Author: Jim Vacey

So there was this awesome movie on Netflix starring Martin Sheen called The Way. The film begins with the death of Sheen’s son, played by Emilio Estevez (not much of a coincidence since Estevez wrote, produced and directed the film), while trekking the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage. Sheen then decides to walk the pilgrimage in his son’s stead, spreading his ashes along the way. This was an excellent film of father/son relationships, rediscovery and redemption that I would recommend to everyone. After the movie ended, I thought to myself; why doesn’t Netflix have a social sharing platform?…

In a recent post on TechCrunch, Twitter was reported to have used their country-to-country blocking powers for the first time. The popular social media platform, at the request of local authorities, acted on a request to deactivate a Neo-Nazi Twitter account. TechCrunch reported that- Twitter users outside Germany can still view content from the @hannoverticker Twitter account of the banned group, but users trying to access it from within Germany will see a message saying the account is being withheld. This country-specific blocking policy was announced by Twitter in January as a compromise…

Every business on Facebook is trying to make money. With the growing number of Facebook profiles and the increasing popularity of social media marketing companies to carry the weight of company advertising, a startup company might have just proven that Facebook Shops can work. Zindigo is a startup company that encourages Facebook users to sell company merchandise to receive a 40% commission; 40% commission!!  According to the report on Mashable, consumers open their own shops as business pages on Facebook stocking their shops with merchandise from more than 80 apparel and accessories…

You are watching your favorite show on Netflix, enjoying the final episode of the season when a lead weight drops in your stomach: the next season is not available. You search frantically for the next season, looking in the shadiest corners of the internet in hopes that you can find a streaming video of the next season. You finally come to a downloadable copy – virus free – only to realize that downloading this copy is illegal! A conscionable person would just wait for the season to be available on Netflix. You on the other hand want to see what happens to Dexter Morgan. Illegal downloading has been…

On a recent post on Mashable, New York’s finest are commemorating their fallen brothers of September 11th with Twitter. The NYPD are honoring the victims of the horrific terrorist attacks eleven years ago by tweeting the name and rank of a fallen comrade and linking back to a more detailed Facebook page along with #neverforget. September 11th will be a day that all Americans will never forget. The NYPD’s use of social media is more than just a status update or a celebrity tweet. This honor to fallen heroes reminds us all that social media can still be a platform to instill good amongst us. Let us…

What do Bear Sex and Cancer have in common? $169,000. Matthew Inman, creator of the controversial info-graphic website The Oatmeal, has made internet headlines in recent news, following a lawsuit of slander against the website comic’s creator. Inman, since the lawsuit, has seen more media attention than ever and is currently petitioning a restoration of the late Nikola Tesla’s abandoned laboratory in Shoreham, Long Island. Inman’s restoration goal is a whopping $850,000. In just 45 days, The Oatmeal has earned $350,000. A response of this measure speaks volumes when it comes to social…

Recently on Spectrum, Scientists from Harvard University have successfully converted a 53,000 word book into a single strand of DNA. The success of the conversion will allow data to be stored in the guise of a DNA strand; DNA can hold more information per cubic millimeter than certain flash memory technology. Scientists claim that the cycle of conversion, from coding to decoding, would prove to be an expensive process initially but those needing a large quantity of data might find the means to make this technology more affordable in the future. Imagine. Universities around the globe can store…

When people say, “there is an app for everything,” that is nothing short of the truth. The medical industry has gone digital with the arrival of medical apps that help doctors diagnose on the go. Now this does not mean that your average Joe should download these apps and drop his HMO. My friend and social media community manager Justin Maas recently injured himself playing Frisbee (who does that?!) and is self-diagnosing his condition. Do I recommend this course of action? Absolutely not. What I do recommend is that you check out these medical apps and see just how efficient the medical field…

It seems we have seen the last of Google Places. As of May 30, Goggle+ Local has resulted in the replacement of Google Places.  Approximately 80 million Google Place pages all over the world have been automatically converted into 80 million Google+ Local pages. Google+ Local, which is integrated with free Zagat reviews, offers users the ability to rate their favorite businesses via social media. Replacing the star rating of Google+ with the 30 point Zagat rating is believed to encourage users to participate more often with business owned Google+ pages. With Google Places out of the picture,…

Facebook gives itself a facelift by improving the user experience yet again. Facebook’s Timeline, which was implemented back earlier in the year, was given the digital makeover by compressing the user profile across the cover photo. Previous Timelines were bulky and gaudy, with large tabs under the cover photo where profile visitors could cruise a user’s profile. Timeline has now designed the user’s profile to be subtle and manageable but does this improvement really do anything for the Facebook experience? With millions of dollars in revenue from the Facebook IPO and all the publicity…