Facebook Now Features Verified Accounts

02/16/2012

(first published as Facebook Now Features Verified Accounts on Technorati)
Facebook Pages

Both Twitter and Google+ already have a feature that give public figures from celebrities to politicians around the world the ability to “verify” their accounts,  Starting today, Facebook is now giving public figures the chance to have higher, more prominent placement and recognition through the social network community by having their accounts verified.

Those who want their accounts verified will submit a particular ID to confirm their identities. With the ID, these users will also have the option of choosing an alias, such as a nickname or a type of pseudonym they often use at work. Certain users with a huge number of subscribers in their profiles will be prompted to give an option of verifying their accounts. Facebook will choose these certain users by invitation only, in turn users cannot own any verified accounts without this prompt.

As verified users, their accounts will have prominent placement in Facebook’s “People To Subscribe To” suggestions column, where other users will be given a chance to subscribe to their favorite public figure, such as a celebrity, athlete, or a politician. Unlike Twitter with their “blue check” badge on verified accounts, Facebook will not have any form of badges to show proof of the account being verified.
Facebook requires them to use a passport, driver’s license, or government-issued work or military image. If the user cannot provide any one of those documents, they can also submit two other forms of ID, such as a library card, credit card, or a birth certificate. Once the account is verified, Facebook will immediately delete all of these documents.

In terms of identities, the real names of these users will still show on their About section while having their pseudonyms as their display name. Examples of users who will be catered to this feature is Lady Gaga or even Bruno Mars. A major issue with this, however, is the guarantee that no other user would be using their identities to set up their accounts in their name without permission and the intent of misrepresentation. An example of this already occurred on Twitter, in which the microblogging service verified an account claiming to be Wendy Deng Murdoch, wife of News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch. Sometime later the user behind that account admitted that it was fake.

There have been plenty of users in Facebook using names of public figures and many have been posing as those said public figures in order to gain attention or to fool fans and admirers within the social network service. It’s about time that Facebook is finally doing something about this problem and be able to protect users of all backgrounds from identity theft. Now public figures can feel secured with this brand-new account verification system. Security and safety should always be priority everywhere, even through socila networking services.

It’s about time Facebook made their move to this problem.

Share on TumblrShare via email
Posted in Facebook, Safety, Security & Privacy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Facebook and Twitter flooded by Whitney Houston Scams

02/15/2012

(first published as Facebook and Twitter flooded by Whitney Houston Scams on Technorati.)

Whitney HoustonA familiar event rapidly occured just moments after the deaths of Michael Jackson, Osama bin Laden, Moammar Ghadhafi, and Amy Winehouse. This same event also happened with natural disasters such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and other worldwide crises and disasters in the past and the present. Just recently, once again, Facebook and Twitter were flooded once more with countless scamsregarding the death of award-winning recording artist Whitney Houston.

Just shortly after the announcement of Houston’s death hit the web on February 11, reactions and emotions from users around the world flooded Facebook and Twitter. Once Houston’s death became a trending topic in Twitter, users in the social media scene craved for more information behind the event, making their peaked curiosity an easy target for cybercriminals everywhere. These cybercriminals create scams under guises of headlines such as “This video reveals the true story behind the death” along with a link to a suspicious survey-type malicious site disguised as a YouTube video.

An example of this: TrendMicro, a security firm known for its line of antivirus software and PC protection products, found a Twitter scam in a form of a fake tweet with a link to a supposed homage-paying blog site, only to be redirected automatically to a website that offers a variety of desktop wallpapers of Whitney Houston. When a user downloads one wallpaper, the link leads that user to a survey site that requires certain sensitive, private information such as a cellphone number at one of its fields.

TrendMicro found 101 different types of survey scams registered to the same IP when another type of scam the firm discovered shows a wall post on Facebook with a headline link of “I cried watching this video. RIP Whitney Houston” that should be linked to a YouTube video. Scams like these, however, would not be able to do its purpose until it becomes viral all over Facebook and Twitter through suspected unknown accounts and even through accounts of a user’s friends.

Scams such as these are becoming a lot more common in many social networking services, most especially Facebook and Twitter, therefore frequent users should be more aware and be more familiar in protecting themselves and their accounts from malicious scams such as these. Hoaxes exploiting the deaths of such public figures as Whitney Houston will still continue, so for the casual users, do not download anything suspicious that may appear on your wall post or your timeline, even if they come from the accounts of your friends. More importantly, make sure that your antivirus software is frequently updated and scan your system accordingly. Not only do these malicious survey sites would dupe a user in to providing sensitive private information to continue on, but a mouse click on a link can also be an easy trace for the cybercriminal to track down your private information stored in your system. Be very vigilant at all times and use your basic common sense.

Share on TumblrShare via email
Posted in Facebook, Social Network, Twitter | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

MySpace Thanks Facebook for Recent Success

02/15/2012

(first published as MySpace Thanks Facebook for Recent Success on Technorati.)

MySpace and FacebookMySpace ruled the early years of public social networking in the internet. The service provided non-technical savvy users journal-style blogging to share with other users and to the general public. It also provided other basic features you would see in a standard website, such as a gallery of your favorite photos and sharing your favorite videos. The service also helped would-be musicians and artists from all walks of life to promote their music to the masses as a means of getting discovered by the music industry. Some five year slater, Facebook, a brand-new social networking service, emerged as MySpace’s sole competitor. Unfortunately for MySpace, Facebook’s easy-to-use interface and more user-friendly features won the hearts of users that it made MySpace a thing in the past.

Just recently, MySpace has re-emerged as a service with a brand-new different approach to its users, thanks to its new owners, Specific Media and Justin Timberlake. Since the ownership transfer, MySpace was completely revamped in to a specifically socially-driven music discovery engine and a music player. Along with the revamping, the new relaunching of MySpace is now integrated with Facebook, allowing new users to sign in to MySpace using their Facebook accounts. This means that new users would not have to deal with more new accounts to remember when they can use one login information to access their MySpace accounts. This new integration attracted new users to MySpace due to this new convenient integration and the increase of new users grew rapidly. According to Chris Vanderhook, MySpace’s chief operating officer, the service has grown immensely, attracting around in its first two months since the revamp. MySpace thanks Facebook for this new move and now faces new music services such as Spotify and Pandora Radio as their newest competitors.

Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation’s chief executive and chairman who purchased MySpace a year before the launching of Facebook, stated last month through Twitter how much they “screwed up” in every other way from battling against Facebook for users and advertising revenue. In addition, MySpace went through three chief executives and relaunching the site several times through the course of six years. Murdoch thought that they would have sold MySpace for $6 billion a month after the purchase before. Finally they made the right move by selling MySpace to Specific Media and Justin Timberlake last year for $35 million. Murdoch’s company retains a small undisclosed stake but will not be involved in the running of the service.

Welcome back to the social media world, MySpace! It’s time to shine once more, not just by attracting more users to a huge treasure of music, but to help those sharing their talent and creativity to the masses.

Share on TumblrShare via email
Posted in Facebook, MySpace, Social Network | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

University Down Under Offers Cloud Computing Course Program

02/01/2012

(first published as University Down Under Offers Cloud Computing Course Program on Technorati.)

Cloud ComputingCloud computing has been a lifesaver for the industry of general computing and information technology. One day, cloud computing services will replace standard web server machines as many businesses, organizations, and individuals alike have counted largely on the cloud in terms of file sharing, file storage, web hosting, and more. While that time hasn’t come yet, a few institutions from some parts of the world are already offering cloud computing and infrastructure courses for future developers to take advantage of this open and innovative technology.

University of Washington was the first to offer a certificate course in cloud computing back in August of last year. Just recently, Australia’s Bond University will be offering the “Infrastructure” course in both undergraduate and post-graduate levels as a response from a high demand for cloud computing-skilled individuals from the industry. As cloud computing continues to emerge as a huge benefit for all types of businesses and organizations for different purposes, the demand for individuals with knowledge and background for this cost-effective medium continues to skyrocket. Institutions are now answering to this call and from time to time are now offering courses that would create opportunities for those who wish to continue to innovate the cloud industry.

Australia is no stranger to cloud computing as it is one of the leading countries around the world in terms of the IT industry. Established players in the industry including Amazon and Rackspace have operating branches in Australia, as well as locally grown rivals like Ninecloud. Even before when cloud computing was first introduced to businesses and organizations, the Australian government became one of the first to give full support to the development of the industry to their country’s technologies and infrastructure. With this, the course program would not have a hard time to gain students and take advantage of this brand-new curriculum.

Overall, the world should be ready to go through gradual transition in to cloud computing as eventually this medium will replace tangible units such as web servers and other machines and specific software. Businesses, organizations, and individuals are always open to looking for time-saving, cost-effective, convenient systems that would provide easier, more streamlined systems while saving a lot of money in purchasing specific units and software and hiring more individuals with the matching background. However, still lacking of cloud computing-specific courses available to the mainstream, it would be difficult to have all types of businesses, organizations, and even individuals to easily adapt cloud computing services and infrastructure in to their everyday systems and habits. While it’s still early, we hope that more institutions from a specialized trade school to major colleges and universities would offer cloud computing courses to educate future innovators of this fresh, open industry.

Share on TumblrShare via email
Posted in Cloud Computing, The Cloud | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

MegaUpload Data Reprieve: Safe Until Mid-February

01/31/2012

(first published as MegaUpload Data Reprieve: Safe Until Mid-February on Technorati.)

MegaUploadI will admit one thing. During the first baby days of MegaUpload, I was one of its first users to share some of my personal and favorite files to friends and family, from photos to home videos to even a few audio and music files. The time was around mid-2000s when MySpace and Facebook were also still at their baby steps and the term cloud computing was still brand-new to the general public.

With Facebook’s rise to popularity with its array of file-sharing features from creating albums to sharing videos and audio some years later, that was the time that I pulled out from using MegaUpload as Facebook made file-sharing easier, more secure, more open, making sure that anything that I upload and share to my friends and family are not illegal or copyright-protected files.

Knowing MegaUpload is an Asia-based company, being an Asian-American myself, Asia in general are infamously known for distributing pirated and illegal copies of copyright-protected material from other countries, primarily from the U.S. With that in mind, that is one thing that MegaUpload failed upon in terms of servicing users using their servers to share files that may be illegal or copyright-protected, not just to other users, but in general, to the masses.

Today, with various cases against MegaUpload piling up almost everyday since the U.S. federal prosecution’s shutdown of the long-time file-sharing service, all the personal files of legitimate users are all in danger of deletion. The lawyer representing MegaUpload stated that the service will remain open until mid-February, probably to give the users a chance to re-download all their stored files and save them. Sadly, even if that was the case, users still have no way to access the site to save their files.

The two weeks additional time may probably mean the time given for MegaUpload, the servers that hosted the file-sharing service, and the U.S. government to go through negotiations on how to go about saving customers’ files that are already stored in those servers. The two weeks may also probably involve both parties using some of these users’ files for court hearings and trials as proof of their stance towards the case, both prosecution and defense.

Keeping the latter in mind, these parties should first request permission from the legitimate users regarding the usage of their files as evidence (unless if they were copyright-protected, which may have already been selected by the government for their side of the case) as they are personal and private files. Both MegaUpload and the U.S. authorities do intend to secure all the data still stored in those servers, however sifting through these files from the illegal/copyright-infringed files would take way longer than the two weeks given and the fear of users losing these files forever is still on the rise.

If MegaUpload is in danger with the law today, other file-sharing services, such as RapidShare, may also be the next target by the U.S. Authorities. Other open file-sharing services, such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dropbox, and other cloud-based services may also meet the same fate. It may seem that SOPA/PIPA have already been postponed by the legislature, however it seems that the contents in those bills are already being enforced without the general public being aware of it.

This is just the beginning.

Share on TumblrShare via email
Posted in Cloud Storage, The Cloud | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Teens Migrating to Twitter— for Privacy?

01/30/2012

(first published as Teens Migrating to Twitter— for Privacy? on Technorati.)

Twitter SingWe all know teenagers in general since all of us have been in that age period. In every generation, they are an easy target when it comes to introducing items and concepts that would eventually become the latest, long-running trends.

Anything the media promotes as the latest, hottest trends to arrive this year, teenagers get easily hooked in to these trends for various reasons, mainly just to keep with the times and to survive peer pressure. One of the major Social networking communities such as Facebook, MySpace, and lately Google+ have been taking internet communication by storm, but microblogging services such as Twitter and Tumblr are not falling behind.Even if that was the case, the term “microblogging” is still not quite part of the teens’ technological vocabulary just yet due to various reasons: privacy issues, too many older users, and most of all, it’s way too public.

But who is to say that social networking as a whole would not catch on towards older users, in particular, parents of teenagers from age 40 and up? Though larger social networking services, Facebook in particular, have the advantage of keeping every profile page as private as they can with only access to trusted friends.

The only disadvantage to Facebook is that once they set up a username for their URL, it can no longer be changed, no matter how many times that users change their display names in their profiles to avoid getting discovered through search results. As a result, not-so-wanted individuals, such as parents, siblings, or any family member, can easily track them down and “add” them in their Friends list.

In addition to that, not very many individuals are familiar with Facebook’s sometimes not-so-user-friendly features in terms of customizing security and privacy, which can be really frustrating for the non-tech-savvy user. Lastly, a user can’t have more than one account; in order to have multiple accounts, that user must also have multiple email addresses in order to create these other accounts.

Lately, teens now turn to simple microblogging services, in particular Twitter, in order to make their presence in the internet without being discovered by certain close loved ones, like family and some close friends.

Twitter allows users to change their usernames as many as they want without limits, have multiple accounts, still share photos and videos in different ways, not to mention that they can follow their favorite celebrities on their happenings without any form of restriction. Best of all, a user’s tweets doesn’t have to be completely public and have the power to provide access to anyone whom they trust. Twitter’s customizing settings are also easy to use and to navigate, making the service one of the most user-friendly for the non-tech savvy folk.

In a study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a nonprofit organization monitoring tech-based habits of the general public, 16% of youth from ages 12 to 17 used Twitter as of last July. Two years before, that same percentage was just 8%. Another survey conducted by the organization also showed that nearly one in five 18- to 29-year-olds have grown to using Twitter on a regular basis.

One teen at a study stated that being on Facebook is like shouting to a crowd, while Twitter is like speaking to a room. Teens also stated to the Pew researchers that, like peer pressure in school, they feel social pressure on Facebook, in which they have to feel obliged to “friend” someone whom they don’t know very well or may feel uncomfortable with.

Twitter, on the other hand, helps teens maintain their privacy and easily be able to share their thoughts, their photos and videos or any cool discoveries to their most trusted friends without having it spread to friends of friends or even family members.

Today, teens use Twitter for a variety of reasons. Privacy and security has become the primary reason why.

Share on TumblrShare via email
Posted in Facebook, Social Network, Technorati Articles, Twitter | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Choose Your Reader Wisely, Fellow Bookworm!

12/18/2011

(first published on Technorati on 10/18/2011)

TabletChristmas is just around the corner. Calling all the fellow avid bookworms around the world. Welcome to the “real” 21st Century.

Just as many of us expected, even our most popular, common hobbies will eventually be revolutionized by our always-evolving technology. The latest cutting-edge forms of technology already revolutionized our common hobbies and our ways of modern life, such as music, communication, and art. At this period of time, technology has finally revolutionized our favorite hobby: Reading.

Are your favorite books that you have in your possession since childhood falling apart? Are the pages of your favorite textbooks already worn out? Or worse, are you running out of space in your bookshelves at home that you had no choice but to get rid of the current books occupying the spaces to be donated to the library or literacy charities or even to the recycling bin? Maybe for the ones you no longer want, but for your favorite books that have been sitting in your bookshelves collecting dust? Fellow readers, this is the reason why technology just had to intervene and solve this common problem bookworms face everyday. You want to preserve those beautiful, wonderful text that your books hold inside their covers. The pure perfection of the books’ stories, the highly valuable information your old textbooks and reference books hold, it’s no wonder the saying of “Never judge a book by its cover” came about. You don’t just buy a book for its beautiful cover, but what is inside is what you’re aiming for.

Many young and modern hipsters of the late 20th Century-born generation are already aware of the eReader and the tablet, but among 70%-80% of the bookworm population around the world are still devoted to the tangible bound paper and ink rather than a computer file with nothing but text and pictures here and there. I currently own an early Android-powered Velocity Cruz T105 tablet that has a lot of features packed along with your usual eReading apps pre-installed, however like many of those 70%-80% that I mentioned, I still feel devoted to the bound paper and ink. If that’s the case then why did I decide to buy a tablet? Well, if you keep reading, this is the reason why I’m writing this article.

I’ll assume that you as an avid reader have been pondering for a long time if investing your money on an eReader or a tablet would be a wise decision or a waste of time and money. Knowing how rapid technology can be as time passes, sometimes waiting for the latest models and enhancements is worth, but then again, you just want to have some kind of a convenient device for the sole purpose of reading electronic books and other documents. Do you like absolute tranquility when you are reading? Do you love grooving to some sweet music while you read, isolating yourself from the rest of the world? Do you want a type of reading device that also gives you the convenience of “reading break” activities, such as watching videos online, keep in touch with your social media networking via Twitter, Facebook, etc., or even play your favorite mobile video games?

Continue reading →

Share on TumblrShare via email
Posted in Mobile Stuff, Technorati Articles | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment
Page 1 of 41234

Calendar

February 2012
S M T W T F S
« Jan    
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
26272829  

mpexo

  • This site is proudly listed as a mobile blog on mpexo.

Blogger Code

B9 D++ T+ K S F- I O X-- E L C+ Y4 R+ W+ P+ M5 N- N+

Tweet-Tweet!

Link ADRIMARIE.us

ADRIMARIE.us Link Button
(due to bandwidth issues, please download the link button and upload it to your own server or an image hosting such as ImageShack or Photobucket)


Old Stuff

Categories

QR Code

QR Code - scan to visit our mobile site
  1. We welcome any feedback, questions or comments

Home | Work | Blog | About | Contact

© 2009-2012 Adrianne Marie P. All Rights Reserved.

Site Map | Disclaimers |

Top