“+Christina Trapolino I went through a transformation almost a year ago. I quit Facebook when I moved to South Korea. I found zero use for it and like you, saw way too much noise. I had announced my move to another country 4 months in advance and 3 weeks before I left, a friend of mine asked me ‘where are you going?’. Proof to me that people allow the noise to fill their FB feed and not really pay attention to people that are closer to them than ‘FB friends’.

After I got to South Korea, I decided to setup a Remote Computer Support business for foreigners (lots of English teachers here who have laptops and desperately need help). The downside to that, they all communicate on FB. So I set up a new FB account with the sole purpose for keeping in touch with clients/potential clients.

I would seriously prefer Google+ but that mindset has not perculated down to the FB masses yet and so any ‘conversion rate’ to get people to even use it (let alone switch) is still pretty minor. The only people I know who are on both my FB friends list and G+ circles are a couple of computer-savvy people. Which has been noted that the early adopters of new technical things have always been us Geeks :) (Keep in mind that there was a huge typo in the Bible…”The Geek shall inherit the earth”).

So now I am in both worlds. Google plus is still my more techie-related info, FB for client-interaction and right now, Twitter for happenings around the world.

Once G+ become truly transparent to either of those others (as well as my WordPress blog), I will be glad to stick with one platform.”

Google + is still a better platform, mostly because FB has simply become noisy.

What the? “Your profile is suspended

After reviewing your profile, we determined that the name you provided violates our Community Standards. ”

Oh geeze. Google being a knob about my profile?? Let’s take a look at these “Community standards” shall we?

http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=107107

*Nudity and sexually explicit material*
- nope, none of that in my profile. Trust me, anyone who wants to see ME nude is in a very deranged category :P

*Hate Speech*

- not that either. Unless it’s comments for stupid people who make stupid claims about profiles……

*Impersonation*
- ha! I have enough with my hands full just being ME. Don’t have time to waste trying to be someone else.

*Private and Confidential Information*
- nada. I ain’t publishing anyone’s private information that they don’t already post up here, thus waiving any rights to their own privacy :P UNless Google doesn’t like me reposting some personal vacation photos that +Robert Scoble or +Guy Kawasaki are already posting….

*Copyright*
- in order for me to violate copyright I would have to post something that is supposed to be non-publishable as well as claim it as my own. Anything I have posted has been found on the web (mostly by Google itself…).

*Illegal Activities*
- yeah, as if anyone was dumb enough to post illegal activities on such a public forum. Well, at least I ain’t that dumb even if I DID anything illegal. Wait! Does this mean I can’t plan a rebellion against the ‘establishment’ like George Washington did? Dammit!

*Spam, Malware and Phishing*
- as if! Have you read my posts on http://www.dragondon.com lately?

*Display Name*
- allow me to quote: “use the name your friends, family, or co-workers usually call you”. That is EXACTLY what I am doing.

*Profile Picture*
- Unless my profile pic is considered a bad version of the black spy in Spy vs Spy, there is nothing wrong with it.

So, unless Google wants to qualify WHAT the problem is, there is ZERO way to fix it? You guys really need to get your act together. Telling me that my profile is suspended is like me telling a mechanic that my car ‘won’t work’ and then letting him figure it out.

OH wait….it seems that you have to click further to get any details from Google.

“If you believe that we have mistakenly suspended your profile for having an unauthentic name, please fill out the form below.”

Ah, so we now have confirmation that it IS the name that Google is having issues with.

Well, since they have not launched their business profiles, does this mean I should be reporting every single one that does not have a ‘real name’ too? I mean, unless you were born with such unfortunate names like +Ford Grafx or +News Cafeicultura or even +Ford Group I doubt that I am somehow on the side that needs to be singled out.

There has already been talk about this issue fairly recently too.

http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/07/25/google-is-learning-lessons-from-google-fake-names-debacle/

So, off to go through the ‘appeal process’ they seem to have in place now. Part of the process they ask for some sort of photo ID. Riiiight. What part of “please use the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you” does phto ID help serve? And really,Google wants to “help fight spam and prevent fake profiles”, what makes them think that my profile if fake or causes any sort of spam??

According to an interview +Robert Scoble had with +Vic Gundotra “He says it isn’t about real names. He says he isn’t using his legal name here. He says, instead, it is about having common names and removing people who spell their names in weird ways, like using upside-down characters, or who are using obviously fake names, like “god” or worse.”

So, again, how does this have anything to do with me? Has +Vic Gundotra even USED Google to check me out? Go ahead, do a Google search on ‘dragondon’. Know what you will find? You will find my in 7 of the first 10 results listed! And that includes me taking up spots 1, 2 3, and 4!

Another part of this process includes providing links online “Please provide us with a link to a reputable website where you are referred to by this name. Examples include Facebook, LinkedIn, a school or university student directory, or a news article.”

Sure thing Vic. In fact, let me give you 8 different places where you can find my name mentioned on the web.

http://www.dragondon.net

http://www.dragondon.com

https://twitter.com/#!/DragnDon

http://dragondon.449983.free-press-release.com/

http://www.free-press-release.com/news-get-expert-technical-help-wherever-you-are-1306198753.html

http://www.free-press-release.com/news-richelieu-of-new-york-and-johnny-powers-team-up-1250090930.html

http://www.free-press-release.com/news-johnny-powers-presents-the-royalty-of-pop-1250124477.html

http://kr.linkedin.com/in/dragondonbelmore

Oh, should I even bother to mention that I was COMPLETELY UNAWARE that my profile was blocked? Would have been nice to have been informed of this Vic.

Do I even need to mention that I registered dragondon.net almost 8 years ago? Nah, they’ll figure it out.

For those who are less than technical, the little green android represents the operating system that runs a lot of Smart Phones which is called Android and it is owned by Google.  Here we have someone dressed up and parading in front of a store in Dageu.

I grew up in the North End, James & Burlington. I’ve seen quite the changes over the last 40 some-odd years. I see some of the hugest potential of any city sitting right at my doorstep……real estate, employment, creativity, all the makings of a great city and place to live.

But there is a problem and as always, it boils down to self-serving politicians(and that means people who are political in nature, not necessarily those who are political by appointment). The world is going through some pretty big growing pains right now and I believe it’s for the better. People need to be starving before someone’s sheltered world view is awakened. People need to be bombed before others realize that it’s really is a bad idea. And now we have people who get paid stupid sums of money for really joe jobs compared to the bigger world of business.

Now given the current economy, a newspaper article with the title “Wages doubled for some bosses” should be A CLUE. Let’s list some of the facts shall we?

Hamilton Health Sciences president and CEO – Murray T Martin.  In 1999 the position paid $339,000.  Our buddy Murray joined in 2001 and as of last year his pay was $705,811.69.  For those who need the math done, that is an increase of 108%!  When was the last time any job you worked hard at, grew (at the expense of your clients) and more than doubled your salary?

Let’s look at what’s going on:

Ontario has already lost 56% of the number of hospital beds per capita since 1990. The Ontario Hospital Association has not calculated recent cuts. Still, Toronto East General Hospital cut its physiotherapy, pain, audiology and cardiac rehabilitation clinics. Hamilton Health Sciences Centre will perform 1,200 fewer surgeries next year and cut 140 jobs, along with closing 50 beds — and these are only a few examples of the effects of cuts.

Fewer surgeries??  I’m pretty sure that the $366,811.69 increase in Mr. Martin’s pay would help get a few more surgeries and supplies needed…..

St Joseph’s Health Care president and CEO – Dr Kevin P. D. Smith.  In 1999 the position paid $311,079.47 and as of last year he raked in a whopping $704,016.11.  That’s 126% increase.  How you like dem apples?  Need I quote the above cutbacks again?

McMaster president – Peter J George.  In 1999 his position paid $240,499 and last year he was making a handsome $536,474.  123% increase.  A nice little quote from his page “He was appointed President and Vice-Chancellor of McMaster University, on July 1, 1995.”  I wonder if he voted ‘yes’ on raising his pay every year for 10 years?  Wouldn’t you love that ability?  What is also interesting is that he is being replaced this year.  I’m pretty sure his retirement package will be more than 90% of what Hamiltonians make after 15 years of service any where….

I can hear the cries of my accusations now.  ”They work for that pay.  They are responsible for hundreds of thousands people every year.  They have done all kinds of good for Hamilton.”  Yeah, like sinking millions into renovations and making things look pretty.  ”But if the position doesn’t pay, there’ll be lesser talent running the place and if it doesn’t look good there’ll be less people willing to get help.”  What??  You telling me that Mr George would not be happy with only $300,000 for running a university?  Seriously?

I wonder if any of these places Boards look at the real world.  Ever heard of Google? How about CEO Eric Schmidt?  Do you know how much that little company made last year?  $4,265,430,000,000.  That’s profit AFTER expenses (and yes the number of zeroes are correct).  Do you think he isn’t responsible for influencing the lives of BILLIONS?  How much do you think he makes? Surprise, he just CUT HIS PAY IN HALF to $245,322 (USD).   Something else you should know.  There were two guys who founded the company, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.  These are the two brains behind that which is Google.  Can you take a wild guess at their salaries?  I bet you won’t even come close.  $1.00.  Yes, the number of zeroes are period are correct.  This would ALSO BE A CLUE  And guess what?  They’ve been making that for the last 5 years!  Guess who else makes a whole whopping $1 salary?  Steve Jobs.  You know, that guy who started that little fruit company called Apple.  There’s a whole list of such people.  That’s not to say they don’t make money in other ways related to their company, we’re talking salary here while the list of local money-bucks do include some taxable-benefits.  Regardless, their pay is way out of line.

So, the next time you are sitting at McMaster waiting for hours for your child to see a doctor in emergency, keep in mind how well the ruling body of the HHS thinks the CEO is doing and his $700,000+ salary.  I’m sure you’ll find it comforting.

I have found that using a tool to help manage my incredibly busy life, I simply NEED one of these.  I’ve use the traditional DayTimer calanders in the past, they work fine but obviously have some limitations (try searching for ‘computer’ in one of those!).  A couple years ago I bought a Palm Zire 21.  It worked great until the battery life became 20mins or less and started randomly resetting on me.  So shortly after that happened I bought a Z22 model (used like the Z21 was).  Well it hasn’t lasted me a year before it started doing the same thing.

Last year, before I started to work for RIM, I contemplated the iPhone.  What geek wouldn’t love such a damn cool looking device.  Slick and geeky…..it was the Uber Toy at that point in time.  Since then the market has matured incredibly and many new devices have surfaced.  While at RIM, I had a BlackBerry Curve.  It was great and massively useful to me.  Too bad I had to hand it in when I left.  Still, it was fun and I really leaned towards them, away from the iPhone for the longest time.  Now that my Z22 is on it’s way out, I need something else.

Having reconsidered my position on the iPhone I went off to do my research.  After finding out just how tied into iTunes it is, I immediately had to change my mind.  iTunes doesn’t run on Ubuntu/Linux.  Apple has really locked that down and probably won’t budge for quite some time.  Fine by me, their loss.

Now, given my recent integtration wtih Google I wanted something that would sync with their stuff (GMail, Docs, Calendar…) and since they have phones with their own OS on it, I hunted one down.  I found that for my needs, a HTC Dream is the best one.  There are number of apps that I am looking at specifically which perfectly align with the online tools that I use on a daily basis.

HTC Dream

So, if anyone knows of a good deal to BUY one outright, and is local to the Golden Horseshoe in Ontario, I’m all ears.

Google Logo

- How can anyone not be impacted by one of the most powerful brands on the planet?  They revolutionized email with their Gmail, they had a slam dunk when they purchsed Writely to incorporated it into GoogleDocs and now the Chrome OS is on teh horizon.  Microsoft spearheaded the initiative to get the Internet into just about everyone but Google says “Thanks, we’ll take it from here.”

Ubuntu Logo

Ubuntu is the next fiesty little OS that makes my life easier.  I had enough of Windows and installed Ubuntu and will not look back.  You do need at least a geeky friend if you aren’t technical, otherwise buy a Netbook with some sort of Linux installed on it and you’ll forever put away your anti-virus software :)

Gimp Logo

The Gimp is an awesome image editor program.  Free and has done everything I have ever asked of it.  It rivals the likes of Photoshop and typically the people who slam it complain because they are used to doing things a certain way but won’t open their mind to such a great tool.  Enjoy it!  Did I mention it was free?

http://trackyourgasmileage.com

Being a bit of a car buff, this free site is awesome for monitors your car’s health, track expenses and gas price trends.  A Great Guy runs the site too!

Wordpress Logo

Can’t possibly make this list (literally and figuratively!) without mentioned WordPress.  They make the software that makes this site possible!  The themes and extensions available are astounding.  This too is free!  You can either use their own site (wordpress.com) to create a blog hosted by them or download and install the software on your own web hoster (wordpress.org).  I rpefer the latter as the former limits what you can do to enhance the site.

Joomla Logo

This wonderful piece of software makes excellent websites!  So much functionality without doing 1/10th the work!  You will  need to have some basic HTML understanding and delve into the deep dark waters of php every now and then, but otherwise it is an excellent way to built a community or informational website.  There is a paradigm shift in order to use this site as I’ve seen many traditional website builders get lost because they can’t open their minds to new ways og doing things, let alone letter go of control.  Trust in Joomla!

AVG Logo

For those still stuck in the Windows world, AVG is simply a must for your protection.  It is the best free (http://free.avg.com) anti-virus software that I have ever ran across.  Get it, use it, stop spreading those damned viruses to other windows machines.  I don’t worry, see my Ubuntu entry above :)

Foxit Reader

The best FREE PDF  reader for windows.  Smaller, quicker, faster than Adobe will ever be.  Compare a typicall 1MB install to Adobe’s 20MB install!!  This is just a damn good program that works like it should without the fuss.

VLC Logo

What media program could possible be better than VLC?  It’s simple, fast and doesn’t need to worry about special codex software or drivers to display many oddball formats.  Sure you could get something prettier with all kinds of bells and whistle but keep in mind that is all you are getting…..bells and whistles.  Another free program.

VLC Logo

If you want a simple program to remotely access your machine, VNC is the place to start.  With the TightVNC and UltraVNC variants, you have more than enough options to make it work for your environment.  Free as well :)

Evernote Logo

Where would the tech world be without Evernote.  I keep waiting to hear Google snap up this awesome little company and this product.  It’s like having notepad online but with cut&paste websites to look directly like them.  Another free peoduct!  Maybe not as popular as say…of the H1N1 flu converstation but after you use it, it will be.

And saving the best for last:

The Pirate Bay Logo

The Pirate bay.  If you have never heard of them, what cavern in the center of the earth have you been living in?  I ain’t even going to bother explaining.  Just click on the logo and start your learning now!