Well…ummm…

Google SMS not working anymore?

Ironic, just four days after I discovered it and FINALLY figured out how to look up movie times on it, it gets the axe! щ(ಥДಥщ)

Btw, some commenters in the thread mentioned 4info, which I am playing with. Their SMS syntax doesn’t seem to be well documented, but from what I understand…

(for weather info with 4 day forecast–replace zip code with your zip code)

w zip code

(for movie times)

m zip code

(for business locations, location can be city, state or zip code)

d store name location

(Movie times hasn’t worked for me yet and there doesn’t seem to be anything for directions.)

Btw #2, Dear Microsoft/Apple/Yahoo, now is your chance! Take Google SMS’s throne! ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

The battery on mine can last for about 2-3 weeks before needing to be charged up. I almost never turn it off (unless if I’m in a movie theater or somewhere similar), and I never plug it in to be charged up, unless if the battery ran out (if I did this to my iPod Touch, I would need to charge it up every day, and it doesn’t even have power-sucking features like GPS and 3G radio). I rarely need to try to conserve battery life in case if I need to make an emergency call. If I notice it’s down to one bar while at home, and I know I’ll need it the next day, I just charge it up.

Many of them are small enough to fit into your pocket, so you won’t have to worry about breaking the screen if you were to sit down.

There aren’t many cool apps like Yelp or Fandango that can tell you restaurants that are open nearby or showtimes (that I know of), but SMS has a fix for that!

No tiny keys on touchscreen keyboards. щ(ಠ益ಠщ) (I actually kinda like touchscreens, but only when the keys are big.)

Another pain is when they have some javascript to disallow pasting of passwords. I guess they think forcing you to type it twice is more reliable? -_-

>:O Paypal does that when you’re creating a new password. I just used the Inspect Element feature in the browser and in the source code area, pasted in my new password in the value attribute. Thanks for trying, Paypal, but I use Keepass to store all my passwords. You’re only making it worse. ಠ_ಠ

Okok, it actually wasn’t this close. It was outside my window. And I was using my ridiculously awesome, ridiculously cheap lens (50mm f/1.8), which takes ridiculously sharp photos. The bird got up several times, but he only hopped up on different branches, which is how I was able to take 10 photos of him. O.O

(The above is what the photo looks like when zoomed in. Btw, this is the actual image.)

One of 10 photos I took of this bird

He ONLY left when I gave him a thumbs up and put my lens cap on. What an awesome bird. >3<

• They actually let you go by an alias. (Facebook tends to get in your face if you try to sign up with a name they think is fake. “But what if my name is Tweedledee?”)
• Modern browsers have a setting called Do Not Track. When you check it, it tells sites to not track you (instead of actually trying to block tracking cookies or anything). It’s up to the sites to honor that request. Supposedly Twitter honors that request. Supposedly.

In addition to Adblock (which lets you block tracking cookies), in Opera, you can go to Settings > Preferences > Content. You can either set up a profile for Twitter under Manage Site Preferences to have it block cookies (if you will never use it, but visit it occasionally), and have it not send referral info. ORRR under Block Sites, you can just block it entirely if you don’t ever plan on visiting it. Ever.

Disclaimer: I actually have a Twitter account. But I almost never use it, since the 140 character limit is kinda useless to me. ><;; Heck, I would prefer not to have any character limit, which is why I’m wondering if there will be an option to have longer posts in App.net.

But ;w; there were so very few people on it.

And then there’s Google Plus. They seem to be taking user privacy more seriously, but it’s still run by Google (whose business model relies on data-mining).

And then? There’s App.net. Instead of making money by using their users as products, they make money by having subscription fees (and developer subscription fees, for people who want to make apps for it).* There are no ads. They mention all over their homepage that they take your privacy seriously. The fees aren’t too bad either ($10/mo or $36/yr). Huzzah!

*Subscription fees are kind of annoying to me, as opposed to a one-time fee, but they make more sense on a web app/service that regularly needs to connect to the maker’s server to work.

But ;w; even with such a tiny subscription fee is still a bit much for a cheapskate like me (especially if I’m not even sure if I’ll like it). Soo…maybe I’ll sign up when I get a job.

AND THEN, sometime earlier this year, they came out with a free tier. :O In which you do not have to pay, but get limited features (less storage space that Pro users, can follow only 40 people, etc). As seen as how I barely follow anyone on social networks (when I was still on Facebook, I had about 20 people on my friends list, and that was at the peak ), it was perfect for me.

So yeah. Right now (and not sure if/when they will open it for everyone), you need an invite from somewhere (I just got mine from Lifehacker–and since I’m only a free user, I don’t have any invites o.o).

(Not linking to my profile here, since I signed up under my real name, in hopes relatives will see the shiny and migrate to it from Book of Faces. Someday TT__TT)