18 Dec 2007
Link to this: http://news.spong.com/article/14480
We really wanted to be, as they say down south, "well excited" about the next firmware update for our PlayStation, which we've still not got a name for.But we're really not. It's sort of like Xmas morning when what you really want is an in-game cross media bar (XMB) and what you get is a Blu-ray 'upgrade', DivX and VC-1 video codecs (which is nice) and a way to alter your voice during chat sessions. In fact, the only difference is that it's not Xmas day.We'll let Sony explain that last bit again, because, basically, we're too upset, "Version 2.10 also introduces an engaging voice changer feature to enhance Voice Chat on PS3, enabling users to alter the tone and pitch of their voice from the Control panel during AV Chat."An 'engaging voice changer feature" - what is with that? Who asked for it? Who sat at some Sony office and said, "What the punters want is a way to make them sound like Cher singing Do you believe in Love or whatever it's called?"
No, the punters do not want that. But at least we've got DivX, eh readers?
Source:http://news.spong.com/article/14480?cb=808
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Dizzler Desktop Media Player
Description: Dizzler Desktop is a media player that connects to online sources and delivers free streaming music, internet radio, videos, and flash games. It allows users to search for content and add their favorites songs, videos, internet radio stations or flash games to their personal playlists. Dizzler also provides widgets that can be added to blogs and websites (including online community sites such as Myspace, Facebook, Friendster, etc.) and that can broadcast a user’s personal playlists.
A very good way to describe the Dizzler Media player is as a search engine: type in a name of an artist or song that you are interested in, and Dizzler will present you with a list of results to choose from. Once you have your results you can choose to play any of the entries, or otherwise mark them as favorites to add them to your personal playlist. Note that Dizzler is NOT a recommendation engine in the way Last.fm, Slacker, Pandora and others fashion themselves.
So, first off let’s get some logistical questions out of the way: you will have to register with a valid email address in order to get a Dizzler account; and once you set it up you can access it from Dizzler desktop, from the Dizzler.com website, or from a Dizzler widget that you put on a site (or sites). Here are some more notes on this program:
The user interface: manages to be both simple and flashy-looking (which is an altogether good thing). Dizzler gets high marks for the simplicity of the interface, which is nearly segmented into 4 tabs for ’music’, ’video’, ’radio’, and ’games’. At times I found myself wishing I could scroll up/down lists using the arrow keys rather than the mouse but that’s no issue.
Music: you will most likely find just about any music you are looking for (assuming it is not completely obscure). MP3s are streamed from all over the net, including blogs and random websites. In general the quality is quite good, but its possible to come across some surprises where the content is not entirely what you expect or where tracks are not named or tagged correctly.
Video: it would seem that Dizzler draws solely from YouTube content. Just as in the case of music, you can flag videos as favorites or add them to playlists. You can browse by "today’s top videos" or other
Internet Radio: easily search and listen to internet radio stations, and save your favorites. You can browse by most popular, by genre, by state or by country.
Flash games: it might be marginally enjoyable to browse the featured flash games (the games open in a carefully sized browser window without displaying any of the advertising and other content that is on the site it came from). However, searching for some of the better flash games out there that I know about did not produce any results.
The ’Social’ aspect: much like any video/music sharing site, Dizzler allows you to email/notify other people about any content that you like. You can also click on the "Who’s online" button and get access to the personal playlists of, well, whoever you might find online (there is no messaging/interaction function).
The search function: is designed to retrieve any content that has your search terms associated with it. It is functional yet not too sophisticated (e.g. I searched for "NPR Seattle" in radio stations, for example, and got a list of NPR stations across the nation to choose from).
Dizzler Widgets: I haven’t used this, but the Dizzler FAQ section has a lot of info as to how to set them up for your MySpace, Facebook and other community sites.
Skins: supported.
Downloading music: is not supported as such, but I was nonetheless able to do it using Orbit Downloader or URL Snooper. Downloading from the Dizzler.com website is fairly straightforward using Orbit Downloader; whereas the desktop app is a tad more tricky as you have to define Dizzler.exe as an app to monitor in Orbit’s Grab++ module (more info here).
Why use Dizzler? Three reasons, IMHO
Its a nice all in one station for music and internet radio (oh and yes I almost forgot, YouTube video and flash games).
You can find most of the music that you are looking for, which is quite remarkable. Unlike, say, Radio Blog Club, the quality of MP3s is not handicapped to 96kpbs (I only encountered 128kbps for the handful of random songs I downloaded in order to test).
Its a nice way to share your content and distinct musical taste with others via widgets on your blog, MySpace page etc. Of course you can do this with other services such as Last.fm that is a recommendation engine to boot, but Dizzler offers a very nice product all the same.
The verdict: while this isn’t quite a revolutionary product I am having fun with it and I think that you probably will as well; who knows, I might even be tempted to set up a Dizzler Widget on Freewaregenius (stay tuned).
Compatibility: WinAll; (fairly decent) internet connection required.
Go to the Dizzler home page, where you can get the latest version of the desktop product approx 3.5 megs).
Source:http://www.freewaregenius.com/2007/11/09/dizzler-desktop-media-player/
A very good way to describe the Dizzler Media player is as a search engine: type in a name of an artist or song that you are interested in, and Dizzler will present you with a list of results to choose from. Once you have your results you can choose to play any of the entries, or otherwise mark them as favorites to add them to your personal playlist. Note that Dizzler is NOT a recommendation engine in the way Last.fm, Slacker, Pandora and others fashion themselves.
So, first off let’s get some logistical questions out of the way: you will have to register with a valid email address in order to get a Dizzler account; and once you set it up you can access it from Dizzler desktop, from the Dizzler.com website, or from a Dizzler widget that you put on a site (or sites). Here are some more notes on this program:
The user interface: manages to be both simple and flashy-looking (which is an altogether good thing). Dizzler gets high marks for the simplicity of the interface, which is nearly segmented into 4 tabs for ’music’, ’video’, ’radio’, and ’games’. At times I found myself wishing I could scroll up/down lists using the arrow keys rather than the mouse but that’s no issue.
Music: you will most likely find just about any music you are looking for (assuming it is not completely obscure). MP3s are streamed from all over the net, including blogs and random websites. In general the quality is quite good, but its possible to come across some surprises where the content is not entirely what you expect or where tracks are not named or tagged correctly.
Video: it would seem that Dizzler draws solely from YouTube content. Just as in the case of music, you can flag videos as favorites or add them to playlists. You can browse by "today’s top videos" or other
Internet Radio: easily search and listen to internet radio stations, and save your favorites. You can browse by most popular, by genre, by state or by country.
Flash games: it might be marginally enjoyable to browse the featured flash games (the games open in a carefully sized browser window without displaying any of the advertising and other content that is on the site it came from). However, searching for some of the better flash games out there that I know about did not produce any results.
The ’Social’ aspect: much like any video/music sharing site, Dizzler allows you to email/notify other people about any content that you like. You can also click on the "Who’s online" button and get access to the personal playlists of, well, whoever you might find online (there is no messaging/interaction function).
The search function: is designed to retrieve any content that has your search terms associated with it. It is functional yet not too sophisticated (e.g. I searched for "NPR Seattle" in radio stations, for example, and got a list of NPR stations across the nation to choose from).
Dizzler Widgets: I haven’t used this, but the Dizzler FAQ section has a lot of info as to how to set them up for your MySpace, Facebook and other community sites.
Skins: supported.
Downloading music: is not supported as such, but I was nonetheless able to do it using Orbit Downloader or URL Snooper. Downloading from the Dizzler.com website is fairly straightforward using Orbit Downloader; whereas the desktop app is a tad more tricky as you have to define Dizzler.exe as an app to monitor in Orbit’s Grab++ module (more info here).
Why use Dizzler? Three reasons, IMHO
Its a nice all in one station for music and internet radio (oh and yes I almost forgot, YouTube video and flash games).
You can find most of the music that you are looking for, which is quite remarkable. Unlike, say, Radio Blog Club, the quality of MP3s is not handicapped to 96kpbs (I only encountered 128kbps for the handful of random songs I downloaded in order to test).
Its a nice way to share your content and distinct musical taste with others via widgets on your blog, MySpace page etc. Of course you can do this with other services such as Last.fm that is a recommendation engine to boot, but Dizzler offers a very nice product all the same.
The verdict: while this isn’t quite a revolutionary product I am having fun with it and I think that you probably will as well; who knows, I might even be tempted to set up a Dizzler Widget on Freewaregenius (stay tuned).
Compatibility: WinAll; (fairly decent) internet connection required.
Go to the Dizzler home page, where you can get the latest version of the desktop product approx 3.5 megs).
Source:http://www.freewaregenius.com/2007/11/09/dizzler-desktop-media-player/
Friday, December 14, 2007
How Far Can You Cruise Past E?
My kindergarten class was located on the other side of town and while it was a good school there was serious risk involved. For some reason, my dad felt compelled to push our Isuzu Impulse, with its 90-hp four-banger, as far as he could before filling it up with gas. This meant that more than a few mornings were spent on the side of the road, waiting for Mr. Llamas to bring us some gas. If only there were a website to tell us how far our car would go past empty...
We didn't have a computer, let alone the Internet, but if we did my dad would have been a fan of Tank on Empty, a site devoted to figuring out how far we could go past the little E. Based on user votes, a Honda Civic will go an average of 45.34 miles past E, with a max of 76 miles. This is a bit misleading, since there's probably a big difference between between a mid-80's CRX and a mid 90's sedan. But it's fun to fool around with nevertheless. How does your car stack up? [Tank on Empty]
Source:http://jalopnik.com/cars/novelties/how-far-can-you-cruise-past-e-333944.php
We didn't have a computer, let alone the Internet, but if we did my dad would have been a fan of Tank on Empty, a site devoted to figuring out how far we could go past the little E. Based on user votes, a Honda Civic will go an average of 45.34 miles past E, with a max of 76 miles. This is a bit misleading, since there's probably a big difference between between a mid-80's CRX and a mid 90's sedan. But it's fun to fool around with nevertheless. How does your car stack up? [Tank on Empty]
Source:http://jalopnik.com/cars/novelties/how-far-can-you-cruise-past-e-333944.php
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
To Trust Or Not To Trust...Microsoft?
Overnight news roundup: 11-12 December
Everything you missed while you were sleeping
Don Reisinger12 Dec 2007 04:45 GMT
In an announcement that many Mac owners have been waiting for, Microsoft told the world on Tuesday that its Office for Mac 2008 has officially gone gold and will ship next month.
According to Microsoft, it will release the first major Mac upgrade to Office in a decade at Macworld Expo on 15 January and it will come in three distinct editions: Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition, Office 2008 for Mac and Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition.
Wide range of prices
Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition will retail for $150 (£72) and will come with new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage and will allow users to install those applications on up to three computers.
Besides that, Office 2008 for Mac will include the same programs, but adds connectivity to Microsoft Exchange Server and support for automated workflows and will retail for $400 (£192).
Finally, Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition is aimed at professional users who want the same features of the standard edition, but with Microsoft's new image management software called Expression Media, which increases the selling price to $500 (£240).
Get Vista Ultimate for free
Does that sound too good to be true? According to Microsoft, the company will give you a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, Office Ultimate 2007, Money Plus Premium, Encarta Premium or Microsoft Streets and Trips if you fill out a few surveys and allow the company to track how you use Windows and Office for three months as a part of its Windows Feedback Program.
At times, you will be asked to fill out a survey and other times, the Windows automated feedback program will collect data on your usage and hardware. You can sign up now for free as long as you currently use Windows XP or Vista.
Source:http://www.tech.co.uk/computing/news/overnight-news-roundup-11-12-december?articleid=1603989593
Everything you missed while you were sleeping
Don Reisinger12 Dec 2007 04:45 GMT
In an announcement that many Mac owners have been waiting for, Microsoft told the world on Tuesday that its Office for Mac 2008 has officially gone gold and will ship next month.
According to Microsoft, it will release the first major Mac upgrade to Office in a decade at Macworld Expo on 15 January and it will come in three distinct editions: Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition, Office 2008 for Mac and Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition.
Wide range of prices
Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition will retail for $150 (£72) and will come with new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage and will allow users to install those applications on up to three computers.
Besides that, Office 2008 for Mac will include the same programs, but adds connectivity to Microsoft Exchange Server and support for automated workflows and will retail for $400 (£192).
Finally, Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition is aimed at professional users who want the same features of the standard edition, but with Microsoft's new image management software called Expression Media, which increases the selling price to $500 (£240).
Get Vista Ultimate for free
Does that sound too good to be true? According to Microsoft, the company will give you a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, Office Ultimate 2007, Money Plus Premium, Encarta Premium or Microsoft Streets and Trips if you fill out a few surveys and allow the company to track how you use Windows and Office for three months as a part of its Windows Feedback Program.
At times, you will be asked to fill out a survey and other times, the Windows automated feedback program will collect data on your usage and hardware. You can sign up now for free as long as you currently use Windows XP or Vista.
Source:http://www.tech.co.uk/computing/news/overnight-news-roundup-11-12-december?articleid=1603989593
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Public test next week for Vista SP1
Posted by Ina Fried
Microsoft on Tuesday said that it has reached the "release candidate" with the first service pack for Windows Vista, with plans to make the test software available publicly next week.
It is releasing the test code this week to the 15,000 or so people who have been beta testing SP1 already, and will also make it available on Thursday to those in the MSDN and TechNet developer programs.
"We feel really good and we look forward to receiving feedback from our larger set of testers," said David Zipkin, a senior product manager on the Windows Client team.
Microsoft also said on its Vista blog on Wednesday that it will make available a "blocker" that will allow customers who have Vista and use Windows Update to block SP1 upon its final release to allow for further testing. Microsoft offered a similar option with Windows XP Service Pack 2.
Service Pack 1 is mainly designed as a collection of bug fixes and performance improvements rather than an attempt to add new features. Among the changes that are more feature-related is the ability to use BitLocker encryption on multiple hard drive volumes as well as changes to the desktop search feature, which were made to satisfy antitrust concerns from Google.
Microsoft also said this week that it will change the way its antipiracy features work in SP1, eliminating a system in which Vista machines found not to be genuine are relegated to a near-unusable "reduced functionality mode." In its place, Microsoft will show prominent warnings and prompt those with non-genuine software to get a properly licensed copy. The new antipiracy approach will be in the final version of SP1 but is not part of the release candidate version.
The software maker has made some changes to SP1 since it began testing it earlier this year. In particular, the company has worked to reduce the size of the update as well as the amount of free space required to perform the update.
Vista still requires up to 4.5GB of free space for a typical user, but that's down from the 7GB required in earlier beta versions. Most of that space is returned back to the user. For some people, though, particularly those with ultramobile machines or running Vista in a partition on their Mac, the free space limit can be an obstacle.
Microsoft has also significantly reduced the file size of the Windows Update and full versions of the service pack, Zipkin said.
The release candidate version of the Vista service pack comes just as the Windows Server team issues a public release candidate for Windows Server 2008. Development of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 have been fairly closely aligned and both are slated for release in the first quarter of 2008. However, Zipkin said it is conceivable the release of the two products could vary, particularly if quality concerns arise for either one.
Topics:Microsoft, Windows
Tags:Windows Vista, Vista, Vista SP1, service pack
Source:http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9829506-56.html?tag=newsmap
Microsoft on Tuesday said that it has reached the "release candidate" with the first service pack for Windows Vista, with plans to make the test software available publicly next week.
It is releasing the test code this week to the 15,000 or so people who have been beta testing SP1 already, and will also make it available on Thursday to those in the MSDN and TechNet developer programs.
"We feel really good and we look forward to receiving feedback from our larger set of testers," said David Zipkin, a senior product manager on the Windows Client team.
Microsoft also said on its Vista blog on Wednesday that it will make available a "blocker" that will allow customers who have Vista and use Windows Update to block SP1 upon its final release to allow for further testing. Microsoft offered a similar option with Windows XP Service Pack 2.
Service Pack 1 is mainly designed as a collection of bug fixes and performance improvements rather than an attempt to add new features. Among the changes that are more feature-related is the ability to use BitLocker encryption on multiple hard drive volumes as well as changes to the desktop search feature, which were made to satisfy antitrust concerns from Google.
Microsoft also said this week that it will change the way its antipiracy features work in SP1, eliminating a system in which Vista machines found not to be genuine are relegated to a near-unusable "reduced functionality mode." In its place, Microsoft will show prominent warnings and prompt those with non-genuine software to get a properly licensed copy. The new antipiracy approach will be in the final version of SP1 but is not part of the release candidate version.
The software maker has made some changes to SP1 since it began testing it earlier this year. In particular, the company has worked to reduce the size of the update as well as the amount of free space required to perform the update.
Vista still requires up to 4.5GB of free space for a typical user, but that's down from the 7GB required in earlier beta versions. Most of that space is returned back to the user. For some people, though, particularly those with ultramobile machines or running Vista in a partition on their Mac, the free space limit can be an obstacle.
Microsoft has also significantly reduced the file size of the Windows Update and full versions of the service pack, Zipkin said.
The release candidate version of the Vista service pack comes just as the Windows Server team issues a public release candidate for Windows Server 2008. Development of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 have been fairly closely aligned and both are slated for release in the first quarter of 2008. However, Zipkin said it is conceivable the release of the two products could vary, particularly if quality concerns arise for either one.
Topics:Microsoft, Windows
Tags:Windows Vista, Vista, Vista SP1, service pack
Source:http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9829506-56.html?tag=newsmap
Facebook's Zuckerberg: 'We simply did a bad job' handling Beacon
Posted by Caroline McCarthy
This post was updated at 1 PM PT with comment from Overstock.com.
Plagued by allegations of everything from deceptiveness to invasion of privacy, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly backed down on the social-networking site's controversial Beacon advertisements and announced new modifications.
In a post on the company blog on Wednesday morning, the 23-year-old executive apologized for the mess surrounding Beacon, which shares information about users' activity on third-party partner sites and posts it to their friends' "News Feeds."
"We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them," Zuckerberg wrote. "We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it."
Last week, Facebook announced some modifications to the advertising initiative, but some critics had argued that they weren't substantial enough. Now, as a sort of olive branch, Zuckerberg also announced that there would be a way for users to turn Beacon off entirely.
"We missed the right balance," Zuckerberg continued in his post. "At first we tried to make it very lightweight so people wouldn't have to touch it for it to work. The problem with our initial approach of making it an opt-out system instead of opt-in was that if someone forgot to decline to share something, Beacon still went ahead and shared it with their friends."
Zuckerberg also apologized for the PR fiasco that followed. "It took us too long after people started contacting us to change the product so that users had to explicitly approve what they wanted to share," he wrote. "Instead of acting quickly, we took too long to decide on the right solution. I'm not proud of the way we've handled this situation and I know we can do better."
It was a gesture similar to the one Zuckerberg extended last September, when controversy over the site's then-new "News Feed" feature drew heavy user complaints--and lobbying for a "National Don't Log Into Facebook Day"--because it was allegedly invasive. At that time, Zuckerberg posted a similar blog post and also announced improved privacy controls. Newsfeeds, ironically, are now considered a staple of social networks--industry leader MySpace recently added its own.
But the Beacon situation was inherently different. For one, the charges against Facebook were led by a number of prominent activist groups rather than a rabble of angry users. Among them were the Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups, which aimed to bring Facebook's advertising program to the attention of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and MoveOn.org, which had made lobbying for Beacon changes a high-profile project.
Several of those organizations have now released statements in reaction to Zuckerberg's apology, and their opinions are mixed. "The big question is: Will corporate advertisers get to write the rules of the Internet or will these new social networks protect our basic rights, like privacy?" MoveOn spokesman Adam Green wrote in an e-mail. "Facebook's policy change is a big step in the right direction, and we hope it begins an industry-wide trend that puts the basic rights of Internet users ahead of the wish lists of corporate advertisers."
Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, was less optimistic. "Today's announcement that Facebook users will be able to turn off Beacon, following last week's opt-in changes, is a step in the right direction," Chester wrote in a statement. "But Mr. Zuckerberg isn't truly candid with Facebook users. Beacon is just one aspect of a massive data collection and targeting system put in place by Facebook."
Additionally, the Beacon debacle was more complicated than earlier Facebook privacy snafus because there were advertisers in the mix, too. Over the past few days, a number of Beacon participants, such as Overstock.com and Travelocity, confirmed that they had temporarily or permanently pulled out of the program. As a result, Facebook didn't just need to placate its user base and prominent activist groups, it also needed to save face among the major corporate partners whose advertisements it's counting on to grow a viable profit margin.
Jonathan E. Johnson, Overstock.com senior vice president of corporate affairs, said in an interview with CNET News.com that the company is not yet ready to consider rescinding its decision to ditch Beacon. "We've turned it off. We'll keep it off until it's crystal clear to the user that it's a double opt-in procedure," he said, emphasizing that he wants users to have to actively decide on both Facebook and Overstock that they want to participate--not that they want to not participate. Additionally, Johnson said, "we need to make sure that the Facebook community is accepting of this new type of advertising. Mark's blog is a first step toward that. It may be a full step toward that, but I can't say until we see how the community reacts."
Representatives from Travelocity were not readily available for comment.
Facebook's problems aren't over yet. Zuckerberg's image, as well as the company's, took an additional blow when a November article in 02138, an independent magazine for Harvard alumni, painted a rather unflattering picture of the company's beginnings when its founders were undergraduates at the university. Accompanying the article on 02138mag.com were court documents from the ongoing ConnectU v. Facebook trial, including a copy of Zuckerberg's application to Harvard. When Facebook lobbied to have the documents removed, a judge turned the request down.
Zuckerberg has begun picking up the pieces with the changes to Beacon. "Facebook has succeeded so far in part because it gives people control over what and how they share information," he wrote in the post. "This is what makes Facebook a good utility."
Source:http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9829526-36.html?tag=cd.blog
This post was updated at 1 PM PT with comment from Overstock.com.
Plagued by allegations of everything from deceptiveness to invasion of privacy, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly backed down on the social-networking site's controversial Beacon advertisements and announced new modifications.
In a post on the company blog on Wednesday morning, the 23-year-old executive apologized for the mess surrounding Beacon, which shares information about users' activity on third-party partner sites and posts it to their friends' "News Feeds."
"We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them," Zuckerberg wrote. "We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it."
Last week, Facebook announced some modifications to the advertising initiative, but some critics had argued that they weren't substantial enough. Now, as a sort of olive branch, Zuckerberg also announced that there would be a way for users to turn Beacon off entirely.
"We missed the right balance," Zuckerberg continued in his post. "At first we tried to make it very lightweight so people wouldn't have to touch it for it to work. The problem with our initial approach of making it an opt-out system instead of opt-in was that if someone forgot to decline to share something, Beacon still went ahead and shared it with their friends."
Zuckerberg also apologized for the PR fiasco that followed. "It took us too long after people started contacting us to change the product so that users had to explicitly approve what they wanted to share," he wrote. "Instead of acting quickly, we took too long to decide on the right solution. I'm not proud of the way we've handled this situation and I know we can do better."
It was a gesture similar to the one Zuckerberg extended last September, when controversy over the site's then-new "News Feed" feature drew heavy user complaints--and lobbying for a "National Don't Log Into Facebook Day"--because it was allegedly invasive. At that time, Zuckerberg posted a similar blog post and also announced improved privacy controls. Newsfeeds, ironically, are now considered a staple of social networks--industry leader MySpace recently added its own.
But the Beacon situation was inherently different. For one, the charges against Facebook were led by a number of prominent activist groups rather than a rabble of angry users. Among them were the Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups, which aimed to bring Facebook's advertising program to the attention of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and MoveOn.org, which had made lobbying for Beacon changes a high-profile project.
Several of those organizations have now released statements in reaction to Zuckerberg's apology, and their opinions are mixed. "The big question is: Will corporate advertisers get to write the rules of the Internet or will these new social networks protect our basic rights, like privacy?" MoveOn spokesman Adam Green wrote in an e-mail. "Facebook's policy change is a big step in the right direction, and we hope it begins an industry-wide trend that puts the basic rights of Internet users ahead of the wish lists of corporate advertisers."
Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, was less optimistic. "Today's announcement that Facebook users will be able to turn off Beacon, following last week's opt-in changes, is a step in the right direction," Chester wrote in a statement. "But Mr. Zuckerberg isn't truly candid with Facebook users. Beacon is just one aspect of a massive data collection and targeting system put in place by Facebook."
Additionally, the Beacon debacle was more complicated than earlier Facebook privacy snafus because there were advertisers in the mix, too. Over the past few days, a number of Beacon participants, such as Overstock.com and Travelocity, confirmed that they had temporarily or permanently pulled out of the program. As a result, Facebook didn't just need to placate its user base and prominent activist groups, it also needed to save face among the major corporate partners whose advertisements it's counting on to grow a viable profit margin.
Jonathan E. Johnson, Overstock.com senior vice president of corporate affairs, said in an interview with CNET News.com that the company is not yet ready to consider rescinding its decision to ditch Beacon. "We've turned it off. We'll keep it off until it's crystal clear to the user that it's a double opt-in procedure," he said, emphasizing that he wants users to have to actively decide on both Facebook and Overstock that they want to participate--not that they want to not participate. Additionally, Johnson said, "we need to make sure that the Facebook community is accepting of this new type of advertising. Mark's blog is a first step toward that. It may be a full step toward that, but I can't say until we see how the community reacts."
Representatives from Travelocity were not readily available for comment.
Facebook's problems aren't over yet. Zuckerberg's image, as well as the company's, took an additional blow when a November article in 02138, an independent magazine for Harvard alumni, painted a rather unflattering picture of the company's beginnings when its founders were undergraduates at the university. Accompanying the article on 02138mag.com were court documents from the ongoing ConnectU v. Facebook trial, including a copy of Zuckerberg's application to Harvard. When Facebook lobbied to have the documents removed, a judge turned the request down.
Zuckerberg has begun picking up the pieces with the changes to Beacon. "Facebook has succeeded so far in part because it gives people control over what and how they share information," he wrote in the post. "This is what makes Facebook a good utility."
Source:http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9829526-36.html?tag=cd.blog
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Quick and Easy Pro The only Fully Automated Marketing System.
Quick and Easy Sales pro..The Only Fully Automatic Program to Run your Bussiness.
This Lens is about Quick and Easy sales Pro. The only fully automated software to run your internet business with! This software handles everything from ordering to sending the thank you and follow up letters. Heres some of what you get. http://tinyurl.com/38wedf
Owners Manual- your easy, step by step instruction manual.
How To Guide- learn how to use the many aspects of your Quickneasy Sales Pro.
A collection of sample sales, thank you and download pages- see exactly how you can use all the features, like the substitution tags.
A Free Subscription To The Flying Quokka Owners Club- get the answers you need and make contact with other entrepreneurs http://tinyurl.com/38wedf
You have to come on in and have a look see what all you can do with this program. Quick And Easy Pro will run your whole business.
We have all probably heard of the irresistible offer by now. Many of the most successful marketers (Matt Gill and Kevin Wilke from Nitro Marketing, Mark Joyner, Joe Vitale, Mike Filsaime, Brad Callen, Russell Brunson, Ewen Chia ... to name just a few) regularly use this technique to pull in huge sums of money in a matter of days. But what exactly goes into making an offer irresistible?
Aren't you just chomping at the bit.for more Quick And Easy Pro. Just check this site out here. Discover the fastest way to create great copy that people will be throwing money at you!
You really have to go on over and check this out!
THE BEST PART IS IT HAS A ONE GUARANTEE!!!
Come on over and check out QUICK AND EASY PRO.
http://tinyurl.com/38wedf
This Lens is about Quick and Easy sales Pro. The only fully automated software to run your internet business with! This software handles everything from ordering to sending the thank you and follow up letters. Heres some of what you get. http://tinyurl.com/38wedf
Owners Manual- your easy, step by step instruction manual.
How To Guide- learn how to use the many aspects of your Quickneasy Sales Pro.
A collection of sample sales, thank you and download pages- see exactly how you can use all the features, like the substitution tags.
A Free Subscription To The Flying Quokka Owners Club- get the answers you need and make contact with other entrepreneurs http://tinyurl.com/38wedf
You have to come on in and have a look see what all you can do with this program. Quick And Easy Pro will run your whole business.
We have all probably heard of the irresistible offer by now. Many of the most successful marketers (Matt Gill and Kevin Wilke from Nitro Marketing, Mark Joyner, Joe Vitale, Mike Filsaime, Brad Callen, Russell Brunson, Ewen Chia ... to name just a few) regularly use this technique to pull in huge sums of money in a matter of days. But what exactly goes into making an offer irresistible?
Aren't you just chomping at the bit.for more Quick And Easy Pro. Just check this site out here. Discover the fastest way to create great copy that people will be throwing money at you!
You really have to go on over and check this out!
THE BEST PART IS IT HAS A ONE GUARANTEE!!!
Come on over and check out QUICK AND EASY PRO.
http://tinyurl.com/38wedf
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