Facebook application privacy

Facebook has dubious ethical relationship with application creators. The money has to come from somewhere, and it appears that quite a lot comes from how applications exploit vulnerable customers.

So if you use Facebook, you should probably take a close look at this privacy setting:

Facebook | Application Privacy

... When a friend of yours allows an application to access their information, that application may also access any information about you that your friend can already see...

Very few FB users understand how "applications" work, and how one may unwittingly grant applications privileges. They are not applications like "Microsoft Word", they are mixtures of services and entertainment purchased with personal information. The most successful applications, are, by necessity, invasive. Darwin would understand.

The key concept here is that a "friend" can essentially "sell" your personal information -- and be completely unaware of what they've done.

I've set every option on this panel to the most limited setting.

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Google Docs is really bad

Every so often I try to do something non-trivial using Google Docs "Documents".

Each time I come away with the same opinion. Google's Document.app is awful.

Try selecting a table embedded within another table row.

That's just the start. Document.app has lots of missing functionality. It's not stuff that's technically impossible to do in Ajax, it's just that Google isn't doing it.

Spreadsheet.app is not nearly so bad. You can even edit it on an iPhone. Unlike, say, a Google Document.

I don't get how people pretend this is some kind of alternative to Word. I am, to put it mildly, no fan of Microsoft Word. Even so, I can't delude myself for a nano-moment that Google's Document.app is in the same class as Word. Especially not Word:Mac 2008*.

It's weird that anyone pretends otherwise.

* I've only recently begun using this version of Word. I am disturbed by the suspicion that I might like it.

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SurveyMonkey and web apps for meeting setup

I've seen this site used with quick group questions such as dates, places, etc.

SurveyMonkey.com:

... SurveyMonkey has a single purpose: to enable anyone to create professional online surveys quickly and easily...

In a similar vein are a number of products for setting up meeting times and spots ...

• TimeToMeet: visual calendar sync
• Doodle: this one's quite popular for quick scheduling. Probably next one I'll try. Apparently works without sign-up (smart). No OpenID!
• Tungle: Read-write-web really liked it, I need to study it more. No OpenID! Can work with Google Calendar, but does it require a Google pw (kiss of death).
• TimeBridge: Has iPhone client
• When is Good: No sign up at all.

Ok, so why don't any of these support OpenID?

Big switch on my iPhone sync: CalDAV and Exchange server

In the last episode of ‘As the iPhone Turns’ our hero was getting business contacts to the iPhone via PST export to Outlook on home XP to MobileMe to the iPhone. Office calendar data traveled one way via Google Calendar Sync to Google Calendar. Google Calendar and Contacts went to the iPhone via Google’s Active Sync (Exchange Server) clone. Address Book on OS X synced to MobileMe on several machines. iCal was out of the picture.

Today it’s all shook up. I can now use Exchange server to bring office contacts, calendar and email to my iPhone. Since the iPhone can support only one Exchange Active Sync connection I switched my Google Calendar sync to CalDAV; for now office appts still go there via one way Google Calendar Sync. I still don’t use iCal.

Personal Contacts now go via MobileMe to the iPhone. Google Contacts don’t go anywhere (for now).

The downside is that my office contacts no longer appear in OS X Address Book, but the ease of updating and ability to edit on my iPhone makes up for that. My first impression is that CalDAV is a better fit for Google Calendar than Active Sync, and that Exchange sync works better with a true Exchange server than with Google Calendar.

Hope you followed all that, I’m not sure I did.

Update 12/3/09: I've seen one odd behavior that might be a bug. I can see and edit Emily's calendar. So when Emily invited me to an event I at first accepted, then realized I didn't need to see her event and mine. So I deleted the invited even, so only hers remained. Problem is, her appointment then vanished on my iPhone! but it was viewable on her iPhone and on the web.

So it was still around, I just couldn't see it. I removed the "invited, not coming" data from the event and changed it enough to force a refresh, it then reappeared.

I wonder if there's a problem with deleting an invited appointment while viewing the original appointment on another person's calendar.

iPhone App store boredom - some palliatives

For me the iPhone App Store went from nothing to thrilling to boring in a matter of months.

The excitement was just one casualty of the Battle of Google Voice. I gather there are lots of interesting games coming out, but I don't do games. I haven't found a good app in months; it's 57 channels and nothin' on all over again.

I did find some palliatives.

The App Store.app Genius button does work and it turned up one or two I've not considered. One of them led me in turn to the O'Reilly Best iPhone Apps site, which is two cuts above the competition. Between the two of them I'm looking at QuickOffice and iThoughts.

Even so, there's no cure for the App Store blahs. Cowardice is making Apple boring.

Address book sharing with OS X and MobileMe

Did you know you could share your Address Book through MobileMe, and even allow someone else to edit the entries?

I didn’t think so.

One of the oddest aspects of Apple’s “MobileMe” program is that much of the functionality is distributed between OS X machines, a user-invisible MobileMe repository, iPhones, and a sparse Web GUI. I expect most MobileMe functionality to be exposed through the web GUI, but it doesn’t work that way.

Address book sharing is a prime example (warning, Apple’s troubleshooting page on this feature is pretty much a warning not to use it! Obviously, you need to backup the desktop Address Book frequently.

I followed the directions and from my OS X desktop 10.5.8 user account I shared my Address Book with Emily (editing enabled).

Then, from her account I subscribed to my shared Addresses. I then did an iPhone sync to get everything cleared up and saved an archive of her Address Book [1]. Then, and only then, did I turn on MobileMe sync for her desktop contacts (Address Book).

I had to exit her Address Book and restart it to get my addresses to come over to her account. That’s typical of 10.5 Address Book.

It took quite a while, but now Emily has all of my Contacts on her OS X Address Book. They don’t, however, sync to her iPhone via iTunes. They also can’t be seen from the MobileMe web GUI, so I’m sure MobileMe iPhone contacts Sync wouldn’t see them either.

On the Mac though Emily can copy contacts from my list into her address book though, so copies can go to the iPhone.

It’s an interesting feature. We’ll see how useful it is, but to be safe I’ll disable remote editing.

[1] If you ever do a restore you need to immediately restart Address Book to complete it.

OS X Address book: labels and large numbers

I like Address Book far more than iCal, but even so I've underestimated it.

Great features: Mac 101: Two things I love about Address Book.

Update: Poking around Address Book I came across the “share feature”. It’s rather complex, but intriguing. I’ve a later post on how to use this sharing feature.
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