The Social 7 - Episode 09

February 24th, 2009

Thanks for tuning into another episode of the Social 7. We’re back this week with another great v-cast! (Minus Nick, sadly…)

Find the notes from the show and links to articles we mention throughout after the jump. Enjoy!

Top 7 Stories

7. Mobile Update - Yahoo and Google: Lots of exciting developments in mobile this week; Yahoo introduced a mobile platform, while Google added paid apps to its Android market.

6. Google Wins Street View Privacy Lawsuit: Aaron and Christine Boring who attempted to sue Google over privacy concerns walked away from the lawsuit last week empty handed. Note to all - please oh please, next time you think about suing Google, you might try kindly asking them to take the pictures down first?

5. ShareThis Introduces Major Updates: Sharing your favorite blog posts just got a whole lot easier. Last week, the popular ShareThis plug-in introduced several updates to make sharing faster and more user-friendly. Updates include a tab free interface, a contact manager, and an option to save content to your ShareBox account.

4. The Trial of Pirate Bay: Last week, Pirate Bay founders Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (aka Anakata), Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi (aka Brokep) and Fredrik Neij (TiAMO) went on trial in one of the most important copyright infringement cases the file-sharing community has witnessed to date (this is the first time that someone has been put on trial for hosting a site that only directs people to .torrent files without actually hosting them). The three are pleading not guilty, though they’ll have a tough time getting past the likes of Warner Bros, MGM and Fox.

3. Boxee Loses Hulu Support: Last week, Boxee, a media center software package that allows customers to stream online video to their TVs, announced that Hulu would no longer be supported. Why? The request came from Hulu’s content partners, who insisted that Boxee support be removed. Apparently, at the end of the day, it’s the content that matters to Hulu.

2. Succestival Twestival: Twestival, a monumental event that came together in just under a month’s time in 202 cities around the world, raised more than $250,000 for charity: water. This event truly shows the power Twitter has to mobilize the masses.

1. Facebook Terms of Service… Flop!: Facebook customers used to own their content… not anymore! Facebook introduced a new privacy policy (who actually reads those?!) saying that they own all rights to the content you upload to their site. But wait; they didn’t? Facebook claimed that they had to make the changes to accommodate the way its members were using the site. The public didn’t buy it and ultimately they had to retract the new TOS after a firestorm of controversy.

Tweet of the Week

John Mayer was apparently quite pleased with the way he looked at the Oscars, to quote his tweet: “I’m not going to lie to you, I look good. But don’t get used to it, because I can’t stand perfection.”

Viral Video of the Week

Rick Santelli set off a firestorm of debate and controversy last week after his tirade on CNBC. His rant led to rebuke from the White House and a widespread debate about whether a reporter should be reporting their own opinions.