A former politician who ran for governor back in 1994 has pleaded guilty to defrauding investors in a textbook example of a Ponzi scheme. Craig Berkman admitted that he’d told investors he could get the jump on pre-IPO shares of Facebook, as well as LinkedIn, Groupon and Zynga. [More]
Data & Privacy
Facebook Launches Instagram Videos So You Can Make Moving Selfies Just Like In Days Of Yore
By 6.20.13
Charlie Chaplin. Alfred Hitchcock. Martin Scorsese. What if all those filmmakers could’ve taken 15-second selfie videos and slapped old-timey effects on them? Think of how great they could’ve been! If only they had Facebook’s new video service for Instagram, complete with all those sepia-toned, vintage-looking filters beloved by self-portrait artists flashing duck faces at their phones everywhere. [More]
Amazon Marks The Passing Of James Gandolfini By Trying To Sell Sopranos DVDs
By 6.19.13
As you have probably already heard by now, actor James Gandolfini has sadly and suddenly passed away at the age of 51. And to add just the right hint of commercialism to this tragic news, Amazon’s Facebook feed was there to remind everyone they can remember the late actor by purchasing DVD collections of The Sopranos. [More]
Express Your Displeasure With Facebook Friends’ Inane Posts Via New Photo Comments
By 6.19.13
Sometimes there are no words in the human language that can adequately express the rage/excitement/annoyance/eyeroll one can feel when presented with a friend’s Facebook post. And because, you know, a picture is worth a thousand words, Facebook is rolling out the capability to respond to posts on the social network with photos. [More]
Apple Says It Received 5,000 Data Requests From Law Enforcement, Doesn’t Say How Many It Fulfilled
By 6.17.13
With many people still wondering about the extent to which the National Security Agency and other authorities were peeping in to consumers’ phone and Internet activities, some of the larger firms caught up in the scandal are making attempts at being transparent about what they did and didn’t hand over to the government. However, some are being more transparent than others. [More]
Facebook Launches Hashtags In Latest Attempt To Keep Up With The #Cool #Kids
By 6.12.13
A few months back all the kids were chatting on the Internets about how like, Facebook wanted to be a lot more like Twitter? And like, the best way to do that might be to use those hashtag thingies? Those rumors turned out to be true, as the #SocialNetwork is rolling along with the tide of progress and learning to use hashtags. [More]
Facebook Finally Ditching Those “Sponsored Stories” We All Love So Very Much
By 6.7.13
Remember all that brouhaha over Facebook’s “Sponsored Stories,” the ads that are supposed to be cleverly disguised as simple recommendations from friends? We kind of can’t believe it’s taken this long for Facebook to realize that users are onto their little ruse, but the social network announced yesterday that it’s ditching the ads in favor of a brand new approach toward advertising. [More]
You Should Probably Check Your Facebook Privacy Settings Right Now
By 6.6.13
If you’re like most Consumerist readers, you’re probably Internet-savvy enough to carefully screen what you say on Facebook, and to use filters when you have something more colorful and interesting to post. Now that everyone from your grandmother to your niece’s cat are on using Facebook, though, everyone could use a reminder of how to set up your privacy settings, how to change who sees a given post, and how to make sure those settings are still arranged how you want them. [More]
Airbnb Cancels Reservation Because You Don’t Want To Post A Video Of Yourself
By 5.30.13
One month ago, home-sharing service Airbnb began rolling out a program called Verified ID, which requires some U.S. users (and eventually people in other parts of the world) to go through a verification process that uses social media logins — either Facebook or LinkedIn — and offline proof of ID, like a scanned license or passport. But what if you don’t use Facebook or LinkedIn? [More]
SEC Settlement Slaps NASDAQ With $10 Million Penalty For Bungling Facebook IPO
By 5.29.13
How many acronyms can you fit in one sentence? Please see the above headline, which pertains to a settlement reached by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that will see the NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations — the more you know!) paying out $10 million for bungling Facebook’s IPO, or Initial Public Offering last year. Whew, try saying that sentence three times fast. Or even once. [More]
Graphic: Which Internet Biggies Are Even Slightly Concerned About Your Privacy?
By 5.20.13
When it comes to online privacy, many consumers assume that their service provider, or the websites they are browsing, have the users’ best interest in mind and that these companies won’t simply hand over your information to authorities. These people are mistaken, as are those who believe that no online companies make user privacy a priority. The truth, as usual, is a bit from column A and a bit from column B. [More]
How Not To React To Internet Criticism: The Epic Facebook Meltdown Of Amy’s Baking Company
By 5.14.13 — Updated: 5.16.13
It appears that the owners of Amy’s Baking Company in Arizona expected an appearance on celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares” program to vindicate them. They believed that they serve quality food, that they have been unfairly slandered by the entire Internet. Maybe they had never seen the reality program, which features last-ditch efforts to save failing restaurants run by people who are delusional or incompetent…and frequently both. [More]
Report: AT&T Discontinuing HTC First After Facebook Home Fails To Impress
By 5.13.13
Some called it the first “Facebook phone,” some called it by its name, the HTC First, and now there are those calling the whole joint venture between Facebook and AT&T a flop. According to one report making the rounds today, AT&T is getting ready to drop the HTC First after reportedly poor sales. [More]
It’s Hard To Tell When The Onion’s Twitter Account Gets Hacked, Because It’s The Onion
By 5.6.13
We often come across headlines that are so ridiculous, it makes us wonder if they’re written by the satirical minds over at The Onion. Which is why what now appears to be a hack attack on The Onion’s Twitter account was initially confusing to many, as the tweets featured fake links to fake stories about fake news. It now appears that The Onion was indeed, outfaked, further proving the need for a two-step verification process on Twitter. [More]
UNICEF: Facebook Likes Don’t Save Children
By 5.3.13
Your Facebook news feed is probably overflowing with sentimental images encouraging other users to “like” a page or share an image in order to combat some disease, or save an abandoned animal, or take part in some political movement. But in the end, those likes don’t do a dang thing, and the folks at UNICEF want everyone to know this. [More]
Facebook Lets You Assign ‘Trusted Contacts’ To Help You Access Your Account After Being Locked Out
By 5.2.13
Lots of people give an extra set of house keys to close friends or family in case they get locked out. So why not have a similar way of dealing with those times when you’re locked out of your Facebook account? [More]
Restaurant Learns Instagram Isn’t Intended For Hurling Racial Slurs At Bad Tippers
By 4.25.13
Someone at a restaurant in Delaware missed the class where they explain that the usual place to vent racially biased frustration at a customer is on the receipt, as the eatery is now having to do a lot of apologizing for things that showed up on its Instagram page. [More]
The Tidy Boxes Data Brokers Stick Us In: Are You A Timeless Elder Or Truckin’ & Stylin’?
By 4.19.13
By now we’re well aware that there are data brokering companies out there, collecting personal data from shoppers including what we buy and where we buy it, using simple tools like our zip codes, for example. But it isn’t just that they know all about us, it’s that often companies then stick consumers into little boxes, complete with fun names like “Truckin’ & Stylin’ ” or “Apple Pie Families” So which are you? [More]
