As of Thursday morning in Australia, Facebook has blocked all news content from around the world to be shared on its social media platform! There was an Australian law set to go into effect where Facebook, and other social media platforms, would have to pay fees to news publishers for news content shared on their platforms, either in deals directly with the publishers, or directly to the Australian government. Google has complied, as described in this BBC article with Robert Murdoch’s News Corporation, among others. Facebook, meanwhile, has opted to go the other way, which, as far as I’m concerned, is bad news for Facebook unless it changes because I don’t think it’s going to win this one… and this could be the first step in likely many, to Facebook’s demise. I’m not saying that demise will happen fast or anything, as they’ll go down fighting, but if they stick to this mentality, they’ll be going down because unlike other big tech giants, they don’t have a lot of other revenue sources than advertising. That was partly why I proposed Apple build its own privacy-enhanced social media platform, because they have other revenue streams and can “starve out” Facebook. But beyond all that, here are some other consequences to Facebook’s decision.
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A Few Simple Nudges to Help Reduce Social Media Use
Social media use has been likened to addiction scientifically. My level of “addiction” isn’t very much, to be honest, but I’m still choosing to work on cutting down on the distractions that keep me from getting into “flow state” (see video at end) for some activities, rather than time poorly used. If you want to use narcotics terminology, I’m choosing prolonged highs over micro dosages of dopamine.
To help myself reduce social media use, I have compiled a short list of relatively easy and painless ways which I access it so I don’t get on social media much in the first place. They can be annoying when you’re not used to it, but hey, nobody ever said weaning oneself off anything was easy! See if some of these may work for you, and maybe pick some combination what can work for you. Any amount helps if you value your time enough!
Die Cut Paper Origami
Origami is interesting for its technique, but it can also be interesting for the paper used if you’re not just using conventional paper or origami paper. There is origami paper with prints, metallic shine, maybe even texture. However, tonight, I took things to a different level for myself by doing origami with die cut paper.
A Few Groceries Savings Tips
There are lots of ways to save at the groceries stores. However, I have two ways that I stick by quite well which seems to surprise a lot of people for whatever reasons when I tell them. I don’t think they’re anything revolutionary, but maybe people just don’t think the way I do on the matter. It may not work well for some people for various reasons, like cash flow or demanding eaters, impromptu parties, or whatever. However, you don’t have to swear by it. Just apply it regularly, to save money. The more you do it, the more you save.
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TED 2011 Ads Worth Spreading Winners Far Better Than Super Bowl Collection!
The TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) community just released its 2011 Ads Worth Spreading contest winners, and the ads are more super than the ones I saw for the Super Bowl! But what did you expect from a brilliant group who’s moniker is “Ideas Worth Spreading”? Here are the ads below, in no particular order.
The ads tend to be longer than the Super Bowl ones, where time is so expensive, though the Chrysler Born of Fire and Volkswagen’s The Force are both here. Hey, the cream does rise to the top no matter where you put it. But you know, if ads were this good, I wouldn’t care how long they went on. They’d be better than most things I’d ever find on television!
Some of these ads are also not widely seen, especially in North America, because they come from the world over and not all of these ad makers have money for American television time, much less Super Bowl. However, as a whole collection, I’d take this over the top Super Bowl ads I’ve seen in any year!
This is part 1 of 3 since there are too many commercials to put into one blog post. The link to Part 2 is at at the end.
Enjoy and be prepared to be wowwed!!!
Digital Citizen 