The Social Media Magic Bullet!

For those that say there is no magical bullet for social media, shame on you. There is a magic bullet that works very well for all social media. I've used it and it works brilliantly. I digress though. 

Today I looked at my iPad and noticed on the settings screen it lists Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. That's actually really bizarre because I wouldn't let apps of such foulness near my iPad.

Android devices like Windows computers are well known for being loaded to the gunwales with trash software. Sadly, it seems that Apple has leapt onto the same bandwagon.

Thus far I have found no way of deleting junk ware or in this case, junk icons, from any mobile devices. Computers are far easier and in fact there was something called "Dell Decrappifier" that deleted all the junk software automatically.

As far as social media magic bullets go, the best one I have found is simply to delete the social media account in question. It frees your time, lessens your stress and allows you to be more creative. Social media is all about conforming to an artificial norm where people superficially pat each other on the back. It's a fake world full of fake people. Don't tell me that you have met all the people on your Facebook friends list. You haven't, probably never will and don't even know if those people really exist. They could be some kind of online app run by the CIA to play social engineering experiments on you. That 35 year old buxom maiden is likely to be a 50 year old unemployed drifter from Wisconsin who's sitting in stained shorts in a dirty trailer, surrounded by used syringes and empty beer cans.

Twitter
To deactivate your account: Sign in to twitter.com on the web. Go to your Account settings and click on Deactivate my account at the bottom of the page. Read the account deactivation information. Click Okay, fine, deactivate account. Enter your password when prompted and verify that you want to deactivate your account.

The reality is that it takes 30 days to become effective. Once you've done this, you need to delete all your Twitter cookies in order to avoid accidental reactivation of your account.

Flickr
Sign in to Flickr. Visit Your Account. Click Delete your Flickr account. Read the important messages, then click OK-NEXT. You'll be prompted to enter your password to confirm your account deletion. Check Yes, I fully understand... Click DELETE MY ACCOUNTNice and easy. Very final.

Vimeo
visit your Account Settings. Scroll down until you see the “Account Status” section and follow the steps for deleting. This will remove your account and all your content from Vimeo.

Facebook
This can be a real bitch. I have an old account with no personal information on it registered to an old email address. I reactivated email address and tried to log into Facebook to delete my account and was met with a refusal to allow me to proceed without sending Facebook personal documents such as a copy of my drivers license. That account cannot be used nor deleted it appears. Facebook is one of a myriad of random websites and I'd no longer send them my drivers license than I'd hand my wallet to the town drunk.

Looking at Facebook it seems accounts can only be deactivated, not deleted. The magic bullet is probably to delete the content on your account then to change your name to Joe Spud.

Now for those that think they're going to make money off social media via sales or advertising, it's not going to happen. I've tried it off and on, following advice to the letter and it never ever works. It's like these careers websites... You can spend your life unemployed if all you do is apply online for jobs. Let's see... How did I get my last few jobs...
1. Walked in after lunch, sought out the personnel manager and chatted to him. I got the job and stayed for 5 years.
2. Walked in, saw the project coordinator, got the job and stayed for a year.
3. I'd applied for a job on careerbuilder and clicked down a list of one click apply jobs. I had no idea what I was applying for. Had a phone call two days later, went in and got the job. Stayed there for 2 years.
4. Driving past, I saw a sign, went in on my way home and got the job.

See how very little of that involved the Internet. I make more money every week by working than I've ever made from Adsense or any other internet garbage.

Toshiba $&@#

A long while ago, I bought an iPad mini 2. This was to replace an appalling series of android tablets. To be fair, Android was ok as a system. It was just the build quality of the tablets that really sucked, hence I went through 4 in 2 years. Similarly I went through goodness knows how many substandard smartphones before getting one that actually worked.

Anyway, connecting a camera or memory card to my iPad is almost impossible. I could just plug a camera or card reader right into an Android tablet. That's until I saw this...

It's a Toshiba wifi adapter that allows me to see what's on a memory card or a memory stick. That's as far as it goes though. The software is atrocious. It's on a par with what somebody given a very short time budget having finished a series of evening classes in programming would have produced.

To be blunt, the software purports to let me download images and videos but nothing like that ever actually happened. All it allows me to do is to rename folders and view images. It's about as half assed as can possibly be which had me checking Toshiba's website to see that it really was a Toshiba device and not some 3rd world device with Toshiba's name on it.

Let's just say that I consider myself to have been ripped off. I can't believe I actually paid $10 for this piece of plastic trash. The problem with this kind of trash is it's not fixable, it's not salable, it's not donatable and it's not even givable - it is landfill. It's designed to scam a small amount of money and not to take too much landfill space.

The hunt continues. I gather this might be a good time to bemoan Apple's connectivity issues. Apple has great hardware but poor connectivity. The Android stuff has lousy hardware but great everything else. Maybe tablets just aren't ready for mainstream use yet?

Slow progress

Those that have been reading my blog for a while will recognize my need to squeeze every drop of blood from every penny. Thus, progress is painfully slow. No more so than in the acquisition of stuff, particularly when I have a low paying job with hours that precude any other employment. In addition to that, photography is not my first priority. First priority for disposable cash goes to the construction of my motor home. That, I need, in order to better my chances of being able to take a job in an instant.

After ordering my iPad mini 2 and getting my secondhand Olympus E-M1 plus a secondhand lens, I needed other things. In no particular order, a lens cap, camera strap, polarizing filter, lens hood and USB cable. As those had to be ordered from China to save money, there has been a time delay.

The polarizer is an unknown brand "Andoer" but to be honest, I bought some off brand skylight filters when I did high speed photography and they were excellent. It's not a coated filter so I could get reflections. I remember buying a Hoya multi coated filter and getting reflections. It turned out Hoya had three kinds of filters.

Multi coated - these just stop some surface reflections.

Super Multi Coated - these stop all surface reflections.

Digital Multi Coated - these are the same as Super Multi Coated save for the fact they're coated on the back as well as the front.

Needless to say, I did encounter a rare occasion when I did get reflections on the back of the filter. As far as I can recall, it was photographing Christmas lights one year. I believe it was caused by a reflection off the sensor rather than the multicoated front element. I'm really not sure how good this $3 polarizer will be.

The lens cap turned up and is exactly right. The lens hood turned up and is frankly a disappointment. I had expected a bayonet mount to fit the lens. Instead, it's a screw in hood. That was a disappointment though I'm sure I'll be able to use it.

The USB cable needed to update the firmware in my camera and lens has not yet arrived nor has the neck strap. They'll be here some day.

I had desired a camera with Bluetooth or wifi in order to facilitate downloads to my tablet. I have, however, obtained for $10 a USB plugin that acts as a mini wifi server which in turn allows wifi access to any USB device. Of course now I have that, I can't find my memory card reader. Without buying another, I have to wait for the USB cable. It goes without saying that the camera uses a size I don't have!

There is a viewfinder attachment available that looks pretty tempting. That would turn the camera into something like a DSLR. That might be worth getting if the tests come out well.

Forthcoming is a competition at my camera club. The theme is 7 black and white images. I might take the opportunity to shoot a series of images with both my Canon DSLR and my Olympus ILC. If you recall, a few years back I compared images from a cellphone, DSLR and a zoom compact. They were all pretty much the same. I remember being called all kinds of names by the magpies on camera groups for my findings.

Now, if the new camera is as good as or better than my Canons then there's a good case to sell the bulky Canon stuff. I'd want to match the range of lenses. For most of the range that's simple and cheap. The 45 -150 is about $100 secondhand. My current kit gets me to 480mm while the 150 goes as far as 300mm. I'll have to see if 300 is too short - if I buy a longer lenses. I see no need to have two bodies either. I am not a professional photographer and resent anybody trying to push me into being one. I am not, never have been and never will be a snake oil salesman.

So, the futures looking rosier. Work ends tomorrow and stays off until September. That should give ample time to test and compare cameras as well as to completing my bus project. Not to mention actually having time to enter a competition!