The Fearless Blogger » social media

Full Trailer for BOTH “The Facebook Movie” AND “The Myspace Movie”

faryl — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:52:11 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0589zt79kBo

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?

Unverified Buzz

faryl — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:39:32 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi50KlsCBio

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!):

Credit Card
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)!

Twitter Outtage: Hacked by “Iranian Cyber Army” (Why you might want to change your passwords)

faryl — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:41:57 +0000

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”.

Starbucks Holiday Wish: Love Heard around the World

faryl — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:46:57 +0000

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

A Splintered Mind: Live AD/HD Feed on Twitter

faryl — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:00:01 +0000

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.

FREEBIE ALERT! Send Swine Flu Wishes to That Special Someone with CDC E-Cards!

faryl — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:43:46 +0000

Today I discovered what just may be my favorite e-cards ever!

As I was nosing around the CDC website, perusing the latest H1N1 information (isn’t that how everyone spends their evening downtime?) I noticed they’ve included an H1N1 social media page.

Awesome sauce! Not sure if you know this about me but:

PANDEMIC + CDC INFO + SOCIAL MEDIA(!) =
IRRESISTIBLE TO FARYL

I happily clicked away.

That’s when I noticed this section:

Send Friends & Loved Ones Swine Flu Wishes!

No Way! Excellent!

I’m not sure what I was expecting to see, but the CDC didn’t let me down. Caring friends and family can select from a variety of “occasions” ranging from Autumn to College Health to Disabilities to Halloween to Salmonella to STDs and more. They even have “Congratulations on Your New Pet” and Valentine’s Day cards!

This is a small sample of the selection the Flu category has to offer:

Just a Sampling of Occasions You Can Choose From

My particular favorite is the Father’s Day card:

You can't make this stuff up.

Not impressed? Just wait – there are animated cards as well.

How many times has this happened to you? Your best friend is getting married tomorrow. Here you are, a bridesmaid, and what with sharing all the joy and festivities and excitement – you forgot to buy a card.

I’ve totally been there.

Well, fear not, my friend – the CDC to the rescue!!

This Wedding Card even features a soundtrack (one that bears a bit of a resemblance to the Tonight Show theme)!

What Bride Wouldn't be Overjoyed to Receive This?

There are too many options to post screen shots of them all here.

Some of my other favorites:

Wishing You a Seizure-Free Day
I Got Tested – Did You?
Here’s to an Alcohol-Free Pregnancy!

The list goes on and on . . . You’ll just have to visit the site yourself so you can choose the one that’s the perfect fit for your special day.

Feeling down because no one’s ever sent a CDC card to you?

Well turn that frown upside down! Because I care!

That’s right! I created a card just for you!
View it here!

Via TechCrunch: Google To Partner With iLike And LaLa For New Music Service

faryl — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:27:38 +0000

Our favorite online Jack-of-All-Trades, Google, has announced their latest venture; and it looks like they’re heading straight into iTunes territory.

TechCrunch posted details about Google’s new music service:

Google will partner with iLike and LaLa for their new music service, we’ve learned. And the announcement date is Wednesday, October 28, 2009.

Press, including us, received an invitation this morning (see ticket image above) inviting them to a Hollywood event next week hosted by music services LaLa and iLike. The invitation, titled “Discover Music!” says announcements will be followed by performances, and that LaLa, iLike “& Others” are hosting. The “& Others” includes Google, we’ve heard from multiple sources, and the new service will be unveiled. All four major music services are backing the service

To get the full scoop, read the original post at TechCrunch:
Google To Partner With iLike And LaLa For New Music Service

Update:
TechCrunch has posted screenshots of the new service.

FREEBIE! Kodak Gallery’s Million Thanks Giveaway

faryl — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:12:09 +0000

The Kodak Gallery Thanks Man

Kodak is celebrating the launch of their new Kodak Gallery with a “Million Thanks Giveaway”!

Click the link below to receive either a:

$15 gift code to use on the site or
40% gift code

This is a limited time/while supplies last offer – so don’t wait!

Kodak Gallerys Million Thanks Giveaway.

(I found this link via the Ellen show website – so not only will you receive a freebie, you’ll be registered to win a trip for two to watch a taping of the Ellen show. If you need someone to bring with you, I live in the area!!)

Zach Braff is (Thankfully) Not Dead (and He Made a Video to Prove It)

faryl — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:30:33 +0000

A Very Alive Zach Braff (from his Facebook page)

In the past few months, rumors of various celebrity deaths have been popping up on the internet. With sites like Facebook and Twitter, these rumors travel far and fast.

The most recent, occurring yesterday, involved two stories about ‘Scrubs’ star Zach Braff.

The first, seemingly posted by a New Zealand news site, stated that

reports from New Zealand Police officials indicate that the actor fell more than 60 feet to his death on the Kauri Cliffs while on-set

In reality, the page was generated by some anti-Zach using FakeAWish.com. (Based on the site’s “In the News’ section, this site has likely been the culprit of several other celebrity death rumors)

The second was a fake CNN page (since removed) which reported the actor’s suicide. Chris Laganella, the site‘s owner posted the following explanation

Wayyy back in 2007, I copied CNN’s webpage and changed some text and some pictures to reflect an apparent Zach Braff suicide. This wasn’t a publicity stunt, it wasn’t a plea for hits, or to promote anything else. It was just to fool some of my friends. We’re really big Scrubs fans and really big Zach Braff fans. I made this page to fool them, called them to my computer, and showed them to get their reaction. I obviously told them it was a joke afterwards, but I neglected to take the page down.

Apparently, something clicked with someone on the internet today. I saw my bandwidth for chrisbox.com ran out earlier, so I increased it and looked at my traffic. I saw all the hits to braff.html, and started researching. This was the second largest trending topic on Twitter along with tons of links on Facebook. I had people like Perez Hilton and even an ABC spokesperson commenting on this.

Laganella continues, apologizing

So let’s just clear some stuff up. I did not make this page to intentionally fool everyone on the internet. I didn’t expect it to even be made public. Ever. I’m sorry if I scared everyone out there.

Zach, sorry if you got offended by me posting a fake suicide about you on the internet. Your 32,000 square foot house would be pretty empty without you. Thanks for (apparently) taking it lightly, since I haven’t gotten a letter about a lawsuit yet. Just so you know, I’m a huge fan; that’s the only reason I made this page, believe it or not. Also, sorry for upsetting your mother :(

Unfortunately for Chris, his apology did not get to Zach Braff before the actor posted a YouTube video.

In the video, Zach assures the world he is, indeed, alive and seems pretty good-natured about the event. However he does make a point to call out Chris for the prank, telling him he’s won Braff’s first “Douche of the Day” award for making Braff’s mom upset.

Why “Do No Evil” Just isn’t Good Enough For Me

faryl — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:43:03 +0000

I love Google. The company continuously provides ways to use technology to make life easier. Each Google innovation seems to bring new ways to integrate the various data points of our lives.

It’s quite nifty.

(cue Dateline’s Keith Morrison impression)

But is it?

My concern is as we sign up and connect for each new service, we’re spinning our own individual webs of our personal lives into a convenient package that Big Brother would drool over. If the government were providing these services instead of Google, I wonder how readily we’d all be to adopt them?

Would you want Big Brother accessing yours?

Who’s in Control?
It’s not that I don’t trust Google’s business leaders’ intentions live up to their “Do No Evil” mantra.

It’s that I don’t trust that the company’s future business leaders will value ethics enough to let it outweigh profitability, should they ever need to choose.

I also question Google’s ability to maintain control of our data. Ultimately, as omnipresent as Google may be, the U.S. government has the final say over who can have access to what. And, even in the new age of Obama-influenced hope, “Do No Evil” is not exactly this country’s guiding principle.

For Example?
Case in point, is this recent ruling covered in Mashable:

In a highly troubling ruling from U.S. District Court Judge James Ware, Google was ordered to deactivate the Gmail account of an innocent user whose only crime was receiving the results of a bank screw-up.

Earlier this week an employee at a Wilson, Wyoming-based Rocky Mountain Bank inadvertently sent confidential information including names, addresses, social security numbers and loan information for more than 1,300 customers to the wrong Gmail address. Realizing its mistake, the bank sent a follow-up email asking the recipient to destroy the information. When it received no reply, the bank asked the courts to force Google to disclose the recipient’s identity and deactivate the account. Judge Ware, remarkably, agreed.

(You can read the full post on Mashable’s site: Judge Rules Against Gmail User After Bank Screws Up.)

In case you think you’ve misunderstood – you haven’t.

Some dipshit at a bank not only felt comfortable sending confidential customer information via e-mail, they were comfortable enough to click “send” without double (let alone triple) checking the recipient’s email address (if the bank had hired someone with OCD to do the job, this wouldn’t have happened!). Bad enough that this implies the intended recipient was a “right” Gmail address (leading me to wonder who the intended recipient was to begin with), but the solution was to punish the accidental recipient by closing their email account?

Really?! Implications of the government’s control over Google aside, that “solution” doesn’t even make sense. How does this fix the problem? A lack of response doesn’t mean the person didn’t read the email. I read and don’t reply to emails all the time. For all we know, the unintended recipient saw the email and saved a copy of the customer information on their computer for future use. Or has an offline copy of their email. Or forwarded the email to 50 of their closest friends.

But I digress.

Back to my original point – in Google’s defense, it took a court order for them to take action on the impacted account. All the same, at the end of the day, the decision was out of Google’s hands.

What do you think? How far are you willing to trust your personal information in Google’s hands?

The Fearless Blogger » social media

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