So, I found a pair of sunglasses on the footpath last week while walking back from lunch. Picked them up, because I'm a cheap bastard. Figured they were probably broken, but no - they were in good nick, and they fit nicely. Score!
Get back to the office, and I have a closer look. They're labelled "Emporio Armani", so I google "emporio armani sunglasses" (as you do), and found out these are pretty nice - buying a similar pair in the UK would run me over 100 pounds.
So, I tell the ladies at the reception desk what I'd found, and asked them to let me know, if anyone comes looking for them - but if nobody claims them, I'm keeping them (again, as you do). Nobody did.
There is a point to all this, and I'm coming to it now. Today, I'm browsing on facebook, and there, on the left, is a great big fancy Emporio Armani ad.
Yeah google, that shit's not creepy at all ...
Facebook isn't getting it from google, a third party ad exchange is using it to serve you ads all over the internet. Turn cookies off and install an ad blocker and you won't see any of that. If you want to tweak a friend google something seriously weird, like "adult incontinence" a bunch of times on their computer. They'll get odd ads for weeks. -XC
>> Facebook isn't getting it from google Seems to me that they are. The pathway ("a third party ad exchange") is just the transfer mechanism. I think your point was that it could just as easily have been "bing" and "linked in", for example. Doesn't make it any less creepy.
Oh, well, yeah it might have come from there, but it might be that the search they remembered was only one of the data points that was used to display the ad. One AdEx I know claims they use over 50 factors, including a large search history, to determine ad categories. There is a local company here that does neighborhood level ad targeting to show you local coupons and specials. If you think it's creepy (doesn't bother me, I like ads that show me things I'm interested in) the you should use ad blocker and block cookies and scripts. Then it all goes away. -XC
Understood. In spite of the creepy factor, I kinda prefer to see this sort of thing, out in the open. A reminder that some 'bot is watching a lot of what we all do in public.
I'd kind of like to know which NSA agent is watching at any one time. You know, since the cat is half out of the bag anyway. That way, I could kind of explain myself a little, or give a heads up, like, "Hey Jeff, I've been drinking a bit and I've been going through some stuff, so things are going to get a little weird." Or have people not watching everyone . . .
Well, at the end of the cold war, the STASI in East Germany employed about 1/3 of the population to spy on the other 2/3, so maybe "shovel ready" was Obama-code for that sort of program? But I agree that it would be cozier if we knew our watchers. -XC
You could always pull a elahi and just say, "You want to track me? Here you go F.B.I" Cut out the middle man.
Yep - and maybe showcases that what we assume is private is often actually not. That's actually sort of the reason I posted this account.
It seems to be maybe coincidental at this point. I Googled "can facebook get google search data" and found this: 6 Ways Google Gets Your Social Data but that doesn't account for Facebook getting your Google searches... at least not yet. I'm sure they're working on it.
Yes! I look exactly like that now! ;-) No, really they are sorta slim classic ray-ban style, in a tortoise shell colour. Google image search "ea 9660". They are pretty nice.
If I had the designer (photo shop) chops, I'd have made that chap in lil's photo have a swarm of bees flying around his head and a mug of beer in his hands. Like humanodon said, make sure they're real (if you're interested in selling them) or if you're not interested, who cares. Enjoy them. #found a tag that I don't think has ever been used. It'd be a great question for lil's book: What have you found that you've kept? edit: I stand corrected, there are two #found posts.
You're sure you're not experiencing the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? That you start noticing stuff once it's pointed out to you. Nevertheless I find facebook creepy. It's a shame that I need it so badly to communicate.
I'm not sure how one goes about checking whether or not they are real, but in the States at least, there's a decent chance of many designer goods being fakes. If they are real, then all the better! If not, well, you've still got a new pair of sunnies.