Each year Christmas seems to be getting a bit earlier.  Just yesterday I saw a Facebook status by a former schoolmate proclaiming how great her new Christmas tree looked in her house.  What happened to Christmas in Decemeber?  And, more importantly, why the eight weeks of non-stop Christmas music on the radio?  Last weekend it was 70 degrees in Baltimore.  I’m still walking around without a jacket.  Where’s winter?   Perhaps we are over-compensating with more Christmas.

Enough of that tangent.  Happy Holidays from Google! For all you holiday travelers (like me), you can now pick up FREE wi-fi in airports from now until January 15, 2010.  Google has worked with Boingo Wireless, Time Warner Cable, among others to make this possible, and those that are stuck in the airport due to delays or layovers will most likely appreciate this.

In addition to the free wi-fi, you can also donate to a few charities that Google is supporting this season, including Engineers Without Borders,  the One Economy Corporation and the Climate Savers Computing.

There are very few “catches” with this promotion, and the security protection is about the same as if you were using any other wi-fi network.   In addition, you must accept TOS, which is the same as if you were using the paid airport wireless.   Not a lot of downsides to gift!  (Read more here.)

Free internet (fast enough to stream your favorite YouTube videos) AND have an easy way to donate to charity.  Happy Holidays indeed.

I know this article is a little old, but is still interesting to me nonetheless.

Is Facebook Like Google, or More Like Yahoo?

I found it interesting because a relatively young blogger, in terms of AOL, Yahoo! and Google,   I never knew the specifics behind any of these companies or where they were headed.  Growing up, I never knew how they were affecting the World Wide Web.  All I knew was that I could IM my friends, change my AOL profiles, go into chat rooms, and look at web comics.  No fancy explanation needed.

Now that I’m a little older, perhaps a little wiser,  I have studied some of the history of Yahoo!, and have been more aware of the changes it’s gone through, especially when compared to Google.   Comparisons can then be drawn between Yahoo! and Facebook.

Yahoo and Google have grown in much different ways.  Yahoo! started as search engine but quickly tried to diversify its market by obtaining email, games, messenger, chat,  and a myriad of other products.  It became a publicly traded company within a year of incorporation.

Google, on the other hand, did not make its first acquisition until nearly 3 years after its inception.   They started off slowly, waiting 6 years to become an IPO and 5 years to start introducing things that weren’t search related.   Confidence was built in their search engine and the rest seemed to fall into place after that.  Google loyalists who would use any product they offer, since it all works so seamlessly.

The article then delves into the Facebook – Yahoo! connection – how the two companies parallel.   Facebook, not unlike Yahoo!, started and quickly rose in popularity.  Using that as a springboard, it gave way for Facebook to introduce secondary services and features.  It wasn’t just about straight social network and profile.  Facebook tried to turn itself into a place where you could buy things from other users, write notes and import blogs, play games, chat, among other things.

I can’t say I disagree with the author’s comparison of the two companies.  Like Yahoo once did, Facebook has diversified too soon.  It tried to become too many things at once.  It didn’t devote enough time to perfecting the profile and the connections that can be made from there.  Instead, it introduced news feed, live news feed, the highlights bar, all having been met with some chagrin from its users.

I’m not saying I don’t like some of the features that the site comes up with (such as commenting on statuses), but they could have taken a bit more time to consider where they want to go (goal-wise)  instead  of jumping in with both feet first and attempting to use their popularity to try out a bunch of different new things.  People don’t seem to respond very well when something “isn’t broken”.  Google’s slow and steady approach seems to be winning the race, while fast and furious has a greater chance of crashing and burning.

Hello!  I suppose I should introduce myself before I get started.  My name is Sara and I’m your blogger for Mass Technologic.

I like gadgets (especially kitchen gadgets) but my love is social media.  I enjoy things that bring others together.  Food and music do this.  Community art does this as well.  Social media is that on a much, much larger scale.  It’s facinating, really.

Effective social media makes people feel like less of a stranger and gives them a way to connect with others and to be more exposed to different parts of our world and culture.  You have artists and musicians sharing their work , you have the spread of ideas through the micro blogging site, Twitter.  The current administration uses it rally health care reform.  We suddenly don’t all feel like rocks or an iiiisland (to quote some Simon and Garfunkel).