Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Facebook app lets you add 'enemies'

21 min.

Let's face it. Not everyone you're "friends" with on Facebook is really your friend. ?What's more, there's plenty of stuff on the social network and in real life that you don't "like."

Acknowledging that the real world isn't such a rosy place, a college professor has created?EnemyGraph, a?Facebook plug-in that highlights the things (and people) that generate dislikes.So gripers, if you're sick of all the positive vibes on Facebook,?EnemyGraph?is the perfect app for you!?

Not only does it the app let you add Facebook friends you really (or jokingly) consider "enemies," it also lets you dislike pages, groups, celebrities, movies, bands, etc. ?You can also see who or what on Facebook is most "disliked" by other users.?

Some of the top "Trending Enemies" on the app include the Westboro Baptist Church, the "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer (I'd be willing to admit a dislike of sparkly vampires, though I am entertained by the movies) and racism.

Dean Terry -- director of the new Emerging Media + Communications program in The School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas -- is the instigator behind EnemyGraph, which begins with the assumptions that mutual dislikes connect people as much as they things they like.

As Terry explains in this blog post:

"Most social networks attempt to connect people based on affinities: you like a certain band or film or sports team, I like them, therefore we should be friends. But people are also connected and motivated by things they dislike. Alliances are created, conversations are generated, friendships are stressed, stretched, and/or enhanced."

EnemyGraph is a critique the social philosophy of Facebook. On it?s developer splash page Facebook invites us to ?Hack the Graph? - and so we did. We give them a couple of weeks at best before they shut us down for broadening the conversation and for ?utilizing community, building conversation, and curating identity? their three elements of social design. EnemyGraph is a kind of social media blasphemy.

The ironic thing is - and this is a byproduct of the project rather than the intention - we are generating a whole new set of personal data that could potentially be mined. I found it a compelling tool for self expression, at least as powerful as the likes list on your Facebook profile page. Often, it tells you a great deal about a person in a way that an affirmative list can not.

I'm giving?EnemyGraph?a try, and so far the activity has been minimal. I did add "Oranges" as something I dislike (intensely) and found pages to click on to add to my "Enemies" list.?

The app also runs "dissonance queries" that match something a friend declares an "enemy" (and again, that could be most anything) with something you like and put it into a "Social Dissonance" box on the app's page. As Terry puts it, "Relationships always include differences, and often these differences are a critical part of the fabric of a friendship. In the country club atmosphere of Facebook and it?s platform such differences are ignored. It?s not part of their 'social philosophy.'"

Right now, the app tells me, "There is currently no social dissonance between you and your friends. The world's demons rest." (Then again, none of my friends are using this app yet, so that's probably why nothing shows up. Looks like you and your Facebook friends have to add the app to make this work.)

But I know, were my Facebook friends to use this, that there would be plenty of such reports generated.?Just because you're friends doesn't mean you always agree on everything. My friends and I have many differences, but I suppose for the most part, we agree on the big things -- including things we dislike.

Also, who's to say that there aren't already some "enemies" amongst your friends? Some people actually abide by that whole keep your enemies close adage, and by checking out their updates, you can do just that.?

Terry admits that "enemy" is not exactly the right word for what he's trying to show, in that "the fact that you can make pretty much any object, place, or thing that has a FB page an 'enemy' EnemyGraph is in some ways an unfortunate name. So it?s not just a list of people. In fact you can have an entire list with no people on it at all. In a way we are misusing the word ?enemy? just as much as Facebook and others have misused 'friend.'"

He told The Chronicle of Higher Education?he didn't even know "if Facebook would even allow his plug-in application to pass the company's approval process, and even though it did, he still believes administrators will shut it down if it becomes popular."

Would you use this app??

Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.

Source: http://www.gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/technology/gadgetbox/facebook-app-lets-you-add-enemies-554174

miami dolphins charlie and the chocolate factory ou football ryan torain ryan torain world series game 3 sign language alphabet

Results Weight Loss: Leicester gym owner wins international health ...

A Leicester gym owner was awarded health and fitness manager of the year this weekend at the International Fitness Showcase awards.

Results Weight Loss owner, Joe Hanney, was shortlisted for two awards and went head to head with some of the worlds? most renowned and successful gym owners at a special gala dinner on Saturday March 24th.

Joe is thrilled to walk away with the prestigious Health and Fitness Manager of The Year 2012 award.

He said: ?I?m so happy that we?ve won this category. It?s a great honour to be acknowledged as a top manager because it means that we?re able to have some of the top trainers in the world working with us.

?Ultimately, this means better and faster results for our members.

?The whole Results Weight Loss team works really hard to create a productive environment that our members want to spend time in.

In 2008, Joe also won the award for Personal Trainer of the Year at the International Fitness Showcase awards and was also voted as Leicester?s most loved business in 2011.

He started working as a personal trainer in 2000, and is now considered to be a leading weight loss expert in the fitness industry thanks to his ability to design programmes with pre-determined results, and his wealth of experience.

He added: ?I?ve worked with some fantastic people around the world and I use the experiences I have with them to improve and create my own personal style of fitness training.

?Nothing makes me happier than seeing a client reach their weight loss goals, so it is important that I continue to educate people in correct fitness and weight loss.?

Results Weight Loss was established in 2005 and is well-known in Leicestershire for its expert coaches and well-designed programmes.

There are qualified weight loss coaches available to help members through a beneficial process that sees members leave Results Weight Loss with excellent weight loss results.

For more information, visit www.resultsweightloss.co.uk

Source: http://results-weight-loss.blogspot.com/2012/03/leicester-gym-owner-wins-international.html

bolton muamba crystal cathedral sxsw st. patrick s day brandon lloyd brandon lloyd celtic thunder

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Apple patents ejectable SIM card tray as nano-SIM battle rages on

Image
We're guessing it's just coincidental timing here, but it looks as if Apple has been granted a patent surrounding "ejectable component assemblies" that are designed to be "flush with the external surfaces of the housings of the devices, despite variations in their manufacture." In other words, a SIM card tray. Granted, there's no specific verbiage in the independent claims of this one letting us know what exact size we're talking about, so it's highly unlikely that a patent application filed in December of 2010 (but granted today) would be directly referencing the nano-SIM war that's currently ongoing. That said, the description most certainly sounds like the tray that we've seen throughout the iPhone's life cycle, and if Apple's trying to go small in future handsets, there's a better than average chance that the ejection mechanism will be all too familiar. Legalese lovers can find the usual load down in the source link.

Apple patents ejectable SIM card tray as nano-SIM battle rages on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Slashgear  |  sourceUSPTO  | Email this | Comments


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/6ok9NcdiXwU/

atherosclerosis steven tyler tropic thunder carnie wilson missing reese witherspoon pregnant billy joel

North Carolina anti-gay amendment may defund domestic violence programs (Americablog)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/209250869?client_source=feed&format=rss

rihanna thug life tattoo chuck pagano arizona governor seal team 6 patrick witt nflx leprosy

Cash-for-access scandal leaves David Cameron's UK government reeling

Glenn Copus / EPA, File

Video aired over the weekend shows Conservative Party fundraiser Peter Cruddas, pictured above in 2005, telling undercover reporters: "200 grand ($317,000), 250 is premier league ... it'll be awesome for your business."

By msnbc.com and news services

LONDON -- The government of British Prime Minister David Cameron was reeling on Monday after a video emerged showing his Conservative Party's top fundraiser claiming to offer access to senior politicians in exchange for large donations.

In a sting operation, The Sunday Times (the newspaper operates behind a paywall) secretly videotaped fundraiser Peter Cruddas? discussing donations. The film showed him telling undercover reporters: "200 grand ($317,000), 250 is premier league ... it'll be awesome for your business."


If donors met Cameron, Cruddas claimed in the recording, "within that room, everything is confidential and you will be able to ask him practically any question that you want."

'We will listen to you'
He suggested they could even influence party policy, saying: "If you are unhappy about something, we will listen to you and we will put it into the policy committee at (the prime minister's official residence)."

In an interview with NBC's Brian Williams, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain expressed the need to continue placing 'massive pressure' on Iran without resorting to military action.

Cameron responded by saying Cruddas' actions had been "completely unacceptable." Cruddas, a millionaire, resigned within hours of the report.

Obama, Cameron stand in united front

Cruddas made the remarks to two journalists he thought were international financiers and who were accompanied by a lobbyist.

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain and President Barack Obama have a personal bond that helps define their working relationship. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

"Because we depend on donors so much we have to be careful" to show "you cannot buy access," he said according to The Sunday Times. But, he told the undercover reporters, if you donate "you could well be at a private house having a private dinner with?George Osborne, David Cameron, William Hague, the chairman around the table."

Osborne, the cabinet minister in charge of economic and financial matters, and Foreign Minister William Hague are both members of Cameron's center-right Conservative Party, which leads the governing coalition alongside the Liberal Democrats.

Embarrassing
The funding issue is embarrassing for Cameron, who promised before coming to power in May 2010 to curb corporate lobbying, saying it was the "next big scandal waiting to happen."

Following the report, Cameron admitted he had used his official home at 10 Downing Street to host dinners for Conservative donors.

Before David Cameron embarked on his trip to the United States, Brian Williams sat down with Britain's youngest prime minister in two centuries. Cameron talked about his relationship with President Obama, the war in Afghanistan and even Meryl Streep's portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in Iron Lady. Rock Center Anchor and Managing Editor Brian Williams reports.

The scandal threatened to undo Cameron's efforts to shake off his party's image of being too close to the interests of business and the rich as Britain undergoes an austerity program to cut its budget deficit.

"This is not the way that we raise money in the Conservative party, it should not have happened," said Cameron. "I will make sure that there is a proper party inquiry to make sure this can't happen again."

While there were also tax cuts for lower earners, the government's recent budget went down badly with many Britons, giving the impression the government was looking after the wealthy and cared little for those suffering rising unemployment and falling incomes as the economy struggles to recover from recession.

Despite mounting pressure after the recent civilian killings in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain reaffirmed their plans to slowly dial back their military presence. NBC's Kristen Welker reports.

Previous attempts to reform the political funding system have foundered on the Conservatives' reluctance to cap donations from wealthy individuals and the opposition Labour Party's desire to avoid limits on contributions from unions.?

Msnbc.com's F. Brinley Bruton and Reuters contributed to this report.?

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/26/10863431-cash-for-access-scandal-leaves-david-camerons-uk-government-reeling

battle royale key largo arnold palmer invitational ryan madson louisiana primary unemployment syracuse basketball

Personal Loans for Bad Credit to Help Your Finance | dialpforpulp.com

Do you know that personal loans for bad credit can be really amazing for your financial problem solution? Yes, indeed, such thing is very true. You need to be really grateful to find out this kind of loans because with the loans, you can really be free from the financial problem that has been haunting you so far.

Perhaps, you might be wondering about what makes this kind of loans becomes different from the other loans such as the short term loans. Well, you need to know that this kind of loans does not demand you to have good credit score in getting the loans.

At this recent time, there are so many people who have financial problem and they also have bad credit since the matters of finance are getting harsher nowadays. This is where the loans for bad credit help the people to make sure that they can have nice financial capability again.

Source: http://dialpforpulp.com/personal-loans-for-bad-credit-to-help-your-finance.html

ron paul money bomb bon vivant zynga ipo zynga ipo sam hurd arrested roddy white roddy white

Lee Sung Hwa, Automotive Week 2012 (Part 2) | Cute Korean

Posted by Xeno on March 26th, 2012

More beautiful Lee Sung Hwa photos at Automotive Week events, click here for part 1.

Lee Sung Hwa (1)Lee Sung Hwa (2)Lee Sung Hwa (3)Lee Sung Hwa (4)Lee Sung Hwa (5)Lee Sung Hwa (6)Lee Sung Hwa (7)Lee Sung Hwa (8)Lee Sung Hwa (9)Lee Sung Hwa (10)Lee Sung Hwa (11)Lee Sung Hwa (12)Lee Sung Hwa (13)Lee Sung Hwa (14)Lee Sung Hwa (15)Lee Sung Hwa (16)Lee Sung Hwa (17)Lee Sung Hwa (18)Lee Sung Hwa (19)Lee Sung Hwa (20)Lee Sung Hwa (21)Lee Sung Hwa (22)Lee Sung Hwa (23)Lee Sung Hwa (24)Lee Sung Hwa (25)Lee Sung Hwa (26)Lee Sung Hwa (27)



Posted in Lee Sung Hwa [???] Tags: Automotive Week 2012, Events, Exhibitions? Im Ji Hye, Automotive Week 2012 (Part 2)Han Ji Eun, Automotive Week 2012 (Part 2) ? You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://cutekorean.net/2012/03/lee-sung-hwa-automotive-week-2012-part-2/

neurofibromatosis steve jobs fbi file suge knight obama birth control mortgage settlement macauly culkin joe namath