Roseanne Fired

ABC canceled Roseanne Barr’s revival of her show after she went bananas on Twitter. 

The star, previously known for pissing off most of the country by not singing the Star Spangled Banner correctly, apologized for calling Obama Administration adviser Valerie Jarrett a child of the “Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.” Barr came back to Twitter about 5 minutes later to expand on her apology.

“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” Barr tweeted. “I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste.” 

She has not tweeted anything since. Everyone (meaning I) is waiting for the President to weigh in on this one.

This isn't going to end well

Speaking before parliament, UK PM David Cameron said he has ordered an inquiry into the possibility of banning users from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook if it is determined that they are planning to engage in criminal behavior.

“Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill,” Cameron said. “And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. So we are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”

Cameron added that he asked the police “if they need any other new powers.” No word if the Chief Constable fell out of his chair or immediately started scribbling some ideas. My guess would be that "firearms" would be pretty high on that list.
Home Secretary Theresa May will hold meetings with representatives from Facebbok, Twitter, and RIM to discuss their role in preventing future riots. “All of them should think about their responsibility and about taking down those images,” Cameron said in reference to Facebook and Twitter posts he believes could incite further unrest.

[The Guardian]

Well, you sodding pikers, I hope you're happy with that bottle you nicked out of the off-licence - you just took down the democracy, haven't you? Not even the bloody Nazis were able to pull that off. You did it in just three nights.

It's a Mouse!

While I like the photo, and the likeness of Muammar is striking - the image perpetuates the misguided notion that the internet caused these revolutions.

While media attention may help to encourage these revolutionaries, it is their actions, and their sacrifices that are responsible, so I think the infectious idea of freedom, and the perseverance of the people involved are much more frightening to a dictator than the internet.

It's merely a tool. It worked for some, but not the Iranians.... yet.

Source: White Mice Know How To Scare Dictators

Gentlemen, to Evil!

President Barack Obama joins a toast with Technology Business Leaders at a dinner in Woodside, California, Feb. 17, 2011.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

• John Doerr, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

• Carol Bartz, president and CEO, Yahoo!

• John Chambers, CEO and chairman, Cisco Systems

• Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter

• Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO, Oracle

• Reed Hastings, CEO, NetFlix

• John Hennessy, president, Stanford University

• Steve Jobs, chairman and CEO, Apple

• Art Levinson, chairman and former CEO, Genentech

• Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO, Google

• Steve Westly, managing partner and founder, Westly Group

• Mark Zuckerberg, founder, president and CEO, Facebook

Facebook Changes

Evil Facebook mastermind Mark Zuckerberg talked up his site's new profile page Sunday in his second "60 Minutes" PR blitz - er - interview. In that chat, Leslie Stahl that covered all the topics relevant to Mark - from his portrayal in the Oscar-favorite The Social Network to his laughable privacy policy, Zuckerberg explained that the new profile format — which was introduced on the site's blog on Sunday — gives prominence to key details, such as hometown, school, and profession.

Profession? Watch your back, LinkedIn.

(Watch Zuckerberg's "60 Minutes" interview. If you dare!)

It also places greater emphasis on photos and family members. Facebook members who want to use the new profile can get it now; others will get it automatically over the next few weeks. You will Obey.

Frivolous Facebook Meme

Long story short, in case you’re not current on the latest Facebook meme, people all over the world have been changing their profile pics to cartoon characters from their youth to “raise awareness” for violence against children.

So how is this helping abused children? Folks participating in this meme aren’t doing a thing to raise awareness for actions their friends can take to support this cause, just merely pointing out the fact that children are being abused while letting everyone know they once had a thing for Smurfette?

Here’s an idea: How about skipping the silliness and plugging an anti-child abuse charity instead? This is a good one. This is another good one. As is this one.

Facebook has the potential to be a powerful catalyst for social change. But these frequent Facebook charity memes are meaningless exercises in futility. People don’t need to be made aware that breast cancer exists or that child abuse is a problem. What they need are real things they can do to support individuals battling these scourges.

Like memes? Here’s a good one: Things that actually make a difference. Feel free to spread it around.

Twitter Feed Workin'

Now I'm posting a post about our Tweet which will then become another tweet about a post. Damn this is confusing stuff.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Facebook The Movie

First official teaser trailer for The Social Network — David Fincher’s big-screen adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal.

The film, which stars Justin Timberlake, Jesse Eisenberg, and Andrew Garfield, is currently slated for release October 1.

Nixon Moment for Facebook

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg sweated profusely as he was questioned about recent privacy failures on the same stage on which Apple chief executive Steve Jobs a day earlier was forced to deny his company's Chinese factories were "sweatshops".

During an interview at the D: All Things Digital conference, Zuckerberg, described on the NYTimes.com Bits blog as being "visibly uncomfortable and sweating profusely", defended his company against claims it was forcing users to make more and more information available publicly and to third-party websites.

Reuters noted that "Zuckerberg began visibly perspiring, to the point that All Things Digital's Kara Swisher had to ask if he was all right". MarketWatch called it his "Richard Nixon" moment.

That's all great and good - but let's review here. Facebook is a free service that's similar to Classmates.com but without the annoying fees attached to it. You freely plug in information, pictures and all kinds of personal information and then are SHOCKED to find out that he's selling it to anyone with a checkbook? I even did a special report when an HR site called Spokeo.com was culling info for your potential employers to spy on you -- using, mostly, info you have freely given up on sites like Facebook.

The company doesn't care about your privacy, and thrives when you don't know how to change the settings. And if you really did care about privacy, the last place you should be visiting and posting anything would be Facebook.

Meanwhile, the billionaire kid is sweating because it's the first time anyone ever asked him a tough question about his business plan. Everyone else who asks him about it is profiting from the flow of information he's getting out of his users. Again, Billionaire, Mark Zuckerber.

Hold on, I have to update my status.

In an attempt to make a quick buck...

I just added the new-fangled Facebook "Like" button to this here blog.

Rather than being a bum and asking you nice folks who read on a semi-regular basis to donate money to me, buy some t-shirts or even to say, click on an ad (even once)... I'm determined to annoy the piss out of everyone with this facebook crap. Let's see if anyone bothers? Might be interesting?

(Bet I'd get a lot more if Facebook had a "Dislike" button?)

The iMaxiPad

The iPad--is probably the worst named product since HeadOn. On my best day, I cannot get past the obvious feminine hygiene product image.

"Did Apple really check whether women would like the idea of a maxi-pad?" writes blogger Ann Althouse, who suggests that Steve Jobs' marketing gurus should've consulted women a bit more. "Anyway, for our light days, we have iPhones. For our heavy days, we have the iPad? The iMaxiPad? Come on, guys!

Seattle Post-Intelligencer writer Mónica Guzmán also wonders what Apple was thinking: "Whether we make this part of the conversation surrounding Apple's highly anticipated tablet device or ignore it for the sake of decency, the word 'pad' has a meaning that is about as far removed from computing as a Band-Aid is from a television set.

"But how many times do you say 'Hand me that pad' and not, you know, blush a little?" Guzmán asks rhetorically.

Interestingly, the "iPad" jokes began before today's product launch. "Am I the only one who thinks the iPad sounds like a new feminine hygiene tech product?" asked one reader last week on Neowin.net, a tech news site.

iTampon on Twitter

A mere two hours after Jobs wrapped up his iPad demo, the term "iTampon" was trending higher than "Apple's iPad," on Twitter. The jokes were flowing. Pun intended.

User "britpixie" tweeted: "gotta love that iTampon is trending higher than iPad on twitter right now. Something tells me, they picked the wrong name?"

"MaestroMasadeJr" added: "iPad will forever be known as the iTampon ...oh dear I wonder which unfortunate ad agency advised Apple on the 'iPad' name..."

Will the name "iPad" ruin the tablet's success? It's too soon to tell. Once the jokes die down, consumers will focus on the tablet's capabilities [and limitations] and that price tag.

What's interesting to me is that Apple, usually a master of marketing, seems to have stumbled so incredibly terribly down the stairs with the product name.

Bilboard Fail

Mobile, Alabama's WPMI-TV learns the consequences of posting your breaking news tweets on an electronic billboard.
Since the incident, the station's General Manager and News Director were both reportedly suspended for one week by WPMI's ownership.

Truth to Tweet

Tire Discounters: We'd Tweet if we knew how or y [sic].