Is Breastfeeding The Most Controversial Form of Nudity?

The latest Time magazine cover features Jamie Lynne Grumet, a pretty California-blonde 26-year-old mom, breastfeeding her almost 4-year-old son, Aram.  The title “Are You Mom Enough?” teases an article where Grumet is interviewed about the modern relationship between mom and baby. 

Well, social media blew up with discussion over the magazine cover.  Within hours of hitting the shelves, the image had been mocked, praised, criticized, and photoshopped into many satirical iterations.

Doctors, specialists and mothers everywhere chimed in on their thoughts about health, social growth and bonding between mother and child.  Surpassing that, however, was the controversy over the cover image itself.  The photograph was divisive to say the least.  Some applauded, others were appalled.

What is it about breastfeeding that causes such uproar?  We have certainly seen more nudity than this on the front of MOST magazines.  It is interesting that the public seems to handle sexualized images with a grain of immunity, but this image of a child past the standard age of breast feeding causes such commotion.

Do you think the image is appropriate or offensive?

It's A Wi-Fi World!

We want to be online, everywhere.  If I can’t access my email at any given time, I get a bit of a nervous tick.  What if something important is happening!  Well worry no longer, because it is a Wi-Fi world!

AT&T, the winner of Wireless Week’s Industry Leader award for its Wi-Fi strategy, integration and growth, recently released some Q1 stats showing just how much this Wi-Fi craze is skyrocketing.

On AT&T’s Wi-Fi Network there were more than 626 million connections in the first 3 months of this year.  Crazy!  That means 79 connections every single second, which is 3x more than in the first quarter last year. 

Another reason we’re so hungry for Wi-Fi?  Who’s not on a budget these days?!  Wi-Fi is *free* for most customers and doesn’t eat into your monthly data plan!  So, to satisfy your craving, here’s a list of 10 places you didn’t know had Wi-Fi.  Enjoy!

•              Buses: MegaBus and Bolt now offer Wi-Fi while on board.  Buses just got way more cool.

•              Courthouses: Some courthouses are now offering Wi-Fi to help you get through the jury duty day that seems to drag on forever! 

•              Zoos: AT&T just launched free Wi-Fi at Manhattan’s Central Park Zoo, so you can upload that pic of you and the monkey immediately!

•              EZ Lube: Waiting for an oil change just got more enjoyable thank s to free Wi-Fi offered to EZ Lube customers.

•              Gyms: Many gyms including Equinox and Gold’s Gym now offer free Wi-Fi to their patrons so they can stay online and stay in shape!

•              Laundromat: The dreaded chore of laundry has become much more enjoyable as some Laundromats offer Wi-Fi for customers to use when they aren’t folding clothes!

•              Parks: This one is my favorite.  Catch up on your emails while soaking in the greenery of your local park!  AT&T has launched free Wi-Fi at 21 park locations in NYC.  It’s the new big thing.

•              Special Events:  From the Super Bowl to the huge Coachella concert, many special events are now offering Wi-Fi.  In fact, AT&T’s Wi-Fi coverage at Coachella 2012 covered an area totaling 45 football fields!

•              Grocery Stores:  In case you need to compare prices, nutritional information, or check that recipe you always forget, many grocery stores are now offering their patrons Wi-Fi service. 

•              Stadiums:  Stay connected during the most exciting moments of the game with Wi-Fi at the stadium!  Joining many East Coast sports arenas that are now offering Wi-Fi, The Honda Center recently announced that AT&T Wi-Fi has been installed throughout the venue.  This makes Honda Center one of the first entertainment venues on the West Coast to offer free Wi-Fi!

Is A Digital Click The Same As Speech?

Think twice – or thrice - before clicking that little blue thumb in the future.  A Virginia judge ruled recently that the Facebook “Like” button does not constitute free speech, and is not protected by the Constitution.

So what’s this mean?

Well, to Daniel Ray Carter, an ex-employee of the Hampton, VA sheriff’s department, it means no more job.  Here’s the deal: Carter was fired after he “liked” his boss’ political opponent on Facebook.  He filed a lawsuit claiming that his First Amendment right to freedom of speech was violated by his firing. 

The judge ruled, however, that “Simply liking a Facebook page is insufficient. It is not the kind of substantive statement that has previously warranted constitutional protection. The Court will not attempt to infer the actual content of Carter's posts from one click of a button on Adams' Facebook page. For the Court to assume that the Plaintiffs made some specific statement without evidence of such statements is improper. Facebook posts can be a matter of public concern; however the Court does not believe Plaintiffs Carter and McCoy have alleged sufficient speech to garner First Amendment protection.”

An appeal is expected.  This sticky subject of the digital thumbs up just may be debatable enough for the Supreme Court. 

What do you think? Would you fire someone for “Liking” a competitor?  Should this be free speech?

Don't Get Pricked By Pinterest Spammers

Pinterest is one of the latest darlings of social media.  Yet with its invite-only policy and open sharing pages, there has been a “we’re all friends here” mentality on Pinterest that apparently is too ripe for scammers to miss.  The site has been plagued with scams from free gift cards to huge discounts on your next Starbucks latte.  

Last month in its official blog, Pinterest acknowledged the scam problem and committed to improving its anti-spam technology.   It added a “Report Pin” button and reminded users that Pinterest doesn’t do any surveys, giveaways or other promotions and not to click on pins that promote such things. 

Even with Pinterest on the case, spammers are finding ways to monetize and hack the typical user experience.  Here are three of the latest Pinterest scams to watch out for!

FAKE ANDROID APPS

The scams start even before you enter the Pinterest site.  Multiple fake apps have shown up on Google Play claiming to be the official Pinterest mobile app.  But wait!  As of now, there is no Android Pinterest App, only a mobile app for iPhone. So don’t be tricked!  These impostor apps display ads on the mobile device and some can gain access to your browser history, bookmarks or even your location.  

JUSTIN BEIBER

Of course there is a scam that has to do with the Bieb.  Recently, a pinned image of Justin Beiber - coming out of the ocean sans swim trunks - encouraged users to click through to a Facebook page to see even more images.  Once users clicked, however, they found themselves in a maze of survey sites to complete before they were able to see the “additional pictures”.  The scam is one of the first to use dual social media platforms.

WONDER DIET

These posts claim to offer a wonder diet and are usually posted under pictures of thin models, motivational sayings or scrumptious looking food.  One reads, “Summer is about to come and I finally took off these last 27 pounds!  If you’re interested too, [clickable link here].”  After clicking on that link, hopeful users are redirected to a fake news page promoting the alleged diet products. While these sites typically don’t harm your computer, some users are convinced to pay for these fake drugs which they never receive or input their private details to the fake site.  This type of scam is so prevalent that Pinterest is now blocking these posts.  The spamming profiles, however, have yet to be shut down, so the problem has yet to be solved. 

COACHELLA CONTINUES!

Coachella is back. It’s not a double take, but part two of the first-ever two-weekend span for the largest music festival in the country.

AT&T has basically turned the entire space into a giant WiFi hotspot (they cover the space of 45 football fields!).  So if you are headed out for some festival action this weekend, here's a few tips on how to maximize your experience.  

CHECK THE WEATHER

If you don’t yet have a weather app on your phone, download one now and keep tabs on weather predictions for the festival.  Add “Coachella, CA” to the locations you follow to keep up-to-date.  Temperature predictions for this weekend are currently upwards of 100 degrees!  

CHECK OUT THE SONGS

Look up bands ahead of time on YouTube to see if you like any music that you may not have heard before.  Better yet, check out a Spotify playlist.  Many users have created Coachella playlists so you can get in the mood before the shows!

CHECK YOUR BATTERY

You don’t want to be halfway through the day and run out of charge on your phone!  Make sure you head to the festival with a fully charged phone.  Don’t forget to bring a charger with you, or invest in a solar charger so you can fuel up without an outlet.   You can also take advantage of the charging stations at the festival, some of which even provide chargers for you. 

CHECK OUT COACHELLA APP

Of course, there’s an app for that!  The Coachella app is available on iPhone and Android.  You can see the performance schedule, look up the venue and parking maps, view the shuttle maps and even create Coachella postcards!

The Wonder of Caine's Arcade

Caine’s Arcade isn’t the first small business that has benefited from social media.  It certainly won’t be the last.   But there is something so enchanting about this Cinderella story that it has touched hearts around the world.  Maybe it's the energy of the 9-year-old owner.  Maybe it's the homemade product, built from duct tape and cardboard.  Maybe it reminds each of us of the magic of being young.  How we played, imagined and dreamed. 

I got shivers watching this video.  Caine's Arcade Video

9-year-old Caine used his summer vacation and the space in his father’s auto body shop to create his own arcade out of the extra cardboard and scraps from the shop.  Opening up “Caine’s Arcade” to the public proved to be a challenge because customers were hard to come by.  As fate has it, his long-awaited first customer, Nirvan Mullick, is a filmmaker and was so taken with Caine’s creative business that he set out to bring it new life.  Through Facebook groups like Hidden LA, Nirvan rallied so much interest in Caine’s story that it ended up on the front page of Reddit.  The support was overwhelming and Nirvan organized a surprise flash mob to go to Caine’s Arcade.  His short film that captures the flash mob has blown up online, tallying over two million views on Vimeo and Youtube in two days.

What is it about the story that so moves us?  

It’s Caine’s sense of wonder, his ingenuity, his resourcefulness and his passion.  These represent elements of life that make any business better, and that’s what they did for Caine.  His story gives us tangible examples of these characteristics, with touches of youth naiveté that are simply charming.

I want to look a little closer at my personal favorite aspect of Caine’s Arcade, his Fun Cards.  I really love the parameters he put on them.

The whimsical pricing strategy: How’s this for a customer incentive to ‘trade up’.  $1 for 4 games (single purchase) or $2 for 500 games (Fun Card) 

They are time sensitive: The Fun Card expires one month from purchase.  Just another detail that is wonderful.

Fun Card Verification system: Obviously put into place so that no one who comes in with a falsified Fun Card can get away uncaught.  Each pass has a code on the back that corresponds to the square root of that Pass’s PIN number.  A calculator is duct taped to each machine so that Caine himself can verify the card’s authenticity before usage.   

He really has thought of everything.  

How about you, what’s you’re favorite part of Caine’s story?

THE TIME(LINE) IS HERE

The time has come.  For all you not-soearly adaptors, Facebook is finally making the full blown plunge into Timeline.  With the imminent and mandatory switchover looming, the time to make the changes to what will be published on your Timeline is now.  

Timeline won't show any previously private information, but the new format makes all information much more accessible to

 the casual user.  Additionally, Facebook will use an algorithm to determine which stories to showcase within your Timeline.  This means that old pictures previously buried beneath hundreds of more recent images may now be upfront for all to see.  Same goes for all your old “likes”, every comment you’ve posted, and location you’ve checked into.  Yikes!

Follow these steps to help navigate your switch to Timeline.

Privacy: 

Make sure your Timeline privacy settings are to your liking.  Under ‘Privacy Settings’, click on ‘Timeline and Tagging’.  This will allow you to customize who can post to your Timeline, who can see posts you’ve been tagged in, or review settings to approve posts from friends before they appear on your Timeline.

Hide Posts: 

To veto a post from being shown on your Timeline, hit the pencil icon at the top of the post and select “Hide from Timeline”.  The post is still in the archives of your Facebook account (in your activity log), but won’t be visible to others on your page. 

Prioritize Posts: 

You can make sure your favorite image, quote or post gets the “above the fold” treatment by highlighting it.  Click the star icon in the top right corner of the post and it will take up two columns instead of one in your Timeline. 

Double Check:  

Before going public, check your work from the perspective of a specific friend or the general public.  In the edit tab on your profile (it looks like a gear icon), click ‘view as’.  If you can see things that you don’t want that person to see, you’ve got a bit more editing and hiding to do!