Fresh Green Connecting

Read more about the new iPhone 4 here.

Mark Zuckerberg has made an announcement at a live event at Facebook headquarters that they will soon implement slightly new privacy settings in response to public outcry.

Zuckerberg writes on the Official Facebook Blog:

Today we're starting to roll out some changes that will make all of these controls a lot simpler. We've focused on three things: a single control for your content, more powerful controls for your basic information and an easy control to turn off all applications.

While it appears the default privacy setting will remain "opt-in," there will be some changes.

Mashable.com summarizes:

1. One simple control for changing content viewing permissions to friends-only, friends-of-friends, or everyone — it applies to everything you’ve published on Facebook in the past. This setting will also apply to everything you publish in the future.
2. A simple way for determining how people can find you on Facebook, and what users that aren’t your friend can see.
3. A simple way for turning off the Facebook Platform, specifically, being able to opt-out of Facebook’s new instant personalization features and providing third-party sites with information.
4. A way to opt-out of sharing your friends list and the Pages that you like.

Three cheers for simplicity.  As the new settings go live over the next few weeks, let's see those simplicity controls in action.  I certainly am tired of swimming through a myriad of un-checked privacy settings on Facebook.

Yesterday was another big day for Location-based Social Networking as WeReward was launched. You can be sure this new network has caught my attention. 

WeReward allows you to check-in at locations and earn cash rewards.  It links to your Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter and deposits your earnings to your Paypal.  

From LYDIA DISHMAN's Fast Company article: 

 "Let's Get Physical: WeReward, Loopt, Others Push Users Into Real Stores"

Launching today, WeRewards tapped location-based technologies and social media platforms to spawn a hybrid ad model that aims to transform the way we use the Internet. Harnessing some of the same principles, Loopt, Scvngr, and Foursquare all have similar rewards programs or are about to launch them. Never mind the discovery and sharing online. The future of the Web -- at least a big slice of it -- is physical. And these companies are ready to start the transformation.

I couldn't agree with Lydia more.  Everybody should hug their GPS.  Location-based networking is certainly the future of the real time web.

If you start using WeRewards do let us know what you think of it.

(via @chrisbrogan)

In the last month or so I've been as happy as a clam working with a variety of new clients and projects.  

My team won the golf tournament for Africa's Wild Hope International, one of my favorite non-profits in the world.  

In the last month I also worked for about a week in a city that is a music/coffee-lover's, social media fanatic's, and bicyclista's cinema paradiso: Austin. 

You might also like to know that I've let Foursquare back into my heart.  

There was a period of time following the Austin excursion (and it's requisite SXSW 2010 residue on Twitter) when I felt I ought to be a Gowalla purist.  Mostly because Foursquare's User Interface is ugly as sin.  

And it's not just because Foursquare and Starbucks have just launched their Frappaci-Mayor-specials.  (Starbucks finally getting onboard seemed a bit overdue and anti-climactic, in my book.)  I decided it is simply silly for me to ignore a service that is adding 15,000 users each day.  Hello!   

This last month I also had the chance to fly to Seattle for Storyville Coffee Roaster's weekend of cool.  You will be hearing more about Storyville, I promise.  They are a premier coffee roaster with a heart.  Their goal as they grow is to Give Away $1 Billion to End Human Slavery.  (Did you know there are more than 21 million slaves in the world today?  This must end in our lifetime.)  Storyville also has one of the most lovely and hopeful logo designs I've ever encountered: the "Fly-boy."  Here it is in life-size as I caught it.

Hello, from Austin, AKA the Headquarters of Gowalla. Turns out you really can find virtual items that turn magically into real ones. For the win.