Tech Talk

A spoof film trailer making its way around the Web is offering a real glimpse into just how important Facebook — and other social media platforms have become.

In the two-and-one-half-minute YouTube video, comedians Dan De Lorenzo and Ben Stumpf equates in an over-the-top way not having a Facebook account to living an isolated existence in the wilderness.

It’s worth a watch:

Let’s face it, it’s often difficult to let go. The same certainly holds true of significant others — past and present. However, it is often critical to do exactly that and let go to stay healthy and maintain a level head — and then find future romance.

It is for that reason Tech Talk applauds YourTango.com, a site devoted to relations, for crafting the first “Break Up With Your Ex” day on Facebook — slated for Feb. 13. Best of all, no cards, candy or purchase of any sort is required.

According to a recent survey conducted for the company, 71 percent of respondents indicated that they think about their ex too much and 48 percent (including 42 percent of married folk) said they look at their ex’s social networking profile too often. If there is a positive side to the results, it’s at least people realize that they are doing it too often.

The site encourages everyone to cut social media ties with former boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses and partners on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and the like.

However, the site doesn’t stop there. To ensure that we’ll all move on, YourTango.com encourages folks to:

• Untag and/or delete photos of yourself and that person online, on your computer and phone;
• Delete songs and playlists that remind you of the person;
• Block or erase the person on Google chat, AIM and other instant messaging services;
• Delete their numbers from your phone and their email addresses from your address book;
• Enlist the support of friends and community to detach and stay detached from your ex;
• Get back into the dating scene to complete the moving-on process.

“The current digital landscape makes it especially difficult to truly break from past relationships. Nevertheless, getting someone out of your head — and your heart — is a necessary part of moving on and finding new love, as well as succeeding in a current relationship,” said Andrea Miller, founder and CEO, YourTango.com in an e-mail to Tech Talk. “With the massive ex-attachment going on, we devised this simple call to action to help individuals digitally untether themselves before Valentine’s Day.”

In the same e-mail, Miller stressed the importance of severing ties with the following disturbing details:

• 57 percent of singles said thinking about their ex prevents them from finding new love
• 60 percent of married people agreed that their ex is on their mind too often
• 36 percent said their attachment to their ex interferes with their marriage

 In an attempt to encourage others to follow suit, and surely to garner attention for the website, participants are encouraged to post “I Broke Up With My Ex,” and use the #DumpYourEx hashtag.

Regardless of why YourTango.com is doing it, it’s a great idea and one that TechTalk endorses.

A new website has the potential to change the way folks look at America’s cities.

Hottblock.com, launched last week

Paul Mansour launched hottblock.com, a self-funded website out of Austin, Texas, last Tuesday. Masour created the innovative site after becoming frustrated while considering the pros and cons of job offers in different cities. He did not know anything about the communities, and his web research only provided him with statistical data — and not a feel for the culture.

After hearing that many of his friends suffered the same concerns, he launched the site that offers reviews and ratings of many medium and large cities across the country. It will give folks the opportunity to share the benefits and drawbacks of each community.

Among the communities locally listed:

• Ansonia
• Bridgeport
• Danbury
• Derby
• Milford
• New Haven
• Norwalk
• Shelton
• Stamford
• Waterbury
• West Haven

However, none of the aforementioned communities have been reviewed as of this posting. But you can change that. In fact, the founder told Tech Talk that he is depending on members of the community to help populate the pages.

“Contemplating a new job in a new city is hard enough already without the added difficulties of weighing the pros and cons of a particular city and its many neighborhoods,” Mansour told Tech Talk. ”Unless you know someone in your prospective town, it’s difficult to find the best neighborhood or part of town. I’ve had many friends over the past few years who have encountered this issue and not been satisfied with the resources currently available online.”

He said there are many sites that offer housing statistics, restaurant reviews and opinions on destinations from the perspective of a visitor — but not any that tie it all together.

“You can scour the Web for articles or posts with similar information, but hottblock.com gives visitors a chance to learn about a city from long-time residents in once place,” Mansour said. ”Though larger cities comprise most of the reviews, visitors have the option to explore reviews for any city or town in the country with a population over 5,000.”

He told Tech Talk that he is considering expanding the site to offer multimedia opportunities. It currently only allows text to be posted.

Hottblock.com has a lot of potential. Its success, however, will depend on how involved he could make the numerous communities in which he has launched portals. Currently, Mansour is depending on the site to grow through word-of-mouth. He may need to do a little more than that to be successful.

Folks in some of the most rural parts of New England have been left to fend for themselves at this hour — thanks to the very individuals promising to deliver a better life. Interesting strategy.

The Associated Press is reporting that political robocalls have sparked service outages among Comcast subscribers throughout parts of Massachussets and New Hampshire meaning 911 service has been knocked offline.

The telecommunications company was forced to reroute phone traffic as a result, the wire service reported Monday evening.

In addition, the New Hampshire Democratic Party reported a loss of phone service at 11 locations across the state on Monday afternoon, the wire service reported. The outages reminded Hearst Connecticut copy editor Bob Gottlieb of outages the party suffered in the state eight years ago.

Conspiracy theorists, be on alert.

Tech Talk thanks Hearst Connecticut copy editor Tim Bleasdale for this tip.

Warning: Potentially offensive language is included in this Tech Talk post. Reader discretion is advised.

A 20-year-old University of Notre Dame junior tweeted his fears of dying minutes before suffering fatal injuries Wednesday when the camera tower he was in collapsed, numerous media outlets are reporting. The National Weather Service reported winds of 51 mph in the area.

In a message timestamped 3:22 p.m., Declan Sullivan wrote, “Gust of wind up to 60mph well today will be fun at work… I guess I’ve lived long enough. :-/.”

Less than an hour later, at 4:06 p.m., he tweeted, “Holy fuck holy fuck this is terrifying.”

Unfortunately no one at the university recognized the danger.

At 4:50, the camera tower collapsed.

The Dallas FOX-affiliate roasted journalists’ use of social media. It is worth watching:

One ought to never forget the potential power of Google or Twitter.

Unfortuantely your Tech Talk editor momentarily failed to recognize both Thursday — but was immediately reminded why the technology giants have become so engrained in his daily life.

By default, Google Mail places users’ signatures below the message to which they are responding as opposed to immediately below the response. The decision has led to much frustration — so much so that the Tech Talker felt vented about the decision on his personal Twitter account. Within hours, a friend responded and pointed the Talker to a simple solution he should have thought of: The Google Labs section of Google Mail.

There, listed among more than a dozen other neat options, is the option to move the signature to immediately below one’s response. Incredible.

The episode reminded the Talker of the potential of Twitter to find solutions easily and effectively — and how forward-thinking Google is.

Happy weekend.

Facebook users love to complain about their privacy — or lack thereof.

Countless pages and groups sprang up late last year in protest, for instance, when the social network made previously private information more easily accessible to users across the site.

The company is often blamed when less-than-flattering photos are discovered online.

But it’s time people stop complaining about the information posted online about them,  and start acting more in line with how they would like to be perceived.

The New York Times recently published a comprehensive article in its magazine about the work underway to try to make it easier to protect one’s digital record — and the extraordinary challenges the effort faces.

Much of the information folks complain about was posted by the very people doing the complaining. Perhaps having a cool persona conflicts with having a job — but life is about making priorities and perhaps if having a career is important, one ought to lay off the booze.

It seems almost comical at this point that people are still seemingly shocked to learn that employers consider the contents of potential employees’ social media assets during the hiring process. The Times article reports that 75 percent of U.S. recruiters and human-resource departments acknowledge that their companies require them to do online research about their candidates. This really should not surprise anyone.

In college classes your humble Tech Talk editor taught, professional development sessions he led and graduate courses in which he was enrolled, he has listened to how unfair it is for this information to be considered in employment situations — or really in any situation at all.

Of course, it’s not just information posted on Facebook that hurts people. It’s also the information disseminated on blogs, in tweets, through Foursquare and through the tens of thousands of other sites that share personal information.

However, there is really quite a simple solution that many people don’t seem to grasp: Refrain from posting and writing about your drunken, high and sexual conquests and you will be OK. Nobody wants to hear about them anyway. Of course, that won’t keep all embarrassing and potentially career-ending information offline — but there is even a simpler solution for that: Grow up and don’t put yourself in compromising situations.

The reality is nobody needs to get publicly drunk or high — or document their sexual escapades. It goes to reason that if one acts responsibly, they will have largely nothing to fear.

After all, even though people are saying the information infringes their privacy rights, what they really mean is it is hurting their reputations.

Social media is not going anywhere and will continue to spread and become increasingly ingrained within our society. There is no excuse for anyone — regardless of age — to be surprised that a photo, video or text of them could appear online.

However, perhaps the very social media that people have longed cited for ruining their lives will instead enhance the same folks’ existences by helping them to better evaluate their actions — before they embark in them.

As for younger folks who are just beginning to explore the full power of social media, perhaps they will learn early the risks that come with drinking under age and otherwise engaging in illegal and immoral actions. Think of the long-reaching benefits, such as the potential for fewer drunken-driving related deaths, higher test scores and more meaningful relationships.