Zuck listens to what we want. Maybe. (Photo: scrapetv.com)

As New York Observer columnist Ryan Holiday noted back in September, social media sites are often "broken on purpose." That brokenness works in favor of a site like Facebook because it means they can potentially find more ways, in Mr. Lawler's words, "to extract more money from users."

Today, Facebook is starting to address that problem with a feature that allows users to choose if they want to be notified whenever there’s a new page post.

"We are currently rolling out the ability for people to receive notifications from specific pages, friends or public figures that they are connected to," the company told Inside Facebook.

However, Facebook is essentially working against its own algorithms with this change. Facebook users' news feeds sometimes jettison posts as the program attempts to prioritize whatever may seem relevant or timely.

Facebook has tested another option that pemits subscribing to a page without liking it, so these changes may please both fans and hate-readers alike.

Why, SocialCam? Why? (Photo: The Awl)

Show of hands: How many of you now know way too much about high school friends' video viewing habits, thanks to SocialCam's overshare-enabling default settings? And surely we can't be the only users enraged by being prompted to install an app before we can read an article on Yahoo News or The Washington Post?

Facebook apps and their "frictionless sharing" are aggravating--so naturally, a couple of enterprising developers have created workarounds for both Chrome and Firefox, reports TechCrunch.

The plug-ins allow users to read or watch whatever their friends have shared, without sharing it themselves. That means you can assuage your curiosity re: TomKat while browsing Facebook, without blowing your "I don't read celebrity news" cover.

Of course, this only solves accidental oversharing. If you're the type to chronicle every dispute and drunken cocktail party on Facebook, there's not much we can do for you.

Call us. (Photo: BBC)

Ever stood on a street corner wondering what your neighborhood looked like a century ago? If yes, a) you are a nerd and b) the New York Public Library is working on it.

Thanks to a 2010 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the NYPL has embarked on a big effort to digitize its collection of historical maps. And for the history-crazed among us, they've just posted a lengthy, detailed description of how that project works.

You might assume that digitizing a map collection is as simple as scanning the paper versions and slapping them on the open web. Not the case. In order to be useful, the maps must be "georectified," or aligned with their modern virtual equivalents. (If that sounds interesting, good news: The NYPL is crowdsourcing that part of the project, which means you are more than welcome to pitch in.) The result is something that looks like this 1909 map of Queens, which has been lined up nicely with the modern grid in case you'd maybe like to look up your apartment like we just did.

The next step after that is cropping (removing those snazzy, flowery borders so many 19th century documents have). Last comes digitization, which is really a step called map tracing, which is "preparing machine readable data to be harvested, mined, analyzed, mashed, made part of the semantic web and relate to itself, across time." And that's going to make walking tours a lot more awesome:

This type of data will eventually allow you to ask your phone a question like, "I'm standing in front of the Coney Island Cyclone, what other attractions would I see if I was here 100 years ago?" and be presented with a reasonable answer such as, "on the other side of the street you'd see the colossal elephant bazaar that stood from 1885 to 1896, etc..."

So if you were to, let's say, hop in a time machine with a goofy Brit in a bow tie, you'd have a travel guide.

Just saying.

A screenshot from nonstartr.com

When NonStartr popped up on our Twitter feed this morning, we of course found it hilarious--"Its like Klout, but for clowns!"--but then we thought maybe we had seen it before. Turns out Nonstartr is new; one of its creators, Alex Leo, Reuter's director of product news, told us over Twitter: "We came up w/idea months ago, brainstormed & got domain/accts but [Andrew Cedotal] (who did ALL the work) did it recently." But it's also one of many ridiculous startup generators on the Internet that poke fun at some of the silly ideas for companies the recent tech bubble has produced. So without further ado, here is your complete guide to the Internet's best startup generators.

Nonstartr
Site: http://www.nonstartr.com/
Creators: Andrew Cedotal and Alex Leo
Registered on: September 19, 2011
Tagline: WTF is my startup pitch?
What it is: Nonstartr takes buzzworthy companies and mashes them up with relatively terrible ideas for companies. The results are quite silly.
Examples: "It's like Netflix meets Shoedazzle;" "It's like Foursquare, but for weddings;" "It's like Warby Parker, but for clergy."

Ykombinator's Random Startup Generator
Site: http://www.ykombinator.com/
Creators: Shlomi Atar and Gilad Avidan, of Smore.
Registered on: December 30, 2010
Tagline: None
What it is: The Random Startup Generator gives you a fake company name, a mission and an explanation of what the fake startup does.
Examples: "GoBuzz is a new and improved way of getting you to the Digg homepage;" "Cloudular is an open source way of reliving past internet memes."

It's This For That
Site: http://www.itsthisforthat.com/
Creators: Eric Kerr and Ben Gilbert
Registered on: August 29, 2010
Tagline: Wait, what does your startup do?
What it is: Provides humorous descriptions for fake startups.
Examples: "It's like an appstore for ex-convicts;" "It's like Google Analytics for the Army;" "It's like 1-800-Flowers for the homeless!"

The Startup Generator
Site: http://www.thestartupgenerator.com/
Creators: Israel Kirsh and RottenOgre
Registered on: June 16, 2011
Tagline: Generate a start-up and get funding before the bubble bursts!
What it is: Uses the formula "X meets Y meets Z" to produce interesting startup mashups.
Examples: "Ning meets Launchrock meets justin.tv;" "Skype meets Skype meets Skype"

Generic health care symbols via the Google Images stock images factory.

While some venture capitalists require their portfolio founders to get life insurance and many startups opt for disaster insurance (server loses all the data, hackers attack, etc.), startups, founders and freelancers often skimp on health insurance. "It's called DontGetSickOrDie.ly," tweeted* a local founder after Songsicle founder Frank Denbow posed the question on Twitter (asking for a friend, he said, although he also needs it himself, he told Betabeat).

In part the dearth of health insurance is due to the fact that "lean startup"-leaning founders and freelancers don't have funding to pay their salaries, let alone benefits (and they're all 25-year-olds on the 4 Hour Body diet anyway, right?**). But it's also because the process is complicated and no really great options exist. Sounds like a market ripe for disruption! But in the meantime, Betabeat did a bit of research.

Charles Smith of Ex.fm wrote in to point us to his startup's provider, Rollins Insurance's InnovationGuard program, which provides a variety of products catering to startups in New York including Gilt Groupe, Etsy, Business Insider, Savored and others. We spoke to Lisa Bocchino of the employee benefits division at the Rollins Agency, based in Westchester, to ask what options founders and freelancers have.

The first thing she tries to do is hook people together into a group, she said. New York state requires at least two eligible people—they don't necessarily have to be employees on payroll—but as long as a company has two eligible candidates, the broker can establish a "group" status that gives access to discounts from carriers like Empire or Oxford. You can do it as a sole proprietor, she said, but it's "very costly."

The plan Ms. Bocchino normally sells is $441 per person for month, she said, and she's done ten in the last six months or so. Although it's tempting for startups to put off the expense, health insurance is increasingly necessary for recruiting. "I think most people find that it's definitely necessary to have in place to recruit good people," she said.

There are plenty of options, though, she said, from a basic HMO with a $30 copay to a high deductible plan. Employers can also give their employees options for how much to pay and which plan to buy, although she said the trend in New York seems to be for startups to cover the bulk of the benefit cost.

For founders who are starting their own companies in New York, what are their basic options for health insurance? You mentioned COBRA, join an association, try to get a few people on a plan.

This varies so greatly—employers who have payroll can establish their own group plans or join a PEO.  A sole proprietor can find a sole proprietor plan or search for those associations that focus on certain professions such as the arts.

But thanks to the SMARTPHONE REVOLUTION, you can now watch live feeds of the race, track up to 10 runners, view leader boards, find the best viewing spots and update marathon-related social media.

Runners who bring along an iPhone or Android can use the app to track their progress by GPS and "transmit your exact location to everyone who’s tracking you," so that friends and family can intercept their marathoners accurately no matter where they are on the five-borough track.

Last week, we wrote about the tech community's ambivalence toward Occupy Wall Street. Some young web entrepreneurs just aren't in love with the movement. But many socially-minded developers are into it, and whether at hackathons in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, or New York, or elsewhere, or on their own, they're building apps to show it.

10. TextOccupy

Essentially, a text message listserv for each city. "Wifi is sometimes spotty and because the scene is loud, voice communication—like using walkie-talkies or phone calls—is challenging. So rather than rely on runners who physically move between campsites, people have created cells for each group and communicate via text messaging."

9. OccupyVotes

This site has collected more than 22,000 votes on 64 ideas for demands, from "institute a flat tax" to "jail Alan Greenspan." "This is an open source approach to participatory democracy. An idea marketplace, it enables #OWS to collect and prioritize ideas in an open, efficient, and accountable way."

8. Occupyr

Forum for Occupy Wall Street discussion built by a New York developer that uses an upvote/downvote system to organize posts--in contrast to the disorganized and occasionally troll-y forum at occupywallst.org. "Discussions appear on the site in a democratic process in which the highest-voted posts appear at the top. The site operates with 100% transparency, allowing users to see who voted for which posts."

7. How2Occupy

A question-and-answer site for occupation organizers. "Users can ask questions about issues they’re dealing with, and others can share their experience. The code for site is up here: https://github.com/occupyhack/How2Occupy and for the mobile app, here: https://github.com/occupyhack/OccupyHandbook."

6. OccupyDesign

A design library full of populist infographics, and a resource connecting designers with occupiers on the ground. Includes a form to request a design. "Building a visual language for the 99 percent, grassroots style. Protest + logistical signage, street infographics, and universal icons around social justice."

One of the designs on offer at OccupyDesign.org.

5. OccupyTheHub

A venue for watching livestreaming video, seeing tweets and chatting with others city-by-city. "The #occupy needs to see and feel the support. OccupyTheHub is a visually compelling experience that brings together online activity."

4. Shouty

Several apps have been created to help solve the problem of amplification at assemblies, which have grown so large that it's difficult for participants to hear the speakers. "Shouty is an Android app based on some of the ideas in wifi island. It can serve as an electronic aid to the people’s microphone, a tool for listening in on meetings you can’t attend, or a way to share live music. Shouty broadcasts a live mp3 stream from the phone’s microphone to any one on the local wifi network. Common music playing apps, like iTunes and Banshee, can play this stream using their built-in 'internet radio' features." Local developer-machine Ian Jennings also took a crack at this problem with http://manyspeakers.com/, but found it didn't scale.

3. Occupyist

The new Gothamist? "Occupyist shows the humble beginnings of what will be a sortable, searchable, location-specific list of events (Meetup and Facebook) and Twitter feeds (screen names and hashtags) related to the Occupy movement."

2. Ridehack

A smooth, event-centric version of Craigslist's rideshare. "Ridehack helps you share rides to your favorite events and carpool with like-minded people. Thanks to Meetup, OccupyTogether.Ridehack.com helps activists ridehack their way to local Occupy Together meetups."

1. Police Brutality Tracker

A reporting and cataloguing tool for CopWatch; still in development.

0. Bonus! IRC Channels

Operation Empire State Rebellion. "We’ve developed a general assembly and occupation registry that Anonymous might use to put their event on the big map and calendar right on the front page. Also, it supports international locations and multiple languages." IRC

IndyMedia. The Independent Media Center, "a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth." IRC

Check out:

#occupywallstreet (general)
#owspolitics (discussion)
#helpows (ground support for OWS)
#owsQandA (general Q&A)
#occupytogether (general)

OccupyWallSt.org."OccupyWallSt.org is the unofficial de facto online resource for the ongoing protests happening on Wall Street. We are an affinity group committed to doing technical support work for resistance movements. We are not affiliated with Adbusters, anonymous or any other organization." IRC

Mr. Talens

This is a guest post by Dick Talens, an amateur competitive bodybuilder and the co-founder and CTO of Fitocracy.  He once looked like the kid from Up (except much rounder) until he traded in his video game time for gym time.  Over the last eight years, he's spent 1000+ hours reading about nutrition and training so that others don't have to.  He tweets about startups and fitness @DickTalens, or you can find him on Fitocracy with that same handle.

Over the last decade I’ve gone from comically fat (note the homeless guy laughing at me) to amateur competitive bodybuilder.  At the same time, I’ve whittled down the hours I spend working out every week from 20+ to less than three, and improved my results.

Because I co-founded a startup, I obsess over the ROI of my time on fitness for myself and my trainees. There’s nothing more painful than seeing people spend hours every week on the treadmill without seeing any change.  So how do you remain fit* while working 80+ hours/week at a startup?  Here’s what you should know.