Wires Crossed #20 – Dec 21
That’s A Take!
That’s A Take!
It’s a tough day at the office when you’re BFF with one of the biggest Disney stars on the planet and said person’s fan base hates your guts. That’s what happened to Anna Oliver, who was/is best friends with tween pin up Miley Cyrus. Seems Billy Ray’s little girl took a hit on a bong and Oliver taped it. Then a ‘third party’ decided to post the vid online and it went viral. Seems Cyrus fans like the goodie-two-shoes version of the ‘actress/singer’ and not the real life 18-year-old who is likely to get out and about doing things that teens do. Still find it hard to understand how kids these days – who are super tech savvy – still get caught out in these situations.
Huge Increase In Facebook Crime
Tell us something we don’t know. A website dedicated to all things Facebook has pulled out the statistic that Facebook related crimes are up over 500 percent since 2005. Well, I guess when you’re growing exponentially at such a rate that you now have one in 12 members of the planet signed up to your website, the chances of it attracting some form of vermin are pretty high. In the UK, police took 1,411 phones that in one way or another involved Facebook in 2005. That has more than quintupled with just over 7,500 similar calls this year. Don’t know why anybody would be surprised by this number. Also, what is 7,500 as a percentage of 500 million? Not a lot we’re guessing.
Don’t Get Fresh With Me!
Your dad may be one of the most recognisable faces on the planet, and your mum might be pretty well-known, too, but don’t ever think that because you come from a privileged background that you can get away with anything. As Willow Smith found recently. Her dad is superstar actor-cum-rapper Will Smith, while mum is actress Jada Pinkett Smith. And when they say no, they mean no! Seems Smith junior went against mum and dad’s wishes and created a MySpace page and they are not hot on their 10 year old getting into social networking. And her punishment? A month without her notebook PC – we’re betting she’s back online in less than a week.
Yahoo! Merry Xmas to You Too
Search Engine giant Yahoo certainly knows how to spread Christmas cheer around by announcing that it will be sheading four percent of its workforce, which equates to about 600 jobs. Yahoo is popular in some countries and less so in others, but according to recent reports its revenue growth has stagnated, while its main rival Google’s profits are up. In a statement released to the press, the company said "Today's personnel changes are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo for revenue growth and margin expansion." In other words, ‘we need to cut operating expenditure while our growth has stalled’. Talk about bad timing!
This is the last Wires Crossed for the year. Thanks for your feedback on the segment, and we look forward to continuing next year as we look at some of the more quirky stories in the technology and social networking space.
