Bad Guys Use Google, Too

Is anyone else a tad-bit annoyed when you ask someone to take a picture for you and they ask, "What do I do? Press this button?" I know they're doing you a favor, but is it really that hard? I asked some LPPA guy to take a group picture of us on my camera, and he asked me that, and then the picture came out all blurred. Plus, he didn't zoom in, but I'm just befuddled that he asked me how to take a picture, and I've noticed that people ask this a lot. What other button would take a picture than the one on top? And where else would you zoom in and out? My camera has all of 10 buttons, come on! Ok, that's the end of that rant. I ran into this great eyeopener regarding the harms of Google since the cyber crooks out there know how to use it much better than you do to get what they want. If you read that article for any reason, it should be to help you understand how careful you have to be with your sensitive information online. You'll probably pick up a lot of new search term tricks along the way, of which I had only known a selection of prior to that article. He also plugs ways to remove your particulars from Google. On a side note, it's also rather easy to find someone online. When my car got towed last summer, the towers gave us the name the car was under, and so after about 20 minutes on the Internet I was able to find the phone number of address of the previous owners (who gave us spare keys and are going to help us fix the a/c since the guy is a mechanic). I don't see that as being too harmful, but if you're a target for stalkers then you may want to be wary of that. My point is to try to educate yourself more than the next person so that you don't get screwed over.

Forrester conducted a survey regarding brand trust among people over major companies' whole product lines, and what was really surprising was how far ahead Sony pulled ahead of Microsoft. I don't see either company as more trustworthy than the other, but I guess Sony has a better PR team. The figures can't be too accurate, but I'm sure they aren't too far off either, and Apple seems to have pulled pretty far into the lead. CoolTechZone strives to explain why Apple is so well-received by people, and it really comes down to innovative products (i.e. real evolution in their product lines) and customer service. IM users rejoice: there's a new beta for Gaim 2.0 out, and it definitely came with some welcome changes from Beta 2. I've tried a few different IM clients out there, and Gaim is definitely my favorite even though there are certain protocols it doesn't support (it's not like I do voice chat anyway though; I have a cell phone). TypePad is trying to up the ante on their blogging services by offering widgets for blogs. I think that the term "widget" is rapidly becoming a buzz word, and I don't see anything all that special in these offerings. The only cool one is the one that tells you what people click off your page, which I would actually use if I was on TypePad. Ars Technica is continuing to speculate on a Google TV service and believes that they may have some sort of online DVR service, but I honestly have no idea what they're coming up with. Their job posting for a TV Product Manager definitely gave away the secret, but we just don't know exactly what that secret is yet.

I saw 28 Days Later on FX a few weeks ago and it reminded me of how great it was for a horror movie even though like no one saw it. We now know that they're actually making a sequel called 28 Weeks Later though, so hopefully it'll garner more attention. It looks like this is a big week for trailers. Charlotte's Web will premiere a trailer tomorrow night on Nickelodeon, and it's actually supposed to look rather impressive, though I think I'll wait until it goes online rather than watch the Kid's Choice Awards. There are rumors that The Simpsons movie will attach a teaser with Ice Age 2, but it could be a fake leak created as a joke (though this movie is really in the works). There is one trailer ready for you to see though, and it's for a movie called Guys and Balls, which almost looks like the German version of Brokeback Mountain, except that it's much more lighthearted (kind of like Bend It Like Beckham). AICN's Harry Knowles got a sneak peak at the trailer for Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, and when reading about it I just can't help think that this movie could use another five years before being made. It looks like a sequel to Jackass the Movie is in the works, and I must admit that that movie is a guilty pleasure of mine because it's surprisingly amusing. Lastly, Yahoo Movies has a subpar clip from The Benchwarmers in case you're a big Jon Heder fan.

Now for Friday's Feast:

Appetizer
Name 3 things that you think are strange.
Girls getting trashed without a friend to take care of them, Business majors who complain about 12 hour workloads when Natural Science majors take 14-16 hours on average including labs, and people who don't know how to use a camera (or steady their hand, for that matter).

Soup
What was the last ceremony you attended?
On Thursday morning I ran this event for NSC we call a Faculty Appreciation Breakfast where we honored 5 super cool professors, and I think it went really well. O's actually makes some pretty good breakfast tacos. Just take a look at these smiling faces:




Salad
What is one lesson you have learned in the past year?
When I have multiple tests in a week, sleep is a luxury I can't afford unless my weekend is especially long.

Main Course
Tell us about one of your childhood memories.

Dessert
If you could extend any of the four seasons to be twice as long as normal, which season would you want to lengthen?