Facebook’s Email Project

Posted by Matt in Social Networks on February 8th, 2010

The social media rumor mills have been abuzz with speculation on a soon-to-be released replacement for the built-in Facebook messenger functionality–namely a full blown email service. This isn’t terribly surprising news, is a pretty logical next step for the 6-year old company, and if it launches as expected, it’ll automatically give email accounts to 400+ million people worldwide.  A move like that and suddenly Facebook is the #1 email provider in the world. I don’t know about you, but that seems just a little bit scary.

For one thing, Facebook doesn’t exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to privacy protection. Does the word “Beacon” ring a bell with anyone? And how long has it been since Facebook changed it’s Terms of Service amidst customer outrage over the fact that it indicated you couldn’t remove your personal data from Facebook’s servers? Sure, they backpedaled pretty fast on that one and had end-users critique, choose, and proof a new version of the TOS, but the damage was done. Just this year Facebook has already completely revised it’s privacy controls with defaults that leave users open to just about anything. Ultimately, while the new control are simpler, they seem to provide less control overall. We’ll call this Strike One.

Another area that makes me uneasy is that of reliability and performance. I can’t even count the number of times when I’ve gotten one of those mysterious “An unknown error has occurred” messages while doing something completely innocuous on the site. Just the other day, I was uploading a few photos using the brand new photo uploader plugin. After selecting the photos I wanted and starting the process, I got a message that my photos would upload in the background and that in a few seconds I’d be taken back to the homepage. Sounded okay to me–but after ten minutes of no photos showing up in the album, I decided something went wrong and I needed to try again. The second attempt appeared successful and nothing seemed amiss, but the very next day, I found that all of my uploaded photos had been duplicated within the album. Yet another headache. All of that said and I haven’t even mentioned the numerous times that links or buttons don’t seem to do anything, do something strange, or have a delayed response of 30 seconds or more. Doesn’t seem like the type of application I typically use on a daily basis–especially when my connection runs at 3mbps. Google gets far more traffic than Facebook does each day, yet I never experience any of these types of errors when searching for, say, chicken pot pie recipes. Let’s just admit the fact that this is another huge problem and call it Strike Two.

The last point I’ll make involves the numerous interface changes that have occurred over the past year. First, we got a new site design that was heavily criticized by users. Next, Facebook deployed a new profile design which would supposedly make things simpler. Users cried foul. Then the homepage and feed interfaces changed to the point where most people sat scratching their heads wondering how in the world it worked. They also undoubtedly spend countless hours trying to determine how the information was updated, how Facebook deemed certain information relevant, and so on. And to top it off, just this past Friday, Facebook changed the global site navigation, notification system, and news feeds all over again. This update hasn’t yet been rolled out to all users, so I haven’t had the chance to test it. The screenshots look nice, but…again I’ve been hearing negative comments from users just the same. Now, to be fair, many people just don’t appreciate change and become immediately outraged when something becomes unfamiliar to them. But it seems to me like Facebook should do a better job of reassuring the multitudes of their continued dedication to providing an intuitive user experience. I haven’t seen any good PR addressing the concerns of users, which, in my ever so humble opinion is a huge mistake. However, because it’s hard to say whether or not what we have now is better than what we all used a year ago, I’ll call this Strike Two-and-a-half.

So…what about Facebook Email (Or could it perhaps be called “femail“)? This really could end up being a Strike Three scenario. I really don’t know what’s going to become of it and whether users will embrace it or not, but I’d say in order for it to be a truly viable, useful, and helpful service, Facebook will need to address all of the above considerations. It must be secure and free from breaches of privacy (within norms of traditional email). It must be stable and robust, allowing users to check their email without issue 24/7. It must have a good, usable, uncluttered interface. It must be able to be used as a standalone email platform with no proprietary ties to Facebook itself, if that’s what the user wants. And finally, it must be open. It needs to support traditional protocols like POP, IMAP, and SMTP. It needs to use SSL. It must support industry standard mail clients. I think that it’s fate will ultimately be decided based on consumer satisfaction. That being said, if I were a corporation, I think I would automatically block all email coming from that system without thinking twice. Mixing business and pleasure can be dangerous enough as it is, I can only imagine what might happen if you start mixing business and Facebook. Can anyone spell “disaster?” I think I’ll sit this one out and see what happens, but even then I’m in no hurry to leave Gmail’s spectacular service for both personal and business accounts.

Well, what do you think? Will Facebook actually roll out an email service? Will it catch on? Will you use it? The comments are open. Post your thoughts!

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“New World” Computing is a Lie

Posted by Matt in Computers on February 1st, 2010

I clicked a link earlier today which led me to a blog (which, for now, will remain unnamed) in which the author began talking about personal computing, tech people, “regular” end-users, and the ultimate future of computing. I really don’t want to rehash everything he said, because it was a rather lengthy post full of logical fallacies, so I’ll just explain the basic premise.

The days of multi-purpose computing are over.

What that means according to this particular author is this: computers which can do “everything” and run full fledged operating systems like Windows or Linux are going to slowly fade from our lives only to be replaced with “computing devices” that perform one or two specific tasks extremely well. The iPad and iPhone are cited as examples of devices that will move us into the “New World.” The author (who clearly thinks Apple is going to be the vehicle by which world hunger is solved) surmises that end-users don’t care about things like multitasking, file systems or formats, or understanding how computing works (and on and on). While the last of those statements may be partially true, I’ve met more than my fair share of “average end-users” who care very much about those things. They care about being able to organize their lives into files and folders (because honestly, that system makes sense).

Take a paper-based system for instance. We don’t throw all of our important documents into a big box and hope that we can find them later because that’s stupid and doesn’t make any sense. Instead, we categorize everything, file things away in file folders, cabinets, drawers, safe deposit boxes, and so on. What about that system doesn’t make sense? Hmm…I’m not sure. But I can see how someone long ago thought–”Hey, this paper filing system works pretty well. Why don’t we apply that to computers?” And boom–you have a system of files and folders on modern PC’s that the world just understands. You don’t need more than 5 minutes to figure out that the files and folders on computers are remarkably similar to the ones in your filing cabinet. Except you can search through the digital kind–which is a huge reason as to why they’re better.

Okay, honestly…how can you think that multitasking is completely unnecessary to regular people? How many people type emails, converse via IM, and listen to music all at the same time. Umm…maybe like everyone? (Okay, okay–almost everyone). To do that, you have to have the ability to run multiple applications simultaneously. Plus, if suddenly you decide that nobody needs multitasking abilities, you begin to throw away billions of CPU cycles along with processors having multiple cores. What waste.

Should I go on? Or have I made my point? Task-specific computing is Old World Computing–cause it’s certainly not the new enlightened way. Don’t get me wrong–there are cases in which computers meant for a specific purpose are necessary–perhaps in medical or government situations this would be the case. Perhaps in automobiles, although I would argue that as “traditional” computers continue to decrease in size and increase in power, the more generically applicable these systems become.

To believe in task-centric computing for everyday people is to place yourself in the unique position of spending $25,000 on various “computing devices.” One to do simple things like email, web browsing, and editing documents. Another for banking. Another for developers. Yet another for doing X and another one for doing Y. It’s total lunacy.

You don’t need multiple cars for everyday life. One for the grocery store, one for the gym, and yet another for taking the kids to Grandma’s??

Or do you?

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2010: Year of the Smartphone

Posted by Matt in Smartphones on December 25th, 2009

At long last, 2010 will most definitely be the year of the smartphone. No, really–I’m serious! I mean, sure–the experts thought 2009 would be “the year” and maybe it was a little. But it wasn’t for me. And that’s what I’m talking about. Okay, well–perhaps that’s not totally true either as I technically procured my first smartphone, a pre-owned Palm Centro, but after blocking all data services (simply because I wasn’t ready to pay for them), I’m not sure we can really truly accurately call that having a smartphone. It’s more like just having a cell phone and PDA combined into one nice little (compact) package. A smartphone is a phone…but smarter. Right? Or maybe it’s supposed to make the user seem smarter. I dunno about all of that–but I do know this: from the perspective of smartphones–this year is gonna be awesome!


First off, we’ve got Verizon rolling out the nation’s first usable 4G network, all based on a new technology dubbed ‘Long Term Evolution,’ (but you can call it LTE for short). Right now there aren’t really any mainstream phones that support this tech, but you can be sure Verizon won’t leave the ocean dry for long. Phones from all sorts of places (maybe even Google itself) will be jumping on the LTE bandwaggon very quickly. Not only will this be a completely IP-based network (which is good for a number of reasons), it will sport enough bandwidth to make you have a heart attack, provide better, more complete, and more reliable coverage in each of its deployment zones, and it’ll make AT&T’s network feel like the party-lines from last century. Basically–it’ll knock your socks off. ‘Nuff said.

Now, I wouldn’t hold off buying a phone just because I felt the need to wait for LTE compatible hardware. It’s going to take time to completely cover North America with the new service, but at least it’ll be easier and more efficient to do so.

So what about the phones?

Okay, you’re right–I got off on a little bit of a tangent there, but it’s important information, you must agree. What I really want to focus on is this: what’s next for smartphones in 2010? Well, lots–let’s look at it from an OS perspective and then summarize at the end.

Apple

People were interested in smartphones long before the iPhone hit the market in 2007, but you have to admit that they really did something to enhance the everyday consumer’s understanding and expectations of what a smartphone can and should do. It also spurred a lot of other manufacturers into realizing that there were plenty of new things to be done with smartphones and that there was a danger of being left behind in a hurry. Obviously the iPhone hasn’tcompletely dominated because Blackberry still holds a considerably large marketshare, but it did give almost everyone a big kick in the pants.

So what’s next for the illustrious iPhone? Well, I highly doubt we’ll see a 4G version of this before 2011 when AT&T really begins to roll out a nationwide 4G network, and since the current iPhone is already HSPA+ compatible, there isn’t a huge reason to even release a new device. That said, it’s ludicrous to assume that Apple will sit idly by while Google makes big movies. I think we’ll see a refresh of the iPhone 3Gs with some updated hardware like a faster CPU, support for 802.11n, a new graphics chip, better battery, and so on. My bet is that there will be a new iPhone OS to go along with this–probably something akin to a 3.5 release, but Apple’s versioning standards are so crazy that they might just call it iPhone OS 4.

I think two much larger questions are currently on people’s minds: first, will Apple end their exclusitivity with AT&T (whether by choice or forced by the FCC) and second, if the first does occur, will Apple bring an iPhone to Verizon?

The first is quite possible–perhaps even likely. The second I think is much more far-fetched. Verizon has shown that it sees Apple as something more along the lines of a direct competitor and doesn’t seem to interested in it’s phones. More on that later…

Google

Even though they’re just launching their first phone, Google has been a huge player in the mobile space for awhile. Android is really starting to take off with the advent of two Android-powered phones on Verizon’s network in 2009 alone. We’ll definitely see some awesome new Android phones coming to Verizon in 2010–also T-Mobile will get an actual Google-branded phone and we’re seeing Sprint and AT&T adding Google to their lineups as well. Many analysts expect Android to take the #1 smartphone OS position by 2012, but I think they’ll reach that status at least a year sooner.

I like Android for several reasons. First, I have a choice of devices. If I don’t like the HTC Droid Eris, I can go with the Motorola Droid–or even pick a different carrier and grab the T-Mobile G1. There are Android choices on any network in a decent number of combinations. Second, the OS is based on open-source Linux. Any carrier can modify the OS to suit their needs, add a different UI, or pre-install additional apps or features. This makes Android a very versatile player in the market and it really can become unique to the person using it. Third, it comes ready for traditional enterprise features. Exchange support is built in, data can be stored in the cloud, and it readily connects to Google-based products–something many consumers and businesses rely on daily. Yet another great feature is the openness of applications. Google provides the Android marketplace for those who want to public and/or sell apps through it, but there’s nothing stopping a developer from distributing apps on their own, without Google’s permission. Nearly all of these abilities give Google a huge advantage over Apple who, in some ways, is still stuck in the primarily proprietary ways reminiscent of the early ’90s. Oh, and what about multitasking? Google does it, iPhones and Blackberrys don’t. Big mistake for the latter?

But even Google doesn’t have all of the advantages. Blackberry has a great push-based email system that easily rivals corporate Exchange technology. Apple still has the most apps at 100,000 and growing while Google has only 20,000 at this point (although the Marketplace was only started in February of 2009). Still, one must ask–after you get past the first 10,000 or so apps, how many of Apple’s remaining 90,000 get downloaded regularly? Hmm.

Palm

Palm released two phones this year on Sprint’s network, and while the technology is pretty cool and reportedly works pretty well, I think Palm’s biggest accomplishment is the slick webOS. I’ve played with this new system quite a bit and find it super easy to use, packed with great and powerful features (like Synergy), and a lot of fun to use. This is still very much a first release OS, so we’re still seeing some performance issues from time to time. Android phones and the iPhone still feel smoother and faster. Still, since we’ve never seen webOS on anything but Palm hardware, it’s hard to say if this is a hardware or software issue. To Palm’s credit, the webOS updates since 1.0 have fixed many of these minor problems. webOS is a big multitasker as well. The “card-view” makes switching back and forth a breeze and closing a running app takes a simple flick. This is a major feature Palm has that nobody else does. Just because other OS’s run multiple apps at a time, doesn’t mean that switching between them is easy. Even Android doesn’t do this as well as Palm phones, and of course the iPhone just doesn’t. Palm has always included physical keyboards on its smartphones, and that’s one thing they’ve definitely got right from the hardware perspective. The sliding Pre is so-so, but the Pixi seems like a nice compromise. Still, I wish we could get a good size screen plus physical keyboard, minus the awkwardness of the Droid’s horizontal keyboard. This is a hard feat to accomplish in any case.

It’s difficult to speculate what will happen to Palm in 2010. They’re still having trouble turning a decent profit, but that may have something to do with their exclusivity details with Sprint. I don’t know many people who still use Sprint service, but obviously there are exceptions. One thing that may help save Palm is to get the Pixi going on Verizon’s rock-solid network. Another option would be to license their Linux-based webOS platform to other manufacturers like HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and LG. I’ve almost always been impressed with LG phones, so maybe they’d have some great success with smartphones. It all remains to be seen. The final problem with Palm is the exceptionally limited application and support base. There are still very few apps in the Palm catalog, so until a wider selection is available, it may be difficult to market the phones to hardcore users.

RIM (Blackberry)

I like Blackberry phones. They’re fast, robust, and capable devices and running on the right network, provide a great data-based experience in addition to excellent voice services. I remember when Blackberrys were no more than a glorified, Internet-connected PDA, so the added phone makes a big difference. Still, most of their phones are not touchscreen-based and requires navigating with a roller-ball, keyboard, and a few other miscellaneous buttons. The exceptions to the rule are obviously the Storm and Storm 2 running on the Verizon network. I haven’t played with these extensively, but many users said the Storm was good and the Storm 2 really makes up for the first edition’s shortcomings. The main caveat I see with those two is the lack of physical keyboard–a feature that I generally miss on virtual-keyboard based devices.

Blackberry is the darling of the Enterprise, so I predict their marketshare will grow or at the very least remain steady. Blackberry OS 5.0 also seems like a potential game-changer with many users snatching it up as quickly as possible. It’s a bit hard to guess where things may go, but the status quo hasn’t changed much since it’s introduction. I’m expecting them to plod along with business as usual.

Wrap Up

We already know Apple is planning a big mobile event for January 26th, so this will give us the first clue of 2010 about new iPhones, iPhone OS, and perhaps an “iPad” tablet (which, if they really do introduce it) I sincerely believe will be a huge failure. I haven’t yet seen a tablet I really liked running any OS from any manufacturer. I feel confident that even though some folks may say “wow, look at that sweet Apple tablet,” most (including myself) will just keep walking.

Google will be the theme of the year. Year of the Google phone. And I didn’t even mention Microsoft, so I’ll do that here. Windows Mobile 7 is coming later this year and it may really change the game. As much flak as Microsoft gets from a lot of people, they really do know how to write good software. Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and the latest Office products have all been hits. I’m expecting Windows Mobile 7 to be the same game. (i.e. super nice, light, fast, robust, etc). Keep your eye out for that one.

What are your predictions? Is this the year Apple dominates the world? Or maybe the rise of Symbian in the United States? The comment box is open, so have at it!

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Jack Bauer Interrogates Santa

Posted by Matt in Other Stuff on December 18th, 2009

Merry Christmas everyone! January is coming…

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An open letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg

Posted by Matt in Social Networks on December 3rd, 2009

It’s been a little over four years since I joined Facebook in the fall of 2005, shortly after beginning college. Facebook had just opened it’s doors to the general public after being exclusivly available only to those having .edu email addresses from major universities. I recognized it as then as just a fad, but potentially a major tool for connecting with friends, family, and colleagues. I quickly established my profile and encouraged my peers to register and do the same. It didn’t take long to begin building my social network on the ReadWrite web and it’s been nothing but upward from there–at least, as far as number of friends goes.

Unfortunately, the rest of the experience hasn’t been so rosy. Facebook says they’re improving the privacy experience in the coming weeks by removing regional networks and simplifying how the privacy controls work. I’m all for this action, because I believe that the current privacy model is, at best, confusing, and at worst just plain broken. But in reality, these new privacy controls are the least of my concerns. Facebook has it’s problems, sure, but one major issue are the advertisements that bombard users on every page of the site. They range from just plain annoying to visually assaulting, often times less than wholesome. The advertisement engine reads various profile details like gender, marital status, age, hobbies and interests, groups, pages, and more. It then targets various ads at users matching certain demographics and social data.

It’s not just disturbing, it’s downright scary.

What happens to the information collected by these ads? Does any of my personal data ever make it back to the hands of these 3rd parties? Is Facebook always recording my clicks and attempting to make predictions based on those? Since Facebook is based on a “friends” model, wouldn’t it make sense that I should have to approve or “friend” the types of advertisements that I see on the site? I realize that Facebook needs to make money, and I’m certainly not against allowing advertisements to augment a service provided to me free of charge. But I, instead, want to be able to choose which kinds of ads are shown while I’m logged into the site in addition to controlling what types of information these advertisements have access to. Not only that, I believe offensive ads should not be forced down my throat and I should be the one to decide which ones are offensive.

So, Mark and the staff at Facebook, please listen to me and users like me. Give us a choice as to what types of ads we see once you roll out the new privacy settings. Give us options to control how targeted the ads can be. Extend to us the hand of good will and truly improve the privacy and user experience that 350+ million users see each and every day.

We will all thank you for it.

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On a related note, users fed up with seeing all those ads should switch to Mozilla’s Firefox browser and install the AdBlock Plus extension, which effectively eliminates the ads on the site. This won’t help protect your privacy, but it will remove visual clutter from your life. It’s quite worth the 5 minutes it’ll take you to switch!

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