I have been looking for a way to shorten URLs lately that is my own. While I like using public services, I don’t trust them to stay running for as long is I need/want them. I have tried a self-hosted app in the past, but hated the one I found at the time.

Then I found yourls. It has an API similar to bit.ly so that Twitter clients like Tweetie (Twitter for iPhone) can use the service. There is a plugin for WordPress so that you can automatically create short urls for all of your posts and post new posts to Twitter for you.

So that about covers it. I wanted to let you know that if you see a murl.me URL, I created it and it is not spam. There is even an API to expand the URL again, though I haven’t figured out how to add it to any service so others can see it.

Yes, I have had it with Facebook. Still debating if I should flat out delete my account…

• Facebook’s new features secretly add apps to your profile
• Facebook Privacy Policies Draw Criticism by 15 Consumer Groups
• Facebook’s New Policies Make Harassment Easy
• Video: Major Facebook security hole lets you view your friends’ live chats

Facebook is getting pretty questionable on their stance on privacy. Here are some interesting reads.

• Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook
• Facebook’s “Evil Interfaces”
• Why I Canceled My Facebook Account
• Please Update your Privacy Settings
• What you say now on Facebook can go to community groups without your permission!
• Facebook’s Eroding Privacy Policy: A Timeline
• 50,000 Websites Have Already Integrated Facebook’s New Social Plugins – Are there any sites that you don’t want your boss to know you visit on this list?
• Report: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Believe In Privacy so lets all go to his house and watch him shower.
• Time to Audit Your Facebook Privacy Settings, Here’s How
• See What Facebook Publicly Publishes About You (direct link)
• Hell even Leo Laporte can’t figure out the new privacy settings.

This spam message came as part of a message from one of the mailing lists I am apart of:

To whom it may concern, It has come to our attention that you have made an unauthorized use of my copyrighted work in the preparation of a work derived therefrom. We have reserved all rights in the Work, which was first published in 2008, and we have registered the copyright. The copyrighted images which appear on your web site, are essentially identical to the Work and clearly used the Work as its basis. You neither asked for nor received permission to use the Work as the basis for it nor to make or distribute copies of it. Therefore, we believe you have willfully infringed our rights under 17 USC Section 101, et seq. and could be liable for statutory damages as high as $100,000. I demand that you immediately cease the use and distribution of all infringing works derived from the Work, and all copies of it, and that you deliver to us all unused, undistributed copies of it, or destroy such copies immediately, and that you desist from this or any other infringement of my rights in the future. If we have not received an affirmative response from you by 10/05/2010 indicating that you have fully complied with these requirements, we will be taking the full legal remedies available to rectify this situation. Please visit (website deleted) for a copy of the suit documents. Sincerely,

If you read that carefully, you will see that it appears to be a real email. The only problem is that the website instantly installs a trojan on the computer. This is a classic case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If you ignore the email completely and it was a real email. You would be finding yourself in court. However, if you follow the link in the email and it was fake, you now are helping some guy in Loserville buy his second Porsche.

This is a reminder to be very careful about what you click on, you never know what is on the other end. Keeping up-to-date on Windows patches and anti-virus really helps.

I am posting this tip here so I don’t loose it for the next time I need it.

I had to compare three tabs, and was would have been easiest to compare them side-by-side. Here is what I figured out:

1. Click on the View tab.
   
2. Click New Window.
   
   Repeat this for as many windows that you need.
3. Click the Arrange All button to view them how you like (in my case vertical).
   
   

If you are on Facebook, visit this site: http://likebutton.me/

As you can see, you now know what websites your friends like to visit, and they could see about you. Do you frequent monster.com? You boss may now know that. Scared yet? It’s true that Google knows all of this as well, the only difference is that Google doesn’t tell your friends.

Want to delete your account yet?

Prompted by the new privacy changes to Facebook, I am going to issue myself a challenge. 30 days with no Facebook. By no means am I addicted and most posts come through Twitter anyway. So this should be easy.

So here is the challenge: No Facebook for 30 days which includes no posting and no logging in. The only thing that will be still going in will be anything that I have automatically posting already. I will be officially starting May 1st, but will be starting now. After listening to the latest TWiG, I may never come back either.

The exception is if I have to do this for work.

On a whim the other day, I thought I should just start to post links to various developer-related news items I find. Then I promptly thought I should move that to my new podcast site. So here is the soft non-audio launch of the site. Expect more soon. There are some finishing touches remaining on the site yet, so expect some breakage yet.

• Three Monitors For Every User
• Unsub links at the TOP of your emails will lead to higher conversions . . .
• Please do not change your password – Uh, what?!?
• Slashdot asks How Many Hours a Week Can You Program?
• Talking about Google Go: Higher-order functions
• RPG IV at IBM i 7.1
• What is Happening to the Computer Systems Industry
• Cloud Computing

• An Introduction to Google’s Go Programming Language
• Simple daily git workflow
• 34 cheat sheets for web designers and developers
• Much ado about NULL: An introduction to virtual memory
• Much ado about NULL: Exploiting a kernel NULL dereference
• After 19 years, http:// prefix is getting ditched (in Google Chrome)
• IE9 Throws Down the Hardware Acceleration Gauntlet
• MySQL 5.5.4 is Very Exciting
• Distributed Version Control is here to stay, baby