The world needs you to stop being boring.
What will you create that will make the world awesome?
This delightful and inspirational video did the rounds earlier on in the year. If you’ve seen it, watch it again as a reminder. If you’ve not seen it yet, you’re in for a treat.
This is your time. This is my time. This is our time.
Like a boss!
If you haven’t heard of Anonymous, then I suggest you open up Google and do some research. Anonymous is, in my opinion, one of the strongest hacktivist communities on the Internet, with access to a great deal of intelligence and power.
This video was made by a South African, or at least it comes across like that. There’s no word on who created the video, two references are made in the video:
Now, in South Africa, this sort of video will more than likely be overlooked, simply because the understanding of the Internet and such isn’t appreciated to the same degree as first world countries, but personally I take these sorts of things more seriously. Teams of hugely intelligent hackers are able to penetrate literally anything they want and in doing so expose anything they want. I basically feel that it’s not a good idea to “upset” these groups because they’re not a group you want on your bad side. Perhaps the exposure could be a good thing? I’m not a politician, so I’m not best to comment.
Team Ghost Shell have already published some links to accounts and records associated with companies such as African Reinsurance Company, Woolworths, South African Diamond Corporation, African Mining, BEE Network, PressOffice linked to BidorBuy, PostNet and others. If you’re interested, here is the link: http://pastebin.com/8fJbajpc
And, of course, here is the video:
Every year, a People Are Awesome video is published showing off what some people have experienced in the year that has passed. These videos are always an absolute pleasure to watch and they’re great for making a bucket list of things that you might like to do – depending on your courage!
Here’s this years video, enjoy:
I came across an incredible story about a man who was attacked and left on the side of the road, naked, with nothing and absolutely no memory – the man doesn’t know who he is nor does anyone else – He can’t even get a social security number. The FBI have been involved, and still they can’t find his finger prints or anything, he doesn’t exist! Hell, he’s even listed as missing, yet there he is!
Here’s a short film on him:
The story has burst on Reddit, with tons of comments, lots of votes and a huge amount of interest around helping the guy. If the government can’t do it and the FBI can’t, Reddit will get involved and that’s where we see the power of the Internet coming into play.
Amazing story, heart-breaking story – stop for a second and put yourself in his position – speechless.
Sign the petition to help him get a social security number: http://wh.gov/I5Rn
Although we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in South Africa to the same degree as the folks over in the States, or even at all, it’s still important for those who trade online, because this is a period where online sales skyrocket and capturing the audience is a great way to boost those sales before the end of the year. I know a lot of South Africans who service an International audience through their e-initiatives and e-commerce websites, and they’re always jumping onto these occasions and blending in (or standing out) with (from) the folks overseas to capture their piece of pie, and feedback tells me that it’s a really great opportunity for anyone, anywhere in the world.
I did some searching around and came across two infographics that show us just how popular an event like Cyber Monday is and how important social media is going to be this year in terms of boosting those sales. This information is hugely useful and I certainly hope that a few of you will take it to heart and reap the benefits of being exposed to it:
Each year, the Technology Fast 500 is held, whereby the 500 fastest growing technology around technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America are honoured. The results are determined based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2007 to 2011.
It doesn’t surprise me too much to learn that there are more software companies on the list than any other sector – goes to show just how popular software development is in our ever growing technological world.
Some notable companies that you may recognise:
I think you’ll get a bit of a shock when you look through the reports, because a lot of companies that you might think would be at the top, aren’t.
If you’re interested in downloading the complete list, here are the options:
Fascinating looking at which companies are growing the fastest, I’ll be studying this list in a little more detail to see if I can recognise some trends.
Some media folks from RedBull popped me an email asking me to publish some really interesting information about the Felix Baumgartner freefall from space and I immediately felt that the information would be of interest because a lot of us watched the jump, but we don’t know all the facts.
This is a press releases, so please bare with me:
At its peak, eight million concurrent viewers tuned into Red Bull Media House’s live, global digital broadcast of the historic Red Bull Stratos mission streamed through YouTube’s live player that delivered a total of 52 million views over the course of the event.
In the Red Bull Stratos mission, skydiver Felix Baumgartner flew to an altitude of 39,045 meters (128,100 feet) in a helium-filled balloon, and completed a record breaking jump for the ages from the edge of space, exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier flying in an experimental rocket-powered airplane. The 43-year-old Austrian also broke two other world records (highest freefall, highest manned balloon flight), leaving the one for the longest freefall to project mentor Col. Joe Kittinger.
Baumgartner landed safely with his parachute in the desert of New Mexico after jumping out of his space capsule at 39,045 meters (128,100 feet) and plunging back towards earth, hitting a maximum of speed of 1,342.8 km/h (833.9 mph or Mach 1.24) through the near vacuum of the stratosphere before being slowed by the atmosphere later during his 4:20 minute long freefall. In addition to the record breaking live stream broadcast, millions of people around the world watched his ascent and jump live via television broadcast partnerships established by the Red Bull Media House.
Building upon the success of the Red Bull Channel on YouTube, which boasts over 750,000 subscribers, the Red Bull Stratos project capitalized on the performance of and audience built through Red Bull Media House’s exclusive programming as a partner in YouTube’s original programming initiative. Just in the past seven days, Red Bull added 180,000 subscribers to its YouTube channel, gaining the most subscribers of any YouTube channel globally over the same period. The two global media companies leveraged their ability to drive tune-in marketing as well as live stream experiences.
“Our partnership with RBMH on the Red Bull Stratos Mission spoke to the core of our mutual DNA: Inspiring our users with unforgettable content,” said Claude Ruibal, Global Head of Sports, YouTube. “Thanks to our partnership, all of us at YouTube are celebrating the incredible achievements we have together accomplished in showing the amazing potential for live content on a global scale. Congratulations Felix and RBMH for taking all of us to new frontiers.”
This mission to the edge of space was an inspirational, scientific endeavor that has been in development for over five years, not only with regards to the science and technology necessary to take Felix safely to 128,100 feet, but also in how to document it. The Red Bull Media House assembled a group of expert consultants to develop complex and sophisticated high altitude and ground-based camera systems that were capable of not only surviving extreme high and low temperatures and remote locales, but also transmitted live broadcast signals to Mission Control.
Together with Riedel Communications, FlightLine Films and 3G Communications, the Red Bull Media House tested and developed a flying production studio capable of beaming back every moment of Felix’s history-making freefall from 24 miles above the earth. In total, there were more than 35 moving and still image cameras used to document the mission including two ground-based optical tracking systems which allowed live stream viewers to track Felix’s entire freefall from the moment he stepped off of his space capsule to when he deployed his parachute. Felix also had five POV cameras on his body that recorded his freefall experience moment by moment.
The YouTube live stream experience with digital encoding provided by Origin Digital enabled Red Bull Media House to deliver a six-hour broadcast to viewers around the world (3 hours live, 3 hours during pre launch hold). The Red Bull Stratos mission broadcast included:
Red Bull Media House is a global media company that produces and distributes compelling sports, culture and lifestyle programming across multiple platforms. To date, nearly 350 million views have been generated from Red Bull content, making Red Bull Media House one of the top five content producers on YouTube in Sports globally.
Articles have been published today about Apple product thefts increasing by as much as 40% in New York City. This stat is doubly interesting because the spike in crime is going over and above the city’s overall crime rate – the devices are that much in demand, and it stands to reason because of the sheer cost I guess.
11,447 devices have reportedly been stolen since the beginning of the year – this compared to last year gives us the figure of a 40% increase. It has also been reported that the devices are being stolen on the street, in subways and is absolutely not specific to shop breaking.
In an effort to assist with the crime rate of Apple products, the NYPD have launched a program that lets people register their devices, so that devices can be tracked when stolen.
A pretty darn good cover of It ain’t me babe by Moriah Poppy, take a listen:
I’m amazed the video’s only received 5,210 views, these sorts of videos usually go viral and receive hundreds of thousands of views and seeing the Bob Dylan has been trending on Google+ it boggles my mind even more. I guess we wait and see, by tomorrow it may have millions ;)
Why is Bob Dylan trending? Because of this:
Three weeks ago, I received an email from journalist Michael Moynihan asking about Bob Dylan quotes in my book ‘Imagine,’”Mr. Lehrer said in a statement. “The quotes in question either did not exist, were unintentional misquotations, or represented improper combinations of previously existing quotes. But I told Mr. Moynihan that they were from archival interview footage provided to me by Dylan’s representatives. This was a lie spoken in a moment of panic. When Mr. Moynihan followed up, I continued to lie, and say things I should not have said.
The lies are over now. I understand the gravity of my position. I want to apologize to everyone I have let down, especially my editors and readers. I also owe a sincere apology to Mr. Moynihan. I will do my best to correct the record and ensure that my misquotations and mistakes are fixed. I have resigned my position as staff writer at The New Yorker.
Greetings from freezing cold, wet and rainy Cape Town. That’s a small problem compared to what I have to share with you today. Child Protection Week runs from May 28th to June 3rd, and it’s a week where you can help. Violence against children is an incredibly important matter and with your help, you could save a child.
Thousands of South African babies, boys and girls fall victim to abuse, neglect and exploitation, and the offenders are not being punished. Taking a look at the facts is a really big wake up call:
These statistics are from the South African Police Service.
What often happens, however, is that crimes against children are grossly underreported and the real figure is much higher. UNICEF’s newly launched ‘Believe in Zero’ campaign highlights the role that everyone – not only the authorities – has to play in the protection of children. Believe in Zero is a vision for a future where no child suffers violence, sexual assault and other forms of cruelty and crime.
“South Africa’s levels of violence against children are among the highest in the world. Tens of thousands of children are victims of abuse, neglect and exploitation every year – and offenders often go unpunished,” says Aida Girma, UNICEF Representative.
UNICEF have designed a Facebook app which urges people to express their support, upload photos or videos, post messages and engage their networks on the goal of zero child abuse.
Among those people who share their views through the app, one passionate supporter will be given the chance to take a field trip with UNICEF to see first-hand how the organisation works with partners – and children themselves – towards the fulfillment of child rights.
You can also donate to the campaign to help UNICEF:
To find out more about Believe in Zero, or participate in the campaign, visit www.unicef.org.za or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
These children need your help!
iMod Digital PTY LTD made and donation and I challenge all of you to!
If you make a donation, pop in a comment below and I’ll include a link to your company/personal website in this post!
Here are some folks who have donated:
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