Technorati Tags: social network,steven spielberg,paranormal

According to techcrunch.com, Steven Spielberg is involved in building a new social network which will focus on the paranormal. According to insiders, the site will let users research and share ghostly and extraterrestrial stories. Expect a video component as well. Is this a good idea in the already crowded social media space? Normally we would say no, but perhaps Spielberg’s name is the ‘X’ factor that will draw visitors. Still, we doubt a crush of visitors will crash the servers when the site goes live.

If you still haven’t figured out what to give to the geek in your life, or satisfy your own inner nerd with a gift to yourself, here are two links for some great gift ideas that won’t break the bank. The first link is lifehacker.com’s Gift Guide 2007. Ranging from $10 to $100, these gifts cover what to get for the office ‘secret santa’ gift exchange, to that unexpected present your Java developer brother will never forget. If you want to narrow your search to tech gifts on the low end of the price scale, dvice.com has a great list of 12 geek gifts under $30. Make sure you check out both sites, your sure to find something – even if its for yourself.

Sometimes there are legitimate reasons you want to keep your surfing private which don’t involve nefarious activities or pornography. Maybe you’re shopping online while at your favorite coffee shop while surrounded by twenty-something cyberpunks’ with Linux laptops. Or perhaps you work with government or corporate information that must remain secure when transmitted over the Internet. Whatever the reason, you have a few choices. You can do a Google search for free anonymous proxies which are often ad supported and run outside the US. Personally, I find this solution sketchy. You’re trusting the web site to actually use strong encryption and not to snoop your network traffic themselves. Another option is to pay for an anonymous proxy service, such as the popular anonymizer.com. Anonymizer is a great service but it can cost over $100 per year. If you don’t want to pay for anonymous surfing your best bet is TOR (The Onion Router network). TOR is an open source project that connects you to free anonymous proxy servers through an encrypted connection. TOR is a respected and trusted source which won’t cost you a penny. Unfortunately, TOR isn’t the easiest software to configure and setup initially. But if running TOR sounds interesting, check out this article on lifehacker.com that links to an easy to follow video showing how to install and use TOR.

Only a few weeks after it was announced they were giving up on Yahoo! 360, it’s reported Yahoo! is launching “MyM”, a new, self-described “social messaging” service. Currently in private beta, MyM is a web based portal for accessing multiple instant messaging and social media sites in one place. Valleywag.com is reporting that Yahoo! insiders are saying that MyM is far from ready and many are concerned that the sites Yahoo! wants to access through the service will block MyM since Yahoo! is a social media competitor. Is Yahoo! grasping at straws and stretching themselves too far? Come on Microsoft, buy Yahoo! and end the pain.

According to a new study by Industry Canada, Internet users who download music over peer-to-peer networks buy more CDs than they would otherwise. For years, opponents to the tactics record companies have employed in combating illegal music downloading have argued there is little correlation between the rise of P2P networks and the general sales decline the music industry has experienced over the past decade. Publisher trade groups have strongly rejected any attempt to attack they’re contention that music downloads take money out of copyright holders pockets. Will this latest study cause them to yield any from the litigious and political stance they’ve taken? Unlikely. Michael Geist covers the P2P study fully here.

 The Associated Press looks at ways new technology helps more digital books make they’re way online.

arstechnica.com has posted an article about a Computer Security Institute report that finds the biggest security threats to employees may be the employees themselves. The decade long report is a yearly survey by CSI that asks network and security admins what threats they face and how much each threat cost they’re companies bottom line. While fraud and viruses had the greatest financial impact, issues caused by both witting an unwitting employees were the most numerous. Such employee created issues include downloading pornography, email abuse, and illegal software. For more information about the report click here.