The Jetsons didn't Have Facebook or Google! And We Thought that Was What the Fututre Would Be Like?

I remember when i would watch the Jetsons and all the Back to the Future movies and picture what the future would be like.  I loved thinking about all the robots doing everything for me, the whole meal in a beep, etc.  But what I have realized is that we ARE the future, we are living it day a day.

It was only until 1971 under the Nixon Shock that the US Government stopped backing up fiat currency with gold. Can you imagine? and now all we need is a chip that will store all of our shopping history and information.  What coupons we ave, what balance we have on gift cards, what stores we shop the most at, etc.  Starbucks had the idea and Google made it big. I think it will be only a couple of years until having cash will be a rarity... something that our grand kids will  be like.... "Really grandma, you still have to count those quarters?"

       Now the only thing we are missing is the personal greeting at the door with comments about our last visit at the store,  want to take a guess what movie had that?  Minority Report. It had the whole face recognition theme, back in 2002 and what are arguing about in Facebook and last weeks' post? how face recognition was becoming a reality and how it would impact our privacy rights. The truth is; we dream of these things and think they are super cool, but, once we have them or we realize they are here to become part of our day to day lifestyle we don't embrace them.

Facebook has become the next best thing to learn what interest humans and why not recognize it... We let it happen, it is our option to have a profile, to check the updates, to comment on every single picture someone else uploads, and we choose to "like" something.
Companies have captured and taken advantage of this free customer service outlet, up to the point that "Facebook has become an effective tool for overseeing  all departments of ... companies"

Even the government has used Facebook for enumerable things, from promoting political campaigns to catching criminals on the loose. Who would have thought the police had time to keep updates on Facebook???







http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_Shock

http://www.allthingscrm.com/social-networking-for-business/facebooks-impact-on-customer-service.html

Public Face Recognition... Where to Hide?

As of September of 2003, public face recognition was a yet to know topic; It was lingering in the minds of app developers, investigator officers, private investigators, Facebook; but at the end of the day the government only "approved" or supported 3 stances.

 * International airports in Boston, Providence, San Francisco and Fresno, Use face recognition as a security measure since the terrorist attacks in 2001.

* In the 2001 Super Bowl, Face recognition was used to identify and tag at least 19 suspects or potential criminals (but nobody turned out to be more than a traffic violator)

 * In Ybor, Tampa. The police department used public sidewalks to spot criminals in the streets.

 A study conducted by the Detroit Free Press found out that In most cases, face recognition cameras are used or programed by humans and their biases. Either they aim or pay closer attention to a specific race or they abuse it by stalking women, if the controllers are male and if there are any interest on political fields, there are different ways to intimidate opponents.

And now we have to worry about social networks being able to tag all of our pictures by face recognition? Or being able to find people by snapping a picture from your phone and just google them? Give me a break... what about the people who are in the witness protection programs?
How do we know their identities are still protected and they will have the peace of mind to walk around the mall or a sidewalk for that matter and live their "new" life?

The government MUST take a closer look to this issue. Before we know it it will be out of hand and it will create a crisis of identities. Not only for the ones who do not want to be found but also for the ones who want to pretend to be someone else.

Technology keeps advancing at a faster pace than our fingers can text now days. It is up to us to be in the loop and keep ourselves informed so we can take the proper measures.

http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/qa-face-recognition
http://www.news-geek.com/blog/face-recognition-technology-online-progress-vs-privacy/

Facebook Me Vs. Check my Page on Myspace

The answer is so simple. what other network site became a verb? NONE! it is a lot easier to tell someone, Hey, facebook me than asking them to check out your page on Myspace.  It is just not COOL.  I'm sorry but when I've heard the word Myspace, I go back to the memories of glittery fonts, dancing dolls, endless music uploads depending on your mood, and all the other advertisement i didn't want to see.

    Tom Anderson created Myspace as a gateway to his midlife crises and his need for attention, (ok not really, but that's what it looks like) he didn't have an especific target.  He just created a platform where people could just do whatever they wanted to do; ok cool, but not for too long. People need structure and limits. If you give them too much freedom they get bored and lost and eventually they won't come back.  That is exactly what happend to Myspace. IT WAS BORING and BUSY!

    Mark Zuckerberg found a better strategy. Who are the ones who decide was cool and what's not? who will give the approval and buzz needed for my success?  US, the college related population that doesn't have time to change to glittery fonts, change a song. We want to know what happened with our friends and not so friends... "What's on your mind", what's your status and so on. He had to win our hearts first and make it hard to get by giving only access to the network by having a .edu email account. 

Myspace has little to no chance in coming back from the ashes, only because you can't force something to be different and cool. It just is! Myspace could try to explote their music advantage as much as possible, but still, it will be a very steep hill to conquer. Not all of us are logging into Myspace just to check out some artist that are asking us to "Find them in Facebook or follow them in Twitter"

www.2010.newsweek.com/top-10/heated-rivalries/facebook-vs-myspace.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Anderson_(entrepreneur)