Press Send and...Oops!

The Setting: Finally, a little bit of help for those of us who wish we could take it back.

Way back in October 2008 I wrote about the awkward situation of sending an e-mail to the wrong person or saying something stupid in your e-mail that you wish you could take back.

Google's e-mail has introduced an email tool that allows you to undo an embarrassing e-mail you sent by mistake. The catches are it only works with Gmail accounts and you only have five seconds to undo the send. Here is the article about the undo send tool.

The Ego Massage Generation

The Setting: Do you feel obligated to accept someone’s friendship request on Facebook just because they offered it?

Or connect with someone on LinkedIn because they sent a request? Or follow someone on Twitter because they’re following you? Or connect with anyone on any other social networking tool out there, just because they asked?

I have had this conversation with a few of my friends and many are having these same thoughts. For some people, it really is about quantity and not necessarily about quality. It's a competition – who can get the most connections. Is it just massaging your ego if you have more friends, connections, links, followers, minions than anyone else? Is it about connecting with as many people as possible, is it about the networking?

Speaking specifically about Facebook, I admit I have accepted friend requests from people who are friends of my brother (I at least knew who they were), people I don't really know but we belong to the same organization or professional group, and people who are friends of friends.

I have three friends requests on my Facebook account right now. One is a friend suggestion from someone who thought I might know the person. I don’t. One is from someone I went to high school with whose name sounds vaguely familiar but I know she was not someone I hung out with. The last is from someone I did know in high school and although we were not enemies, I don’t have the best memories of our relationship. Why is it so important for them to be friends with me? Because I am so amazing? Perhaps. Who can blame them, really? I'll keep ya posted.

Social Media Last Will and Testament

The Setting: So what happens when an online gamer dies? How will his online gaming buddies know about it? Will they think he just abandoned them? Do we care?

I read an interesting article about family members searching down their dead gamer relative's passwords to online sites and then logging on to contact the gamer's friends to let them know what happened. Some gamers are actually leaving their log in / password details where family members can find them so that if they should die, their family members can log on to the various sites and communicate their demise.

There is a site called Deathswitch where members pay $20 a year and set up to 30 e-mails. If they don't check in at regular intervals, the e-mails are automatically sent to whomever the member specified. Another site called Slightlymorbid, whose byline says "Notify your online friends if something happens to you," is similar to Deathswitch. The difference is that the member does not need to check in at regular times; instead, their family member contacts the company if something happens to the member to start the "notification process." The Legacy Locker site plans to launch in April. It will require a death certificate before releasing any information.

With the popularity of online games and social media, I imagine we'll see more and more companies like these popping up. Click here to view the Death of gamers article.

"I always knew this day would come."

The Setting: Our good friend Bernard Madoff was kind enough to plead guilty to charges that he ran a ponzi scheme, swindling billions from investers. He faces up to 150 years in prison when he's sentenced on June 16.

Some of the investors have lost everything. We can make all the judgments we want to about them putting all their eggs in Bernie's basket, but he truly swindled them. Worse, many of the people he ripped off, were friends of his.

Madoff said in court, "I am ashamed for these criminal acts. I always knew this day would come." Well, you should be. And, yep, the day has come.

Don't worry Bernie. Maybe you'll only get, say, 50 years. You'll only be 120 years old when you get out.

Hmm... I'm sensing a new band name

Topic: Ladies and Gentlemen! Put your hands together! And now, coming to the stage....Shoe-throwing Journalist!

Remember that Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then-President George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad? When the Secret Service had apparently run out to Starbucks? Well, he was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday by an Iraqi court. Journalist Muntadher Al-Zaidi was seen as a hero by many in Iraq and his sentencing sparked protests in the streets. Oh, and he had 17 lawyers. Seventeen! If you have that many lawyers, shouldn't you win your case? That's another story, I guess.

Anyway, just so you know: the world is safe again.

Are these for real?

The Setting: Those were my first words after reading this ad from Costco.

My friend Terri sent me this link to an ad for electronic cigarettes. e-Cigarettes – are you kidding me?! Perhaps we've taken this whole "e" thing a little too far. So if you smoke these, do you smell like e-smoke, e-Jones for a smoke, and get e-smoking-related illnesses?

But wait, there's more!! Extra battery and charger are included!!

Oh well, I guess smoking these are better for your health than smoking the real thing. But I love that the product recommendations include a tooth whitening system. Do these things actually e-stain your teeth? Kids, smoking is so not cool...

Just to prove I'm not making this up, click to view the NPRO Starter Kit ad.