Unlike FourSquare and Gowalla, the feature allows your Facebook Friends to check you in to locations without your prior knowledge.

Yes, you will receive a notice and can delete the check in post by your Friend.  But isn’t that too late if you don’t want your whereabouts known?  I’ve already received several half-joking threats from friends that they will be checking me into … well, let’s just say locations into which I would not want to be checked.  Can you say “ripe for abuse?”

Places, if you opt-in, also allows you to share your location with non-Friends and see both Friends and non-Friends checked in where you are.  ”People Here Now” the feature is called

If you’re uncomfortable with any of this, here’s how to change your privacy settings:

STEP ONE:

From any Facebook page, in the upper right of the screen, access the Account menu and select “Privacy Settings.”

STEP TWO:

On the “Choose Your Privacy Settings” page, at the bottom of the chart, select “Customize settings.”

STEPS THREE AND FOUR:

On the Customize Settings page, in the “Things I share section,” for the “Places I check in” setting, use the pull-down menu to choose with which groups you will share check in information.  You may have to select the “Customize” option within the pull-down menu.  I’ve chosen to share with “Friends Only.”  If and when I check in of my own volition, I’m okay with sharing that with my Friends.  There’s also an option to share only with specific Friends; I think that’s great.

Just below the “Places I check in” setting, enable the “People Here Now” setting if you desire.  For now, I’m opting out, although I’m opted in to the same feature on FourSquare.  I just don’t care to know what strangers are about and also geeking out with social networking apps.  And I might or might now want to bump into Friends while out and about in the wild.

STEP FIVE:

On the same page, the default setting for “Friends can check me in to Places” — Facebook got this one right — is “Select One,” which I assume is an opt out choice.  From the pull-down menu, select Enable or Disable as desired.  I’m definitely opting out of this one.  I can’t imagine I would ever want a default setting that allows others, even Friends, to check me into locations.

Very interestingly, the button paradigm for this setting is different than the other two “Enable” settings on the page . . . .

Via: Term Life Insurance

1. Thou shalt pass through airport security quietly and efficiently.  We all know the drill now.  Be prepared:  3-ounce fluids in a 1-quart plastic bag, shoes off, metal objects removed from person, laptop out of it’s bag, no excessive number of carry-on baggage, jacket off.  Move it, people!
2. Thou shalt not crowd one another or push and shove in line while waiting to board.  How many of you jockey for pre-boarding position in the relative roomy space of the gate area only to find yourself trapped in the suffocating confines of the gangway or the narrow aisles of the plane?  Worry not:  The plane won’t leave without you, so rushing to the front of the line doesn’t secure your transportation.  And if you’re worried about overhead storage space, you should have arrived at the airport earlier.
3. Similarly, thou shalt not crowd others when waiting in the gangway – you won’t get on the plane sooner and it doesn’t matter if you do.
4. Thou shalt not use the seat in front of you as a lever to assist you in getting up from yours.  There’s an alternative device to stand up that many Americans have underemployed chronically:  That device is called “your legs.”  No need to jarringly disturb the passenger in front of you every time you need to leave your seat.
5. Similarly, thou shalt not use seats as ladder rungs when moving about the airplane.  Again, use the legs, employ what’s called “balance,” and spare your fellow passengers the additional invasion of personal space that air travel all but guarantees.
6. Thou shalt not monopolize both armrests when seated in an aisle seat.  I’m just saying.  Consider this perhaps a minor sin.
7. Thou shalt not get hammered and/or be a loud talker — even if genetically predisposed like Jason H.
8. Thou shalt treat the flight crew with the utmost courtesy and respect.
9. Thou shalt not push and shove other passengers when waiting to disembark.  See commandments 1 & 2 above.
10. Thou shalt remember that we all have business to attend to and friends and family to visit.  We’re all on the same missions.  Yours is not more important than mine, and mine is no more important than yours.  Let’s all treat each other with the courtesy and respect we each deserve.

Gobble gobble!

Please feel free to comment on additional commandments or sins for comment inclusion.

Recall my most recent complaints:  (1) abysmal battery life and (2) broken Microsoft Exchange integration.

I was sometimes getting less than 5 hours of battery life, even after Apple replaced my unit with a new one.  Firmware 2.1 plus some more prudent battery conservation practices have all but solved #1.  I’ve read too many articles, blog posts and discussion board threads on this to recount.  Plus, I’ve finally succumbed to logical suggestions — most of which I daresay I had heard already — from BW and ES.  Here’s what’s worked for me:

First, I’m only fetching data now, and only hourly.  Such is the disappointment of and lowered expectations in performance of the iPhone 3G that the very reason for buying it — push — is what must be disabled to provide more reasonable battery life.  I’m not even upset that I don’t get push, because it was working so poorly — that battery-killing wheel seemed to be spinning constantly — and I’m so grateful for longer battery life.

Second, I’ve slightly reduced the number of accounts from which I’m fetching data.  I have work Exchange, Yahoo, Gmail and MobileMe accounts.  Instead of fetching data from all of them, I’m forwarding Gmail to Yahoo and fetching from Yahoo.  I use MobileMe only for calendar and contacts syncing, so I have it set up but never check that email.  And I’m even fetching from my work email account.  I came to terms with the fact that I don’t need push email to distract me in meetings, and I already get push when sitting in front of my destop with Outlook open.

Third, I’ve turned brightness down fairly low.  Even with a protective film on the glass, it’s still bright enough for me.

Fourth, I’ve left Bluetooth and Location Services on.  I use my Bluetooth headset to and from work every day, it’s too much of a pain to go into Settings to deactivate and activate it repeatedly, and I’m not convinced it’s a drain on the battery.  For Location Services, much of the time I have this off, but I just end up switching it on when prompted when using Google Maps or some other geo-aware application that calls for it.

Finally, I’ve left both 3G and Data Roaming turned on.  As eBay alumnus Ryan Spoon notes, push has a much greater effect on battery life than 3G.  I know at least one other iPhone 3G owner — ES –  who switches off 3G not because of the perceived battery life drain but because he believes the network is unreliable and results in dropped calls.  I’m accessing the Internet often enough that I want the speed from its being on all the time.

The net effect?  I can go over a day without recharging.  And I don’t live in constant fear of a sudden drained-battery-induced shutdown.  Frackin’ fantastic.  Reasonable battery life?  Check!

Next, I’ll bemoan the complete failure of Exchange integration, my data sync requirements and then the awkward but functioning solutions I’ve devised.

Today, Apple released the new 2.1 firmware, and it’s broken my Exchange integration.  Right now, I have no calendar, no contacts and no email — the unit is useless to me without these core functions.  I’ve tried deleting the Exchange account and re-adding it, but that doesn’t help.  Apple support forums indicate that at least a few others are experiencing the same problem.  Frankly, I’m sick of the inability of the iPhone to perform basic functions, and I’m seriously thinking about switching back to BlackBerry.

Two reasons to buy Apple products:  (1) They just work and (2) sex appeal.  So far, (1) is absent leaving my iPhone decidely unsexy. 

I must be spoiled. Over the past two years, the only airplane flights I’ve taken over 6 hours have been international flights in which the amenities, meals and service have been adequate to great. Moreover, I’ve been fortunate to travel business or first class.

By amenities, I mean the in-flight kits containing socks, toiletries, etc., given to business class and above passengers and little things like even audio headsets. By meals, I mean the quality and variety of the food and drink provided. And by service, I mean the attentiveness, attitude and efficiency of the flight staff.

If you fly internationally on non-U.S.-based airlines, you will realize immediately that the amenities, meals and service on U.S.-based carriers, particularly on U.S. domestic flights, in contrast, are noticeably and unequivocally worse.

Amenities on U.S. carriers are non-existent or minimal at best. I’m writing this post on a United Airlines flight to Boston, and the audio headset for listening to in-flight entertainment was loose, not packaged in plastic, with the cord coiled around it. At least the plastic packaging that used to be used provided the illusion of hygiene. Now, high-maintenance gadget geek that is am, I bring my own Bose noise reduction headset wherever I fly. Today, however, I can’t use it, because the headset jack in my seat is not just broken, it’s literally missing altogether.

But wait, there’s more! Meals . . . . I must have missed this in the news, but somewhere, somehow, sometime, domestic flights on United discontinued hot, included meals. Now, if you want to eat on a 6-hour flight, you can either bring your own food or you must pay $5 for a lousy assortment of cold crackers and snacks. United Airlines lists the “SnackBoxes” available.

Last, service ranges from outright rude to measurably dour. Southwest Airlines is a noticeable exception, but Southwest doesn’t offer long flights. (I haven’t flown Jet Blue yet).

Compare this experience to the experience you might receive on any Asia-based airline, say Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Asiana, Korean Airlines or Quantas, and you’ll know that American carriers aren’t even trying.

I have neither monitored nor studied the plight of U.S. carriers. I know that United Airlines has been in a world of hurt. Evidently, the failed economics and/or management of these carriers prevents them from providing even the service they provided in the past.

The only thing that keeps me with United is my accumulation of frequent flier miles, but, even were I want to switch, it is but as if American Airlines or any other U.S. carrier offers a superior alternative.