Sure, there’s a lot of “bad” that happens on these sites, I’m sure you’ve all seen things before that you felt shouldn’t be there, but the things most of us see are probably not what the FBI is interested in, I’d imagine they’d want insight into potential terrorist attacks and actions of that magnitude. That said, I find myself asking whether this would be a good thing or a bad thing?

The FBI has announced that the following features should be available:

• Provide an automated search and scrape capability of both social networking sites and open source news sites for breaking events, crisis, and threats that meet the search parameters/keywords defined by FBI SIOC.
• Ability for user to create, define, and select parameters/key word requirements. Automated search of national news, local news, and social media networks. Examples include but are not limited to Fox News. CNN, MSNBC, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• Ability for user to create, define, and select radius search functions that can be searched independently or in combination with an identified key word search/parameter.
• Provide automated filtering of data that has been searched and collected based on defined search parameters.
• Provide instant notifications of breaking events, incidents, and emerging threats that have been vetted and meet the defined search parameters.
• Ability to display alerts visually by geo-locating alerts onto a geospatial map. Displayed alerts should be prioritized (i.e. color coded) in accordance with FBI defined priorities.
• Ability to clear alert or maintain alert until its final resolution to be determined by the FBI designated user.
• Ability to save and archive the alerts.
• Ability for user to instantly select desired national and local news feeds to monitor breaking events and emerging threats, scrape the vetted news and social media information.
• Ability to immediately access geospatial maps with coding in addition to providing critical infrastructural layers. Preferred maps include but are not limited to Google Maps, Google 3D maps, ESRI, and Yahoo Maps.
• Ability to create templates that will allow user to quickly summarize (i.e. who, what, when, where, and why) threats/incidents identified and alerted by the application with geo-coordinates included. Ability available to immediately ingest the information into the Spot Report for time-sensitive threats/incidents.
• Ability for user to immediately disseminate the summarized threat or incident by either single alert notification or mass notification to the appropriate field office and FBI Executive Management.
• Ability to capture and summarize the investigative efforts conducted by the Field Office for resolution of the incident.
• Provide “Spot Report” folders to save and archive past reports.
• Ability to support Field offices by region by pre-designated or established tabs that will mirror the basic functional capabilities as the main SIOC site.
• Each tab should have the flexibility to make immediate changes to effectively support the mission requirements for a specific division.
• Ability to instantly search and monitor key words and strings in all “publicly available” tweets across the Twitter Site and any other “publicly available” social networking?sites/forums (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, etc.).

That’s quite a hefty list, it’s going to be interesting to see if they can recruit a team of top-notch developers to get involved!

Good thing or bad thing?

iMod

Don’t hate me for the flash video please folks:

How awesome is that?

iMod

If you’re still uncertain, take a watch:

iMod

iMod

On Wednesday, the english version of Wikipedia will be taken offline for 24 hours in protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). If you haven’t heard about SOPA, then I think you need to read up quickly, it’s a huge movement

English WikiPedia down for 24 hours.. 25 million daily visitors will be using Google Translate to do their homework, haha.

Quite incredible watching some of the biggest websites in the world standing up against this movement!

iMod

I’ve read every single post he’s written whilst he’s been locked up and it’s been like web reality TV to an extent, but obviously far more serious and quite sad to be honest. I’ve found myself sitting at the computer wondering how difficult it would be and as silly as it might sound, I feel that I’m a more honest man thanks to Dante’s eye opening posts.

I’ve got some good news though (I say good because I’ve known him and I never felt he deserved what he got), check this out:

In less than a week, I’ll walk out the door of Sheridan Federal Prison and begin serving the tail end of my time at a halfway house in Los Angeles, California.

My grasp of the English language is not adequate enough to properly describe the range of emotion that comes with the thought of me finally finishing the last leg of this journey I’m on. But it’s like I’ve been lost at sea, and finally see a hairline of land creeping over the horizon.

I’m almost home.

That’s right! He’s being released from prison!

See you on the other side, Dante.

iMod

I came across an interesting fact and felt I would share it:

So, who’s rented a scary movie for tomorrow night?

iMod

The Democratic Alliance has published a generic letter on their website for people to download and email to the presidents office, a further petition is circulating collecting signatures from people who are against the Bill being passed and there’s also the ability to lodge a complaint on the Presidential Hotline on 17737. With all these options, the Democratic Alliance has created a page on their website that lists all the campaigns and allows us to read about them and involve ourselves if we are against the Bill being passed.

So, if you want to get involved (you should want to), then head over here and involve yourself, it’ll only take a tiny amount of time and it’s incredibly important that we express ourselves and support this cause.

iMod

Mark Milian, a technology writer for CNN, has reviewed more than a hundred of these e-mails, compiled from those posted by fans to blogs and online message boards. Some never-before-published e-mails from Jobs were shared exclusively for this book. As a whole, these correspondences provide a behind-the-scenes and inside-the-mind account of Jobs’ final and most triumphant years. During this time, he returned to Apple and led the beleaguered computer maker from the brink of bankruptcy to becoming the most valuable technology company in the world, while also managing Pixar Animation Studios, an innovative production company that rocketed the Walt Disney Company into a new era of family films.

This book is based on interviews with many of the customers and fans Jobs communicated with. These tales reveal the intricacies of how Jobs portrayed himself as likable and accessible through direct interaction with fans. He handled customer-service inquiries himself and carefully revealed hints about upcoming Apple products, guaranteeing headlines on blogs. However, some of these letters, when analyzed, provide a glimpse into his “reality distortion field,” in which he lobs insults, bends the truth and uses misdirection in order to manipulate anyone on the receiving end. This book has been self-published in digital form, and is not associated with or endorsed by CNN.

[via Amazon]

iMod

A new website called Zavilia.com has launched which publishes photographs of the looters and once several people have identified a looter, the looters name is sent to the police. They do have a Facebook page as well, which is gaining momentum and they’re urging people to submit photographs.

The website basically shows a number of photographs and next to the photographs is a submission form, which allows you to name and shame these scum bags.

I think it’s a great idea, I hope these people are caught and taught a lesson.

iMod