Posts for 'Updates' Category

MySpace Hands Over Updates To Facebook: MySpace has surrendered to the power of Facebook, and users can now send their shared content on MySpace out to Facebook (and Twitter) with just one click. The functionality allows you to push photos, status updates, links and videos out to a Facebook profile or Page, and also Twitter. The move is not surprising considering MySpace's dwindling popularity, and Facebook's increasing dominance over the social aspects of the Web with its growing user base of over 500 million.

Despite MySpace's declining popularity, however, one advantage it had were the specially designed MySpace pages for musicians and celebrities. But with the increasing popularity of Facebook Pages, MySpace may have been feeling the pressure to finally tap into Facebook. With Facebook-MySpace integration, musicians, celebrities and regular users can still maintain their identities on MySpace, but reap the added advantage of sending content to Facebook as well.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL has dumped a huge pile of manure onto Facebook's and MySpace's so-called privacy policies. Hacks at the WSJ discovered that Facebook, MySpace and several other social notworking websites have been sending data to advertising companies that could be used to find consumers' names and other personal details. This is despite promises that they don't share such information without consent.

Basically the sites have been sending user names or ID numbers tied to personal profiles being viewed when users click on ads. After reporters asked about the practice Facebook and MySpace moved to make changes and apparently Facebook has rewritten some of the offending computer code.

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In a move that won’t surprise as many people as it would have this time last year, Fox Interactive Media has announced it will be cutting its workforce by as many as 100 jobs. Fox is the parent company of social network site MySpace as well as Photobucket and various mobile sites.

The move, which accounts for 5% of employees across the board, is another sign that MySpace and Photobucket are falling increasingly behind in the social networking battle. With Facebook and Flickr taking away much of the core audience of Fox Interactive’s babies, the signs aren’t good for Tom Anderson and his friends.

But is it such a surprise?Despite MySpace’s redesign last year to offer a better advertising platform as well as a more open network for users to access multiple social accounts, they’ve been falling behind Facebook for a while. While there’s no denying MySpace’s popularity in the US, outside of the States it’s Facebook that’s enjoyed a wider uptake.

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MySpace is on the hunt for sponsors to support its latest online drama series, Freak.The social network is looking for advertisers to support the eight-week online drama series, which features a group of teenagers.

Viewers will be able to watch the five-minute episodes via MySpace and a dedicated site, as well as interact with the characters via their profile pages. These will also feature blogs, Twitter feeds and videos. being approached with the opportunity to become a headline sponsor or closely integrated the brand with the series.

A MySpace spokesman said the social network was mapping out the launch strategy for Freak, which is scheduled to launch later this year.It will be the latest in a string of online and cross-platform products to launch in recent months as interest in online content continues after the success of programmes such as KateModern and Lonely Girl 15.

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While the networking website MySpace has opened the door to many a musician – Lily Allen for one – only now have the same possibilities been opened up to budding film-makers.

When the heads of MySpace recognised a growing community of film fans on the site, they set out to make the world's first feature film created entirely by internet users.

The result is Faintheart, a heart-warming comedy starring Jessica Hynes and Eddie Marsan alongside first-time actors.Although the film took less time to shoot than a Hollywood blockbuster, involving the online community in every stage of film production was a long process. In February 2007, aspiring directors were invited to submit a short film proposing their idea to be developed in a feature for a chance to land a £1m budget, supplied by Vertigo Films, the UK Film Council and Film4.

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Adding to your online social connectivity options, MySpace today launched MySpace Toolbar that will give users activity notifications during their Web browsing experience.Beginning today, MySpace users will be able to install the Toolbar by going to http://www.myspace.com/toolbar, and immediately begin receiving real time alerts and notifications including.

New Friend Request, Messages, Comments, and Friend Updates. The new Toolbar product allows the community constant connectivity with their MySpace experience wherever they travel online.The Toolbar will run inside the browser at launch on a PC running Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher or Firefox 2.0 or higher. MySpace will also have a version for Mac users in the near future.

Toolbar features include-Auto Login - Automatically link to MySpace without entering your email and password Always On-No need to refresh the browser for updates Alerts-New Messages, New Comments, New Friend Requests etc.

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Yahoo Inc has lost its lead of the US market for online display advertising to MySpace and its parent company News Corp's Fox Interactive Media and MySpace, new industry data shows.

Fox Interactive's collection of sites, led by MySpace, drew 56.8 million advertising views in June, compared with Yahoo's group of sites which had 53.1 million, according to data from web audience measurement firm comScore this week.

But while the statistic marks the rapid growth of MySpace in terms of advertising viewership, analysts say the social network site has struggled to draw top-dollar ad rates relative to Yahoo, known for attracting premium advertising rates. "Social media gets all these ad impressions but not necessarily get the dollars," said Colin Gillis, analyst at Canaccord Adams. MySpace's cost per thousand (CPM) page views are significantly lower than that of Yahoo, he said.

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Brad Pitt has recently rendered himself immune to criticism since the press and the paparazzi lap up his marriage to sexy philanthropist Angelina Jolie (and the adoption of her many children, the protective attention he shows her as she carries their still-to-come twins) and his efforts in reconstructing New Orleans. Even when we zoom out of his personal life (fancy that) and take a look at his career, he has a long line of interesting and intelligent roles played with talent. He appears on talk shows alerting viewers that something can be done to right the wrongs of the world, shaking his head at what the world has come to. It wouldn't shock me if I saw an OK! Magazine headline claiming he sprouted wings. As we continuously inflate our good-hearted celebrities however, we may take it bit too far and forget the degree to which we might fuel their existing narcissism.
 
I began to worry about Brad Pitt when at "Her Majesty's Stand Up: Comedy that Will Colonize Your Face" a show at the Magnet Theater in Chelsea where up and coming artists like the acclaimed John Mulaney of VH1's Best Week Ever and Joe Mande recent voted one of the 100 Jews to Watch by Heeb magazine shared some laughs and occasionally picked on Hollywood's bigger heads. One particularly funny nugget snagged my attention, because I wasn't quite sure whether it was actually a joke. Brad Pitt, claimed one comedian, may star in a film where he plays a struggling actor named Chad Schmidt, whose striking resemblance with rising star actor Brad Pitt relegates him to look-alike status. Pitt stars as the blatantly rhymed Chad Schmidt and Brad Pitt. We apparently loved him so much that writer Steve Conrad (The Pursuit of Happiness) couldn't resist delivering us a double whammy.

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Everyone has a MySpace profile, and that includes celebrities, but due to privacy settings not everyone's profile is viewable to the general public. That, however, is apparently not the case as Canadian computer technician Byron Ng has discovered a security hole in Yahoo's integration with MySpace that makes it easy to view the photos for any profile.

To prove this was able to be done, Ng snagged some photos from both Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton's MySpace profiles.

Thanks to a flaw in "data portability", a fad that allows personal information to be shared between social networks and websites, we've got this major security hole that allows anyone to peek at your profile whether you like it or not. It appears that while various companies have been quick to integrate and make it easier for us to add friends to our profiles , they've skimped on security.

Check out the full batch of photos snagged here at Valleywag.

And if you're looking to sneak a peek at your favorite celebrity's private photos, or your secret crush or enemies, Ng has posted instructions on how to take advantage of the security hole. But act fast because MySpace and Yahoo are sure to patch it up soon.

"WaMu Presents MSG Concert Series." Iron Maiden headlines this concert at the Long Beach Arena in California. The 90-minute show was captured during the group's 1985 "World Slavery Tour." Throughout the MSG telecast, host Eddie Trunk will talk with Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson.

8 (Fox) "The Moment of Truth." You can't watch this show without wondering what, besides money, got people to put themselves or loved ones through this trouble. They're asked personal, squirm-inducing questions, and their answers are compared to their reponses when hooked to a lie-detector machine.

9:30 (NY1) "On Stage." Walk down memory lane with New York 1's theater series, which marks its 10th anniversary with a half-hour special. The show will feature more than 40 clips of interviews with Broadway and Off-Broadway stars. Among those shown: Antonio Banderas, Alan Cumming and Idina Menzel.

10 (CBS) "48 Hours Mystery." In a step away from the show's usual murder-of-the-week format, the team looks into polygamy and the case of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Show correspondents look into the secretive world of the FLDS.