New application on Facebook would keep your private photos private

Do you know that even your more private photos on Facebook can be seen by others? Yes, only one of your friends needs to be tagged on a photo you appear, and it can be seen by your friend’s friends too. But, McAfee has developed a security app that asks the owner to tell the specific friends he/she want to see his/her photos. And for everybody else, the pictures will appear fuzzy, even if the photo is shared or downloaded, so they cannot be even printed. And it works on smart phones too. This application is still in its beta phase, and it can be downloaded for free, and used in the most famous internet browsers.

I am one of the millions of users of Facebook, and reading this article has made realize that there is no privacy on it. Not only because people can download your pictures to their computers, but also it makes you share things that you may want to keep to yourself. I participated in an investigation conducted by one of my professors in the university, and I was showed a talk about how internet users can see the sites you visit, your personal information, and use it to sell it to companies in order to sell you products of your interest, provided that they know your likes and dislikes from what you post on Facebook and other social networking sites. In my opinion, the internet and its great development over the years has contributed a lot to having more access to valuable information, but when it is about your personal information it becomes negative and hazardous. So I am glad McAfee created this app to have more control over who can see, and who cannot see your pictures. People being able to save them and do whatever they want with them; it only contributes to possible misuse of your image, and it can lead to being a victim of bullying or something like that. Just recently I saw on the news how people can impersonate another person on social networking sites and say whatever they want to pretending to be that person. Of course, it is also your responsibility to be wary about this issue, so I’m definitely downloading this new app.

Smartphones Addiction: Do you really know your limits?

Twelve years ago, the only utility of cell phones was to make calls and to text messages. In that time, people were amazed with the possibility of talking through a “small” device from any place there were antennas nearby.  However, time advanced and so did technology; new features started being incorporated until cell phones became almost small laptops.

Nowadays, smartphones have become part of our lives.  Either to check our emails, to chat, to take photos, to read newspapers or to check twitter and facebook; we are using them the entire day because of a necessity of being connected.

However, it is said that several people around the world are becoming addicted to this devices. According to Lisa Merlo, Psychologist from the University of Florida, there is a series of behaviors regarding smartphones which may be alarming and signals of addiction; for instance, checking the phone every 5 minutes not only for missed calls, but also to catch up on anything that happens in social networks or emails; faking to do something on the phone to avoid contact with other people; getting into the phone and losing awareness of what is happening around; freaking out if the phone is left at home; among others.

The consequences can be sleep problems, increase of stress and nervousness, increase of dependence, lose of social skills and even extreme anxiety when the phone is not near.

In the next CBS News report, Betty Nguyen consults specialists about this issue.

What about you? Do you consider yourself as addicted to your smartphone? If you don't have one, would you like to?

Smartphone's with Not-So-Smart Users

A Smartphone is a device that has not only the same features as a cell phone, but also some characteristics of a computer; for example, Wi-Fi, a “Microsoft Word” documents editor, and, of course, the most popular characteristic nowadays, “Whatsapp,” a mobile instant messenger.

Many people are using this kind of cell phones because it is more convenient to them, given that these devices are far lighter than a laptop. On the other hand, they are extremely addictive; you can notice it by looking for a few seconds at the people around you on the streets or even in your classroom; people chatting or checking “Facebook” every two seconds!

Personally, I am not against these cell phones at all; however, the thing that really bothers me is the fact that people are becoming more and more oblivious about things that happen around them; for instance, I saw a girl who got almost hit by a bus because she was text messaging while she was crossing the street and she did not realize that the light switched to red.

It is also very frustrating that you need to tell something to a person, but he or she cannot hear you because this person is too busy reading what “Twitter” says!

Again, I am totally not against these devices, but you should keep this in mind: Smartphone’s are not as important as what goes on in the real world; you must be aware of what happens around you.