The Fearless Blogger

Honestly, with my boy Justin Timberlake in the movie, I would have watched it even if it was just him making Facebook status updates for two hours.

But, I have to admit,  the new “Facebook Movie” looks like it has actual potential.   I guess one shouldn’t expect less from a David Fincher movie though (one scored by Trent Reznor, no less).  hat tip: Digital Inspiration

(I love that the name is not actually “The Facebook Movie” but that’s what everyone calls it!)

More of a retro, Myspace fan?  You’re in luck! For you Tom fans -- er, friends -- out there, there’s a movie for you as well!  OK, not really, but the Huffington Post shared a “trailer” from Best Week Ever here.

What do you think? Will this be a movie you’ll be checking out?

In case you haven’t heard, Google recently launched a new social media service called Buzz:

Buzz lets you share updates, photos, links, and pretty much anything else you’d like with your Gmail contacts; it’s an easy way to follow your friends, too.

If Orkut was Google’s version of MySpace, Buzz is Google’s version of Facebook.

Personally, I’ve been getting sick of Facebook’s shifty-ness -- seems like the site’s sporting a new homepage and/or privacy settings more often than Ryan Seacrest touches up his highlights -- so I’m hoping Buzz gets some momentum.

It’s certainly getting its share of attention. Just two days after the launch, Google implemented some “immediate improvements” based on user feedback (mostly around privacy control features).

One thing I haven’t seen addressed is Google’s approach for verified accounts.

When I visit my Google profile page, I’m greeted with a message advising me that the page “is eligible to be featured in Google search results”. This links to a help page on how to make your profile easier to find,  including this tip “to help you make your Google profile more useful”:

Verify your name, and get a “Verified” badge on your profile.

If you were me, this is the message you'd get.

Given I have a sink full of dishes waiting to be washed and laundry to do, my natural reaction is to immediately set about getting my name verified. (Seriously, you get a “Verified” badge! How could I resist?)

After clicking through a mere five pages, I arrive at the place where the magic happens. Intuitively (that’s sarcasm, by the way) nestled among the Knol (Remember Knol? Google-flavored wikis?) ”Preferences” resides my “Name Verification” page, where I am presented with two options to complete the verification process (the badge is so close!):

1. Credit Card
2. Social Security Number

Nope. Not a Rick Roll.

Really?!

Short of perhaps a picture of me naked and sitting on the toilet, I can’t think of anything I’d feel less inclined to post online than either of those items.

I begin to wonder if perhaps I’ve landed on an archived April Fool’s Day page. After all, it seems far more plausible that the links would lead me to a Rick Astley video, than that Google would actually be requesting that information.

I decide to explore further.  (Who says those dishes aren’t going to wash themselves?!)

Turns out it’s true -
The only way to get that Name Verification badge is to fork over details for either your credit card or social security number.

Of course Google assures us that your card is not charged, the information is used for verification purposes only (via a third party), blah blah blah.  Comfy? Well, before you pull your wallet out, read through the FAQs -- only certain credit cards will work and Name Verification is only available in the U.S.

Indeed, you don’t have to get your name verified. So unless you have a compelling reason to prove you are who you claim to be, this is far from the end of the world. (Even if you do have a compelling reason, I’m confident you’ll be able to work through this.)

Currently, the feature does not seem to be widely used. Google describes it as “experimental”, explaining they “now downplay the feature in the user-interface”.  For those wondering about page rank, the FAQ states:

At the moment, the feature exists solely as one means for you to communicate to your readers that you are who you say you are. At this present time, it does not have a significant effect on ranking.

Does this graph remind you of anything?

Still, I have to believe that this is something Google will need to address sooner or later.

Users are encouraged to update their profiles when getting started with Buzz. Potentially, many are likely seeing the message about having their profile featured in search results.  If so, Google may find their efforts to downplay the verification option to be less-than-successful.

Call me cynical, but given the alarmist reaction to Google potentially exposing who’s on your “most e-mailed” list, the current verification options are unlikely to sit well with the average user.

Would you be willing to share your credit card or social security number to get verified?

Does it even matter?  Will Buzz lead to an increased need (real or perceived) for Name Verification or will verification remain a “downplayed”, experimental feature?

Since I have dishes to do (so much for them doing themselves -- hmmph),  please talk amongst yourselves (i.e., leave a comment)!

from TechCrunch.com

Late night or West Coast tweeters in the US (as well as our international counterparts in other time zones) may have noticed that Twitter’s been down since around 10PM PST tonight.

According to TechCrunch (via www.downloadsquad.com) the site has been reportedly hacked by the  ”Iranian Cyber Army”.

Before you dismiss the attack as a mere inconvenience or smirk at the tweeting minions left without an outlet for their 140 character quips, consider the following points from the TechCruch article:

Twitter does not have the best record with security issues. We have previously covered a number of incidents, and as recently as two months ago their web servers were misconfigured to reveal detailed internal network information. We also previously wrote about their admin interface having a password of ‘password’ on one account, and the well-known Twitter doc incident. It was hoped that with the hiring of a new COO, Dick Costolo, as well as a number of other high-level engineers, including security experts, that Twitter had grown out of the phase of being vulnerable to security incidents on such a large scale.

Of particular note:
(emphasis mine)

It is suggested that if you use the same password on your Twitter account with other accounts, now would be a good time to change your password on those other accounts.

Get the complete story and current status by reading the full article (providing updates,  screenshots and details regarding attack) here: Twitter Hacked, Defaced By “Iranian Cyber Army” (Developing)

Source: Twitter down, reportedly hacked by “Iranian Cyber Army”.

click to view video

On December 7, 2009, Starbucks will be hosting a global “sing-along” of the Beatles classic “All We Need is Love” to raise support for The Global Fund.

Starbucks will be premiering the commercial for their new campaign, called the Starbucks Love Project during the morning talk shows Friday morning.  If you can’t wait (or missed it) you can view the video on Facebook or at the Love Project site (currently no embeddable version is available to share here).  The site also features a link where visitors can upload and share their own “love pictures”.

Following are the details from the Starbucks press release:

WHAT

The countdown is on.

An unprecedented event that will unite individuals, communities, nations and cultures through the universal language of music as a celebration of Starbucks one year anniversary in partnership with (RED)TM.

On December 7th, at 1:30pm GMT (8:30am EST), Starbucks Coffee Company will unite artists from around the world for a simultaneous, live performance of the legendary hit “All You Need Is Love” as a single global concert. Inspired by the vision of the Playing for Change Band, this project spans languages, cultures and time zones through the universal language of music, with musicians contributing in individual ways that are customary and unique to their homeland to create a one of a kind rendition of the song.

A first for Starbucks, the event will use state of the art technology to stream the live feed of this performance on www.StarbucksLoveProject.com. Following the sing-along, everyone with access to the site and a video camera will have the opportunity to submit their own version of “All You Need Is Love” for the world to see and hear.

To invite the world to the event, Starbucks is collaborating with Facebook to create the largest globally-reaching campaign on the Facebook platform to date.

WHY
Delivering on the Starbucks commitment to inspiring and nurturing the human spirit, the project is also about sharing that love with customers who have helped Starbucks contribute to the Global Fund through its partnership with (RED) TM. In just one year in partnership with (RED), Starbucks has generated enough money to buy more than 7 million days of medicine to help those living with HIV in Africa.

WHEN
Monday, December 7th – 5:30 a.m. PT / 8:30 a.m. EST

WHERE
www.StarbucksLoveProject.com

Representation of ADHD Twitter Search via wordle.net

Many people comment on AD/HD in their daily lives on Twitter. Some accept it; some deny it. Some mock it; some praise it.

By embedding a live stream of tweets referencing ADHD into a recent blog post, A Splintered Mind blogger Douglas Cootey uses the thousands of voices on Twitter to give us a glimpse “of what real people think about the subject”.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, one could also say that the words of thousands can paint a powerful picture.

To check out Doug’s post and share your comments, visit A Splintered Mind | Live AD/HD Feed on Twitter.