On Friday, we launched the much-anticipated Gnomies.com to much fanfare and hullabaloo. What is this secret and very exclusive society all about? Cryptic handshakes? Arcane technology? Clandestine stonecutting? Come a little closer — if you dare — and we’ll be happy to tell you all about Gnomies!

And, yes, it’s a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., but at LockerGnome World Headquarters, we choose to celebrate his hard work by keeping our noses to the grindstone. (We got our rest over the weekend, anyway — which is still kind of slothful by MLK’s standards. He was a reverend and still had to clock in on Sundays, after all.) Here’s what we were talking about on LockerGnome.com and in our live YouTube stream today.

More on Directed Ads: Good Use of Personal Data Vs. Bad
Browsing the Web and seeing targeted advertising that’s tailored to your personal interests can be a pretty jarring (and spooky) feeling the first time you experience it. Obviously, everything you seek, search, and post is noticed and added to any number of databases that churn out advertising designed to appeal to the things that you find interesting. Still, using your personal data that’s collected in a variety of ways as you browse the Internet isn’t always a bad thing. But where do you draw the line?

How to Convert a Video File into an Animated GIF
Animated GIFs are fun. You may hate them and think they’re an obnoxious throwback to the dawn of the World Wide Web, but (most of us) at LockerGnome World Headquarters have a soft spot for their capacity to convey anything from poignant to ridiculous. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words, isn’t a moving picture of a dancing line of adorable animals or an idiotic stunt gone wrong in a constant loop worth at least a few thousand words? A million? A bunch. And what’s better than something? A lot of something. So there: Animated GIFs are better than non-animated GIFs. Glad to have cleared that up. Here’s how you can make your own animated GIFs. You’re welcome!

How to Unfollow Twitter Users in Bulk
In a perfect world, everyone who you follow on Twitter would follow you back. Likewise, everyone who follows you would love it if you would follow them back. Unfortunately, there are always going to be people out there who use Twitter for nefarious purposes, people who use Twitter wrong (according to your own definition), and people who just simply annoy you. (And, to be fair, others may have the same reaction to the way you use Twitter. Such is life.) Obviously, keeping your Twitter stream free of clutter and full of only the kind of tweets that you find important can take some work. Weeding out the weakly may be something that you need to do… weekly. Here are a few ways that you can unfollow Twitter users in bulk.

Five Reasons Windows 8 Will Impress Users
When you look at the evolution of Microsoft Windows from its immediately post-DOS days to what we have today, you’ll see that it’s been more innovative than a lot of people want to give it credit for. Sure, there have been some dips and outright pot holes in the road along the way. (Ahem: ME? Vista?) But from what we’re seeing in development for Windows 8, we may be looking forward to something as groundbreaking as the first incarnations of the popular operating system rather than resting-on-its-laurels rehash. Here are five reasons that Windows 8 will impress users.

What It’s Really Like to Work at Google
No matter how much you love your job, you’ve probably listened with envy to tales of the sorts of fringe benefits that Google employees enjoy every day. Could you be tempted away from your workplace if you were offered — on top of the usual health insurance and vacation days — things like free (and delicious) meals, on-site massages, car detailing, on-site fitness centers, and even napping pods? To most of the modern workforce, this probably seems like a dream come true. But what are the drawbacks to working at a company that gives you almost no reason to ever go home?

Olympus Pen Mini E-PM1 Camera Review
Matt Ryan’s first impression when unboxing the Olympus E-PM1 was that it couldn’t possibly take photos that could even come close to the kind of quality and precision of his Nikon D3000. As he soon discovered, his assumptions were completely off the mark. Here’s a very extensive review of the camera — with plenty of photographic evidence to back it up!

How to Have Effective Club Meetings
A computer club (or any club that gathers people together in pursuit of a common interest) usually follows a type of format that conforms to traditions possibly set forth generations ago. But can variations to the usual formula make club meetings more effective for all involved?

Back Link of the Day
Thanks to Gene Marks at Forbes.com for referencing Chris Pirillo in his article Running A Tech Business Isn’t THAT Difficult. (Though it’s not THAT easy, if I may beg to counterpoint the issue!) If you’d like to be mentioned as a Back Link of the Day, link to one of our posts on LockerGnome.com from your site and — this is the important part — tell us about it!

Feel bad because you missed out on today’s live TLDR? Don’t despair! Join us live tomorrow at 3:00 PM Pacific for the next edition of The LockerGnome Daily Report!