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I went to my local Best Buy to pick up a Sandisk 2GB USB thumbdrive. I noticed there was programs already loaded on it for the PC, but I wanted all of my $20 worth on this drive.

When I came home and plugged it into my Powerbook (g4 550) it mounted two volumes; a “NO NAME” image and U3 image. U3 was where all of the PC software was. My first thought was to open Disk Utilities (in Apps folder) and just format the drive. The people at Best Buy said I can return it, so I had nothing to loose.

I come to find out that I couldn’t trash or format the drive because I didn’t have the proper permissions. I’m the one who bought the thing on my laptop, I have the permission. After that short outburst I put my thinking cap on.

I figured out that if you unlock the U3 application (apple + I or CTRL “Get Info”) I could open up the Finder window for that app. I clicked on the little lock (which was engaged) to unlock it and it worked. I then trashed the file and other folders on the drive. Then I was able to format the drive in Disk Utilities.

Now I have all 2GB of storage to work with and more important: NO Windows apps that will pop up when I plug my drive in at the office.

written by tom

On Sunday Facebook has launched their new “Facebook Connect” service which allows users to share their Facebook page with other online social media sites.  The idea of connecting many sites, such as Twitter, Digg, CBS with Facebook may seem like a great idea.  Before you make the jump for the sake of convenience use caution.

There are many sites out there that allow you share yourself with others online…Facebook, being one of the biggest.  You’ve Twittered yourself into a frenzy, Dugg stories that loved, and wrote reviews on CitySearch.  Now imagine with this new feature you’ve connected all of your “identities”.

A future employer can now connect to anyone of these sites to try and find information about you, which they have the means and right to.  Remember that bad review of the restaurant you made on CitySearch, it just so happens your asking for a job there and the manager is the one finding out about your online reviews.

There are a lot of cautionary tales out there, some true some not.  It is always good to know what you’re getting yourself into.  With data now free-flowing from site to site all over the internet it is very easy to find out who you are, what you do, who your freinds are, and how much you hate that restaurant.

written by tom