The latest research conducted by IT security firm Sophos shows that it’s very easy to convince Facebook usersto reveal their personal info to complete strangers. This is nothing new, mind you – after all, many users see Facebook as a possibility to make new friends – but it is worth noting that simply friending someone you don’t know nothing about can result in identity theft. Here’s how Sophos conducted their research:“Sophos created two fictitious users with names based on anagrams of the words “false identity” and “stolen identity”. 21-year-old “Daisy Felettin” was represented by a picture of a toy rubber duck bought at a $2 shop; 56-year-old “Dinette Stonily” posted a profile picture of two cats lying on a rug. Each sent out 100 friend requests to randomly-chosen Facebook users in their age-group.Within two weeks, a total of 95 strangers chose to become friends with Daisy or Dinette – an even higher response rate then when Sophos first performed the experiment two years ago with a plastic frog. Worse still, in the latest study, eight Facebookers befriended Dinette without even being asked.”At Sophos, they call it the “rubber duck attack”. The moniker is silly on purpose, as it shows how you can gather someone’s personal info without any technical expertise, simply by working within the social network’s rules. It’s important to point out that Facebook gives very extensive privacy options for every profile; you can read the details on how to protect your data in our Facebook privacy primer. While there’s nothing wrong with being friendly, even with strangers, Facebook users need to understand that this friendliness can cost them, and the price of identity theft can be very high. Check out a video showing how the “rubber duck” tactic can be used for identity theft below.Reviews: FacebookTags: facebook, privacy, security

  Sometimes, famous people from the West go to Japan to act in weird, surreal ads. It’s not a big secret; after all, everyone has seen this video, and there’s a whole moviethat revolves around the phenomenon. Still, every time it happens, we’re in awe. Check out this latest ad(below), featuring Quentin Tarantino performing kung-fu to Star Wars Romeo & Juliet music, a real dog, a plastic dog-speaker and an angry women yelling at the telephone. What’s happening here? What is Tarantino trying to do? What, exactly, are they selling here? It’s all mostly a mystery, but it sure makes for one funny viral video, and that’s enough for us. Tags: crazy Japanese ads, Quentin Tarantino

  Twitter’s rolling out yet another new feature, but this one could be instrumental in fixing two of Twitter’s biggest problems: finding a business model and jump-starting its stalled growth.Twitter is launching a new API (application programming interface) that will allow anybody to sign up for Twitter from a 3rd party application or website. The new Twitter Sign-Up API has not been released publicly, but it has just found its first implementation with popular online local guide Citysearch.The integration itself is rather straightforward. If you’re a business with a profile on Citysearch, you can now link up your Twitter account to that page or create one right there within Citysearch. If you create a new profile or claim one for your business (this is a new feature as of today), these options will also appear. Afterwards, tweets from your business will appear on your Citysearch business page. According to the company, this is the first time anybody has been able to sign up for Twitter externally.To us, this seems to be just the beginning of a major move by Twitter to reach out and find new users, wherever they may be. Twitter was able to grow at a rapid clip for the first half of this year, but since then has hit a growth ceiling that it’s been unable to solve. It makes sense to give people the ability to sign up through other popular websites and apps. While Citysearch is the only one using the Sign-Up API currently, they certainly won’t be a last.The API also has shades of a future Twitter business model. It’s interesting that Twitter chose Citysearch to be the first to use the API. It’s clearly targeting businesses with this move. With the likelihood of paid accounts for businesses and brands coming this year, it’s understandable why Twitter’s focusing on these businesses and business users.Businesses keep looking for new ways to integrate with Twitter, but the launch of the Sign-Up API with Citysearch may be one of the most important integrations yet.Reviews: TwitterTags: citysearch, twitter

  The evolution of music is in essence a study of how human culture, tastes, and technology have evolved over the course of thousands of years. From ancient Indian music to Beethoven to Lady GaGa, music has embraced new instruments and scientific advances in the search for the perfect harmony and melody.While most of society thinks of music in terms of voices, pianos, and woodwinds, perhaps the world should get ready for the rise of a new instrument: the iPhone. While composing computer-generated music is nothing new, the iPhone’s unique mobile capabilities, accelerometer, compass, GPS, and hardware have already made it a musical instrument (e.g. the Smule OcarinaiPhone App). But that’s nothing compared to what’s in store for us in the future; a recent concert at Stanford University pushed the limits and our perception of what is possible with music.On Thursday, December 3rd, a small group of students and faculty performed as the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra (MoPhO). Wearing gloves that act as speakers and only wielding iPhones as instruments, the orchestra put on a show to a packed room. i, MoPhOwas an exploration of not only musical melodies, but of how far mobile technology has come.The musical tones were unique, and while some harmonies didn’t match, others blew the audience away. They did things that no orchestra on Earth can do, such as “passing” musical sounds to one another and using the iPhone’s directional capabilities to provide a truly surround sound musical experience. While it was clear that iPhones won’t be replacing the London Philharmonic Orchestra anytime soon, it was also apparent that this small team from Stanford was just scratching the surface of the possibilities of mobile phone and musical technology.I had the distinct honor of attending, and while I did not record all of the compositions, I did record HD video of five of the pieces. I have included each, along with the name of the compositions, below. Please let us know what you think of this concert and, more importantly, the convergence of music and technology in the comments.1. IntraV: a tale in two parts2. Vox Aeterna3. Mo So(und) Bo(unce)4. Dots + Lines5. Touch PatternsReviews: iPhoneTags: iphone, music, Orchestra, Stanford

  As more and more users sign-up to use Facebook and make it a part of their daily lives, the issue of safety, especially when it comes to children, has become more and more important. On that end, Facebook has just announcedthe formation of the Facebook Safety Advisory Board as part of its commitment to improve safety on Facebook and across the web.The advisory board is made up of five Internet safety organizations from North American and Europe that will act as consultants to Facebook on issues related to online safety. The five organizations are Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International and The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI).Online safety is a hot-button issue right now. MTV is currently running a campaign, titled “A Thin Line,” designed to fight and spread awareness of cyberbullying. Facebook is one of the partners in this campaign. The copmany has also signed agreements with 49 state Attorney Generals to protect kids from online predators.In its statement, Facebooksaid that it might add additional members to the advisory board over time. Reviews: Facebook, facebookTags: facebook, facebook safety advisory board, online safety

  In the context of the mobile platform wars, the contest is often framed as “the iPhone” versus Android, BlackBerry and rest of the smartphone market. However, even if the iPhone is the only phone that Apple sells, there is another device that runs on the iPhone OS: the iPod touch.In fact, according to the mobile analytics firm Flurry, the iPod touch might even be Apple’s secret weapon when it comes to long-term results and platform retention. Flurry makes this argument in its November Industry Pulsereport.iPod touch, Training Wheels for the iPhoneA big part of Flurry’s assertion is that the userbase using the iPod touch is going to be more inclined to buy an iPhone when the decision to buy a smartphone comes up. Flurry is classifying iPod touch users as being young teens. While this might be true, we haven’t seen any demographic information regarding the average age of an iPod touch owner.Flurry’s argument about the iPod touch building up brand loyalty, product familiarity and an existing repository of content (in this case, apps) mirrors the same trend that many computer and industry analysts wrote about beginning in 2004. The “iPod halo effect” was the idea that the good experience consumers had with the iPod would make them more likely to become Macintosh customers. Users were introduced to the Apple brand via the iPod, became loyal, and by extension were willing to switch computing platforms.This halo effect has largely been cited as one of the reasons that the marketshare for Mac OS X is up so much since 2003, when the iPod first started to gain real momentum in the digital device space. Flurry’s argument extends this principle to the iPod touch, only instead of moving consumers towards the Mac (although that may still be a side effect), iPod touch users will be more likely to move to the iPhone.To our knowledge there haven’t been any studies proving or disproving this relationship, but as a theory, it does make sense. Anecdotally, I can say that as a BlackBerry user before getting an iPod touch in 2007, it was only after owning the iPod touch that I was willing to resign myself to lower-quality cellular service in exchange for the iPhone.iPod touch Users and Social Networking and Social GamingIn Flurry’s latest report, they look at the average number of user sessions on the iPhone, the iPod touch and the Android platform. All three platforms have increased user sessions, but because the market as a whole has expanded, the iPhone’s percentage has fallen.In the social networking and social gaming area, the iPod touch has gained the most ground since June. Take a look at the chart below:The fact that the iPod touch is growing more than platforms like the Android in areas such as user sessions for social networking and social gaming is interesting, but it might not end up being statical proof of anything. After all, the reason for the increases could be more wireless hotspots or more use of applications with networked capabilities. Still, as a gaming platform, the iPod touch offers some significant advantages over its competitors like the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP. Games tend to be less expensive and the download-to-device ability and potential integration with other social graph services makes the platform a real winner.What do you think?What do you think of the idea that iPod touch will end up converting more iPhone users in the future? If you own an iPod touch, do you or are you planning on getting an iPhone? Let us know!Reviews: AndroidTags: android, flurry, iphone, iPod Touch, mobile apps

  2009 has been a big year for the Star Trek franchise, thanks in large part to J.J. Abrams’ fantastic reboot. Of course, not even the hotness that is Baby Kirk (AKA, actor Chris Pine) could prepare us for this bit of awesome: Tweet in Klingon. We’ll give you a moment to calm down from the overload of awesome.Yes, that language that was created for “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (and has somehow managed to become something that people actually speak) is now available to all in a Twitter translator. Want to share something with the world that only 5 people can understand? Tweet in Klingon is for you!OK, it’s easy to make fun of this concept — but pure brilliance of this campaign is that this is all a promotional tool for the Star Trek Online MMOG that hits stores in February.Cryptic Studios worked with Friend2Friend to create the site, which offers English to Klingon translations. Tweets are automatically hash-tagged and linked to an English-conversion URL. This is a very cool social media marketing campaign because it manages to capture the essence of the Star Trek brand and it also offers up a viral and instantly shareable way for people to promote Star Trek Online, without ever mentioning STO.majQa’! (Well done!)Reviews: TwitterTags: klingon, Star Trek, star trek online, tweet in klingon, twitter

  AT&T might have dropped its lawsuitagainst Verizon Wireless, but the display of back-and-forth petulant bickering is still alive and well. AT&T has just released a new ad featuring celebrity spokesman Luke Wilson (who has made twoearlierappearances on behalf of AT&T), this time highlighting the speed of its 3G network versus that of Verizon.Of course, AT&T doesn’t bother to mention how likely it is that you’ll actually be able to take advantage of that speed, seeing as your phone has to actually be able to connect to the network in order to transfer data. Unsurprisingly, “last place in customer satisfaction” is not one of the features AT&T touts as being part of the “better 3G experience.”Hey AT&T, here’s an idea, let Apple do the rebuttal advertisements. At least those make a cognizant argument about the differences between AT&T’s 3G service and Verizon’s CDMA network. It doesn’t change the coverage or availability options, but at least it points out where users do have an actual advantage over the competition.[via Gizmodo]Tags: att, luke wilson, verizon

  Update: It’s back. All is right with the world.Yes, as our trusty readers have noted today, Twitter is out for the count with the famous Fail Whale adorning the site. Twitter search remains up, although of course there are no new Tweets listed.The downtime is at about 20 minutes right now, and there’s no word from Twitter yet as to the cause. We’ll keep you updated.Reviews: Twitter

  On December 5, 1969, the entire 4-node network for ARPANET was completed, building on the first host-to-host connectionfrom some months earlier. The technical core for what would become the Internet was born.Forty years later, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) kicked off a contestasking teams to locate the longitudes and latitudes of 10 red weather balloons positioned in stationary locations across the continental United States. Although the contest was officially open for 7 days, it only took nine hours for the team from MITto locate all 10 balloons, winning the competitionand $40,000 in prize money.The goal of the project wasn’t to see who could answer the question, but how. More specifically, “the roles the Internet and social networking play in the timely communication, wide-area team-building, and urgent mobilization required to solve broad-scope, time-critical problems.”Now that MIT has won, DARPA plans to meet with teams to review various approaches and strategies used to build networks and collect information.In the MIT team’s case, it looks like they had a pretty solid information infrastructure set-up prior to the contest even starting. Potential team members could sign up to join the team from the group’s websiteand then invite friends using their own identifiable link. The tracking link makes it easy for the team to distribute the winning funds to not just the people that identified a balloon, but the person who invited them to join the team in the first place.The site also had a form where team members could enter in balloon locations or even DARPA coordinates. MIT also encouraged team members to post their personalized invitation links to sites like Facebook and Twitter.It will be interesting to get an actual break-down of how many people were involved in directly or indirectly identifying all 10 balloons. Reviews: Facebook, TwitterTags: DARPA, internet, mit, Network Challenge, research contest

  Last week, we wrote about 24ways, an advent calendar for web geeks. Today we’ve found another cool advent calendar, this time aimed at iPhone app fans. iPhone developer Blacksmith Gamesis presenting the Appvent Calendar!Every day leading up to Christmas, the Appvent Calendar will feature one free iPhone game. The game will only be free the day that it debuts on the calendar, so don’t wait too long to download. Some of the games that have been released thus far include Samauri: Way of the Warriors and Smackbots.This is a pretty cute promotion. Not only do iPhone users get access to some free games (and hey, free is free, right?), but smaller app developers get some promotion. With all of the competition in the App Store, it’s nice to see developers working together to get the word out about their games, while also giving users a nice holiday treat.If your appetite for free iPhonegames hasn’t been sated, we absolutely must recommend another iPhone game that is free for a limited time — Ramp Champ(iTunes link). This is absolutely one of the most addictive iPhone games out there and is just tons and tons of fun. Get it free while you can!Have you found any other advent calendars or free iPhone game promotions? Let us know!Reviews: App Store, iPhoneTags: advent calendar, app store, appvent, iphone

  That was quick: following a Sunday Times article today claiming that Amazon is looking to open physical stores in the UK, the company has issued a denial. Reuters reports:A spokesman for the group said it had no plans to open physical stores after the Sunday Times reported the group was looking to cash in on the rising customer demand for so-called click and collect services, where customers buy goods online and pick them up from a shop.And yet…and yet. We can’t help feeling that at the very least, a partnership allowing customers to pick up items from local outlets would significantly improve the experience of buying large items on Amazon. In an era of instant gratification, surely Amazon could compete with retail stores by letting you order that TV online in the morning and pick it up at a partner store in the afternoon?

  Update: Amazon has declared the Sunday Times article false in a statement. Read our latest coverage here.Amazon is on the hunt for store locations in the UK as it looks to take its business into the physical realm – it’s an intriguing move for a company that’s leapfrogged physical bookstores thanks to the efficiencies of the web.According to a report in today’s Sunday Times, the aim is to replicate the model of Argos, which has seen success with online orders and in-store collection. In short: you’d order your goods online but pick them up at a physical store: this has become increasingly appealing as Amazon expands beyond small items like books, CDs and DVDs. The Sunday Timeswrites:Property landlords said that the American company, which has a market value of $59.1 billion (£35.6 billion), had launched a secret search for bricks-and-mortar stores to support its rapidly growing website. It is understood to be scouring the country for high-profile sites just as the Borders book chain is shutting up shop.Amazon wants to cash in on rising customer demand for click and collect services where shoppers buy online and then pick up their goods from a nearby store. Consumers who are fed up with waiting at home for deliveries are increasingly choosing to buy online and collecting goods at a time that suits them.If the plans proceed, would you consider picking up Amazon orders in-store? Or is this a backwards move given the efficiencies of the web? Let us know in the comments.Tags: amazon

  This postoriginally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.Just as the Internet has evolved over the past decade, cell phones have become much more than devices for making and receiving phone calls. Today, smartphones can do everything from email, to sync with our desktops, to turn-by-turn driving directions.As the editor of a blog that covers technology, one of the questions I’m most often asked by friends is “what smartphone should I get?â€� The answer is always: it depends. Each platform has its pros and cons, and depending on how you want to work when on the go, one may prove significantly better than another. Here’s a look at some of the things to consider and ask your wireless retailer about if you’re looking to get a smartphone or get your whole team connected:Operating SystemJust like computers can be either PC or Mac, smartphones run any of a half dozen popular operating systems: iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Android, Palm, and Symbian. And just like your computer, the OS you choose will be the most important decision in terms of determining what your mobile experience will be like for the next two or more years (the likely length of your contract).Some general characterizations about each: iPhone has the most apps and perhaps the most compelling interface. BlackBerry is superior for power email users. Windows Mobile works the most seamlessly with Microsoft Office. Palm offers an intuitive way to use multiple applications simultaneously. Android, though relatively new, may ultimately offer the largest selection of devices. Symbian is the most popular internationally. CarrierYou’ve probably seen commercials from the likes of Verizon and AT&T touting their own coverage, and in some cases, insulting that of their competitors. Be aware though, their coverage maps can be misleading. If you plan to use a lot of applications or browse the Web while on your mobile, you’ll want to know what type of 3G coverage your carrier provides in the areas that you’re likely to spend most of your time. Applications“There’s an app for thatâ€� might be the most ubiquitous tagline in advertising during 2009. That’s because quite simply, there is a mobile app for just about everything – on iPhone. But while iPhone apps may significantly outnumber those currently available on competitors, other platforms aren’t slouches either when it comes to the applications you’re likely to care about. In terms of social media, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have apps (either their own or third-party) on virtually every platform, and in terms of productivity, basic office functionality can be had across the board too (with some caveats, read on …) CompatibilityMost smartphones will synchronize with your desktop and web applications, whether they’re Microsoft Outlook or Google Apps. However, depending on what you use, the experience can be smoother on one platform versus another. For example, not surprisingly Windows Mobile devices come with native support for Microsoft Office – including Outlook – whereas on Google Android devices, like the Motorola Droid, you’ll need to download and setup additional applications in order to sync. However, the Droid is optimized for users that run Google’s mail and calendar apps, among others. If this is a concern, ask your retailer about how the phones you’re looking at sync with your desktop or web productivity apps of choice. Total Cost of OwnershipOne of the most overrated things people tend to talk about when evaluating mobile phones – especially smartphones – is the upfront cost of the device. The truth of the matter is that most smartphones, from BlackBerry to Palm to iPhone, will cost between free and $300 when you activate, but thousands of dollars over the length of your wireless contract – typically two years. Thus, it’s far more important to consider the device itself, the monthly voice and data charges, and the other criteria discussed here. Additionally, if you’re getting smartphones for multiple users, be sure to inquire into the plans that the carrier offers for businesses. Volumes could be written on the intricacies of each platform and which is superior, but now at least you know what to ask as you evaluate the 24×7 mobile lifestyle. Unfortunately, making a mistake can be costly – in terms of both frustration and potentially early termination fees – so be sure you know exactly what you’re getting into before signing your smartphone contract.Image courtesy of iStockphoto, JerryPDXMore small business resources from Mashable:- Top Mobile Productivity Tools for the Small Business- HOW TO: Choose a News Reader for Keeping Tabs on Your Industry- 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses- 4 Ways Social Media is Changing Business- 6 Must-Follow Steps for Selling in Any Economy- 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business- HOW TO: Use Twitter Hashtags for BusinessReviews: Android, Facebook, Google, Microsoft Outlook, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphotoTags: android, blackberry, iphone, Palm Pre, windows mobile