Facebook Timeline: Want It Or not, Here It Comes

Some have been awaiting this news, others have been dreading it.

Earlier today, Facebook annnounced via their blog that Timeline is being rolled out to all Facebook users, whether they want it or not.  Once you get it you'll have just 7 days to edit your Timeline content before it will be available to all to see.

Facebook had stated in an earlier blog that Timeline would eventually be mandatory for all users, so this news was semi-expected.  Still, Facebook users who don't like the Timeline interface could have a hard time getting used to the new look Facebook.

My thoughts

I have been using Timeline for the last few months to test it out, and for the most part, actually like the interface.  While it makes certain aspects of Facebook much harder (Facebook gamers will hate it), it does give a structured display of your life online, or at least, the life that you want others to see.  You control all the information on your Timeline, so don't panic about your most intimate details being blasted to the interwebs. 

I haven't had any major issues with Timeline as yet, and would rate my experience at about 8/10.

Potential Issues

As expected with any new feature, there is always at least some form of controversy.  Internet News service, WebProNews posted an interesting article about Timeline today that has a section regarding privacy groups claiming Timeline is a breach of users privacy.  Have a read of the WebProNews article here.

What are your thoughts on Timeline?  Are you a Timeline user already?  Please post your thoughts in the comments below.

Look Out Nokia! Samsung Gain Ground Fast

The competition (Apple) may have slammed the breaks on Samsung from hitting the tablet market, but that hasn't stopped Samsung from reporting a record number of sales this year.

According to a report from Reuters, Samsung surpassed their 2010 sales figures of 280 Million Mobile units sold, and recently passed the 300 Million Units milestone, and they still have the busiest month of the year ahead of them.

These sales figures puts Samsung as the #2 Mobile Manufacturer in the world.  The leader, Nokia, surpassed 300 Million sales in the third quarter of the year and is expected to stay well ahead of Samsung as the year closes out.

In a report by the Social News site, Mashable;

Samsung, however, has been one of the main handset makers that has been transforming the “lower end” market for feature phones, with its proprietary Bada operating system, complete with app store and other content services, that effectively gives users a smartphone experience with a lower-specced and less expensive device. In Q3, Samsung’s Bada actually outsold Microsoft’s Windows Phone devices, according to Gartner. (Source: mashable)

With the recent injunction against Samsung lifted in Australia and other countries, it will be interesting to see how Samsung do against Tablet giant, the Apple iPad.

Read the full Mashable article here

Three Issues Causing PPM Managers Major Concern

It would appear that the list of people upset with the popular online sports manager game, Powerplay Manager, is growing by the day, driven by frustration and a sense of unfairness.

Powerplay Mananger, arguably the internets #1 hockey and soccer manager games have created a true masterpiece with their system. The features far beat out their closest competitor and the game engine drives a competitive, and sometimes heartbreaking game experience.

But as good as game may be, there are issues that are causing some managers, even the experienced and most loyal managers, to re-think their participation in the game. And that concerns me.

Here are the big 3 issues that are causing grief amongst the managers, causing some to leave the game.

National Teams, or lack there of.

PPM have always said that in order for a country to have a national team, they must have their own league. This is fine for the majority, but there are always countries that will struggle to gain enough managers to get their own league; Australia and New Zealand are two such examples. We have great managers with brilliant players but due to the way PPM is programmed, we can't have a national team. We miss out on the opportunity to represent our country, and as such, get the OTR gains that could come with that. We are a close knit group in Other World (hockey) and Oceania (soccer), and don't actually want an Australian league, as it would mean losing many of our friends who we play with in our current leagues.

Vlady confirmed on the PPM forums today that this is not a programming issue, and is simply a policy decision.  This is very upsetting, as clearly there is a demand for this feature to be made available!

Credit Features, the extras that cost

Credit features have their place in the game, there is no arguing that. The problem here is that for every feature added to the pro pack, there appears to be 3 or 4 added as extra credit features; many of which are included in pro packs in similar games. Many loyal pro pack users are starting to opt out of paying for pro because of the alleged lack of support they feel they get from PPM. To the credit of PPM, the credit features do add incredible enhancements to the game and are still worth the cost, if of course, you can afford it after paying for pro pack, etc.

Pro Pack & Advertising

It's really hard to believe i'm actually writing this, as in almost all other membership sites (games or not), if you pay for an upgraded membership it usually means you get little or no advertising. This is not actually an issue, or at least would not be an issue if people were not paying for the extra credit features already. But there is great news. If you use Firefox you can install the adblock extension which will completely remove all of the advertising.

Help Us

We would love your help. If you're a manager at PPM and you believe that all countries should have a National Team please contact tuttle or vlady at PPM and tell them your thoughts. Hopefully, if enough people express an opinion on this issue PPM will think about changing the way the National Team system works. Thanks in advance.