On that note: the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK! ~ On the heels of Microsoft's Bing, the Internet giant develops a computer operating system. | Forbes http://www.forbes.com/2009...
Google says it will develop a computer operating system. The product isn't due out for a year, so there's not much to say about its technical worth, other than it will be based on the popular open-source Linux system. The Internet giant's action, however, tells us much about the current competitive environment on the Internet. It also indicates that both Google ( GOOG - news - people ) and Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ) have shifted their competitive game from "out-innovating the other" to include "hurting the other guy's business." Google says it is building the operating system that to be open source and designed for cheap, lightweight netbook computers. Most of those machines now use Microsoft's Windows XP system, despite early efforts to get Linux on netbooks. Google's Android OS, built originally for phones but intended to migrate to other devices as well, has had little traction on netbooks. It will, Google says, run on both Intel ( INTC - news - people )-type semiconductors...
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- sofarsoShawn
Guess who's back...http://is.gd/1rpby...back again...hehheheee, Hello again everyone! Was on a break to Mexico & from the net for the most part too. Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!! Missed you!
"A group of Wisconsin Christians filed a lawsuit seeking the right to burn a gay teen novel. The group claimed the novel is "explicitly vulgar, and anti-Christian". The novel in question is Francesca Lia Block's Baby Be-Bop, a young adult novel in which a boy, struggling with his homosexuality, is beaten up by a homophobic gang. According to the American Library Association the complaint also demands $120,000 in compensatory damages. The complaint has been lodged by a group identified as the Christian Civil Liberties Union. Their suit claims that "the plaintiffs, all of whom are elderly, claim their mental and emotional well-being was damaged by this book at the library."
- sofarsoShawn
from Bookmarklet
"It seems the legal challenge follows a lengthy campaign by some West Bend residents to restrict access to teenage books they deemed sexually explicit from library shelves, which was eventually thrown out at the start of June. Some things never change. Here we are in the 21st century and we are still plagued by book burning religious zealots. The whole episode is quite repugnant....
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- sofarsoShawn
While it hurts me to know they will do it, the fact is they have the right to burn any book they see fit as a freedom of expression. They'll just have to buy a copy to do it...
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
What the hell do you have to do to get a cab in this city?! #fb
" There can be little doubt that the provision of an effective and free service for BitTorrent anonymity would prove hugely popular. Today we bring you a detailed report on BitBlinder - a brand new open source project which promises to cloak your torrents, hide your browsing and get round many obstructive filters. A question which regularly pops up in the our mailbox is “How do hide myself online? How can I get free anonymous BitTorrent?” Our answer is usually something along the lines of “Free anonymous BitTorrent isn’t really a reality right now. You could use TOR but please, please don’t. It’s slow and really, the people who run TOR do not want it flooded with torrent traffic. Your best option is to use a VPN service, but this will cost you a few bucks.” Maybe, just maybe, in future our answers will be different. Allow us to introduce BitBlinder, a new and free cross-platform (Mac support coming soon) open source project which not only claims to make anonymous BitTorrent transfers...
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- sofarsoShawn
"Although anonymity with the previously-mentioned TOR is good, using it for torrents is a big no - it’s too slow and the operators of the network do not appreciate it. BitBlinder was born to solve the problems that TOR couldn’t. TorrentFreak caught up with Josh Albrecht, one of the creators of BitBlinder, for the lowdown. “BitBlinder is an attempt to address the aforementioned issues...
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- sofarsoShawn
"As seen in the diagram below, your request for data using BitBlinder is passed encrypted through multiple peers. Each peer in the chain only knows the IP address of the next person in the chain, not the original requester/sender. Since decent BitTorrent-capable anonymity services cost money these days, how can BitBlinder offer the same for free? The key is to think of it as operating a...
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- sofarsoShawn
"Josh told us that the BitBlinder network could be made to work with uTorrent or another browser such as Internet Explorer but unfortunately both applications are closed source, which means that it’s impossible to be certain that all data will be sent through other users (proxies) in the BitBlinder swarm and not directly to the Internet. For the same reasons, Flash is unavailable in the...
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- sofarsoShawn
Anyways, WOW it works, however, remember to use your file sharing for good... ;o) Or whatever...
- sofarsoShawn
Doesn't accept new users right now. But if it's open source under a free license, what prevents someone else from setting it up to work from somewhere else? If it remains a singular service not many will find & use it - and the community won't grow either. Closing the doors because it's getting popular is _not_ the right path to take IMHO if they want to grow this.
- Morten Blaabjerg
"Offers a secure online backup, sync, access, and sharing solution for any mix of Mac OS X, Windows and Linux computers plus external storage media. The service allows users to create a ‘SuperCloud’ – that is, a central storage repository that serves as a virtual personal network - where they can access data from all of their SpiderOak devices from within the application or via web login at SpiderOak.com. Data from all computers in your account is unified and de-duplicated, resulting in a backup that is 10-15 times faster than conventional offerings. Backups occur automatically whenever any additions, edits, or changes are made to the backup set. Historical versions of any document, and even files that have been deliberately or accidentally deleted, can be identified and retrieved by timestamp."
- sofarsoShawn
"Chosen sets of folders across unlimited computers can be automatically synchronized as part of the automatic backup process. For example, sync your documents between work and home, or your pictures between your desktop and notebook. Synced folders can include network drives, external hard drives, etc. A zero-knowledge approach to encryption ensures absolute privacy. Stored data,...
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- sofarsoShawn
Can anyone make a competitive comparison between SpiderOak and Dropbox?
- Berk D. Demir
At least one of those photos are photoshopped.
- veo
I like him, and know that he's an attractive man, but he's not what I typically look for in a guy. But he's goofy and has a good sense a humor. The eight-pack though? Not my style.
- Derrick
I noticed him in a sitcom many years ago because he seemed to be a relatively unknown good physical comedian. Obviously inspired by the likes of Jim Carrey. Didn´t know he looked like this these days, and I must say he immediately strikes me as less funny.
- Thomas Bøhm
thanks D. shows how much attention I pay to the Hollywood personals. also, Ryan Reynold just became less sexy to me.
- jbrotherlove
"Ever want to ask someone out, but are afraid of getting rejected? This site is your solution! Each user makes a secret list of people they are willing to have a relationship with, ordered by preference. Whenever two users put each other in their lists, a match notification is sent to both people. Then you can get together and do your thing! Notice how noone had to "make the first move"...
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- sofarsoShawn
Oprah gets called out by Newsweek for promoting "new age", unproven remedies and cures for afflictions ranging from losing weight, to genetic and terminal illnesses (autism to cancer). http://www.newsweek.com/id...
"In January, Oprah Winfrey invited Suzanne Somers on her show to share her unusual secrets to staying young. Each morning, the 62-year-old actress and self-help author rubs a potent estrogen cream into the skin on her arm. She smears progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month. And once a day, she uses a syringe to inject estrogen directly into her vagina. The idea is to use these...
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- sofarsoShawn
That would be a lot of doctors. Outside Oprah's world, there isn't a raging debate about replacing hormones. Somers "is simply repackaging the old, discredited idea that menopause is some kind of hormone-deficiency disease, and that restoring them will bring back youth," says Dr. Nanette Santoro, director of reproductive endocrinology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and head of...
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- sofarsoShawn
[Herein lies the rub] On Oprah's show, there is one opinion more equal than others; and by the end of the program there was no doubt where Oprah herself stood on the issue. She told her audience that she found Somers's bestselling books on bioidentical hormones "fascinating" and said "every woman should read" what she has to say. She didn't stop there. Oprah said that although she has...
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- sofarsoShawn
Wow....could they have picked a less flattering picture of Oprah?
- Shevonne
Shevonne. Yup...http://ff.im/2YQkD LOL, but what's worse is her as an untrained amateur, using her influence to give "professional" advice, to a lot of viewers that buy everything she says. And it is "Crazy Talk" for sure.
- sofarsoShawn
I'm sorry, the only thing I will ever be injecting my vagina with has nothing to do with estrogen...
- tinypants (Amanda H)
I haven't even expanded the comments, but I am liking purely for Amanda's last one! :)
- holly
LOL :). Though I don't watch, but considering the time line in the article, it's REALLY about time she's been effectively put to task for promoting such egregious tripe. I know of some families going through as much that would take this seriously. It's pretty heartbreaking to know they'd go through the processes.
- sofarsoShawn
:D That must have looked like a lot of win coming up in your feed. :) Srsly, I want to like Oprah and I want to not think that Suzanne Somers is a certifiable nutjob. But good GOD. I don't know how anyone could watch that show and NOT hear the cuckoo clock going off in the background.
- tinypants (Amanda H)
Oprah is the personification of truthiness. Facts and reason don't matter as long as it feels true, to her at least. The success of her show is a testament to the anti-intellectualism that infests American society - people would rather believe pseudoscience crap than anyone who comes at them with facts and reason.
- Eric P
Sometimes Oprah does have interesting rational guests on her show...I said sometimes! Not quite as often as Charlie Rose or Fareed Zakaria but some of what she presents can be helpful. She can't be listening too closely to her guests especially Dr Oz and Bob, her fitness guru. There are no magic bullets even from ppl like Oprah or the few of her brilliant guests. And I probably am aware...
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- Myrna
In truth I love Oprah almost like a mom...she practically raised me everyday for one hour at 4 after school, but recently and regarding this yup Myrna...all FAIL.
- sofarsoShawn
Funny. Did you hear about the weird belief in talking snakes and a man walking on water?
- sovereignjohn
lol John...I have heard that one. I've heard an even funnier one...if everyone is as greedy and self-involved as possible, somehow it will work out the best for everyone, and nothing horrible will happen. Every era has its myths.
- Neal Jansons
Newsweek isn't usually the voice of reason. Maybe "O" magazine is cutting into their marketshare.
- Robert Hafer
"The lady [btich] doth protest too much, methinks."- Hamlet [III, 2]
"Color offers an instantaneous method for conveying meaning and messaged in your logo designs. It’s probably the most powerful non-verbal form of communication we can use as designers. Our minds are programed to respond to color. The subliminal messages we get from color shape our thoughts. As humans our very survival is hung on the identification of color. We stop our cars for red lights and go on green, we look at the color of certain plants and animals to determine whether or not they are safe for us to eat or touch, the bottom line is that color is a very important part of our daily lives. It’s import for us as designers to use color appropriately and understand the meaning behind the colors we choose. Red Action, Adventure, Aggressive, Blood, Danger, Drive, Energy, Excitement, Love, Passion, Strength and Vigor Red is an intense color. It can summon conflicting emotions from blood and warfare to love and passion. It is often used in logo design to grip the viewers attention and has been known to raise ones blood pressure or make people hungry."
- sofarsoShawn
" Red Bull: 1987 Designer Unknown ~ Red Bull gets a double dose of red in its logo and is a great color choice for a logo that represents an energy drink company. The company markets the drink as, “Red Bull vitalizes body and mind” and “Red Bull gives you wiiings!” both of these phrases reinforce why red was an excellent color choice for the logo. By accenting the red with yellow a...
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- sofarsoShawn
"Green Crisp, Environmental, Fresh, Harmony, Health, Healing, Inexperience, Money, Nature, Renewal and Tranquility Green represents life and renewal. It is a restful and soothing color but can also represent jealousy and inexperience. You can often find it used in companies that want to portray themselves as eco-friendly. Animal Planet: 2008 Dunning Eley Jones ~ Green is suitable logo...
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- sofarsoShawn
Also included: purple, brown, black, grey & white.
- sofarsoShawn
Had no idea Animal Planet's logo was so controversial..but yeah like the old one better. What would your logo be...new MEME!!!!! [Need to think of a good one, and it's not Kiefer Sutherland/Jack Bauer http://ff.im/391UW]
- sofarsoShawn
How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live ~ http://www.time.com/time... [Front page Canadian edition; business section US edition]
Waiting in the grocery aisle to buy all my organic vegetables ;) I was in SHOCK & AWE to see this as Time's COVER story. The worlds most respected and wildly circulated news weekly and a magazine which, he who shall not be named wrote some brilliant features for at one time. Anyways, it's largely a fluff piece IMO (being a social media expert in training): Scoble & Louis Gray (et al) have trounced many of the points made time and again here on FriendFeed or maybe they have more to reply as to this piece. So here for your perusal:
- sofarsoShawn
"The one thing you can say for certain about Twitter is that it makes a terrible first impression. You hear about this new service that lets you send 140-character updates to your "followers," and you think, Why does the world need this, exactly? It's not as if we were all sitting around four years ago scratching our heads and saying, "If only there were a technology that would allow me...
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- sofarsoShawn
True, it definitely is for the novitiate, but I've recognized most that FFers are higher up on the "Social Media Exper"t scale.
- sofarsoShawn
Agreed it leaves a bad first impression. Only last summer, people would give a blank questioning (but interested) stare when you said Twitter but this skipped right past recognition of the service over to an eye-roll reaction.
- Jess
I think that reaction is justified, shrugging Twitter aside for the most part, as it is backed up. However, the general thesis/main point the article comes up with in "How it will change are lives" is in the 2nd last para and a huge item that Scoble, Gray et al have failed to explore or touch on that I know of, is with the term they use "end-user innovation" which I like MUCH better and...
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- sofarsoShawn
Voter turnout could help unseat Iran's Ahmadinejad - Turnout Heavy in Iranian Elections - http://www.cnn.com/2009...
"TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was leading in early results from Iran's presidential election Friday, the election chief said. With almost 20 percent of ballots counted, Election Commission Chief Kamran Daneshjoo said Ahmadinejad was leading with 69 percent of the vote. Daneshjoo said Ahmadinejad's chief rival, reformist candidate Mir Hossain Moussavi, had 28 percent. Both candidates were claiming victory. Moussavi's campaign caught fire in recent days, triggering massive street rallies in Tehran. It was thought heavy voter turnout Friday could help him. Voters crowded the steps of one polling place in Tehran, some waiting more than three hours underneath the hot sun to cast their ballots. Some were lining up before the polls opened at 8 a.m. Moussavi's main rival is Ahmadinejad, blamed by many Iranians for the nation's four-year economic turmoil and known in the West for his vehement rhetoric regarding Iran's nuclear program and condemnation of Israel. Polls...
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- sofarsoShawn
"Ahmadinejad still has staunch support in Iran's rural areas. If he loses, it would be the first time a sitting Iranian president has not won re-election to a second term. Fawaz Gerges, an academic and author who studies the region, said Friday's vote is really "a referendum on Ahmadinejad," who has been in office since 2005. "The unemployment rate is 30 percent ... the largest in the...
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- sofarsoShawn
I just got the ugliest haircut EVER, that was my most expensive haircut EVER...GOD...
It looks like an alien torture device, complete with stirrups for the anal probe.
- DGentry
LOL insemination will be needed for reproduction, but yeah, a little Marilyn Manson "Beautiful People"ish
- sofarsoShawn
I hadn't thought of that, but you're right it can probably handle that too. The invaders will need alien-human hybrids to complete their plans, after all.
- DGentry
Just part of Mo Kargas' grand scheme to take over planet earth.
- sofarsoShawn
"In a bid to attract more business users to the iPhone, Apple introduced several security enhancements on Monday for its popular handset. However, there are still a number of weaknesses that need addressing before the company can climb into the business market. At its 26th Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple demonstrated an emergency feature that remotely erased an iPhone’s data in the event that the handset is lost or stolen. Additionally, a new tool called “Find My iPhone” will enable users to view the location of their lost or stolen iPhone on a map. Third, for the next-generation iPhone 3GS, Apple implemented encryption to prevent thieves from retrieving confidential, sensitive information. While these new features do increase security, they still fall short of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, said Jonathan Zdziarski, forensics expert and author of the book iPhone Forensics: Recovering Evidence, Personal Data, and Corporate Assets. “I don’t think some of the features were as...
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- sofarsoShawn
"In a bid to attract more business users to the iPhone, Apple introduced several security enhancements on Monday for its popular handset. However, there are still a number of weaknesses that need addressing before the company can climb into the business market. At its 26th Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple demonstrated an emergency feature that remotely erased an iPhone’s data in...
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- sofarsoShawn
This explains in part why the security people at work would never let me put anything of value on an iPhone [unless you want all your competitors know?] they even discourage owning one. If, you're caught...you're DEAD!
- sofarsoShawn
if I had a set I'd say that would feel titillating
- sofarsoShawn
Now I know what the appeal is to all those "cat ladies" that have like 15-20 cats in their house. Mystery solved. Scooby snacks all around!
- Michael Beck
if this were facebook that picture would be so removed! especially if it were a human infant attached to the milk dispencer.
- Nathan Eckenrode
@Melissa: It's not illegal to breast feed animals, and why should it be? Why is it 'disgusting'? Do you think it's disgusting that humans drink cow's and goat's milk, among other things?
- fn (fairnymph)
I asked that on another thread here a while back, fairnymph, when someone was acting all offended about the PETA / Ben and Jerry's thing... personally, I find inter-species milk exchange a lot more offensive than intra-species milk exchange. But I'm not a milk drinker.
- Anthony Citrano
I know you're not a milk drinker my dear, but you continue to be LOGICAL, which is why I love you so. If someone thinks all adult milk consumption is gross, I can understand and respect that. But arbitrarily considering some interspecies milk consumption acceptable and others not is irrational. It reminds me of all the silly knee-jerk reactions I got in response to drinking breastmilk cocoa. Curious - would you drink human milk?
- fn (fairnymph)
I do consume dairy products, yes [only humane, organic, blah blah], but still wish I didn't. Drinking milk and eating meat have been long out of my diet, though.. it's a long process... Also agree w/ your health analysis w/r/t monkey vs. cat. Also good luck with people coming back to threads. This is why threads die; FF still tends to be drive-by for most users.
- Anthony Citrano
If I send you some of my homemade dairy products one day, will you eat them? :D
- fn (fairnymph)
No, I'd probably tell you I did and then give them to the neighbors. BTW, you're freaking out the squares. ;p
- Anthony Citrano
@akiva Tori Amos did it on the cover for Boys for Pele, and yes, David Lynch is pretty weird.
- Tsali
@Akiva, no, it's really part of Dune. Thufir Hawat was poisoned and had to milk a cat for the antidote. Not that Lynch didn't brilliantly realize the whole thing onscreen.
- Josh Haley
You know I love freaking out the squares! And I'll make some delicious ice cream in a flavour you can't resist.
- fn (fairnymph)
I knew a chick on Yahoo who did that once. Not pleasant to watch
- Outsanity
@anthony I thought you were all about the titty? Must I remind you of the Kiera Knightly tweet? http://friendfeed.com/e... You were all about BIG MAMS
- sofarsoShawn
Trust me, Shawn, I would not be trying to milk her.
- Anthony Citrano
As an ubah cat lover... I shall never stoop to this level of loving my cat. Frankly this is so wrong in so many ways. So the fairnymph freak who thinks this is okay...it's not HUMAN!! this is a fricken CAT!! Let us drink our goats milk and cows milk, that is what our CREATOR intended for HUMANS. For the LOVE!!
- Tracy
Tracy, what? 1st: No creator, 2nd nature intended goat milk for goats, and cow milk for cows, that makes 3rd: "We are the cat who drink milk from a foreign species"... poor cows.
- Ryo
@Ryo, so net:net you're saying we ought to raise women for milk?
- Anthony Citrano
Anthony, it sounds like a nice idea :) But what I wanted to say, as long as you are drinking cow milk, there is no reason to get mad about a cat drinking human milk.
- Ryo
"Apple's latest update for the iPhone drew the mandatory whoops and cheers for the crowd that seemed to not care that Steve Jobs was being replaced by Phil Schiller, and the iPhone 3GS seemed to satisfy their thirst for ever new iPhone innovation. The main thing that Apple surely wanted to do was send a message to the world that the Palm Pre, which launched in the US at the weekend, was not going to be the best device on the market. However, it seems that while the iPhone 3GS is good, it's just not good enough to beat the Palm Pre. The first thing that disappointed was the lack of real innovation. While the iPhone 3.0 OS update was a good move, we saw that months ago. We cooed over the application integration with add-on devices. We aahed at the in-app micro-payments. We gasped (well, sort of were mildly amused) by the MMS and copy and paste. But today, there wasn't anything that made us feel that we've moved into a new age of mobile phone innovation the way we did with the Palm. Most...
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- sofarsoShawn
"Pre does more ~ But the Palm Pre brings more than that, something that a lot of people think is more important. Its touchscreen is more responsive, and there's no murmurings that the iPhone 3GS has improved on that front. And in terms of functionality on the business front, the Palm Pre Synergy system is one of the best out there, with the ability to sync so much into one contact base....
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- sofarsoShawn
"The iPhone does have one vital trick up its sleeve in the UK though, and that's the fact it has a release date of 19 June. The Palm Pre might have made it out to the US market, but it hasn't even been whispered as getting a definitive release in the UK, and that's where the iPhone will make its headstart. Well, that's assuming O2 hasn't upset hordes of Apple iPhone fans by locking them...
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- sofarsoShawn
So far we have tethering FAIL and AT&T dropped the ball there
- Glenn Batuyong
Also no 3rd party background apps able to run like the Pre or Berry. And ow catching up with the decade you can send picture text messages. OS 3 really just patches weakly over the gaps that have been its shortcomings against other smart phones.
- sofarsoShawn
somehow the 50K pre sales over its launch weekend does not seem to be supporting this, may be next weekend they will sell, i am not yet convinced
- Kiran Patchigolla
The marketing strategy is unparalleled with its "Everything Mac cult like following [http://cultofmac.com/ brought to you by none other than "Wired" who as well have noticed as much] amongst many Apple users. The new features speak to that...the phone is weak.
- sofarsoShawn
Hey man, I'm still upgrading. Eff it.
- Mike Nayyar
the lack of video recording in the Pre is almost a deal breaker for me. I was able to play with one over the weekend and I *loved* it. especially when the salesperson told me it supports microSD. sadly it doesn't, or else I'd have been sold.
- chrisofspades
Really? No V recording at all? That'd be a deal breaker for me too. Never checked one out TBH.
- sofarsoShawn
none yet, although they claim they can push that through via an update.
- chrisofspades
from email
I'll buy a Pre if it's priced less than the iP in India (even if only by a few hundred rupees)
- Vijay
"Following the filing of a lawsuit by St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa over fake tweets made in his name, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has taken to the company blog to respond to the suit and detail Twitter's future plans to combat false accounts. "With due respect to the man and his notable work, Mr. La Russa's lawsuit was an unnecessary waste of judicial resources bordering on frivolous, " Stone wrote in a post that went up Saturday. "Twitter's Terms of Service are fair and we believe will be upheld in a court that will ultimately dismiss Mr. La Russa's lawsuit." Stone reiterated that the microblogging company suspends, deletes, or transfers control of accounts known to be started by impersonators. He said such action was taken in La Russa's case, and also called untrue reports that Twitter has settled the suit."
- sofarsoShawn
" Nonetheless, Stone said the company recognizes an opportunity to improve its customer service, and will experiment starting this summer with a beta preview of a feature, rumored for some time, called "Verified Accounts." These accounts will feature a special seal indicating that they belong to the person (or persons) they say they belong to. The experiment will begin with "public...
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- sofarsoShawn
Damn, there goes my Kanye accounts!
- sofarsoShawn
Good job, Twitter. Impostor accounts shouldn't be tolerated.
- Brad Williamson