Underwhelming new car review-

SVreX wrote: BTW- Facebook has recently been shown to track the ENTIRE 90 day history of EVERYONE who comes to their site, whether or not they are a member. Visit their site, they track your history. They use those little "Share" and "Like" buttons to do it, as well as accessing your browser's history. The ENTIRE history. Hmm... there may be things that I'd rather not be identified... They did, however, say that it's not a problem, because they USE the information in a different manner than Google or Twitter, so we can trust them. Whew! Sure glad they said that- it made me feel a lot better!

There is an add-on for Google Chrome and Firefox which prevents them from tracking you.

I only use it to keep in touch with old friends from High School and College.

Trying to do this with my Droid is probably not a good idea. I will gladly post a link from my FB page as my friends all know I am a car guy

Share button isn't working for me either. And having had to drive my wife's Camry for last week while the E36 was getting some maintenance done, this was one car I really wanted to share some snarky comments about.

Question for Tom: What makes it better than a Buick? Wife will be getting a new car in Feb. She is now on her 3rd Buick, bought the first one in 1981. And all of them have been very very reliable with no major repairs needed in the 10-12 years she has owned them.

Also, count me in the anti-FB group. And before anyone says I am a Luddite, I spent the last 5 years before I retired designing, writing, and implementing PC based electronic ordering systems for a large wholesale company.

Hal wrote: Question for Tom: What makes it better than a Buick? Wife will be getting a new car in Feb. She is now on her 3rd Buick, bought the first one in 1981. And all of them have been very very reliable with no major repairs needed in the 10-12 years she has owned them.

The review appears to be using a mid '90s LeSabre as a point of comparison, instead of a new Lucerne.

So a gussied up Camry is just taht... an over-priced gussied up Camry. Go figure. WHo knew?

Tom Heath wrote: I don't blame you for choosing NOT to use Facebook. There are plenty of good reasons that people would do so. ...just don't blame us for choosing to engage with people who do use Facebook. You can choose to participate or not and we'll love you just the same. This is mostly a test for our site tools...which we fail at.

My apologies, Tom.

I didn't intend to flounder your thread, and certainly have no issues whatsoever with you doing your job well.

If you care about your privacy on Facebook, here is how to fix it:

http://lifehacker.com/5843969/facebook-is-tracking-your-every-move-on-the-web-heres-how-to-stop-it

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: I've been on facebook, and i know what i'm missing. I'm glad i'm missing it.

This.

There is an add-on for Google Chrome and Firefox which prevents them from tracking you.

Good idear. Just found and installed one.

carguy123 wrote: FACEBOOK is not a fad and can be quite useful. If you're not on Facebook odds are you also don't have a smartphone and in both cases you'd really have no clue what you're missing. Google+ I don't believe will ever be a Facebook replacement, but that doesn't mean FB is perfect. Even my 82 year old Mother In Law is on FB and as hard as it is for her to use a computer it has been very useful to her and to all of us trying to stay in touch with her. She loves it cause she has found several of her old HS chums, including her first kiss. I use it a lot in my business, but I am far from a FB guru. With all that said FB is still more useful than any Lexus product any of us are likely to buy. The thread on the new Toyadabaru that talks about the traditional Toyota design process clearly states what is wrong with all Lexi.

First generation Android 1.x adopter here. I rooted the phone specifically because I wanted to get rid of the facebook app that would track where I was every time I clicked on it even accidentally, and change my notification settings every single time that they did an "update" to reset my privacy settings.

Also, did anyone else see the AP article talking about how big of a risk the Toyadabaru is because it moves away from their image of happy reliable little appliances?

I can also say I've been underwhelmed by every single Lexus I've ever driven, its like the Buick of Toyota toaster cars. That said no one will let me behind the wheel of an LFA anymore.

SVreX wrote: BTW- Facebook has recently been shown to track the ENTIRE 90 day history of EVERYONE who comes to their site, whether or not they are a member. Visit their site, they track your history. They use those little "Share" and "Like" buttons to do it, as well as accessing your browser's history. The ENTIRE history. Hmm... there may be things that I'd rather not be identified... They did, however, say that it's not a problem, because they USE the information in a different manner than Google or Twitter, so we can trust them. Whew! Sure glad they said that- it made me feel a lot better! It's not that I have some kind of paranoia about this kind of stuff- I just think we should understand the tool for what it is. They are in the business of gathering every little tidbit of information they can, linking it together, and selling it. So, if they can tie your picture, to your history, to your phone number, to your favorite color, to your kid's soccer pictures, to your cat's name, .... you get the picture.

Replace "Facebook" with "everybody that has a website bigger than a blog about cats" and you're getting there. Really, it's all public these days, and anybody can find out just about anything about you they want, regardless of whether or not it's true. There are so many aggregating sites out there, and it's hilarious how often they're wrong. On one, I owned homes in a handful of states I'd never visited and made over $500k per year. And my name is fairly uncommon.

I should also say, in relation to my last comment: there are companies out there that specialize in predictive web traffic. I.e., if you visit your bank, then FB, then CNBC, etc. it will record that activity and try to draw connections. The info then generates the banner ads you see...ever noticed that after clicking through on a new car review, the next ad you get when you go to a completely unrelated website is from that car/manufacturer?

On a more pleasant note, it's good to know that everything Sandra Bullock told us in The Net is finally coming true. She's the Nostradamus of our time.

speedblind wrote: I should also say, in relation to my last comment: there are companies out there that specialize in predictive web traffic. I.e., if you visit your bank, then FB, then CNBC, etc. it will record that activity and try to draw connections. The info then generates the banner ads you see...ever noticed that after clicking through on a new car review, the next ad you get when you go to a completely unrelated website is from that car/manufacturer? On a more pleasant note, it's good to know that everything Sandra Bullock told us in The Net is finally coming true. She's the Nostradamus of our time.

I've found this is the core difference between the Anti-FB and the informed Pro-FB types. The anti-FB types don't seem to understand FB's information-harvesting is the rule rather than the exception.

How many of you anti-FB types use Gmail?

I use FB and Gmail and resent them both mightily.

But, like Steve Jobs, they got something about the aesthetics right. Have i mentioned i hate Apple?

But i dont actually use/own any Apple.

BECAUSE IM MAKING A STAND. lol

If it's a free online service, you're not the customer, you're the product being sold.

unevolved wrote:

speedblind wrote: I should also say, in relation to my last comment: there are companies out there that specialize in predictive web traffic. I.e., if you visit your bank, then FB, then CNBC, etc. it will record that activity and try to draw connections. The info then generates the banner ads you see...ever noticed that after clicking through on a new car review, the next ad you get when you go to a completely unrelated website is from that car/manufacturer? On a more pleasant note, it's good to know that everything Sandra Bullock told us in The Net is finally coming true. She's the Nostradamus of our time.

I've found this is the core difference between the Anti-FB and the informed Pro-FB types. The anti-FB types don't seem to understand FB's information-harvesting is the rule rather than the exception. How many of you anti-FB types use Gmail?

I use gmail, but never for anything I do not want to be seen. What I don't care for with FB is the encouraging of over sharing that it creates and the fact that they update the privacy policy on a fairly regular basis, generally making it more lax. I also don't care for the fact that the developers, were at the time I removed the account, given free reign over what information can be harvested via the applications coded for FB, and very often introduced flaws into the system where they can be exploited to gain further information about you. The check-in fad that is going on now I find obscene and it is only being encouraged.

Then there's this

I know there's an argument that you're never really safe from being tracked or having information harvested from you but I prefer to take all the precautions I can in order to stay as anonymous as possible without severely crippling my ability to live in a modern world.

unevolved wrote: If it's a free online service, you're not the customer, you're the product being sold.

^ precisely that ^

I, too, would regurgitate internet quotes if someone hadn't already taken the best one..

"The problem with quotes on the internet is it's hard to verify their legitimacy."

-Abraham Lincoln