Iranian People Gets Google Earth, Picasa, Chrome Downloads, But Not The Iranian Government.

We all know how hard people in Iran tried to get their news out when Iranian government blocked any news from flowing out by deporting foreign journalists, shutting down media outlets and even blocking cell phone communications.
But people were able to use services like Twitter, Youtube and other means to get news out. But those same people were unable to use new software like Google Earth, Picasa and Chrome that we have come to rely in day to day use. due to export restrictions.
Some of those restrictions have been lifted and today, Iranian people, but not the Iranian government (Google will continue to block IP addresses associated with the Iranian government) will be able to download Google Earth, Picasa and Chrome
Keep up the communications and openness.
Official Google Blog: Software downloads for Iran: "Google Earth, Picasa, Chrome Downloads to Iran"

"You guys in AZ are life savers." CDCR Undersecretary Scott Kernan

It is too sick even to imagine how these people think of taking someones life, convicted murderer or otherwise.  The American Civil Liberties Union obtained and released the documents, showing the desperation of  California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials  to secure some sodium thiopental to execute convicted murderer.

You guys in AZ are life savers," Kernan e-mailed Charles Flanagan, Arizona Department of Corrections deputy director. "Buy you a beer next time I get that way."

Via  Gawker

Americans Are More Social, And Civilly Engaged On The Internet.

The thinking that internet users were bunch of people who were isolated and lacking social skills are fast fading as many of us know and the fact has been confirmed by a study "The Social Side of the Internet" by PEW Internet and American Life Project. The study was based on a survey among American Adults 18 years and older and was conducted in both English and Spanish.
As for social life of people engaged in groups, at a personal level, say the internet has had varying influence over their connection to groups:

    * 53% of the online Americans who are active in groups say the internet has had a major impact on their ability to keep up with news and information about their groups; 30% say the internet has had a minor impact on that.
    * 41% of these internet-using active group members say the internet has had a major impact on their ability to organize activities for their groups; 33% say the internet has had a minor impact on that.
    * 35% of these internet-using active group members say the internet has had a major impact on their ability to invite friends to join their groups; 36% say the internet has had a minor impact on that.
    * 33% of these internet-using active group members say the internet has had a major impact on their ability to find groups that match their interests; 28% say the internet has had a minor impact on that.
    * 28% of these internet-using active group members say the internet has had a major impact on their ability to create their own groups; 28% say the internet has had a minor impact on that.
    * 24% of these internet-using active group members say the internet has had a major impact on their ability to volunteer their time to groups; 40% say the internet has had a minor impact on that.
    * 24% of these internet-using active group members say the internet has had a major impact on their ability to contribute money to groups; 34% say the internet has had a minor impact on that.

The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project has found that 75% of all American adults are active in some kind of voluntary group or organization and internet users are more likely than others to be active: 80% of internet users participate in groups, compared with 56% of non-internet users. And social media users are even more likely to be active: 82% of social network users and 85% of Twitter users are group participants.

Read, Dream & Recycle, Book Origami From Book of Art.

Isaac Salazar

it’s also my way of recycling a book that might otherwise end up in a landfill.  The words or symbols I use are drawn from anything that invokes inspiration or encouragement, such as “Read”, “Dream” and the Recycle symbol.  If my work also makes people look at a book and even art in a new light then the piece has done its job“
Book of Art on FlickR via Recyclart

The Ghost Of Plagiarism

Ever thought of Plagiarizing? Watch this funny video. Press "CC" (access via up arrow next to resolution) button to get subtitles;

The Ghost Of Plagiarism

Facebook Valued At 50 Billion As Goldman Sachs Invests $500 Million

Godman Sachs ($450 Million) and Digital Sky Technologies (50 Million) have investedon the ever changing facebook driving the valuation of the firm to whopping $50 Billion. With this valuation, facebook surfaces eBay, Yahoo and Time Warner in value!
The new infusion will allow facebook to steal away from it's rivals in many fields like developing new products, hiring and possibly new acquisitions.
The SEC is showing interest in companies like facebook, twitter and zinga and their lucrative private markets and if they are using the private market to avoid public disclosure requirements.
On the otherhand, experts belive the new money inflow might force facebook to go public just like Google or Microsoft. Also all these companies are making the market change as well;

“When you think back to the early days of Google, they were kind of ignored by Wall Street investors, until it was time to go public,” said Chris Sacca, an angel investor in Silicon Valley who is a former Google employee and an investor in Twitter. “This time, the Street is smartening up. They realize there are true growth businesses out here. Facebook has become a real business, and investors are coming out here and saying, ‘We want a piece of it.’”

NYTimes

Marrisa Mayer Interviewed By Newsweek

One of the best and knowledgeable people at Google, is a girl and she is Marrisa Mayer, a senior executives at Google.
The interview starts with her answering the question;
"Why are so few women working in the technology industry?" a fine read. After reading the interview, I have to agree with her Computer Science Professor Eric Roberts who said “You know what? You’re really good at this. You could go far in this.”

Marrisa Mayer via Newsweek

New FLOCK Social Browser, MAC Builds Are Coming This Month.

Flock will finally be available on MAC this month, said the five year old startup. Flock allows users to integrate social networks within the browser, such as twitter, facebook and even LinkedIn :).
The newest Flock, version 3.5 is based on Google's Chromium engine. The initial version, 3.0 ran only on windows platform but now it runs on MAC OS X as well. Of course it runs on Linux as well.
According to a post by Shawn Hardin, CEO and president of the company;

1. Performance and design: Fast and easy set up, overall browser speed, and fast page loading
2. The new Flock sidebar: Makes it incredibly easy to follow, find, share, and update all your friends and information
3. Search: Discovering interesting content from friends when searching in the new Flock 

Flock also tells us that there are about 9.5 million users of which 2.36 Million are active users. They are also seeing 15% increase in active users, every week.
After trying out Rockmelt, I feel Flock to be the better browser. You too could join the crowd, or test it out by downloading Flock 3.5.

MySpace New Logo, A Better Redesign?

At the Warm Gun Design, as a part of the new MySpace re branding the company. I personally like the old logo then again, I am not even a member of MySpace. It remains to see, if the new logo will help to save MySpace.

Washington DC e-Voting Website Hacked, No e-Voting!

We have been fans of e-voting machines, for a while now. We are yet to like them. Because we feel they are insecure.
But we have another story today. For a week, the D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics requested hacker of any color (Whitehat, Blackhat, grayhat) etc to find faults in the web based voting system, which was designed to allow some 950 military and overseas voters to cast ballots online. The officials were hoping to use it for the November election, for the first time.
Yes, it worked, University of Michigan fight song, called The Victors was uploaded to the site and made to play once ballot is submitted on the thank you page.
Officials promptly took the site down and a scaled-back version of the site was relaunched Tuesday. With a difference,
One could download the ballot but need to mail,fax or e-mail the vote!

Good one for the officials, security matters!
The Washington Times