SkyTran, now- we can all travel like the "Jetson's"

Technology never a dull moment as it were, it seems NASA has some pretty interesting ideas on the shape future travel will take, and no it doesn't include return tickets to the moon, although somewhere in a secluded spot such talks maybe happening!

Back to the here and now though, NASA it seems are green-lighting a new method for all us lovely people to travel, inside a floating pod 20ft off the ground, yea those Sci-Fi shows you watched as you grew up are in fact a reality these days, pretty scary right?

What’s scarier is perhaps the help of a company called "SkyTran" and no I know what you’re doing trying to find a connection to "SkyNet" and the machine uprising but relax that will never hap................ well let's hope not anyway. 

The concept of mono-rail travel as it is known is not a new technology parse hoverer has never really been fully realised, until now that is. Surprisingly the new commuting system is set to be implemented to begin in "get this" 2014, more likely in the US and then depending escalate across Eastern Europe. 

But wait, it gets even better, once you have access to a "SkyTran Station, you get into your pod, set your destination with a smartphone app, climb aboard and allow mag-lev which stands for Magnetic Levitation technology speed you off to your destination.

But yet again there is more, brace yourselves each pod will have the ability to travel at speeds of up to 150 mph, that means you could literally get across the UK in no time at all.

Where the funding and costs for such a scheme will come from is anyone’s guess at the moment, not to mention the actual implementation, design stages then there’s the usual approvals and safety checks etc, but this does look like the way of the Future. 

Hopefully the system will be linked to a manned computer station much like modern electric train’s with added collision detection route paths and the like, the question is would you use it and would you be happy to go at such speeds as though you were on a roller coaster each morning. 

NASA is set to install a full system in its California installation which should be interesting, let’s face it they are the experts at this kind of thing after all. SkyTran should in the long term be cheaper to build compared to train, and bus systems, will suffer little with obstacles in mid-air and is much more eco-friendly for the planet using solar panels.

So who is up for using SkyTran as a method of travel?

-Jonathan Cullen

Site update and Lessons!

Well today has proved somewhat productive it seems, my site is nearing the upload stage and I keep going over the most mi-nute of details. I have a sort of hindsight you might say, so far I have been using my usual browser to test my site and so far everything has been dandy. Now a regular kind of Joe might just have easily uploaded the site seeing everything was fine and not thought about one important factor cross browser platform compatibility.

Simply put what this means and more importantly what I recognise is that even though my site works fine on my browser doesn't for one minute mean to say it’s going to work on all of the other browser variants of which there are many. I have the latest version of Internet explorer installed currently at version 10, and upon testing it seemed that the contact and blog pages once entered would load slower than other pages and browser as well as rendering the rest of the sites functionality and navigation useless.

I narrowed down the problem to make sure it wasn't just a problem with the embedded objects on those pages and to some extent I guess you could say it was. On the contact’s page I have an embedded map and contact form which I removed and then tested however the page itself still did the same, a simple deduction then it was not those elements, easiest thing to do was to load a page similar that did work remove all unnecessary page items and replace my embedded objects on that page before re-saving, sure enough it now works hunky dory.

The blog was a weird one it appeared that when it did load ion internet explorer that an error message popped up stating that “http this is addme 5”  etc, etc was not found on this server, I then proceeded to check through my code and sure enough there was this exact piece of code in the middle of things, IO have no idea how it manifested itself there though as it was nowhere near the embedded blog, I pretty much used the same trick as in the contact page to rectify the problem.

I have now tested on 6 different browsers with 100% effectiveness, this ensures that the website can be viewed by as broad an audience as possible while having code which is well written and efficient without error. 

Its times like these when I put so much work into my projects that I hold my head up high to those who laughed at the amount of effort I put into my work during my college days going beyond the call of duty, I believe as one of my former lecturers kept reiterating to me "You need to show an in-depth understanding" something I have remembered to this day, I may be creating a website but there are a lot of elements in play both on the server customization side and on the user's side. god I feel like I’m writing my memoirs at 1am in the morning, hope you've enjoyed reading into this fabulous insight this is Jonathan Cullen signing off for the night!

PS4 More Reasons to want one!

Just a quick update, one I feel needs mentioning from the good people at PlayStation Access. With the Next Gen Christmas Consoles edging ever closer, Its time to start looking at what's on offer, here we have a video I think  you will find very informative on the PlayStation 4.

That makes 20 more compelling reasons to invest with Sony this holiday season!

Compact WI-Fi Flash Devices

Well known company San Disk has unveiled two new entrants into the mobile WI-FI flash storage market it seems, here's why you may be interested.

The two new devices are very compact which makes them super easy to transport with you, both devices use flash memory as their storage medium as opposed to the traditional mechanical counterpart. What makes this even more of a must have is the fact that the devices both have a built in battery and 802.11n (among the latest standard of Wireless Internet capability) Wi-Fi network which can support multiple clients at the same time.

This means that devices such as Smart phones and tablets will be able to connect to the wireless storage devices with the use of a connect mobile application, it has been stated that each connect drive will have an app of its own, supporting Android kindle fire and IOS platform devices.  Once connected a user will be able to access the connect device to play back contents stored on the storage medium or back up user-generated contents to the connect devices wirelessly.   

If you plug the flash device into your computer the drives will show up like any other removable external storage media. In case you’re wondering the file system used by the drives is exFAT, which works on both Mac and Windows Operating Systems.

Once connected the drives can be loaded with content for fast and easy media streaming / sharing when you are out and about.

Option one: San Disk Connect Wireless Flash Drive:

 

The great thing about the connect flash drive is it is easily recognisable to the average consumer utilising what they already use just with some added layers of technology. The connect drive does not have any internal storage but instead houses the technology for wireless connectivity and sharing for the inbuilt MicroSd Card slot, you can have up to 16B and 32GB internal storage this way. 

Once the SD card is inserted the drive functions like any other thumb drive able to plug into a computers USB port and copy content to and from it, interestingly once the device is connected to the computer the USB port also charges the connect flash drives internal battery which allows for hours of WI-FI usage. 

If you have more than one SD Card available or  perhaps an insatiable need to carry more storage or multiple SD cards then you can hot-swap other SD cards on the go, pretty nifty wouldn't you say? As the connect is among the smallest of Wi-Fi storage devices it can only support a maximum of three Wi-Fi client's at a time, but that's still a relatively good number most will be happy with.

I won't go into details but the drive can also connect to another Wi-Fi network and share that networks Internet connection to all devices that are connected to the Wi Fi network of their own, I'm not sure what benefit this brings however.

Option Two: San Disk Connect Wireless Media Drive: 

 

The second option to connect wireless media drive is much the same as option one, the first main difference is in its physical size which is larger than the flash drive about the size of a small USB hub.

The next difference lies in the amount of storage space supported by the drive, being 32GB or 64GB just like carrying a portable SSD around with you, the drive also has an SD card slot meaning you can double the amount of storage space with high end SD cards of up to 128GB. This added onto the 32GB or 64GB already on the drive means you can carry up to 192GB combined storage.

Having the card slot also means you can quickly share photos you have just taken for example with a group of people, the drive also supports up to eight Wi-Fi devices at any time with up to five Hd streams at once. The drive also offers up to eight hours of battery life which is not to bad.

The two San Disk drives are to be made available to consumers by early August it has been stated, The Connect Wireless Flash Drive has been said to cost £25 and £30 for 16GB and 32GB models. While the Wireless media drive costs £40 for 32GB and £50 for 64GB. If the pricing remains the same on release in August then it will be quite a bargain. 

DARPA Develops Real-Life Terminator Robot!

Are you amongst the few who remember watching Terminator 1 and 2 oh and 3, starring the tough guy Arnold Schwarzenegger complete with dark shades, and the famous one liner "I'll be back" If yes then you have good taste in films, if not you need to check it out, either way the movie centres on Machines taking over by thinking for themselves and pretty much waging war thus wiping out humanity, we just had to build a supercomputer that could think called Skynet didn't we.

But that's a movie after all nothing like that could ever happen in real life........Right? Well it seems years after the American Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency aka DARPA have developed a robot which is pretty close to what people who first saw the terminator in cinemas looks like, the newly designed robot codenamed "Atlas" can tackle rough terrain and carry human tools; one assumes this could well develop into weapons pretty easily.

"Atlas" comes in at a shrewd 6 foot tall and was developed by Boston Dynamics, "Atlas" is reported to weigh in at 330 pounds, and its primary purpose of development was to help with human disaster response which is a pretty cool application for it to be used for. However if you happen to be in the vicinity of a disaster "I hope not" then you may be forgiven in thinking that a couple of "Atlas" walking towards you amidst the smoke are anything but friendly, but don’t worry folks I can confirm that "Atlas" comes from Massachusetts and not from the future "phew"

                                                           (Click for larger Image)

"Atlas" has been shown to act like a normal human, in fact its motion sensing and overall physical dynamic mirrors that of a human very well, at least from both what has been reported and shown, which is really an incredible advance into robotic physical dynamic engineering, I am actually writing this off the top of my head and not Google’ing these long words I assure you.

"Atlas" is designed to walk and carry things as well as travel through rough terrain outdoors in addition to climbing using his hands and feet, now if only someone could programme an alogy of me Tarzan you Jane when he rescues someone that would be pretty comic. "Atlas" Uses Articulated hands that enable him to use tools which are designed for human use, "Atlas" apparently from the specs revealed includes 28 hydraulically actuated degrees of freedom and you standard exoskelital body with two arms, two legs, a torso and head.

Interestingly the head is also home to stereo cameras and wait for it..................a laser range finder, yes we keep coming back to that terminator feel don’t we., this laser finder is tethered to an off board, electric power supply, thankfully if things go south we know its weakness. Seriously though DARPA Robotics designed such as "Atlas" are built to help and aid with disasters and hazardous environments, just think you could send this guy into a nuclear power plant maybe turning the tide in what could be a very dangerous situation.

Programmers are hard at work it seems intent on pushing the "Atlas" to its limit, some of the challenge’s programmer’s will be trying to program "Atlas" to do later this year include driving a utility vehicle, breaking through a wall (strength not specified), connecting up a fire hose presumably to fight a fire, and closing a valve shut off.

Such a robot has huge appeal in terms of military application though and will no doubt form part of a security tactical unit in time to come, after all bomb disposal robots are already being used by both the military and Police in some parts of the world, what “Atlas” could bring to the table is astounding, helping to clear IEDs or high risk areas, or even just a peace time defence bot.

Of course this is probably still a long way off, but you can bet that behind some secret doors somewhere such plans are already being looked at. What do you think about the “Atlas” are you excited to see how its developed, used and deployed into situations where humans would be at risk? Or do you think that this is starting to get scary? 

On Demand Movie Services:

Everyone enjoys sitting back to watch a movie, be it action flick, rom-com, animation and so on, what we as consumers (that is such a great industry word isn't it) we as consumers also have very rigid standards and expectations on what type of experience we should be getting from our on demand services.

As usual you have the financial constraints to consider with each service as well as overall quality and amount of titles on offer, As for options well there are plenty, I myself have tried each of the following services in order to see which comes out top;

1: LoveFilm.

Love film player, better known for its large collection of movies and TV shoes which can be sent to your door, the service also offers you to sign up and watch movies on-line. You can stream to an I-pad, a PS3, an Xbox 360 or any desktop or laptop computer. The selection of titles on offer is quiet extensive, you can also search by genre or collections and has something for everyone.

The drawback with the player, especially on devices such as the Xbox 360 or PS3 I have found to not be that good an experience, this has been backed up with friends view as well in that the player User Interface (UI) has not been very user friendly, and once you find a title to watch the movie it buffers a little, this would usually be fine if it did not sometimes stop and buffer during the film.

 Here is the standard love film player as shown on a PS3 system, it wasn't very user friendly, did not list all titles in a category very well and had playback issues.

Here is the much improved Love-film player also running on the PS3, films are a lot easier to find, TV shows have gotten larger and there's also a 30 day free trail.

Films I watched used an 8mb internet connection with no other devise accessing my network, however the problem persisted in most films to the point that you would need to close and restart the player, it also would not always output to the correct scale of the T.V. leaving you with a less than 4:3 standard image.

I am happy to report however that as of the 9^th June Love film have finally redesigned the user interface and improved all of the above problems, no doubt to compete with other services. Now you are able to watch a film in full without issue, it is also a lot easier to find titles to watch, with still the largest collection of titles to stream.

2: Netflix

One of my favourite services overall which is easy to set up and start watching, when compared with the newly refurbished Love film player. Netflix is subscription based and costs £5.99 a month; you are also able to watch movies and TV shows on a Computer, Laptop, PS3, Xbox 360, I-pad or IPhone.

It is a great service because it was designed very well to start with; films load in HD within seconds and have no problems during watching. The site also suggest and recommends films based on films or shows you have watched and rated customizing the experience to your own tastes, you can further tailor it using the Netflix website account management.

The choice of titles is pretty good, even though not as large as Love films offering content is updated monthly with new titles being made available while some older ones are removed.You select films by choosing a category, within each category you can scroll through 75 films, multiply that by even 10 categories and that's a lot of viewing right there. An impressive affordable movie and T.V. streaming service defiantly a solid contender for the number one spot.

3.: Now TV

Sky’s latest bid to corner the on demand movie market previously available on computer and Xbox 360, now also available on PS3 and I-pad . Again the service itself is great content plays in HD and has no or little viewing problems associated with it. Sky also boasts that they release new titles before anyone else, a rather bold statement indeed then.

However Now TV does not seem to have as many titles as Netflix and less than love film, it does have new releases such as Sky fall but frankly there is a lack of content once you’ve watched the films that appeal to you, making you wait for an update that may or may not contain something you want to see.

In addition to this the price for Now TV has been cleverly advertised, but in short it is the most expensive of all three services, and at present I would only recommend using the trail version as you will more likely get though most of the relevant content for you.

If you sign up using a PS3 for example there is an offer which lets you watch as many titles as you like for 3 months for only £1, no obligation. After that the price goes up to £5.99, not bad is it, not bad until you read the smaller print and find out after this intro offer the service then costs £15.99 a month contract. 

This is not only ridiculous for the small amount of titles on offer but money grabbing compared to Love film or Netflix, if you want to watch the latest live sports that will cost you an additional £10 pass. The service side of things, delivering HD movies fast with a few early titles is really good, but it’s not £15.99 a month good.

4: BlinkBox

Blink box offers a different approach to streaming movies, instead of being subscription based it acts as a more of a pay as you go option. You can either rent and watch movies or buy them to keep for viewing whenever.Prices start from 99p (notice I used the word "Start from" indicating that you could easily spend £2.49 or £3.49 to rent and even higher for buying new movies.

This may be good for people who like to sometimes watch and rent movies but it is much cheaper to go with either Netflix or Love-Film when you consider that the cost of renting two movies could be a months subscription to Netflix for example, which allows you to watch as many movies and TVshows as you like.

Also available on most platforms such as Computer, PS3, Xbox 360 and I-Pads, it is the second most expensive option next to Now TV-and you are not really getting value for money compared to Netflix or Love-film, unless you want to watch new movies only sometimes in which case this may be a good deal for you and allow you to stay in control compared to subscriptions, additionally you also receive Tesco club-card points for each movie rental or movie bought.

Verdict:

On reflection then if you want a decent amount of titles in full HD or Std definition depending on your internet capabilities, on different devices with a low monthly subscription, then Netflix seems to be paving the way and holding the top spot with Love film edging next to it. Both Netflix and Love-films subscription options include a handy auto-renewal mode, so once your payment details are entered you need not worry about payments.

For a much larger catalogue of movies and T.V. shows the next choice is Love film, which also has the added layer of also renting movies not available for streaming, as well as video games, although price does depend on what you select there are a good few package options to choose from. 

The user interface of the player has also been greatly improved for an easier viewing experience. With Now TV coming in last due to lack of content and price, however the trial and Ps3 offer allowing you to watch 3 months for just £3 should be taken as it is about the best bargain they will give you.

Mobile Gaming on your TV!

Its all very easy for people in their thousands to marvel and wait for the release of the latest Next Gen gaming consoles, and why not speaking from  tech point of view theirs a lot to get excited about. However what about the people who cant initially afford to lay down £349 +, or those who are looking for something different, more family oriented? Well I would reply that the answer comes in two flavours, and boy are they delicious.

Flavour 1 - GamePop

The first is "GamePop" a third party development game console which if you play mobile games are bound to love, the console itself is minuscule in size like a jam packed fire cracker waiting to explode, typically the size of a standard pack of chewing gum

You probably think this is a crazy sort of pitch right now, but wait what GamePop have going for them is that more and more people are becoming addicted by mobile gaming, with games you wouldn't find on the bigger giants such as Microsoft or Sony to name but two. What GamePop does ingeniously is try to tap into this market and say hey you know that mobile game your always playing?  Well what if you could play it on your 30 inch TV, with either a dedicated emote controller or by using your phone at a very tiny price.

Now I have your attention, lets get down to the facts, what you get when you pre-order (more on that in a moment) is the mini version of the console and a controller as well as a library of over 500 top mobile games as found on IOS and android devices. All of this you get for a subscription of just £4 per month, yea I know that's pretty tempting, what could you lose? The subscription lasts for 12 months after which you get to keep the console, if you decided its not for you and you want to send it back sooner you just need to pay a £15 restocking fee.

This is a great little option if you enjoy mobile gaming, or even a great family gamin option which is fast easy to set up with lots of potential for fun. The console isn't being developed by one of the big names and is not yet available however if you pre-order at no extra cost right now, one will be sent to you when its released in the winter, pretty close to the release of the PS4 and Xbox One consoles.  Your card wont be charged until the unit is sent to you which is also a big plus.

For affordable, addictive, fun gaming I recommend you check out GamePop and the intro video over at http://www.gamepop.tv

Flavour 2 - Ouya

The other Flavour is called "Ouya" the words more commonly associated just before soldiers, usually marines shout before they enter battle. Now the price tag shifts more rapidly with this console which is a buy it straight away option at £99 which is pretty good for a games console, but again a little stepper to say the least given the GamePop price.

Ouya doesn't have a subscription plan like GamePop instead you can download games to try and then purchase them, downloading them to play. the console does have some good things going for it though, and some interesting ideas.  For example the console is fully modifiable to your own design, one screw and your into the hardware, customizing it as you see fit, every aspect is completely customizable, you can even develop your own games and run emulators with it, making it more of a tech DIY console and worthy of a more closer look. Games on the Ouya can also support resolutions of up to 1080p

One look at the device itself and you can’t imagine how it has earned the title of console in fact just by looking at it without knowing what it was you probably believe it to be a lavish looking external hard-drive:  The console is very small in size roughly the size of 3 decks of playing cards placed on top of one another. 

You’re probably ready to disregard any thoughts of seriously buying at this point, but you may well be wrong. The console uses an Android Jelly Bean flavour O.S., and comes with 8GB Flash memory and 1GB of DDR3 SDram with graphics capability provided by Nvidia ULP GeForce. The console also has Ethernet, USB 2.0, WI-Fi and blue-tooth, surprising the amount of things that you can fit into such a small device.

Ouya will will be able to run built in aps such as popular game streaming services such as Twitch TV and Onlive game streaming service as soon as it is plugged in as well as running a modified Android variant which will be open to rooting (without voiding the warranty) Not surprising given it size and limited internal part structure that it can be opened up all but fairly easily in fact you only need your traditional screwdriver to access the internals, this allows for modding and hardware upgrades which can be done by you the user however you please. 

What the team behind Ouya have done is allow owners of the console to also be developers without paying fees for doing so, something the big game companies would die of fright at the very mention of such an idea.  

For more info check out https://www.ouya.tv

Its great to see these smaller development companies try and corner the mobile gaming market, even if they can't directly compete with the big guns, I don't think they are trying but instead of attempting to take them on they're finding their own niche level ground, most people play mobile games on the go and when they come home, why not bring that experience to your living room TV, whether  direct support for transitioning between playing a game on the go and then picking up on one of these consoles when you get home remains to be seen but that would further add to the allure of its initial premise.

Facebook Tips and Tricks worth Knowing!

Facebook is more than just a social media hub for you and your friends, once you post, share, like and generally use the site there are a lot more things that come into play.

So here’s a little article I wrote to help educate those of you who use the site with some very useful tips and tricks to help protect yourself, part of my safer web practice

Everyone that uses it more than likely shares an important element to which everything else locks onto, this element is "Information" Information which can be stored, analysed, processed and targeted by a wide variety of individuals / groups. Sharing information has never been easier, but are you in total control of your account?

Information friends are allowed to share!

Whenever you access or use applications or games, they automatically ask for a certain amount of information about you, sometimes this is ok but what if you have an app or a game you haven’t used in a month or two, you may not be using it but that app or game will still have up-to-date information about you.

To see what application’s you are using and what information they are allowed go to "Account" > "Privacy Settings" > "Apps"  Then next to the Apps you use listed select edit settings, now you can see what information each app or game has about you, here just edit the settings or if no longer needed delete it entirely.

Remote Sign Out!

This is a useful option if you forget to sign out of your computer or another unrecognized computer or device attempts to log in from an unknown location.

To set this up go to "Account Settings" > "Security" and click on Login "Notifications" now you can choose to be notified by Text SMS message or email if a new computer or device attempts to log into your account.

In addition to this if you click login notifications underneath you can have a code sent to your phone which you will need to input if you try to login from an unrecognized computer or mobile device. 

Finally in the Active sessions tab at the bottom of security you will be able to see all sessions and devices that your account has been accessed from, if you want to make sure that no one else is using your account or don’t recognize an address or device simply click on "End All Activity" to log out of every device. 

Appearing in Search Engine Results!

There are many search engines and data mining sites that will link to your Facebook profile along with your profile picture and any information you have made public will also show up in these results.

To opt out of this go to "Account" > "Privacy Settings" > "Privacy" and where it reads "Do you want other search engines to link to your Timeline?"

 Un-check the box to allow search engines to link to your account, if you have your profile set to everyone you can also follow the link here to change this to a select audience as well your friends only for example.

Photo Albums!

You may have already set individual photos of you to private or to a select audience but what about your photo albums, it is easy for people to forget that albums entitled "Profile Pictures" Mobile Uploads and Wall Photos are usually visible to everyone unless you specifically edit their privacy settings.

To edit the privacy settings for photo albums you've posted:

1. Go to your timeline and click on the Photos section
2. Click the Albums tab
3. Use the audience selector tool under each album to control who can see your photos

A few important notes:

• The privacy setting for your Cover Photos album is always public
• If you share a high resolution photo or album with someone, that person will be able to download those photos.

Unlike other photo albums you create, you can choose an audience for individual photos in your Timeline Photos and Mobile Uploads albums. Each time you post a new photo, you pick who sees that photo using the audience selector.

Power of Lists!

Lists are a great way of adding a bunch of friends or individuals to so that if you create a close friends list for example before you post something simply select the list next to the Post button and select close friends, now only the people on that list will see your post.

You can have many lists, with them being organized on the left side of your screen for easy viewing, to remove, organize or de-clutter the left side of your Facebook feed where lists are located simply move your mouse cursor next to news feed or any list until you see rearrange appear, click on this and then drag and drop to rearrange or remove lists and apps.

To create or add a friend to a new list;

1. Go to their timeline
2. On their cover photo, clickFriends in the lower-right corner
3. Click the list you want to add them to or click Add to another list...
4. Uncheck a list to remove them from that list

Note: When you add someone to a list for a school, workplace or city, your friend will have the option to add that information to their timeline, too. For example, if you add one of your friends to your work list, they can choose to add that company to their timeline. You should see a reminder about this the first time you add someone to one of your smart lists.

De-Clutter your News Feed with more relevant content!

The trouble with the “News Feed” is that a prolonged use of the site is that this can start to have all sorts of updates most of which aren't of interest to you, as a result this spam of posts may actually prevent you from seeing important posts from friends, yet another good reason to utilise lists.

Whenever you like a page on Facebook let’s say you decide to like "Shrek" the movie, "Kellogg’s Frosties" Cereal and Star Wars Trilogy" that’s great you show your support for the page you like what it is etc. However each time you do this that page will start pushing content to your News-Feed after liking 30 - 50+ pages things can start getting out of hand.

To remedy this simply go to your news feed, and take a look at the items or pages showing up and think is this of interest do I really want to see more updates like this?

When you think "well there are 3 sets of pages that are constantly sending updates I never take interest in simply click on the title for that update to go to its page.

Once you arrive at the page you will see a tick next to liked, just hover over this and in the drop-down menu uncheck show in news feed by clicking on it (a tick indicates it is to be shown - blank signifies not to be shown)

This doesn't mean you are un-liking the page it just stops a lot of useless, uninteresting spam updates which can only be a good thing. 

Get Notifications from more friends!

If you would like to get notifications from more friends or even just certain ones which aren't currently appearing in your notifications list simply go to that persons profile and where it says “Friends” “Close Friends” etc.

Simply hover your mouse over until a drop down menu appears and click on “Get Notifications” this makes sure that when this person posts or shares something you won’t be likely to miss it.

Adverts and 3rd Party Sharing!

Although Facebook does not give 3rd party sites access to your name or picture to be used in adverts the site does state that if it decides to start doing this you need to specify weather or not you are ok with this.

To turn off this option go to "Account Settings" > "Adverts" and select "No one"

In addition to this you may want to disable pairing your social actions with adverts also found on the Adverts page, underneath Third party sites.

Following the above advice will help you take charge of your Facebook account and your information helping to secure it against misuse, please let me know what you think.