DonaldMelanson
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This is Your Life: Facebook and the business of identity
"The story of your life." With that phrase, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced the company's new Timeline profile in the fall of 2011. The social network's original profile page, he explained, was the first place where most people "felt safe expressing their real self" on the internet, but it was only the "first five minutes of your conversation." A major redesign in 2008 extended that to "the next 15 minutes." Timeline, though, was the "next few hours." Your true self, in full. To illustrate the point, Zuckerberg went on to show a promotional video that put This Is Your Life to shame by recapping one man's life from his own birth to the birth of his child (and then some) in just over a minute. Facebook has always wanted to be your online identity -- your internet, in many ways -- but it was now also bringing something else to the fore that once had a tendency to fade into the background; your memories.
IRL: Voltaic Spark, LG Optimus One and the Galaxy Nexus
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. Want to read about Facebook's inflated valuation? A (debunked) rumor that Snooki is pregnant? Neither do we. So, let's do what we do best, and talk gadgets instead. This week, Engadget editor Don Melanson defends his phone of choice, James takes the Voltaic Spark for a spin in Spain and Mat talks about bonding with the Galaxy Nexus at CES. (Sadly, this fling, like others before it, stayed in Vegas.) How's it all working out for them? As always, we've got your quick takes tucked after the break.
