelming popularity, Sophos has even developed a Facebook best practices userguide - which will help you protect your identity on Facebook by focusing on 5 major areas.

While Sophos Security solutions are not directly available to the average consumer (the company solely sells its products to businesses/schools) you should strongly consider following the above mentioned userguide in addition to ensuring that you have an up-to-date virus scanner and firewall to protect you from online threats. You can purchase a new anti-virus solution through getitnext! Among the market leaders in AV protection, Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro should help keep your computer safe from online dangers - despite perhaps not being as effective as Sophos security solutions.

Eric
getitnext.com

Battle of the Browsers: Part 2

So just in case you never got a look at my first blog in this series you can check it out first by clicking on this link. So just in case you didn't quite pick up on it in the last blog, I do prefer using Safari for web browsing on my mac. Now most likely being the minority in this case I just want to let you guys know that I do think that Firefox is a great browser and that it can handle everything I could ever want and then some! Now since my browsing needs are pretty minimal, Safari has become my primary browser since it does tend to flow much more nicely with OS X and most importantly it has all the eye-candy I could ever want with its beautiful GUI. On the other hand though, Safari does still lack much of the features I wish were included and hope to see in its future versions. Since I did tear apart Firefox's sub-par "looks" on such pages as Facebook and Google I figured it would be fair now to talk about the downsides of Safari in terms of functionality and features. To begin, I have to start off with one of my biggest pet-peeves regarding Safari but I guess this is more so directed to Google rather than Apple. This of course is the lack of a Google Toolbar for Safari. Like c'mon guys, with the great partnership these guys have you would figure that Google would finally put together even a very basic toolbar for Safari. But lets leave that for another day, I must move onto another big problem for me and that is regarding tabbed browsing. I really do believe tabbed browsing is the smartest and most efficient way to have several windows open at once. On the same note I believe it is a great feature that should eventually be implemented into all programs that utilize more than one window(ie. MSN Messenger). Safari has not seemed to take full advantage of tabbed browsing yet and does not even offer the option to automatically open up new windows in a tab unless you are to manually hold down a command key or right-click the tab bar to open up a new tab and copy and paste the address if you want to get real technical. Along with this, Safari does not even give the option to have a warning message before you close Safari with multiple tabs open in the case that you may have forgotten about tabs or you have accidentally clicked the exit button(really a downside!). All in all though I feel that Safari needs to get with the times and embrace tabbed browsing as it is a great innovation for browsing the internet. Oh and I should add that I do love how Firefox has utilized tabbed browsing and best of all just double clicking to open a new tab, what a nice feature!(definitely one of my favourite features!) Ok, now before I turn this blog into a novel I feel its best that I stop now and leave a open possibility for a part 3 of this exciting series! :P If you are interested in checking out Safari you could always download it from Apple for the PC  version or invest in a new mac. Personally I don't feel the PC version of Safari does justice for the mac version but hey at least you can get an idea! Keep you're eyes peeled for a possible part 3 in the future!

Victor