PixieGirl Blog » pgd general

Facebook: Taking Back Your Privacy

pixiegirldesigns — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:13:06 +0000

It’s starting to get a little scary how little privacy Facebook is giving us these days… but I still don’t want to get rid of my account altogether. The trick is to keep spreading the word about all the little sneaky changes that have been going on. So I decided to do just that by sharing this video by Brian Tong of cnet tv.

I also thought I’d share this link my friend Nadia posted on her twitter account, not so much to convince you to delete your FB account, but just for general awareness: 10 Reasons To Delete Your Facebook Account

Facebook is still a great resource for keeping in touch with your friends and for networking. I have a personal account as well as a PixieGirl Designs account. We just need to make sure we’re aware of the terms of use. Hope you find this helpful!

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Update: May 13, 2010
This article was on today’s AMNY. I thought it was a good one… Facebook privacy has some users threatening to book it

iPad Peek: Checkout Your Site

pixiegirldesigns — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:11:34 +0000

Want to see how your website will look on the iPad? Well you’re in luck, iPad Peek will let you do just that! Just go to their website and type in your url. That’s really all there is to it, you can see what your website will look like in case you’re inclined to make any adjustments.

I myself haven’t played with the iPad yet, and I won’t be buying one. At least not the 1st gen, I really just see it as a giant iTouch. No offense to all of you who did go out and buy one. I just want to wait it out and see what improvements come out for the 2nd gen. I’m already hearing talk about a camera for web conferencing etc. That’s a cool improvement and the iPad is only days old!

In the meantime, to find out more about the iPad, there’s a ton of reviews and how-to articles out there. I’m just about to read one on Mashable now…

Charitable Donations

pixiegirldesigns — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:04:56 +0000

Last week I donated to the Red Cross to help in the relief efforts in Haiti, after the earthquake. I had previously also made a year-end donation to another entity. But it made me think I should make donations more of a regular practice, and not just when there is a catastrophe or when I receive a year-end reminder. I have a monthly donation set up with Children.org, but I’m thinking it would be cool to pick (in addition to) a new charity each month or a few times a year to donate to. This will open me up to learning about what charities are out there, as well as help spread the love/wealth.

Yes, donations are tax-deductible, if you want to look at it in a “what’s in it for me” point of view. But it’s also rewarding in and of itself. Just knowing that you contributed to something you believe in can be fulfilling without expecting anything back.

Donations don’t just have to be monetary. Time and skills are also extremely valuable. Donate your time to volunteer at a shelter, donate your skills to help a friend with their startup business or personal project. Donate your contacts, if you know of a friend who’s starting a new venture, you can help spread the word. You can donate your experience and mentor a student looking to work in your field. I’ve seen a lot of people donate proceeds of purchases, for example Cloudy Collection is donating a portion of all purchases made in the month of January to Haiti Relief. Lady Gaga, as I hear it, is donating all the proceeds from purchases made on Sunday’s Radio City show. I hear more and more stories like this, so I’m sure you can come up with your own way to donate.

I’ve been meaning to work on a project that revolves around design donations for non-profits, more info to come, and I’m really inspired to finally make that happen. I always say that I just don’t have the time, but if I have the time to stop and watch TV or a movie, I can dedicate a few hours a day until I get it done. Wish me luck!

It also got me thinking that it’s easy to remember to contribute to big and well-known entities, but let’s not forget the smaller guy. If you’ve ever downloaded open source applications that you’ve really loved and especially ones you use regularly, why not take a minute to hit the “donate” button? They’ve worked very hard to give you a useful tool and even a small donation is greatly appreciated.

Donation Resources
http://www.microgiving.com
http://www.volunteermatch.org
http://www.donatelife.net
http://www.redcross.org
http://children.org
http://www.freerice.com
http://www.wish.org
http://giving.clintonfoundation.org
http://www.globalgiving.org
Visit my Xerpi.com Donation Bookmarks

Minority Report and Then Some!

pixiegirldesigns — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:38:38 +0000

Technology never ceases to amaze me, but ridiculous doesn’t even begin to cover this! Imagine Minority Report and then some! Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense as part of one of TED Talks. This one is from back in February, but I just saw it today and it blew my mind.

FootEarth

pixiegirldesigns — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:31:00 +0000

I had uploaded this really cool (in my opinion) photo of my friend David’s shoes when I was in Bryant Park a month or so ago. Someone commented on it saying it would a cool photo to upload to footearth.com, so I decided to check it out. It’s actually a pretty cool site, you upload a photo of your feet wherever you are. Here’s what the page says:

We are going to create a wide panoramic of the world we stand on. To obtain this, we need your photos. Take a photograph of the ground, with the tip of your toes, in all the places you visit and upload your photos onto footearth. Discover how non of them is similar: your “foot” will be the best memories of the places you have visited.

Above is the photo I uploaded, although my next goal is to upload one of my own feet! Hope you like it and hope you’ll upload your own soon enough! I can’t wait to see everyone’s photos!