Facebook is a great way to connect with friends, colleagues, customers, family members and any social contact you’d like to keep within easy reach.

But with the massive user base that Facebook has, it’s very easy to be lost in the crowd, especially if your name is “John Smith” (at the time of writing, Facebook lists about 223,000 users with that name). You shouldn’t have any problems standing out and being found if your name is “The Hulk” (though I see you’re not using Facebook yet :P).

Letting people know you’re on Facebook and have them find your profile can be difficult. That’s where Facebook Usernames can come in handy.

While logged in to Facebook, visit the Username URL at: http://facebook.com/username

There, you will be able to choose a username for yourself, or any Facebook pages you may have created (pages must have 25 users “like” it before it can be assigned a username).

What this means is, instead of having an ugly link to your page that looks like this:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Kuwait-Kuwait/technalogia/116869828337292?ref=ts

You have an elegantly beautiful link that looks like this:

http://www.facebook.com/technalogia

The “username” you choose will be the name that comes after “facebook.com/” in the URL.

The best convention to take for profile usernames (i.e. a username for your personal profile) is to go by your own name. If your name is already taken (e.g. you’re a John Smith), then you can add your father’s initials or a number after your name.

You should also use your page name as the username, so as not to cause confusion, and to increase brand awareness.

The most important step to take (after creating your username) is to share it with the world (i.e. your world). Now that the link to your profile or pages is much easier to share (you don’t have to memorize your profile number, or have people suffer after searching for you on Facebook), go ahead and share it!

Make sure you encourage people to join your Facebook community. You can even add your user-friendly Facebook URL to your business card, so people can know that you’re on Facebook and they can interact with you there.

If you’re on Facebook and haven’t “liked” Technalogia’s page already, click on the following link to do so:

http://facebook.com/technalogia (now, isn’t that a pretty link? ;))

Matt Cutts, one of Google’s most visible faces, offers many nuggets of wisdom over at his personal blog, with a special focus on SEO (Search Engine Optimization, i.e. how to get your site ranked higher in the search engines).

Last year he offered a simple productivity tip that I’m sure will appeal to many readers:

Step 1. Buy a productivity book.

Step 2. Look at the productivity book and tell yourself, “If I don’t get X done, I’m going to have to read that productivity book.”

What I like about his tip is that it highlights a problem that’s easy to fall into: an obsession with productivity-enhancing resources.

People who want to become more productive (i.e. get their work done) avoid their work in search of just the right book and just the right software and just the right audio seminar that will somehow turn them into well-oiled productive machines.

When they read one productivity book, they look for more productivity books.

When they try out one productivity software, they search for more productivity softwares to try out.

This obsession doesn’t help get work done. It offers a convenient (although not very convincing) excuse to avoid the work: “Hey! Can’t you see I’m trying to be more productive!?”

Matt’s tip works for those who hate reading, but it also shows what we should focus our efforts on: Get X done.

Of course, productivity problems can’t be solved this easily.

Raise your hand if you suffer from productivity problems every now and then (I bet if you have a hand to raise, you have it raised right now).

But productivity problems aren’t created equally. Each problem has its own root causes, which you need to explore in order to rid yourself of the obstacles standing between you and getting your work done.

Do you hate the work you have to do?

Do you not know what you should be working on right now?

Is there something else you’d rather be doing?

Are you afraid of making mistakes?

Are you afraid that things won’t work out as well as you hope they would?

It’s crucial that you know what’s holding you back for you to make any progress.

And if you hate reading, give Matt’s tip a try. It can “literally CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!”

Last month, Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple, Inc.) announced the reasons why “we [Apple] do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads,” which got me thinking about whether Apple should support Flash or not, and what my reasoning for such a decision would be.

Before I offer my personal take on the issue, let me present the main reasons given by Jobs. You can read the entire letter at Apple’s site.

• The reason behind the decision is technical, not business-driven
• Flash is a closed system, available only through Adobe Systems
• Apple believes that “all standards pertaining to the web should be open,” which is why Apple products support HTML5, CSS and Javascript
• HTML5 offers many advanced graphics that were once available only through Flash
• Apple contributed WebKit, an open-source HTML5 engine that many mobile devices use, which demonstrates Apple’s commitment to open technologies
• Flash videos from YouTube and other major video sources are available in open standards as well, which means that “iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video”
• Apple’s App Store offers “over 50,000 games and entertainment titles… and many of them are free”
• Flash videos have security vulnerabilities and reliability issues
• Flash videos can drain battery life, because they place a heavy demand on software to run
• Flash “was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers,” creating usability issues for Apple’s users
• And the most important reason given by Jobs: “Adobe also wants developers to adopt Flash to create apps that run on our mobile devices”

Jobs ends his letter by offering Adobe a piece of advice:

“Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.”

As you can see, Jobs presents a number of reasons why Apple’s handheld devices don’t support Flash, but none of his reasons are convincing. He begins his letter by claiming that Apple’s decision is based on technical issues, then ends the letter with the most important reason: a business one.

The real reason why Apple doesn’t want Flash-based apps on the iPhone and iPad is so that the App Store doesn’t face any competition on Apple’s own devices. Jobs makes it sound as though Apple’s main concern is the quality of the apps being created on its platform, when Apple’s main concern boils down to protecting its monopoly on the applications created for its devices.

The reason why I disagree with Apple’s decision is that it doesn’t put the interest of its users as the primary criterion.

All the technical issues that come with Flash can be resolved by giving users the choice on whether to run Flash or not.

Making the decision on behalf of users leads to a negative user experience.

Even if 90% of all videos on the web are available on Apple’s devices, why prevent users from accessing the other 10%?

Shouldn’t users decide whether they want to run Flash videos or not, without having Apple make that decision on their behalf?

What are your thoughts on the issue?

Should Apple support Flash on the iPhone, iPod and iPad?

If you’re a business owner or a freelancer looking for ways to harness technology to boost sales and find customers…

If you’re an aspiring web developer eager to learn more about web development and how to accelerate you’re learning…

If you’re reading this, and somehow know that there’s more to technology than you’ve been exposed to…

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