Posts tagged Stop
Stop Saying “Finally”
Feb 8th
FIIIINALLY! Google released a Chrome beta for Android! GODDDDD. What took them so long? All the Ice Cream Sandwich users have been waiting, like, FOREVER!
Finally, Tweetbot for iPad came out. I’ve only been asking them for, like, EIGHT MONTHS! Jeez.
Apple fiiiinally released iTunes Match after a whole month, and it didn’t even work right!
Listen to how this sounds. How do we, the tech bloggers, get away with headlines like this? Where do users get off complaining impatiently about updates to a service that costs them $2.99? Or a free service? Let’s have a reality check. Remember how awesome technology is?
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This is an appeal to all of us, myself wholeheartedly included, to start appreciating how amazingly fast the world is changing and stop complaining about having to wait a week or two for the next incremental update of the future to arrive.
Let’s Walk From San Francisco to Los Angeles
Sometimes, it takes longer to build amazing software than developers planned back at the beginning, when they were all psyched to get started. A great Quora thread about this popped up last week: Why are software development task estimations regularly off by a factor of 2-3?
Michael Wolfe’s answer lays it out. Developing software is like planning a hiking trip down the coastline. When you’re zoomed out, looking at the big map, the line is pretty straight. But as you actually start walking, you realize that the line on the big map glosses over the details.
The actual coastline twists and turns. There are cliffs and boulders and sand. “Angry sea lions!” It’s not as simple as walking a straight line for the distance calculated by Google Maps. It might take 10 times longer to go one mile today than it did to go five miles yesterday.
So that’s the part of the problem we can’t control. Software projects take longer than expected. But the customers – and the bloggers – have to do more than just cut the devs some slack.
An App Costs 1 Cup of Coffee
We have to appreciate a few things. First of all, if you can afford a computer, if you can afford a monthly Internet bill, you can afford an app that costs $3. Let’s assume we’re talking about Apple stuff here. If you paid $3, the developer made $2.10 (and Apple took 90¢).
Just think about how many times a developer has to make $2.10 in order to make a living. That is your personal share of the app you bought. If it takes the developer a month longer than you wanted for a big update full of new features, just keep that in mind before you go ranting off to the Internet and leaving ★☆☆☆☆ reviews.
If the app is free, you should be saying “thank you.”
Time & Perspective
The other part of this problem is our perspective on time. This is the one that affects the bloggers. We have our noses in this stuff every day, so the cycle of software releases tends to feel longer than it really is. But it affects lay users as well. We’ve gotten so used to things changing online all the time that we’ve started to think one month is a long time for a technological innovation.
That’s craziness. It used to take a month to send a message to someone. Let’s dial back the whininess and appreciate the amazing speed and plummeting costs of technological change. You can write your best-selling novel on an app that costs as much as a beer. I’m reminding all of us, especially myself, to try to stop saying “finally” and start saying “thank you.”
Lead photo courtesy of Shutterstock
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Privacy Group Sues FTC to Stop New Google Privacy Policy
Feb 8th
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is suing the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in the hopes of stopping the new Google privacy policy, which is set to become effective March 1. The complaint was filed today in federal district court.
View full post on Search Engine Watch – Latest
Steve Jobs Email to Google: Stop Recruiting Apple Employees
Feb 4th
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs emailed Google to ask the firm to stop trying to recruit its staff, according to court documents made public in an investigation into the hiring policies in place at several major technology companies.
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Matt Cutts Convinces Some South Korean Govt. Websites To Stop Blocking Googlebot
Jan 31st
Matt Cutts, international diplomat? That might be the more appropriate title for Google’s chief spam cop. According to the Wall Street Journal, Cutts is in South Korea this week and, in a presentation Monday night for about 80 government officials, webmasters, lawyers and journalists, managed…
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Amateur Food Porn Has Got To Stop
Jan 27th
“We eat with our eyes,” Iliana Regan told me, “and then it travels to our brain, and we love the sensation of the taste and the hot. I think it does a lot for the senses.” Pretty steamy, right? Food is sexy. There can be no doubt. But just like sex, it’s not always pretty. And in food and sex alike, humans love to take pictures.
There are laws about the sex part, but food is not censored in our society. The temptation is strong in the smartphone age to share our daily deeds with the world. It makes them less mundane. Meals are miraculous, really. Food is sacred. It gives life. But the rest of us on the Internet aren’t at the table with you. We can’t taste how good it is. Sometimes, if the light’s not quite right, or you’re too close up, what feels really good to you might look really gross to us.
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This is just intended as a friendly tip. We would never presume to dictate what kinds of fun are or are not allowed. We just have some… let’s call them aesthetic concerns about the lack of aesthetic concern sometimes sorely needed before posting a photo of food. It’s food, remember? It’s supposed to look delicious. It may taste delicious, but your Instagram followers, who don’t get to taste it, might lose their appetites if you’re not careful.
Food porn can be exceedingly pleasant. Professional photographers with solid equipment can make even everyday meals look irresistible. The website FoodPornDaily features one new shot every day, and they’re invariably good enough to make you say “MMMMMMmmmmmmm.” Iliana Regan has talented photographers capture the food she creates, and her images are lovely.
But a smartphone sensor won’t always do it justice, and Instagram filters tend to turn things very brown. Just something to keep in mind.
“All pictures of food on social media look like the street next to a major university on Sunday morning.”
- Curt Hopkins
- Curt Hopkins
“The key is good post-processing,” says ReadWriteWeb webmaster Jared Smith, “and not just slapping an Instagram filter on. This digs to a deeper issue. Instagram has introduced a lot of people to photography that otherwise probably wouldn’t participate. They get into the filters and the like.”
“Punk as fuck,” replies production editor Curt Hopkins. “And I like that. EXCEPT FOR FOOD.”
“There have been amateur photos of everything from crimes being committed to mountains to ladies to flowers that have been lovely, arresting, striking,” Hopkins says. “But there has not been one single amateur picture of food on a social media site that does not look like a pile of grey-beige recycled meatloaf. This includes lobster and cake.”
Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier has an important counterpoint. “You put them in your feed,” he reminds us. “You followed them.”
“I unfollow people for this all the time,” I reply, “but there are some people whose tastes I mostly like, or who are my friends, and I don’t want to miss out on their lives.”
“It’s like getting gross-rolled.”
- John Paul Titlow
- John Paul Titlow
“You have to take the good and bad, then,” Brockmeier says. “Just saying – if a friend of mine is like ‘I don’t like cat pictures, stop posting them to Facebook,’ my response is, ‘You can unfriend me if you want. This is my feed. I’ll post whatever makes me happy.’ Now, if the cat pic is my cat licking herself, you might have a more valid criticism.”
What we are responding to here is the photo-culinary equivalent of cats licking their butts. The Web is a wonderful place to share photos. Lord knows there are enough ways to do it. But before you tweet your breakfast, take a look at the photo. Savor it. Then ask yourself, “Does this look good enough to eat?”
Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments.
Disclosure: Iliana Regan is the creator of the Chicago underground supper club One Sister, for which ReadWriteWeb’s Alicia Eler has done some social media consulting in the past.
Lead photo by Iliana Regan
Photo 2 by Jon Mitchell
Photo 3 by Simon Mayo, found in Twitter’s top image search results for “stroganoff”
Photo 4 (the good one) by Jennifer Moran
Photo 5 by Joel Sierra, found in Twitter’s top image search results for “sushi”
Photo 6 by Nabila Huda
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Stop SOPA + New AdWords Capability Reflects Important 2012 SEO Strategy – Business Insider
Jan 18th
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Stop SOPA + New AdWords Capability Reflects Important 2012 SEO Strategy
Business Insider Targeting mobile users as much as possible is important, and will become even more so as technology advances and mobile SEO becomes even more significant to the advertising and marketing worlds. In a time when many people use their cell phones to find … |
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Stop SOPA: What A Blacked Out Internet Looks Like
Jan 18th
The Internet is fighting back.
Today, hundreds of websites including some of the largest and most influential sites in the world are going black to fight the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act. The two acts would give unprecedented power to the government of the United States to order blocking and takedown notices of foreign websites found to be infringing on copyrighted material such as movies and music. The drumbeat is loud and most of the U.S. technology industry has come out against SOPA/PIPA.
Today’s blackout is akin to a “sit-in” protest. It is extreme but non-violent or threatening and once the point is made the players will move on to other forms of protest. Google has blacked out its logo on its homepage, Wikipedia is denying (top picture) access to entries and Reddit is giving facts about SOPA and what you can do to stop it. What does a blacked out Internet look like? Take a look at the screenshot below.
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Google’s top lawyer, David Drummond, explains why the search giant is censoring its homepage and logo in a blog post on the company’s official blog.
Fighting online piracy is extremely important. We are investing a lot of time and money in that fight. Last year alone we acted on copyright takedown notices for more than 5 million webpages and invested more than $60 million in the fight against ads appearing on bad sites. And we think there is more that can be done here–like targeted and focused steps to cut off the money supply to foreign pirate sites. If you cut off the money flow, you cut the incentive to steal.
Because we think there’s a good way forward that doesn’t cause collateral damage to the web, we’re joining Wikipedia, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, Mozilla and other Internet companies in speaking out against SOPA and PIPA. And we’re asking you to sign a petition and join the millions who have already reached out to Congress through phone calls, letters and petitions asking them to rethink SOPA and PIPA.
The community at Reddit has been the driving force behind choosing Jan. 18, 2012 as the day to black out the Internet. The initiative has been a success, dragging many of the top sites on the Web into the protest. Reddit has one of the most informative blackout pages with FAQ, video and calls to action.
Craig’s List
The original Web classifieds section has joined the protest with a link to an “About SOPA” page that helps educate users and gives easy action items for sending a letter to your Congressperson.
WordPress
The popular WordPress homepage that would normally show the top trending sites within the company’s domain shows a series of would-be websites that have been censored. When clicking on those sites, users are brought to this page urging users to write Congress top stop SOPA/PIPA.
Mozilla
The open source organization and makers of the Firefox browser urge users to “protect the Internet.” The site features a prominent “take action now” button and gives reasons as to why Mozilla opposes SOPA/PIPA.
MoveOn.Org
Political activists MoveOn have joined the fray. Its blackout is being paid for by its political action committee and is not endorsed by any party or candidate.
Media Organizations
Of prominent media members and pundits, few have been as influential or outspoken as Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media. He has written multiple times over the last week about how SOPA/PIPA are dangerous bills and why he opposes them. While many news sites have not taken the extreme measure of actually shutting down today (ReadWriteWeb included), O’Reilly has blacked out his entire site to protest SOPA.
TechCrunch has edited its masthead to oppose censorship and help educate people on SOPA.
We at ReadWriteWeb are not blacking out today. We feel the community is better served if we report on the activity around the SOPA/PIPA protests and educate our readers about the bills. See our SOPA 2012 topic page for more information.
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It’s time to stop PROTECT IP
Jan 18th
A couple months ago, I wrote this about SOPA:
SOPA galvanized the tech community, from start-ups to venture capitalists to the largest web companies. SOPA was an unexpected shock and a wake-up call. Well, guess what? Now the internet is awake. And I don’t think it’s going back to sleep any time soon. We might need to rally again in the near future, but we can do that. The internet learns fast.
Now it’s time to rally and get loud. It’s time to call your Senators. Heck, it’s time to ask your parents to call their Senators. If you think the internet is something different, something special, then take a few minutes to protect it. Groups that support SOPA have contributed nine times more money in Washington D.C. than our side. We need to drown out that money with the sound of our voices. I’d like to flood every Senator’s phone, email, and office with messages right up until January 24th.
If you need a quick refresher about why the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) are horrible ideas, Google did a blog post talking about how SOPA and PIPA will censor the web and won’t stop actual pirates. Or read about how capricious takedowns can cause serious collateral damage. Find out how real, legitimate companies can be run out of business.
What you can do?
It’s time for action. Call your Senator right now. Spread the word to your friends and family. Promise not to vote for politicians who support SOPA. Print out some PDFs and post them at work or on your campus. There’s also protests and meetups happening today in New York, the Bay Area of California, and Seattle. Don’t live in the United States? You can still petition the State Department at americancensorship.org.
This is it. You want to look back months from now and know that you did everything you could to protect the internet. Call your Senators, educate your friends and family, and please spread the word about PROTECT IP and SOPA as widely as you can.
But if you can only spare five or six minutes, please call both of your senators below:
Thank you!
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The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) Stalls In Congress
Dec 16th
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee abruptly adjourned today without voting on the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), a controversial measure that would impose radical new requirements on search engines, ISPs, ad networks and other key internet players. The hearings will resume “earliest…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Stop Online Piracy Act Version 2.0
Dec 15th
Today, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the newest version of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill. The bill, which was introduced in late October, would enable the U.S. government and copyright holders to obtain court orders to shut down websites that are associated with infringing, pirating, or counterfeiting intellectual property. [...]
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