Mereja

Author: Josh Wolford

  • Tweet Ping Is a Beautiful Single-Purpose Site That Lets You Visualize Tweets in Real Time

    This is a cool single-purpose site alert.

    It’s called Tweet Ping, and it is a gorgeous visualization of all the tweets in the world, as they post in real time.

    It also has some cool tracking features at the bottom, like a live tweet counter for each continent and well as hashtag trackers. It allows you to do fun little unscientific experiments like calculate the number of tweets rolling in per minute, and extrapolate that into tweets per hour, day, and year. For instance, for one minute in time, it counted roughly 2,400 tweets worldwide. Do a little math and if the TPM stayed constant, that would total about 1.26 billion tweets per year. People sure are tweeting a lot.

    Check it out here.

    It’s not the first site to visualize tweets live, but it’s really well-done. It’s sort of mesmerizing, in a way, to watch the world light up, gradually, as people tweet.

    [http://franckernewein.com/ via reddit]

  • Woman Makes Fake Facebook Profile for Ex, Calls Him Wayne Syphilis, Gets Arrested

    Here’s one way to get back at your ex – create a Facebook page in their name and make it seem like they totally love little boys and incest.

    Or, maybe you should just buy a bottle of wine and chill out. The latter won’t get you arrested.

    A 24-year-old Totowa, New Jersey woman has been arrested and charged with impersonation and harassment after she created a fake Facebook profile in her ex-boyfriend’s name. Well, kind of his name. The fake profile used real pictures, but the name was listed as “Wayne Syphilis.”

    As you may expect, the posts coming from Wayne Syphilis’ account suggested that he suffered from multiple sexually transmitted diseases. Some posts also suggested that he loved to have sex with young boys and family members, according to police.

    Unfortunately for all of us, the profile has been deleted.

    Police became involved in the case when Wayne reported the page, claiming that he was pretty confident that he knew who was behind it. Police subpoenaed the ISP for the IP address, and traced the fake Facebook page of Wayne Syphilis back to the jilted woman.

    According to police, the Facebook page wasn’t the only form of harassment that the 24-year-old (name withheld because it’s technically a domestic violence case) was guilty of. Apparently, she’s been making phone calls to Wayne’s sister.

    No word on whether or not Wayne actually has Syphilis, and what that information will do to his reputation. From our perspective, Wayne Syphilis isn’t a moniker you really want to be associated with – true or not. Sorry, bro.

    [NJ.com]

  • Kickstarter Unveils New #Tags to Track Project Trends

    Kickstarter wants to make it easier for potential backers to find specific types of projects and browse projects pertaining to certain themes. They also want to be able to display which types of projects are trending on the site at any given time.

    That’s why they’ve just introduced hashtags on their discover page.

    “Over time, we’ve noticed certain themes and trends running through the projects on Kickstarter — some for a week, some for years. Tags give us a new way to share these patterns with everyone.

    Tags aren’t tethered to a specific category. Instead they reflect a common philosophy (#Civic), shared subject matter (#Science), themes (#Zombies), accolades (#Sundance), and a bunch of other stuff too. We’ll be adding and rotating tags constantly as new trends pop up throughout the site. These will be listed in the sidebar of the Discover page,” says Kickstarter.

    So these tags are different, and in a way much more specific than categories like “music” “film” or “games.”

    You can check out the trending #tags on the Kickstarter Discover page. People looking to browse projects can now do so by location, category, tag, and other groupings like “recently launched” and “most funded.”

    Kickstarter says that you can help make the #tags better. If you see a type of project that’s trending or want your project that you just launched to be tagged, just send them a tweet.

  • This iPhone/Cup Holder Is the Ultimate First World Problem Solver

    A new solution to a first world problem wants your money.

    How often do you find yourself unable to properly text, Facebook, or play Temple Run because you’re forced to use one of your free hands holding a cup of coffee. If this scenario hits home, help may be on the way.

    It’s called the UpperCup, and it’s the iPhone/cup holder that you never knew you wanted.

    “No more one handed typing. No more spilling coffee. Have your hands free for your optimal texting, gaming and social networking pleasure,” says Dutch marketing agency Natwerk.

    Awesome! You want one, right?

    Well, you can’t have one – yet. Natwerk is currently crowdfunding the project on indiegogo. They’ve set a goal of $25,000 to get the UpperCup into production and say that if/when it hits the shelves, it will do so with a $35 price tag. As of now, the’ve only managed to collect a little under $800 with 36 days left in the campaign.

    This is admittedly a little ridiculous. But I can totally see it selling.

    [via BuzzFeed]

  • Check Out This Beautiful Compilation of Wintry Weather Fails

    Ah, winter. You so cray.

    Personally, I love winter. Everything is dead. No mosquitos, limited allergies, and obviously, it’s not so damn hot. Plus, holidays and the Super Bowl. What’s not to love?

    But I understand that winter weather (ice and snow) can be a real nuisance sometimes. Even dangerous. And YouTube is very good for browsing these moments of panic, terror, and hilarity.

    What appears below is a beautiful tribute to people who try, but fail to function in wintry conditions. Don’t laugh, though – winter isn’t over. There are still plenty of opportunities for you to fall on your ass or slide your car into a telephone pole.

    [The Poke]

  • Congrats Everyone, We’re Winning the Battle Against Spam

    Have you noticed that you’ve been receiving less emails about cheap, offshore financial opportunities and penis pills? No, spammers haven’t just decided to leave you alone. What you’re seeing is the decline of spam emails in general, worldwide.

    Kaspersky Lab has a new chart detailing something that we should all be thrilled to see: we’re winning the fight against spam. Better technology, better filters, and a more informed population is helping to eradicate spam messages from inboxes all over the globe.

    In 2008, spam accounted for over 90% of all email traffic, worldwide. Just think about that for a second. That’s a lot of spam. Since then, spam has been on the decline (with some exceptions). The spam share has really started to plummet since mid-2011, though.

    Their latest report from the end of 2012 shows that spam now accounts for 67% of all global email traffic. Two-thirds may still seem like a lot, but it represents a significant decline from what it was just 4 years ago.

    Of course, email isn’t the only place that spammers live. The rise of the social web has produced an all new breeding ground for spammers. One recent study suggested that up to 40% of all social media accounts worldwide were created with spamming in mind.

    Now, go clean out your spam filter.

    [Kaspersky Lab via The Economist]

  • The Egg Came First, But It All Depends on Semantics [VIDEO]

    Forget Edward and Jacob – are you on team Egg or team Chicken?

    The quick answer to the question “which came first, the chicken or the egg” is the egg. There were egg-laying creatures well before there were chickens, so the egg came first. But we know that’s not the real question.

    So take a few minutes out of your day for some philosophy. Science. Scientific philosophy. Whatever.

    Check out out favorite science illustrators AsapSCIENCE take a crack at this legendary head-spinner.

    We’re all thinking about this way too hard.

    [AsapSCIENCE]

  • The Internet Is Essential to Life and a Civil Right, According to German Court

    In Germany, people can request compensation when they’ve been deprived of things deemed essential to life. And now, thanks to a court ruling, the internet is part of that class.

    A Federal court in Karlsruhe has made a pretty important decision with implications for the future of internet law: the internet is an “essential” part of life. German press is calling it a “landmark ruling.”

    The case that produced the ruling involves a man whose DSL service was interrupted for a period of two months in 2008-2009. He had already been compensated for having to use his mobile phone, instead of the landline/fax services provided by his DSL connection. But that wasn’t enough in his mind. He also wanted to be compensated for the inability to access the internet.

    A court agreed that he should be compensated, saying:

    “The Internet plays a very important role today and affects the private life of an individual in very decisive ways. Therefore loss of use of the Internet is comparable to the loss of use of a car.”

    They went on to say that the internet is a “civil right” and that it is fundamental to life.

    Speaking of the internet as a human right, a recent ruling in a U.S. court, although stemming from a much different type of case, also used language like this when talking about internet access. An appeals court has overturned an Indiana law barring registered sex offenders from accessing the internet, saying that it’s “unconstitutionally overbroad.” The ACLU had argued that communicating on the internet was too integral to functioning in a modern society to be restricted, as it was a First Amendment issue. The appeals court agreed.

    [ARD TV via Reuters via The Verge]

  • French Government Ditches ‘Hashtag’ for ‘mot-dièse’

    In an attempt to “encourage the presence of the French language on social media networks” against the influx of English language domination of the web, as well as to just be plain difficult, the French government is suggesting that people quit using the term “hashtag.”

    Instead, they suggest that people use the French term “mot-dièse,” which literally translates to “sharp word” – as in the musical symbol for a sharp. The government isn’t banning its citizens from using the word “hashtag,” but they will be officially replacing it with “mot-dièse” on all official documents and accounts.

    The Legifrance government page has a definition page for mot-dièse:

    Suite signifiante de caractères sans espace commençant par le signe # (dièse), qui signale un sujet d’intérêt et est insérée dans un message par son rédacteur afin d’en faciliter le repérage.

    With the aid of Google translate, that means “Suite signifying characters without spaces starting with # (hash), which indicates a topic of interest and is inserted into a message to his editor in easy identification.” So a hashtag, but not really.

    Some French Twitter users have been quick to point out the the musical sharp symbol is not perfectly swappable with the hashtag, as the sharp symbol has a slightly different lean to it.

    This news comes in the same week that a French court ruled that Twitter must give up the identities of some anti-Semitic users following a scandal involving an offensive hashtag.

    [The Local via Huffington Post]

  • Foursquare Integrates School Stats from ProPublica

    Foursquare has been getting better over the past year or so by adding more information to check-ins. Their list of connected apps has grown to include some pretty useful apps like GeoPollster, which will tell you if the business you just checked-in at supports Democrats, Independent, or Republican candidates with their campaign contributions. Or After Credits, an app that I particularly like which tells you whether or not you need to stay for any bonus scenes after the movie you just checked-into.

    Today, Foursquare is announcing a new connected app – ProPublica’s Opportunity Gap.

    When you check into a school, the app will give you a fact about the school: facts like “did you know 7% of students at PS 234 Independence School receive free or reduced lunch?”

    You can then click through to access a more-detailed set of statistics like the number of students, teachers, AP courses offered, “inexperienced teachers,” and more.

    “With their new Foursquare integration, you can connect your Foursquare account to instantly see statistics for schools you’ve checked in to before. And when you’re out, you can instantly get stats about a school on your phone whenever you check in to one. It’s a great example of how news organizations can use Foursquare to reach their readers with relevant information when they’re out in the real world,” says Foursquare.

    “A year ago when we launched the first version of our “Opportunity Gap” news application, we tightly integrated Facebook in order to make it easy for readers to compare schools and share their school comparisons. Today’s relaunch adds Foursquare, along with adding a slew of new data to the app as well as algorithmically generate narratives by Narrative Science,” says ProPublica.

    Data should be available for around 50,000 schools, they say.

    You can connect your Foursquare account to the app and start receiving school info by going here.

  • ‘Push to Add Drama’ TNT Viral Campaign Gets a Sequel

    Remember when TNT launched in Benelux with that really cool ad campaign that set up a big, red button int he middle of a town square? It said “push to add drama,” and when pushed, set a massive series of dramatically staged events into action?

    If not, check here.

    Anyway, TNT knows drama. That’s their catchphrase. In order to prove that drama can strike anywhere, they’ve released a sequel to that viral ad. “On a cold winter’s day, we placed the famous red button somewhere in a Dutch shopping street,” says TNT Benelux.

    Check it out:

  • Twitter Must Give Up Anti-Semitic Users, Says French Court

    Twitter is once again going to be forced to make a decision on how far they will go to protect the privacy rights of its users, thanks to a ruling made today by a French court.

    The court ruled that Twitter must turn over the identities of users behind a specific set of tweets, after they had been deemed to be in violation of French anti-hate speech laws.

    The whole thing started back in October of 2012 when some Twitter users jumped on a trending hashtag, #unbonjuif, which roughly translates to “a good jew.” Some users posted photos of dust-filled dustpans, among other offensive jokes alongside the hashtag. French anti-racism groups made their displeasure known, and Twitter agreed to remove the offending tweets amidst mounting pressure.

    Although Twitter complied with the requests of the French Jewish Students Union (among others), they balked at the groups’ next request. the UEJF demanded that Twitter turn over the names of the users behind the aforementioned tweets, so that they could be prosecuted under local anti-hate speech laws.

    The UEJF filed a summons in a French court back in November.

    And today, the court has ruled that Twitter must provide the identities of the requested users, as accordance with French law. Twitter has only responded that they are reviewing the decision.

    Twitter definitely reserves the right to give up any information it holds on users if requested by law enforcement or by a court order. But they have, at least in the past, gone to bat to protect user privacy when they sense some government overreach. Back in September, Twitter finally gave in to the Manhattan D.A.’s office and gave up the deleted, inaccessible tweets of an Occupy Wall Street protester – but only after they fought it tooth and nail.

    Any time something like this comes up, the topic of free speech usually accompanies the dialogue. In this case, it comes down to speech vs. hate-speech laws in France.

    Twitter faced backlash from free speech advocates last year when they blocked a neo-Nazi account – but in Germany only. It was the first time that Twitter had utilized a “power” that it gave itself last year, the power to locally censor content if they saw fit.

  • Vine Disables Twitter Sharing Just Hours After Launch

    Earlier this afternoon, Twitter unveiled Vine, a standalone iOS app for the creation and sharing of short (six-second) video clips. A video sharing experience was rumored to be in the Twitter pipeline, and it looks like this is it. Vine allows users to take short videos, and then share them on Twitter (and Facebook, too). But for Twitter, it’s a way to enrich tweets.

    Well, Vine is already broken. For the most part.

    “We’re temporarily disabling Twitter and Facebook sharing. It should be back soon. Thanks for your patience,” said Vine in a tweet.

    Of course, not being able to post the short videos to Twitter and Facebook doesn’t render the app completely useless, but it pretty much does.

    They really need to get this thing fixed, as it’s really not what you’re looking for on launch day.

  • Mark Zuckerberg To Host Palo Alto Fundraiser for Chris Christie

    Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will host his first-ever big-time fundraiser for a political candidate – Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

    According to The Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla will host the event on February 13th at their home in Palo Alto, California. It will also mark the first out-of-state campaign event for his Christie’s reelection.

    “Mark and Priscilla have worked closely with Governor Christie on education reform in the Newark school system. They admire his leadership on education reform and other issues and look forward to continuing their important work together on behalf of Newark’s school children,” said a Facebook spokesperson.

    Apparently, Zuckerberg and Christie first became familiar when the Facebook CEO donated $100 million to the struggling Newark, NJ public school system back in 2010.

    “They have maintained a friendship since they met in 2010,” Christie’s political strategist Mike DuHaime told USA Today. “We are very excited about the trip to California as it demonstrates just how broad the support is for Gov. Christie.”

    Zuckerberg isn’t known for being overtly political, in either direction. He’s attended dinners with President Obama, hung out with Newark’s Democratic mayor Cory Booker. Facebook, as a company, likes to spread the wealth around when it comes to campaign donations. The company recently formed the Facebook Inc. political action committee, which has made donations to people on both sides of the aisle (for instance Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican Eric Cantor).

    Reports show that based on public sentiment, Christie is a huge favorite to win reelection.

  • Facebook Phishing Scam Claims You’ve Violated Policy

    Another day, another Facebook-based phishing scam looking to snatch all of your personal information (including bank account info) and use it for nefarious purposes.

    The latest scam to hit the network comes in the form of messages sent to users’ inboxes. These are not simply spam messages that will get caught up in that “other” inbox that Facebook reserves for non-important communications. These messages may come from compromised accounts, ones that could be given access to your inbox.

    If you receive one of these scam messages, it’ll look like this:

    WARNING: Your account is reported to have violated the policies that are considered annoying or insulting Facebook users.system will disable your account within 24 hours if you do not do the reconfirmation. Please confirm your Facebook account below:

    If the ridiculous assertion that you’ve “annoyed users” doesn’t immediately throw you off, there’s a link.

    Upon clicking, a page will prompt users to enter their Facebook account info and password. It then asks you to confirm which webmail service you use to sign-in to Facebook (getting more suspicious). Finally, it drops the big request – your credit card info. At this point, you should definitely realize you’ve been duped and stop entering information.

    This scam is similar to another one we reported on earlier this month that also involved private messages from “The Facebook Security Team.” Except we all know that the real Facebook Security team doesn’t send out messages to specific users asking them to verify account details. Both scams warn users that their accounts may be suspended for some sort of unspecified violation of the terms of service.

    [GFI via The Next Web]