5 New Apps You Don't Want to Miss

Pocket
Not exactly new, but over 10 million people use Pocket to easily save articles, videos and more for later. With Pocket, all of your content goes to one place, so you can view it anytime, on any device. You don’t even need an Internet connection.. Just save them to Pocket. Access what you've saved offline. Set up Pocket to only download when connected to the internet to reduce data usage. Whether you’re browsing online or on the go with your favorite apps, Pocket lets you save great content wherever you find it. After you’re done reading, send the articles and videos you love to another friend’s Pocket, or share to Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, or Email.

Rumr
Rumr is the new way to chat anonymously in real-time with your friends on iOS and Android. The more friends you add to a chat, the more anonymous it becomes.
- Private: Chat privately and anonymously in real-time with your friends. Rumr allows you to have conversations your identity prevents. It's like having a conversation with the lights off.
- Anonymous: You are only identified by a colored chat bubble and your color is never shared. Your color will change each time someone new joins a chat to protect your anonymity. You can only see the messages if you are a member of the chat.
- Safe: Inside each chat you can see the list of members so you always know who is in it. You can find friends on rumr through your address book or by adding a username.

Random
This app will show you a random application every time you swipe to right and go back with swiping to left. So if you just want to discover new, old, paid, free or different filters applied apps randomly give it a shot. Random does exactly what it says. Great way to discover apps that are old and new.

Disconnect
Description
Search privately using your favorite search engine. Disconnect Search is a “narrow” VPN that masks your IP address, browser cookies, and other personal info whenever you’re searching so search engines and ISPs can’t track your searches. Search with Google, Bing, Yahoo, blekko, or DuckDuckGo. Stop search engines and ISPs from tracking your searches. Anonymize your IP address, browser cookies, and other personal info.

Timehop
Tmehop is an app that helps you celebrate the best moments of the past. What were you doing a year ago today? 2 years? 3 years? Timehop brings together your old photos and posts from your iPhone, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Foursquare and replays your past a day at a time. You'll quickly fall in love with checking your daily Timehop. Requires Facebook Login to use the app.

Woman's Facebook Update Lands Her in Trouble

Sometimes over-sharing on social media can get you into a lot of trouble. Many people can be very careless with social media status updates. In 2012, a Michigan woman named Colleen Cudney was busted for a DUI. As part of her court ruling, she was placed on probation. On the day after St. Patrick’s Day, she was required to report to her probation office for a random breathalyzer test. She passed the test and then celebrated the fantastic news on Facebook. WDIV Local 4 News reports is reporting that investigators claim she posted, “Buzz killer for me, I had to breatalyze this morning and I drank yesterday but I passed thank god lol my dumbass."  .. Cudney’s status update grabbed the attention of a local police official, who then notified the probation office about the post.  The probation officer then called her up and requested that she come in and take a urine test. She then hung up on the probation officer. Probation officials say that was a direct violation of her probation, which was set to end in a few weeks. Cudney is due to be back in court on April 1st for a probation hearing and faces as much as 12 weeks in jail.

"How to Get Your Teacher Fired" Video Tutorial Trends

What's the newest trend on Youtube? Teens and tweens are uploading obnoxious video tutorials on the internet explaining "different ways to get your teachers fired." Several news outlets are reporting that a handful of tutorial videos are surfacing on YouTube which feature kids and teens giving advice on how to get teachers pulled from the classroom.

One video (below), created Feb 2013, shows two kids who seem to be around middle-school age explaining just how they schemed to eliminate a teacher that "didn't like" them.. “And we hated her back,” one of the kids says in the video. “I had a camera hooked up right here and I showed the principal. We got her pretty good,” one of the kids says. 



“How we got her fired is we, like, we just like kept on telling the principal at lunch recess saying that she’s, like, harassing us,” one of the boys declares. “We just kept going to the principal,” the other says, and “sooner or later, we acted like we told our parents and they got into it and there was a report,”

The big question is whether or not the stories documented by the kids in these videos are legitimate stories. While many news media outlets have picked up the story, it's unclear if the story is actually true. It's very possible the boys made up the story to get hits on their video. In one of the video comments, the account name that uploaded the video responded to a comment claiming that the video was "fake it was all to get views". It's also unclear if the boys are claiming the story is "fake" in order to get out of trouble for being caught for allegedly getting a teacher fired. 

I did a little bit more research and found this other video that was featured on some of the media outlets. The "tutorial video" appears to have be removed and this statement was posted in the video captions: 

"I would like to thank all of the crappy 'journalists' out there for the traffic to my video. Had they done any real research they would have known that I never had a teacher named Mrs Keller. This 'tutorial' was satire made to shine light on this topic. The real issue here is how many kids are looking this stuff up. If you think 4 or 5 Youtube videos are bad, try the hundreds of questions on Yahoo answers and the Wikihow that pops up when you google 'how to get my teacher fired'.. As for the two boys that are plastered everywhere, THEY NEVER GOT ANYONE FIRED!" The message explains... "They are repeating a story they heard from a video called 'Life story: How I Got My 5th Grade Teacher Fired' a video that has well over a million hits and was made before those two kids made their video....", the message claims. 

I actually did look up that specific video and found it here. 



The story is told in a gaming videoblog by Youtuber Ryan Bauer
After watching the whole video, I came to the conclusion that I don't believe this a tutorial video "explaining different ways to get your teachers fired".. If you watch the entire video, you will learn that it is more of a life story ... just a regular guy talking about something that happened almost 10 years ago. He explains about some difficulties he was having during his middle school years (as many of us do during this age), that may have caused him lash out a little bit in school. This may have played a part in the conflict with a specific teacher. 

 I did find several parts of his story that were similar to the one posted by the two boys. It appears as though the two boys may have taken parts of his story and incorporated it into a new story with their own spin.

I did however, find this story of another kid explaining how he got his teacher fired.. but after coming across the other three videos, I question the validity of this story too. 



I also found another gamer video story on this topic. Again, this is kind of more of a life story. In his story, the videoblogger explains how he and a few friends were acting up in school...and as a reaction to their bad behavior, they were actually hit by the teacher. While I don't condone the bad behavior of children, I would have to say getting your teacher fired for hitting you isn't really a tutorial video on how to get your teacher fired.. Clearly, If the teacher hit you, she got herself fired.  

Facebook Buys Out Oculus for 2 Billion

Facebook has announced it is buying the virtual reality gaming company Oculus VR for $2 billion. Oculus makes the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset that's received a lot of attention from video game developers. It has yet to be released, but Facebook says Oculus has received more than 75,000 orders for development kits for the headset. The deal includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of the Facebook stock. There’s also an extra $300 million in the event that the company succeeds in achieving selected goals.

Fresh off Facebook’s $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is demonstrating to the universe that he isn't afraid to use his company’s skyrocketing share price to get an advantage in Silicon Valley. “This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.” Zuckerberg stated on his Facebook page. 

Although Oculus products haven't taken off in the mainstream market yet, the second Oculus Rift development kit is available to pre-order for $350. It is unclear exactly how Zuckerberg views virtual reality fitting in with social networking, or if perhaps gaming is even his most important concentration with this particular purchase.

See Zuckerberg's Facebook Update

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Study Shows People Update Facebook During Sex

Apparently multi-tasking during sex these days includes posting status updates on Facebook. First of all -Ew to the person on the other end.. But it's true according to the results of a new survey by global condom producer Durex, lovers are checking or updating Facebook while engaging in sexual activity. The Durex analysis polled 2,000 British residents in order to figure out whether modern technology has had an adverse effect on our sex lives. The study claims about 30 % of respondents revealed that their companions were distracted by their mobile phones at the time of sex. Around 60 % indicated they commit more time playing with technology in bed rather than they do focusing on their partners. The report was published in The Daily Dot. Over five percent of them confessed using Facebook while having sexual relations with their partner. The study, on the other hand, did not really go to the length to figure out why is this happening.

Things You Should Never Post on Facebook

Oversharing - Ten years ago the word had a whole different meaning. These days it all comes down to the internet and social media. People are constantly writing TMI and don't even realize it. Let's go over a few things to NEVER POST on social media.

1. Allusive messages directed at one person
If you have something to say to that person then say it to that person. Don't post it for the world to see. The wrong person could see it and think it's for them when it's really meant for someone else.

2. Work related frustrations.
Your potential future employers, co-workers and peers could see it and think you are difficult to work with. Posting around work-related issues could also jeopardize your job with your current employer. If you don't believe me, see this story: Man Kills Boss Over Facebook Post

3. Relationship Updates
Unless you are getting married or engaged, we don't need to know all about your dating life. Your good friends will know when things are getting serious because they will see your significant other popping up in tagged photos.

4. Political Rants
This is so hard to resist. Chances are your political views differ from at least a few of your facebook friends. Unless you're looking for a big debate or political argument it's best to keep your views to yourself.

5. Drunk Photos
Set your facebook preferences so that you must approve all tags from other people. Otherwise you might end up with some drunk photos from when you went out partying with some friends. You might not remember that moment when everyone started snapping away pics on their iphones of the group doing shots, and you certainly don't want to wake up to a big surprise on your timeline.

Words in Social Media That Could Get You FLAGGED by Authorities

You might want to think again before using #snow #pork or #exercise as a hashtag on twitter or in any of your social media status updates. The Daily Mail just posted a story releasing a whole bunch of trigger words which they are claiming you should not use if you don't Homeland Security spying on you. The website claims the Department of Homeland Security has been obligated to release a bunch of keywords and phrases it uses to examine social network websites as well as online media for signs of terrorist or other  threats against the U.S.The list of words and phrases involves some rather obvious picks including 'jihad', 'attack', 'shootout' and 'car bomb' along with numerous relatively harmless words like 'ice', 'pork', 'team' and 'cloud'. Distributed under a freedom of information inquiry, the information brings public awareness to how exactly the government researchers are mandated to patrol the online world in search of domestic or external threats. The words are also in the department's 2011 'Analyst's Desktop Binder' used by professionals at their National Operations Center which instructs workers to identify 'media reports that reveal adversely on DHS in addition to response activities'. Department chiefs were required to release the information following a House hearing over information obtained via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit which unveiled precisely how analysts monitor social signals and media companies for comments that 'reflect adversely' on the government. Although they insisted the practice was not aimed at policing the web for disparaging information relating to the government and signals of general dissent, but to provide consideration of any possible threats. 

So in other words, if you complained on social media about all the snow this past winter, you might be under suspicion. Happy Spring everybody! 

Click HERE to view the List of "no no's"

Zuckerberg Calls Obama Over NSA - Posts on Facebook Status

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg updated his Facebook Status yesterday, saying he called out and phoned President Obama to express his frustration over the potential damage the government is creating for our future:

Zuckerberg wrote:

"As the world becomes more complex and governments everywhere struggle, trust in the internet is more important today than ever.

The internet is our shared space. It helps us connect. It spreads opportunity. It enables us to learn. It gives us a voice. It makes us stronger and safer together.

To keep the internet strong, we need to keep it secure. That's why at Facebook we spend a lot of our energy making our services and the whole internet safer and more secure. We encrypt communications, we use secure protocols for traffic, we encourage people to use multiple factors for authentication and we go out of our way to help fix issues we find in other people's services.

The internet works because most people and companies do the same. We work together to create this secure environment and make our shared space even better for the world.

This is why I've been so confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behavior of the US government. When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we're protecting you against criminals, not our own government.

The US government should be the champion for the internet, not a threat. They need to be much more transparent about what they're doing, or otherwise people will believe the worst.

I've called President Obama to express my frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our future. Unfortunately, it seems like it will take a very long time for true full reform.

So it's up to us -- all of us -- to build the internet we want. Together, we can build a space that is greater and a more important part of the world than anything we have today, but is also safe and secure. I'm committed to seeing this happen, and you can count on Facebook to do our part."

Clearly, Zuckerberg is frustrated with spying and hacking programs and I'm curious to see how the White House handles and responds to this situation. It would be beneficial if Zuckerberg generated a call to action for folks to communicate with their senators as well as representatives on this matter?  2 million phone calls or emails over a couple of days might get their attention. 

You Can Now Use Getty Images on Twitter, Tumblr & Blogs

Getty Images is making 35 million images available for public use on social media sites like Twitter, Tumblr and non-commercial blog sites. The image agency has always charged a fee for the rights to use a Getty Photo. The decision came last week after the stock photo agency noticed its images were increasingly appearing on social media and blogs by people that hadn't paid for the photo rights. In fact, many of their photographs could easily be pulled up by search engine image searches and even on news media websites.
 The available images will be free and legal for non-commercial use and the website now offers an embedding code (similar to youtube) for the use of their images. The eligible images also come with buttons for Tumblr and Twitter, where a link to the image can be shared.

Twitter Website Down Tuesday Afternoon

Twitter went down for what appears to be maintenance issues on Tuesday afternoon. Tweeps are in a frenzy today because it appears that many people are having trouble accessing Twitter. When I went to page myself this is the message that is claiming the popular social network is down for maintenance.

Why I Prefer Facebook Over Twitter

There has been a lot of news buzz lately about Twitter and how Facebook is on its way out and what not. I don't think so. I'm not exactly sure where all this is all coming from. I tweet. It's fun. I mainly use it for marketing purposes. I own a company and my tweets are representing my brand. It's very important to utilize twitter for business purposes. I admit, twitter can be very entertaining at times. Other times, I sign onto Twitter, read some of the ridiculous trending hashtags and wonder what the hell is wrong with the world. I like to follow the trends and I enjoy reading tweets about tv shows and other fun topics. I also like to see what's trending because again, I feel it's important for business. On a personal level though.. I'm not so sure. While I won't argue that twitter can be a great source for discovering news, often before many other mediums, I don't need to look on my dashboard and see things like  #savebieber #swagyolobitches #LiesToldByFemales #ragemyfaceoff. Yeah, all these things might be trending at the same time as a some serious news story and it all just seems a little weird.

Social networks are for socializing but the truth is, a lot of my friends are not even on Twitter. My friends that are on twitter, don't even usually find my tweets unless they happen to be on the same time as me. It works pretty much the same when it comes to me finding their tweets. The feed can get extremely cluttered by spam and all kinds of things I have no interest in. I don't have this problem on facebook. If I post something important on Facebook, most of my close friends are going to see it and respond to it. But on Twitter, I will get maybe one interaction or response for every 10 tweets. That to me seems like a whole bunch of people tweeting and not many people listening. There are also other features on facebook like photo albums, tagging photos, etc. You can tag someone in a twitter post, but not on a twitter photo...but in order for other people to notice your photo, you would have to tag them as well. This makes my efforts seem like they are not really worth my effort on a personal level. As I mentioned, I think it's important for business branding, but other than that, I don't think I would be tweeting very much.

Facebook Post Leads to Rescue of Missing MD Girl

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that a tip posted on Facebook by a hotel clerk has led to the rescue of a girl that went missing in Baltimore County. The hotel clerk saw the Amber Alert while browsing through her Facebook newsfeed. She alerted police immediately after she recognized a picture of the missing girl that was posted by a friend and realized she was staying in her South Carolina hotel. The father is said to have kidnapped the 11-year old and the phone call from the clerk led to his arrest. Sadly, it is also been reported that the father has allegedly been arrested for the murder of the girls mother. But the child is safe and has a twin sister.

It's very nice to see social media playing a major role in leading to the arrest of a kidnapper and alleged murderer. It's also really nice to hear the the child was found safe. I get amber alerts on my phone but I'm not always sure what to make of them. They don't usually have a lot of information. The power of social media to be used for something good makes me very thankful we have it.

Read the full story here

Instagram Lands $100 Million Deal

Sounds like Mr. Zuckerberg's move to purchase Instagram is finally going to turn the app into a money maker. Adage.com is reporting that the photo-sharing application has landed an estimated $40 million advertising deal with Ominicom. In 2012, Facebook bought out the popular app for $717 Million. Many insiders questioned this move, wondering if it would turn into a profitable venture for the social media giant. Instagram has become a top social networking app with a said amount of 150 Million users. Facebooks IPO debuted in May of 2012 with disappointing numbers and many considered it a total flop. But those that who have held on to the stock for the long term, have reaped the benefits as it has more than doubled in the past year. This new partnership could drive shares of the company even higher.

Zuckerberg may have made a good move in buying Instagram

Instagram has become popular with teens and celebrities 

How Long Can Facebook Go On?

How long can Facebook go on? Everyone keeps saying that it's on it's way out but I don't see it slowing down. In fact, I still see new friends showing up every now and then. I've also noticed that some of my friends will kind of disappear but the reappear out of nowhere. Reports say that teens don't think Facebook is cool anymore because parents and grandparents are on it. Since when do we put all our investments in what teens say? They aren't even old enough to drink. I don't think Facebook is going anywhere. The stock has doubled even after taking a big dip with the IPO went public. Twitter shares were doing well too but have taken a dip in recent weeks. Social media and smartphones have become so consuming that they've taken over our lives. I'm not against it. I think these are extremely powerful marketing tools. I think Facebook will be around for a long time. I don't see it becoming an empty abandoned carnival like Myspace.