John Keyes

I received an SMS from Thomann which informed me that my USB microphone had left their warehouse.

It felt good when I read that text. I wondered why this notification felt more personal than an email. It’s not because I received it on my phone, as I also use my phone to receive email.

I think it’s because I get different alerts for texts and emails.

An email alert does not warrant my attention in the short-term, as more often than not, the email is not important. The email is from a newsletter, or a developer mailing list, or something equally mundane.

On the hand I’m conditioned to expect texts to come from a person. So when I received the text alert, I assumed somebody I was close to, had sent me something. When I opened the text and saw it was from Thomann, I thought “That was nice of them to send that”, and it made the transaction seem personable.

I found my emotional response interesting, considering I knew it was an automated notification.

ReclaimPrivacy.org

Facebook privacy (or lack of it by default) has come under increasing scrutiny of late. If you want to check how much information you are exposing you should check out ReclaimPrivacy as it:

provides an independent and open tool for scanning your Facebook privacy settings. The source code and its development will always remain open and transparent.

Cannonball

I love the imagery, soundtracks and storytelling of the California is a place films.

Via GOOD; from California is a place.

The web is buzzing with the news that Alex Payne is leaving Twitter to co-found BankSimple.

What is BankSimple:

A simpler bank that is easy to use.
A bank that treats you with respect.
No extraneous features.
No hidden fees.

Sounds great.

At the tail end of 2008, my brother (K) and I had a long discussion about banking. We fantasied about The Nice Bank (thenicebank.com is still available BTW). A bank that values it’s customers, that isn’t greedy, that has a fantastic web, mobile and voice interface, whose primary objective is to safeguard the money of it’s customers, and who never ever tries to up-sell shit you won’t need.

I’ll be following the progress of BankSimple with great interest.

A friend of mine, Tom O’Neill, had his first book published recently, Old Friends — The Lost Tales of Fionn Mac Cumhaill.

Uprooted from city life by the death of his father, Dark is beckoned into a rath as he wanders the fields near his new home. There, he meets people big and small whose magnificent stories of warriors, monsters and the fairy people provide an escape from his crumbling school and home life and take him deep into the world of Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the Fianna.

I’m starting into it tonight, so I may write a wee review in the not too distant future.

Congratulations Tom.