LinkedIn announces Facebook-like tentacles for the Web

Looking for 'tiger blood' on the Web? Boston man's got it

Via CNN.com

Former “Two and a Half Men” star Charlie Sheen may have put tiger blood on the map, but he didn’t put it on the internet.

The Web latched on when the embattled actor told NBC's "Today Show" in a late February interview that he has "tiger blood and Adonis DNA".

The term quickly became a Twitter topic for a few days afterward and was a top search term on Google.

But "winning," at least on the web, apparently involves some legal legwork.

The domain name tigerblood.com is owned by a Singapore-based pharmaceuticals firm that sells steroids. The site’s domain has been registered since 2005, according to Network Solutions, a website registrar. The company did not respond to interview requests.

But what about the obvious variations, tigerblood.net and tigerblood.org?

Meet Bob Wilson, a “regular, hard-working Boston guy” who happened to snap up the word du jour on the World Wide Web recently.

“Like everyone else, I had been watching TV every morning to see Charlie Sheen's daily antics, and I thought it was hilarious how he kept talking about tiger blood,” Wilson said.

“It was a $15 investment,” he said.

Domain names are big business. In November, a holdings company ended up in Guinness World Records when it bought sex.com for $13 million, the most ever for a domain name. It had been sold before that for $11 million.

But people who buy domains and sit on them are controversial in technology circles. To some, they are just people who have followed proper Web protocol by legally paying for a domain. But many view "cybersquatters" as unsavory space-occupiers.

Wilson, who makes high-end custom signage for businesses, said he’s neither. “To be honest, I don’t know what I’m going to do with it,” he said.

His last foray into domain names was about 12 years ago, when he registered the name of his band, the Konks (“a '60s-style garage punk band”), which recently broke up.

Wilson is not the only one in a bid to take tiger blood to the bank. A California company recently debuted a tiger blood energy potion.

Meet Twitter’s New Homepage [PIC]

Via Mashable.com

Twitter has started rolling out a new version of its homepage, simplifying the interface and refining its pitch to potential new users.

The social media service has changed the color scheme from its traditional shades of light blue in favor of a metallic chrome look. The new homepage also no longer features top tweets or trending topics. Instead, Twitter has opted for a simple bar halfway down the screen that features the avatars of its most popular users.

There are a couple of other changes to the interface that focuses on how users interact with the homepage. The search box has been moved down, but a bigger change is that Twitter has made it easier for users to sign up or log in to its website. The “New to Twitter?” section lets users kick start the process of signing up, right from the homepage. The “sign in” area has been expanded as well.

The biggest change, though, may be the homepage’s new language. The old Twitter.com led with “Discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.” The new homepage has a different pitch to prospective users: “Follow your interests: Instant updates from your friends, industry experts, favorite celebrities, and what’s happening around the world.”

GOP Uses Social Media to Respond to Obama 2012 Campaign Launch

Via mashable.com

If the Republicans’ response to President Barack Obama’s campaign launch Monday is any indication, social media will play a major role in the 2012 election.

Shortly after Obama’s first video for the campaign went up, Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor and potential GOP candidate for the 2012 presidential race, released a YouTube retort. The video (below), which has the urgent music of an action film, features Pawlenty responding to an Obama sound bite, by asking, “How can America win the future when we’re losing the present?” Pawlenty concludes, “In order for America to take a new direction, it’s going to take a new president.”

Since its release Monday, the video has gotten about 53,000 views, compared with 168,000 for Obama’s. Pawlenty also released the video on his Facebook Page, which has 81,000 fans. Obama has close to 19 million Facebook fans.

Massive Email Breach Exposes Data From 50+ Major Retailers, Including Target

Via Mashable.com

Massive Email Breach Exposes Data From 50+ Major Retailers, Including Target

A huge security breach has exposed the names and email addresses of customers of major brands, including Target, Best Buy, Walgreen’s, Capital One and more.

UPDATE: Apparently, a slew of hotel chains’ rewards programs have also been hit by the Epsilon breach; affected chains include Hilton, Red Roof Inn, Ritz-Carlton and Marriott.

While most of these companies are understandably mum on how many customers might be at risk, it’s not inconceivable that millions of users’ information may have been accessed by an unauthorized party.

Epsilon, a digital marketing firm that does a fair amount of email marketing, notified its clients Friday that “an unauthorized entry into Epsilon’s email system” had occurred. The firm stated at the time that the compromised data “was limited to email addresses and/or customer names only. A rigorous assessment determined that no other personal identifiable information associated with those names was at risk.”

How to land a job at Facebook

(Mashable) -- So you want to work at Facebook, one of the world's hottest companies -- what do you have to get your foot in the door and get noticed?

It's not going to be easy -- you have competition.

Facebook received 250,000 job applications last year and is consistently rated as one of the best places to work. And with Facebook's IPO around the corner, the competition for jobs is only going to heat up.

There are plenty of ways to get noticed and stand above the crowd, though. I chatted with Thomas Arnold, head of recruiting for the social network, on what the company looks for and what it takes to get a job at Facebook.

What jobs are available at Facebook?

Top 10 Uses for Twitter (That Aren’t Self-Indulgent)

Whitson Gordon — Since Twitter's inception, it's been looked down upon as a place for self-centered technophiles to share the mundane details of their lives. We at Lifehacker know better than that, though—here are our favorite ways to turn Twitter into a useful tool, without becoming one yourself.

We've shared some of our non-breakfast related Twitter uses before, but over the past few years Twitter has evolved, grown more popular, and we've just discovered more clever and productive uses for it. Some of these you may recognize, but even the ones we've discussed before may have been updated, so be sure to check them all out if you're looking to upgrade your Twitter usage.