Goose Grade, a website that allows authors to add a button on their site that lets readers send in corrections, has estimated that there are around 60 million web pages that misspell Obama‘s first name: B-A-R-A-C-K. What makes this worse that if you try filling in a form on Firefox or Chrome you get a red wiggly line underneath both of his names.

The most common way to get his name wrong is to miss out the ‘c’, but a lot of people like to piratise his name and spell it either Barrak or Barrack.

Obama’s clearly been a busy man this week – what with his inauguration and all – but it seems as if Google and Yahoo forgot all about it. Despite Obama’s aides using Google Mail until their White House e-mail accounts were being set up, the search engine responsible for their mail accounts and its main rivals kept their generic logos on their sites, something they normally change for important events. While Google and Yahoo missed one of the most important days in the US calendar, at least AOL, Live and DogPile all remembered.

People following Obama’s reign closely will also have noticed that the White House site has gone a bit more Web 2.0 to complement Obama’s Twitter account, with the announcement of a new blog.

A quick grab into the twitter ether and you will find @bobbyllew (Robert Llewellyn aka Kryton from Red Dwarf) @StephenFry, @JohnCleese, @JackDee, @JeremyClarkson and @wossy (aka Jonathan Ross) to name a few.

As the Guardian report, @wossy has been busying himself with twitter while on his “break” from the BBC. He’s been asking his twitter followers what record he should play on his first radio show back, tweeting about smoking cigars and buying Simon Cowell a bra from Victoria’s secret.

But recently he’s turned to investigative journalism in his latest endeavour to bust boredom by calling up his celebrity buddies to find out if they are actually who they say they are on twitter. First target was @JackDee when Ross tweeted:

“i dont think @jack dee is real jack. he’s not very computery. I’ll call him tomorrow an d ask if you like.”

A few hours later came the tweet:

“Just got off the phone with Jack dee,. Current jack Dee on twitter is NOT bloke off the telly. But I think he will start an account“

At this, the twitosphere called for him to unmask @Jeremy_Clarkson, and so came the tweet:

“Just called Clarkson but his phone is switched off. Lucky b****rd is probably working.”

a few hours later he twittered:

“It’s not Clarkson. He responded with the very straightforward “Not on Twitter”. Unlike me he has more important things to do !!”

But then his unmasking seemed to jump up and bite him as his twitter followers began to question his authenticity, causing Ross to tweet:

“Hi It is me but proving it is dull. Feel free not to f ollow ! J “

All this impersonating brings back the ago old internet problem of domain name squatting. If brands don’t act quickly and claim their twitter name, as twitter rises in popularity, they could be victims of twitter impersonation too.

UPDATE: Jonathan Ross has now proven he is the real deal with this piece of infallible evidence. Thanks to @giagia for providing link.

All of this is being announced at a time when readership rates for print newspapers, and even the finances for print newspaper are struggling and online media is gathering momentum at an unprecedented rate.

Although online content has been allowed as an entry for the Pulitzer Prize, websites that do not have a print publication have only been allowed to submit entries in the ‘breaking news’ and ‘breaking news photography’ sections.

According to a statement for the Pulitzer Organisation the criteria for online publications is that they “publish at least weekly … are primarily dedicated to original news reporting and coverage of ongoing stories … and adhere to the highest journalistic principles.”

The last dramatic change to entries for the Pulitzer Prize was in 1943 when photography was allowed, but hopefully we won’t have to wait half a century before online video will be included as well.

Anyone would have thought it was Thanksgiving. Well, they would if they were looking at Google’s hot trends that is.

Google Hot Trends is always a fascinating insight into the mind of America, and you can clearly see what is on their mind today. Not wanting to raise any stereotypes but the 19^th most popular search term today is “deep frying a turkey”. Not only are Americans wanting to deep fry their Turkeys, they’re “grilling turkey” (I’m sure that wouldn’t work) “baking turkey” and “rubbing turkey” (I’m sure it’s all above board). However, if Google fails you, it’s always good to know that there is the “Turkey hotline”.

Things become more compelling when you look at Google trends and see just how massive that turkey spike is! Every November, search volume for Turkey rockets to around three times that of the keyword at Christmas. If it wasn’t for Thanksgiving, Turkey would be the clear underdog.

Twitter is buzzing with Turkey related chatter too – currently it’s the fourth hottest topic.

Gobble Gobble.

Blogging about this is slightly bitter sweet, but I couldn’t resist. I’ll keep it brief.

Everyone loves a good treasure hunt, particularly when the treasure is a free mini laptop. Vodafone have launched a new campaign called LiveGuy. LiveGuy, a cheeky chappy with too many Dell Netbooks for his own good, is going to be touring round the UK leaving clues for people to follow. If you manage to catch him, he’ll give you a free Dell Netbook. Lovely.

The only catch is, he only has four for each city, so you’ve got to be fast (and ruthless). It also doesn’t look like he’s going to make it easy. Now I don’t know about you, but I want one of these little gems. Badly. So I’m not going to help you. Plotting has begun. In fact, I don’t know why I’m telling you about it in the first place. There seem to be only a few blogs that have spread the story so far.

Although LiveGuy is visiting 11 UK cities, he seems to have left out Northern Ireland leaving Alan in Belfast (amongst others) rather miffed.

There seem to be plenty of social media avenues LiveGuy is using to leave clues, in fact it looks like it’s going to be an interesting example in viral marketing using social media; interesting because we’re all very selfish people. We’ve got to weigh up between keeping all the clues to ourselves and being in with a chance of getting one of the four netbooks, or spreading it on to our friends to help with the hunt. Is this in fact an anti-viral campaign?

So I’ll sign off with a big clue (or is it a big red herring? (It is in my interest to throw you off the scent)). Keep an eye out for a blond, jumping out of helicopters and running around in a tracksuit with a 90’s headset on. She’s the one with the laptops

]]> http://webismtoday.com/2008/11/13/challenge-liveguy-vodafone-start-treasure-hunt/feed/ 1 http://webismtoday.com/2008/07/04/need-a-place-to-share-your-love-for-david-hasselhoff-check-out-hoff-space/ http://webismtoday.com/2008/07/04/need-a-place-to-share-your-love-for-david-hasselhoff-check-out-hoff-space/#comments Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:31:00 +0000 david law http://blogtest.webismtoday.com/?p=22 At the time of writing this post, there were 8006 members on the new Hoff Space. That’s right, David Hasselhoff’s, of Baywatch and pop star (well in Germany) fame, very own social networking site. More than a fan site, this brings together the fans with all the additional add-ons like gadgets, groups, photo and video sharing and the like that a social networking site brings.

The impetus for starting his own social networking site was to bring the internet together according to a BBC Radio 1 interview. He felt that his stints on a variety of popular television shows such as Knight Rider and Baywatch were bisecting his fans rather than bringing them together. The only solution was to set up Hoff Space.

In the interview he also expressed his frustration with the current social networking sites not devoted to the Hoff like My Space and Facebook. Naughtyteddy points out that the Hoff was “getting a lot of phoneys” on the sites and that “a lot of people were coming in and posing as me…”

Howell811 is admitting to have joined, it takes all types.

Other features of the site include the Hoff Blog complete with up to date videos of the Hoffer, the Hoff Shop, Hoff Life, Hoff Chat, and the list goes on. Hoff Heads will no doubt find themselves on this site and feel like they have died and gone to Hoff Heaven (not currently on site).

This certainly means there will be a place for Hoff Lovers from all around the world can go and find their own special place on the web as well as finding other Hoff Heads. But what does this mean for other superfans of the thousands of other superstars? Will they join the social networking bandwagon or will they be content with their current presence on the existing social networking sites?

For now, there is at least a place for those seeking out “all things Hoff”.

In response to the internet’s popularity as a source of information and as an escape from real life worries a UK charity has broadened its online presence.

As well as creating pages on social networking sites Bebo, Facebook and MySpace, Contact a Family – a charity that offers support and advice to parents of disabled children – have set up a virtual office on Second Life. Second Life is an online, 3-D world that allows users from across the globe to meet, trade property and have children together.

Funded by the government, Contact a Family is moving online to reach a wider audience. Every Wednesday their virtual office is manned allowing parents to pop in for a chat and at other times Second Lifers can use the location as a library.

Mark Robertson, the charity’s head of information, said: “The first place anybody goes for information these days is the internet. There are issues with accessing support in real life, even popping out to a local advice centre. Online and telephone support is and has been for some time important to parents of disabled children.”

This is not the first time a charity has entered a virtual world in an attempt to reach out. Last year, Childline booked a room in Habbo Hotel and, in 2006, World Vision opened a store on Second Life.

Picture from The Guardian

It all started with an announcement on 9th April that the two companies had been courting for a while and that now was the right time to spread their good news to the public: the immediate integration of BBC’s iPlayer into Nintendo’s Opera powered internet channel on the Wii.

As FunkyGuy on FashionFunky comments, when considering “two explosively popular things coming together and you wont find a better fit then [sic] the Nintendo Wii and the BBC iPlayer.” Initially only streaming content is available, and restricted to the UK where license fees are dutifully paid, but an independent download service operating from the main Wii menu has been mooted for the future.

Now, with comments surfacing that the Beeb were also in talks with Sony and Microsoft, it looks like the willingness of Nintendo to allow the original iPlayer branding to remain won out over the other two gaming giants in securing this deal. As GameGrep remarks this “makes a mockery of what they (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) stand for” with the Nintendo machine being the first to offer itself up as a true multimedia device. It is safe to say that in the future the iPlayer will no doubt feature on the PS3 as it has a built in internet browser, a feature noticeably hindering the Xbox’s options at the moment.

UPDATE: The BBC iPlayer is now (unofficially) available through Playstation 3, using a portal with some clever trickery. This “unofficial website…set up by a very talented coder” as Garuti on Console Informer states, allows the iPlayer to be used much like it is on the Wii, demonstrating the ease with which it could be made available to PS3 users if Sony and the BBC can agree on the terms.

These days it pays to be green and within almost every aspect of our lives, from drinking beer to opening bank accounts, there is an environmentally conscious option. In the world of the sustainability, things could only get bigger; first we had eco-houses, then came green skyscrapers, and as blogger Superforest NYC says, it’s exciting times for environmentalists, as China, already a giant in the global economy, announced plans for Dongtan, the first ever Eco-City, last year. The entire settlement is being purposely designed to be completely sustainable, producing all its own energy from renewable sources, offering cycling, walking and public transport instead of personal cars and recycling all of its city waste.

The Dongtan development, which has been lauded by environmentalists and travel bloggers alike, is scheduled for completion by 2010, to coincide with the Shanghai Expo, and by 2040 is predicted to be a third of the size of Manhattan with a total eventual population of 500,000.

Picture from the Tourist Republic.

On the back of the success of Guitar Hero and similar, toy company Jada is targeting a whole new niche in the ‘wannabe rockstar’ arena – the air guitarist. The rocker will be released sometime in March at $29.99 according to rabid72 at The Rabies Blog.

The gadget lets players attach a mini-amplifier to their waist, while the included belt buckle and guitar pics allow the player to jam like real rock-gods such as Eddie Van Halen and Richie Blackmore. Simply by strumming the pic in front of the belt buckle, air guitar heroes can change the tempo of the song being played, as demonstrated at iDunzo.

New buckles and additional cartridges will follow the initial release, so that air guitarists can enjoy further axe-wielding mayhem. The game is scheduled to be launched in the United States in March, and will be licensed through Activision. But will it be a success or just another throw-away gimmick, bdwilcox on bits bytes pixels & sprites is not loving it, saying “more like Guitar Zero” whereas Seroth at Engadget commenting: