Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Pac-Man on Google wasted 4.8 million hours
It might not sound like a lot on first glance, but the 36 extra seconds that the average Google.com visitor spent there last Friday playing Pac-Man adds up to a massive 4.8 million of wasted hours.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Facebook must stop tricking its users, says Danah Boyd
Danah Boyd, the researcher who accused Google and Facebook of failing users on privacy earlier this year, has called on Facebook to embrace “radical transparency”. In a post on her blog at the weekend, Boyd recalled the reaction to her speech at the South By Southwest conference in Texas:
“After my talk, I received numerous emails from folks at Google, including the PM in charge of Buzz. The tenor was consistent, effectively: ‘we f—– up, we’re trying to fix it, please help us.’ What startled me was the radio silence from Facebook…”
Boyd joins a growing number of technology experts who are criticising Facebook’s approach to privacy. Her argument is particularly powerful since she takes the time to gather data about these things.
“Youth are actually much more concerned about exposure than adults these days. Why? Probably because they get it. And it’s why they’re using fake names and trying to go on the DL (down-low).
“A while back, I was talking with a teenage girl about her privacy settings and noticed that she had made lots of content available to friends-of-friends. I asked her if she made her content available to her mother. She responded with, ‘of course not!’ I had noticed that she had listed her aunt as a friend of hers and so I surfed with her to her aunt’s page and pointed out that her mother was a friend of her aunt, thus a friend-of-a-friend. She was horrified. It had never dawned on her that her mother might be included in that grouping.”
This kind of confusion is understandable given the complexity of Facebook’s privacy settings. Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president for public policy, told the New York Times last week that Facebook can’t win – it is criticised for not allowing enough control if the privacy settings are simple and it is criticised for being too confusing when it allow more granular control.
However, Boyd says Facebook can do more:
“If Facebook wanted radical transparency, they could communicate to users every single person and entity who can see their content. They could notify then when the content is accessed by a partner. They could show them who all is included in ‘friends-of-friends’ (or at least a number of people). They hide behind lists because people’s abstractions allow them to share more. When people think ‘friends-of-friends’ they don’t think about all of the types of people that their friends might link to; they think of the people that their friends would bring to a dinner party if they were to host it. When they think of everyone, they think of individual people who might have an interest in them, not 3rd party services who want to monetize or redistribute their data. Users have no sense of how their data is being used and Facebook is not radically transparent about what that data is used for. Quite the opposite. Convolution works. It keeps the press out.”
Boyd closes by emphasising the importance of choice for Facebook users:
“The battle that is underway is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It’s a battle over choice and informed consent. It’s unfolding because people are being duped, tricked, coerced, and confused into doing things where they don’t understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely unfair. It gives users the illusion of choice and hides the details away from them ‘for their own good.’”
However, Facebook is closing in on 500 million users. It might calculate that it can afford to annoy a few of them in order to get what it wants. source: Telegraph
“After my talk, I received numerous emails from folks at Google, including the PM in charge of Buzz. The tenor was consistent, effectively: ‘we f—– up, we’re trying to fix it, please help us.’ What startled me was the radio silence from Facebook…”
Boyd joins a growing number of technology experts who are criticising Facebook’s approach to privacy. Her argument is particularly powerful since she takes the time to gather data about these things.
“Youth are actually much more concerned about exposure than adults these days. Why? Probably because they get it. And it’s why they’re using fake names and trying to go on the DL (down-low).
“A while back, I was talking with a teenage girl about her privacy settings and noticed that she had made lots of content available to friends-of-friends. I asked her if she made her content available to her mother. She responded with, ‘of course not!’ I had noticed that she had listed her aunt as a friend of hers and so I surfed with her to her aunt’s page and pointed out that her mother was a friend of her aunt, thus a friend-of-a-friend. She was horrified. It had never dawned on her that her mother might be included in that grouping.”
This kind of confusion is understandable given the complexity of Facebook’s privacy settings. Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president for public policy, told the New York Times last week that Facebook can’t win – it is criticised for not allowing enough control if the privacy settings are simple and it is criticised for being too confusing when it allow more granular control.
However, Boyd says Facebook can do more:
“If Facebook wanted radical transparency, they could communicate to users every single person and entity who can see their content. They could notify then when the content is accessed by a partner. They could show them who all is included in ‘friends-of-friends’ (or at least a number of people). They hide behind lists because people’s abstractions allow them to share more. When people think ‘friends-of-friends’ they don’t think about all of the types of people that their friends might link to; they think of the people that their friends would bring to a dinner party if they were to host it. When they think of everyone, they think of individual people who might have an interest in them, not 3rd party services who want to monetize or redistribute their data. Users have no sense of how their data is being used and Facebook is not radically transparent about what that data is used for. Quite the opposite. Convolution works. It keeps the press out.”
Boyd closes by emphasising the importance of choice for Facebook users:
“The battle that is underway is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It’s a battle over choice and informed consent. It’s unfolding because people are being duped, tricked, coerced, and confused into doing things where they don’t understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely unfair. It gives users the illusion of choice and hides the details away from them ‘for their own good.’”
However, Facebook is closing in on 500 million users. It might calculate that it can afford to annoy a few of them in order to get what it wants. source: Telegraph
Megan Fox wants to hurt whoever took her nude picture
Megan Fox might be known — in part — for being a sex symbol, but don’t even think about snapping an unauthorized photo of her in any state of undress.
Allure magazine interviewed Fox and told her about a blurry topless picture of her that was taken on a cell phone. The image was leaked while she was filming her new independent movie “Passion Play,” in which she plays a circus-sideshow performer who has bird wings.
“If I knew who took this picture, I would personally cause them harm — physical harm,” Fox told Allure. “I’m not a f---ing reality-TV star that’s courting the paparazzi and wants my f---ing picture taken all the time. I’m at my job and I’m trying to play a character and I’m trying to be serious, and this is the sh-- that’s happening to me. It makes me furious.”
Other things that make Fox’s dislikes list include industry events and compliments.
As for industry events, Fox said, “Everyone blows sunshine up everyone else’s ass.” Which brings her to that thing about compliments: “I hate receiving compliments; I hate being told I’m talented or people think I’m going to be a movie star. I always feel that it’s forced and fake.” source: MSNBC
Allure magazine interviewed Fox and told her about a blurry topless picture of her that was taken on a cell phone. The image was leaked while she was filming her new independent movie “Passion Play,” in which she plays a circus-sideshow performer who has bird wings.
“If I knew who took this picture, I would personally cause them harm — physical harm,” Fox told Allure. “I’m not a f---ing reality-TV star that’s courting the paparazzi and wants my f---ing picture taken all the time. I’m at my job and I’m trying to play a character and I’m trying to be serious, and this is the sh-- that’s happening to me. It makes me furious.”
Other things that make Fox’s dislikes list include industry events and compliments.
As for industry events, Fox said, “Everyone blows sunshine up everyone else’s ass.” Which brings her to that thing about compliments: “I hate receiving compliments; I hate being told I’m talented or people think I’m going to be a movie star. I always feel that it’s forced and fake.” source: MSNBC
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Noynoy, Binay keep leads in latest PPCRV tally
Updated as of 05/12/2010 10:00 AM
Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay have maintained their lead in the latest tally released by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), which represents votes transmitted by 67,681 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.
Aquino kept a wide margin of 4,883,215 over his closest rival, former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada, who has refused to concede to the senator.
Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, meanwhile, remains closely behind Binay. Binay only has a total of 798,999 lead over the senator.
Nacionalista Party's Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. was the first presidential candidate to concede to Aquino. He was followed by John Carlos de los Reyes, Sen. Richard Gordon and Gilbert Teodoro.
Results of the latest PPCRV tally as of 5:15 a.m.:
For president
Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III - 13,419,501
former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada - 8,536,286
Sen. Manuel "Manny" Villar - 4,851,188
Gilberto Teodoro Jr. - 3,583,710
Eddie Villanueve - 999,906
Sen. Richard Gordon - 454,986
Nicanor Perlas - 47,740
Jamby Madrigal - 40,998
John Carlos "JC" de los Reyes - 39,039
For vice president,
Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay - 13,115,669
Sen. Manual "Mar"Roxas - 12,316,670
Sen. Loren Legarda - 3,683,419
Bayani Fernando - 913,465
Edu Manzano - 688,756
Perfecto Yasay - 322,637
Jay Sonza - 56,203
Dominador Chipeco - 46,287
For senators
Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. - 17,303,512
Jinggoy Estrada - 16,923,007
Miriam Defensor Santiago - 15,473,883
Franklin Drilon - 14,179,561
Juan Ponce Enrile - 13,992,593
Pia Cayetano - 12,245,640
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. - 11,785,333
Ralph Recto - 11,074,245
Vicente "Tito" Sotto III - 10,620,224
Serge Osmeña - 10,409,943
Lito Lapid - 9,760,497
Teofisto "TG" Guingona III - 9,212,023
Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel - 8,185,058
Ruffy Biazon - 7,723,857
Joey de Venecia - 7,456,531
Partial proclamation
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Lucenito Tagle said the poll body can already make a partial proclamation for senators.
Tagle said they can already proclaim the first 10 leading senatorial candidates in the Comelec's partial count as of 4 p.m. Tuesday.
He, however, said they have decided to wait for all the PCOS machines' transmittal before making the proclamation, which he said, may happen Thursday or Friday.
Tagle said the 4 p.m. Tuesday tally of the Comelec came from at least 87% of all the PCOS machines for the country's first-ever nationwide automated elections
Aquino kept a wide margin of 4,883,215 over his closest rival, former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada, who has refused to concede to the senator.
Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, meanwhile, remains closely behind Binay. Binay only has a total of 798,999 lead over the senator.
Nacionalista Party's Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. was the first presidential candidate to concede to Aquino. He was followed by John Carlos de los Reyes, Sen. Richard Gordon and Gilbert Teodoro.
Results of the latest PPCRV tally as of 5:15 a.m.:
For president
Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III - 13,419,501
former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada - 8,536,286
Sen. Manuel "Manny" Villar - 4,851,188
Gilberto Teodoro Jr. - 3,583,710
Eddie Villanueve - 999,906
Sen. Richard Gordon - 454,986
Nicanor Perlas - 47,740
Jamby Madrigal - 40,998
John Carlos "JC" de los Reyes - 39,039
For vice president,
Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay - 13,115,669
Sen. Manual "Mar"Roxas - 12,316,670
Sen. Loren Legarda - 3,683,419
Bayani Fernando - 913,465
Edu Manzano - 688,756
Perfecto Yasay - 322,637
Jay Sonza - 56,203
Dominador Chipeco - 46,287
For senators
Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. - 17,303,512
Jinggoy Estrada - 16,923,007
Miriam Defensor Santiago - 15,473,883
Franklin Drilon - 14,179,561
Juan Ponce Enrile - 13,992,593
Pia Cayetano - 12,245,640
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. - 11,785,333
Ralph Recto - 11,074,245
Vicente "Tito" Sotto III - 10,620,224
Serge Osmeña - 10,409,943
Lito Lapid - 9,760,497
Teofisto "TG" Guingona III - 9,212,023
Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel - 8,185,058
Ruffy Biazon - 7,723,857
Joey de Venecia - 7,456,531
Partial proclamation
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Lucenito Tagle said the poll body can already make a partial proclamation for senators.
Tagle said they can already proclaim the first 10 leading senatorial candidates in the Comelec's partial count as of 4 p.m. Tuesday.
He, however, said they have decided to wait for all the PCOS machines' transmittal before making the proclamation, which he said, may happen Thursday or Friday.
Tagle said the 4 p.m. Tuesday tally of the Comelec came from at least 87% of all the PCOS machines for the country's first-ever nationwide automated elections
Monday, May 10, 2010
Noynoy's girlfriend proclaimed Valenzuela councilor
Updated as of 05/11/2010 11:34 AM
A winning couple?
Shalani Soledad, Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's girlfriend, has been proclaimed as councilor of Valenzuela City's 2nd district.
A radio dzMM report said Soledad topped the race for councilor in her district.
Aquino has also been leading by a wide margin in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) partial count for the presidential race.
As of 9:39 a.m., Aquino already had 12,587,406 votes followed by former president Joseph Estrada.
On third place was Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. with 4,477,209.
Meanwhile, the local election office has also proclaimed Sherwin Gatchalian as winner in Valenzuala's mayoralty race.
The winning vice-mayor was Eric Martinez. -- Report from Dennis Datu, radio dzMM
A winning couple?
Shalani Soledad, Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's girlfriend, has been proclaimed as councilor of Valenzuela City's 2nd district.
A radio dzMM report said Soledad topped the race for councilor in her district.
Aquino has also been leading by a wide margin in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) partial count for the presidential race.
As of 9:39 a.m., Aquino already had 12,587,406 votes followed by former president Joseph Estrada.
On third place was Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. with 4,477,209.
Meanwhile, the local election office has also proclaimed Sherwin Gatchalian as winner in Valenzuala's mayoralty race.
The winning vice-mayor was Eric Martinez. -- Report from Dennis Datu, radio dzMM
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