As Facebook enjoys its moment in the sun, we should take a moment to step back and look at the history of computers and social communication. Some historical perspective is in order, both to assess the real value of social networks as businesses, and to anticipate how they are likely to evolve in the future.
Bulletin Boards

People have been using computers for social communication since the very beginning of the personal computer industry. Long before the Internet became accessible to the general public, people were hosting BBS systems, many of them focused on an interest group or local community. One particularly prescient invention was FidoNet, a network for BBSes that allowed systems to transfer data (messages, files, etc.) in bucket-brigade fashion to sites around the world. It grew to, at one point, cover much of the world, and was an entirely community-based effort. (more…)

Tongue very much in cheek, but very funny.

1: Online gaming is serious business:
So, you finally got your game hooked up and are ready to play. Now, you may be forgiven for thinking that online gaming is about having fun. You are very wrong and you will learn this in due time. Because we gamers are too physically weak to pick random fights in bars, we must assert our alpha male dominance another way — by twiddling our fingers around on buttons until virtual representations of people we don’t know simulate death.

This is your life now, and you are connected, physically and emotionally, to your in-game avatar. When they frag you, do you not bleed? Well, no you don’t but that’s not the point. You will mourn him for every second of that respawn countdown. His digital death just killed a little piece of you, and you will avenge with the fury of a thousand angry Gods.

In team games, if you are losing, remember to berate your teammates and tell them how much they suck. You won’t be making a fool out of yourself for ordering them around and reminding them that your side is losing and nobody’s helping you win. Also, you must use words like “alpha,” all the time, just like you’re a real army man!
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1. Junk. I recommend using Gmail, as it has the best spam filter possible. I get zero spam in my inbox. That’s a huge improvement over my previous accounts at Yahoo and Hotmail, where I’d have to tediously mark dozens of emails as spam.

2. Notifications. I often get notifications from the many online services I use, from Amazon to WordPress to PayPal and many more. As soon as I notice those types of notifications filling up my inbox, I create a filter (or “rule” if you use Mail.app or Outlook) that will automatically put these into a folder and mark them as read, or trash them, as appropriate. So for my PayPal notifications, I can always go and check on them in my “payments” folder if I like, but they never clutter my inbox.
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1) Friend Lists Privacy Controls

A few weeks ago, Facebook took the first step toward enabling more efficient friend management with the release of Friend Lists. However, as was noted at the time, the killer feature of Friend Lists — Privacy Controls — was nowhere to be found. The good news is Facebook is working on this, and will allow users to control visibility for their profile, photos, and apps using Friend Lists soon.

2) Facebook in New Languages

It has been known for a while that Facebook is working on translating the site into a few new key languages. However, beyond this initial step, Facebook is planning an aggressive (…) (more…)

1. Web Design from Scratch - Your Complete Guide to Web Design.
2. Learn to Crochet - From the Lion Brand yarn company.
3. Learn to Draw Portraits - I couldn’t draw my way out of a paper bag. I still can’t after watching this. Maybe you’ll have better luck.
4. Bartending 101 - The American Bartending Association is offering a free instructional DVD.
5. HomeDecorating.com - Lists simple tutorials on how to hang wallpaper, decorating within your budget, color misconceptions, laying tile and more.
6. Learn Spanish - Online courses, quizzes, games and more.
7. Learn to Juggle - Might be fun.
8. Learn to Waltz - A nice way to spend a romantic evening at home.
9. Learn how to script Microsoft Windows.
10. Learn to Play Craps - I still don’t get it. (more…)

10. Get the local time anywhere
What time is it in Bangkok right now? Ask Google. Enter simply what time is it to get the local time in big cities around the world, or add the locale at the end of your query, like what time is it hong kong to get the local time there.
9. Track flight status
Enter the airline and flight number into the Google search box and get back the arrival and departure times right inside Google’s search results. (more…)

Over at weblog Techipedia, Tamar Weinberg has a list of his favorite Internet Marketing blog posts of 2007. He’s gone way into it, not only listing more than 250 articles, but giving a descrption of each.

I don’t have his patience or stamina, so I’ll just list a few of his favorites that I remember reading this year.

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