Benny Ling’s Bling

Rumpus: You’ve previously mentioned a master password, which you no longer use.

Employee: I’m not sure when exactly it was deprecated, but we did have a master password at one point where you could type in any user’s user ID, and then the password. I’m not going to give you the exact password, but with upper and lower case, symbols, numbers, all of the above, it spelled out ‘Chuck Norris,’ more or less. It was pretty fantastic.

Rumpus: This was accessible by any Facebook employee?

Employee: Technically, yes. But it was pretty much limited to the original engineers, who were basically the only people who knew about it. It wasn’t as if random people in Human Resources were using this password to log into profiles. It was made and designed for engineering reasons. But it was there, and any employee could find it if they knew where to look.

I should also say that it was only available internally. If I were to log in from a high school or library, I couldn’t use it. You had to be in the Facebook office, using the Facebook ISP.

via Conversations About The Internet #5: Anonymous Facebook Employee – The Rumpus.net.

The home page features many new benefits: the publisher toolbar enables users to post content from any page within Facebook, saving time in navigating needlessly through profiles; the streams’ two-tiered filter (content type & content contributers) also creates a more coherent structure with the core elements retaining their position throughout most of the site; and the live feed displays a constant stream of all content posted in a users network, which expands upon mouse over.

via Facebook Facelift – Home & Profiles on Vimeo.

Oh – that’s right, because there will be 1000000 people complaining that they liked it how it was, and 100000 new groups saying to “change it back”.

FFS. Progress, people.

So one of the people I follow on Twitter (yes, all 619 of them) pointed out something pretty cool. Being the guy that I am, I had to go check it out.

Yes. That is exactly what you think it is, if what you think it is is “a Facebook like sticky-taped to the pedestrian crossing button-that-makes-the-green-man-come-on”. (If there’s actually a proper name for that thing, let me know.)

How awesome is that, seriously? Hobartians are so cool. ^_^

It’s funny, because someone went to the trouble of not only printing that in the exact font that Facebook uses, but also the little thumb up icon as well.

In case you’re wondering where you yourself can view this marvel, it’s on the corner of Murray and Collins Streets, directly opposite the green FujiFilm building. Here’s a pic so you don’t get lost:

Note that the purple pin represents the spot where the center of all awesomness is located.

The post part of Blogtober 2009. A post a day isn’t too hard, especially when people like you like them

Addendum: late? This post isn’t late.

Facebook. Your friends are using it. Your workmates are using it. Chances are you’re using it. Facebook is already well known one of the world’s most popular social networking platforms, but it’s also rapidly becoming one of the world’s most popular application platforms too.

The popularity of Facebook applications is unsurprising. They’re easy to write, as well as being easy to share and install. However most users remain unaware of what information can be accessed by their applications, and more surprisingly, by their friend’s applications.

Join researcher Paul Fenwick as he examines just how much information he can extract from friends using only the Facebook API.

via Facebook Privacy: Stalking 2.0.

After watching the (somewhat long [30 minutes], I’ll admit), I’m now extremely miffed that I didn’t turn up to this particular Tech Talk held by TUCS.

As a result of this video, I’ve now removed all extraneous apps from my Facebook profile (like, the ones that I’m not using, or haven’t used in a while), and have now locked-down my Facebook account (at least, to the API).

Scary stuff indeed.

This post part of Blogtober 2009. A post a day keeps the stalkers away!

Kate Miller-Heidke sings hilarious song about old flames on Facebook.

via YouTube – Are You F*cking Kidding Me? (Facebook Song) LIVE.

Abandon your MySpace account for Facebook? You might just be a racist.

[...]

Referring to MySpace as the “ghetto of the digital landscape,” Boyd indicated that MySpace users are more likely to be “brown or black” and espouse a different set of ideals in conflict with those espoused by the teens she surveyed over four years. She said that patterns in migration across social networking sites echoed those of a white exodus from cities in the past. Boyd also said that teens who use Facebook are more likely to condescend their MySpace-favoring peers.

via MySpace now a “digital ghetto” | TransCosmic – the ongoing journey;.

WTF.

I am, however, somewhat inclined to agree with some of the arguments – Facebook can generally be seen as the “rich man’s MySpace”, the social network for those who put some sort of value into their personal networks. Facebook is generally considered to be a “better, more refined” version of MySpace, too.

2. The ability to Hate status updates:
When people post status updates you have the option to “Like” them. But sometimes I don’t like them. Sometimes I hate them. And I want the power to tell everyone that I hate them.

via Four Facebook features I wish existed but don’t | College is a Movie by Jesse Chapman.

↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A

via YouTube – Contra Speed Run NES.

The konami code seems to have swept the internet lately, and I blame Facebook for starting it.

Konami Code Sites lists all the websites that you can preform the konami code on – but first, you have to preform the Konami Code on the website itself…

Good times.

//intro – this is some thing from Facebook, decided to share it here as well!

What is your salad dressing of choice?
Caesar – but only because I’m boring.

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
My Dad’s old restaurant was pretty good – but only because I got to eat there free, hah!

What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it?
Mi Goreng – although I’m not sure how healthy that would be, MSG is bad mmkay?

What colour mobile phone do you have?
Black.

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Four teeth.

What is the last heavy item you lifted?
Our massive CRT TV.

Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
Nope.

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Benny’); DROP TABLE * (see http://xkcd.com/327/ – I have no idea if the asterisk works in mySQL.)

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
No way!

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
One pair. I’m not a huge fan of them.

What was the last run in you had with the cops?
Never personally had a run-in with the cops myself.

Last person you talked to?
My sister.

Last person you hugged?
My mum. (One, two, three – Awwwww)

Favourite Season?
Summer. Everything is nice and warm. ^_^

Favourite Holiday?
Christmas and New Years. Presents, and usually overseas trips.

Favourite day of the week?
Thursday at the moment – 11am starts for the win.

Favourite Month?
They’re all good.

First place you went this morning?
Shower.

The last movie you saw?
Wow – it’s been so long I don’t even remember.

Do you smile often?
I would say so – often when I find something amusing. I smirk a lot more.

Do you always answer your phone?
I have no reason not to!

It’s four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
My mum. Typing in all caps. “WHERE ARE YOU?!!!?!?!?!”

If you could change your eye colour what would it be?
Anything but brown would look weird, I rekon.

What flavour drink do you get at Sonic?
lolwut? What’s Sonic?!

Have you ever had a pet fish?
Not personally. My dad seems to like them, though.

What’s on your wish list for your birthday?
Something tech-related, I’m sure.

Can you do a chin up?
With gargantuan effort, maybe.

Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
Eh – I don’t really care. Live in the moment, and all that.

Do you have any saved texts?
iPhone. So, er, yes?

Do you have an accent?
Depends which language I’m speaking. English, yes. Mandarin, yes.

Plans tonight?
Homework. Setting up a CMS for a new (youth-orientated) website.

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
Nope.

Name 3 things you bought yesterday?
I didn’t buy anything yesterday, not even lunch

Have you ever been given roses?
No… *bursts into tears*

Current hate right now?
The fact that websites break up lists into so many pages. Eg: Discovery Channel, if there’s a list on “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Antimatter”, don’t break it up into 11 pages FFS!

Met someone who changed your life?
Sure.

How did you bring in the New Year?
Writing a blog post on my iPhone. :O

What were you doing 12 AM last night?
Sleeping soundly.

What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
That I was running late. =/

Haven’t done this for a while, so here’s a few links that I’ve picked up from the interwebs these couple of days…

COÖP
Sure, it’s flash. But it’s damn cool anyway! Sorta like a LED-scrolling name badge, but in the standard OSX-style tickbox instead. From what I can gather, it’s some sort of design-based website. Thanks to @decryption for this one.

start.io
This has been labelled “Web 2.0″ at it’s best – and it’s not hard to see why. Essentially, start.io is a collection of links for your customisable pleasure, that anyone can access. You can sort you links out, and then people who have similar interests to you can see which websites you like the most!

40 Excellent Logos Created with Helvetica
Could you spot Helvetica from a mile off? Okay, name a brand that features Helvetica as it’s logo. Name two. Name another? In any case, this site decides to showcase 40 logos that have two things in common: they’re all awesome, and they’re all based off Helvetica.

Bloody Scammers
This is a JPEG link that shows an interesting conversation between a Skyper and a scammer. Well, at least the scammer was honest?

Sad Roo Is Sad
Another JPEG link, again from Twitter, this one shows a kangaroo – with what seems to be a tear. Awwww….

RSS Lamp Shades
Aw, c’mon now. This is just too awesome not to share with you. I mean, nothing says “web geek” better than RSS Lampshades. Now, if only they made Facebook or Twitter ones…

Have Gadgets Turned Us Into Lazy Morons?
Well, have they? There’s an amusing graphic on the page that shows the evolution of the human species, you know homo erectus, etc, and at the end, there’s this pic of a guy hunched over a computer keyboard, peering into a monitor… Gold.

Periodic Table of Game Controllers
I love how they’ve left out the actual outlines of the controllers themselves. Full size is an epic pic indeed, you can view it here. I’d love to have this in my room, blown up to poster-size and hanging on my wall…

Periodic Table of Typefaces
Just like the gaming one above, this periodic table is once epic pic. I probably wouldn’t want it as a poster (just because I’m not a designer), but still – it’d be ultra cool in any case. Egads! Where is Verdana?! They left my favourite typeface out!

It Takes Roughly 17 Hard Drives To Stop a .50 cal Armour Piercing Incendiary Round
This is excellent – guns and hard drives. Seriously, though – a .50 cal? Armour piercing? If all that wasn’t enough, incendiary? I’m so there, and you should be too. Not Safe For Work, because there’s death metal and lots of swearing.

Flammable Water
Not actually flammable water, per se, but the fact that a couple in the US managed to light the *gas* that was coming from their water supply? Sounds like another Humberto Vidal disaster waiting to happen. (As a side note, I saw the “Seconds from Disaster” clip about the aforementioned disaster… Things like that just shouldn’t happen.)

Laser Dial
No, it’s not a laser telephone. It’s got nothing to do with telephones at all, actually. Instead, think more along the lines of a laser sundial. It’s super cool, and I want one.

Masked Man Demos iPhone 3.0 Beta
This is a vid of a masked man (who likes to say like, like, a lot) who goes through pretty much every iPhone OS 3.0 feature you can think of. Or poke a finger at. See what I did there?

Sanwa’s Throat Microphone
Awesome throat mike is awesome. I want one, even if the only reason would be to look like a Navy SEAL/USMC Force Recon/Delta Op when I’m skyping, haha!

5 Facebook Profile Pic Hacks
Very interesting. Very interesting indeed. I will have to look into doing one of these at some stage, just to “spruce up” my facebook a bit.

The Facebook Connect experience is simply better than that offered by OpenID, and from a competitive standpoint, Facebook has an opportunity to be the standard identity provider for other websites.

via Facebook Joins OpenID Foundation; So What?.

Just when I thought it was pretty much dead – both Facebook and PayPal have now joined the OpenID foundation.

If you’ve never heard of OpenID before this, you gotta be living under a rock. OpenID allows you to “sign in” to websites using just your OpenID login – so you don’t have to do the whole “registering” process which each and every website you come across.

In practice, it only works if sites have OpenID access enabled – and it would work far better if it were made as a standard, such as HTML and CSS. That way, every web site that allowed you to login would also allow you to login with your OpenID.

Sure, we’ve enabled both Facebook Connect and OpenID login over at freshbytes, but I don’t really see the point of Facebook joining especially since it has it’s own Facebook connect implementation of secure login.

And PayPal? Well, it really does go to show that PayPal still has some clout. Needless to say, it’s imperative that the OpenID security right on this one – and from past experience, OpenID is a little clumsy to use, compared to something like Facebook Connect…

Comments below.

Burger King has introduced a new Facebook application that is getting lots of attention – “Whopper Sacrifice.” The concept is essentially this: delete 10 of your Facebook friends and get a free Whopper. Each time you remove someone, that action is broadcast to your news feed – apparently, not a big deal to users so far, as more than 50,000 friends have already been sacrificed.

via I’d Trade 10 Facebook Friends for a Whopper.

Would you trade 10 of your facebook friends for a Whopper at Hungy’s?

I don’t think I would. Facebook friends are prescious enough as they are, they don’t need to be sacrificed for my ravenous hunger!!