Just a random PSA about privacy, advertising and what's
really 'free'.
Topic 1:
How companies
trick you with sneaky interface design tricks:
http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/29/46...d-to-trick-you
Topic 2:
Add-ons you can use in Chrome/FireFox/IE to block advertising, trackers and other various entities from profiting from your behavior.
Do not track me: Blocks trackers
https://www.abine.com/dntdetail.php
Ghostery: Simlar to DNTme
http://www.ghostery.com/
Adblock Plus (MUST HAVE!)
https://adblockplus.org/en/
One of the nice
tracking features I love is the one built into Windows Phone. If I ever lose my phone or it get stolen I can simply log into in my online account I can make it ring (lost in the house?), track it, or completely wipe it (in case it's stolen). I really like this feature.
Topic 3:
Finally, a little philosophical fun...
if you're not paying for the service, you are not the consumer, you are the product!
Radio: Free - advertising
Sirius/XM: Paid - no ads (or almost no ads)
OTA TV: Free - advertising
Pandora: Paid - no ads, Free - ads
Apps: Free - ads, paid - no ads
Facebook: Free - collect your personal info - sells to advertisers - ads
Google: Free - collects your info - sells to advertisers - ads
And so on and so forth... Well, until we get to cable TV.
One of the few cases where you're the product but "tricked" into thinking you're the consumer: Cable TV. You're the consumer because you shill out $$$ for this crap but yet it's all full advertising (commercials). What you really are is the product. Why are certain sporting events "blacked out"?... Answer: So that you're forced to the watch the broadcast
from your market so you're forced to watch targeted advertising.
It is my hope that with the internet some company will figure out how to bring me all the broadcast/cable TV we love
A)For free over the internet but with ads
B)Paid service but free of ads
I'm bored this Sunday morning and pissed off at the state of things in the world. So yeah, there's that.