Classmates.com and SchoolFeed

Back in June 2012, Classmates.com acquired SchoolFeed, a very useless Facebook App.

I think the whole idea here was to get enough people to use the SchoolFeed App so that the number base (millions) would be attractive for another dot com business to purchase.

How did you join? One of your FB friends sent a request, you clicked it on and before you knew it, you joined!

I also noticed that if you don't visit SchoolFeed through your App, it will disappear from your FB sidebar.  If you visit, then it shows up on your timeline and activity log.  I had to find (by search) the SchoolFeed link to get back in as it was not on my sidebar anymore.

I was quite shocked to see that whatever you did on FB, automatically posted to SchoolFeed, including photos.

You need to delete your SchoolFeed account  because deleting the App, your info remains on the site. Not fair.

Your info left on the site is info the marketers use for info to sell you stuff.

Now, why should you belong to Classmates.com when they charge annual fees and FB does not? (Not sure if SF will in the future now that Classmates.com owns them.)  Yes, you can sign up for "free", but then after a quick trial period, they start charging your credit card (very fine print).  My brother signed up when it was cheap but then three months before his membership expired, he found a renewal charge of $40. on his credit card without notice.  They said that it was a courtesy!  The only way to avoid them charging is to remove that info in your account, or if you end up with a new credit or debit card number, then they can't charge you.  Also, the emails from them and from their advertisers, are relentless, so make sure you mark the address as spam on your email so they go in your junk file.

Don't join SF (or even pricey Classmates.com)!
Learn how to get off Schoolfeed below. Easy!

Article: SchoolFeed: The Facebook App Everyone Needs to Avoid -- great article, includes a response from Schoolfeed also in the comments.

PageFlakes, NetVibes, TabUp

I went to my PageFlakes account and discovered it was missing.
So I re-signed up and made my pages . . . again. I was wondering where all the choice backgrounds were, did they change the site?

But then I discovered that I had a NetVibes account and that was what I was looking for.
However, NetVibes was not loading the widgets for me so I continued working with my new PageFlakes page which seemed easier to use and had a few features NetVibes lacked.

However, after my set up and a view a day or so later, there were the ugly fixed ads.
NetVibes does not seem to have this.

OK -- someone cleared the computer cookies and files and when I went back to my PageFlakes -- all my pages went MISSING! Well, it was "missing" in the first place when I thought I had an account but did not! This time it was for real. Not sure if I will go back and use it.

I went back to NetVibes but still the same downloading problem existed but my pages were still there. I could not add any new widgets because I could not see them to add them.

I checked my TabUp account and those pages are still there also. TabUp is a bit confusing to me but I use it as a back-up, however, it may be a permanent thing since I have no accessing issues there.
Anyone have a clue about why my PageFlakes page went missing?

Update: PageFlakes closed down January 2012.
Tab Up also closed down November 2014.

FaceBook Privacy

Interesting info if you are unfamiliar with how FaceBook works.

FaceBook Privacy Issues

Off the Net

By accident today I discovered that SocialURL officially closed the doors on their photo sharing site June 30th. I did not get any type of public notice that this was going to happen. I even did a search on it but found nothing. So I post.

I was lucky enough to be able to access my account and retrieve all my pictures.
I spent the day doing that and finishing up moving my Yahoo360 which closes down officially July 13th.

I sent the SocialURL people/staff a thank you note before deleting my account.

So let's just look at what has left the internet lately.
Here is what I can remember as the list is l-o-n-g. . .

Close Down Timeline (most recent or expected first)

Google Classic Sites - expected to shut down Sept 2021. Download your site or delete it.  The newer version stays.

Yahoo Groups - closed for good Dec 2020
Use.com -- photo site to create mini websites, or templates with codes for Craigslist ads.
About.com became "The Spruce" completely revamped.
Tab Up - social sharing bookmarking site.

thoughts.com - site has been wonky since the change/update, future unknown
tBlog 
Multiply -- December 2012 (inherited MSN folks/groups and Yahoo 360 folks = 11 million users)
Webshots -- December 2012 -- revamped but all old albums gone.
PageFlakes -- January 2012
Eons -- they had troubles that have not been fixed for a very long time.
BlogExplosion -- sometime late 2011
Posterous -- still opened but bought out by Twitter, future squashed.
Slide.com and RockYou (just adding to my list)
Image Cave -- without notice October 2011
Yahoo My Blog Log -- May 2011
Yahoo Buzz -- April 2011
De.Li.cious -- owned by Yahoo then sold to private company Avos April 2011-- still up and running with new developments.
Yahoo Pulse with photo albums -- (replaced 360, did not last a year) July 2011

MSN Live Spaces -- March 2011 (moving to Wordpress)
Blogrolling -- Nov 2010 notification/April 30, 2011
Bloglines -- October 2010 (since re-opened under new owners)
Vox Blogs -- September 2010
ewebcounters -- May 2010
Frappr -- March/April 2010
Free Homepages - June/July 08 (no notice)
AOL Journals - October 08
AOL Photo Albums recently
ThirdAge Homepages - early last year - sniff - that was so cute a place but with an antiquated system.
Selectablog - just shut down instantaneously, no notice, but referred the few users to Thoughts.com
Pickle - photo sharing early last year (just opened up an account and two months later - they were saying good bye)
MSN Groups - February 2009
Flip.com -- Feb 2009 -- scrapblog is similiar
Furl -- April 2009 -- social bookmark network
Yahoo Albums, (use Flickr) and
Yahoo Briefcase (use Google Docs or MSN Live Spaces SkyDrive)
Yahoo 360 (I really liked it there for storage of posts)- July 09
Yahoo GeoCities (free accounts) - October 2009
Google Page Creator (I really liked this! It was replaced with Google Sites (with bugs) and final merging is happening as you read this).
Blog Bar - search engine for your blog in 08.
Blogfaces and BlogMad - blog surfing sites
ZoomClouds - ??? tag words for your blog for a search
Sampa.com - (a combo blog/albums/files/website s) notified 7/18 closing down on 8/17/09
Shoutpost - "sniff" "for serious bloggers" down and out without notice Sept. 09.
Blinkz - cute little personal website - disappeared without notice 12/08

So what is next?

List updated 1.1.21

Hompagle and Blackle

Two interesting freebie sites.

At Homepagle you can customize your Google page.
They have quite a selection of themed backgrounds to choose from.
For Mother's Day, I got the pink rose in the bottom right corner under
Landscapes --> Flowers. Click on what you want.
A box will come up, choose the page version or you can have it come up in a tab or like me, do both!
You can upload your own image and donate it to the site.

At Blackle -- go Goth -- just kidding -- the black background loads faster is more "green" because it saves energy.
Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time.

To remove Homepagle or Blackle --
go to your tool bar
click on tools
click on internet options
under General it says Home Page (top box),
just remove the URL, you can put another URL there

IncrediMail

Well, I downloaded it, the FREE account (otherwise under $30. per year and ad free). I have heard so many people RAVE on about this service, I took a chance and am trying it. Then there are just as many saying "get rid of it".

I thought it would make a nice newsletter for some of my "peeps".
I also liked adding a voice message to it also -- some of my "peeps" would like that. I attached it to a limited low use Yahoo account of mine.

The program does not work with HotMail or Outlook Express. (You can use HoTpOp.) They don't tell you that until AFTERWARDS then you have to change it (add or delete as many accounts you wish under the tool bar --> accounts).

I only took a few of the stationary they offered. I don't need much.
I don't plan on using all those little emoticons or sounds effects increasing the size of an email.
I thought the little slide show they had on use and the FAQ were done well.

So you log in -- open up your account, select which email account (I only have one, but you can have as many as you like to use the service.) choose your stationary that you selected, and type away, then send your message.

Then I really woke up and start thinking --if I use the stationary, that would mean that the file size (graphics) of the email I sent may be HUGE.
Although, now most accounts can hold larger files, but still, some may look at it and delete it even if it is from YOU someone they know.
Maybe it might end up in the spam folder because each message has ADS on it.
And if you send a note to the teacher, most school webservers don't allow this sort of stuff and it will never make it there.

Then I find out that it is actually Spywear!
And after that I find out that the download program can be hard to remove -- read how to remove IncrediMail, frustrating issues with Incredimail, what you need to know, plus more bugs, comments and opinions.

Well, I will wait for "Jeeves" to announce an email has arrived and see what happens. I always wanted Jeeves in my life. He is suppose to walk across the screen and announce you've got mail (on a shiny silver platter!). I will email myself to see if he stops by to announce then refresh my drink.
I think it may be off my system in a short time if I wish to give up Jeeves.

In the meantime -- some IncrediMail Tips and Tricks

It is times like this, I miss all the stationary that HotMail once had and got rid of, oh so long ago.

Update: Removed the darn annoying program. It did not work very well.

Top Ten Passwords

In the 5/8/07 issue of PC Magazine they list the Top 10 Passwords:

1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty (sequence of letters on keyboard)
4. ABC123
5. letmein (I think this is very funny.)
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. blink182 (a popular group goes to a popular password by fans)
10. Your first name

Other perennial favorites include "God," "sex," "money," and "love." Passwords based on the names or birthdays of partners, children, or pets are also quite common.

So this is why we see on TV people using other's computers and breaking into them quickly because they must be using one of the passwords on this list.

Some sites now offer an instant password checker when you are signing up.
If not check these out:

Password Meter -- check the strength of your password

Good and Bad Password article

You Tube Deletions - Delutube

My daughter made a bunch of stick figure animations with Paint Shop Pro based on a TV show, creative fan fiction. She drew hundreds of pictures and put them together in frames to create action. She added voice, music and sounds. She uploaded them at You Tube and they were very popular.

Without any warning or notification, You Tube took them off just because they used a word that is the same word as in a popular TV show, yet they had no copyright images or image similarity (just stick drawings) but she did use names of characters.

This is pretty sad because our computer crashed and we lost everything -- all her work gone.
We sat around one Saturday afternoon reminiscing what was lost in our files.

While out surfing I found a site that supposedly caches those vids that have disappeared.
Maybe this can be of help to someone else who was just as shocked to find their vids tossed out to cyberspace.

Delutube Update -- No longer a valid website -- like You Tube's "other side". Type in the user name to find old deleted vids, links are at the bottom.

Always something to do.
I wish the scanner worked. So does she. She got some high quality Prismacolor pencils for Christmas and started to draw out the frames and then scan them verses doing all the drawings on the computer.

Sloganizer.net

Stop on by and say hi!

Just thought I would check this site out Sloganizer.net. If you click on the typewriter image, you will be taken there. If you refresh your page, a new message will come up on the typewriter. Thanks for visiting.

The HTML codes are copy and paste. You can even use one in a message on a message board as they also provide UBB codes too.

For Cranky Boomers

Ran across this site yesterday for Baby Boomers.

It is a new search engine and they feature only 4 results or so per page so the aging Boomer set will not be overwhelmed or confused by too many search results.

Cranky.com search engine

Nostalgia isn't what it use to be. ~ Peter DeVries