Criminal : Music Piracy

In Brooklyn, N.Y a man was convicted of copyright as an act of infringing last week, Knowing that its the largest criminal that had been done in the United states.. Music Piracy. Barry Gitarts, 25, was convicted by a jury in federal court in Alexandria, Va., for his role in the so-called Apocalypse Production Crew, an online piracy group that specialized in stealing and disseminating not-yet-released music.
Barry is senteced for 5 years of jail and fine of $250,000.. Augest 08 his sentence will take place.. According to the prosecutor, Gitarts tried to install Linux software on his server in an attempt to delete his Windows applications and destroy evidence.
People Becareful, especailly the one in the states.. Piracy is a real crime, I hope others will learn from this case and take it serious and stop pirating material from the internet.
CRYSTAL

Web 2.0 like “Swiss Cheese”???

Yeah I know this sounds weird. But I read an article about Web 2.0 and how it’s unreliable. I’m sure you’ve all experienced unexplainable log outs from Facebook or 404’s from YouTube and so on... I’m not trying to discriminate any of these really respectable social networks, but I’m trying to explain that this is a serious problem facing Web 2.0. I’m going to explain this issue in a pretty simple way: Lets say you have a room that fits usually 50 boxes and all the sudden you put a 1000 boxes in it. That’s exactly what companies using Web 2.0 are doing(making it full of wholes/flaws). A huge number of consumers are using the network that even if they have a prepared infrastructure still it won’t be able to deal with such a huge quantity of users. That’s why Facebook borrowed 100 million dollars to backup its servers to be able to handle this kind of mass usage.
I don’t know if they’ll find a final solution for this, cause I think they’ll have to add server farms everyday if the users’ appetite towards Web 2.0 keeps growing at this pace…
Jana:)

Facebook Security Problem

Facebook is not really safe, As a researcher found out that security problem Facebook could lead to hackers taking contorl of user accounts. Hacker's can create fake log -in page and steal user's passwords!! A cross-site scripting vulnerability can let an attacker display data from another Web site or run malicious code, which can compromise user data on the targeted Web site.
Crystal :)

India here we come...

BlogCampPune is a free unconference created by bloggers, for bloggers, about blogging... It is going to take place June 16 in India. A blogcamp will start from a white board, starting from scratch, and all participants/bloggers are supposed to participate. Despite the fact that BlogCampPune is going to be in india everybody can be part of it (via Skype, YouTube...) There is going to be blogging of all kinds; video/photo/...blogging!!!
I guess this is our (bloggers) opportunity to improve our daily bestfriends, our blogs, which have become part of us.

Jana:)

Search the Web in 3D!!!

SpaceTime is a new 3D browser that suits the Web 2.0 demand today. This new browser spares you time and space. Since most of us use the web intensively, SpaceTime is something we should be considering...
Instead of being lost and frustrated by opening a billion thumbnails and windows, this browser allows you to utilizes the space between each web page and thus facilitates you to view multiple web pages at the same time. Imagine you'll be able to open Ebay pages, Facebook... and you wouldnt be confised by the windows popping up in your face using all this space and making your pc go slower and slower and...
I'm downloading SpaceTime right now; I think you should give it a try too...

Jana:)

SpinBox

What is SpinBox? it s a trakcing system tool that track the online campaign it gives us a real time report on the impresisons delivered. In other words, it's an internet appliance
that simplifies the changing of our Web advertising and content. SpinBox was built for speed, presenting visitors to the Web site with targeted, rotating content at up to 35 million times a day. With the product's intelligent targeting, your content and ads receive optimum exposure and its real-time, Web-based, graphical reporting allows monitoring of all activity.

CRYSTAL

Nasa Save Computers from Ants?

Ants are heading toward Houston and taking radio's, computer's, and even vehicles in their path can you imagine? Well, Ants are causing all kinds of trouble for example, they are short-circuiting computers in homes and offices and knocking systems offline in major businesses. Ants are searching for food imagine any space they find they go in to check for food. Attack of the (computer) killer ants: Pests taking out machines along Texas Gulf Coast. Ants can be affecting our computers too, since its afecting the gulf as well.. Raspberry said he found three colonies at the NASA site, but all were small enough to control.
CRYSTAL !!

"Crime Web2.0": Untraceable

As I told you, this week my posts are going to be a little tragic. But unlike my previous post this one is not real, for I want to discuss a movie I watched last week...

Untraceable is movie that talks about a website called "KillWithMe" that was created by a serial-cyber killer, who uses it to kill his victims live on a webcam and everybody gets to watch... The movie is called untraceable since the murderer could change his website's IP address constantly, and as you can read (the image to the left) the more the viewers numbers increase the faster the victim dies. The reason I wanted to tell you guys about this movie is because: First, it shows how Web2.0 could be used in the most terrible ways and second, the movie made me realize how much this Web has affected media. The movie also discusses something we learned in Mass Communication (my major today) which is that people sometimes find pleasure in seeing other individuals' suffering and pain. That's a terrible thing and I know you are thinking: "Oh my God, of course not!!" but yes we all do... Even the movie shows how the number of viewers started decreasing when the criminal was being caught...

I guess all we can do is hope that no one would use Web 2.o for evil, like Lori Drew (previous post) or the cyber killer in "Untraceable" did...

Jana:(

"Crime Web 2.0": A MySpace Prank Causes Suicide!!!

This week I’m not going to bring you guys good news regarding Web 2.0. I’m going to call the posts of this week “Crime Web 2.0”…

November 2007, a fake account on MySpace was created by Lori Drew and her daughter to harass a 13 year old, Megan Meier. Drew, who lived 2 blocks away from the Meier’s, decided to supervise the account by the name “Josh Evans” to bully Megan for she had an on off friendship with her daughter. It was a kind of “getting back” at Megan which ended tragically… Meier had ADD as well as psychological problems. She was fat and she had troubles coping with the world around. I still remember how I was when I was a teenager and we all knew how much hard it is to feel that you belong and being over weight didn’t help Megan at all!!!!
So Josh Evans was showing Megan that he cares for her and she found him “HOT” as he mother said so she used to rush home everyday to communicate with him using MySpace. However; one day Josh started being really mean to Megan… and the last message was that he thinks the world would be better without her!!!
These mean words really hurt the 13 year old and she ended up hanging herself in the closet. After the dreadful suicide, a lady who was another neighbor to the Meier’s, asked to meet them and told them that her daughter was present sometime while Lori and her daughter were sending her messages on MySpace; she told them that her daughter received a call from Lori to tell her that something bad happened and she shouldn’t mention the account… The lady was sorry that her daughter didn’t tell her earlier but she thought it was ok since a trusted adult was allowing it…
The problem is that till now they are trying to accuse Drew of harassing a teenager but there is no such thing in law as “cyber bullying”. Now they’re trying to reopen the case by accusing Lori Drew of not abiding the rules of MySpace, since she created a fake account… But till now Drew is still not penalized for attacking an innocent 13 year old…
I guess the misuse of social networks can be fatal sometimes… And some people are sick and creative enough to commit such obscene actions!!!

Jana:(

Apology!!!

We want to apologize to our readers for not updating our blog periodically.
Due to the recent situations in our country, we are often unable to access the internet. Hope this problem will be resolved soon and we'll keep you updated...

Jana & Crystal:)

Transparency = Fidelity

I read a post by Greg Swann that made me think of Web 2.0 from a different angle...

Yes of course web 2.0 has transformed us to a new "globalozed social network" as I'd like to call it, however; this web has been moving intesively towards being commercial... From eBay to Blogs, these spaces are all providing a network of exchanging Data between consumers, whether information or actual objects...

Now, how would one be able to know if he's not being manipulated by the dishonest use of the commercial web?

Well Greg Swann figured a solution for that... I know you're all thinking transparency. Well, yes absolutely but that's the general view of the issue. It's not that easy, I mean if it's like that then any participant on eBay can just say: "Well I'm giving you product X for $Y, and fyi I'm known for my transparency on the web..." It's not about what you say!! It's about what other people think of your products, if we're talking about eBbay. It's about providing links. Links of real that commented on something you did, or for example, thought that the information you provided in a certain post, are coming from reliable sources and should be considered.
Web 2.o consumers are becoming more and more sophisticated as Swann said. Therefore; in order to convince them that you're different then the whole corporate conspiracy that’s attacking them everywhere, you ought to be transparent...

Jana:)

"The Widget Economy"

Widgets have become the new trend for Web 2.0's social networking. Facebook, Myspace... have adopted this new kind of applets that are used for commercial purposes of course, in the commercial web today! Now companies can merge brand names in a customer's daily use to a social network web. By using applications such as games, quizzes... the consumer/user will subconsciously be confronted by brand names without realizing it. The ad will be integrated in your work that you won’t even notice...
It’s a new way to connect brands with consumers!!!

Jana:)

Vista Is More Secure Than XP?

Most of you think that Windows XP is such a blast but there is something you should know, Windows Vista is more secure in 37% than Windows XP. Not many users use Vista, its lower number than XP. But its not that secure that we can give up on antivirus for example. Using different data collection techniques, Microsoft has recently asserted that Vista is 60% more secure than XP
People should have good security software and keep their PC’S updated. Microsoft, however, has recently claimed that Vista is more secure than XP, and by a greater margin than what Greene and PC Tools allege.
CRYSTAL

Printers That Make Drugs

A top Microsoft Corp. Executive said that we can start using computer printers to make simple medicines as part of a do it yourself model health care. How? Printers as we know, are already liquid delivery systems, But instead of putting ink we can put ingredients of different medications. It would be part of several devices that could increasingly use IT for health diagnosis and treatment. Anyways, this technology is unavailable today Microsoft said it’s just an idea. I can hardly wait until this Technology sees light!
CRYSTAL

Back to a message in a bottle!!!

I commented on critiquemyblog.com once, and then there is this member called Mimi Lenox that royally tagged me to join this service she created called Message In a Bottle . Anyone can participate in that by typing a message he might like to deliver to someone one day and this message will float around in cyberspace freely. I thought its a really innovative idea and it makes a person feel free to express their feelings. Try it!!!

Jana:)

Web 2.0 Summit!

The Web 2.0 Summit is taking place in November (5-7) 2008, in San Francisco, CA.

This Summti is going to enhance Web 2.0. The internet leaders are going to bring new ideas in order to innovate the "commercial web". Its the Summit's 5th annual anniversary under the theme "tapping the Web to address the world's most pressing limits".

I'm sure it's going to add some nice twists to the Web...

Jana:)

PhotoBucket the next Flickr??

PhotoBucket along with Fotoflexer (with their new partnership) have become the new trend in editin pictures online. Alex Welch, PhotoBucket's CEO said that there is a ton of developers writing applications for OpenSocial and Facebook, therefore; there's a huge appetite for writing against these APIs. As a result the traffic for PhotoBucket is going to increase this bringing alot of ads and sponsorship deals...

Photobucket is considered a host for pictures used on social communities such as Facebook, Myspace.. till now...

So take a look at the new improved version of Flickr: PhotoBucket.

Jana:)

Toshiba .. Samsung??

Samsung Electronics has rose to 37% in the first quarter due to its strength of mobile phones.. and it got weakend by the liquid crystal displays offset.. while Toshiba in Japan said its profit fell to 1.25 billion yen ($12 million). The technology had been competing against Blu-ray disc technology. Panasonic brand products, five major Hollywood movie studios and others.
Crystal:D

Apple Today!

It seems that Macs Sales level is getting higher than Apple’s. Mac Books are flying of the shelves recently more than apple’s laptop. Even though iphones are ongoing shortage but COO Tim Cook would only say that Apple is still committed to hitting the 10 million mark by the end of the year. I see that its about time another company to take a lights off apple for a while and to have market challenge. 1 trillion iphone were sold people can u imagine!! No matter what Mac will invent soon, I don’t think it will reach the big numbers Apple reached. What do you think ?!

Crystal:D

Good News For iTunes lovers!

Apple is making full movie downloads available on the same day DVDs are released. New-release downloads will be priced at $15, while catalog titles will still cost $10 per download.. The obvious loser is the DVD format according to Bill Gates, will be obsolete by 2014 anyway. I think paying 15$ on downloading is still better than buying a DVD from a store for 25$ and if people really care for covers I think that the company should think of a website where people can download as well the cover of the DVD Apple's embrace of digital distribution points to the weak spots in Netflix's and Blockbuster's strategies. I think that their will be no replacement for dvd’s (CD) people still will buy DVDs from shops.

Crystal:D

I guess music lessons are old news...

InTheChair is a musical instrument instruction web app with a golden ear and infinite patience. It is a computerized music teacher that helps music lovers/students learn how to play certain songs. This app monitors the way you're playing through your pc's microphone and gives you the right judgment... All you have to do is use StarPlay and listen to proffessionals while you're palying your analogue instrument.

Also InTheChair allows music teachers to give comments or make remixes... on eachother's music sheets!!

I guess you don't have to hear your music teacher yell at you for playing too fast... anymore!!!

Jana:)