Cheap Tech

Facebook can see your face

Facebook's newest feature involves facial recognition software that scans photos and offers users suggestions for tagging photos.

So, when you upload photos to a Facebook album, the software will ask if this face is Aunt Alice? Is this face Uncle Fred? And so on.

While some view this as another of Facebook's invasions of privacy, the same feature has been standard in photo software for about a year or so. Google's Picasa has been giving user the option to tag faces in its web albums for a couple of years.

Still, it can be a bit freaky. I remember first using the software with Picasa and it identified one of my firends -- and his mother -- as the same person!

And, at least for now, Facebook gives users the option of turning facial recognition off -- kind of like putting a hood over your head!

Catch CNN Money's article about the Facebook change here.

MSNBC's story is here.

You mean you TALK on your phone?

While cell phones have become nearly ubiquitous in American society, fewer and fewer people, especially young people, are actually using them to talk.

Most adults still use their phones for calls, averaging five voice calls a day, according to a recent report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

But texting is gaining ground. Some 72 percent of adults send and receive text messages, but 87 percent of teenage users text. Teens average 50 text messages a day, according to the Pew report.

My youngest son is NOT an average user.

Our Verizon bill includes phones for my wife, a college student and a high-schooler.

My wife has her phone off as much as she has it on. She spent 256 minutes talking on her cell last month. She also sent a measly 28 texts.

But the two boys treat their cell phones like a lifeline. Their phones are almost always on. The college student logged 651 voice minutes last month (out-of-state girlfriend) and sent 361 texts 

The high-schooler spent 158 minutes talking and sent -- brace yourself -- 10,907 texts!

I can't imagine sending that many texts, and I type for a living.

The other day I saw a woman waiting for her food at a local restaurant. She held one phone to her ear with her shoulder and was texting with a second phone at the same time.

My life should be so interesting!

How will Facebook remember you when you're dead?

How much of what you are can be found on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc? What about your e-mail?

How much of that dreck do you want to live on after you die?

Website makuseof.com offers a rundown of what happens to your Gmail, Hotmail, MySpace, Facebook and Yahoo accounts in the event of your demise.

For example, Gmail allows your next of kin to access your e-mail and, if they wish, to delete your account. Facebook, on the other hand, does not allow next of kin to delete your account. Instead, Facebook turns your page into a frozen memorial.

Creepy.

This all goes to show that you should keep a list of all your accounts, passwords, etc. in a place where your loved ones can find it. Logging in as you -- I know, it's ghoulish -- they could then systematically erase your online presence.

But the bigger question for me is not whether the account survives after I die. The question is, do I want what I post on Facebook to be my legacy?

Makes you wonder if you should think a bit more before posting about a Saturday morning hangover or sharing an embarrassing photo of a loved one. After all, that person in the Speedo might be deciding what stays and what goes in your online afterlife.