Geeky Round-Up: 2/6-2/12/10

Facebook Gets A Facelift (get it...Facebook...facelift...)
The much talked about and rather dull Facebook redesign happened for the masses this week (some lucky souls received in on Friday of last week) and it was rather uneventful. I discussed in a blog post this week that the big redesign actually happened a few months ago when they decided to change the privacy settings, this redesign was simply cosmetic. However, that doesn't stop the world from coming to a halt while everyone bitched talked about it. The thing that bothered me was I spent all my time creating damn lists for friends and now I have to click Friends > then the list name instead of just having it appear in my left navigation bar like the previous design. Am I picky, yes. Will I stop using the lists function, most definitely. Am I the victor who has officially shown Facebook who is boss, of course. Don't cross me again Facebook or I will stop using other repetitive and worthless features! That's right, I am looking at you 'Top News' button.

Google Gets Its Buzz On
First it was a browser, then it was an OS, then a cell phone, next an ISP, and now Google will throw their hat in the social networking ring. Google introduced Google Buzz, yet another social networking platform that will be built into their online GMail system. Basically Google Buzz is a little bit Twitter, a little bit Facebook, and a little bit e-mail. Status updates, check. Hyperlinks to content from around the Web, check. Built-in third-party sites like Flickr and Twitter, check. Contact groups like Facebook used to have before the redesign, check. Privacy holes, check. It's got it all...and of course I had to get an account, follow me on Buzz (if you dare) here.

Oops, Microsoft Did it Again
Apparently Microsoft's update to Windows XP had made a ton of users very unhappy as it caused a perpetual blue screen of death and made the machine not even able to load in 'Safe Mode'. This is now the third time that they released a patch that has taken out computers. It doesn't happen to all versions of XP but if I were still running XP, I wouldn't be taking any chances and may skip this update. What makes this story even more humorous to me is that they were patching an exploit that was 17 years old...I guess in 17 years, they couldn't come up with a fix that wouldn't render the machine useless.

...And Another Shocker - Flash Security Hole
Adobe mentioned nonchalantly that there is a new security hole in Flash and that you should go to their Web site and grab the security patch. I don't know if HTML 5 will make Flash go bye, bye but it would be nice to have one program that I don't have to worry about weekly security updates. Here is a link to the security update from Adobe - here and it is probably a good call to go and pick it up.

Virtual Console Game This Week: Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
If Princess Tomato was a track on a rock album, it would be considered a deep cut (I am trying to work on my metaphors). Originally on the NES and costing 500 Wii Points, Princess Tomato is seldom mentioned as one of the greats for the NES and to be 100% honest, it isn't. That being said, it is still better than 80% of all of the games that are out there for the NES. It is fun, hysterical, and mind numbing in its unintelligible brilliance. I always thought that old school game designers had to have done a lot of drugs and this game proves that had to be the case. Besides the title alone, some other drug induced nuggets in the game - Princess Tomato's parents weren't tomatoes, it was an adventure game but you can't die, you play a cucumber, your nemesis is a pumpkin, and there is a lot of rock paper scissors going on. If you ever wondered what Japanese game designers think about when on three doses of LSD, here you go - interactive vegetables. Definitely worth the points if you never played!