Documenting a baby's every move is a hallowed tradition on Facebook. But some people — and I'm not naming names — might rather look at photos of kittens or puppies or bacon. And now they can — without unfriending their more offspring-oriented pals.
Both parents and their childless friends can be happy thanks to a browser extension called Unbaby.me. As long as you use Chrome, you can easily install the extension in a jiffy. (I tried it myself, so I can vouch for its ease.) After you've installed it, just give your Facebook feed a refresh. Suddenly all of the baby photos will be replaced by "awesome stuff," like kittens, puppies, turtles, ice cream or whatever you enjoy. The default replacement images are all of cats, but you can plug in a photo feed of your choice.
Unbaby.me isn't flawless. The way it spots a baby picture isn't by some elaborate image recognition system, but by simply checking for certain keywords and phrases. By default, it believes the following terms are generally associated with baby photos:
year old, so adorable, our family, just learned to walk, years old, month old, months old, so adorable, pajamas, eating solid foods, crawling, so cute, is precious, is too cute, look at those cheeks, cutest baby ever, newborn, and mommy, looks like dad, toesies, just like mom, looks like mom, mother and, father and, cute baby, can't wait to meet, gorgeous baby, infant, new addition to the family, first ballgame, day old, bundle of joy, birth, ultrasound, baby feet, lbs oz, toddler, carriage, cradle, gave birth, little one, baby boy, baby girl, 1st birthday, is growing up, diaper, diapers, tiny toes, all snuggly, binky, pacifier, bib, onesie, sockies, gerber, such an angel, what an angel, little angel, little princess, daycare, tantrum, won't stop crying, is finally napping, first steps, carseat
You can edit this keyword list, so you might want to remove or add a few things. (The folks behind Unbaby.me recommend adding the names of your most annoying friends' kids.) And if your baby-loving friends happen to be visiting, you might want to quickly turn off the extension for a while — just to avoid having to explain that when you "liked" that photo of little Sally's first birthday, you were staring at a picture of a cat in a top hat.
Oh, you will have to excuse me now. My friend's month-old daughter just smiled for the seventeenth time today. Don't worry — her mom snapped a photo of the magical moment. It looks a pug in a Superman costume to me.
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