fake

Mitt Romney suspiciously gets 116K Twitter followers in one day

In playing catch up with President Obama's social media savvy, Republican nominee Mitt Romney might have cut some corners. A new report by Barracuda Labs shows that more than 15 percent of Romney's Twitter followers may have come from bogus accounts generated by pay-for-followers services.

"We believe most of these recent followers of Romney are not from a general Twitter population but most likely from a paid Twitter follower service," Barracuda Labs research scientist Jason Ding wrote in the report.

It's important to note, however, that it's not clear if the Romney campaign, an … Read more

YouTube gently prods users to go by their real names

YouTube thinks that maybe all those cutepuppies99 and origamiboys1981 might be ready to grow up. Google's online video platform is now giving users the option to start using their real names on its service, along with hooking up their Google Plus profile up with their YouTube channel.

"One Google-wide identity was something that proved popular with new YouTube users when we began offering it in March, so we are now extending it to existing users," YouTube software engineer John Fisher wrote in a recent blog post.

Here's more on how Fisher describes how it works:

This … Read more

Flying Dutchman is Lying Dutchman in elaborate hoax

Curse you fake birdman! Just when it seemed like we humans might get to spread our wings and fly, it turns out the whole shebang -- videos, plans, everything -- was part of an elaborate plan/scam/hoax by filmmaker Floris Kaayk.

I wrote earlier in the week about the footage produced by Dutch mechanical engineer Jarno Smeets that looked real, if questionable, and has now been disproved and admitted as a very disappointing hoax. As Kaayk put it on his Web site:

Today, I revealed my latest project on Dutch prime-time TV show 'De wereld draait door.' In the … Read more

Fake Science: Fun with false factoids

Some people think of scientists as quiet people in white coats secreted away in labs, rarely seeing the light of day. I know better than that.

As the daughter of a chemistry prof, I'm well aware of the humorous side of science, with its jokes about atoms, geology innuendos, and mathematics puns. Fake Science is where Nobel laureates go for an online laugh. … Read more

Set up fake calls or texts to escape boring situations

Chances are, you've been there: a boring meeting or social event that you're desperately seeking an escape from. The person or people you're talking with won't take the hint that you're not interested. You hope someone will call so you can have a pretend conversation about needing to be somewhere else right away. Or maybe you're wishing for a text that demands your immediate attention. Whatever the situation, you can now plan your own escape routes with this Android app. Here's how:

Step 1: Install Log Me. Once installed, run the app.

Step … Read more

Twitter rebuts Sarkozy censorship allegations

Twitter accounts that were either critical or made fun of French President Nicolas Sarkozy were suspended this past week--causing some to cry censorship. Now Twitter has responded, be it indirectly, by implying that these accounts violated either its parody or spam policy.

This debacle began when Sarkozy created his first Twitter account last week and hours later announced that he was running for re-election. Shortly after, French digital-rights watchdog Internet Without Borders noticed that three accounts, @ForteFrance, @MaFranceForte, and @SarkozyCaSuffit, had been suspended and one account, @_nicolassarkozy, didn't have any new tweets since the president's announcement.

Without … Read more

Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake rolls out Pinwheel

The co-founder of Flickr and Hunch is out with her latest startup, called Pinwheel.

Caterina Fake just launched it in private beta, and the site--and its name--at first glance seems similar to Pinterest, one of the fastest-growing sites on the Web.

Fake raised $7.5 million, with Redpoint Ventures leading the round. Other investors include Ron Conway's SV Angel and The Obvious Corp., run by Twitter founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone.

That's big money for a startup that's just rolling out and so far has no users. But investors bet on people as much as an … Read more

Feds seize illegal sports-streaming sites

Just a few days short of Super Bowl Sunday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced today it had seized 307 Web sites that either live-streamed sports or sold fake NFL paraphernalia.

The federal agents also arrested a Michigan man on criminal copyright infringement charges who allegedly operated nine of the streaming sites.

"While most people are focusing on whether the Patriots or Giants will win on Sunday, we at ICE have our sights on a different type of victory: defeating the international counterfeiting rings that illegally profit off of this event, the NFL, its players and sports … Read more

How to identify fake Facebook accounts

Hello, Facebook friends, I am male, straight, often ridiculously good-looking, and this is a real message: she's not that into you.

And by she, I mean one of those hot girls on Facebook who always seems too desperate and overzealous in trying to connect to you and everyone on your friend list.

Apparently, of some 850 million active Facebook users, a lot are fake profiles created to spread spam and viruses. These are often categorized as spammers or attackers. Security firm Barracuda Networks released today the findings from its most recent study that helps distinguish attackers from real users. … Read more

Tech execs: It's a good time to be a woman in tech (live blog)

What's it like to be a top manager or engineer in Silicon Valley and a woman? Google's Marissa Mayer, Flickr founder Catarina Fake, and Padmasree Warrior of Cisco Systems talked about that and more today at the CNET Women in Tech panel.

The three agreed that progress has been made, but that there's still a long way to go to get more women into the technology field.

Mayer said she believes we need to get more people interested in technology overall--men and women. Warrior said we need to find ways to keep women in the workforce and … Read more