Just got back from watching another lame attempt by bollywood to capture terrorism and sleeper cells. Kurbaan was neither a love story nor a movie about moderate islam. The movie is filled with plot holes that a 2 year old could’ve fixed. This is another attempt by dharma productions to move away from its usual candy floss love stories. 

Honestly they should stick to what they know and keep churning out those NRI romances rather than torturing us with such crap. After watching the movie I have a lot of questions in my mind lets see if you guys had the same questions or if someone can give me the answers

1. How many times do you actually see kareena going to the university and teaching??? 
2. When kareena finds out that her neighbours are terrorists and once the sleeper cell has been compromised why don’t they just kill her?? Normally any terrorist cell would’ve killed not only her but even saif if he tried to stop them cause for them their mission cannot be compromised.
3. They conveniently forget to remove her cell phone, and kareena who is supposedly an american citizen doesn’t even have the brains to call 911 instead of trying to warn dia mirza there’s a bomb in the plane. It’s like she just wants to save dia mirza and not the other 100 or so people on the plane. So finding the cellphone switched off she calls dias office but to no avail and leaves her a message on the answering machine (hmmm genius).
4. Now Vivek oberoi hears the message on the answering machine and decided that it’s time he gets into this to bring the terrorists to justice. The worst reasoning ever he tells his editor i have a lead and the editor tells him to inform the FBI but viveks reply to this is no cause then the lead might go away which does not make any sense. In fact had he told the FBI the movie would’ve gotten over much quick and we all could’ve gotten home on time and slept. So vivek a cameraman takes it upon himself to infiltrate the terrorists.
5. When Salmas body starts stinking the group decides to bury her otherwise the neighbours would come to know whats going on…seriously aren’t all the neighbours already there in the basement with them. Nevertheless i thought they would bury the body in the backyard but no lets put her body into the trunk and go for a drive. And then they run into the cops when Hakeel loses it and shoots one of them and then there’s a chase scene with saif getting shot but he manages to kill the cops and blow up the car so as not to leave any evidence behind. But this is shocking cause there’s some evidence left behind Salmas face is only half burnt (what are we 2??) so the FBI can recreate the full face but it will take 4-5 days.
6. The airport sequence with Vivek and Saif, how did vivek know saif can speak hindi, what if saif was an Arab, wouldn’t this raise suspicion in Saifs mind. Secondly vivek gives his real name to the terrorists, a simple search on google and you would know that vivek works for a news channel so much for terrorist sleeper cells being extra careful about who they let in
7. What was the point of calling the FBI head to the church?? And why was that agent trying to disarm a bomb when the timer showed 10 seconds he should’ve left it and run but no. And of course the FBI head doesn’t die or get badly injured in a blast that brings down half the train station
8. When you are using someone as a human shield why would you show yourself to the person trying to kill you, wouldn’t you make sure that the person shooting at you doesn’t have a clear shot by hiding behind the human shield. Alas Om Puri forgot to train his own wife , kiron kher should’ve been standing behind kareena not beside her
9. Now this one i still can’t understand how did kareena know that ehsaan is not the real name, there is no mention of it anywhere so why does she assume he’s fake named her??
10. A sleeper cells job is to mingle with the local population so as to avoid detection, not live in a muslim neighbourhood where i guess one would already be on the FBI watchlist
11. The FBI is shown as a very incompetent branch which is laughable. 

Lets talk performances Kareena has acted pretty well, Saif looks a bit confused sometimes, Viveks fake accent is too distracting, Om Puri hardly has scope to perform, Kiron Kher is decent.

Direction is decent, the story and screenplay are really poor they should’ve shown more of the love story cause one doesn’t really feel that the protagonists are in love. 

Verdict: Stay home and watch the dvd of Sleeper Cell

I promised in a post a few weeks back that I’d be inviting more guest bloggers to join me on my blog and I’m happy to welcome Dr Jill Flint-Taylor.  Jill is a Director at my University spin off company Robertson Cooper and heads up the London office.  Jill has a wealth of experience to share with you and specialises in the areas of leadership development, employee engagement and well‐being, as well as helping organisations to attract, retain and develop the best talent.  I hope you enjoy her post and as always please comment if you find it interesting.

Thanks for joining me Jill!

Dr Jill Flint-Talyor

Social networks

I know what you’re thinking – yet another article on the proliferation of social networking sites on the internet!  Well, I guess I do want to talk about the effect of sites like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo – but as part of the bigger picture of what social contacts can do for our personal well-being.  Establishing and maintaining strong social relationships is one of the ways we can increase our ability to cope with stressful situations in a resilient way.  This makes perfect sense – we know that “a problem shared is a problem halved”, and we also know that socialising with our friends can help us to take our minds off our worries.

But this raises a number of questions.  Is it the case, for example, that people who are more extraverted are more resilient, because they have a larger social network?  Does online social networking bring the same kind of benefits for our well-being as meeting up with our friends in person?  What happens to our social networking – online and in person – when we’re under pressure?  These apparently simple questions are really quite complex and I won’t claim to be able to do them justice here.  But let’s have a quick look at each of them in turn.

Taking the question of extraversion and resilience, over the years a number of studies have found that people who are more outgoing, energetic and assertive tend to be more resilient.  However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the size of your social network that counts.  The key to this aspect of resilience is more likely to lie in two important factors.  Firstly, the strength of the relationships from which you draw your social support and secondly, how good you are at keeping contact when you are very busy or stressed.

The last point relates directly to the question of what happens to our social networks when we’re under pressure.  The research on depression shows clearly that many people withdraw and focus inwards when severely depressed, even if they are normally friendly and sociable.  In terms of resilience, this creates a circular problem – being depressed causes us to withdraw, which in turn has a detrimental effect on our ability to draw on the social support that could help us to come out of our depression.  Something similar happens if we are stressed, and this effect is compounded if the stress is caused by overload at home or work, because time constraints make it even more difficult to keep up with our friends and colleagues.

So what about social networking online?  Does it help that it’s easier to fit this into a busy day – making it possible for us to stay in touch with our close friends?  Or do we become too reliant on “relationships” where most of our contact is with people we hardly know and where contact with our close friends becomes so superficial that they’re not there when we need them?  This is a fascinating new area of research and I’d like to come back to it in more detail in a future blog.  For now, I’d say that the use of social networking sites must be a good thing if it helps us keep in touch and make new friends in an increasingly busy and fragmented world.  But as with all things, the key is a strong dose of common sense, and we need to make a conscious effort to keep the right balance between online contact and meeting up with our friends in person.  There’s no question that a few very strong friendships are worth more in terms of meeting our needs for social support than a large number of “friends” who don’t know us well and have no reason to really care about us.

When I speak with start-up entrepreneurs and at business groups I am always amazed that so many intelligent business people hold onto the illusion that, “If I build it, they will come.”

Don’t get me wrong here… the occasional lead can be generated by an excellent tweet or someone’s random search on Google, but I think (deep down) most of us realise these are happy, but infrequent events.

And that’s why I don’t believe that online social networking is a new way of promoting your goods/services – it’s just the old way facilitated by new technology.

If you are unprepared to share your knowledge, help people out and put your own ideas “out there” then you’re just wasting your own time. Selling has always been about reassuring people that you are the best course for resolving some, or all, of their business challenges.

So here’s the Top 11 from my perspective:

1. Focus hard on “who” you want to network with and “why”.
2. Establish where these people gather and get in there.
3. Be prepared to talk on the phone and meet too.
4. But don’t be scared to work globally and virtually either.
5. Remember, a purchase order is not a piece of paper – it’s a transfer of trust.
6. Be ready with additional information when asked, e.g. PDF brochures, testimonials, case studies, etc.
7. Have a LinkedIn or Plaxo account (or both) and use them.
8. Honour your followers, friends and recipients, i.e. succinct, useful information.
9. Keep “fun” networking (i.e. friends) and “business” networking separate wherever possible.
10. Look for complementary contacts where you can help one another generate sales or improve mutual propositions.
11. Be consistent.

All sounds like basic common sense doesn’t it? But I continually shock myself at how bad I am at actually doing it.

We are nowadays, more frequently hearing stories of disciplinary or other action being taken on individuals, or groups of individuals, by their employers because of comments or content posted on one of the many popular social media websites in use.

There was a story a few weeks ago about a young woman who was asked to leave her employment after posting derogatory comments about her boss onto the FaceBook site, forgetting that she had previously added him as a friend, meaning he would be able to see everything she had written. Then just this weeks, reports of a woman in Canada losing her sick-pay, being paid for depression, because she posted pictures of herself on the internet, again on FaceBook, looking happy. Her medical insurance company came to the conclusion that from looking at these pictures, she was no longer depressed. In a world where more and more people are fully aware of the technology available, and how we use it, it’s not very surprising that more and more people are being subjected to online vetting. It’s well known that when applying for a lot of jobs, HR departments will often perform an internet search to see just who you really are, delving into FaceBook, MySpace, and anywhere else you may have an online presence. These are both real world examples of just what an impact social networking can have on our professional identities.

I think there is another matter though, and it is all to do with workplace productivity. It’s something that I have thought about a couple of times before, but today witnessed something which really got the message across to me. I have been sat in a meeting room in a project planning brief. The room had about 40 people contained within it, all sat in groups of 2, 3, or 4 discussing different aspects of an upcoming project. The chance to have influential people from IT, people from Marketing, people from HR, all in the same room, on the same day has been a wonderful chance to really make some decent progress. However, every time I glanced up across the room, almost every screen I could see either had FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, or another social networking site open. If we take it that there were 40 people in the room for 6 hours each, that’s a total of 240 total man hours. I would love to know just how many of these hours were spent off task, rather than devoted to work. I myself found it so strange, that I immediately opened up Twitter and began to give a running commentary of the events as they unfolded – from the cleaner bursting in, to the lunchtime menu.

At a first glance, this would seem like a very unprofessional attitude and using such sites during company time could even be considered time theft. However, I find myself much more productive if I can send off the odd tweet, or update my FaceBook status. Now I’m not saying I agree with people who sit all day on these sites – but it was a strange experience watching a room of professional people, working hard and making good progress, at the same time as being in contact with colleagues, friends, and family, all over the world. Technology is a wonderful thing, but we should be careful to prevent it from consuming our time.

“How is twitter similar to status updates in Facebook and Myspace and why is twitter more popular NOW than both Myspace and Facebook? You have probably already compared them but how do these sites contrast, or how are they different ,and do you think you will ever be tired of social networking?”

WHO is this e-mail from? The writer says he is going to “FB” me in the evening. What? My nether regions begin to twitch.

Happily, it turns out to be a former colleague from 25 years ago who wants to chat on Facebook. Ah, FB. So glad it wasn’t someone intent on pulverising the tip of their Doc Martens with a soft part of my anatomy.

New acronyms, words and even phrases are appearing all the time. Take drivers who weave all over the road. If they have had a few bevvies, they are said to be intoxicated. But, if it is because they are reading or sending messages on their mobiles, they are now intexticated.

Another new one, unfriend, is the word of the year. It’s when you delete someone from your list of friends on Facebook or Bebo. They are no longer your online friend because you have unfriended them. Get it?

They have lists every few years of new words and phrases that have made it into the English language. Recently inserted are retail elephant, auto dentist and late plate.

A retail elephant is a business that dominates or monopolises an area. So the Lewis Crofters is the retail elephant of Island Road in Stornoway and the Cearns Shop is the retail elephant of, er, the Cearns. An auto dentist is someone who fixes dents on cars. Of course.

And a late plate is a train running behind time? Nope, it is a dish served coolly to a person who returns from the Carlton Bar, or some such fine establishment, well after the evening meal has been served.

In Gaelic, the process for integrating a new word or phrase is slightly different. New words and combinations that have never been used in a school or in a fank on a Saturday afternoon can be firmly installed in the Gaels’ consciousness by 9am on Monday.

If anchormen Donald Morrison and James Macdonald use a word on the 7.30am Gaelic news show, that’s all it takes. The power these people have is terrifying.

Even medical conditions can suddenly make it into our lexicon. Take thymestic syndrome, for example. This is when someone says they can forgive but they cannot forget – literally. Such is their power of recall about everything that they spend their lives thinking about silly little things that the rest of us forget in a day or two.

It is an actual medical condition. As a Maciver, I should really suffer from this terrible malady because our clan motto is Nunquam Obliviscar – I Will Never Forget. If only that were true. I can’t even remember why I brought this up.

Oh yes, new words. Like baggravation. That is something you suffer from when you fly from Glasgow to Stornoway, for example, and you realise that your bags are not on the carousel because the handlers at Glasgow could not be bothered as they were on a tea break.

In extreme circumstances, a bad bout of baggravation can go on for days when, as happened to a member of the Gaelic mafia travelling to London, a holdall containing two black puddings, 6lb of gigot – and, for all I know, a horse’s head – ended up in Italy.

However, it never, ever happens on the Stornoway-Glasgow route. And that is because Roddy Macleod and the guys at Flybe in Stornoway are just so very, very professional. They are all so polite and helpful, too. What an asset everyone in that office is to the airline.

And did I mention they are all very professional? Good. Because they are. Very.

Meanwhile, I need a new word for a rare medical condition that has wrecked the life of my good friend George Gawk Campbell. He is suffering from a puzzling phobia that is not in any medical books. Yet.

He had a letter delivered and, like all of us, he looked for clues about the sender.

No address on the back. It was just a white window envelope with a second-class stamp. That worried George.

Individuals do not send window envelopes. So, despite his recent efforts, it was not a love letter. Only businesses, he reasoned, send those envelopes. That is so an invoice, for example, can be folded so the recipient’s address is visible.

The crofter, oil worker and Labour Party activist from Back put the unopened envelope high up on a shelf and began to agonise over who would be demanding cash. If he opened it, he would be morally obliged to pay it, he decided. But who sent it?

The postmark was unclear. It wasn’t the council or the taxman, as they have brown identifiable envelopes. Must be a local company. Oh heck.

After a few days, the strain got to poor George. He stopped going for a pint. He stayed in, fretting.

Then, the other morning, at 3am, he snapped. Bolting upright in bed, he realised he had to end his torment. He paced the floor for a while then, pouring with sweat, he grabbed the envelope and ripped it open.

It was a shock demand, all right. It was a note asking him to fill in a survey about which party he was going to vote for at the next elections. It was signed by our SNP MP and MSP Angus MacNeil and Alasdair Allan respectively.

How ironic the SNP pair had, through no fault of their own, made George Gawk suffer the worst few days of his life. Don’t laugh, but George concedes he may have an extreme fear of . . . window envelopes. How else do you explain what happened?

My researches have found details of the condition known as defenestraphobia, an irrational fear of windows, but nowhere is the variety of the ailment associated with stationery mentioned in medical texts or learned papers. So we have to invent a term. Gawkenvelopophobia, perhaps?

To those of us who know him well, that George Gawk is an enigma pushing the boundaries of medical science is really no surprise at all.

Was die Nutzung von Online-Communitys betrifft, haben viele jüngere weibliche User mittlerweile ein regelrecht suchtartiges Abhängigkeitsverhältnis entwickelt. Diese Bevölkerungsgruppe kann sich ein Leben ohne Facebook, Bebo und Co heute gar nicht mehr vorstellen und ist beinahe permanent mit den entsprechenden Diensten verbunden. Mit dieser Einschätzung appelliert derzeit die Girls’ School Association (GSA) http://www.gsa.uk.com an britische Schulen und Eltern. Um die Mädchen des Landes aus ihrem Suchtverhalten herauszuholen, sei eine verstärkte Zusammenarbeit aller Beteiligten notwendig, so die Forderung.“Die größte Sorge, die Eltern heute haben, ist die, dass ihre Töchter abhängig von Social-Networking-Portalen werden”, stellt GSA-Präsidentin Jill Berry gegenüber BBC News fest. Derartige internetbezogene Probleme hätten inzwischen diejenigen auf dem Schulhof in puncto Ernsthaftigkeit deutlich überholt. Ausschlaggebend hierfür sei nichtzuletzt auch die prinzipiell suchtfördernde Aufmachung der Community-Plattformen, die nur das eine Ziel verfolge, Internetnutzer so lange wie möglich bei der Stange zu halten, kritisiert Berry.

Frauen und soziale Netzwerke

“Die Abhängigkeit von Kommunikations- und Sozialisationsdiensten im Internet ist nur eine mögliche Ausprägungsform von Onlinesucht”, erklärt Bernd Dillinger vom Infoportal IPOS http://www.onlinesucht.at, im Gespräch. Dass von dieser speziellen Suchtform vor allem weibliche Nutzer betroffen sind, hätten bereits verschiedene wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen gezeigt.

“Aus unserem praktischen Behandlungsalltag heraus ist die Aussage, dass Frauen stärker zur Entwicklung eines Suchtverhaltens in Bezug auf soziale Online-Netzwerke neigen, aber nicht zu untermauern”, betont Dillinger.

You can Have Ufone Utunes Codes from this post.

Request your UTune Code here. We will try our best to find the code for you.

Latest Ufone UTunes codes .

Kaminey Film ufone utones Codes :

Dhan Te Nan – 6782657

Fatak – 6782658

Go Charlie Go – Theme – 6782659

Raat Ke Dhai Baje – 6782660

Pehli Baar Mohabbat – 6782661

Kaminey – 6782662

8X10 Tasveer Utune Codes:

Aaja Maahi – 7003924

Haafiz Khuda – 7003926

I Got The Picture – 7003928

Kuchh Is Tarah – 7003930

Nazaara Hai – 7003932

New York Ufone Utune Codes:

Aye Saaye Mere – 5012813

Hai Junoon – Remix – 5012814

Hai Junoon – 5012815

Mere Sang – 5012817

Tu Ne Jo Na Kaha – 5012820

New York Theme – 5012818

Sams Theme – 5012819

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi Utunes Codes:

Dance Pe Chance – 50011

Dancing Jodi – 50012

Haule Haule – 50013

Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte – 50014

Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai – 50016

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi – 5005815

Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai (Slow) – 50015

Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai version -50017

Ghajini Ufone Utunes Codes :

Behka – 7003725

Guzarish – 7003726

Kaise Mujhe – 7003727

Latoo – 7003728

Aye Bachchu – 7005474

Kaise Mujhe Inst – 7005476

Lucky UTunes Codes :

Aa Kar Bharlo Bazuon Mein – 5008428

Chori Chori Chupke Se – 5008429

Ek Ajnabi Sa Ehsaas – 5008431

Heyy Rama Ramam – 5008432

Kambakkht Ishq Utunes Codes :

Bebo (Club mix) – 678410

Bebo – 678411

Kambakkht Ishq – 678413

Kyun (Female) – 678414

Welcome To Hollywood – 678420

Om Mangalam – 678419

Lakh Lakh – 678417

Kyun – 678415

Om Mangalam (Reprised) – 678418

Kambakkht Ishq (Remixed) – 678412

Lakh Lakh (Electro Dhol Mix) – 678416

Pakistani Utunes Codes Collection :

Tere Bin – Atif Aslam – 00724

Kuch is Tarha – Atif Aslam – 255845

Kuch is Tarha (Remix) – Atif Aslam – 255846

Mahiya Ve Sonaya – Atif Aslam – 255847

Doorie – Atif Aslam – 255852

Doorie (Energy Mix) – Atif Aslam – 255850

Hum Kis Galli [Dance Mix] – 2551985

Tere Bin (Club Mix) – 2551991

Aadat (Remix) – 2552191

Yakeen [club Mix] – 2551992

Aadat Si (Deep Blue Version) – 2552192

Aadat – Atif Aslam – 2552193

Pehli Nazar Mein – Atif Aslam – 500487

Lambi Judai – Lux Style Awards 2008 – 5002654

Hum Ek Hain – Shehzad Roy – 2551147

Har Gayee – Shehzad Roy – 5001408

Yaad – Shehzad Roy – 502337

Shola – Shehzad Roy – 502346

Saali – Shehzad Roy – 502356

Ya Rab – Shehzad Roy -502906

Huka Pani – Ali Zafar – 007245

Rangeen – Ali Zafar -502358

Dastaan E Ishq – Coke Studio Ali Zafar -6783385

Barsaat – Adnan Sami – 5015724

Apne Jahanke – Sonu Nigam and Adnan Sami – 50010114

Some Bollywood Utunes Codes:

Kyun Kisi Ko W… – Teray Naam – 007179

Lambee Judai – Jannat – 2551004

Tum Dil Ki Dharkan Main – Kumar Sanu- 255685

Jee Karda – Sing Is Kinng – 007956

Jado hey Nasha – Jism – 00725

Pehli Pehli Bar – Sirf Tum – 007520

Pyar Kernay Waley – Hero – 007161

Matlabi hen log yahan pe – Kishore – 007160

Chakna Chakna – Himesh Reshamm… – 5001314

Bas Ek Kinng – Singh Is Kinng – 5006541

Bhootni Ke – Singh Is Kinng – 5006542

Teri Ore – Singh Is Kinng – 5006545

Ishq Bina – Taal – 5013887

Taal Se Taal Mila – Taal – 5021227

Ishq Bina Kya Jeena – Taal – 5021422

Janat Jahan – Jannat – 2551001

Zara Sa – Jannat – 2551005

Aksar Is Duniya – Dhadkan – 5007429

Dulhe Ka – Dhadkan – 5007431

Na Na Kerte – Dhadkan – 5011796

7007318 Aaya Re

7007319 Aish Karle

7007320 Dard e Tanhai

7007321 Dard e Tanhai Kilogram Mix

7007322 Main Chala

7007323 Main Chala – Unplugged

7007324 Nazrein Karam

7007325 Nazrein Karam Kilogram Mix

7007326 Tere Bin

7007892 Aur Aahista Kijiye Batain

7007893 Chandi Jaisa Rang Hai Tera

7007894 Ek Taraf Uska Ghar

7007895 Ghungroo Toot Gaye

7007896 Jheel Main Chand Nazar

7007897 Laa Pila De Saaki

7007898 Romantic Melody

7007899 Yahan Har Shaaks

The hottest ticket in town!!! ‘The Spirit Of London Awards’

This has been a subject I have always wanted to vomit about, but I never seem to have the time or energy to sit down and abuse the keyboard, most likely because the very subject I am talking about usually dominates all the free hours I have when I am bored or just chillaxing at home.

Since the boom of social networking somewhere around 1995 when the concept was exposed to a wider volume of internet users we now are beyond the point of no return where an individual in the “western world” cannot completely feel at ease be it socially or professionally without having some form of ‘user profile’ published somewhere on the internet where it is open to be viewed by anybody in the world.

My own generation now known as the “facebook babies” have all experienced life before social networking sites like Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, Wayne etc, yet now the majority of these “facebook babies” would find it hard to keep their social ‘status’ without the use of such websites and networks, which I think is somewhat concerning in so many ways that I am a little surprised it’s not written or talked about as much as I feel it should be.

So to lay down the facts and to get straight to the point of what I am writing about, lets take a look at what YOU, yes you publish about yourself on the internet at some point or another, maybe not on one particular website or social networking utility (maybe several) and see how much personal information we actually make public to anybody who can read or hear, and what I think is quiet scary at the least, to anybody with any agenda or mental state.

We publish:

• Our favourite movies
• Our Address
• Our favourite books
• Our favourite Music
• Our home town
• Our Phone number
• Our email addresses
• Our club memberships
• Our jobs
• Our Education History
• Our Dates of birth
• Our Sexual Orientation
• Our Interests
• Our Daily Schedules
• Our Relations to friends
• Our pictures and photographs
• Our Personal Videos
• Our Political Affiliations
• What we are doing at any time during the day.

Now the only way I can attempt to make you see what I am seeing here, is to ask you to take a second and do the following,

Remember any movie or TV programme that was either based upon a character that was working for a government department, such as the police, the security services such as MI5/6, FBI, CIA, FSB, GIA, NSA etc.

The plot is to track down a criminal, to find out as much information about that person as possible to help solve the problem, now the way to get this information about the bad guy/girl is to look on a DATABASE. Usually a government database such as criminal records, intelligence databases etc, and we always star in amazement when we watch the scene on the television when the good guys type in this person’s name, and BOOM! Like magic, everything about the bad person appears on their database. Their eye colour, height, allergies, professions, financial status, friends, photos, videos, actually everything I have bulleted above!………. Now are you seeing my point?

It was, at one point a fountain of information held on individuals that could only be accessed by people that were doing it for the “right reasons”, to protect and to serve their community, such delicate information that only people in high positions could only access because it was so personal. Only now we don’t need these databases to be so protected and treated as delicate and respected the privacy of the person this information was about, because we volunteer this information to anybody who wants to read it.

All in the name of social networking?

People bang on about Facebook’s privacy policy which states that once we upload any information about ourselves we no longer have the right to revoke that information submitted and we automatically grant facebook the exclusive rights to use that information for any purposes they deem fit, oh including using your photographs without your permission too. But what these people blissfully ignore is that this information cannot be treated with such delicate hands because the users give too much personal information away on purpose, and for the purpose of making it public (that could be public to the entire world, or to other user accounts/people that person has granted permission to view their own profiles).

So that big secret database we all get paranoid about when we think about it, that database that when we think about the information other people have on us makes the hairs on our arm stand on end, isn’t as top secret as we all thought, and why?

Because we knowingly upload all this information about ourselves into the public domain.

Could this be because we are all widely exposed to a celebrity obsessed world that we are now comfortable with sharing our personal lives with the rest of the world like these so called “celebrities” do on reality TV?

Maybe we’re all just getting too comfortable, something for you to think about. (And me too!).

So really, our governments don’t need to have an extensive secret network of databases on every single citizen, because now, they have facebook!

Over & Out

I listened with interest to this morning’s phone in on Five Live which looked at the worries of youngsters on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace following criticisms of those networks for not putting any kind of help button on the site for people that are experiencing bullying or child abuse. Bebo a site that is perhaps bigger in the UK than the rest of the world has put such a help button on their own social networking site.

What soon became apparent as the debate developed was that:

• Most parents were unaware that these sites had a starting age limit of 13 years.
• Parents had allowed some children as young as 7 years to sign up to social networking sites
• Parents largely gave in to peer pressure such as “but all my friends are on it”.
• Youngsters like to be seen to have as many friends as possible
• Some youngsters can have as many as 600 contacts most of whom they don’t know in real life
• Youngsters are more tech savvy than their parents so parents leave most things to their children

I was surprised at the extent to which some parents were prepared to just blank this aspect of parental responsibility. One local authority had run a free course to help parents get helpful information on how to manage access to social networking sites but only two parents availed themselves of the workshop.

18 age limit on xbox360

An example of age limiting access to such sites comes in the form of  Microsoft who have just launched access to social networking sites on their Xbox 360 games console but are to actively block access for users below the age of 18 by only allowing  gold membership users to access the services (a 12 month paid for fee is payable to unlock access). Don’t go thinking that Microsoft are doing this purely in the name of being responsible. It’s probably just as likely being implemented to reduce their liability as much as anything else.

Whose Responsibility?

I know many parents are just going to use the excuse that their children are the tech savvy members of the family but isn’t it about setting barriers, getting informed, getting help, taking responsibility and putting appropriate measures in place to safeguard your children?

Easy for me to say I know but I must admit I was a little taken aback at the buck passing by some parents with regard to this.

social networking image by 10ch under this creative commons license

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from @WillOConnor

UK Tech-Wunderkind and R’n'B fanatic Lucy Davies is out and about on a much needed slice of vacation at the moment. Rather than continue my nomadic, deskless journey around the hotdesks of London, she kindly agreed to let me use her seat for the week.

Thanks Luc! However, It seems use of her desk comes with some particularly draconian rules. Lucy exhibits a near-fanatical level of control over her stationary items, especially her stapler – woe-betide the hapless soul who borrows it for more than a minute. Take it out of the fault-line (the "Circle of Trust") around her desk and you’ll provoke a Hezbollah-style reaction (she swear’s like a docker!)

First thing today, I was greeted with this (rather aggressive) missive…

Will. If my stapler goes missing, I’m going to hunt you down!!!

 

Punchy! Nothing else. No kindly message of good-will. just unchecked aggression. Ordinarily I wouldn’t really care about such office chattels, and I’ve no real interest in removing items from her desk, but this seems a touch strong, don’t you think? Threats of personal violence?!

Well. If Luc is having a holiday, then so should Stapler. We have a busy week, with a number of activities planned (both work and extra-curricular), so we’re going to make sure that Stapler has a goooood time: 

Where to begin? Without Lucy’s dominant, controlling presence, Stapler should feel free to have a bit of a look around the office…meet some people…maybe have a good time!

Getting a little above its station there… Mr Brain’s office is sacred ground. Maybe best to get out fast; swing by corp and find something to do…

Busy times in corporate. But I’m sure Lucy would never allow such a flagrant breach of staple etiquette! Attaching a chocolate-cornflake treat to some industrial cardboard will surely damage the stapler’s delicate mechanics… but sometimes you’ve just got to look at yourself and say "When in Rome…" There was an Xbox party Monday night for the Facebook, Twitter & LastFM launch. A chance to meet Taio Cruz and Paloma Faith *gasp*. A quick toilet stop, and on to the soiree. We’ll all check in later. TTFN….

***UPDATE – TUESDAY 17th***** Crikey. Busy night so early in the week! Xbox launched its Twitter, Facebook AND LastFM partnerships last night with a glam shindig in Mayfair. Stapler DID NOT GO MISSING, Lucy! It merely enjoyed an evening out with some fun people… Geri and Kat from the JCPR showed stapler around the venue, MusicRoomSpaceEvents …

Then the entertainment came out… Paloma Faith tottered on-stage and warbled her choon, Stone Cold Sober. Then Taio Cruz wandered out. We were expecting similar things, but far from squeaking and quacking about *holding hands with the laydeez* and getting crunk in the club, he and Faith did a duet:

Unfortunately, they disappeared off lickety-spit after the gig and stapler didn’t get a chance to meet and greet. Faith headed off in the direction of the nearest seedy bar, Cruz held his mum’s hand while he crossed the road and bimbled off to get a McFlurry and the tube home… Stapler stayed on and met MC for the night, comedian and up-n-coming face, Jeff Leach. Leach stapled his nipple. Such exciting, unconventional times for a lowly desk item…

Whatever next? Well, tonight it’s off to a secret Bebo and Samsung Gig with the Boxer Rebellion. Let’s see if we can get on-stage… ***UPDATE, WEDNESDAY 18th*** More client fun-times tonight with Samsung at the Samsung & Bebo Nights at the Gibson Rooms in Noho. Went to see the Boxer Rebellion

Stapler hung-out with Dave Grohl for a bit…

… Danced to this…

…Crowd-surfed….

…But best of all, managed to meet the band. How would Lucy feel about the bear-like guitarist touching up her stapler?! It’s simply not regulation!

Stapler’s game is SOOOOO 2010! Dont’ hate!

Social networking sites Facebook and MySpace were slammed for not introducing help button to protect children from online bullying

Popular social networking websites Facebook and MySpace have come under fire for failing to introduce a help button for children being bullied online.

The outrage comes after rival networking site Bebo adopted the button that allows users to contact trained child protection officers and also provides details of local police and links to 10 other sources of help.

Jim Gamble, from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), criticised MySpace and Facebook for not following the same example of Bebo.

He said there was “no legitimate reason” for not doing so and that social networking sites were raking in money through advertising by attracting children and teenagers to join. “We applaud that but do not forget while you do that there is a responsibility, a duty of care, to the young and the vulnerable,” The BBC quoted him as saying.

He added: “[The button] is tiny and does not take up any significant real estate. The bottom line is there is no legitimate reason for not taking it and placing it on a site.” Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, also said: “I can see no reason why other sites would not consider adopting the same approach and would encourage them to embed the Ceop Report button for the benefit of all users.”

A Facebook spokesman, on the other hand, explained: “The safety of Facebook users is the top priority for the company, which is why we have invested in the most robust reporting system to support our 300 million users.

“We also work closely with police forces in the UK and around the world to create a safe environment. Our teams are manned by trained staff in two continents giving 24-hour support in 70 languages. “We look forward to hearing about the experience of Bebo using the Ceop button and will take account of their experience in any future evaluation of our reporting systems.”

A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail andinstant messaging services.

The main types of social networking services are those which contain category divisions (such as former school-year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with Facebook and Twitter widely used worldwide; MySpace and LinkedIn being the most widely used in North America;^[1] Nexopia (mostly inCanada);^[2] Bebo,^[3] Hi5, StudiVZ (mostly in Germany), iWiW (mostly in Hungary), Tuenti (mostly in Spain), Decayenne, Tagged, XING;^[4], Badoo^[5] andSkyrock in parts of Europe;^[6] Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America;^[7] and Friendster, Mixi, Multiply, Orkut, Wretch, Xiaonei andCyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands and Orkut and Facebook in India.

via wikipedia

I admit I have given in to the latest craze…. social networking sites. Mainly because of my daughter. She  Facebook’s, Bebo’s, Myspace’s, & “Tweets” her fingers off. I can’t for the life of me figure out how a 13 year old can keep up with all of this, or what she could possibly have going on in her life that requires 4 (maybe more) social networking sites! She has only been on this earth 13 years! I am 38 and can’t think of what to update monthly on mine, let alone every hour! I tell her that I think that she has CCD. For all of you old timers that’s a “compulsive communication disorder” !! lol I just figured that out a month ago.

The next think that baffles is why do random people that you don’t know add you? Is there some secret competition going on that I am unaware of?? Whoever has the most friends wins? I’ve had a few requests from people that I don’t know & I usually email them asking how I know them. Normally there is no response, so they go to the decline box.

Sure I have reunited with friends that I haven’t seen in years and that’s great, but why do I need to know that they just had a bacon sandwich? TMI or should I say too much information. I’ve also noticed that after that first initial reunion and 3-4 instant messages catching up… it goes quiet. Then you move on to the next level, which is neighbors on Farmville  etc. It’s really very odd to me.

I do wish them a happy birthday, send I-cards etc. sometimes but other than that I use it as a tool to keep an eye on what my daughter is doing. Having said that reading her posts usually leaves me more confused that I was to start with. Teenagers have their very own language now. It’s like some caveman lingo, or text talk. LOL, WTF, OMG, PMSL, ROFL, BRB, TMI, POS – I like POS the best. That apparently means Parent over shoulders = my nosey overprotective mother is walking past and trying to see what I am saying, so shut up!   Maybe I will ask at my University if they have a class on this new language so that I can keep up?

No último dia 9, a Electronic Arts anunciou  a compra da Playfish, empresa que publica jogos exclusivos para redes sociais e celulares, por US$ 300 milhões. A Playfish vai operar na EA Interactive (EAi), núcleo da Electronic Arts (EA) voltado para produtos de internet e mobile.  ”Os jogos sociais, com ênfase na comunidade e amigos, está tendo um enorme crescimento e este é o momento certo de investir para fortalecer a nossa participação neste espaço”, disse Barry Cottle, vice-presidente sênior da EAi e gerente geral da EA.

De acordo com o site da EA Games, a Playfish possui dez títulos rodando em todo o mundo, nas plataformas do Facebook,  MySpace, Google, Bebo, iPhone e Android. Entre os mais famosos, estão Restaurant City, Pet Society e Country Story.

Mas nem tudo são flores, segundo o site Gamasutra: especialistas do mercado de entretenimento digital ficaram bastantes confusos com a aquisição da Playfish pela EA. A gigante norte-americana passa por um momento de reestruturação, prevendo a demissão de 1.500 funcionários até abril de 2010, o encerramento das atividades de parte de suas fábricas e  a crescente perda líquida que, neste ano, chega a US$ 391 milhões.

A Eletronic Arts é uma das melhores editoras de games atualmente. Títulos mundialmente conhecidos, como The Sims 3, Dragon Age: Origins, Spore, Need for Speed, Command an Conquer, Battlefield, Mass Efect e Crysis representam grandes lançamentos no mercado. No entanto, o sucesso não tem gerado impacto em sua receita.

Fontes: www.ea.com, www.gamasutra.com
Imagem: www.multiplayerblog.mtv.com

Last month, 17 year old Ashleigh Hall from County Durham went to meet a 16 year old boy she had met on social networking site Facebook. Now, her family and friends are grieving after she was found murdered in a field at the end of October. 32 year old sex-offender Peter Chapman has been arrested for her murder.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo have become one of the most popular ways to keep in touch with friends. Most of my friends have at least one social networking site, and I myself have a Facebook and Twitter profile. They are a handy way to chat to my mates and find out what others are doing, all from the comfort of my home.

But they also have a dark side, as this tragic story shows. While most people use these sites for good we seem to be hearing more and more stories of paedophiles using them to groom victims and people who bully others from behind a computer screen.

On Facebook, I have a strict rule that I only accept friend requests from people I know, but not everyone does. On these sites it is often seen as “cool” to have a friends list that reaches into the thousands, regardless of whether these people are real friends or not. On MySpace, it is common practise to join groups with the sole intention of gaining more friends.

With warnings of the dangers of the internet everywhere you turn it makes you wonder why are young people so naive?  Why do so many people ignore the dangers when they accept a request off someone they don’t know?

I feel that perhaps low self-confidence is a factor. Teenage girls often suffer from low self-confidence. Imagine a girl who hates her looks, feels ignored or bullied at school. Perhaps they feel better when an older man compliments them on Facebook. Many girls want to be popular – what better way to look popular than to have thousands of friends on MySpace? Growing self-esteem can cause common sense to go out of the window.

Teenagers who are at risk of social networking sickos need to know the dangers. But perhaps if self-confidence was of more importance we would hear less of these disturbing tales?

Lo sabemos: últimamente este blog no es lo que era. Pero es que llevamos una temporada cargadita de trabajo, emociones, sorpresas… Prometemos retomar el fundamento bloguero en cuanto nos sea posible, pero de momento que sepas que se me olvidó que te olvidé.