No Tweets From This Twitter Bird #TwitterCensored #TwitterBlackout

Once again there is war on the internet. A little less than two weeks after our battle against SOPA, we need to get geared up again because Twitter like so many other companies, has chosen to go back on their word. On Thursday, Twitter announced that they now reserve the right to censor tweets on a country to country basis. This would allow them to comply to local government laws pertaining to information censorship. 

What is SOPA/PIPA? & How You Can Stop It

We've survived yesterday's Wikipedia blackout but how many of you know what was behind it? The blackout might be over but the cause is still lurking behind the shadows. That cause is two bills which are going before congress, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). SOPA's targets are "rogue" foreign sites like The Pirate Bay, which are hubs for illegal downloads. Although the general public is not the target here, it affects all of us. Essentially, SOPA/PIPA is all about revenge. The record labels and movie studios can't attack overseas pirates so they go after the internet instead...and we're all caught in the war. Can you imagine your life without another torrent? What about the use of censored searches to stop these sites? What else do you think they'll censor? 

I've actually read the bill which can be found here but to save you some time, you can watch the video below to get a better idea of what SOPA/PIPA really is and how it could affect you. 

Once you've learnt the facts, make sure you sign the petition at https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/ so that Congress will say no to SOPA/PIPA. 

Angry Birds To Attack Facebook

A little over a year ago, Angry Birds debuted in the Apple App Store and since then it has found its way onto the Android, Palm, Nokia and it continues its take-over on PCs, PSP/PS3 and Windows 7 Phone. The game has surpassed 75 million downloads and there is also talk of a movie, animated series and 3D version in development. But next month, the Angry Birds will knock down another barrier and conquer the most renowned empire of the Internet…Facebook.

Can the Internet handle Charlie Sheen?

Remember when I said we should sit back, grab some snacks and wait for the storm to hit? Apparently, its #TigerBlood tonight! @CharlieSheen has announced in a series of tweets that he will be live on UStream tonight at 10 Eastern (7 Pacific). All though we can only guess at the contents of Sheen’s Korner, Charlie did mention in one of his tweets that “(2-5) My lawyers asked that I stop talking with the press. So, if it's just me, how upset could they possibly be? #Sheen's-Korner” Well, I’m sure they still won’t be too happy.

Make sure to tune into http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sheen-s-korner tonight for Charlie, raw and uncensored!

London 2012: From Steel to Rainbows

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic have embraced the world of social media. Wenlock and Mandeville have their own Twitter accounts (@iamwedlock and @iammandeville).There is also a new feature on http://www.mylondon2012.com/mascots/ which allows users to create a custom Mascot then share it with their friends on Twitter and Facebook.


The whole theme of this London Olympics seems very “kiddish” to me. Everything from their jigsaw puzzle like logo to the one eyed, alien looking Wenlock and Mandeville seem like it belongs more at Pixar than at the Olympics. This new feature to customize Wenlock and Mandeville, a fun as it is, only makes me want to jump off the rainbow before Teletubbies and Care Bears start attacking me.

Charlie Sheen Wins!

Finally another celebrity goes crazy. Over the last few days, we have all gotten a dose of the drug that is Charlie Sheen. Although he is "sober" because he closed his eyes and made it so with the power of his mind, Charlie Sheen’s emotional sobriety is still in question.

Charlie’s breakdowns and absolutely psycho comments on Chuck Lorre, his ex-wife, his goddesses, the recent removal of his twin boys and life in general has acted as the well needed comic relief we all need in our lives. Charlie made witnessing his fall from grace much more effortless when he joined Twitter on March 1^st. Within minutes of his descent from Mars into the Twitterverse, @CharlieSheen had more than 60,000 followers! The hashtags #Winning and #TigerBlood hit the trending topics. Charlie has said, “It's perfect. It's awesome. Every day is just filled with just wins. All we do is put wins in the record books. We win so radically in our underwear before our first cup of coffee, it's scary." And surprisingly, Charlie was right! @CharlieSheen’s follower currently stands at 1,236,753 and he has won the Guinness World Record for the “Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers.” He also holds the record for “Highest Paid TV Actor Per Episode-Current” at $1.25 million but...he's now unemployed.

So for now, the unemployed everywhere can have the self-proclaimed “Unemployed Winner” as their leader but how long can Charlie ride on his mercury surfboard? Where will this media tsunami take him? All we can do is sit back, grab some snacks, wait for the storm to hit and if we’re lucky we may get to see the spill of some tiger blood. 

Hello! Can Anybody Hear Me?

“We’re changing the world with technology.” – Bill Gates

The words, globalization, internet and social media/networking are no longer confined to the offices of large corporate companies and classrooms but they can be heard in casual conversations. Surely, you can realize the truth of this statement as you: hear about couples having dates via Skype, see people FaceTiming on their iPod Touch and MacBooks, walk pass the hundreds of people PINGing away on their Blackberries/iPhones and read the thousands of Twitter updates and Facebook updates. At a glance, technology has helped people to connect and closed the gap between nations but...Are we really closer?