unfriending

Greenpeace praises Facebook's 'unfriending' of coal

Facebook posted the breakdown of its carbon footprint today, drawing praise from Greenpeace for the company's efforts and transparency.

Facebook reported that its greenhouse gas emissions from data centers, office space, employee commuting and air travel, data center construction and sever transportation totaled about 285,000 metric tonnes in 2011. It takes the same amount of energy to serve each active Facebook user as it would to produce one medium latte, three large bananas or a couple glasses of wine, according to the post.

Facebook's energy sources were 23 percent clean and renewable, 27 percent coal, 17 percent … Read more

How to find out who's unfriended you on Facebook

Update, September 25, 9:14 a.m. PT: Facebook has, as predicted, apparently moved quickly and taken care of this minor invasion of privacy in record time. It seems you can no longer pinpoint unfaithful friends in this way. Below you'll find this story in its original form (note the final paragraph).

They say we should keep our friends close and our frenemies closer, but sometimes, despite our best efforts, we lose a Facebook friend. It can be handy (or infuriating) to know for sure who's left the fold, and until now, there was no good way to … Read more

How to clean up your Facebook feed

Get in real time. At the top of your News Feed, click "Most Recent." Now you're viewing a real-time view of your friends' activities--however, Facebook is still only showing posts from people who it thinks you interact with most. To change that, click Most Recent > Edit Options > Show posts from all of your friends and pages.

Now you're viewing activities as they happen, which can get a little hectic. Here's how to refine this view:

Hide friends from the feed. Instead of unfriending someone because of his bothersome updates (like, "This chicken … Read more

Top 5 reasons people "unfriend" you on Facebook

The mortification of it: learning you've been unfriended by someone on Facebook! It's sort of traumatic, especially since it usually happens rather sneakily with no explanation offered. This little list may help you identify what you did wrong. Or maybe that person just hates you.

Here's the Twitter page for the guy who did this research.

7 things to consider before Facebook unfriending

Mark your calendars, Facebook masses. November 17 is National Unfriend Day, as declared by late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. "Friendship is a sacred thing, and I believe Facebook is cheapening it," he says. "I go on this Facebook and I see people with thousands of what they call friends, which is impossible--you can't have a thousand friends."

So Kimmel suggests examining your list of Facebook friends and only keeping the real friends (you know, as in people who've actually breathed the same air as you).

Good idea, Mr. Kimmel. According to Robin Dunbar, a professor of anthropology at Oxford University, our brains can't keep up with more than 150 friends anyhow. So, why not? Go ahead and use National Unfriend Day as an excuse to "clean up" your friends list guilt-free.

But before you go on an unfriending rampage, consider the following advice:

1. Keep watch on your frenemies. These days, it seems like the immediate response to being insulted or betrayed is, "OMG I'm going to delete them from Facebook." But don't forget this saying: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. If life is a battlefield, then for some, Facebook is the front line. Take advantage of it. You don't have to interact with your enemies (er, frenemies?), but you can use the News Feed to keep tabs on them.

2. Value their information. Facebook isn't only about maintaining friendships. Consider other ways in which your potential unfriendees interact with Facebook. Do they post interesting or helpful links? Are they an expert in a field that's relevant to your work? Remember that most people have something valuable to offer, so consider a person's knowledge, skill set, and connections before unfriending.

3. Consider privacy settings. If you're inclined to unfriend someone to protect your privacy, there are other ways to hide your information without deleting someone. You can choose to hide your wall, photos, status updates, or other content from just a few people--or entire groups of people. Also very useful is the ability to control specific posts. Check out this Facebook privacy guide for a clear explanation. Thank you, Facebook. … Read more

The 404 704: Where having kids only makes you hotter (podcast)

Whether it's the dude showing off his abs or a co-worker inviting you to happy hour drinks at Dave and Busters, we all have friends on Facebook we wouldn't mind disappearing. Wave bye to these faux friends, because November 17 is National UnFriend Day, where everyone is invited to trim the friend fat...on Facebook, that is.

The creator of the new holiday is late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who recently declared war on all Facebook friends you don't actually care about in "real life." Genuine friendships are sacred, according to Kimmel, and he thinks social networks like Facebook that let you "friend" anyone are cheapening the sentiment.

On the other hand, if you're curious to know who's unfriended YOU on Facebook, well...there's an app for that. It's called UnFriend Finder, and it's a new extension for the Firefox Web browser that tells you which of your friends are being unfaithful and exactly when the online break-up occurred. Just be sure to install it prior to November 17, because it won't retroactively show you ex-friends from the past.

Hopefully Natali Del Conte won't unfriend The 404, or else we wouldn't have opportunities like today to invite her on the show to tell us more technical details than we ever thought existed about diapers, including her 30-day cloth diaper challenge...don't feel left out if you don't have a kid, we're planning a similar diaper competition among ourselves.

After the break and a video voice mail from Kentucky From Neil, we want to warn all of our male listeners using laptops about scrotal hyperthermia. According to an experimental study on 29 healthy male volunteers, varying the position of a laptop won't help the issue, although the conclusion does recommend a laptop pad and/or adjusting your seating stance to prevent long-term damage. Safety first on The 404!

Episode 704 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

New parent for Diapers.com

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Amazon is buying the parent company of Diapers.com and Soap.com

Google tests a product to let you record Google Voice calls in Gmail

Google disallows Facebook from pulling Gmail contacts to find friends

The BlackBerry Torch is now available for $99 in black, red, or white

A Chinese company is set to unveil a color e-ink eReader

November 17 will be the day to unfriend your undesirables on Facebook

But don't unfriend the Queen of England because she just joined Facebook

The Hex band gives you a way to be … Read more

Kimmel launches day to delete your Facebook friends

Are your friends obese? Is the burden of too many Facebook friends weighing you down? Do you spend your days so concerned about those hundreds who hang on your every word that you can no longer function as, say, the CEO of a major tech company?

Jimmy Kimmel, the talk show host who isn't Jimmy Fallon, has a solution. He would like you to observe National Unfriend Day.

On November 17, he encourages you to remove some of the friend fat in your life. William Shatner helped Kimmel in his announcement by philosophizing: "These people on Facebook..they'… Read more

Two useful Facebook apps for the socially promiscuous

I wanted to touch on two Facebook apps this afternoon that are highly useful for people with a lot of friends. One is to keep an eye on them, while the other is simply a means of extending your presence on multiple networks at the same time.

The first is called Unfriender, and it's been kicking around since last month. Once installed and given access to your data, it'll keep an eye on people you've added as friends and let you know if they've removed you as a friend later down the line. As a reason … Read more