The Loop Grows

It looks like I was a little hasty in referring to Loopt as an "early adopter" technology in my last post because the company just signed a deal with Verizon, which opens the GPS-enabled social networking device to approximately 65 million customers.

Naturally, we should prepare ourselves for the next round of discussions about our dwindling privacy and how this surely must be the end of the world (again). A fellow blogger, Ben Wright, made an interesting comment about the possibility of end-users publishing their own terms of service that impose privacy rules. I'm not sure how this would work in practice, especially in cases of lost or stolen cell phones where legal notices are not likely to deter stalkers and other such bad guys, but it's good to see innovative ideas applied to the question of privacy.

I just hope we don't have to endure a new era of commercials featuring the Verizon Wireless Guy: "Can you see where I'm at now? Good!"

OMG ...1GB!?!

Just got back from a trip to the Midwest with Sansserif, and I finally got around to downloading Picasa's web album uploader software on my home computer so that I could share the photos. As I waited for the program to download, I browsed some of the new Google products under development and found a new YouTube video uploader (along with an interesting 3D drawing program called SketchUp, but that's the subject of an entirely different post).

Coincidentally, I had spent much of the flight home making a "to do" list, and one of the items on said list had been to find the best software for compressing large video files to meet the 100MB file size limit on YouTube. I wondered if they had finally developed an application to automatically restrict video file size to meet these meager limits.

But what I found out was so, so much better: they didn't need to.

I blinked and looked again at the words written in bold. Could there really be a full gigabyte of delicious storage space available for each video I upload? Had I missed a memo or something? Granted, being on a ranch in Nebraska isn't exactly the best way to stay on top of the latest tech news, but I felt like I'd emerged from a black hole or something.

I really have to tip my (cowboy) hat to Google on this one. As Sansserif says, the best part of making a "to do" list is being able to cross off the completed tasks when you finish them. But the best part of my discovery is that I got to cross something off my list and I didn't have to do anything at all.

Divide

YouAreYou is only a few years older than me, but he technically falls under Generation X while I technically fall under the Gen-Y age bracket. While there is much teasing along these lines, occasionally the divide does indeed become evident, as the following example demonstrates:

YouAreYou is currently working on the interior design of his new office. He drew a floor plan of the space dimensions on graph paper. (As an aside, the software for that purpose that I found online didn't seem to capture his interest.) He scanned the floor plan and sent me a PDF copy to look at.

A few days later he said, "I'll make a bunch of photocopies so we can sketch out ideas." I looked at him quizzically and with perfect Gen-Y innocence asked, "Why don't you just print the PDF?"

In the Loop

I recently added the Loopt application to my Facebook account after a friend got a new cell phone featuring the GPS tracking software. Essentially, the lines between social networking and mobile devices are getting blurred. This, in turn, blurs a more important line between our semi-anonymous online personas and our so-called "real world" identities.

Now, before anyone gets all paranoid about their privacy, don't worry. This is nothing like that pesky illegal government wiretapping and/or other undisclosed terrorist surveillance activities that the telecoms can neither confirm nor deny the existence of. No, no, no. This much simpler.

Having Loopt on a cell phone just eliminates the need for the most commonly texted question in the world: where u at? You only invite your friends to be able to see your location, and you can always lie about where you really are if you want to go off the radar for a bit.

I am here, btw: (or am I???)



Of course, I could zoom the Google map to my exact location but, frankly, I don't know you that well.

While this type of technology is certainly the trend of the future, it does not necessarily simplify the social nuances of online living. Consider, for instance, a house party that starts at 9pm. You have ten friends who are going, and none of you wants to be the first one to show up. It's easy to see how staring at your Loopt phone all night could result in a stalemate while everyone waits for someone else to make the first move.

For now, anyway, there is time to puzzle over this newest chapter in the Book of Netiquette (7th Edition) as Loopt is currently an early adopter technology. But don't be surprised if you someday find yourself in a social network that involves interacting in the so-called "real world" we're hearing so much about these days. I know...scary, right?

Landscapes, pt. 2

Per Sansserif's recent post on the landscape along the Pacific Coast Highway, I couldn't resist looking up the google earth image of our approximate location. Had I paid for the full version, I'm sure the two photos would be all but indistinguishable. Of course, they haven't yet figured out how to digitally replicate the sea breeze, or the sun.


Yes, I know...it's so Gen-X of me to tout the merits of the "real" world, but I can't help it. I guess you just had to be there.

Landscapes

 

When I was at my childhood home this winter, my father encouraged me to take a book about cameras home with me. The book is from the 1970s and explains f-stops, aperture values, etc. I resisted at first, insisting I could find all that information online, but to please him I took it with me. I finally cracked it open and found it very accessible. The other day I told this story to YouAreYou, inviting him to sample the old book smell.

"You can't get that on the internet!" He teased. I had to agree.

***************************

Driving along the Pacific Coast Highway this week, I admired the terrain of the land.
"It looks like a topographical map," I said. YouAreYou glanced at me sideways.
"That's very Gen-X of you," he commented, meaning not techospeak, Gen-Y.
"Sorry!" I said. "I meant, 'It looks like Google Terrain View.'" We laughed.

But still - you just can't get that on the internet.