We get ripped off a lot. I often spot a button image that’s been repurposed, or a layout that’s just a little bit too inspired by a previous design we’ve done. Generally, we find it really flattering and have a good laugh - if nothing else, it makes us feel that we’re probably doing something…

It’s not all that often you hear of high-profile companies like Mozilla ripping off user interface designs from other companies. From what I’ve read, Mozilla has since changed the user interface of their product, Flight Deck, but it’s still a pretty embarrassing PR stumble.

Seeing as my blog makes use of an amazing MetaLab design, I figure I should point out that the company donated the layout to Tumblr for public use; I have since customized the design to fit closer with my website’s appearance. Totally different ballpark.

I was browsing around Daring Fireball again, and saw John’s post entitled “Facebook Login”. He goes on to show an excellent example of technological ignorance.

Fascinating. ReadWriteWeb has a weblog post that ranks highly in Google’s search results for “Facebook login”. The comments on the post are filled with complaints from confused people who think that this is the new Facebook login page.

It’s funny, yes, but it’s a fascinating glimpse at just how confused many people are about how web sites and browsers work. They don’t use bookmarks, they don’t type “facebook.com” in the location field. They just Google for whatever they’re looking for and assume the first result is correct. All this argument over whether the iPad is too simple — if anything it’s probably still too complex.

For myself, I have to pick my jaw up off of the floor after having read some of the comments on the ReadWriteWeb article in question. Here are a few goodies:

The new facebook sucks> NOW LET ME IN.

Posted by: John Blair | February 10, 2010 9:47 AM

I WANT THE OLD FAFEBOOK BACK THIS SHIT IS WACK!!!!!

Posted by: Nicole Gray | February 10, 2010 9:54 AM

I was just learning,why would you mess it up?

Posted by: Richard Gordon | February 10, 2010 10:13 AM

wtf is this bullshttttttttttt all about. can i get n plzzzzzzzzz

Posted by: M arvin Scott | February 10, 2010 10:17 AM

And just to change it up, a voice of common sense:

This is what happens when people use Google to enter sites instead of typing it on their address bar…

Damn you all Farmville users…

Posted by: Rodrigo | February 10, 2010 11:57 AM

Now, I try to avoid belittling the intelligence of others — karma and such — but sometimes it needs to be mentioned. It’s also moments like this that I come to understand certain things about the world, like how Bush got elected not once, but twice, or the Tea Party movement. But that’s starting to go on a political tangent.

Let’s just leave it at this: the collective unintelligence of humanity does nobody any favours.

Since I revamped my website, one particular section ended up getting cut: the blog. I have always used Tumblr to power my blog, but it ended up that Twitter took dominance of my online habits. It was much easier (and faster) to simply link to an interesting site or article than it was to write something about it.

However, I’ve been trying to make a few changes in my life, including time management (i.e. setting aside time for specific tasks or events), and blogging is one of those things.

Aside from that, this is the first time that I’ve used Tumblr as a fully integrated blog; before, I just had that silly embed code on my site, which was kind of neat, but ultimately watered down Tumblr’s potential (e.g. reblogging, liking, etc.) unless if someone visited the tumblr page itself, which had a horribly lame design and zero branding.

And so, to celebrate this newfangled integration (of which I’ll be adding improvements to the layout to better reflect the site, etc.), the blog is now accessible from http://blog.torabu.net/. Yeah, that subdomain really makes it look official and integrated!

John Gruber over at Daring Fireball grabbed a quote from the folks over at the Official Google Blog:

Google:

We’re planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We’ll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

The Google blog post itself is titled “Think big with a gig: Our experimental fiber network” and is Google’s first foray into the wide world of network infrastructure. The claimed goal is “to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone.”

I just finished a post jabbing at Google’s recent “hand in every pie” mentality, but this is one experiment I think is really great. Why? Because Google’s entire business is reliant on a fast and open internet. Youtube, for example. Increasing download speeds means people can view video faster, which improves the experience of watching video on the web. That translates to additional page views, which in turn translates to increased AdWords revenue.

This is one of those scenarios where “what’s good for Google is good for us.”