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15 Jan 2009 12:24

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Biz, Tech: Burger King wants you to lose your friends; Facebook says no.

  • Clever or evil? Burger King and their super-awesome advertising company, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, recently launched an app on Facebook called “Whopper Sacrifice” that would earn you a free Whopper if you ditched ten of your friends. source
  • Clever or evil? Burger King and their super-awesome advertising company, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, recently launched an app on Facebook called “Whopper Sacrifice” that would earn you a free Whopper if you ditched ten of your friends.
  • “Privacy issues” killed it While a seemingly smart idea, Facebook didn’t like the precedent it set, so the social networking site shut it down for privacy reasons – they were specifically upset that the program actually informed users they were getting ditched, which feels extra-cruel with a side of fries. source
  • Clever or evil? Burger King and their super-awesome advertising company, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, recently launched an app on Facebook called “Whopper Sacrifice” that would earn you a free Whopper if you ditched ten of your friends.
  • “Privacy issues” killed it While a seemingly smart idea, Facebook didn’t like the precedent it set, so the social networking site shut it down for privacy reasons – they were specifically upset that the program actually informed users they were getting ditched, which feels extra-cruel with a side of fries.
  • Pickle-ditched Despite the shutdown, the service left a definite impact – 233,906 friend-ditches by 82,771 cruel, hungry people who aren’t willing to spare a few bucks for the sake of their friend from French class in high school. That’s right, you’re less important than a burger, Mary. (Sorry, Mary. :( ) source

14 Jan 2009 17:26

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Biz, Tech: Steve Jobs on medical leave? SELL! SELL! SELL!

  • -8% loss in Apple’s stock after the announcement source

14 Jan 2009 17:22

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Biz, Tech: Steve Jobs tries to stop being the distraction

  • Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well.
  • Steve Jobs • in a letter informing his staff that he’s taking a leave of absence from Apple until June. He also learned that his health problems were more complex than once thought. • source

14 Jan 2009 14:06

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Offbeat, Tech: Oh God, did someone have to invent the term “sexting”?

  • Sexting leads to child porn charges. Sexting, as you might guess, is people taking naked photos of themselves on their cell phones and sharing them with their friends. It’s led to charges in Pennsylvania for both the three teenage girls charged with sending the photos and the, er, um, three lucky teenage boys who got the photos. Note to press: Please stop inventing terms. :( source

14 Jan 2009 10:34

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Music, Tech: YouTube puts the mute on vids with copyrighted tunes

  • This video contains an audio track that has not been authorised by all copyright holders. The audio has been disabled.
  • YouTube • A warning to users who watch video with a popular song as its soundtrack. The video service has started muting certain videos because of copyright concerns. That oughta make people happy. • source

13 Jan 2009 19:20

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Offbeat, Tech: To anyone who ever claims that Twitter is useless …

… don’t hate until you’ve seen this washer tweet when a load’s ready. source

13 Jan 2009 16:46

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Tech: The skinny on the new Toyota Prius

  • 50 mpg The mileage on the third-generation model of the hybrid. That’s 4 mpg more than the last one. source
 

13 Jan 2009 00:18

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Tech: If a Segway is traveling through a forest, does anyone care?

  • You end up lying there saying, ‘I‘m not stopping. It would be an act of shallow cowardice.’ Or you decide to quit and you say, ‘This is one of those ideas that just isn‘t going to work.’
  • Dean Kamen • on the idea of leaving behind Segway, the would-be revolutionary personal transport device that never took off • source

12 Jan 2009 20:09

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Music, Offbeat, Tech: The dumbest idea for a software program, ever

  • Microsoft Songsmith sucks Songsmith, which creates music based on your ability to sing, could be a cool idea. But its downfall is the uber-cheeseball MIDI backing music, straight out of a Casiotone circa 1985 (disclosure from the author: I own this keyboard). source

12 Jan 2009 13:30

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Offbeat, Tech: Attempting to build a classroom of dorks into flirts

  • 440 German übernerds got trained in basic social skills source