The virtual girlfriend: Fantasy or nightmare?

>A sampling of virtual girlfriends

Meet the next virtual girlfriend: The announcement of Cloud Girlfriend, an app designed to publicly flirt with users on Facebook, has had tech bloggers in a tizzy for nearly a month. Now that it has an official release date (April 06) and a cost (free), it's due time for us to take a closer look at "her" and, more important, what the fantasy of a virtual girlfriend says about us.

David Fuhriman, CEO of Cloud Girlfriend, says the product isn't just about entertainment and escapism; he sees it as a training ground for relationships: "Like the saying goes, 'Practice makes perfect.' [It] can help people come together and practice managing a real relationship -- and then take it into the real world." You know, like a Tamagotchi is to pet ownership, a virtual girlfriend is to dating. OK, so that might seem a dubious claim -- real-life interactions are an entirely different beast from status updates and "pokes" -- but these days so much of even our real-world relationships are managed virtually. As Fuhriman points out, a relationship with Cloud Girlfriend is like the increasingly common long-distance relationship (minus the Skype sex). This all brings to mind an article I read the other day about virtual therapy, where the patient talks out his or her problems with a sophisticated avatar capable of mirroring body language, engaging in basic conversation and, most important, asking a series of probing questions. Therapists are also using virtual simulations to help patients through social phobias.

It isn't just the potential entertainment or therapeutic value that has people wound up over Cloud Girlfriend. After all, the Web is already full of virtual girlfriends. There are iPhone apps and interactive games of all flavors. That's not to mention the phenomenon of Love Plus, a game for Nintendo DS that allows players to maintain a relationship with, creepily, young teenage characters. The game is so popular in Japan that a resort town dreamed up a special vacation package for fans to have a romantic getaway with their pixelated lovers. The game also led to the first marriage between a man and a virtual woman. And then there's the most popular virtual lady of all: free Internet porn.

What makes Cloud Girlfriend different and, apparently, more enticing is the potential to convincingly present oneself as something you're not: a stud with a pretty, doting girlfriend. The appeal isn't limited to those capable of deriving satisfaction from interacting with an avatar; a virtual Facebook girlfriend is, as with most things on the social network, largely about self-presentation. In addition to public online flirtations -- which are meant to make the bachelor look more appealing to potential partners -- Fuhriman is working on developing software that allows users to superimpose their image on a photo of their fake ladyfriend. It might seem too good to be true: Some suspected it was an April Fool's joke since it was announced in late March; others pointed out that Facebook's terms of service ban profiles generated by bots. But Fuhriman explained that real women will be managing the profiles and taking responsible for the digital flirtations. However, he insists that it "is not a sex chat or pornography service." That raises the question: Why not just do it yourself -- create a fake Facebook profile for your dream girl and then fabricate interactions on your real profile?

The thing is, I suspect the buzz over Cloud Girlfriend has less to do with the app's actual utility and far more to do with the desire, and fear, that it taps into. We're more connected, and yet more isolated, than ever. The hyped future-is-now remedies for carnal loneliness -- like sex robots and teledildonics -- have inspired disappointment, and often repulsion. This is a time of fantasy fulfillment and disenchantment -- and what represents that better than a lover who is real to everyone except oneself.

post by tracy_clarkflory

Twitter's Trending Topics Reinforce User's Love Of Mainstream Media

Big media still rules when it comes to Twitter, it seems. Hewlett-Packard researchers have been looking into where Twitter's Trending Topics come from, and the answer may be somewhat depressing to those convinced that the internet is all about democraticizing information. According the HP report, Trending

Topics are all about the retweets, with as high as 31% of a TT consisting of retweets instead of original content. They're also shortlived, with the average length of time they remain popular being less than 40 minutes, and tend to come from mainstream media sources; in a 40-day period, 72% of the most popular - and retweeted - tweets came from media outlets like CNN, the New York Times and the BBC (which, to some degree, makes sense - People are still attuned to repeat what they consider comes from some voice of authority, such as media institutions), a finding that mirrors the recent GlobalWebIndex Wave report that suggested that the internet was turning users back into passive consumers, instead of producers in their own right. Obviously, Twitter needs to be stopped before it's too late.

Brands that want a little piece of that sweet Twitter action are going to have to pay a little extra in the future, if rumors about Twitter increasing the cost of "promoted trend" ads by tens of thousands of dollars are true. According to the All Things Digital blog, Twitter has started telling buyers that the price of a one-day stint at the top of the Trending Topics bar will go from between $70,000-$80,000 to $100,000-$120,000. Considering the spots have been continually selling out since their introduction last year, it's unlikely that the price bump will cause anyone to blink. But the news that the company is thinking of doing a similar increase for its less-successful Promoted Accounts program might. Looks like Twitter is serious about tripling its revenue this year, and potentially without its users - most of whom ignore Promoted Trends or Accounts quite easily - even noticing.

When actress Elizabeth Hurley tweets that she loves a specific Estee Lauder product, she could be getting paid the big bucks to say so. Since the actress has been the face of the brand for over 15 years, it seems like quite the coincidence that every once and awhile she gives Estee Lauder shout out. Although the FTC ruled late last year that endorsed tweets in the U.S. must be clearly labeled, no such mandate exists in Hurley's native England. Or at least, not yet. The UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has begun cracking down on deceptive endorsed tweets, starting with its attack on PR company Handpicked Media. The OFT said in a statement that "online advertising and marketing practices that do not disclose they include paid for promotions are deceptive under trading laws."

This crackdown would put tweets like Hurley's in jeopardy of punishment, since the actress neither mentions the companies she endorses on her twitter page nor adds the hashtag #ad to her endorsed tweets.But full disclosure of endorsed tweets doesn't mean the end to twitter advertising. Stateside celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Snoop Dogg still rake in thousands (up to $10,000 and $3,000 respectively) to tweet about a product, even with the #ad hashtag.

And The winners are.....

HELLO HACKERS... IS THIS PRIDE TO NATION?

I ndia Unknowingly getting involved in Cyber war? Last week DDOS attack were carried out on- many Websites of TUNISIA and ZIMBABWE government. Many attackers were involved from India and other countries too. Loads of traffic was flooding from India - on many of the Egyptian government sites ( as per Internet storm center audit).

THE QUESTION IS INDIAN INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS ARE AWARE OF IT?

Any prevention system is maintained from our ISP end? Hackers around the globe are bombarding official websites in Egypt with a DDOS ATTACK, by the use of tools like Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) and bot sites - may make it easy to use your PC for a denial-of-service attack. Were as many users were visiting DDOS bot site.. And it was triggering an attack from there system to government sites of Egypt where as the same traffic flood was redirected to government network of United States. This message is to inform 'Users' in India not to involve or visit any sites which will trigger a Dos Attack. We request ISP's to monitor the (BOT) sites and traffic flowing from India.

Now the question is that, who are those Indian Hackers involved in this attack? Can Indian Government reach to them? Why these Hackers took part in attacking Egypt?

Don’t you think by doing this, we are indirectly dragging our country in cyber war? “Once DDOS is launched no one can stop" Read in detail how hackers bring online trouble to our country with their unwanted involvements and activities in “ Cat techie” .

Hindu militant Group

I f you get in to flash back, there were few communities and groups on Orkut which were working for the pride of this nation.(HMG was also one of them), Hindu militant Group made its mark, then showing the concern for country. A group of Pakistani hackers use to abuse innocent girls of our country, by posting their morphed nude pictures along with the pictures of their family members and also their personal details. Initially the group HMG tried convincing Pakistani Hackers about stop targeting blameless girls. However HMG failed to convince them (Hoodlum Don/ Hoody is the founder of HMG). During that time, the users were not that regular on Orkut or any other social networking sites. Hindu Militant Group, Had India not been a vibrant democracy and where Hinduism an intolerant faith, we would have witnessed many violent and perverted responses in cyber space. The owner of HMG gave offer to Gaurav to join their group and to witness the happenings going around. This is how Gaurav, one of the founder member of ICW started forming a team with the brilliant hackers to deface Pakistani sites. There were many brilliant hackers like Sameer, Godvin, Bond, witu (wireless punter) the integral part of ICW. Not only these boys but the girls also gave best ot contribution to this group.

See the twist here these people were at that time trying to convey their disagreement over insulting Hindu woman and god. But in other hand HMG group’s one of the female member provided photographs of the female group members to Pakistani hacker and they were misused. This hacker babe is still there on our Face Book community and very well from my own Native place Hyderabad. Sad but crood, most of the time woman is woman’s enemy. Now also she enjoys displays and making mockery of each profile with utmost abusive language. She loves when girls are abused on her wall, its sick physic.

The other hand there is girls like ‘EG’, my team girls are her diehard fans. She shows those guys their place who tries messing with her, very much dedicated to country, aggressive yet loving and full of compassion. I salute this girl and value her attitude. I feel proud of HMG when I look at girls like her, but also feel sorry for one thing, they could control over other country but couldn’t clean their own carpet. If you go to face-book walls, it has become place of war, false ego and random abuses, vulgar language, perversion and mean approach. To stand by one girl as supporter , all guys collectively hit other girl with most innovative slangs. Irony!

The other day Andhra Hacker displayed my blog screen short on his wall,( probelby it was tagged by some one) but read comments if not removed.. I mean..I really failed to understand what they were trying to convey? It’s there on blog, why need display? Ok you displayed, showed your concern for whom so ever, what have you achieved? nothing much See the double standards. AH guys they abuse like some body has given them right, Why? What have we done to you?
Please leave us or hold us, don’t make us punching bag. We have lots of work and growing. My 90% of the staff is between the age group of 19 to 27. We slogged day night for our company reach to the heights, without any financer or politician or business group. Believe me 63 hackers are earning their living from my company NBC. And today we have appointed some more hackers in our security company Kaizan. They are happy with us.

We are not here to damage, it’s a bogey, the team of guilty hackers has been trying to nurture for some months now. But they had failed to make headway in the absence of any supporting evidence. Hackers love bogeys. First they are created; then promoted; and finally bashed. In the last week one such bogey was discovered. With the vocal assistance of a section of the groups, it was assiduously promoted. The hype got further fillip. And almost immediately the bashing began. This line of thought was first propagated when some of the Hackers miserably failed in their malicious intensions.

Before we examine the ramifications of this allegation, it is important to understand the motivation that guides the disproportionate attention paid to two crude rumors. Nobody in their right minds has ever suggested that every Hacker is Criminal, real or potential. They unsuccessfully tried to hunt with the hound and run with the hare, but stopped short of endorsing the repugnant demand for revoking the ban on people like us. Any ways the Question remains here is..Who is that girl (who provided pictures to Pakistan Hacker’s?) answer is in your friends list, if you still can’t make out then wait for my book ‘Cat techie” to be launched.

Everyone has right of expression, abusing is violation of that fundamental right.. Do not ever abuse the rights given to you by independent India.

Anything for India? Is it?

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we have 9006 subscriber for Hacker5 from all over India, thanks for support soon we will reach other cities and countries too..

HINDU, MUSLIM GODS ABUSED, STRIPPED ON FACEBOOK

Facebook is the most famous social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. But, this social networking site has become the modest weapon to abuse, insult and express hatred towards religions. Distressingly, a facebook page named Hindu has several images of both Hindu and Muslim gods cropped and merged with nude human bodies. Not only this, the page also includes pathetic and adult comments.
The owner or developer of the website http://www.hindunet.org/ has misused the facebook by creating a page with contents hurting sentiments of both Hindu and Muslim religion followers. The page has 79,872 followers and their only reason to be there seems to abuse other religion. Very sadly, there are number of images in which the Hindu gods are shown in compromising position. Whereas, there are also images which a pig is shown holding the holy Quran. Some pictures are so distressing that it cannot be explained. “It is surprising to know that these kinds of pages are entertained. Isn't there anyone to moderate? Facebook should look into this matter,” says Kiran Raghavan, a Bank employee.
The images can be found on the link http://www.facebook.com/ pages/Hindu/24525368223?v=photos. In one of the images, three Hindu gods are shown as 3 idiots as in the movie poster. Another one shows a pig resting over the Kaba of Mecca. Almost every deities are been abused. Every post is related to sexuality.

Harish Gupta, a resident of Borivali says, “Facebook should ban these kinds of pages which is spreading hatred towards other religions. People should protest against these anti-religion pages and make things safe for the future.” Adding further he said, “We should not get instigated rather we should live in peace and love. All religions are equal.”
Few months ago, Pakistan had banned facebook for a month of time due to the abuse made towards Islam. "Many pages are been created to target religions but still no proper actions have been taken. It is necessary that admin department of facebook should take care on these kinds of sensitive issues since this can result into a major physical war between the existing religions. Virtual war has already started this kind of stuff may also adversely affect the cyber space of many countries," said Mohammed Shaikh, a Dahisar resident. “These pages are intentionally made by people who possess evil intentions. Facebook is used by millions of people with different mentality and approach towards life. Though we cannot stop their evil thoughts but they can be definitely banned and discarded,” says Rehan Ali, a businessman. When AV contacted Vijay Mukhi, he said, “Government must issue letter to these kinds of websites and put an end to the insult of any religion. The miscreants should be booked under IT Act.”
www.afternoonvoice.com

ALL THE BEST FRIENDS, MAY YOU BE THE WINNER OF THIS COMPITITION

Mobile numbers, addresses on Facebook 'a security risk'

A security expert has warned that users should remove their home addresses and phone numbers from their Facebook accounts. Graham Cluley said the website now gives third parties access to that information. The website said in a blog post at the weekend that it would give developers of applications access to the contact information of users who install their apps. "These permissions must be explicitly granted to your application by the user via our standard permissions dialogs. Please note that these permissions only provide access to a user's address and mobile phone number, not their friend's addresses or mobile phone numbers," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Facebook's Jeff Bowen as saying. However, Sophos security expert Cluley, has raised doubts over the move. "You have to ask yourself - is Facebook putting the safety of its 500+ million users as a top priority with this move?" he said."It won't take long for scammers to take advantage of this new facility, to use for their own criminal ends." Cluley advised that users should take personal info such as home addresses and mobile numbers off their pages. "You can imagine, for instance, that bad guys could set up a rogue app that collects mobile phone numbers and then uses that information for the purposes of SMS spamming or sells on the data to cold-calling companies," he said. (ANI) A security expert has warned that users should remove their home addresses and phone numbers from their Facebook accounts. Graham Cluley said the website now gives third parties access to that information. The website said in a blog post at the weekend that it would give developers of applications access to the contact information of users who install their apps. "These permissions must be explicitly granted to your application by the user via our standard permissions dialogs. Please note that these permissions only provide access to a user's address and mobile phone number, not their friend's addresses or mobile phone numbers," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Facebook's Jeff Bowen as saying. However, Sophos security expert Cluley, has raised doubts over the move. "You have to ask yourself - is Facebook putting the safety of its 500+ million users as a top priority with this move?" he said. "It won't take long for scammers to take advantage of this new facility, to use for their own criminal ends." Cluley advised that users should take personal info such as home addresses and mobile numbers off their pages. "You can imagine, for instance, that bad guys could set up a rogue app that collects mobile phone numbers and then uses that information for the purposes of SMS spamming or sells on the data to cold-calling companies," he said.

ANYTHING FOR INDIA - MY INDIAN CYBER ARMY

W henever I come across the word Indian cyber Army, I recollect the young hackers of my country, who gave meaning and existence to the term “Indian cyber army”. This word is not someone’s personal property or treasure. This is a life style of Indian hackers, they are the one who protest and disagree to the atrocities of other country. They are none other than the hackers of my country. This word gives sense of belongingness. Indian cyber worriers, Indian cyber soldiers or Indian cyber army whatever it may be the bottom line is that they belong to my country and they are there for the country. By saying this I am not approving their misdeeds but let me be little bias and take liberty to disagree with the forces around, the one who are trying to snatch this name from particular group in the name of law and order.
I too own www.indiancybersoldiers.com and www.Indiancyberarmy.info , that dose not mean I gave recognition to this term. I am encashing the famous name by registering a stupid domain in my name thats it or maximum can register some NGO. but that dose not I can stop some one using these names the way they want. May be for security, defacement, or any other reason, Ethical or unethical this is again subjected to the principles of that perticular group. No one can stop or ban someone using this name the reason Indian Cyber Army is not someone’s own property or commodity. It is an integrity and existence of this hackers group.
My dear friends please never hesitate using this name as per your desires and wish. By using these names you are not doing any crime even if I register it under any NGO or Home department or some Cyber cell. This is just an eye wash. We the Indians have by birth some fundamental right to live and execute, if someone encroaches your fundamental rights no matter who so ever it is, let it be government or police or some so called custodians of law, you can very well show them their limits. And their limits are nothing but to hold the domain they have and execute their rights in given limits.
One has to admit that we are facing "next generation threats" and are worried over the complex world of cyber warfare amid reports of Chinese and Pakistani spies targeting the Indian military establishment. Though attacks from hackers can come from anywhere in the world, cyber onslaughts have been more frequent from China and Pakistan, which have reportedly been peeking into India’s sensitive business, diplomatic and strategic records. CHINA, PAKISTAN POSE THREAT AS PER reports from the cyber industry, China and Pakistan hackers steal nearly six million files worldwide every day. A report by US-based Defence Systems magazine found that there were 25 million new strains of malware created in 2009. That equals a new strain of malware every 0.79 seconds. The report underlines how the current cyber threat environment is dramatically changing and becoming more challenging as the clock ticks.
To address cyber defense, which is also under threat from terrorist outfits that have their own trained recruits, officials said the army frequently upgraded its comprehensive cyber security policy to pro-actively deal with and anticipate these threats. The force has established the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) to respond to attacks targeting the army's critical systems and infrastructure. These are high level talks and in spite of having such cyber cells, experts, cyber security establishments the cyber terror has no stoppage. No break or no assurance. As I said its next gen threat so every individual child of this country, should learn cyber security and hacking. If someone wants to use this Name Indian Cyber army, I am generous enough to give this liberty and assurance to the hacker of my country.
Anything For INDIA