Really great article on how Yahoo fucked Flickr.

Long but well worth reading.

I completely agree with it’s sentiments, I too pretty much dumped my Flickr account once I had to sign up for a Yahoo one just to log in.

Big mistake, huge!

Fire over to Gizmodo to read it!

As a daily reader of sites like Cult of Mac & Mashable, I’m constantly coming up against one thing that really bugs me.
Site navigation. In particular, flicking to the next page on a site. Nearly every site I come across that’s in, what I refer to as a magazine style, falls for the same poor practice.

The problem?

I’ve finished reading the current web page, want to click onto the next page to continue reading. I usually have two options, “Older Posts” or “Newer Posts”. So I had have to think, “well, which one is it?”. In most cases you’d click the “Older Posts” button usually situated on the left hand side of the page.

It’s completely counter intuitive. I argue that this goes against a more natural habit of flicking forward using a button on the right.
Take a magazine for example. It’s open on the desk in front of you. You flick through it. See something you want to read, flick to the next page by going to the right and turning the page over. Same with books and all other printed media I can think of. Why then, do websites, that are pretty much targeted to fit the magazine mould, insisting that we flick back the way? It goes against everything we’ve ever done in our entire lives?
It’s a simple fix, look at Gizmodo.co.uk they do it perfectly.
A simple “Next Page” on the bottom right. Perfect. You feel like you’re flicking “onwards” to the rest of site.
Other websites, wake up! It’s really pissing me off.

We liked the Clear App when we saw the video the other week and it’ll be out tomorrow!

Can’t wait to try it out!

So said one of my friends recently and I have to admit, I feel the same.
There’s been a growing realisation for me recently and I’m growing out of love with facebook. I’m pretty sure the Time Line is the final straw.
My use of it peaked in 2011, but since Christmas I’ve been updating and checking it less and less with each passing day.

The reasons seem to be two fold…

 (1) I’ve pretty much sick of the updates from my “friends” some of whom I’ve not really seen or spoken to in years.

(2) The Apps

It’s the Apps that are really getting to me. Each time I sign up for a new “thing” on the internet, I can link it to my facebook profile. Handy if I want to post my Instagram pics to my FB page, or want to see who else has liked the restaurant I’m currently in. But each time I see that “Allow” box and see exactly what I’m granting this app access to, I’m more and more nervous.

Now I’m sure these people have my best interests at heart…

But at the same time, do I really want to effectively allow some unknown person / company to be able to see my updates and to update my status on my behalf?

I don’t care what my friends are watching on Netflix and I’m pretty sure they’re not interested in seeing that I’ve been watching the entire back catalogue of The Inbetweeners.

All these constant updates, status updates, “liked” page updates, all this clutter really detracts from what I liked about facebook originally.

With the IPO hot in the news, there’s been some talk of what facebook needs to look out for. Competition wise, it’s not a hard one to workout.

If you’re wanting to create a facebook killer, simply reinvent facebook and take away all the apps.

Recreate the “Social” network it once was and sit back and watch people flock to you.

To do lists on the iPhone are a little hit or miss.

I really liked the Reminders app, especially with the location based function.

But in actuality when you come to use it, it’s clunky. I’v never been able to get it to remind me fill the car up next time I’m near the garage.

So, that aside, I’m really intrigued to see this little app on the horizon, Clear.

There’s not a lot to know at the moment. Developed by Realmac Software, their website has a snazzy video showing the app working.

It’s bright, clear and looks very easy to use. But it’s that pinching move the guy does, that’s what’s sold it to me. What a great way of moving between the menus.

Hoping to see this released soon, so fingers crossed. In the meantime, fire over to the site and see it for yourself.

Remember when we used to get Pandora in the UK?
That was great wasn’t it?
Before Spotify came along, it was THE answer to the boring old Radio 1 play list.
However, the powers that be, came along and took away all our fun.

But now, thanks to the Spotify API, we are now beginning to see some interesting apps coming through.

The first of these to grab my attention is SpotOn. It’s basically Pandora, using the Spotify back catalogue.

Not only that, but it looks really great too.
Free, so check it out and let me know what you think.
I’ve not used it masses yet but the interface is simple and it’s choices of music are pretty good, Spot On if you will.
One thing missing is AirPlay. Any movie or music app now HAS to come with Airplay compatibility built in. Not doing so is plain lazy.
Lets hope it appears in a not too distant update.

I have a lot of apps on my iPhone and try to wrangle them into some sort of order using the folders.

It’s fine as it works but there’s some things that I use all the time and constantly forget where I’ve put them. The problem is increased now that I have the iPad as, although I have roughly the same apps on each machine, they are not always in the same sounding folders.

That’s where Launch Centre comes in.

Like most other users, I’m sure I have a loosely based “ranking” system for my iOS apps.

1st screen, all the important stuff, 2nd screen the second place stuff, but the dock, well, that’s for the super special apps! Calendar, Safari, Phone, Messages etc

Well, Launch Centre has just been included into that line up. Praise indeed!

Before watching the interview on Cult of Mac I had no idea that iOS url shortcuts existed.

Now, I’m looking for them all over the place!

Seriously, if you’ve looking for a great way to manage links to apps, speed dials / quick messages, then this app is perfect for you.

Check it out, 69p well spent!

I got one of these for Christmas, I know I know, I’ve been a very good boy this year. I wasn’t expecting it, to be honest, although I was vaguely aware of them, I wasn’t really too sure what all the fuss was about. I mean, I have Airplay at home, isn’t it just like that? Well, after playing with it every day since, I have to say I started off not understanding it, now I wonder how I ever lived without it.

For those of you not in the know, Sonos is a wireless speaker system at it’s most basic and a full on internet streaming service at it’s best. Setup is simple, really simple, like Apple simple. Out the box, you plug in the Bridge to your router, plug in the speakers to your power supply, run the software and 5 mins later, you’re up and running. Suddenly Spotify has been reborn. iTunes has a new lease of life, and then you get to internet Radio etc.

The iPhone and iPad both have free apps built for Sonos and they could not be easier to use. Linking speakers together for that “through the house” sound, or playing different streams to different rooms, are a few easy clicks away. And you can forget about having to use the computer to control it, or even have it turned on, as once you have your iSomething hooked up, everything runs from that. Just you and the speakers.

Configuring the system to access your iTunes was a synch, as was setting up Spotify & Last FM etc.

But as I like to tinker with things, I got wondering about Airplay.

I had a spare Apple Airport kicking about and knew the Play 5 had a line in at that back. So I did a bit of scouting about and found you can hook it up quite happily.

The only draw back to the Airplay support is that it feels a little bolted on, a little bit like an afterthought. While it works well enough, it’s not quite as slick as the rest of the system.

That being said, in no way does it detract from a great experience over all.

Finally, as I like to watch movies and I like to stream them from the iPad while doing so, I wanted to know if it was possible to stream the movie soundtrack through the Sonos using Airplay.

Short answer is yes. But this is the only area that it falls down on. The syncing of the Airplay movie and the soundtrack is out, by at least 4 – 7 seconds depending on what your playing.

I think part of the reason is a lag behind the signal from Airplay and it being processed by Sonos, and also that Sonos syncs the signal to other speakers. There it must buffer the information coming in, adding further to the lag.

I’ve used CineXPlayer and Good Player and they both have the same issue. You maybe able to get round it if you could delay the movie and the soundtrack and get them to match that way, but after even more reading, the only software I could find that could do that was VLC. But that app has been pulled and I’m not even sure if the app was able to do, or if it was just the Mac version.

Otherwise, I could not recommend this system more. The quality of the sound is astounding as is the build and the software. At the time if writing this, there were a couple of offers kicking about for the Play 3, Play 5 and the bridge all together in one package. If you have a bit of extra Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket, and you like listing to your music on a quality system, you could do a LOT worse.

So you’ve had your Google Adsense account banned?
We in that case you’ll fall into one of the following 3 categories:

(1) Your site has suffered from a sudden spike in traffic and Google has deemed it as fraudulent activity

(2) Someone, known or unknown to you, has been causing fraudulent clicks on your website. Google has noticed this and blocked your account

(3) Finally, and lets be honest here, you’ve have been clicking on your own ads. It’s a temptation, I know, but you really should have been more careful.

The first indication you’ll get that something is wrong will be when you try and login to your Adsense account and you can’t, or when you get the following email known as a Google Adsense Account Suspension Notification

“It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s). We have therefore disabled your Google Adsense account.”

If you fall into either category 2 or 3, then I’m afraid it could be bad news.

Category 1 & 2

If you have genuinely been hit by a malicious attack and your account has been suspended then you could have a case for appeal with Google.

How to appeal to Google

Now this can be a tricky one but barewith me. In order to have the best chance of getting your Adsense account reinstated you will need to email
adsense-adclicks@google.com

In your email make sure you contain the following information:

o Your name

o Your company’s name (if applicable)

o Your publisher ID number (located in the AdSense code on your website with the format: ‘pub-################’)

o Your website’s URL

o Date your account was disabled

o Your website’s audience

o The source of your website’s content

o Frequency of content updates

o The primary sources of your website’s traffic

o The number of people involved with the administration of the site

o Any relevant information that you believe would explain the invalid click activity we detected.

Remember to include as much detail as possible and ensure you mention that you’ve now taken steps to prevent this type of attack from occurring again. For example, if you believe that a particular person, or a certain IP address has targeted you, ban this address from your site.

Plead your case stating where and when you think these fraudulent clicks came from. Include logs of site traffic to show trends and also mention if there is any particular reason as to why your site may have suddenly rocketed up in hits when you usually have a steady daily click through.

Some reasons for sites suddenly having a huge number of hits maybe down to being included in a link from another site; being mentioned on TV / Radio, or running a successful ad campaign. You will be able to strengthen your case with evidence if you include facts and figures from the campaign to prove the increase in traffic to your site.

As with any appeal, there is no guarantee that you will have your account reinstated or be allowed to set up a new one.

Category 3

If you have been clicking on your own ads and been caught, it is highly likely that you will never be able to reinstate your current Google AdSense account or open a new one. Just accept that fact now and move on. Seriously, that’s it, give it up, it’s over! I’ve never EVER met or heard from someone that has had their account reinstated after being found guilty of fraudulent clicks on their own site.

If you have had no luck in your appeal or you fall into category 3 the only way you would be able to get Google Adsense back is to reapply for a new account.

You will have to register for a completely new site with a new name and new banking details. Plus, you will not be able to use the same machine / Internet IP connection with which you accessed your original account. Google will know and your new account will also be banned. If you do manage to go ahead and get a family member, friend, dog to sign up for you, Google will ban you the second they suspect that your pulling a fast one. Don’t forget, clicking on your own ads or getting others to do it, is illegal.

That’s really all you can do. Be honest with yourself, if you’ve knowingly tried to con the system, then you don’t deserve to be part of Google Adsense.

If however, you feel that you do have a genuine case for appeal. Best of luck.

I have three macs (7 if you could phones and iPads, mine and the Mrs.). An old G4, an old macbook and a new iMac at work. Boasting eh!

And we have two kids and a dog. So you add all that together you get a SHIT LOAD of digital pictures.

Originally I had a single iPhone library on my macbook. Then I got a Time Capsule and for want of saving space, I moved my library over there. Reason being that I’d only really be using iPhoto when I was at home.

That worked well enough, until I decided to hack the G4 and upgrade it to run OSX. Now it could run iPhoto too.

So I could share the library between the two machines. So far so good. Then Apple updated everything and suddenly iPhoto needed updated too, so without thinking about it, I upgraded my iPhoto library from the macbook and suddenly it wasn’t accessible from the G4 anymore.

Now, bare with me, we use the G4 in the kitchen as a Spotify machine. Recently they announced that Spotify will no longer support my old G4, no matter what OS I’ve managed to hack onto it. Therefore, I’m going to finally replace it with a mac mini. The upshot is, I’ll be able to start syncing my iPhoto’s between the machines again.

Second part of this is, I’ve also recently started paying for Dropbox. So now I have a lovely disk in the sky, I can save things too. And my reasoning is, that my work machine, and two home machines, can now all be pointed to the same Dropbox iPhoto library.

It’s pretty easy to do ( I think) but it’s given me a baseline from which I really should take full advantage and finally get round to that job I’ve been putting off for years. I’m going to “sort” my digital photo album!

This means I have at least 10,000 pics to go through. Delete the crap and only hang onto the good ones. So I’m going to do it like this.

Export everything from both iPhoto libraries. Combine in with all iPhoto Photosync backups and import into a brand new iPhoto library on Dropbox. Then I’ll run Duplicate Annihilator to remove the copies, leaving me with a ton of images to sort though and clean.

That’s the plan anyway, I’ll let you know how I get on!