Free XBox Games on Windows 8

Still on the fence as to what to actually do with Windows 8? As Microsoft starts to expand the XBox brand to go beyond just the console itself and its games and more into other infrastructures [XBox Video, XBox Music, and Xbox Games for Windows at the moment] to better cope with the changing preferences of the computing public. People may still not like the whole Metro/Modern UI, but for casual users, the various apps available in the Windows 8 store would definitely get to suit a lot of people's needs.

As with The Gunstringer being made free for a limited time last January, the Windows 8 app store is providing a few more XBox games for free. Previously included as paid apps, it is time to grab these free goodies while they're free. One might think that these are piss poor apps, but these are Miniclip-made games, and Miniclip has done a great job of porting their games from the browser to the various mobile platforms. In particular, I've been playing Gravity Guy when it was earlier released for Android and the transition to this new platform has been seemless.

Since these games are included as XBox Games for Windows, these also include the standard 200 gamerscore for achievements, so that's an extra incentive for players to boost their gamerscore-slash-bragging rights a bit.

Included below is the screenshot for reference. One can access these games through the Store app, and/or the Games app on your Windows 8 Start Screen.

The Gunstringer free for Windows 8 until January 28 PST

Using Windows 8 but has not found too many games to play with [at least, for free]? It has been reported that Temple Run would soon be ported to Windows 8, but while waiting for the smash hit from Imangi Studios, there's another game that deserves some attention. 

The Gunstringer is currently available for Windows 8 users and for free until January 28 PST. Go back to the Wild West as you go off on a dead run to complete the story mode, or when you're more up to it, the endless run mode. 

Also, it should be noted that Windows Live/XBox users can get additional gamerscore [although its quite low compared to regular XBox titles] by getting achievements in-game.

For more information, here's the game description from the publisher themselves:

Hit the trail at a dead run as you race through three sprawling Wild West locations and 15 levels as the Gunstringer, the legendary skeleton cowboy marionette bent on vengeance. But as the ol’ saying goes—if you climb in the saddle, be ready for the ride! Avoid deadly obstacles, take aim in fast-action shootin’ challenges, collect tasty loot, and battle outlaws—all while being pursued by the hands of Hell!

Complete the level-driven Story mode, and then challenge friends for braggin’ rights and loot payouts in three Endless Run levels. Exchange hard-earned loot for new customization options such as weapons, power-ups, and more to aid in the Gunstringer’s quest for the evil bandit!

I gave it a go yesterday in one of our work crashboxes and I was hooked. Time flew by and it is not just about running, since it adds a slight wrinkle to the genre, where you need to properly time your shots at certain parts of the game. 

In-game currency is either gold coins or the premium diamonds [which you can buy in-game]. You can unlock the various powerups and customizations without having to fork over real dough, which is always a welcome plus. 

So if you're on Windows 8, this is a must-grab especially while it's free.

Weekend Adventure - Shaw to Cubao

It was the end of a work week and I was walking out of the office building to make my way home. It was 5AM on a dark, cool, Saturday morning and I had nothing in the books for the day, so I decided to do something I haven't done in awhile. In fact, the last time I did it was back when I was still in Eastwood, during the first quarter of 2012. I had my earphones on hand, so it was on.

I walked home from Shaw Boulevard to our house in Cubao.

I checked my phone and it showed 5:27AM. I plugged in my earphones and fired up the music player and I was on my way. Since it was an unplanned trip, I didn't know which way to go aside from go straight. Little did I know that there were detours I needed to go through [I jaywalked once (while crossing Ortigas Avenue), and was on the side of the road instead of the sidewalk on the road from Megamall to Robinson's Galleria]. I took some photos on the way, more like checkpoints as I go. It helps that one of my photo apps have the option to add timestamps.

 Taken as I was approaching Robinson's Galleria, Ortigas

I've made it to EDSA Shrine. A group of people was gathered to say the rosary and i slipped and fell while trying to find a restroom. Nonetheless, on to the journey at hand.

 

Corinthian Gardens. Shortly after passing Ortigas Avenue, this is the first landmark I saw so I took a moment and snapped this picture.

 

 The EDSA People Power monument, roughly a kilometer from the EDSA shrine found in EDSA corner White Plains Avenue, Quezon City.

It was a little past 6 AM while I was making my way to the Santolan MRT station. Good deal, two stations down, one more to go.

Not having eaten for the past 6+ hours and having forgotten to take along a drink, I decided to stop by Minute Burger for a quick bite. Man, these places are few and far between. I used to remember eating at either Minute Burger or Burger Machine during high school. Angel's Burger is just meh compared to the heyday of Burger Machine [they even had commercials with the Eraserheads song in it].

 The last picture I took around EDSA before I took a detour at Main Avenue and made my way towards SM Cubao and on to our house near Aurora Boulevard.

Just a little past 7AM and the Araneta Center and SM Cubao is within reach.

I reached home at around 7:15AM, clocking in at roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes including the burger break I took when I was near home stretch. I'll try mapping my route a bit better next time since I definitely don't want to jaywalk, and I'd like to keep myself more on the sidewalks with all the buses zipping by. 

Random thoughts - September 26

Am I progressing along the path I choose to, or is it because it is the path of least resistance? Sometimes I wonder if I make choices for myself regarding this so-called career or am I just drifting along? Am I challenging myself to be better? Am I doing my best to improve?

MyPhone A878 Dual Core Smartphone revealed

After a few weeks of hype, local smartphone manufacturer MyPhone has finally revealed their latest Smartphone offering, a dual-core entry called the MyPhone A878. This seems to be a different model from what Chuckie Dreyfus had posted about on his blog All Chucked Up! [He mentioned it being a myPhone A898].

  

The company is performing the formal launch at Metrowalk, in Ortigas with the promo price of only P5,388, if you are a MyPhone Facebook fan. Instructions are included in their FB fan page for more details.

The specs include:

OS: Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich

Processor: 1Ghz Dual Core

LCD: 4.3" IPS Capacitive Touchscreen

Camera: 5MP with Flash and Auto-focus

Dual SIM
Wifi
Bluetooth
FM Radio
MP3/MP4/Sound Recorder
Sensor
GPS
TV-Out

 

One sore missing point would be the seeming lack of 3G/HSPA/LTE from the list of features, so if you plan on using mobile internet, that might need further clarification. I personally have not found an answer regarding that from their FB admins. 

Though, if you're like me, who's not as reliant on 3G/HSPA and could browse with relative ease or have constant access to Wi-Fi, this could be a good cheap phone to look into. Certainly cheaper than most entry level phones from Samsung and other Android OS manufacturers.

Paalam Dolphy

Dolphy's Walk of Fame star in Eastwood City, Libis

It has been a fairly surreal past few days with the seemingly sudden passing of comedy king Rodolfo "Dolphy" Quizon. After a week or two of improving diagnosis while still in the ICU, it came off as a curveball out of nowhere that his body betrayed him. Six decades of comedy gold, before age inevitably caught up with him. He barely missed his 84th birthday by 14 days.


I started watching Home Along Da Riles when I was younger. That's a decade's dose of weekly comedy growing up. It was an event, not only for me, but for the family, and my cousins. All these years and only yesterday that I thought as to how they could be neighbors with Nova Villa [who plays a rich woman], when they're supposedly living in the slums? Then again, the comedy more than made up for the loopholes in the storyline.

Thank you, sir. I would not prolong this by saying I watched all your movies [I didn't], and/or having a monologue of your accomplishments [everyone can look that up]. This is my corner in cyberspace, and on this short notice, I just want to say thanks for the memories.

MyPhone A818 Duo

I haven't written much about gadgets for awhile, and I've been toying within the Android-sphere lately. I have my Dell Streak and Kindle Fire to thank for that. I've fooled with rooting, installing custom roms and what-not to tweak and customize my gadgets even more, mainly because I want to maximize what I paid for these gadgets, e.g. getting bang for your buck. But what if, you are running on a very limited budget but want in on the Android experience? First thing that came to my mind was the Samsung Galaxy Y, but I'm not into shelling out cash for a gadget just for testing purposes. Alas, I no longer have an agent who has one that I can play with.

I took notice of this offer from myPhone, but as I earlier said, I wasn't going to shell out for something I would not use for the long term. It just so happened that one of my agents managed to purchase this during its introduction period, when it was priced at P3,999 [SRP is at 5,499]. So I borrowed it and played with it a bit.

Hardware

This is an entry level phone, if you haven't noticed. No, this would not rival your Galaxy S3, or your HTC One X, and its not meant for that. It does not hold any pretenses that it's meant to compete in that market unlike other local phones that claim to do the same.

Processor:  650Mhz single core
Memory: 256 MB
Screen: 3.5 inch Capacity screen [2 point touch] [320x480 screen resolution]
OS: Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread
Wireless: Wireless B/G
Bluetooth: yes
3G Option: none
Storage: MicroSD [expandable to 16GB]
Camera: VGA [front facing], 3.2MP [rear facing/no flash]


It is a serviceable phone, comparable to the aforementioned Galaxy Y [albeit a bit slower in terms of processing speed]. The external is made of plastic, no gorilla glass here, of course. and you get the complimentary map of the Philippines at the back which is the trademark of every myPhone device.

The screen feels responsive to my touch, and has very little lag, at least from my experience. Considering that the phone is unmodified/unrooted, this is a pleasant surprise.

The camera on the otherhand disappoints. It has no flash, and has no autofocus. This has been the downside of entry level phones, and this continues the trend. Colors from the pictures taken lack sharpness, and does not capture a lot of details on a picture. That's with fair light. Outdoors, this worked okay, since good ambient light aids in covering the camera's shortcomings. Don't dare take photos on low-light though. I feel that this is where myPhone needs to improve on, considering that I've also used another myPhone before.

The speakers are pretty loud, but tend to garble a bit when the volume is maximized. The speakers are located at the back of the unit [see picture above], so the sound tends to get muted if you lay it on the table. 

Battery life is farely decent for this phone. It comes with a 1300mAH battery that according to my agent lasts around 2 days on light to moderate use.


Software

It has mostly stock applications, but has the typical MyPhone Pinoy apps and prayers stored in it. I installed some games to test it out. Angry Birds was smooth, as is Fruit Ninja. What surprised me the most was when I installed Cogs, a fairly intensive 3D game, that ran smoothly on this phone. I feel that this is mostly helped by the choice of Gingerbread OS on this phone, compared to others using Eclair or Froyo.

But can it run Temple Run? Alas, it does not show when I search it in the Market. Trying to install it via APK did not work either. I was not able to make a video at this time of the games being played real time, but I'll work on that and update this post.

Another strange observation is that this phone does not have Google Play. It has the original Android Market but it does not automatically update itself to Google Play. I read in a forum that Google Play does not support some devices and this might be included in that list.

Verdict

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised that this phone more than held up. It has drawbacks, but then again, you have to consider it's price point and it mostly delivers in that regard.

Temple Run is now out for Android!

Albeit a bit delayed, Temple Run is now available for free for Android-toting smartphone owners. As of this writing, it has been two hours since Imangi Studios officially posted the announcement on their Facebook page, and almost 5,000 people have liked and downloaded the app.

  

I've taken the liberty of copy-pasting the link for posterity's sake since a quick search from my phone did not return with the legit app.

http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imangi.templerun

Happy running!

Photobomb no more. Get it Removed~!

There's a new worthwhile photography application for the Android OS. It's called Remove by Scalado. The Scalado team designed the Remove app to remove virtually any stranger that comes in to your photo. Where is it useful? In public places, in tourist spots. Taking pictures there are virtually difficult because of the many people around, and sometimes, some even want to 'photobomb' and ruin the moment. With Remove, you can take them out of your final photo.

How does it work, you might ask? Well, the app takes multiple pictures and allows you to specifically take out the moving elements [people, or other objects]. The only tricky thing here is that it requires you to be steady with the camera and to hold it a bit longer than you normally would. It's a good, if not great proof of concept when perfected.

Scalado would be introducing this app to the Mobile World Congress this upcoming February 27, 2012. I personally can't wait to see this app in the Market.

There's a video in Yahoo for it, which demonstrates how it works.

Source link: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/combat-photobombers-everywhere-173623034.html

Parting... part n

Another one of the people I've grown close to spent their final day at the office today. This was a complete shocker to me as I didn't know about it until a few hours until her logout. I don't know, maybe I'm just a bit sentimental, but in what seemed like a blur, it was done. Another person moving on with her life, and me heartbroken. 

No, it's not that way. It never was. It's just that during my entire stay at work, I've grown so much and been so close to the past five and a half years and it always is difficult for me to see people go. That's the heartbreak part. From teammates, to close friends, it always stings when someone goes. 

For what would seem to be the last time, I walked with them, sharing thoughts and stories, and seeing her take her ride. It felt so normal for her... maybe, just another day. But there I was, pondering as to why it seemed normal for everyone but me.

Tomorrow, another longtime friend would be ending her tenure. She's been there longer than me, and she's made her choice to move on with her life and take her talents closer to home. I'll be at home during her last goodbyes. Such a pity I couldn't be there. I wish I could've been there at least, but that's how it goes, I guess.

If it's time for me to go, I wonder if someone would think of me the same way I think about my closest friends. Would someone miss me, look for me, try to keep in touch with me if I'm the one leaving?

Fields and fields of opinion

Sometimes I wonder if I'm being just confident or if I am bordering on arrogance. At times, I'm just shy and quiet, but I see that part of the change instilled in me by being part of support is that I have to get along with a lot of other people and in turn, has turned me into someone a bit outgoing. I ponder if I rub people the wrong way, which is inevitable I guess, but makes me think about it nonetheless.

the SOPA and PIPA double entendre

One of the biggest things that I've taken for granted [and I'm sure a lot of people have] is how easily information is made available to us. One click through Google, and a lot of information is within our fingertips, all at the expense of a good internet connection.

However, just today, Google and Wikipedia have, in their own way, showed their hand with regards to two pending U.S. bills being proposed. The Stop Online Piracy Act, and the Protect Intelectual Property Act, are being pushed by the U.S. Senate with noble intents, to put things kindly, but would negatively impact the ease of access to information enjoyed by millions, if not billions around the world.

What are these two bills, anyway? Let's go one by one.

The Stop Online Piracy Act:

The Protect Intellectual Property Act:

It has the noblest of aims, which is to protect US Intellectual property from being stolen and being used for interests that would negatively impact the U.S. However, it encompasses more than that. Inevitably, these bills would heavily restrict the information made available to consumers [regular people]. If it aims for free speech and innovation, then it definitely is conflicted. You can read about the potential repercussions of the bills here.

This reminds me of how the Chinese government moderates the internet traffic, sites and usage of their users. Is Big Brother far behind? 

Do take note that while these are United States bills, it would affect everyone, even those not on US soil, as the regulation pertains to the Internet itself. So, it would be best to be educated as early as now. 

See Google and the Wikimedia foundation's response to these pieces of legislation:

 

I miss writing.

It has been months upon months since I last wrote anything not work related and/or stress induced. It seems that my work has swallowed every bit of free time that I have for the past year or so. I've gone week after week of handling agents either as an L2 or a Team Manager. It's the first time I've contemplated about where all the time has gone to, where everyone else has gone to, and why I'm still here in the same job I've had for the past 5 and a half years.

This may jump from one topic to another for no reason or so, but please bear with it. These are things that come at a moment's notice in my head, and I just want to get them off and have them written down before they fade once again to obscurity. 

What was 2011 to me? At work, it was what it was for a call center environment. It was a mix of heartbreak and triumph, stories of so many crammed into one. The pressure to perform at the highest of levels on a regular basis and to be expected of greatness, even at times when one is broken, or is unprepared. I don't know. It only occured to me during my Christmas post that I've gone through ten different teams, and three different roles during this year alone, which to some may be more than their entire stay at a company. I've of course handled agents as an L2, my calling card for the past 2 and a half years or so, mixed in by a couple of months handling a team as a Team Manager, and last but not the least, a week as a trainer sometime last October. I feel like I've been the utility guy being called in to plug holes wherever needed. I could not complain, though, as it has been a growing experience for me to go through the various roles that I've been called upon. It's just that I'm filled with heartbreak every time I have to move, just as I am on the verge of settling in, getting comfortable, and feeling at home. I've been here for 5+ years but this year has been tougher for me than most in terms of dealing with changes. 

Personally, I'm okay. I have a good relationship with my dad. I still live in a messy house where shoes, slippers, clothes and the like are everywhere and only me and my dad know how to decipher the mess. I've been incident free in the sense that I've not been involved in a crime, or have not been witness to any. I haven't been robbed, mugged, kidnapped, side swiped, snatched upon, or any of that for this year. I'm thankful that, despite the seeming prevalence of these incidents, I've been safe for the entire year. 

On a friend level, it sure seems like I've lost a lot while gaining/re-establishing ties with new people. I am sorry for not keeping in touch with everyone, and I hope that no one feels left out because of me. I have just been consumed with everything else, and the neverending deadlines that seemingly have been imposed on what needs to be done. I've built great friendships only to lose traction once they are out of my immediate vicinity. This is one of the things I am sorry for, not only because I've lost track of everyone but because I feel like I've let everyone down. I hope to resolve it and make the time for the best of friends who've been with me for a long time. I have a lot of making up to do, but the year is still early. 

As far as relationships go, it's been two years and 7 months that I've had a girlfriend. It has been a lot of fun, though its not all rainbows and green lights. There has been a lot of challenges, with time, with understanding each other and a lot of other things, but as with anything, adjustments are necessary to make things work. My family absolutely loves her, and almost everyone has given their nod of approval towards her. It was the first time I've travelled with her to her hometown during her week-long vacation last May. It was eventful, and I'm glad to finally meet her family. It was, for me, something that I can take away from the entire year of experiences. 

What's in store for 2012? I don't know really, but I resolve to return two of my previous hobbies: reading and writing. I intend to read more again, something that brought me to various cities while sitting down, and opened me to more possibilities. I intend to write more in my blog again. I'm not sure why I've gone away from these stress/tension relieving activities that I used to love so much. Other than that, I'll just have to fly along and go where my feet take me and make the most of whatever's in front of me.

Business... /?

At work, a few days ago. I received an email from someone asking me to clarify statements I've made about him to another colleague. Just for the uninitiated, I was told that this "guy", agent from another floor was emailing and trying to get close with agent B, who's from our operations area. I gave a friendly reminder of this guy's reputation, aptly backed up by one of this "guy's" friends. Now, he's crying that it's all business.

I didn't mince words and replied straight to the point on what I said, how I said and how his friend also reacted in agreement to what I said. I didn't get another reply. I managed to bump into this guy without any incident in the elevator. Amazing. He can't say a word to me because he knows I'm right.

As it turns out, it's partly business, but partly personal. I mean, who asks people they want to do business with if they can accompany them home? Or to be constantly emailing, random items that DOES NOT RELATE TO THE BABY BACK BULLSHIT EXCUSE THAT HE'S USING WHICH IS... BUSINESS. Would this guy do the same to another random "guy" or "girl" who does not have the same physical traits as this girl Agent B? I think not. It has happened before. He knows it, the world around us knows it, and he's upset he's being called out on it.

No names are left here, but people can put two and two together.

The Evolution in Flash Drive pricing

Way, way back when I was in college, I wrote about a 64GB flash drive being made available. At the time, it seemed like a world of portable storage, but the price made it prohibitive. How prohibitive, you might ask? It's more expensive than a computer, that's for sure. Check that post [which goes back about 5 years here.

I went to a tech store, Newegg.com who sell similar products from the same manufacturer and see the huge change in prices from then to now. See the current price of the same sized flash drive from the same manufacturer
here.

Now if only Solid State Drives start dropping in price soon, so that I can start affording them.

Vamos! Rafael Nadal wins his 6th French Open championship

Rafa Nadal has done it again! He has risen to the occasion and proved the doubters wrong once more. For the 6th time, he has won the French Open. With Novak Djokovic steamrolling through the competition and threatening to snatch away the number one ranking, Rafa came up big and won this Final.

The first set was tight with Roger coming up with an early lead 4-1, but Nadal managed to win 5 games in a row to steal away the first set at 7-5. The second set was more of the same, and it looked like he was on his way to his 6th slam in Paris, but Roger managed to win the third set. However, it is only a minor chink in the armor of Rafa as he dominated the fourth, winning it 6-1 and seeing him fall to the ground as the match was declared over.

With this win, Rafael Nadal remains in number one. Had he lost today, or had Novak Djokovic managed to beat the Fed, he would have been number one come Monday when the rankings get updated. Instead, Rafa would retain top billing in the men's rankings. It is an astounding record knowing that the top man in tennis has been either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal since February of 2004.

Winning this year's French Open championships has upped Nadal's record to 45-1 in this Grand Slam tournament.

GSP's next fight is set to be a barn burner

Coming from the official UFC site itself, Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz would be the next in line to challenge George St. Pierre's welterweight reign of terror. It is slated for UFC 137, which is set to take place on October 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

What was first to be thought as an impossibility due to Diaz' current standing as Strikeforce Welterweight champion, details have been ironed out which allowed him to be back in the Octagon. Diaz is seen by many as the one to challenge GSP's skills with his excellent combination of boxing and jiu-jitsu. But then again, could he really stop GSP's takedowns and ground and pound? We'll have 3+ months to debate on that.

At the very least, it shows that UFC and Dana White are committed to bringing the best fights possible on the table, which is a sharp contrast to what boxing has been having the past few years [or even the past decade, if you will].

Source: http://www.ufc.com/news/ufc-137-fight-card-updates

UFC 129 Main Event Scorecards: Which rounds did GSP lose?

One of the takeaways from the main event of UFC 129, was the fact that two of the three judges gave two rounds to welterweight challenger, Jake Shields. It has raised some questions to some as to how rounds are scored. Zuffa has officially released the judges' scorecards from that bout. This effectively ends George St. Piehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrre's run of consecutive rounds won at 33. Still, an amazing feat, but after watching the bout, I didn't really see how he could have lost those two rounds. But that's just me.

Scorecard's here:



Credit for the scorecard goes to MMAWeekly

Loser.

Weeks One and Seven are officially done for me. If the scales are right, I'm losing weight. That's a good sign for me, shouldn't it? I just am not feeling said weight loss. I still look fat and people are not acknowledging that indeed I'm losing weight [hello, I'm number two in one of the races].

One point that has constantly been drilled to my head is that I need to work out and go to the gym, and do these workouts. From Muay Thai, to Wrestling and Boxing, there has been no shortage of advice and sometimes criticism because of me opting to stick with jogging and slight dieting [I'll get into this later], rather than going turbo and doing all these things.

Firstly, I'm tired as heck by the time my shifts end everyday. Handling 20 people is tough, especially when more than 80% seem like needy kids in constant need of attention. Then again, that's the challenge of handling new hires. No complaints, except maybe when I'm really angry and tired [or maybe sometimes frustrated] at all these people calling out AT THE SAME TIME EVEN THOUGH ITS PRETTY CLEAR IM ATTENDING TO SOMEONE ELSE AT THE MOMENT! Whew, that was a relief. The day does not end there, because as soon as everyone's gone, I still have to do other things while waiting for ze girlfriend. I normally get home at around noontime everyday, and considering I have work in 10 hours or less during my workdays, working out is not an actual option right there.

Secondly, I know myself. I cheat my diet quite a bit [hence the term slight dieting]. My first two weeks of diet were, to say the least, challenging. These days however, I give in to a lot of stuff, and it still shows I'm able to lose weight. I eat rice, though, admittedly, I try to stick to a specific amount. I still eat burgers when I feel like it. I mean, for all the stress I go through at work, it's my way of rewarding myself and pampering myself. Also, my girlfriend seems to feel a bit guilty watching me eat kamote, and all these vegetables without any rice, and she ends up wanting me to eat normally anyway. READ: I'm losing weight despite not having a full workout schedule AND not a strict diet. No diet pills here, too.

Lastly, it's a long way to the finish line. Why run when I can take things slowly at my pace, enjoy what I'm doing, and achieve similar results? I'm not mocking those who dedicate themselves to working out, because that's definitely something that works for them. It's just that, I don't want to have to constantly hear from folks that I'm not trying to do what is best for me in these types of things. I'll get there, but at my own pace. I'll work out when I feel like it, no forcing needed.

Days off are on the way. I hope to get something done productive in between.

Facebook Tip: How to block specific friends from reading a specific Facebook status update

Facebook, despite what you might be hearing around the Internet, actually has good privacy controls. You can control exactly who can see what on your profile.

One lesser-known feature, however, is that you can control who can read each and every one of your status updates. You've probably seen the padblock below the status update box, but if you click it, and then Customize, you can block specific people from reading your update!

Maybe you're not quite ready to unfriend someone, or perhaps you're simply trying to arrange a surprise birthday party for one of your friends -- either way, it's a great little feature.

Now, if only that feature is available for posts made in friends' pages, then it'd be nifty as well. Alas, we can't have it all.