Category: Web 2.0
Britney, Obama and Fox News' Twitter accounts get hacked
Last night, the Twitter accounts for Britney Spears, Barack Obama, Fox News, Facebook, the Huffington Post and 28 other decreasingly famous people were hacked to display a variety of messages, from spammy to hilarious.
It started with Fox News, who posted a message about one of their anchors, saying “Breaking: Bill O Riley is gay”. Rick Sanchez from CNN was then hit, with a message saying “i am high on crack right now might not be coming into work today”. Then Barack Obama (who hasn’t posted since the election) posted an affiliate marketing survey. Then Britney’s incredible missive came through. Find out that said over the jump (mildly NSFW).
Google Timeline results graduates from Labs
Towards the start of last year, Google experimented with different ways to view search results in its “Experimental” section. They were evidently happy enough with one of them – Timeline – that it’s now appearing in some queries in the main results. Timeline allows you to browse results by when they were posted, or when they ocurred.
The picture above is for a search for “book of revelations”, though that search no longer displays the timeline. Perhaps Google is still tweaking it a little. I hope it stays, I rather like it, but it does beg the question – what’s next? Search by smell?
(via Search Engine Land)
Related posts: Google shows off 2008’s top searches | Kosmix.com – search, and crucially, context
Forward-thinking police combating potential terrorism via Google Adsense
London’s Metropolitan Police Service has thought up a great way to spend a bit more money – advertising for super-grasses via Google’s ubiquitous Adsense text ad system.
The advert, spotted by a blogger and pictured to the left there, encourages web browsers to report any “Right Wing Extremists” they know to the authorities, while clicking on the ad’s text link takes you to the Met’s anti-terror home page, where you’re advised in a bit more detail what to do if you think your mate is running a bomb factory out of his studio flat in New Cross. Here’s how The Met says you can spot a terrorist…
Twply takes a spam-and-grab approach to violating your privacy
When’s the last time you gave out your username and password for something crucial to a random web service? That’s what a lot of people have been doing with Twply.com. The site asks you for your username and password, and then promises to send any @replies that you get on Twitter to your email account.
However, it’ll also spam its own URL across your Twitter account – “Just started using http://twply.com/ to get my @replies via email. Neat stuff!“. That means they’ve got a big database of Twitter usernames and passwords, ripe for spamming. I wonder what could happen if they got bought by someone without a conscience… Oh, wait.
If you’ve used the site, now would be a great time to go change your password. If you’ve not, then remember basic security advice. If you’re not sure about giving out your username and password to a website, then don’t do it. Have you got any tales of Web 2.0 privacy woe? I want to hear them. Drop me a comment below.
Oh, and for a service which does the same thing without asking for your password, try replies.twittapps.
Twply (via Helloform)
Related posts: Twitterer liveblogs his own plane crash | Evening Standard fails in its meagre attempts to understand Twitter
Facebook Furore of the Week: Mothers getting bras into a twist over breastfeeding photo ban
Who says we’re not in touch with women’s issues here on Tech Digest?
Over 80,000 users have joined a Facebook group called “Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is not Obscene,” after the site started deleting innocent photos of women breastfeeding their newly hatched, soft-headed, screaming, purple-faced spawn. Here’s how Facebook defines an offensive nipple photo…
“Photos containing a fully exposed breast – as defined by showing the nipple or areola – do violate those terms on obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit material and may be removed”…
Gigjunkie is a social network for UK live music fans
Live music fans have a tough time of it. You’ve got to contend with awful ticket agencies, heavyhanded security, and crap listings services, and even when you get inside there’s always the risk that you’ll be stood in front of some drunk idiot who’ll hurl abuse and beer at the band throughout the show, ruining your enjoyment.
Well, music fans, there’s a new website that aims to solve at least one of those problems. That of the rubbish listings services. Gigjunkie.net is a “the UK’s definitive and independent Gig Listing”. It aggregates data from loads of sources, and then allows fans, venues and bands to add anything extra.
Twitterer liveblogs his own plane crash
On Saturday night in Denver, Colorado, Continental Airlines flight 737 slid off the runway during takeoff. One of the engines caught fire, but passengers escaped out of the opposite side on slides. Although 38 people were hurt, thankfully no-one was killed.
However, one of the passengers was Mike Wilson, aka @2drinksbehind. He live-Twittered the crash(!), and so if you’re phobic of flying on planes, then you might not want to click over the jump.
Facebook hits 140 million active users
The social networking behemoth rumbles on. As of yesterday, Facebook has over 140 million active users. The site is growing at a rate of 600,000 users a day. That’s a whole lot of poking.
Extrapolating the trend, you find that by March the company could hit 200 million active users. Interestingly, 70% of the growth is coming from outside the States, meaning that the market in the USA (and likely the UK, too) has possibly matured and is no longer growing as fast.
ENRAGED Jeff Buckley fans plan to scupper Alexandra Burke's 'Hallelujah' Christmas number one plans
The much-loved 1994 Jeff Buckley cover version of Leonard Cohen’s staggering Hallelujah is riding high in the charts, as FURIOUS Buckley fans mount an online campaign to stop a “cynical” cover by X Factor star Alexandra Burke earning the Christmas number one.
Thanks to the wonders of iTunes and the numerous other online record-flogging services that mean old records never die, the Buckley massive has already had some success – it looks like Buckley’s Hallelujah will end up at #3 in the chart next week, with Alexandra’s power ballad reinterpretation just pipping it to take the Chrimbo #1. Helping the bland warbler follow in such glorious festive footsteps as Bob The Builder, Mr Blobby and the Spice Girls…
Remove all traces of joy from Christmas with the Radiohead NES remake collection
Some extremely talented but sadly misguided musician has taken it upon himself to recreate a load of classic Radiohead songs using only the NES sound chip. The resulting generational soundclash is an appealing MIDI-like collection of easy-listening tunes.
Here’s one example – a stirring interpretation of ‘No Surprises’ from that album everyone liked a few years ago.
If you like that, you might also like Paranoid Android, a quite superb version of Creep and…
