Then Coca-Cola freaked and blew a cap (no pun intended, especially if you’ve seen the video), and for understandable reason, and now the blame’s being directed at a director, a New York City-based filmmaker by the name of Max Isaacson. Apparently, Isaacson put the almost 30-second video together all on his own, with absolutely no association with Sprite or Coke, well, just for fun.

Fun really did a flip on this one, as just about everybody and (especially) their mother is up in arms over it. (If you still haven’t seen it for yourself, just go ahead and get it over with and watch it before going another word further. All of my silly innuendos and poor attempts at joking about this thing will make more sense. You know YouTube will have something on it. Go now!)

I honestly don’t know what everyone’s getting their panties (if they’re even being worn anymore) in a bunch about. Obviously this thing would never actually go on public television, again, obviously. I just can’t see why anyone believed in the first place, as so many apparently did, that this was even for real as a piece of advertising.

Just goes to show that once the media, especially that wondrous branch known as the Internet, gets involved in something like this, it just takes off, and all truth, all rationally blows on by with it (again, no pun intended…okay, maybe just a little bit).

I personally find the video to be, well, funny (just don’t tell my mother), if you really want to know. If people would just get their heads out of their behinds for a minute and loosen up, maybe we’d all enjoy ourselves just a little bit more.

The biggest increase in total users for Facebook was not within the United States.  As countries around the world have started to grow and get wired, an explosion in usage occurred in the social networking site.  More and more people from the global community are now linking in, finding friends and sharing interests through online sites like Myspace, Facebook and Twitter.  Each site has its own preferred fanbase; musicians and music enthusiasts to Myspace, college and professions to Facebook, and everyone who feels their opinion should be heard by the world every 10 seconds via tweet to Twitter.

With something for everyone, social networking sites have taken off and constantly grow.  The former college-only site now takes the best from Myspace and Twitter, adds in Facebook’s blend of personality and comes off as a substantial and complete product with very few complaints.  

In an age where people prefer to communicate by text, e-mail or social networking sites over face-to-face interaction, these sites flourish and will continue to do so.

Microsoft can do it all, from crushing Sony in a console battle, waging a successful ad campaign against Mac computers, and even generating some interest in its attempt at redemption with Windows 7 after Vista flopped tremendously and sank CompUSA with it. Microsoft’s new attempt at owning the world through stealing Google’s share of the wealth has brought back a thing that was thought to be dead.

Welcome the Microsoft’s Cash Back Incentives.

Ironically, through this program, Microsoft will pay you 35 percent to buy an iPhone by using the AT&T premier shop through Bing.

Taken from Modmyi.com:

As per this new incentive program, buyers get a 35 percent cash back guarantee if they buy from AT&T using Bing, though you have to go through some additional steps to save the bucks.

Quote: HOW TO GET PREMIER + CashBack (New Contracts Only):
Visit the AT&T Wireless Web site and validate your e-mail address with Premier.
Check your e-mail and click the link to your AT&T Premier Store.
Open a new tab with the same browser that your AT&T Premier Store is open in.
Go to Bing.com in the new tab and search “att wireless.”
Click the 35 percent CashBack Sponsored Link.
Sign into your CashBack account and get redirected to the main AT&T Wireless page.
In the top right, enter the term “Premier” into the search bar.
Click the first link that reads “at&t premier login.”
You will get directed to the same Premier store you have open in the original tab.
Congratulations, you are in the Premier store under the CashBack AT&T Site

So, buying from the Premier Store gets you an iPhone plus a rebate (takes a few weeks to get it back), courtesy of Microsoft.

When Apple has a product that Microsoft simply can’t compete with, Microsoft is smart enough to take advantage of the situation and spin it toward bringing interest in Bing, simultaneously stabbing into Google’s support base.

Microsoft is simply doing what it does best: taking other people’s ideas, making them better, throwing in some spice, and riding on the back of that other idea and deploying a diabolical plan so intricate and wise, Bill Gates can giggle a maniacal laugh all the way to the bank.

Well, that was until a little company made popular by celebrities and athletes arrived on the scene. And this company doesn’t even make money with its product yet.

Twitter is a censor’s worst nightmare.

The Web service is simply an online profile for people to keep up with the world and let everyone know what they are doing or what is on their mind at any given time.  The way in which it’s done is through ‘tweets,’ which are simply status updates similar to Facebook, except Facebook can be blocked.  Twitter can be accessed through a myriad of different Web sites, smartphones, blackberries and various applications for computers and the iPhone.  It can also be updated through text messages or viewed without even having an account.

This makes it near impossible to censor.

As its been reported by MSNBC, Iran’s Twitter movement may be fueling the protests of the recent election, which many people believe was rigged in favor of the hard line incumbent.  Twitter’s evolution may result in Iran’s revolution, with tweets as a weapon.

It will be interesting to see how the people react to venturing outside the box.

Today, Wikipedia banned the Church of Scientology from editing anything on its Web site.

This action is long overdue, since the Church of Scientology has been known to lie, cheat, steal, manipulate, kill, maim and extort its way into the minds of the impressionable, making itself rich in the process so that it can manufacture alien bomb shelters and build space pods, fearing Xenu will grab and drop them off by a random volcano and obliterate it and its followers’ bodies with H-Bombs…but I’m beginning to veer from topic.

Wikipedia has banned the anti-scientologists in the past, whose usual hate tirade against the “church” had gone against its editing policies. When it was discovered that the Church of Scientology had edited and changed nearly 400 pages in reference to Scientology, removing any negative connotations and replacing them with accolades and praise – and doing such at a rate that overwhelmed Wikipedia’s ability to restore documents’ contents to their original truths – the hammer fell.

Now, the entire Church of Scientology will have a road block firmly planted in its way, preventing it from spreading any more propaganda.

In the end, it may only make a small dent in how much money Scientology is able to swindle out of folks, but it’s a good start.

The new longer videos are available at http://www.youtube.com/shows. Just look for the new tab “Shows” on the YouTube Home page.

Of course, this move was designed to generate more profits. What moves today aren’t made for money anymore? Not to mention many other sites have already made much of this same content available in full format. Hulu.com and SideReel.com are but two examples of hundreds out there.

Most of the free content will be older programs and movies like “Beverly Hillbillies” and “Cliffhanger.” Still, free is free, and if it’s free, it’s for me…right?

According to Fox News, revenue generated from ads will be shared with YouTube’s at least dozen content providers.

And let’s not forget who owns YouTube…none other than the online mega magnate Google. So Google teamed up with YouTube. That makes a powerful combination, two of the biggest names on the Internet. Knowing this, it may be surprising to discover that Google has owned YouTube since 2006, with the famous online video spot yet to make any headway as a major marketing vehicle since Google bought it out for $1.76 billion, as Google reports show.

Either way, the new YouTube will likely only continue to press onward toward a more online media-centered world. With TV and movies available online for free, a provision that’s growing exponentially by day, my biggest concern is what appears to be inevitable: the complete deterioration of print media. It’s already taking place with newspapers and magazines. Thousands of people have been laid off to cut costs with the soaring rise in electronic media outlets.

Is this jump toward what only seems to be a Jetson’s fantastic, futuristic way of life (anything and everything available at the touch of a button or hologram screen) really for the better? What are we losing in the process?

Movies and television online today…what’s online tomorrow?