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Facebook New Friend Reports – Hide “is now friends with” spam

Lately, I’ve seen too many Facebook New Friend Reports in my news feed and it made me use the site and mobile app less, so I set out to find an answer. If you’ve found this post, it’s probably making you crazy as well. No, you can’t just turn off all of these notifications — you have to convince all of your friends to do it for you. Great, right? We have the awesome minds at Facebook to thank for that one. Turning off Facebook New Friend Reports Unfortunately, as of this writing, Facebook does not have a way to do this from the mobile app; you must sign into the website to stop spamming your friends with Facebook New Friend Reports. If you’re tired of seeing blank “is now friends with” blank, then share this with your friends and follow the instructions below: Log into Facebook from your computer Go to your profile page and click the “Activity Log” button (near your cover photo) In the left sidebar, choose the “Friends” section (you may need to click the “MORE” link to see it) At the top right of the friends section, you’ll see a box — click it. In [...]

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Twitter : RSS :: MS Paint : Adobe Illustrator

A childhood friend of mine, Ben Parr, has gone on to do great things in the tech industry and gained a popular tech following that would put most writers/investors to shame. He and I competed for the smart kid status in elementary school (he won most of the time). While he’s writing for c|net and investing in startups, I’m having fun in Denver writing, building websites and running an Apple repair company. We both took completely different directions in life. While I normally agree with his tech-related opinions, I have to disagree with his perspective on the future of RSS — Really Simple Syndication, sometimes labeled Rich Site Summary. He believes that Google’s decision to shut down the Google Reader service on July 1, 2013, is the first major step to the demise of RSS. Ben argues that tools like Twitter and Facebook are more efficient for most people. I actually think Twitter is a more effective way to consume content in a world that produced 1.93 trillion gigabytes of data in 2011 and is expected to hit 7.9 trillion gigabytes in 2015. RSS readers work when trying to consume 20 to 30 blogs, but try sticking 300 in Google Reader and [...]

Mountain Dew Kickstart

New breakfast drink – Mountain Dew Kickstart

What was Pepsi thinking? Well, they want to attack the energy drink market that consumers (like myself) use to stay awake… or wake up in the morning. They consider Mountain Dew Kickstart a healthier choice than your typical energy drinks — Rockstar, Amp, Monster, or Red Bull — and hoped that it would prove more popular for its differences. Mountain Dew Kickstart is not an energy drink in the general sense… it’s more of a morning booster shot. Most energy drink companies load their products with sugar, vitamins, taurine, ginseng, and other words I cannot pronounce. Kickstart includes only 20 grams of sugar, a high level of caffeine, 5% real fruit juice, vitamin c and b. The biggest difference between Kickstart and other 16oz energy drinks is the serving size: one serving of Kickstart is the whole can. Other 16oz energy drinks have two servings in the one can. The 92 mg of caffeine in the Mountain Dew Kickstart is lackluster compared to the 240 mg of caffeine in a Rockstar. Caffeine isn’t the only ingredient that matters in an energy drink, but Kickstart has less caffeine than a single cup of coffee… that is not promising. Most energy drinks [...]

Tomb Raider 2013

Tomb Raider 2013 thoughts from Sean Caspian

A good friend of eciov — Sean Caspian — wrote a quick review of the recent Tomb Raider 2013 release. In short, the absolutely stunning gameplay and unique mechanics make it a completely new experience for the gamers of world. He and I both love it. Since he took the time to write up his initial thoughts, I’ll link to him and spare you the similarities. However, I will have a full write-up once I have enough time to finish the game. I’m only five hours in and haven’t seen a game this good in a very long time. If you are on the fence about the sometimes-waning adventures of Lara Croft, go ahead and wait for my write-up. Even with the limited game time, I can certainly recommend the game without hesitation.

How to Date

How to Date, Marry and Be Awesome – Part One

I had a friend ask me recently if I had any advice for dating a nonbeliever. (I’m going to focus on a secular view of dating for this article, so don’t run away if you’re not a Christian.) There are many factors that affect Christian dating, but I have a one-word response to dating a nonbeliever: don’t. I’m not just saying that because I think it’s a bad idea, I’m saying that because scripture says it’s a bad idea. I do agree, however, that it’s a bad idea. Instead of trying to address everything in one article, I’m splitting it up into parts. This article specifically addresses the ideal progression through the four stages of a romantic relationship. It really doesn’t matter if you’re Christian or agnostic, male or female — this article is a general guide to creating a healthy romance. It’s how I landed my wife and anyone who’s met us will tell you that she’s too good for me (yep). Let’s start with the concept of friendship versus courting versus dating versus marriage. Those are four completely separate stages of a romantic relationship. You shouldn’t take them lightly; take them to heart and you’ll create healthy relationships by following [...]

House Divided

In Order to Break a Less Perfect Union

I would like to pose a simple question for debate that has no roots in the Democratic or Republican Party, as I claim no affiliation. I consider myself an educated voter that simply examines the issues, chooses the right path, and votes accordingly. In the coming months, I will redefine my political affiliation by sharing my ideal vision: a new voice for the political world. As I work towards that, I will ask challenging questions to gauge the receptiveness of the population to various political issues. Here is the first one: Would our nation be more sustainable if we split into two separate countries? I ask this question not because I want to start a war, cause problems or even hope that it comes true. I want to know if such change is possible and what it would look like. Would one nation be Republican, the other Democrat, or would we end up with a completely new political system that we have yet to explore? How would the two (or more) nations divide the current debt? Would one side end up with all of the rich, the other the poor? Would the education systems be different? If it were possible [...]

Depression, Bullying, and Suicide

These are heavy topics for me… heavy for most of the people who end up reading this. I’m constantly watching current events so I can write something that challenges all of us. This one hurts: not because these apply to me directly, because they apply to all of us indirectly. None of you can say that you’ve never encountered depression, bullying or suicide at any point in your life. I’d wager that most of you have experience with at least two of those, maybe even at the same time. Unfortunately, this post talks about all three because of a single victim, pushed too far. Aaron Swartz was a 26-year-old internet genius that did more for your online freedoms that you will ever know. He obtained a high level of fame at 14 when he helped define the RSS (really simple syndicate) specification still used by millions of websites worldwide. Since that time, he helped build the massive dumping ground of opinions called Reddit, worked on the development of the Creative Commons copyright licenses, and founded DemandProgress.org. I will never do his work justice, so here’s an excerpt from his family’s official statement: Aaron’s commitment to social justice was profound, and defined his life. He was [...]

Good vs Evil – Buying a New Car

We received an email a few days ago from Dave Britton at McDonald Hyundai (Littleton, CO) saying that they wanted to sell my Sonata to a customer who couldn’t afford a new car. While I never saw it in writing, he specifically mentioned that we could continue the terms of our current lease in a newer Sonata. That sounded cool, so I took the bait, and visited the dealer to check out our options. Finding a mommy car While talking to Dave, I mentioned that we were interested in moving to a mommy car so that we could be ready for kids whenever that happens (don’t get too excited, Mom). I realize now that he ran with this topic — we never discussed the Sonata — because he hoped to take advantage of a young, inexperienced car buyer. Unfortunately for him… I’m anything but that. We talked for a while, and I mentioned that I didn’t think Hyundai had anything in their inventory that would really fit my mommy car requirements. Obviously, safety is number one, but there are many things to consider in a good mommy car: All-wheel drive — Laura hates driving in the snow. Good crash ratings — [...]

Ethics versus Morals

My life is a struggle of in and out of focus Christianity and a desire for God that strobes like a bad horror movie. Every time I feel encouraged in faith, someone, something or a whole group of people do something extremely stupid that makes me wonder, “Why would I ever want to be part of that club?” Wearing the Christian brand is something I want for my relationship with God, but it’s a scarlet letter for Apologists. I’m not using the classical definition of Apologists (Wikipedia); I’m using it to refer to the countless number of Christians who end up apologizing for their “brothers and sisters.” Don’t all Christians read the same Bible, follow the same rules, and have the same beliefs? Why should one Christian apologize for another? The easy answer is that not one of us is perfect, but we have God’s grace waiting for us when we fall. Unfortunately, many people don’t understand God’s grace. We apologize to those people because they’ve probably known a Christian who knocked them down as they fell. I’m not afraid to tell someone I’m a Christian. All too often, after the initial shock subsides, non-Christians tell me stories of the [...]

Reflections of a Revolution

This isn’t an OAR tribute or a Beatles reference. This post will focus on NBC’s new show, Revolution. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. Then come back here and read this post. Now, since you’ve seen it… wouldn’t that be awesome? I’m not condoning militia-rule or killing others for the sake of power. I’m merely suggesting that losing technology, as we know it, would be wonderful. Consider the fact that you’re reading this post on a computer, or mobile device, that didn’t exist twenty years ago. You’d have to actually talk to me to understand my mood — not read about it on Facebook or Twitter. Since I’ll be sharing this on Facebook, a lot of you will read this and never say anything about it to me. I may get a “Like” if I’m lucky. When was the last time you actually talked to me, saw me in person, or interacted with me at any level? Technology has been on my mind a lot in the last several months. Specifically social networking: long live the superficial connection with people we hardly know. Do I care about most of you? Probably. Do most of you care about me? Hardly. [...]