Does Google Know Too Much?

I am sure you heard that on March 1, 2012, Google changed its privacy policy. Google has always collected your search history in its various services – Gmail, Google search, YouTube and others. Before March 1 it did not share your search history among these services. Now it does. That means when using your Gmail account you may spot an ad related to a search you recently performed in YouTube.

Google does not sell this search history to any third parties. Nor is it collecting more information than it did before. (Read this article from the Chicago Tribune to find out more about what Google will and will not do with information it collects about you.)

My Favorite Gadgets – #4

My 93-year-old mother lives with me and to state that even with hearing aids she needs to turn up the volume on the TV to unbearable levels for me is an understatement.  Therefore TV Ears is one of my favorite gadgets.

Finding People on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an excellent tool for getting in touch with people you don’t know. You may want to contact these people to ask questions about their business, to ask for help, to collaborate on a project, or, the best reason, to offer your help.

I recently used LinkedIn to find people in the Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse, NY area who may want to lead a workshop on social media at a summer conference I am helping plan.

The first thing I did was to send a notice to groups such as Digital Rochester and Social Media Club – Rochester, NY stating we were taking workshop proposals. In addition, I looked for individuals to contact with LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search.

As you can see from the screen shot above, I entered the keywords “social media” and the zip code for Rochester, NY. I also selected within 100 miles to find social media experts in Syracuse and Buffalo as well.

I was amazed at the number of professionals who work with social media. Many were in my 2nd or 3rd degree networks or were members of groups that I also belong to. The number of people who I could contact about submitting a workshop proposal dramatically increased.

Test drive LinkedIn’s Advanced search if you haven’t already. It’s a powerful tool that you will want to use. As a bonus, you can save your search and LinkedIn will email you any new results.  With a free LinkedIn account you can save up to three searches.

Do you use Advanced People search? If so, how does it help you find people?

My Favorite Gadgets – #3

Of the five computers that I own, this certainly is the most unusual looking. As you can see, it is relatively small, bright green and white, has a rubber-like keyboard, and two antennas. It looks like a toy. It’s not.

It’s a low-cost laptop that was made to be given to poor children between the ages of 6 and 12 who live in areas where  there is little or no electricity. While the laptop I have uses electricity to charge itself, others are built to be charged using solar energy, a car battery, or even a hand crank.

The laptop won’t break when it’s dropped and the screen can be read in direct sunlight  for the many children who attend school outdoors.

The non-profit organization One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) builds these laptops for a little over $200. I got my laptop through the Give One Get One program.

The only problem, for me, is that I find it hard to use the computer! The computer uses an interface and software that I am not familiar with. Each time I use it I need at least 30 minutes to remind myself how it works.

All-in-all it is my most unique gadget.

Pretty Pictures: Facebook Timeline Cover Photos

Have you switched over to the new Facebook timeline? I didn’t jump on it until I looked at a friend’s profile  and saw a large and beautiful picture of her and her horse. I started looking at other Friends who were using timeline and saw more great pictures. I was hooked. Immediately I switched to timeline and added my cover picture (you see a little of it in the picture on the left).

There are websites where you can get free or purchase cover photos.  How about one showing the vampires from the Twilight series? (Oh sure Barb, your readers are really going to go and upload a photo featuring the Twilight series!!) Don’t worry, you can get cover photos that are not so commercial – beautiful nature shots, cute animals, funny cartoon drawings. Just Google facebook cover photos.

You can also upload your own photo, as I did, and Facebook will crop it to the 850 x 320 pixels size. Or, follow this tutorial, and make your own cover photo with Photoshop.

IMPORTANT – Never download a photo from an unreliable website. It’s a sure way to get viruses, malware, and, if you leave your email address, spam. (How can you be sure it’s a reliable website? See if bloggers and review sites such as pcmag.com point to it.)

So what are you using for your cover photo? Have you seen some good ones?

My Favorite Gadgets – #2

Keeping with Apple, here is my iPad. I must admit that I don’t use it as much as I would like. My problem is that I’m an app junkie. I download all these apps – sometimes even paying for them – thinking they will be cool and useful and then forget about them. Anyone else do this?

BTW, a good place to find apps – often free – is AppAdvice. It’s my home page which explains why I have so many apps!

My Favorite Gadgets – #1

Disclaimer:  This is number 1 in terms of the first one to be posted – not my #1 all-time favorite gadget. That is yet to be disclosed.

These iPods are OLD – the smaller is a hand-me-down from my brother. The larger one I bought in 2005! It has been repaired once – I bravely paid for a repair via someone I found on eBay. Thankfully the iPod was repaired and returned. It still has problems – there are some albums that it just won’t play. However there are plenty of albums that will play.

I would be hard to part with either one of these iPods. I use the larger one in my office (I’m listening to it now) and the smaller one goes to the gym with me. I also use the smaller one to listen to podcasts (Bill Maher, The Diane Rehm Show, and Talk of the Nation) I download from iTunes.

Does anyone have an iPod older than 7 years that still works?