Why I Deleted My Foursquare Account

After using it for a few years and then on and off in the past year, I recently deleted my Foursquare account. There were a few big reasons for this decision. First off is obvious privacy concerns. Those are obvious, but my concerns with Foursquare were primarily concerned with two other things. A lot of my "online" friends are on Foursquare, which is great and helpful during conferences or other events, but on a day to day basis that does not really seem too useful. Some of my students were on it and a few co-workers, but not a substantial enough amount of people to make me want to continue using this app.

The biggest problem, however, was the fact that many local businesses did not honor "deals" offered on Foursquare. I had two franchise owners of large coffee shops ask me what Foursquare even was, and another was extremely hostile about the fact that they did not honor whatever discount was mentioned on the app. Now, with the franchises this could be a matter of the corporation doing it and franchises opting out, but then why is it still on the app? That is not a local stores fault really. Somehow, Foursquare needs to be better designed to deal with this.

I lost interest as time went on because there was little incentive to use the app. If I could get deals, I would be happy to use it. I was pretty bummed when I found out that deals I thought I was getting would not be honored. Some of my students have said the same thing. I just do not see a use in the long run for apps like this.

Stay On Script! Do You Want Chelsea Clinton To Lose In 2032?

One of the most maddening aspects of liberals' response to Edward Snowden and the NSA scandal was the talk about the Democrats potential loss in the 2014 midterms. The conversation would go something like "stop talking/hyping up X because there is an election coming in Y. Do you want 'us' to lose our majority!" This is the kind of asinine argument that keeps me up at night. It's troubling to me that people are so associated with a party that anyone who goes "off script," so to speak, is considered so dangerous. I am a human being, not a Democrat or Republican or Libertarian. To me, it does not matter what party you are in. What matters is specific issues and how they relate to me and my own personal values. If Democrats are so concerned about losing an election or congressional majority, perhaps they should not bullying people who dissent from their talking points. Perhaps as well, they could run candidates who actually stick to what they claim to believe in, or are not corrupt.

I find it insulting to me as a human being with my own views and soul that I must always conform and be constantly worrying about obeying some party creed because of a forthcoming election. A party whose members constantly rank on me for defying that will never get my vote.

In Praise Of Daniel Suarez

An author I got turned onto by one of my students this year in Daniel Suarez. This summer, I have been listening to his books in the car and I am extremely impressed with them. Suarez writes "techno-thrillers" about modern technology and how it can be used to spy, harm, and kill us. Given the recent developments with the NSA scandal, these books are quite topical fodder. Freedom is a fantastic look at a future ruled by surveillance, online reputation, and a creepy, Google Glass looking interface to view the world. Kill Decision is about drones and what happens when they are given autonomy to kill based on algorithms.

Here are two interviews with Suarez. The first is from Adam Curry's Big Book Show and the longer one is from Leo Laporte's Triangulation netcast. Both are really good and go into great detail about Suarez's novels. I highly recommend them.

DuckDuckGo: My New Search Engine Of Choice

A change I have made recently is moving my searches on the web from Google to DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo is a more private search engine that does not hold your private data or pass it along to third parties. Unlike, say, Google. I am finding this new search engine to be a joy to use. I do not see a lot of differences between results and without the "personal" results that Google adds when you are logged in, I think in some ways they are better. Google's results are often filled with garbage from social sources and informational link farms (many of my students fall prey to these too when doing research). If you are trying to divest a bit from companies that attack your privacy, DuckDuckGo is a great choice.