June 2, 2012
Would you buy an Apple iCar?
An Apple board member has revealed that Steve Jobs had dreamed of creating an iCar before his sad demise in October last year after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer.Speaking at a Fast Company conference, Mickey Drexler stated that the car industry is a tragedy in America and Steve's dream was to design an iCar which would give the automotive industry the shake-up it required.Italy based auto designer Liviu Tudoran has taken cues from the Apple products and designed a concept car called iMove for the year 2020.
Source BY Yahoo.com
Review: 'Chernobyl Diaries'
(EW.com) -- Is it too soon to make a horror film inspired by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, in which a vast area of the world was radioactively contaminated following the catastrophic meltdown of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant?No, according to Oren Peli.
The "Paranormal Activity" writer-director both co-wrote and co-produced this tale of six vacationing twentysomethings who make the egregious error of signing up for an ''extreme tourism'' outing to the Chernobyl-adjacent and long abandoned town of Pripyat. (Newcomer Bradley Parker directs.)
Before you can say ''What, was the ballet all sold out?'' our hero-victims are being menaced, and rapidly thinned out, in an array of ways it does not behoove us to disclose here.
If nowhere near as scary as the original "Paranormal," the result is superior to many of the low-budget terror flicks that have arrived since (yes, "The Devil Inside," we're talking about you) and benefits hugely from Dimitri Diatchenko's performance as moviedom's Worst.
Source BY cnn.com
June 1, 2012
Facebook: I've Been Hacked
Hackers have a far better understanding of the weakness of Facebook's privacy issues than any of us. Right now, thanks to some devious cyberjerks, many of my Facebook friends think I'm an obnoxious, knockoff Nike shoe vendor. Donna Antebi: Shoe Hawker.
The nightmare began when I logged-on to Facebook and, to my horror, found that "Donna Antebi" was hell-bent on selling her friends knock-off, gold lamé, tricked-out Nike sneakers. My closest friends knew immediately that I'd been hacked. Think about it. Could this really be me? Recommending shoes without heels? That's obviously an impostor! Messages from my not-so close friends rolled in: "Hey, Donna. Thanks for the cheap shoes. Unfriending you, boycotting Nike. Btw, have you been drinking?"
Mortified, I tried to report the problem to Facebook, hoping I could quickly retrieve my account. No such luck.
The hackers hit me with a one-two punch that thwarted my ability to access help from any of the usual Facebook security solutions. First, they hijacked my www.facebook.com/donnaantebi account and changed the URL to www.facebook.com/losokana. Next, they used my stolen registration information -- which included my password, email, and cell phone number -- to set up a new Donna Antebi account www.facebook/antebi.donna. They even pre-loaded it with some of my friends and personal photographs. They then began a campaign to relentlessly harass a few thousand of my nearest and dearest friends by spamming them with fake Nike solicitations.
The hackers' new party trick was effective. Changing the name of my URL, and setting up a decoy account, meant that all of my complaints and subsequent Facebook security solutions bypass my real account, which is no longer under my name, and instead, get redirected to the fake Donna Antebi account. The hackers made it impossible for me to correct the problem via computer complaining -- which is the only frustrating way to communicate anything to Facebook. Genius.
Every day since April 22, 2012, I have emailed back and forth with a Facebook robot in their virtual complaint department, trying in vain to regain custody of my account. All the usual, "reset your password," "send a code to a trusted friend," or "show your identification" solutions continue to be redirected to the fake account. It's maddening.
These scammers are bold. On my hijacked account, they even pretend to be me and respond to my friends as if I'm answering. "Hey Donna, is this really you?" "Oh yes, I just really love these Nike shoes!" There is nothing I can do but watch as the bad guys leisurely have their way with thousands of my very aggravated friends.
My Facebook detractor friends launched into a sea of "I told you so's" and "that's why I don't use Facebook." But the fact is, Facebook is here to stay, and I would like to have my account back. Realizing the futility of an automated solution, I decided to call the company, and that's when I got an even bigger eye-opener. Telephone prompt option one: "Thank you for calling Facebook. Unfortunately, we do not offer customer support at this time." Then it gets even more alarming. Option two is for law enforcement. "Please note that due to a large call volume, current call back time is 2-4 days." For law enforcement? How is that for disturbing? What if the FBI is hot on the tail of a child-abduction lead? Too bad. Get in line like the rest of us.
I wanted to understand how this could happen, so I searched "How to hack Facebook." Much to my surprise, 294,000,000 results came up! Hackers go after Facebook 600,000 times a day! Not only is hacking Facebook a potential felony, it's also very big business. There are pages and pages of people and companies that, for a fee, will either hack into Facebook for you -- guaranteed, or teach you how to do it yourself. Want discover what your boss is doing? Or maybe how to gain real insight as to why your relationship status is "complicated?" You can, for a price. Really? Maybe they can fix this for me.
Everyone on Facebook should understand what is at risk if they are hacked. I have discovered the hard way that the implications of privacy violations are far greater than marketing companies appropriating our data to sell us targeted goods, or the inconvenience of losing friends and starting over from scratch. Being hacked flings the door wide open for identity theft -- the fastest growing crime in the United States.
I gave my home address to friends on Facebook. I have also acknowledged the identity of my sweet mother, who still lives in the town where I was born. Two clicks on www.genealogy.com and the hackers have my mother's maiden name. Bingo. My Facebook disclosures have inadvertently rolled out the red carpet for criminals to access my bank accounts, and I've set myself up for credit card fraud too. Also -- if you think Facebook is the photographic time capsule of your life, you better think again and back up those photographs now. You are only one hack away from being violated and walking a mile in my counterfeit Nike shoes.
Hey, Facebook, are you listening!? This is America. We believe in quality products and customer service. You have made company growth a priority at the expense of customer care. Doing business "the hacker way" allowed you to swiftly create a corporate Godzilla. Your philosophy of "Done is better than perfect" has clearly worked well for your wallet. Your letter to investors outlined many things, including your five core values: Focus on Impact, Move Fast, Be Bold, Be Open, Build Social Value. What you failed to mention is concern for the user or the quality of your product -- which is nowhere near perfect.
Mr. Zuckerberg, the IPO is completed. It's now time to stop counting your money and catch your breath. You need to focus on shoring up Facebook infrastructure before funding more expansion. Facebook hacking is out of control. If user privacy and security is not strengthened, then Facebook should issue a bold warning on every page -- just like the cigarette companies do. "Warning! Facebook is not a secure site. Users may be targeted by criminals, and are at serious risk for personal and professional violation."
On behalf of all Facebook users, I would like to say that when robot solutions run dry, the ability to reach a fraud division with real, live human beings should not be too much to ask. By the way, your plan to offer privacy software that your users pay for, and Facebook profits from, is not good enough. Facebook can afford to do a better job. There are no good excuses for not doing so. You spent one billion dollars to acquire Instagram. How about parting your wallet for some Instahelp? Remember, corporate greed is uncool even if people under 30 run the company.
And regarding Nike, Mr. Parker, CEO -- all press is not good press. Certainly the incessant solicitation to buy fake Nike's seems like something that would pique your interest? Maybe you'll have more luck getting through to Facebook than I did. I suggest you start by tracking down who is behind "losokana" and prosecute. Demi Lavato's hacker just got one year in prison, so maybe we have a case. Hey... if you do manage to speak with Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Cox, Dustin Moskovitz, Adam D'Angelo, Jeff Rothschild, Chris Kelly, or any one of Facebook's 3,559 tech-savvy employees, could you please ask them to rescue my thousands of friends and associates from the hijacker operating as facebook.com/losokana and return the account to me: facebook.com/donnaantebi?
Right now I am going to do something that's becoming less common -- pick up the old-fashioned telephone. I need to apologize to my friends and family for suggesting they buy ugly, gold, bedazzled fake shoes. Wish me luck. I have a lot of explaining to do. In the mean time, you can all reach me at what I hope will be my temporary Donna Estes Antebi Facebook account, with the ridiculously long URL: www.facebook.com/people/Donna-Estes-Antebi/617185477
(Note: Post-Facebook hack, my mail has been stolen, my banking has been compromised and two checks linked to my credit card were cashed. I tried to reach the Facebook PR department for comments, but as of this publication, I still not have heard back).
Source BY huffingtonpost.com
May 29, 2012
Google Confirms Gmail Is Down for 400,000 Users
Google confirmed this morning that there’s a problem with Gmail that’s affecting a small portion of its users. The outage is affecting fewer than 0.11% of Gmail users, Google says, and since about 9:00 a.m. ET this morning they haven’t been able to access Google Mail.Although 0.11% is a very small portion of users, it still represents a lot of people since Gmail is so popular. In January, Google said Gmail’s user base is 350 million people. Given that statistic, today’s outage is leaving almost 400,000 people without access to their accounts.
The Google Apps Status Dashboard says Google began investigating the outage at 9:20 a.m. ET this morning, and sites began reporting the outage shortly afterward. Google’s two updates since the initial alert have been scant on details, saying they’re investigating the issue.
SEE ALSO: Gfail! What the World Says When Gmail Goes Down
Many affected Gmail users turned to Twitter to see if anyone else was affected and to vent their frustrations. User @JudsonCollier lamented that “life is broken” without the service, while @akist0n had this simple advice: “#panic”. Activity around the term “Gmail down” appears to peak around 10 a.m. ET.
It’s a fact of life that each and every Internet-based service has outages at some point, although most are minor and short-lived. However, Gmail once went down for a large portion of users for an extended period back in 2009. That disruption was caused by Google itself when it badly mishandled a routine server upgrade.
Is Gmail down for you? What do you do when your email stops working? Share your crisis stories in the comments.
Correction: We regretfully made a mistake in our math in our initial report about the number of affected users. The correct number is 400,000, not 4 million.
Source BY mashable.com
Apple Announces WWDC 2012 Keynote
Apple has released its schedule for WWDC 2012. The developer conference, which runs from June 11 – 15 in San Francisco, is historically when Apple unveils its latest iOS and OS X software updates.The keynote for the event will take place on June 11, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. PT. While the company hasn’t officially released who will be present at the keynote, we’re presuming that Apple CEO Tim Cook will be lead the event.
In the past, the company has also used the keynote event to unveil new hardware products.
The bulk of WWDC — which sold out in under two hours this year — is a closed conference for developers. Registered Apple developers who cannot attend WWDC (or were unable to get tickets), can access videos from the WWDC sessions once they are posted online.
WWDC attendees can also download a free WWDC 2012 iOS app [iTunes link] to keep track of sessions, news and the general schedule.
Are you going to WWDC this year? What do you hope Apple announces? Let us know.
Source BY mashable.com
Tips for Brush, Bleach, Whitening toothpaste
Nadia Kiderman welcomes you to this website. Here you will be provided with some useful tips regarding following fields.
Brush
Healthy and clean teeth can be maintained if you brush your teeth minimum twice a day. This will help you a lot in preventing tooth decay.
Bleach
If you want your teeth to be free from stains and to look white then the best option for you is teeth bleeching. But it is not meant for those with damaged gums and sensitive teeth.
Whitening Toothpaste
Whitening toothpaste is very helpful in removing stains. There is a great misconception that the working of whitening toothpaste is same as that of bleech. But its not true.
Bleech increases
whiteness and remove stains, while whitening toothpaste only removes stains.
Brush
Healthy and clean teeth can be maintained if you brush your teeth minimum twice a day. This will help you a lot in preventing tooth decay.
Bleach
If you want your teeth to be free from stains and to look white then the best option for you is teeth bleeching. But it is not meant for those with damaged gums and sensitive teeth.
Whitening Toothpaste
Whitening toothpaste is very helpful in removing stains. There is a great misconception that the working of whitening toothpaste is same as that of bleech. But its not true.
Bleech increases
whiteness and remove stains, while whitening toothpaste only removes stains.
Be in touch for more useful tips from Nadia Kiderman.
May 27, 2012
Spanish Soccer Scores a Goal on Social Media
When Mashable took a look at the English Premier League’s social media side last week, the main takeaway was that the 2012 season marked the big social push of the world’s most high-profile soccer league.But Spain’s LigaBBVA — considered a tier below the EPL on the pitch, although it’s home to powerhouse clubs Real Madrid and FC Barcelona — actually looks to be world soccer’s digital leader. To get the fuller picture, we scoured social media sites, and consulted LigaBBVA as well as the Spanish sports and social media site Sportwist.
Perhaps the place where La Liga’s social media dominance shines most is with its biggest stars. Three of the top four sports-related Twitter accounts are from Spanish soccer — Real Madrid stars Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo have 10.7 and 9.9 million followers, respectively, while the FC Barcelona club account claims almost 5.2 million. Last month, Kaka became the first sports figure ever to break 10 million followers on the the network. Fellow LigaBBVA stars Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique, Carlos Puyol, Xabi Alonso and David Villa each top one million followers as well.
The league itself maintains profiles on pretty much all the social web’s major networks — Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest and multiple Chinese services.
LigaBBVA engages fans extremely well on Facebook in particular. The league’s official page has more than 1 million fans. During a stretch in April, engagement peaked according to Sportwist, with more than 55% of those fans “talking about” LigaBBVA teams, matches and players — an outstanding level of engagement for a brand in any industry.
LigaBBVA also dominates world soccer leagues on Twitter. The @LigaBBVA profile counts more than 280,000 followers there, compared with the official @premierleague account’s approximately 209,000 followers. LigaBBVA also has a Klout score of 74, compared to the EPL’s score of 70. The German Bundesliga — considered by many the world’s third-best league in overall quality of play — has a Klout score of 49.
On the Chinese social network Sina Weibo, Spain’s soccer league has 155,000 followers, as well as an additional 106,000 fans on the similar Chinese network Ren Ren.
What powers LigaBBVA’s social media popularity? Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, arguably two of the world’s three most popular club teams. Consider this, for example: Barcelona has more than 31 million Facebook fans and about 5.2 million Twitter followers; Real Madrid has over 28 million Facebook fans and 4.7 million Twitter followers. No other LigaBBVA team approaches a combined total of 500,000.
Why do you think LigaBBVA beats out the EPL on social media? Let us know in the comments.
Source BY mashable.com
11 Hilarious ‘Men in Black’ Parodies
A few weeks ago we found out a lot of people like to dress up with their friends as the Avengers? It turns out, a lot more of you like the Men in Black look.
It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen Agent J and Agent K on the big screen, but Men in Black 3 hits theaters Friday. In case you’ve been zapped by a neuralizer and can’t remember the film, these YouTube galaxy defenders have you covered.
Over the past few years and in anticipation of the third film in the MIB series, many fans have created hilarious parodies. Most of them involve suits, sunglasses and some sort of kitchen utensil or Nerf gun. There are also thousands of “MIBelievers” getting psyched for the big return.
SEE ALSO: ‘Men in Black 3′ Trailer Reveals Time Travel Plot
We’ve investigated the web for 11 hilarious parodies to celebrate Men in Black 3‘s release. Share your favorite video in the comments, or tell us your fond memories surrounding the trilogy.
Source BY mashable.com
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