How Big is Facebook?  

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Facebook announced this morning that it will welcome its 200 millionth user today. That's a whole lot of people. Just three months ago the company announced it was starting the year out with 150 million users. That kind of growth could make a person's brain hurt. People want to connect with each other and Facebook is clearly a very compelling way to do that these days.

Just how hot is it though? For context, we looked up some other activities and offer below a list of things that are less popular these days than being a registered user at Facebook. Bowling, for example, appears to be headed the way of MySpace - there are now twice as many Facebook users as there are people who play ten pin bowling around the world.

At 200 million users, Facebook is:
bowlingpic.jpg

  • Twice as big as the largest number of people who have ever watched a Superbowl game

  • Twice as big as YouTube

  • Twice as big as Skype

  • Bigger than the number of people who own gaming consoles in their homes (190m)

  • Bigger than the population of all but 4 countries in the world. (Just passed Brazil, next in line is Indonesia and then the US.)

  • Twice as big as eBay.

  • Four times as big as the number of people in the US who run on treadmills.

  • It's twice as big as the number of malnourished people in India. Another way to look at that is to imagine that half of the people on Facebook were malnourished and living in one place.

Now imagine if all the brainpower spent on building stupid Facebook apps was instead spent on helping all the malnourished people in India and around the world. Imagine, though, if the 100 million people who like to bowl gave that up in favor of working for world peace.

These numbers can't be directly compared with any real meaning, but we think it's interesting for context. It's still cooler to live in France than it is to have a Facebook account, even if it is only 30% as popular.

Scammer shuffles Apple out of 9,000 iPods  

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For whatever reason, Apple's iPod ends up in the middle of quite a few crimes. The latest story, however, is even more extreme than usual. Nicholas Arthur Woodhams, a 23 year old from Kalamazoo, Michigan, was recently slapped upside the gord with federal charges of fraud and money laundering after he managed to con Apple into shipping him around 9,000 iPod shuffles. As the story goes, he managed to somehow correctly guess thousands of valid shuffle serial numbers and have replacements shipped to him; once they arrived, he sold them for less than MSRP to excited buyers, all while giving Apple a prepaid VISA number that would reject the charges after he failed to send back the nonexistent "original" shuffle. It's rather amazing to us that he was able to pull this off for so long without being noticed, but even if it works for awhile, we've learned yet again that crime doesn't pay. In fact, the feds have already seized a half million bucks from one brokerage account, some real estate and a trio of vehicles. Tragic, yeah?

Hulk Hogan Memoir–Hulk Hogan Tell-All Book (Excerpt)  

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Just in case you didn’t get enough of window into The Wonderful World of Hogan on their VH1 reality series, wrestling legend Terry Bollea, perhaps best known as Hulk Hogan, has inked a six-figure deal with St. Martin’s Press to pen an account of his life.

According to veteran celebrity snitch Cindy Adams, the 320 page memoir–with a 16-page color photo insert–will cover The Hulk’s humble beginnings as a boy growing up in Tampa, his two-decade marriage to Lina Bollea, and of course, his career as a 12-time World Heavyweight Champ and six-time World Wrestling Federation Champ.

Perhaps most notably, Hulk will discuss his son Nick’s near-fatal car crash that left a young Marine brain-dead. The Hogan’s conduct in the wake of the crash left the family open to public scorn.

Emily Blunt Credits Teacher For Curing Stutter  

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British actress Emily Blunt is forever grateful to a teacher at her former school - for inspiring her to take to the stage and cure her childhood stutter.

The Devil Wears Prada star suffered a bad stammer as a schoolgirl, but finally overcame her speech impediment when a teacher urged her to take up acting.

She says, "I did have a bad stuttering problem as a child. I'd try to push the words out, but it was so frustrating. My parents took me to speech coaches and relaxation coaches.

"It didn't work. Then one of my teachers at school had a brilliant idea and said, 'Why don't you speak in an accent in our school play?' I distanced myself from me through this character, and it was so freeing that my stuttering stopped when I was onstage. It really was a miracle."

Joe Jonas Is The Latest Disney Star To Mock Asians  

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Joe Jonas is at the center of a photo scandal in which he appears to mock Asians - just one month after fellow teen singing sensation Miley Cyrus was forced to apologize for a similar prank.

The 19-year-old Jonas Brothers star, older brother to Cyrus' ex-boyfriend Nick, appears to pull his eyes with his pinky fingers as he strikes a similar pose to the Hannah Montana star in a picture which has leaked online, reports HuffingtonPost.com.

Cyrus, 16, is facing legal action from a group of Asian Pacific Islanders over her own photo controversy after images of the singer and a group of friends pulling the same pose appeared online last month.

She apologized for the photos, but it was rejected by civil rights activists and they are now seeking damages for the offense.

A spokesperson for Jonas was not available for comment as WENN went to press.

Kendra Wilkinson Shares Her Baby Photos  

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Kendra Wilkinson Shares Her Baby Photos
For everyone who doubted Kendra Wilkinson's status as a natural blonde,















she's got photographic evidence.


The reality tv star dug up childhood photos and posted them on her blog to combat claims that she's a fake blonde. "Here's proof that I AM originally a NATURAL blonde!!!" she writes.

The bride-to-be, who is looking for a minister to preside over her nuptials to football star Hank Baskett, also wanted fans to see that she hasn't changed much and "to show everyone a little bit about the young KDubs hahaha!"

What Caused Natasha Richardson's Fatal Brain Injury?  

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Even as an autopsy gets underway in New York the day after her death, many questions remain about just what happened on a Quebec mountain that left Natasha Richardson with ultimately fatal,severe brain trauma.

Roughly 1.4 million people in the U.S. suffer from traumatic brain injuries each year, according to the California Brain Injury Association – and 50,000 die from it. A majority of these injuries result from falls just like Richardson's.

"There is no telling what the forces are that were applied to her head," says Dr. Jeff Victoroff, Associate Professor of Neurology at USC's School of Medicine. "People underestimate the enormous amount of physical force that can be generated by nothing more than a standing level fall."

Medical experts say Richardson likely suffered a subdural hemotoma – the breaking of blood vessels inside the brain. Usually, the body responds to such an injury instantly by clotting the blood around the injured area to keep it from bleeding out. So why, presumably, didn't that happen here?

"The speculation that comes first to mind is that there is something wrong with her blood so that it doesn't clot properly," says Dr. Victoroff, adding that pain killers such as Motrin or Nuprin could interfere with natural blood clotting.

Others wonder if Richardson might have suffered an aneurysm, and whether the real damage occurred even before she even fell down the slope.

What Caused Natasha Richardson's Fatal Brain Injury?| Health, Natasha Richardson


"You always have to wonder if the fall was the result of something that happened in the brain rather than the cause, like a stroke or a massive brain hemorrhage," says Dr. Neil Martin, Chairman of Neurosurgery at UCLA Medical School. "But arguing against a massive problem like that is that immediately after the fall she seemed to be OK."

Still, says Martin, "It could have been a minor warning leak from an aneurysm and the deterioration an hour later might have been a second massive hemorrhage. It is scary and more than a bit puzzling."

Could She Have Been Saved?

For Richardson's loved ones, the most haunting question is whether she could have been saved had she been treated immediately. According to a spokesperson for the Mont Tremblant ski resort, Richardson was lucid after she fell on a beginner's slope, and declined medical attention until she started complaining of headaches about an hour later.

According to experts, there is no way of knowing, at least until a full CT scan shows the depth and breadth of her injuries. And that information may be revealed when the results of the autopsy are released later on Thursday.

"If the hemorrhage can occur over the surface of the brain, where it can be corrected by surgery if detected early, perhaps yes there could have been another outcome," says Dr. Martin. "At the same time, the injury could have very well occurred deep inside the brain, in which case surgery – or any other treatment for that matter – probably wouldn't have helped."

Project Runway” Kenley Collins Arrested; Attacks Boyfriend With Cat  

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d01 Runway Kenley 16


And giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “pussy whipped….”

Former Project Runway contestant Kenley Collins was arrested this week after assaulting her fiance with their cat. Animal Cruelty! Quick, somebody call PETA!

According to New York City Police officials, Kenley is accused of tossing the feline, a laptop, and three apples at live-in lover Zak Penley during an argument in the couple’s Brooklyn apartment on Tuesday.

She was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

“It was a miscommunication,” the aspiring designer told The New York Post on Thursday. “Fights happen, And that’s that. There is no case.”

Sony HBH-IS800 Wireless Stereo Bluetooth Headset  

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Get rid of the pesky cord that normally comes with headphones and go wireless by using Sony’s lightweight Bluetooth headset with any compatible A2DP phone. Incredibly stylish, the headphones don’t look like the normally uncomfortable and clunky Bluetooth headsets, but they are simply regular, sleek headphones connected by a short cable. The stereo sound will do your music justice and there’s no loss of audio quality just because it’s played wirelessly. With its great design, convenience, and sound, Sony’s HBH-IS800 headphones are a must-have for any music enthusiast on-the-go.

SD-P93DTW: Toshiba announces stylish portable DVD player  

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Toshiba Japan announced a new portable DVD player today [JP], the SD-P93DTW, which is equipped with a One-Seg digital TV tuner. The device is Japan-only at this point. But Toshiba sells the SDP93S in the US, which is essentially the same player minus the TV tuner (the tuner is useless outside Japan and Brazil anyway). And Americans have to pay a lot less for their player.

Japanese buyers will be set back a whopping $520, while the SDP93S costs just $180 at Amazon. The Japanese version is also equipped with an analogue TV tuner and supports SD/SDHC/microSD/micro SDHC cards but apart from these features (the American version supports SD cards only), it seems to be the same model: a swiveling 9-inch TFT LCD screen with 800×480 resolution, DivX support, JPEG viewer, virtual surround sound and built-in speakers.

The SD-P93DTW will hit Japanese stores at the end of April.

New Facebook Group Teaches Users How To Revert Back To Old Facebook Design  

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A new Facebook group has surged in popularity over the past few days as it claims to provide instructions on how to revert your Facebook to the old design. The group titled “I WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO GET THE OLD FACEBOOK BACK!” gives step by step instructions on how do just that. While I haven’t tried out the process, it sounds logical.

Numerous users that have joined the group claim that it doesn’t work. Regardless of the tutorial’s accuracy, users are joining at a rapid pace. Just in the last hour I’ve counted over 300 new users. What has accounted for the group’s rapid growth? The primary growth is due to the group administrator’s decision to post step by step instructions for promoting the group prior to listing out the instructions for reverting back to the previous design.

Everything listed in the instructions makes sense but I don’t have any desire to go back to the old design. My guess is that Facebook will disable this functionality in the near future. Theoretically Facebook could store copies of the “old design” and “new design” at all times, in order to make it easier to roll-back in case of substantial errors or backlash from users.

While I haven’t heard substantial feedback from users about frustration with the new design, many users have expressed frustration with Facebook regularly changing the layout of the site. Some users claim that Facebook switches the design just as they get the previous iteration functioning properly. Have you found the new design easy to use? Have you tested out the steps described in this group? If so, did it work? We’d love to know!


Mamma Mia! Samsung Lucido Offers Ultra-Slim Metal Body, OLED Display  

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The company's new Brit-only, Italian-named candybar adds to the slim form factor of previous handsets with design flair and an upgraded screen.

Those who fondly remember Samsung’s older ultra-slim candybars like the U100 and X820 will be happy to know that the company hasn’t abandoned that design ethic completely in favor of beefier iPhone lookalikes. On Friday, the company’s U.K. armshowed off its new Lucido, another thin candybar that dons aluminum accents and an OLED display.

The name translates to “sleek” in Italian, which is appropriate given its 11.8mm-thick profile and dark, brushed-metal accents on the face. Unlike previous models like the U800, the apparent predecessor to the Lucido, it will adopt OLED technology for its 2.2-inch display, which typically delivers superior brightness and contrast.

Other specs on the pocketable slimline phone include a 5-megapixel camera on the back (also trimmed by metal), 7.2Mbps HSDPA Internet, and GPS with Google maps integration.

At the moment, the Lucido is slated for an April release, but only on U.K. carriers, and a price has not yet been announced.

Freida Pinto at the Chanel Show in Paris  

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Unlike other Bollywood stars who aim and long for Hollywood projects, but keep Mumbai as their base clinging on to Bollywood films, The 24-year-old Slumdog Millionaire actress, Freida Pinto has moved to New York to concentrate on her Hollywood career. Not that her move has been too hasty or unplanned. The gorgeous actress has already been signed by Woody Allen for his next film where she will star alongside Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas.

And also, the gal is making her presence felt on the international front dazzling at major events. Recently, she was spotted at the Chanel show in Paris Fashion Week where she outdid her fellow front row occupants supermodels Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer. She was was the centre of attention in a white draped cocktail dress with a black layered chain detail and black stilettos.

The Mumbai native, had earlier confessed to getting star struck despite now being a celebrity in her own right, with the stupendous success of her debut film which went on to win eight Academy awards.

Facebook U.K. Help Page Gets Hijacked  

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This afternoon Koen Peeters sent us a screenshot of a modified version of Facebook’s help page which states, “We’ve updated our homepage because we wanted to copy Twitter.com.” Initially I thought the screenshot was fake since the help center page was titled “Help Centre”. We quickly found out that the reason it was spelled that way was because it was visible for those who were using the site under the U.K. version of English.

So how did this happen? Well, we can only think of two ways. First, it could have been someone in Facebook’s U.K. office as there has been other modifications of site pages before. The alternative reason could be that users decided to modify the translated version of Facebook but we aren’t quite sure that it’s possible since the “English (U.K.)” version of Facebook has been available for quite some time.

While I doubt that we’ll ever know who changed this page, it’s definitely slightly embarrassing error. If you want to view the page yourself, you must install the the Facebook Translations application and view the help page using the “English (U.K.)” version. Our guess is that by the time you’ve done this, the error will have been fixed.

Adsense Friendly Privacy Policy Generator for your blogand website  

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If you don't agree with the new conditions , you'll be kicked out of the Google Adsense program at the end of May.


Here is what the new policy says :

"You must have and abide by an appropriate privacy policy that complies with applicable privacy and data protection laws and that clearly discloses that third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users’ browser, or using web beacons to collect information, in the course of ads being served on your website. Your privacy policy should also include information about user options for cookie management."

Cookies & Web beacons:
Most adsense publishers are familiar with http cookies (or web cookies). They are a small parcels of text sent by a server to a web client(browser) and then sent back unchanged by the client each time he/she accesses that server. But the term Web beacon may be new to you.
A web beacon (also known as tracking pixel or pixel tag or clear GIF) is a small transparent graphic image (usually 1 pixel height and 1 pixel width) that is placed on a website or even in an email that is used to moniter the behavior of the client/user visiting the webpage, to find out some user information like IP address,etc.

So, to abide the new terms of Adsense, you have to include an appropriate Privacy policy in your site/blog.
If you are new or not sure how you need to create a Privacy Policy, Don't worry! There are a few Adsense Privacy Policy Generators which will make your life easier.. SERPRank's Privacy Policy Generator is one of those

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