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Another Load of Viral BS, now on Facebook

I’m sure a number of fellow Facebook users have seen this as their friends’ statuses:

FACEBOOK has agreed to let third party advertisers use your posted pictures WITHOUT your permission. Click on SETTINGS up at the top where you see the Log out link. Select Privacy. Then select NEWSFEEDS and WALL. Next select the tab that reads FACEBOOK ADS. There is a drop down box, select NO ONE. Then SAVE your changes. (REPOST to let your friends know!) [Firefox users with Adblock plugin: turn it off temporarily]

Sounds awful doesn’t it? But it’s simply a very sensationalist viral message. The sad thing is so many people believe it.

Now I know not everyone is a geek like me and knows what’s going on on the net, there are those of course who actually read through chain mail and forward crap to 50 people in their address book in hope of “finding their true love”, “saving a baby burned in a fire”, “earning $5000 from Microsoft”, or having their “penis grow by 3 inches”. Yeah, I’m serious.

This new viral Facebook message is no different. Some” e-hick” read something somewhere, completely misinterpreted it, intentionally or unintentionally, sent it to all his friends, then a large enough proportion of his friends sent it to theirs and something we in math call exponentials did the rest, in turn allowing you and me to be exposed to it.

I’m not one to believe every piece of information I see on the internet, especially on a social networking site, so I instantly read up on this after instantly realizing it’s not even logistically possible for Facebook to do what is described in the message. Within a matter of minutes, I found an article on the official Facebook blog which confirmed my thoughts of what was ACTUALLY going on.

So basically, you know how you on the right side of the Facebook page, there is an area for sponsored links? And you know how you sometimes see some product, say for example a beauty products line, and then underneath that ad it says “one friend likes this” and when you click on that you see your friend’s profile picture? Yeah. That’s it. That is ALL that Facebook is doing with your “pictures”. And most importantly of all, Facebook doesn’t secretly make you “like the product”… no… you yourself do that. So unless you actually see one of these ads, and click the little thumbs-up button next to it, your profile picture will never be used in this “advertising”. If you don’t understand what I’m saying or still don’t believe me, please take the time to read about the issue on the official Facebook blog.

But ultimately, it scares me just how much trust people hold in viral and sensationalist messages. Common sense and Google are your friends, folks. Use them.

Published by Illya July 26th, 2009 0 Comments

Not quite what I was expecting

Below is an email I unfortunately had to send to B&H Customer Service just now.

To whomever this may concern,

I ordered a black Incase Nylon Backpack Mfr. CL55092 on July 11th from your online store. I received it today (July 16th) and everything was perfect… except that it wasn’t exactly the right backpack.

This is where it gets rather confusing so please read carefully. Naturally, I was expecting to receive the item I ordered on your website to be exactly like the item pictured and described on the link given previously. It is exactly the same backpack that is listed on the manufacturer’s website.

And this is where the problem is. As soon as I took the backpack out of the shipping box I saw that it looked different from what I was expecting. After a few minutes of research on Google I found out that what was sent to me was actually this. The reason I’m linking you to the Apple Store website is because it is the ONLY website I could find that shows the actual backpack I RECEIVED today. Now after reading through the description on the Apple Store link I realized that this backpack has the EXACT SAME name and Mfr. Part no. as the one shown on your website but is apparently a newer redesign of the same Incase Nylon Backpack featured on both your website and Incase’s website.

Funnily enough, this “new” redesign is not even displayed on Incase’s own website. Very strange that it’s only sold through the Apple Store.

I don’t know if you, the reader of this email, will instantly see the differences between the backpack listed on your website and the one I received so let me quickly point out some of the most obvious ones:

1) Compare the front of both backpacks. You can see the one listed on the Apple Store website is rounded at the bottom and rounder in general as compared to the one listed on your website.
2) Compare the sides of both backpacks. The difference here is very visible. I don’t think I need to describe it. Notice the side pockets.
3) Compare the back of both backpacks. I realize it is somewhat difficult to see the back on the Apple Store website but just by looking at the bag I have in front of me I can see that the upper back padding is joined in one piece whereas the backpack pictured on your website has two upper back paddings.

Besides this, the inside appears to be the same on both backpacks.

I realize this may lead you to believe that I’m just a very picky customer but to me these differences are quite an annoyance because one of the major reasons I wanted the backpack pictured on your website was because of the side pockets and a more linear backpack (without all the rounded corners). The shoulder and back padding on the “new” release also doesn’t appear as high quality and feels kind of cheap to be honest. But that’s obviously none of B&H’s concern as you’re just a retailer not a designer ;)

I’m guessing there was just some sort of mistake in the purchase of inventory by B&H because of the exact same Mfr. Part No. on both products and they received the newer design from Incase without knowing of it and did not update their website to address this change. Strange though that Incase itself did not update its website with the redesign.

Well sorry for making this email so long-winded but I just wanted to include as many details as possible and to make it easier for you to understand the problem I am facing. I really appreciate you reading this.

My ultimate question is… is there any way for me to receive the product pictured on your website in return for the backpack I have received?

Thanks a lot again for reading through all this and I hope you can help me out.

Illya

Let’s see what they have to say. After all, newer IS NOT always better.

UPDATE (July 17): So they replied today with this:

Thank you for contacting the customer service department at B&H Photo Video and Pro Audio.

Thank you for your e-mail.

We enjoy long e-mails :)

We apologize, but it looks like they stopped making the old one. We can not find a place that has it. What would you like to do?

I told them it’s OK and I’ll just stick with what I have because of the circumstances. But I told them to update their site as soon as possible. Oh well…

Published by Illya July 17th, 2009 1 Comment

A Day at the Galleries

Guess what? I’m so bored here that I ended up accompanying my mom to the art galleries in DC yesterday. I mean I don’t hate art or anything, when I was young (like ages 4-6), I used to go to art school back in Ukraine and my teacher said I had great promise. But then I moved to the US and drew/painted less and less up to the point where I painted better back when I was 4 than I do now. True story.

Cool Effect (cropped)

Anyway, we ended up going to the Freer Gallery and the National Gallery of Art. My mom took way too many pics so I just picked out my favorites and uploaded them to Flickr. There are also a few pictures in that same set from a few days earlier when I just walked around DC.

Published by Illya July 11th, 2009 0 Comments

Is Google Too Powerful?

This essay has been added to the Essays page.

Is Google Too Powerful?
2 pages, 508 words, Last Revised on March 21, 2009

   Download .pdf (39 KB)

Topic: A paper I wrote for my first year Business Case Analyses class. Here’s the thesis: “The main issue at hand however is not whether or not Google is powerful – that it obviously is – but rather how Google honors the responsibilities that come with this power.”

Published by Illya June 29th, 2009 0 Comments

So Far in VA

I’ve been here in Manassas, Virginia for almost a month now and to be honest, I’ve done nearly the same thing everyday. This is what my typical day looks like: wake up at 8 am, sit in front of the computer for most of the day, study for a few hours, and of course have three meals a day before sleeping at around 11 or 12 at night. Repeat that for the past month and that’s what I do here. Fortunately, I went to DC a few days ago and will go there again maybe next week.

The White House (cropped)

Besides that, I’ve been practicing my driving. I’ve driven for about 8 hours now and I’m doing pretty well. I have a Virginia learner’s permit but I can’t actually get a license until I’m 19 so I won’t be getting it this summer. Damn.

Since my life is so boring and I have nothing else to share with you, I shall link you to a flickr set with the photos from my day in DC.

Published by Illya June 25th, 2009 0 Comments
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