Unsocial Media: The Uselessness Of Facebook And Google+

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18 October 2012
3 min read
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In Entertainment, Technology
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Google+ is apparently a success, according to many tech reporters. Anecdotal evidence suggests that most people are using G+ to post inside Circles. Some 11,000 people have added me to G+ circles — but, apparently, none of the ones they post to. Of the 150+ people I had in circles, precisely three of them posted content I could see. When I posted content, only a thin fraction of those 11000 people could see it, because at some point I got tuned out by the system. G+ is therefore useless to me, and I just nuked my circles.

Facebook Pages allow some 16% of the people who clicked Like on a Page to see the posts from that Page. Regardless of whether or not those people specifically requested those posts in their News Feed. If a Page owner wants to access the eyeballs of more of the people who clicked Like on a Page because they wanted to see that Page’s posts, that Page owner has to pay to Promote those posts. I would currently have to pay USD $10 to ensure that all the people who Liked the official Warren Ellis Page on Facebook actually saw one single post. Facebook Pages are therefore useless to me.

(Of the 150+ people I had as Friends on my personal page, maybe five people were aware I was actually there, so I’ve nuked my friends list there, too.)

None of this is important, you understand. But I’ve not been paying a huge amount of attention to social media this year. Until it became time to start thinking about raising awareness of GUN MACHINE. So I’ve had to dig into this a bit — I’ve been talking about this in the newsletter, too — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Financial Ombudsman Service

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18 October 2012
50 second read
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In Business, Rights
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The Financial Ombudsman Service fairly and independently resolves disputes between consumers — including some small businesses — and member financial services providers. Membership of the Financial Ombudsman Service is open to any financial services provider carrying on business in Australia.

Our independent dispute resolution processes cover financial services disputes including banking, credit, loans, general insurance, life insurance, financial planning, investments, stock broking, managed funds and pooled superannuation trusts. We also cover estate planning, estate management and trustee services

Houses for Three Sisters / Blancafort-Reus Arquitectura

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18 October 2012
45 second read
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In Design
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This project [Blancafort-Reus Arquitectura] looks for a house integrated in the local landscape and tradition, respectful with the environment and full of corners where enjoy.

So this shelter contains three independent units, three sisters and their families, three houses with good views and orientation, but also certain privacy between them.

Here, the architecture tries to merge itself with the landscape, a grapevines and olive trees valley — via ArchDaily

Google releases Disavow links tool to fix SEO spam

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17 October 2012
1 min read
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In Technology
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Google has used the PubCon conference in Las Vegas to release a Disavow Links tool, allowing webmasters dump links into their site that are hurting search rankings.

Most people should not need to use this, saidMatt Cutts, head of webspam at Google. We build our algorithms such that in most cases we handle things just fine. It’s also an advanced tool, so be careful.

The new tool is designed for websites that have already been warned by Google that they have unnatural links pointing to their site, typically content farms for SEO gamers. These have most likely come from people either deliberately or accidentally hiring bad SEO firms that try and game the Chocolate Factory’s search ranking systems — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Swiss clock licensee surprised that Apple can use clock design

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17 October 2012
1 min read
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In Business, Rights, Technology
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Earlier this week, Apple secured a license from the Swiss Railway to use its iconic Swiss Clock on the iPad. This agreement was lauded by the SBB, but it wasn’t so favorably received by Swiss watch maker Mondaine, according to a report in MacWorld UK. The watchmaker has held an exclusive license to use the design since 1986 and said it was surprised by the SBB’s agreement with Apple.

Mondaine holds a long-term exclusive licensee according to a contract with SBB to produce, distribute and market watches and clocks based on the SBB design since 1986 and got surprised to hear about a license agreement between SBB and Apple. — via redwolf.newsvine.com

HP prosecuted by Australian consumer regulator

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17 October 2012
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In Business, Rights, Technology
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the nation’s guardian of consumer rights and regulator of competition and consumer law, has commenced legal action against HP over its warranty and repair practices.

The ACCC is upset with HP for five reasons, namely:

  • The remedies available for a faulty HP product were limited to remedies available from HP at its sole discretion;
  • Consumers must have had a faulty HP product repaired multiple times by HP before they were entitled to receive a replacement;
  • The warranty period for HP products was limited to a specified express warranty period;
  • Following the expiration of an express warranty period, HP would repair faulty HP products on the condition that consumers pay for such repairs;
  • Consumers could not return or exchange HP products purchased from the HP Online Store, unless otherwise agreed by HP at its sole discretion.

— via redwolf.newsvine.com

Spider Silk Makes Great Microchips That Dissolve in the Human Body

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17 October 2012
2 min read
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In Health, Science, Wildlife
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Spider silk is pretty amazing stuff. Pound for pound, it’s as strong as steel and more durable than Kevlar. It can be stretched to incredible lengths, but it’s no more cumbersome than cotton or nylon. Because it’s so awesome, scientists have long been searching for good ways to synthesize the stuff (it’s not exactly easy to milk spiders in any meaningful quantity), and they’ve made some good progress. Thanks to the latest work from biomedical engineer Fiorenzo Omenetto of Tufts University in Boston and Nolwenn Huby from the CNRS Institut de Physiques de Rennes in France, they’ll have a little extra motivation to get it done soon.

Omenetto and Huby are both presenting their work on Monday at a conference in Rochester, New York. It’s hard to tell who’s more impressive. Omenetto’s team is developing silk-based materials that look and act like plastic, but because of their unique chemical makeup, are completely and safely biodegradable. That means they could build special microchips that could be implanted inside of the body to serve a particular purpose and simply dissolve when the job’s done. A broken bone, for instance. Doctors might not be completely sure when the bone will be healed could theoretically implant one of their spider silk microchips onto the bone to monitor the progress, and it would simply disappear when everything is back to normal — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Gary McKinnon extradition to US blocked by Theresa May

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17 October 2012
1 min read
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In Politics, Rights, Technology
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British computer hacker Gary McKinnon will not be extradited to the US, Home Secretary Theresa May has announced.

Mr McKinnon, 46, who admits accessing US government computers but claims he was looking for evidence of UFOs, has been fighting extradition since 2002.

The home secretary told MPs there was no doubt Mr McKinnon was seriously ill and the extradition warrant against him should be withdrawn.

Mrs May said the sole issue she had to consider was his human rights.

She said it was now for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, to decide whether he should face trial in the UK — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Stolen Painting?

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17 October 2012
1 min read
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In Art
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Dutch police are reporting that seven paintings, including works by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, and Henri Matisse, were stolen today in a 3.00am burglary at the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam. The details are still sketchy, but the Associated Press says the masterworks are potentially worth hundreds-of-millions of Euros.

To the museum, anyway. For the crooks themselves, the loot might well turn out to be worthless. According to Robert Wittman, founder of the FBI’s art crime team and author of the memoir Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures, it’s nearly impossible for thieves to sell famous pieces of art, even on the black market. I talked to Wittman today about why yanking a Picasso is such a bad business plan, his investigations into art capers around the world, and why cheap paintings might be more valuable for a crook — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Clingstone / Joseph Lovering Wharton

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17 October 2012
1 min read
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In Design
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In Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay, a truly unusual home sits perched atop a jutting rock. Its owner and principal restorer, Henry Wood, has turned the beautiful home into a green, sustainable home with its own dedicated work force.

In the 40 years since Wood and his wife purchased Clingstone (known to locals as The House on a Rock), Wood, a working architect, has poured his talents and his energy into restoring and improving the incredible 10,000 square foot, 10-bedroom mansion. It sat empty for some 20 years before Wood and his ex-wife purchased it in 1961 for $3,600 — via Dornob

Johnson & Johnson facing massive class action

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16 October 2012
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In Business, Health
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Medical giant Johnson & Johnson is facing its third class action in Australia in as many years, with a case filed in the Federal Court yesterday which relates to a product called transvaginal mesh.

It has helped many women who have suffered prolapsed organs by assisting their muscles with support, but for a significant number it has caused life-changing harm.

Lawyers believe it could be the largest product class action in Australian legal history.

It has also cast fresh light on the system of approvals because the mesh was introduced without any pre-market testing — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Damn you all to hell / Tom Hanks

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16 October 2012
44 second read
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In Entertainment
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In July of this year, in an admirable attempt to secure him as a guest on his Nerdist Podcast, Chris Hardwick sent a beautiful 1934 Smith Corona to noted typewriter collector Tom Hanks and popped the question. Within days, Hanks responded with the charming letter seen below, typed on the Corona.

Unsurprisingly, the anecdote-filled podcast that resulted is wonderful. It can be heard here — via Letters of Note

Church protester tackled at military funeral

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16 October 2012
1 min read
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In Rights
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A member of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church has been tackled at a military funeral for an openly gay US soldier.

Army Staff Sergeant Donna Johnson was killed along with two others in Afghanistan earlier this month when an insurgent detonated a suicide vest while they were on dismounted patrol, according to the US Department of Defense. She was married to her female partner, Tracy Dice.

At her funeral yesterday, a Westboro member stomped on the American flag which led to a soldier hitting one of the protesters, Guardian of Valor reports.

As he was being arrested, two other soldiers rescued the flag — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Berani the Malayan Tiger / Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium

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16 October 2012
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In Wildlife
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Dumai, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium‘s Sumatran Tiger cub, is getting a new buddy. Meet Berani, a 5-week-old Malayan male cub scheduled to arrive at Point Defiance this week from Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum. Each was the only cub in a litter and pulled from mum within days of birth because the tiny Tigers were not thriving. Once Berani arrives and is checked out, you will be able to see him in the cub den playing and pouncing with Dumai — via ZooBorns

Domestic Violence Increases After Major Sporting Events

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16 October 2012
2 min read
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In Weird
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PROBLEM: We know that domestic violence rates spike during Christmas and New Year’s. Following the 2006 World Cup (in which Italy defeated France in a shootout), the UK’s Home Office released a report claiming that domestic violence had risen during the tournament. Are sporting events really as emotionally fraught as the holidays?

METHODOLOGY: Professor Allan Brimicombe and BBC News journalist Rebecca Café applied more vigorous analysis to the Home Office’s theory. Invoking England’s Freedom of Information Act, they obtained statistics from police reports from the 2010 World Cup and the analogous, football-free period in 2009. In addition to studying the overall rate of domestic violence, they looked specifically at the outcomes of the tournament games, predicting that losses would spur more domestic disputes, while wins might be associated with joy, conviviality, and, consequently, fewer incidences of violence.

RESULTS: When England lost 4-1 to Germany, its heaviest defeat at the World Cup finals, domestic violence rose by 31.5 percent. But a few days earlier, when hope for the championship was still alive and England defeated Slovenia, domestic violence also rose, by a similar 27.7 percent.

Interestingly, when England tied Slovenia, incidences of violence only increased by 0.1 percent, and when its match against the US ended in a draw, the domestic violence rate actually dropped by 1.9 percent.

CONCLUSION: Both dramatic wins and devastating losses during the World Cup were associated with significantly increased domestic violence in England, while ties didn’t appear to have any effect — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Chuck Yeager Reenacts Historic Sound Barrier Flight

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16 October 2012
1 min read
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In History
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Sixty-five years after becoming the first human to fly faster than the speed of sound, retired Air Force Brigadier General Chuck Yeager is still making noise.

The 89-year-old Yeager, who was featured in the movie The Right Stuff, flew in the back seat Sunday of an F-15 Eagle as it broke the sound barrier at more than 30,000 feet above California’s Mojave Desert — the same area where he first achieved the feat in 1947 while flying an experimental rocket plane.

The F-15 carrying Yeager took off from Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas and broke the sound barrier at 10.24am Sunday, exactly 65 years to the minute the then-Air Force test pilot made history — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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