Oh! Gizmo

By Chris Scott Barr

I am a frequenter of Facebook, like many people these days. A couple of weeks ago I saw that one of my suggested friends was a guy that I had gone to school with. It’s not unusual to see something like that, but this one was just a little different from the rest. This old schoolmate had passed away a couple of years ago. This of course brought up the question of just what happens to a person’s social networking page when they pass on?

Generally the page just stays as it is, unless someone else has the password to the account. Facebook, however, has finally stepped up to do something for people when tragedy strikes. If you have a friend or relative that has passed away, you can notify Facebook so that their page can be memorialized. There is some sort of confirmation process (and they ask you for proof in the form of an obituary or news article) so that a person isn’t accidentally labeled as deceased. Once this has been done, the account will be memorialized and stripped of certain personal information. Confirmed friends will be able to leave posts on the person’s wall in remembrance.

[ Facebook ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

By Evan Ackerman

This just in: social networking doesn’t happen exclusively on Facebook. Sometimes, you meet actual people (IRL), most of whom do not include an associated “Add as Friend” button stamped on their foreheads. This is where Poken come in, um, handy. Poken are little tiny plastic character things with freakishly large left hands. You program your Poken with your contact info, and if you find someone else with a Poken, high five them to swap phone numbers, emails, etc. via RFID. When you get back home, rip off your Poken’s hand and plug it into your USB port to add your new friends to your Poken social network.

The problem with Poken is, of course, that in order for them to be at all useful, enough people must have them that you can reliably expect to Poken or be Pokenized. Otherwise, there’s not much point to carrying one around, is there? The pricetag of $20 is quite reasonable, it’s really just a question of whether they’ll catch on or not. I’d totally use one, if a.) it would work with my iPhone and b.) I could get it in some slightly less fruity design.

Marketing vid for your enjoyment, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »