ReadWriteWeb

When Google unveiled Buzz, their new social network add-on to Gmail, last week, many members of the technology community were excited, but that excitement quickly gave way to concerns over privacy as more and more people saw the number of ways their private information was being exposed.

While some people wrote scathing blog posts, saying quite simply - and in big, bold lettering - "F*ck You, Google", a Florida woman has gone one logical step further and filed a class action lawsuit against the hapless email-turned-social-network provider. Maybe, if Google had simply asked its users before signing them up for the service, they could have avoided all of this.

Location-based social networks like Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite and Google Buzz are currently among the fastest growing new mobile services. All of these apps have one thing in common: they encourage you to share your current location with the rest of the world. By doing this, though, you are also telling people where you are not: at home. A new site, PleaseRobMe, plays on this theme and displays real-time updates from Foursquare users who broadcast their check-ins on Twitter.

Google Buzz, which launched two days ago, has been widely criticized for making the lists of who you follow and who follows you public by default. Until now, the check box to turn this "feature" off was hidden in your Google Profile settings - which many people never even realized they had. Now, however, Google announced that it is making it more obvious to new users that these lists will be public and will offer clear instructions to turn the public disclosure of this information off. In addition, Google now also allows Buzz users to block people from following them, even if they haven't created a profile yet.

After Facebook's recent privacy settings "adjustment," the social network is now reporting that 35% users who had never before engaged with their privacy settings took the initiative to do so instead of accepting the updated suggestions put before them by the social network. To Facebook, this number is a very, very good thing. Although nowhere near a majority of users, this engagement rate is much higher than industry averages. Plus, as Facebook's director of public policy Tim Sparapani points out, "35% of 350 million users is an extraordinary number."

But should Facebook really be proud here? What about the other 65% of users who blindly accepted the defaults?

It's one thing to have resolutions for the new year. I, for example, plan to lose weight, learn Python and design the perfect handbag. But since nothing satisfies like the quick achievement of a short-term goal, here are eight things every good nerd needs to to before the ball drops later this week.

These tasks comprise a quick to-do list that will leave you feeling competent and prepared for the decade that approaches. Also, you can play the condescension chip and start chiding friends who haven't checked off these items yet.