Rev 12:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works"
This morning's papers on Facebook tracking people even when they logged out as well as the new Kindle Fire tablet by Amazon reminded me of the above verse.
We are living in a more advance technological days. Proving that the bible is certainly true to its very essence. Why? I used to wonder how in the world can our Lord God Almighty be able to remember all the deeds and thoughts of the 6 billion plus souls on earth? He must be a super computer.
Well, today ,science and technology is proving this is possible. Whatever software application we are now signing up to - be it skype, msn or what's apps etc, can you imagine that all our conversations are recorded and stored in a cloud server somewhere up there?? The world of IT has changed. Today we have cloud computing, data storage devices that are of micro chip size compared to the days of old.
Reflections of the day
1. E-Judgement : Oh yes, the Lord will judge. 1 Pet 4:5 says He is is the judge of the living and the dead. IN Rev, when the books are opened, all our transcripts of our conversations or even may be our thoughts? would be exposed! Ever been to a court before? You will see the human judge & clerk writing or recording all the sentences furiously. And we do have an Eternal Judge of the heaven and earth - Yahweh who is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. He is our all- seeing tracker even when we are sleeping like a log or logged off!
2. E-Books: E- books are definitely here to stay. The paper books will be soon a thing in the past. Even Borders, has closed shop here in S'pore. But more importantly, is my name written in the Eternal Book of life? Jesus said in JOhn 14:6 He is the way, the truth and life, no one goes to the Father except through Him. Facebook tracks by the unique unifier IP address. We are uniquely unique and there is only one of you and one of me. This home on earth is only temporal. Our life is like a book - there is the preface, introduction, a first beginning chapter, many in-between chapters of life twists and turns, highs and lows. And finally- there will be an ending chapter. Who will write your Forewords? By the time we 'expire", have we dare to boast about the author and perfecter of our faith? Life - not how one starts but how one ends. It is not about us but all about Him . Like Jer 9:23 - let us not boast about our wisdom or strength or riches. But rather let us boast about understanding and knowing the Author of our life - the one who exercises kindness , justice and righteousness on earth - for it is in this that He delights. Let that be the contents of our book.
3. The Greatest Book : None other than the BIBLE. Still the best selling books of today in the world. Many authors had come and go. But this greatest book , inspired by God, written by more than 40 people, crossing over a span of more than a thousand years - still remains. In Neh 8:8 Ezra read the Book of the Law to the people. Joshua 1:8 mediating it day and nite, not letting it depart from our mouth.
Amazon calls its new gadget :"Kindle Fire". Yes, that's what the Word of God does. It will rekindle the fire from within us. Ignite it.
Facebook has admitted that it constantly tracks its 750 million users even after they log out.
Technology bloggers have discovered that the social networking site monitors the other webpages the users visit, reported The Daily Mail.
Engineering director of Facebook, Mr Arturo Bejar, admitted that users continue to be tracked after they log out, but was quick to point out that the data was deleted right away.
Mr Bejar explained that this is to do with the way the "like" feature works, a button which users click on to indicate whether they like something.
"The onus is on us to take all the data and scrub it. What really matters is what we say s a company and back it up," he said.
The data that is sent back to Facebook's servers include the IP address, or unique identifier of your computer, and a log of what you have been viewing.
These information help Facebook make billions of dollars each year from advertising, as such information is highly valuable.
A spokesman from Facebook said the log in and out function was for security and to prevent fraud.
He said: "We do not use this information to target adverts."
The tracking practices were exposed by Australian technology blogger Nik Cubrilovic, who found that when a user signs up to Facebook, monitoring files known as "cookies" get stored on the user's computer.
Mr Cubrilovic wrote: "Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit. The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate (web) browser for Facebook interactions."
His findings have provoked furious responses across the Web.
A user wrote on technology blog CNET: "Who the hell do these people think they are? 'Trust us?' Why? Why should we trust a company that spies on us without our knowledge and consent?"
Another added: "Holy wow...they've just leapt way past Google on the creepy meter."
A Dutch researcher revealed earlier this year that Facebook was gathering browser data from Internet users who had never even been to Facebook.com.
Amazon ignites tablet war with Kindle Fire
NEW YORK - Amazon.com took the wraps off its long-awaited "Kindle Fire" on Wednesday, tacking on a mass market-friendly US$199 (S$255) price tag that poses a serious threat to the dominance of Apple's two-year-old iPad.
The eagerly anticipated gadget, while lacking many of the high-tech bells and whistles common on tablets from cameras to 3G wireless connection, may sound the death knell for a raft of devices based on Google's Android. The software powers tablets made by Samsung, Motorola, Asustek, HTC and LG Electronics
Dotcom-entrepreneur and billionaire-CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled to a packed audience the gadget he hopes will wed Amazon's books, movies, music and other content with cloud or Internet-based storage and Web browsing.
"People have been waiting for a tablet for 200 bucks for a long time and this is the best one I've seen so far," Tim Stevens, editor-in-chief of gadget review website Engadget, told Reuters.
The Kindle Fire tablet has a 7-inch screen, free data storage over the Internet and a new browser called Amazon Silk.
Amazon expects shipments to start on Nov. 15 - hitting store shelves at Best Buy BBY.N and other chains just in time for the peak holiday shopping season.
By pricing the Fire at less than half the iPad - yet stripping out costlier components and features - the Internet retailer hopes to get the device into millions of consumers'hands, who in turn will buy Amazon content.
One key differentiator that might help the Fire stand out during the cut-throat holidays is Amazon's "EC2" cloud computing service, which supports Internet browsing and helps speed loading of websites. That was not available on rival tablets, Stevens noted.
'BLOOD BATH'
"Expect a blood bath as pricing will have to get extremely aggressive," said Mark Gerber, an analyst at Detwiler Fenton & Co. He expects Amazon to sell at least 3 million Kindle Fires this holiday season, taking the No. 2 spot in the tablet market.
The Fire was unveiled alongside several rock-bottom-priced versions of the basic Kindle reader, with the lowest at $79 - a clear challenge to Barnes & Noble Inc's Nook that will surely force the ailing bookstore chain to try and match.
Amazon shares closed 2.5 per cent higher, while Barnes & Noble dropped 7 per cent. Apple shares dipped 0.6 per cent.
"These are premium products at non-premium prices," Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said. "We are going to sell millions of these."
Analysts had expected Amazon's tablet to be priced around $250, roughly half the price of Apple's dominant iPad, which starts at $499. The Nook Color e-reader costs $249.
The Web retailer might be angling for a lower-end slice of the market that Apple - which maintains a careful grip over its higher-end branding and margins - has traditionally steered clear of.
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