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Double Rainbow Guy Talks to CNN

Paul Vasquez, the Youtuber behind the popular Double Rainbow viral video, talked to CNN about his enthusiasm for double rainbows. Paul Vasquez says the double rainbow was so intense it knocked him down. He says he was not on any drugs. Take a look:

Posted on July 18, 2010
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Microsoft Product to Monitor Workers Through Their Computers

Microsoft has filed a patent for a system which would allow employers to monitor employees' physical states through their computers or laptops.

Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker's productivity, physical wellbeing and competence. The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees' performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer's assessment of their physiological state.

Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a "unique monitoring system" that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read "heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure", the application states.

The system could also "automatically detect frustration or stress in the user" and "offer and provide assistance accordingly". Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker's weight, age and health. If the system picked up an increase in heart rate or facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help.

This is the most obnoxious, appalling invention from Microsoft yet. The privacy implications alone are mind-boggling. And if the economy slides into recession and the unemployment rate keeps rising, future workers will have no choice to submit to such intrusive monitoring if they want a job.

Posted on January 16, 2008
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Man Continues Counting To One Million

Jeremy Harper in Birmingham, Alabama has been counting to a million on a live web cam. You can see it on the MillionCount web cam. Harper does take breaks to sleep and use the bathroom. After making his way to 750,000 Jeremy blogged that his general mood was that he was "almost done."

AS I mentioned in the late night cookie last night, today is a big day. 750 thousand. When I reached the 250K mark, I was excited and knew that I had made a good start int he count. I was confident that I would finish. Of course, 500K is the half way point, and that's exactly how I felt - half way done. Part excitement, part nervousness. Now, 750K hits today and my general mood is "almost done." The finale party is no longer just an idea - it's a chore to get planned because it's so close. Time seems to be running out.

And, as excited about reaching one million, I'm actually very scared about the feeling that I will have that night when the cameras are off, no one can make me do the chicken dance, and I don't have any more numbers to count the next day...

The most surprising thing about the count to a million is that Jeremy's employers actually gave him time off to do the count which is estimated to take several months. The website says Jeremy Harper "works for a local software company that gave him time off to complete this project." Here is a video of Jeremy talking to CNN.

Direct video link

Posted on August 21, 2007
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Writers Write, Inc. Launches Singers Sing

Writers Write, Inc., the parent company of ShoppingBlog.com, Watchers Watch and Writers Write, has announced the launch of SingersSing.com. SingersSing.com is a daily music blog featuring music news and music video clips. Recent posts include:

Nunatak's Live Earth performance from Antarctica.

Katharine McPhee's hot new single Love Story.

Merriam-Webster's addition of crunk to its dictionary.

Avril Lavigne and Lil' Mama's hot remix of "Girlfriend."

The Spice Girls' World Reunion.

The top ten most irritating songs.

Hillary Clinton's campaign song selection.

The Obama Girl's music video.

Posted on July 13, 2007
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The Ten Most Common Passwords

PC Magazine reports that the top ten passwords used are:

1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein (Let me in)
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. link182
10.(your first name)

Hmmm...guess we'll have to change all those "monkey" and "letmein" passwords we set this past weekend.

Posted on April 30, 2007
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K-Fed Launches His Own Search Engine

Tired of using Google or MSN or Yahoo to search? You're in luck. Britney Spears' soon to be ex-husband Kevin Federline has launched his own search engine. Gizmodo explains:

If Google isn't sleazy enough for you, perhaps you'd like to try Searching with Kevin. Federline, that is. Yes, the guy who somehow escaped his marriage with Britney Spears looking like the sane one now has his own branded search engine that offers you chances to win prizes (going to Kevin's birthday party, OMG!) every time you search. There's even a Search with Kevin toolbar you can install, always keeping Kevin's famous research skills at your fingertips. Surprisingly, you can search for things other than porn, bling, and rhyming dictionaries, which seems to go against the whole spirit of the affair.

Watch out, Google! If K-Fed is as good at developing search algorithms as he is at rapping, you've got� well, nothing to worry about, I guess.

Actually, we still don't understand this at all. But we do know that you won't want to miss out on this exciting opportunity to Search With Kevin. After all, who could resist a search engine which has as its motto "Play With Fire" (in Ye Olde English Font, no less)?

Posted on March 19, 2007
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The Psychological Toll of Spam

Spam is one of life's annoyances to most of us. But to many people spam actually causes psychological damage. With the new privacy-invasion techniques, spammers can target specific groups of people, such as those that visit a chat room for diabetics sufferers. Then they email all the diabetics with quack cures that will probably kill them. Then there are all those male enhancement ads -- apparently many men feel personally targeted by those.

The spewing of spam over the digital transom has long been derided as an annoyance and provoked concerns about the insecurity of computer networks. But now some e-mailers and experts on psychology and technology worry that it is also having a more pernicious effect: insecurity for the recipient.

With worldwide volumes having doubled in the past year, and ever-more sophisticated spammers singling out computer users with particular interests or problems, it can serve as a constant reminder of what is lacking for those with fragile egos � whether a sinuous body or an eight-cylinder sex drive.

"How do they know I need to (fill in the blank)?" the recipient wonders. Delete, delete, delete. "It can affect your emotions and your level of stress," said Jeffrey T. Parsons, a psychology professor at Hunter College, who has conducted research on sexuality and the Internet. "Once you get in a spam loop, you can get bombarded with these things four or five times a day, and that can definitely trigger insecurities and exacerbate ones that already exist."

Pam Fitzgerald, managing partner of a marketing company in Virginia who struggles with her weight, bristles at the diet-plan spam, wondering "who knows how much I weigh." And her heart aches for one of her young employees, the only one in the small firm not to have finished college, who seems to be a magnet for spam pushing Johnny-come-lately bachelor's degree programs. "It's rubbing him raw day in and day out," she said. Worsening the psychic toll is the increasingly focused tailoring of spam of all stripes.

Legitimate retailers buy contact lists of e-mail addresses, while underground computer hacks trade � or steal � them. Spammers often steal e-mail addresses from topic-oriented and corporate Web sites with scores of registered users, and also corral highjacked networks of personal computers called botnets to glean specific information from other computers' hard drives, like e-mail address books.

Ok, news flash: everyone on the planet gets the weight loss and male enhancement spam emails. The only thing we can figure out from our spam is that someone has decided we are absolute idiots who will turn over our bank account information to some deposed Nigerian count who has $50,000,000 he needs to get out of the country ASAP. And apparently we're just the fools to help him do it.

Posted on February 1, 2007
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Go Elf Yourself

Elf Yourself is a fun website at www.elfyourself.com from OfficeMax that allows consumers to make elves out of themselves. The site says:

This holiday, get what you've always wanted. The miraculous ability to turn yourself into an elf. Upload a picture of your face, record your message, then send this toy singin' version of yourself to a friend.

To begin the Elfamorphosis you just need to upload a picture which will be converted into an elf. It is very silly thing OfficeMax has come up with but at least it isn't another giant ball of rubberbands.

Update 7-30-07: The Elf Yourself site is currently down. The site says that soon Elf Yourself 2.0 will be available. Apparently, it lets you "elf the heck out of yourself." That sounds like something we would like to do. We can't wait.

Posted on December 22, 2006
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FBI Wants ISPs to Track All Users

The FBI now wants ISPs to track every movement their users make. All the time. Forever.

FBI Director Robert Mueller on Tuesday called on Internet service providers to record their customers' online activities, a move that anticipates a fierce debate over privacy and law enforcement in Washington next year. "Terrorists coordinate their plans cloaked in the anonymity of the Internet, as do violent sexual predators prowling chat rooms," Mueller said in a speech at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Boston.

"All too often, we find that before we can catch these offenders, Internet service providers have unwittingly deleted the very records that would help us identify these offenders and protect future victims," Mueller said. "We must find a balance between the legitimate need for privacy and law enforcement's clear need for access."

The speech to the law enforcement group, which approved a resolution on the topic earlier in the day, echoes other calls from Bush administration officials to force private firms to record information about customers. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, for instance, told Congress last month that "this is a national problem that requires federal legislation."

Justice Department officials admit privately that data retention legislation is controversial enough that there wasn't time to ease it through the U.S. Congress before politicians left to campaign for re-election. Instead, the idea is expected to surface in early 2007, and one Democratic politician has already promised legislation.

We hope that this outrageous breach of civil rights and privacy of netizens is stopped in its track by privacy activists. What's more likely is that a provision will be slipped into some omnibus spending bill in early 2007 and it will become law.

Posted on October 19, 2006
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Writers Write, Inc. Launches VideoNacho.com

Writers Write, Inc. announces the launch of VideoNacho.com. VideoNacho.com features the Web's hottest short videos and film clips. Video Nacho's editors find the best videos on the Web so you don't have to: music, comedy, pets antics, social commentary: it just has to be entertaining. Enjoy a delicious short new video snack every afternoon. Calorie-free, it's sure to give you a lift!

VideoNacho.com is the twentieth blog to join the Writers Write Lifestyle Network. It follows the launch in May, 2006 of WatchersWatch.com, a blog covering what's hot in movies and television.

Posted on October 18, 2006
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Paperclip Blogger Finally Trades for a House

Kyle MacDonald, the paperclip blogger, made his final trade that landed him a house in Kipling, Saskatchewan earlier this summer. Kyle began his trading with a red paperclip and continued to trade up for better and better things until he end up with the house in Canada.

A Canadian blogger who ambitiously aimed to swap a paper clip for a house arrived in Kipling, Sask., on Wednesday to complete the trade.

In his 14th swap, Kyle MacDonald, 26, traded a role in a Hollywood movie for the three-bedroom farmhouse in Kipling, about two hours east of Regina.

Kipling Mayor Pat Jackson also declared MacDonald honorary mayor for a day.

We documented a couple of Kyle's earlier trades here and here. You can also read more about Kyle's trading adventures on his blog. It was a clever idea but it is unlikely anyone will ever have as much luck trading with a red paperclip again.

Posted on September 20, 2006
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AAAARRRR! Talk Like A Pirate, Or Face the Consequences

Photo of founders of Talk Like a Pirate Day, Mark Summers, aka Captain Slappy and John Baur, aka Old Chumbucket

Photo of founders of Talk Like a Pirate Day, Mark Summers, aka Captain Slappy and John Baur, aka Old Chumbucket

Yes, it's already that time of year: it's Talk Like a Pirate Day. The founders of the international holiday told ABC News how it all got started:

"It started at the racketball court at the local YMCA; one of us reached a little too far for a shot, and let out an 'Arrr!' when something was strained that was best left unstrained. And then we just kept firing off broadsides to each other, and we realised the world needed a holiday where every man, woman and child were encouraged to talk like pirates," says John Baur of the reasons why this concept was dreamed up.

How did they start their international campaign?

"We contacted a syndicated columnist called Dave Barry, well-known in the States... he wrote about us and it all took off from there. We put together our website, talklikeapirate.com, and thing just kept building. We wrote a book... We're like two proud parents watching their child grow," he says.

You can find out more about this important holiday at TalkLikeAPirate.com.

Dave Barry sums it up best when he posted his thoughts about this special day:

ARRRRRRRRRRR

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

AAAARRRRR, indeed!

Posted on September 19, 2006
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YouTube and Warner Music Strike a Deal

Warner Music has signed a deal with YouTube that will allow Warner's material to be used legally.

It means interviews and videos by Warner's artists can be used in return for a slice of advertising revenue. The agreement also covers the use of material in homemade videos, which form a large part of YouTube's content.

Both companies hailed it as a landmark agreement, coming days after Universal Music said it was considering legal action over sites such as YouTube. A royalty-tracking system has been developed by YouTube to detect when videos on the site are using copyrighted material and work out how much Warner is owed in advertising revenue.

The technology would also enable Warner to review homemade videos and decide whether to approve or reject them. Chad Hurley, who helped set up YouTube in a Californian garage just 19 months ago, said: "We are very excited. This is a real landmark for our company." Warner Music Group, the world's fourth largest record company, includes artists such as Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day, as well as vintage names like Led Zeppelin, The Doors and Ray Charles.

All you amateur videographers: it's time to strut your stuff.

Posted on September 18, 2006
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PC World Selects 25 Worst Websites

PC World 25 Worst Websites

PC World's editors have selected (thx Reuters) what they think are the twenty-five most horrible websites. We have included the list below. PC World picked some sites from the dot-com boom as well as some new sites. They even had the nerve to blast today's popular social networking hub, MySpace.com.

Many of our bottom 25 date from the dot-com boom, when no bad idea went unfunded. Some sites were outright scams--at least two of our featured Net entrepreneurs spent some time in the pokey. Others are just examples of bad design, or sites that got a little too careless with users' information, or tried to demand far too much personal data for too little benefit.

And to prove we're not afraid to pick on somebody much bigger than us, our pick for the worst Web site may be the hottest cyberspot on the planet right now.

About their pick for the very worst website PC World said, "Graphically, many MySpace pages look like a teenager's bedroom after a tornado--a swirl of clashing backgrounds, boxes stacked inside other boxes, massive photos, and sonic disturbance." Here is the list of the 25 worst sites according to PC World. Some of the links go to archives from the Wayback Machine because a few of the sites are no longer operational.

PC World's feature offers a description for each of their editors' selections.

Posted on September 15, 2006
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AOL Removes Customers' Search Information From Web

The reverberations of AOL's giant info dump of its customers' search habits are still being felt on the Internet. AOL finally apologized for the information release and said that they "screwed up." They got that part right.

Internet giant AOL has apologised after releasing the search requests of hundreds of thousands of its customers. User names were not attached to the data, but it is feared that many of the queries contained personally identifiable information.

For example, some of the 658,000 customers whose requests were released had searched their own names as well as other personal information, such as their telephone or social security numbers. All of those separate searches would have been linked to the same numeric ID released by AOL. Although the US internet firm has taken down the data - which it released as a tool for researchers - it has since been cached and duplicated on the web.

AOL yesterday called the incident a "screw up". It emerged that one of its customers had searched for "how to kill your wife", "dead people" and "car crashes". Other users appeared to be searching for advice on how to commit suicide, how to get revenge on an ex-partner or how to disguise cocaine use. "Lolitas" - a term for underage girls - also featured in the search requests.

In a statement, AOL said: "This was a screw up and we're angry and upset about it. It was an innocent enough attempt to reach out to the academic community with new research tools but it was obviously not appropriately vetted and it if had been, it would have been stopped in an instant." The data was posted around 10 days ago but only became an issue when bloggers picked up on it over the weekend. It contained information about 19 million search requests, including what search terms were used, when the search was conducted and whether the user clicked on any of the results. The searches were conducted between March and May this year. The issue comes at a tricky time for AOL, which was one of the original internet giants and merged with Time Warner in 2001.

It's unconscionable that AOL 1) released its customers' search data; then 2) waited several days to do something about it. All the information has already been copied and people are busily linking information with real names right now, no doubt mostly for nefarious purposes. Identity theft certainly comes to mind.

Posted on August 8, 2006
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Google Party Plane Grounded By Lawsuits

The Wall Street Journal attempts to explain the mass of lawsuits surrounding the 767 jumbo jet party plane being built for Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

Even billionaires have disputes with their contractors. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the low-key co-founders of Google Inc., set tongues wagging last year when they bought1 a used Boeing 767 widebody as an unusually large private jet. The 767-200 typically carries 180 passengers and is three times as heavy as a conventional executive plane. Mr. Page said last year that he and Mr. Brin would use it for personal travel, including taking "large numbers of people to places such as Africa." He said it would hold about 50 passengers when refurbished, but declined to comment on other details of the plane, which has been kept ultra secret.

Now the Delaware holding company that technically owns the 767, Blue City Holdings LLC, is embroiled in multiple lawsuits with an aviation designer hired to plan and oversee the massive plane's interior renovation. Blue City in early 2005 hired Leslie Jennings, a high-end aviation designer whose work includes planes for Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen and assorted royalty and heads of state, to transform the plane, which aviation records indicate previously flew for over a decade in Qantas Airways' fleet. Under the plans Mr. Jennings worked up for the executives, and repeatedly modified according to their specifications, the widebody airliner was to include a lounge near the front primarily for Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt's use, with two adjoining staterooms for the co-founders farther aft, Mr. Jennings says. People familiar with the matter said last year that the plans also called for a large sitting-and-dining area and space near the rear for staff and passengers.

*****

Mr. Jennings says Messrs. Brin and Page "had some strange requests," including hammocks hung from the ceiling of the plane. At one point he witnessed a dispute between them over whether Mr. Brin should have a "California king" size bed, he says. Mr. Jennings says Mr. Schmidt stepped in to resolve that by saying, "Sergey, you can have whatever bed you want in your room; Larry, you can have whatever kind of bed you want in your bedroom. Let's move on." Mr. Jennings says Mr. Schmidt at another point told him, "It's a party airplane."

Jennings got fired from the project and so he sued, and filed a lien with the FAA. As a result the double secret plans for the plane's interiors -- hammocks and all -- have been revealed to the public. Let's hope that the lawsuits are all settled, so the this ultra-sweet ~~Soul Plane~~ Party Plane is ready for liftoff.

Posted on July 10, 2006
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Jeff Bezos and the Spaceship

Space.com reports on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos investment in the booming space tourism industry.

The public space travel business is picking up suborbital speed thanks to a variety of private rocket groups and their dream machines. Joining the mix is Blue Origin's New Shepard Reusable Launch System. It is financially fueled by an outflow of dollars from the deep pockets of billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com.

The Bezos-backed Blue Origin, LLC commercial space outfit has recently turned in a draft environmental assessment (EA) for their West Texas launch site to the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST) in Washington, D.C. The document is the best glimpse yet of what Blue Origin is scoping out to develop "safe, inexpensive and reliable human access to space."

The more than 200-page draft EA is a necessary step required by the FAA/AST for Blue Origin to get the needed permits and/or licenses to fly their rocket hardware. Blue Origin proposes to launch its reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) on suborbital, ballistic trajectories to altitudes in excess of 325,000 feet (99,060 meters) from a privately-owned space launch site in Culberson County, Texas. As outlined in the EA, the Blue Origin launch site would be approximately 25 miles (40.2 kilometers) north of Van Horn, Texas. It lies within a larger, privately-owned property known as the Corn Ranch. Access to the proposed launch site is from Texas Highway 54, which is approximately five miles (8 kilometers) west of the proposed project's center of operations.

Also on the group's to do list at the site is putting in place a vehicle processing facility, a launch complex and vehicle landing and recovery area, as well as an astronaut training facility, and other minor support amenities [Map].

We're all for space tourism. Although we don't neccesarily want to be on version 1.0 of the first space tourist flight. We'll wait for version 2.0, after they work out all the kinks. Which will give us time to save up the $1 million or so it will take to get a seat in first class.

Posted on July 5, 2006
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Microsoft Bob Makes Worst Tech Products List

A hideous Microsoft software package called Microsoft Bob has made PC World's list of the 25 worst tech products of all time. Microsoft Bob was rated as the 7th worst tech product.

No list of the worst of the worst would be complete without Windows' idiot cousin, Bob. Designed as a "social" interface for Windows 3.1, Bob featured a living room filled with clickable objects, and a series of cartoon "helpers" like Chaos the Cat and Scuzz the Rat that walked you through a small suite of applications. Fortunately, Bob was soon buried in the avalanche of hype surrounding Windows 95, though some of the cartoons lived on to annoy users of Microsoft Office and Windows XP (Clippy the animated paper clip, anyone?).

We are glad that we never had to deal with Microsoft Bob. Trying to turn off Clippy and other animated Office helpers was annoying enough over years. We will admit that with the more recent versions Clippy properly goes into hiding when ordered.

Posted on June 28, 2006
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NSA Eyes MySpace.com Users

The NSA (National Security Agency or No Such Agency, depending on who you talk to) is now keeping a watchful eye on social networking sites such as MySpace.com. Russell Shaw at ZDNet explains how the program is helping the agency create a full dossier on just about everyone.

New Scientist magazine reveals that the National Security Agency is funding research into how to add information from social networking site MySpace listings to profiles of individuals garnered from banking, retail and property records. As detailed in a footnote to a paper entitled Semantic Analytics on Social Networks, data from online social networks and other databases can be combined to uncover facts about people. The footnote said the work was part-funded by an organization known as ARDA, which stands for Advanced Research Development Activity.

Published in January by the Congressional Research Service, a report named Data Mining and Homeland Security, noted that part of ARDA's role is to promote integration of heretofore format-incompatible data sets about people- data sets that could be combined to generate more complete profiles of individuals under suspicion for potential terrorist links. To facilitate this integration, research is believed to be underway on Ressource Description Framework, a way of tagging data in a way that will promote more common uniformity with other data.

"By adding online social networking data to its phone analyses, the NSA could connect people at deeper levels, through shared activities, such as taking flying lessons," writes article author Paul Marks. Complete integration of such databases with phone calling records now believed to be in the possession of the NSA could be utilized in this manner: Calls from say, Pakistan to the U.S. could be data-mined, and if the recipients of those calls (identified from their phone numbers) called several other numbers within a few hours after receiving those calls from Pakistan, those other numbers could be checked for suspected terrorist links. And with a list handy of those who have been called available, it wouldn't take much to go to MySpace (or an archived MySpace repository), and search for MySpace users who have posted personally identifiable information that would indicate the need to explore their backgrounds further. Information such as the "flying lessons" example Marks writes about.

I'll do you one better. I believe that computer facial matching software will soon advance to the point where photos stored on NSA computers of terrorist suspects could then be mapped for similarities to photos on MySpace and other social networking sites.

Since it appears unlikely that anyone is going to put a stop to this unconscionable data mining of the lives of innocent Americans, you might want to watch what you post on MySpace.com: it's all going into a database somewhere. But you already knew that, right?

Posted on June 12, 2006
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Google, Microsoft And the Spreadsheet

Google and Microsoft announced that they have teamed up to make entering spreadsheets a web-based application.

Google Inc. is going back to the future by reinventing the spreadsheet as a Web-based application, seeking a simpler on-ramp for consumers to input data into databases, the company said on Monday.

The Web search leader will begin a limited trial on Tuesday of the classic software application defined by its grid of rows and columns and simple calculating capabilities that allow users to enter and organize information in structured form.

*****

Google Spreadsheet relies on technology the company acquired from a small Wall Street software developer it bought last year called 2Web Technologies, which in 2004 introduced tools to convert Microsoft Excel spreadsheets into Web services. "What is missing is the ability to share data more easily," Rochelle said. Users can sort data and take advantage of 200 functions and common spreadsheet formulas for doing basic calculations of numerical data. Google is working on improving printing, charts, filtering and "drag and drop" features, he said.

Rochelle said his company would be studying how much demand there is for Google Spreadsheet to work with Google Base, an online database service that allows Google users to post various types of information online. "Databases in themselves are really hard to program," said Charlene Li, an Internet analyst with Forrester Research. "What people use spreadsheets for is low-end databases," she said. Google Base is viewed by analysts as a stepping stone into the classified advertising or e-commerce markets, by helping users feature relevant information on Google's main search index, the Froogle shopping site and Google Local search.

It's so easy. You just enter all your personal medical, tax and financial information into an Excel spreadsheet and upload it to the Web. What could possibly go wrong?

Posted on June 5, 2006
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Martha Stewart Starting Social Networking Site: MySpace.com Terrified

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced is diving into the online social network business: the company is starting social networking site like MySpace.com, but aimed at adult women.

The network would appeal to women aged 25 to 45, and allow members to share photographs, scrapbooks, recipes and similar projects with each other and home design experts, said the company's chief executive, Susan Lyne.

"There is no place like MySpace, like Friendster, for that demographic," Lyne said at a financial conference. The social network would be part of the Marthastewart.com Web site, founded by lifestyle expert Martha Stewart, rather than a separate Web site like MySpace. The community is tentatively scheduled to launch in the second half of 2007, spokeswoman Elizabeth Estroff said. Social networking and other types of online communities are becoming more interesting to investors following the success of MySpace, which Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought last July for $580 million.

MySpace boasts more than 56 million members, many in their teens and 20s. It has prompted the launch of competing sites, such as JibJab Media's JokeBox.com and Sisterwoman.com, which is designed for women over 21.

It's an interesting project. The real question is whether soccer moms have time to add 1,000 people as friends, upload videos of their day and list all their favorite bands. MySpace.com is reportedly terrified of this new competitive threat which the blogosphere has already named "MarthaSpace."

Posted on May 25, 2006
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Are You A Blogoholic?

Fraywatch examining the tragic addiction pattern of blogoholics.

Blogoholism. Sarah Hepola's confessional piece on her recent decision to shut down a long-running blog prompted fraysters to share their own struggles of addiction. synesthesia offers words of solidarity in admitting it happened to me, too. 4cabbage describes the same painful withdrawal symptoms as being like "quitting smoking or drinking."

*****

According to rundeep, here's the real problem with blogging:

1) It causes the untalented to believe themselves writers with something of interest to say, and;

2) He who blogs is often not reading books, so as to develop the ability which might cure 1) above.

Blogoholic? We don't think so. We can quit anytime we want, like that. But first maybe we'll just head on over to PerezHilton to see what's new since we just checked it five minutes ago. (Well, you never know...what if Charlie Sheen's "Denise" Tattoo-Removal scars aren't healing properly and we don't hear about it?) What does David Spade think about Denise's latest revelations that Heather was the cheater? This is important stuff.

Oh, wait.... that article is about people who can't stop actually blogging, not people who just obsessively read blogs all day. Nevermind.

Posted on May 3, 2006
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Man Trades Paperclip for One Year's Free Rent

One Red Paperclip

When we last left Kyle MacDonald he had managed to trade his red paperclip for several items. His last trade back in November was a red generator for an instant party. Since then his trades have included items like a skidoo and a trip to Yahk. And now the clever trader has worked his way up to one year's free rent at a rental house.

After a cross-continental trading trek involving a fish-shaped pen, a town named Yahk and the Web's astonishing ability to bestow celebrity, MacDonald is getting close. He's up to one year's free rent on a house in Phoenix.

Not a bad return on an investment of one red paper clip. Yet MacDonald, 26, vows to keep going until he crosses the threshold of his very own home, wherever that might be.

"It's totally overwhelming, I'm not going to lie," he said by phone from Montreal, where he and his girlfriend, Dominique Dupuis, live with two roommates. "But I'm still trading for that house. It's this obsessive thing."

Good for Kyle. He has almost achieved his original goal: "I'm going to keep trading for bigger or better things until I get a house." He has a house for one year. Will he be able to achieve his ultimate goal of owning a home? You can keep up with Kyle's trading at his blog.

Posted on April 22, 2006
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Technorati's New Favorites Feature

Technorati has launched a favorites feature which allows you to keep track of up to fifty of your favorite blogs. You can add this blog to your favorites list by clicking here. More about Technorati's favorites feature can be found here on BloggersBlog.com.

Posted on March 1, 2006
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Google, Subpoenas and Silly Putty

When they're not fighting off burdensome, privacy-invading, intrusive government subpeonas, the folks at Google spend their time investigating the myriad of uses for 250 lbs of Silly Putty.

Not long ago, I walked by the desk of software engineer JJ Furman, and saw that he had made an interesting addition to his desk: a large blob of Silly Putty, about the size of a grapefruit. Intrigued, I asked how he'd gotten so much of the stuff. The answer? A bulk order directly from the manufacturer! Of course.

I knew then that I wanted some, and it dawned on me that I probably wasn't the only one. So I set out to place a really, really big bulk order. An email went out to cohorts. Their orders came in. Three weeks later, I had an eighth of a ton of Silly Putty delivered to my desk.

Naturally, we were all curious to see what 250 pounds of Silly Putty would look like, so before distributing the stuff, we put it all in a single pile to see. Huge mistake. The problem was that once together, Silly Putty doesn't like to come apart, and none of us had any idea of how to deal with this effect. We tried everything: very strong people (didn't work), scissors (stabbing worked, slicing didn't), 28-gauge steel wire (broke), 22-gauge steel wire (broke), 16-gauge steel wire (too thick), and twisting and breaking (worked well for "smaller" pieces -- under five pounds, that is.)

Two hours later, with the help of more than a dozen enthusiastic Googlers, everyone was finally able to walk away with a giant piece of Silly Putty. And then what? Some people are giving it for holiday gifts. Others are using it to exercise their arms, play basketball (rebounds are tough), and of course, imprint entire newspaper pages. Any regrets? Absolutely not.

We say: respond to the subpoena by mailing the government one ton of Silly Putty.

Posted on January 24, 2006
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iTunes and Privacy Issues

The BBC reports on the iTunes controversy: bloggers discovered that a feature on iTunes was tracking user information without disclosing the info to users.

The row arose following the update to the iTunes software released by Apple on 10 January. The new version includes a MiniStore feature that recommends tracks to buy similar to those a user is listening to. MiniStore looks for similar tracks when a user clicks on a tune in a playlist. It even makes recommendations about songs that were not bought via the hugely popular online music store. iTunes sends data about the song selected in your library to the iTunes Music Store to provide relevant recommendations. When the MiniStore is hidden, this data is not sent to the iTunes Music Store.

Soon after the update was released, blogger Marc Garrett wrote a journal entry about MiniStore and the data it passes back to Apple. Further work by other bloggers such as Kirk McElhearn found that the data being sent back to Apple to make the recommendations included artist, title, genre as well as unique identifiers for a computer and iTunes account.

Privacy advocates complained that Apple had not done enough to warn people about the information that was being collected, nor what was being done with the collected data. By contrast Apple does mention in the licence agreement for iTunes that it contacts the Gracenote music database to work out which album is being played via the program. "Apple should be clear about its information gathering practices," wrote Mr Garrett on his blog.

Apple said in response to a request for comment: "Apple does not save or store any information used to create recommendations for the MiniStore". On its support website, the company has posted and updated information about how to turn the MiniStore feature off. Information on the page has been updated since the row about iTunes blew up. "iTunes sends data about the song selected in your library to the iTunes Music Store to provide relevant recommendations," says the entry on its support website. "When the MiniStore is hidden, this data is not sent to the iTunes Music Store." Digital detective work by bloggers has confirmed that no data is passed to Apple when MiniStore is turned off.

The bottom line is that every service that recommends personalized products to you is tracking your preferences. We have no problem with that so long as everything is disclosed to the customer: otherwise, Amazon.com would have trouble recommending cool new books and CDs to us. But the problem arises when the company does something else with the information it has collected: like sell it to a third party. And that we do have a problem with.

Posted on January 16, 2006
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The Star Jones Blogging Drama

Newly svelte Star Jones has launched a blog in connection with her new book tour and it's been a really bumpy ride so far. First she posted really strict rules for posting comments. Then the posters went wild and posted horrible, tastless quotes and photos (surprise, surprise). Then, she stopped blogging. Then she started back up. Just Jared has been following it all very closely. Here's a snippet:

Thursday, January 5, 8:47:26 PM EST

Star Jones launches her official blog, introduces the word hateration to her blog and lays the smackdown in her very first blog entry with "Star's Rules" --

RULE #1 :: Since you know who I am but I don't know who you are, I insist that you play fair. I don't do insults, mean-spirited comments or undue nastiness. If that's your thing...do it somewhere else. I will debate and discuss an issue with you but anything that falls under the category of pure hateration will just be deleted from my blog.

RULE #2 :: Please remember not to post on my blog in all caps; it's equivalent to screaming at someone. I'm new at this, but even I know that...so act like you know.

RULE #3 :: Try to keep track of the conversation. No reason to repeat what's already been said.

RULE #4 :: Don't use foul language; that will get you nowhere. If you're upset about something, please keep it clean. Otherwise your post will be deleted and I certainly won't respond.

Friday, January 6, ~10PM ::

Bloggers (specifically LiveJournal community OhNoTheyDidn't in "The Post," which has since been deleted) take notice of Star Jones' blog and post literally hundreds of comments and pictures. Star Jones (or her blog minions) takes immediate action, deleting 'hateration'-filled comments and banning users like excitabledude23 (this was one of the nicer comments left for Star) --

After reading Just Jared's summary and BloggersBlog's entry on the fiasco, we then decided to head on over to Star's personal website where we encountered this Mission Statement at the top of the homepage: "I am the author of the only dictionary that defines me." After reading that we just gave up.

Posted on January 10, 2006
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K-Fed Launches New Website

It's the moment you've all been waiting for: Kevin Federline has finally launched his official website. After a Flash opening rap about not messin' with his family which accompanies photos of all the Britney-Kevin tabloid headlines, we finally see a personal message from K-Fed:

Hey, Everyone,

I don't think we've ever been formally introduced. My name is Kevin Federline. I'm 6 feet tall, have brown hair and brown eyes. I enjoy horseback riding, long walks on the beach and the wind whipping through my hair. Ha ha ha. On a more serious note, there's going to be a lot more information and updates on here in the coming weeks and I think this will provide you with the opportunity to get to know who I really am. Anyway, thanks for checking out my site and be sure to come back often. You can click here to join my email list and also check me out on MySpace.

It's really his website, as is his MySpace page: Britney links to the site from her official website. His first single drops on January 1, 2006. No doubt it will be a huge success. Ahem.

Posted on December 28, 2005
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Make Your Own Snowflake

Make a Snowflake

If you have some time to kill there is a nifty little snowflake maker online called Make a Flake. Don't get too excited because you can't create a real snowflake at Make a Flake -- only Mother Nature and ski resorts can do that. But you can make a digital snowflake on the website using virtual paper and virtual scissors. By cutting sections out of the piece of paper you are given you can create different snowflakes. If you really like one of the snowflakes you make you can even store it online in the gallery or download it to your computer. It's December so enjoy snowflakes while you can because you will be really tired of them by February.

Posted on December 13, 2005
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Kyle Trades Paperclip for Bigger and Better Things

Kyle MacDonald has a blog called One Red Paperclip. Kyle is trying to trade his way to a house by continually trading his item for something better.

Kyle: "I'm going to keep trading for bigger or better things until I get a house."

Kyle began his series of trades with one red paperclip. Kyle managed to trade his way up to a red generator, which is much better than a paperclip, but he may have taken a step backwards with his latest trade for one instant party. Yet, Kyle remains confident. Kyle believes the funtential will be to his advantage. Here is some of Kyle's logic:

But remember, this is not eBay. This is one red paperclip. I'm not here to sell stuff; I'm here to barter stuff - and barter is supposed to be fun. I'm not sure about you, but I'd argue that "one instant party" has a lot more potential for fun than one red generator. I'm sure Marcin will have an awesome time with his red generator - that's assured. Generators are fun too. I'm just saying that even though one red generator may have a higher cash value than one instant party, "one instant party" has more funtential.

Posted on November 22, 2005
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Daily Dancer Likes to Boogy Down

The Daily Dancer is a software developer who loves to dance. He posts new videos of himself dancing to various songs like "Come on Eileen", "I Think We're Alone Now" and "What is Love" three days a week. And he even takes song requests. The Daily Dancer really loves dancing but he explains why he can't post every single weekday anymore.

Even though my name is Daily Dancer, I do not post a dance every single day. Originally, I posted every single weekday, but I have found that the commitment became a little bit too much. Also, many viewers had found that my dances had gotten stale. To counter that, I decided to post my own dances only three times a week. With only three dances, I have more energy to give my fans great dances.

(Via J-Walk Blog)

Posted on September 28, 2005
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Microsoft Sues Google Over Theft of Chinese Scientist

Now that's what we call a valuable employee. Microsoft is suing Google for enticing away their top Chinese scientist, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, to work at their top-secret new R&D center in China. The lab is so secret that Google will not even disclose its location. So who is this mysterious Dr. Lee that Microsoft will do anything to have back? And what in the world is so top-secret that the lab must be in an undisclosed location?

"By establishing an R&D center in China," the company said in a statement, "Google is making a strong commitment to attracting and developing Chinese talent, as well as partnering with local universities and institutes."

Lee, widely known for his speech recognition and artificial intelligence work, joined Microsoft in 1998 as its managing director of research in China, founding its Beijing research lab. More recently, he was corporate vice president of Microsoft's Natural Interactive Services Division, where he oversaw efforts to develop technologies to make user interfaces simpler and more natural.

Google hired Lee directly from Microsoft, boasting about the appointment in its news release. Microsoft responded by filing a lawsuit Tuesday against Lee and Google in King County Superior Court in Washington, charging that Lee breached Microsoft's "confidentiality and non-compete agreement" and that Google enticed him to do so.

Ok, but what exactly will Dr. Lee be doing in China for Google? Why is he so valuable? What does he know?

"As a senior executive, Dr. Lee has direct knowledge of Microsoft's trade secrets concerning search technologies and China business strategies," the company said in a statement. "He has accepted a position focused on the same set of technologies and strategies for a direct competitor in egregious violation of his explicit contractual obligations."

In the suit, Microsoft called Lee "one of the main architects of Microsoft's business strategies in China" and said he led efforts to develop "certain proprietary search technologies...that compete with substantially similar services offered by Google."

It's all very mysterious, but we're sure those wild rumors about Google building a secret robot army are completely untrue.

Posted on July 20, 2005
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Noah Posts a Photo of Himself Every Single Day

Noah Kalina is a photographer living and working in New York City. Noah has relentlessly posted a photograph of himself online every single day since January 11, 2000.
(Via Also-online.com)

Posted on July 13, 2005
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Wasting Time at the Office

Now, we don't want to upset you, but it appears that American workers waste at least two hours a day surfing the Net when they should be working. We know, it's shocking.

U.S. workers say they squander over two hours a day at the workplace, with surfing the Web, socializing with co-workers and simply "spacing out" among the top time-wasting activities, according to a survey released on Monday. Most U.S. companies assume about an hour of wasted time, but workers admit to actually frittering away more than twice as much time at a cost of $759 billion in annual paid salary that results in no apparent productivity, an online survey conducted by America Online and Salary.com showed. Wasted time did not include the standard lunch hour.

Of 10,044 employee respondents, 33 percent said they engaged in time-wasting activities because they didn't have enough work to do. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed said they squandered their work hours because they were underpaid.

Men and women wasted an equal amount of time at work, but older workers were significantly more attentive than younger workers, the survey showed. Workers over 55 years old wasted an average of just 30 minutes a day, according to the survey. Bill Coleman, senior vice president at Salary.com, said some time-wasting activities -- such as personal use of the Internet -- can be positive, resulting in new business ideas or a happier work environment.

A happier work environment? Bill Coleman is probably right. Workers who are downloading the naughty plug-in for Grand Theft Auto when they're supposed to be doing the monthly sales reports are probably pretty happy.

Posted on July 12, 2005
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Crying While Eating

Daniel Crying While Eating

Daniel Engber, a New York writer, explains how he created the Internet hit website Crying While Eating in this confessional piece on Slate. Crying While Eating features pictures and videos of people crying while eating food. Engber launched the site in an effort to win a $2,000 prize in a website contest. In the process his girlfriend's picture ended up on a Japanese sex website. But he did create a website that was very popular -- at least for a little while.

It's easy to look back and see why Crying, While Eating did so well, at least for a time. It's a simple concept. It's interactive. It makes you laugh and feel uncomfortable at the same time. But there are two parts to contagious media. You have to make something that people want to spread around, but unless you're as lucky as the Star Wars kid you also have to do a little of the spreading yourself. CwE got lots of free publicity because it was an entry in a contest; if Casimir and I tried to make another contagious site, we'd have to do that legwork for ourselves. I don't know if we could pull it off. It seems like a real pain in the ass.

Engber did not win first place, but he did win two $1,000 prizes. And he's promised his girlfriend a fancy dinner to make up for putting a photograph of her crying while eating food on the Internet.

Posted on June 26, 2005
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TomKat Edges Ahead Of Brangelina in Blogularity

The continual press releases and very public courtship between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes is finally paying off. The oft-denied, secret "affair" between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (or Brangelina, if you like) has now fallen just slightly behind TomKat in the ~~polls~~ blogs. The graph below clearly shows that Brangelina had a slight edge during most of June. Brad and Angelina are clearly the wiser of the two pairs. By using stealth and denial they have generated great interest in their ~~brand~~ relationship with much less effort than TomKat. All that work by TomKat -- appearing on talk shows, jumping on couches and wildly professing their love to millions of shocked listeners around the world -- appeared unable to overcome the sexy, cunning denials by Brangelina and Angelina Jolie's dominatrix outfit in Mr. And Mrs. Smith. That is until Tom Cruise whipped out the giant diamond engagement ring and proposed to Katie on the Eiffel tower, causing TomKat to surge in popularity. But will TomKat's marriage plans and amorous PR assault plan be enough to hold the lead over the coy denials of Brangelina?

Graph by Blogpulse.com

Posted on June 19, 2005
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Thousands of Smileys

If you like smileys then you'll love SmileyCollector.com. The site includes all kinds of smiley-related items and media including smiley graphics, smiley poems, smiley quotes, smiley photos, and smiley links. The site also includes a smiley trivia page that explains the origins of the smiley:

Worcester, Mass., is the birthplace of the yellow smiley face. Resident Harvey R. Ball, who co-owned an advertising and public relations firm, designed the Happy Smiley Face in 1963 to boost the morale of workers in two recently merged insurance companies. Harvey Ball was paid $45 for his artwork by State Mutual Life Assurance Companies of America.

A Boston.com article has more about smiley creator Harvey Ball who died in 2001 at age 79:

He never applied for a trademark or copyright, something his son, Charles Ball, said his father never regretted.

"He was not a money-driven guy," Charles Ball told the Telegram and Gazette of Worcester. "He used to say, `Hey, I can only eat one steak at a time, drive one car at a time."'

"He'd get letters from all over the world thanking him for Smiley. How do you put a price on that? He died with no apologies and no regrets."

(via J-Walk Blog).

Posted on June 13, 2005
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Young Man Builds Website Requesting Date With Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman as Queen Amadalia and Andy Goldfarb

Natalie Portman as Queen Amadalia and Andy Goldfarb

Andy Goldfarb, a 140 pound, 5' 7'' nineteen year-old sophomore at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT has built a website to tell Natalie Portman, the actress who played Queen Amidala in the Star Wars films, that he wants a date with her. Goldfarb doesn't want to marry Natalie Portman or go on an exciting vacation with her. He just wants to "have a meal" with Natalie Portman.

So here it is. I'm pouring myself out. This site doesn't exist to proclaim how very much in love I am with Natalie Portman -- I've never even met the girl. No, this is simply a way for me to tell the world (and hopefully Natalie herself) that I feel as though we have the potential to be compatible. All I'm asking is for a chance to explore that compatibility, to see if we're a good match. If I get this date with Natalie and it's awkward and doesn't work out, so be it. I just need to know I tried.

If it's awkward? Why would it be awkward? Some comments in Goldfarb's FAQ make it sound like a not very exciting date.

How long have you been in love with Natalie? I never said I was in love with her. Again, I've never met her. I just think we share similar interests and it would be great to talk to her. I never said any of this has to be romantic.

Yeah, who wants a date to be romantic? So will Andy Goldfarb get a date with Star War star Natalie Portman? Probably not. His website isn't bad though. He should try his web design skills out on a less well-known girl that lives near to him. Chicks dig guys with skills. But he better hope the next girl he pursues doesn't see his DateMeNatalie.com website!

Posted on June 4, 2005
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Teen Finds Blogging Really Boring

Not all teens like blogging. In fact, the ABQ Journal (no doubt so named because no one can quickly type "Albuquerque" into a browser window without horrific typos) has found a teen named Patrick Lester that does not like blogging one bit. Patrick shares his thought about blogging. But don't call him a blogger.

"The allure of posting online messages, pictures and journals is too much for some to resist. The intrigue of talking to electronic friends you've never seen before is just plain addictive for some. What did Snazylarry45 have for dinner last night? And did he get that job at Dairy Queen? Obviously this is deep stuff. Who could help but be captivated?"

So much sarcasm and from someone so young. What's really the matter Patrick --will no one link to your blog?

"I think it's ridiculous. Hundreds of students at every school are on MySpace, for reasons I can't begin to fathom. I've seen them in action, looking at everyone's pictures and what they've written. Mostly it looks like a silly attempt to see how good-looking your schoolmates are."

"But if it isn't lust that motivates a MySpace-user, I guess it's the opportunity to check in on your online friends. I guess some people confess serious things. Or not. Maybe MySpace-users are online because they don't have anything better to do. Really people, I don't want to read about how you brushed your dog this morning and then ate a bowl of Corn Pops. And if your Aunt Gertrude passed away this morning, cry with your parents. She's not my aunt, and I'd rather not get any electronic tears on my shirt."

No blog is good enough for Patrick! Patrick, dear, before MySpace.com there were (and still are) actual print relics called Class Yearbooks that are full of pictures of one's classmates. And that really isn't a nice thing to say about someone's poor dead Aunt. Ok, the Corn Pops blog could use a bit of punching up.

"People think technology is a big social opportunity. I've been told at least twice, even by own sister (13, I might add), that I don't have a social life because I don't instant message. If anyone thinks staring at a computer screen for three hours reading someone's account of brushing a dog constitutes a social life, he's just wrong. It sounds more like online stalking to me."

Patrick, your sister is trying to help you.

"Instead of pouring your soul into a computer, tell your problems to a live friend -� in person. You may think it's great that you were so drunk on Saturday, you couldn't think straight, but that's the kind of thing you tell a doctor, not post on the Internet. Your guinea pig's heart may be failing, but honestly, who really cares?"

"Now I'm not blaming MySpace for ruining the youth of America. MySpace doesn't cause teen drug use, and it didn't get your girlfriend pregnant. Ultimately, we have to make our own decisions about how to spend our time. But blogging, instant messaging? Count me out."

Teens are doing what they have always done: talk to other teens. Only the method of the communication has changed -- from all-night phone calls to all-night Instant Messages.

Patrick does make a good point that people need face to face communication. But in today's teen world, the precursor to that live interaction may be endless trivial Instant Messages. By intentionally excluding himself from today's teen network he is missing some opportunities to meet people at school that he could later talk to in the real word.

People are blogging about the little things that mean something to them -- the Corn Pops, the guinea pig and the intricacies of dog grooming -- none of which may matter to a stranger. But they matter to the blogger and his friends. And if Patrick feels the current blogs aren't up to snuff, why not take the excellent advice of his sister: take those excellent blogging skills of his, raise the standard of teen blogging and join the community.

Posted on May 17, 2005
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Good Morning Blogosphere

Dr. Bombay probably doesn't think so, but it's clear that the Web needs more blogs. So here's another one. Pleasant Morning Buzz will feature commentary about current events and items of interest to us you. It's the latest addition to our blog network, and we hope you enjoy it.

Posted on May 11, 2005
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