#See.Like.Cover

#Block trackers and protect privacy: Sheepish

Found a good Chrome extention which helps protect your privacy. Many advertising sites track our web browsing to gain info on our interests to present relevent ads. It's really annoying when i realize i am being watched by some code where ever i go.

Sheepish is an amazing extention which actually shows you the trackers and gives you the freedom to block them.

Quoted from the extension description:

We detect "invisible" trackers placed on web page and provide transparency into all the companies interested in your activity.
Our tool is used for users that care about their online privacy
We NEVER use any of your data and we never will.

This is what Life Hacker has to say about this extension.

Initially, Sheepish doesn't seem like much, but once you start moving around to new websites and seeing how many different places are tracking your every click, it might be a bit of a surprise. You can set Sheepish to block the tracking once your list gets populated or just let the ads continue to do their thing. Not everything that tracks you is always bad, sometimes its as simple as Google Analytics, but if you want a more covert and private browsing experience, Sheepish is worth checking out.

Get Sheepish : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ahblfbofkocobhlnmlclfmfimdjconji

#Some Zynga users spend $10000 a month: Roger Dickey in an interview with Bloomberg

In an interview with Bloomberg, Mafia Wars developer Roger Dickey reveals that some players have spent thousands of dollars upgrading and playing through Zynga's games.

Quoted from the interview:
Dickey says:

You have some players that spend thousands, even north of $10,000 a month on the game. I’m not sure where those people get that money.

During a Black Friday sale for Mafia Wars in 2009, some users spent $50,000 in one day.

People were wiring money to Zynga. Not even spending it through PayPal because they were going over the spending limits that PayPal even allowed.

Catch the interview here: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/82880972/

These people should invest in Zynga.

#Some ridiculous scientific studies of 2011: Top 10

Found these studies which i think are ridiculous. Wait, did i get them correct? Maybe these studies have some deeper meaning but for me they seem funny and obvious. Here's the list.

False Confessions May Lead to More Errors in Evidence, Study Shows

Big, Tall, Little and Tiny: Words That Promote Important Spatial Skills

Norwegian Study Finds Opening Bars Longer Increases Violence

Crash Experts Find Car Seats Protect Overweight Kids Too

Freeway Air Bad for Mouse Brain

Traumatic Brain Injury Frequently Leads to Headache

Under Money Strains, Some Older Adults May Turn to Alcohol

Relaxing Can Make You Fatter

Surgeons Perform Better with Eye Movement Training

Abstinence-Only Education Does Not Lead to Abstinent Behavior

Hey what about my study: 'People behave different in virtual world' Yeah even this is obvious but did it for fun as a part of my psychology course. But seriously 'False Confessions May Lead to More Errors in Evidence, Study Shows' is more obvious than mine.

#Google gives back: Video

Google published a video recentky about its activity in Philanthropy. Quoted from the discription of the video:

At Google, philanthropy is a core value. This year we gave more than $100 million to various organizations around the world -- including $40 million in grants that celebrate the giving season by supporting four causes that we consider particularly important: science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education; girls' education; empowerment through technology; and fighting human trafficking and modern-day slavery.

http://www.google.com/landing/givesback/2011/

#Fastest rising search queries of 2011: Google Zeitgeist

Google recently published a post, a look back at the searches, the terms with the highest growth in 2011 in many categories across many countries across the globe.

Here's the list of top 10 fastest rising search queries of the year.

Rebecca Black made a big splash on the Internet with the release of her 2011 pop single “Friday.” The music video catapulted the then 13-year-old to celebrity status after the video went viral, receiving over 167 million views on YouTube.
In June 2011, Google entered the social networking space with the launch of Google+. In the three weeks following its announcement, Google+ amassed a user base of more than 10 million people.
Best known for his daredevil stunts on the reality TV shows “Jackass” and “Viva La Bam,” Ryan Dunn lost his life in a car accident on June 20, 2011 at the age of 34.
Young mother Casey Anthony was charged with first-degree murder when the remains of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee were found in a wooded area near her home in Orlando, Florida. A jury found her not guilty on July 5, 2011.
The highly anticipated release of EA’s first-person shooter video game, Battlefield 3, sold 5 million copies in its first week.
Consumers and analysts alike anticipated the release of Apple’s newest smartphone many months prior to its arrival. Rumored features included a larger screen, edge-to-edge glass, an 8 megapixel camera, and extensive voice controls. Many believed the phone would be called the iPhone 5.
Adele rocked the music industry with the release of her sophomore album “21,” which sold 208,000 copies in the UK in its first week and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart for 16 consecutive weeks. The album catapulted the 22-year-old to record-breaking success and international acclaim.
The Japanese government ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents living near the 東京 電力 (TEPCO) Fukushima I Plant after the 2011 earthquake badly damaged several nuclear reactors
Steve Jobs inspired millions of people around the world with his passion and creativity. The technological visionary revolutionized the way people live and work with the aid of Mac computers, iPods, iPhones, and iPads.
iPad 2 took the world by storm when 500,000 of the second-generation tablets were sold on their debut weekend. Seen as a sleeker, lightweight alternative to its predecessor, iPad 2 sold out across virtually all channels in its first week.

Google as well published an interesting video on this years search.

Find infographics here: http://www.googlezeitgeist.com/en#

#Swedish government hands over @sweden Twitter account to its people

Yes, the Swedish government has handed over its Twitter account @Sweden to its people. Found a post on Mashable. Heres the idea.

One Swedish citizen will control the handle each week, tweeting about whatever they’d like, as part of a new project called Curators of Sweden.
Curators of Sweden is based around the idea that no single voice can represent the country, so a slew of guest Swedish curators will do the best job to portray the national character.
First to get behind the @sweden helm is Jack Wermer, a writer and marketer, who started his stint on Dec. 10.
VisitSweden, the tourism ministry that had been updating the @sweden account since January 2009 says it chose the curators because they represent the country’s values and skills, such as gay rights, fashion, design and innovation.
In the coming weeks, @sweden followers can expect tweets from an ad agency founder who owns a farm, a suburban writer, a priest, a teacher and a coffee-drinking lesbian trucker .

This is a really interesting initiative. The fact that only select people will handle the account makes it more stable and safe. What do you think?

Source: http://mashable.com/2011/12/16/sweden-twitter-acount/

#Facebook sues Mark Zuckerberg: A new Zuck is here

An interesting read on Mashable. Facebook has threatened to sue one Mark Zuckerberg, an Israeli entrepreneur who recently took the Facebook founder's name. It is said that he changed his name this Dec 7th.
Heres what i understood.

This guy has a startup, Like Store which sells companies, 'likes' to their brand pages. It means say you have a fan page and you need 1000 likes. Pay him and he will get you the required number of likes.
Now this is against FB's policy so it has threatened to sue him.
FB shuts down his Facebook page. Man says he first filed a lawsuit for shutting down his page.
He changes his name legally to Mark Zuckerberg. He puts up pics of his new ID. Plans to even change name of his family members.
Even after being asked to shut down his startup he is still operating it so now FB files a lawsuit against this new Zuckerberg, not over the name change but over violation of policy in his startup.
Obviously there is no rule which says you cannot sue a guy with the same name but the overall scenario looks funny.
So Facebook sues Mark Zuckerberg.

This looks like a publicity stunt for his startup. I think this is totally cheap and i am not tagging his website to this post.

Drive to the original post on Mashable: http://mashable.com/2011/12/16/facebook-sue-mark-zuckerberg/