Lashing out in response to sharing service Megaupload being taken offline and its founder jailed, hacking activist group Anonymous took down websites for Universal Music and CBS.com. One rumor suggests that Xbox.com and Xbox Live could be next.

The group sent out a video earlier this week claiming that if the MegaUpload services were not restored within 72-hours, they would begin targeting such sites as Capital One, The United Nations, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. There are rumors that the video was merely an empty threat posted by either smaller members of the organization or someone not even affiliated with them.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Anonymous allegedly took down a gaming service. Though they denied any involvement, the group was credited with taking down the PlayStation Network, taking the service offline for 23-days in response to Sony taking legal action against a hacker who “jailbroke” his PS3 system.

It’s unclear whether the Xbox Network is a verified target of the group, or which of the services would be effected.

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Ex-Nfl star Deion Sanders is having some very public family drama due to his daughters’ love of Twitter, according to TMZ.

In 140 characters or less, daughter Deiondra is tearing apart her stepmother, Pilar Sanders. Deiondra, 19, called Pilar a “gold diggin hoe,” and claimed that Pilar was a terrible wife to her father.

The daughter alleged that Pilar lied when she said she found out about her divorce from the football star via TMZ.

“#HowYouDidntKnow but yo boxes have been packed for weeks now,” Diondra tweeted.

She continued to tear into Pilar, writing “All u had to do was be a supportive wife. Only thing u ever cared about doing with my dad is reality shows.”

“Pilar stop tryna play the victim. Maybe if u would of actually loved my dad and not loved the life he gave you we would be here today.”

Pilar’s lawyer, Larry Friedman, told TMZ that “Marriage is a relationship between two adults and it doesn’t involve engaging this kind of faceless accusations made by a child.”

“If Deion has something to say, he’ll battle it out at the courthouse,” Friedman continued. “Meanwhile Pilar is still trying to protect her children and save her marriage.”

Guy Fawkes mask worn by Occupy Boston protestor the weekend of the October 11 raid in which Boston Police arrested 141 people and removed tents that had been erected in one of the Fort Point Channel Parks. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

A document faxed from One Bullfinch Place to the Twitter offices in San Francisco Friday details a subpoena “Pursuant to an official criminal investigation being conducted by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s and the Boston Police Department” filed by the DA’s office Special Prosecutions Unit. Dated December 14, the subpoena is signed by Benjamin Goldberger, Assistant District Attorney of Suffolk County (the county of Massachusetts that corresponds to the city of Boston).

The subpoena requests “available subscriber information, for the account or accounts associated with the following information, including IP address logs for account creation” but, inexplicably, includes not only account names, but also hashtags and a term which is neither account name nor hashtag. The “accounts” which Goldberger has subpoenaed about are Guido Fawkes, @p0isAn0n, @OccupyBoston, #BostonPD and #d0xcak3. “Guido Fawkes” appears to be a reference to Guy Fawkes, the stylized mask of whom has come to be associated with the hacker group “Anonymous.” That same group might be referenced in the “@p0isAn0n” user name. “#d0xcak3” seems to be a reference to “doxing” i.e. releasing personal information about people over the Internet.

Doxing, per se, is generally legal although the information presented is sometimes obtained via illegal means, such as hacking. In October, along with data from the International Association of Chief of Police website, Anonymous revealed 1000 names and passwords from the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association. A press release attributed to Anonymous explained, “We have no problem targeting police and releasing their information even if it puts them at risk because we want them to experience just a taste of the brutality and misery they serve us on an everyday basis.”

Despite speculation on Twitter and elsewhere that the subpoena is connected to the well-publicized doxing of the Boston Police in October, the subpoena signed by Goldberger asks for information from December 8, 2011 to December 13, 2011 – a time frame that includes Occupy Boston’s December 10 eviction from Dewey Square. The fact that the subpoena is dated December 14 seems to offer evidence that it is unrelated to a more recent and less-publicized Boston Police doxing that either occurred or was republished on December 15.

Besides the fact that hashtags and the phrase “Guido Fawkes” appear to have been mistaken for account names, confusion has been fueled by the fact that @OccupyBoston is an inactive account with little connection to the activists who recently occupied Dewey Square for ten weeks. @Occupy_Boston is the main Twitter account used by Occupy Boston while other handles (@OccupyBostonDA, @OccupyBostonSigns, @OccupyBostonFSU, @OBFacilitation, etc.) are used by Occupy Boston’s various working groups.

By Caitlin Buckley at Emmanuel College

The literary world has entered the social network stream. Marketers have 140 characters to catch your interest.

Lexie Winslow has social media down pat. Every day, she is the queen of clever hash-tags and witty status updates. She needs to get the most comments and “likes.”

“Learning to write concisely and persuasively has been invaluable in the business world, especially in marketing,” she said . “Social media marketing is all about making an impression in a finite amount of characters!”

Photo Cred: AIS Media

In Boston’s Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade and Reference Division, 24 year old Winslow is the Web Content Administrator. She uses Twitter and Facebook to blog new book titles.

She appreciates the desire to discuss favorite books and the next big hits. Her updates relate to the reader– what sparks their interest, what they want to talk about most. In one line, she invests in the reader as much as she promotes the book.

“I find social media a very forgiving platform, so it’s a good place to try things out and see how the fans react. I put myself in their shoes as a reader, to think of what would entice me to learn more about a book,” Winslow said.

It’s a world in which people want to voice their own opinions. If Winslow does it right, social media provides an organized and exciting forum, friendly to both discussion and marketing. Every day is a little different, so the fresh and stimulating new ideas need to keep coming.

“I think social media is a blessing for the publishing industry,” she said. “Twitter and Facebook especially are so text-based that literary people gravitate to them.”

But there are limits to her expression.

Winslow feels the pressure to make each and every status update interesting. She can’t be too offensive, but she can be a little controversial. There is a balance somewhere in between that keeps readers returning and increasing in numbers.

When she feels lacking in followers and friends, she wins them over by giving them something for their effort.

“Free books usually go over the best,” she said. “Whenever I want to drive up follower numbers, I put together a giveaway.”

Living in the digital age, creativity is important. Marketing has become Winslow’s playground.

For the promotional websites, she creates designs that are easy to follow and visually appealing. She features the newest and most intriguing books on the homepage of the company’s website. Each tweet and status update has a purpose.

There is a sense of accomplishment that comes from clicking that tweet into the web-universe.

“I can feel proud of the products that I share with the world,” she said.

Winslow credits her English degree from Holy Cross for helping her succeed in the professional world. She had a passion for literature in college, and followed that instinct when looking for jobs in book-related fields.

Publishing was the perfect fit.

After graduation, she interned at a smaller publishing house, The History Press. When she received another internship at Houghton Mifflin, she was at a crossroads: internship or graduate school? She chose the internship for experience, over observation in a classroom.

Experience paid off and she was given a job at the company—one that relies on a quick mind and a youthful spark—the essence of social media.

“It’s casual, sometimes silly, and all about instant gratification,” she said, “and I’ve become very comfortable with it.”

Long before the phrase “social media” infiltrated the minds of the masses there was public radio and Boston’s underground station, WBCN, was at the forefront of bringing revolution to the people. Much like the grassroots efforts of today’s Occupy Wall Street, WBCN broadcasted the rock music of a generation and reflected on the political and social changed taking place between 1968 and 1974.

In 1970, Bill Lichtenstein was 14 years old and the youngest DJ in WBCN’s history. All grown up, he is now a documentary filmmaker and determined to raise enough funds to put together an archive and film about the brief yet volatile history of WBCN.

“WBCN and other free-form radio stations across the country gave a voice to young people like me who were demanding change from our leaders,” Lichtenstein said. “It is the perfect time to go back and capture the days when rock and roll radio and the underground media changed the world.”

Already more than 50,000 pieces of WBCN memorabilia have been donated to the project to be added to the film archive and enthusiasm is growing. More and more creative projects today are being funded by Kickstarter.com and The American Revolution is among them. Perhaps the most widely discussed Kickstarter campaign so far, the fundraising has brought together a community of artists and broadcasters that haven’t been together since the 1970s.

But the adults aren’t the only ones having fun. Tiffany Lopinsky, a local high school student working on the film said, “To me the film is about educating people about the generation of the 1960s. Back then they had their own kind of social change through media. We’re having our own…now. You can see the parallels and learn from them.”

In Fall 2012 The American Revolution film and WBCN Nation will be having a release party at the infamous Paradise Rock Club with rock and media stars coming out en masse. With four days left a call to arms has been sent out so donate, purchase tickets, and occupy the revolution!

More information at: kickstartWBCN.com and theamericanrevolution.fm

Giuliana Rancic, E! News anchor and host of Fashion Police, announced her fight with breast cancer in October, but after an unsuccessful double lumpectomy, she will be undergoing a double mastectomy next week.

Rancic and her husband, Bill Rancic, appeared on NBC’s Today to address the new treatment. She said “I would like to take the stigma away. ‘Mastectomy’, the word seemed so scary to me at first. After doing research and seeing the advancements, the surgery has come a long way from 20 years ago. The results can be incredible. Not only can it save your life, but you can come out feeling healthier and with a positive self-image”.

Rancic mentioned how her desire to have children factored into her decision-making process, saying “If I’d chosen to just do another lumpectomy and then do radiation, and then do anti-estrogen therapy, which means two to five years of medication, that basically puts me into early menopause. Then I would have to put off having a baby for several years.”

She also spoke of her husband’s endless support: “Bill said to me, ‘I just need you around for the next 50 years, kid. I don’t care what you look like, I don’t care about the physical portion of this, I just need you around for the next 50 years. So let’s get you healthy.’”

The encouragement Rancic has received from colleagues, friends, and strangers has been overwhelming. E! News co-host, Ryan Seacrest said “Her positivity throughout this ordeal is a true inspiration”.

On the twitter front, the support has been just as vast. Teresa Giudice wrote “@GiulianaRancic My prayers are with you sweetie. You’re an inspiration to women everywhere for sharing your story. Love you! xx” and Trista Sutter tweeted “@GiulianaRancic I haven’t experienced ur struggle, but immensely respect u sharing it w/those who need 2 know that they aren’t alone. Prayers.”

In response, Rancic tweeted ”Thank you for ur love”.

One of the first things I do upon waking up in the morning is roll over, my eyes squinting with lethargy in the semi darkness, and check my Facebook. About an hour later, as I brush my teeth or apply my makeup, I check it again. Throughout the day, whether in class or eating lunch I am always ready to check up on the lives of the few hundred people who make up my list of friends. Facebook, and its odd mix of voyeurism and real human connection, has attracted millions upon millions of people to join. It and the newly popular Google+ have a strict policy of only allowing members to join if they are willing to share their real name.

These “nymwars”, as they have dubbed on Twitter, are raging between those who want to remain separated from their online personas and websites like Facebook that remain steadfast in their affirmation that requiring the use of real names leads to better online behavior and an easier way for others to find you on the internet. In many ways, this is a debate that leaves me with mixed feelings. As someone who is young and lives for Facebook and social networking, it is difficult to understand why anyone would want to hide themselves. For most of my friends, the entire reason for having a Facebook is to show off those drunken pictures from Friday night, or the ring your boyfriend just gave you. The point of Facebook , at least as I see it, is to let the world see the best and happiest parts of your life, even if they tell a lie about who you are.

The fact that my name attached to everything I do while on Facebook has  prevented me from speaking up on a rude status or posting an embarrassing photo. The fact that other people, people who actually know me and see me in the hallway or at work the next day, will see what I have said and done online has definitely stayed my hand from doing pretty stupid things. Then again, I am somewhat conservative in my activities because there are undoubtedly people who post and say outlandish things without worrying about the real world consequences their statements cause. It does make me wonder though, would those kind of things happen more often if Facebook allowed us to operate under an alias? I tend to think so.

To see the dark side of the internet, the side with people who say rude and horrible things indiscriminately is very easy. All you need to do is go to an article on Kim Kardashian or a story about President Obama. The comment sections of these pages are rarely full of thoughtful and well articulated answers. Instead they are littered with comments that are racist, ageist, sexist, and any kind of “ist” you can think of. In the real world are the people behind the fake names in the comment section that hateful? Would they be able to look the same person they are bashing in a forum in the face and say what they have written? Probably not, and it is for that reason alone that I am more inclined to believe that it is better for social networking websites to have policies of real names only.

Even though Google+ has recently relented and will now allow pseudonyms, I cannot help but think a victory has not been won. Bullies and those who would seek to hurt others online depend upon the ambiguity that internet handles give them. Yet, supporters of internet pseudonyms are adamant that Facebook and others only want real names, not because transparency of identity is morally correct, but  because they profit by giving those names to advertising companies. This may be true, and I am personally annoyed when I get advertisements on Facebook. But in reality, they really aren’t obnoxious enough to warrant a call for names to be hidden. Proponents of pseudonyms also say that this ambiguity protects those who could otherwise not voice their opinion. Whether it is a young gay man in a small town or a woman who is the victim of abuse, without the protection of obscurity they would not be honestly state what they believe. i am in complete agreement with these sentiments, but I feel like these occurrences are too rare to outweigh the bile that people who are hiding behind a fake name spew while on the internet. I am aware that my actual name is one of my most important assets in my life, and I use it on the internet with caution. The fact that what I say holds me accountable makes me wiser, and couldn’t we all do with a little more wisdom?

The environmental impact of so much online time really boils down to energy usage, which in turn affects the amount of greenhouse gases we pump into our atmosphere. Google, which has been carbon neutral since 2007, has been a real leader in the building of green data centers, even powering them with renewable energy. (Media credit/Jurgen Plasser via Flickr)

The environmental impact of so much online time really boils down to energy usage, which in turn affects the amount of greenhouse gases we pump into our atmosphere. For one, each of us can help by limiting computer time (whether surfing the ‘net or not) and shutting them down or putting them into sleep mode when we aren’t using them (this can be automated via the computer’s power management control panel).

Also, when shopping for a new computer, consumers and businesses alike can opt for models certified by the federal government as energy efficient with the Energy Star label. If all computers sold in the U.S. met Energy Star requirements, Americans could pocket $1.8 billion annually in saved energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to taking some two million cars off the road.

Individual responsibility aside, the creation and management of more efficient data centers by the major online hubs—especially as we enter the age of “cloud” computing whereby most of the software, content and services we look to our computers for resides online and is served to us as-needed—is what can have the biggest impact. Google, Facebook, and Amazon.com are already deeply committed to the cloud computing model, with Microsoft, Yahoo and others following suit accordingly.

For its part, Google has been a real leader in the building of green data centers, even powering them with renewable energy. The company recently released environmental footprint scores for several of its data centers. While the energy usage required to run its cloud services (Google Search, Google+, Gmail and YouTube) seems huge in the aggregate—it used 260 megawatt hours to power its data centers in 2010—it boils down to only 7.4 kilowatt hours worth of energy annually per user. Google reports that to provide an individual user with its services for a month uses less energy than leaving a light bulb on for three hours. And because the company has been carbon neutral since 2007, “even that small amount of energy is offset completely, so the carbon footprint of your life on Google is zero.”

In an April 2011 report entitled “How Dirty is your Data?” the non-profit Greenpeace examined energy sources for the 10 largest IT companies involved in cloud computing, finding Apple, Facebook and IBM especially guilty of getting significant amounts of power from coal-fired power plants. (Facebook had come under fire earlier this year when reporters uncovered that the company planned to buy electricity for its brand new eco-friendly data center in Prineville, Oregon—one of the greenest such facilities ever designed and constructed—from a utility that derives most of its power from coal.) Yahoo, Amazon.com and Microsoft scored best in use of renewable alternative energy sources for cloud services.

In the long run, analysts think that the widespread shift to cloud computing will be a great boon to the environment. A report released in September 2011 by Pike Research, “Cloud Computing Energy Efficiency,” predicts that because of the shift to cloud computing and increasing efficiencies, data center power consumption will decrease by 31 percent between 2010 and 2020.

CONTACTS: Energy Star, www.energystar.gov; Greenpeace, www.greenpeace.org; Pike Research, www.pikeresearch.com.

The top 10 earthquake Tweets:

1. kevinaries Kevin Aries

Picture of #earthquake damage in Boston:yfrog.com/h3aw92j #hubquake

2. paulandstorm Paul and Storm

Dear Southern CA Twitterers: you lose your shit every time there’s 3+ consecutive days of rain; LET US HAVE THIS, GODDAMMIT. #Eastquake

3. DigBoston Dig Boston

MOTHER EARTH HAS SPOKEN RT @GarrettQuinn: Guy just rode by on unicycle with a legalize hemp sign. Everything normal in Cambridge.

4. TheTweetOfGod God

If you are in Washington, GET OUT OF THE CITY IMMEDIATELY. (Although verily, I have given this advice every day since 1983.)

5. daveweigel daveweigel

Was all set to loot in Dupont circle, then realized all we have are taco and cupcake stores.

6. BostonReview Boston Review

BREAKING: Looters in Cambridge emptying Trader Joe’s gluten-free spring roll samples. #earthquake

7. OprahReadsNews Oprah Reads The News

EARTHQUAKES FOR EVVVVVeeerrryyyyOOOOnnnneeeeeee!!! New York gets an earthquake, DC gets an earthquake, Virginia gets an earthquake…

8. TheTweetOfGod God

There was just a 6.0 earthquake in Washington. Obama wanted it to be 3.4, but the Republicans wanted 6.0, so he compromised.

9. coolmcjazz Jason

No confirmation on a report stating this was Obama finally putting his foot down. #DCearthquake #DC #earthquake

10.

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The Game denies sending tweets that caused potential danger at the Compton Sheriff’s Department, telling reporters he was at a photo shoot when the tweets in question were authored.

The Sheriff’s Department claims The Game tweeted their phone number and told his followers to call the number for a rap internship.

The rapper says his friend had his phone and was tweeting from it, but did not know the phone number went to the Sheriffs Department.

When he heard the police were considering charging him with a crime, The Game told TMZ “Casey Anthony can get away with murder and The Game goes to jail for tweeting. God Bless America.”

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Rapper The Game caused a clog-up at the Compton, Ca sheriff’s department when he tweeted their phone number and told his followers to call for an internship with the rapper.  He may now be in legal trouble.

The phone calls began around 5:20 p.m..  Although most callers hung up when they heard it was a sheriff’s station, others inquired about The Game’s internship offer.  The volume of calls caused delays in emergency services to legitimate calls.

The sheriff’s office eventually figured out what happened and responded to The Game’s tweet asking him to stop the calls.  The calls ended around 8 p.m.

The deputies talked to the District Attorney’s office with intentions of possibly filing charges including delaying or obstructing an officer in the performance of his duty.

The Game is releasing a new album soon, so this stunt could hurt promotion of the album.  Or maybe help it.  Maybe it was a big publicity stunt!

If you are a customer of Netflix, then you would have received an email yesterday that explains that the service will now separate their services into two payment structures. Here is a copy of an email I received:

We are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into two separate plans to better reflect the costs of each. Now our members have a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan, or both.

Your current $14.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be split into 2 distinct plans:

Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month

Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs, 2 out at-a-time (no streaming) for $11.99 a month

Your price for getting both of these plans will be $19.98 a month ($7.99 + $11.99). You don’t need to do anything to continue your memberships for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs.

These prices will start for charges on or after September 1, 2011.

You can easily change or cancel your unlimited streaming plan, unlimited DVD plan, or both, by going to the Plan Change page in Your Account.

We realize you have many choices for home entertainment, and we thank you for your business. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to call us at 1-888-357-1516.

–The Netflix Team

The reaction to this?

Well if you are on Twitter, the trending topic for the past two days has been “Dear #Netflix,” where people from around the world have voiced their displeasure at the 60 percent price increase. Some are quite funny, some sad, while others lament the fact that the streaming service, which is the cheapest option, does not have as good a selection as the DVD’s they offer.

Here are a few dissatisfied customers from twitter:

@ChrisThomas:

Dear @Netflix: Not cool. Sincerely, Me and everyone else who have loyally paid you $ for years. P.S. Please fix it.

@adkalmanack:

Dear #netflix, You can’t double the price of a product without providing more value. Bad business move — #redbox here we come.

With that said, will you continue on with Netflix? Leave your comments below!

On June 9, a sneak preview of the upcoming film, “Super 8,” will be available via Twitter before the movie releases on Friday, June 10.

The hashtag #Super8Secret will allow Twitter users to buy tickets to a sneak preview of the film showing at select theaters across the country. The hashtag will be a promoted trend on the site throughout the day on June 9.

More than 300 IMAX and other screens will play the to film in the US and Canada. Attendees will also receive a free popcorn if they make another concession purchase.

This endeavor is a first for Twitter; it follows the premiere of the “Super 8” trailer on the site, which was another first.

The film comes from Paramount Pictures and is written/directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. It stars Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso, Noah Emmerich, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills.

“Super 8” takes place during the summer of 1979. After group of teenagers from a small town in Ohio see a train crash while making a movie with a Super 8 camera, they soon begin to think that the crash wasn’t an accident. People begin to disappear and unexplainable events begin to happen in their town. The local deputy tries to uncover the truth and discovers information that was certainly unforeseen.

The film’s Twitter page (www.Twitter.com/Super8Movie) provides more information about the film and uses the hashtag #Super8Secret to share information. For sneak preiview tickets on June 9, visit www.Super8-Movie.com/Sneak.

Lady Gaga has become the first celebrity to get more than 10 million followers on Twitter on Sunday. She tweeted with a picture of herself, “10 Million Monsters! I’m speechless, we did it! It’s an illness how I love you. Leaving London smiling.”

She was the first person to reach nine million followers on Twitter in March and now has more followers than Britney Spears and Justin Bieber do.

Gaga will release her next single, “Hair” on Monday and the album, “Born This Way” will be out on May 23.

Miley Cyrus was back on Twitter on Monday and tweeted, “Yo guys! Its MC! Thank you so much for my KCA! PS I am taking over the Gypsy Heart twitter! Gotta keep ya posted on tour come see me!”

She quit Twitter in October 2009 when she had 1.1 million followers by saying, “I want my private life private.”

She also tweeted the reason why she re-joined the social networking site, “‘Do not fear…the Sheenius is here!’ I’m not gonna lie. I came back to twitter for 2 reasons. My fans and to follow @charliesheen #winning.”

The tiger blood winning star Charlie Sheen has gotten three million followers on Twitter Sunday.

Sheen gave the 3,000,000th follower @Boi_Wanda two free tickets to his live “Torpedo of Truth” show at NYC’s Radio City Music Hall. He tweeted, “Thanks @Boi_Wanda (follow!) for being my 3,000,000th Cadre! Two free tix to the show! @radiovendetta from Live Nation will contact you ybw c.”

By the way, today is the 5-year anniversary of Twitter.

Charlie Sheen sure surprises us in some way everyday.

Sheen has broken the Guinness World Record for reaching 1 million Twitter followers the fastest, which Guinness officially confirmed Thursday.

He needed only 25 hours and 17 minutes to get 1 million followers. It’s pretty shocking. Guinness said in a statement, “Guinness World Records is excited to continue expanding the number of social media records it holds and looks forward to new records emerging from the rapidly evolving world of social media.”

Sheen has been tweeting a lot since he joined and he tweeted today, “I’ve been informed me that #Plan Better is rated a major success! thank u all! like my dear friend Gnarls Gnarlington says, #WINNING! not sure what all the legal noise is about… just verbally reached a deal with B. no court mon. yay…. ..yet the opposition felt it necessary to still harass me with old gibberish…. odd? perhaps. transparent? you betcha’! #WINNING! #teamsheen”

Charlie Sheen just joined Twitter Tuesday and has already reached 1 million followers today.

His first tweet was “Winning..! “Choose your Vice….”

Yes he is definitely a winner on Twitter.

He also randomly tweeted to P. Diddy saying, “@iamdiddy Get dressed my man… sending the driver..!”

Currently, the once, former, and possible future “Men” star is following P. Diddy, Alyssa Milano, Howard Stern, Piers Morgan, former Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, Nicky Hilton, Sarah Silverman, Minka Kelly, George Lopez, Will Arnett, boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., and baseball stars Brian Wilson and Nick Swisher. Plus, he is also following his girlfriend Rachel, whose porn actress name is Bree Olson.

So why don’t we briefly take a look at what people thought of the halftime show?

Before the show started, Usher, who was preparing to go onstage, tweeted, “#halftimeshow!! they’re gonna kill it,” while will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas tweeted, “I’m in the back getting ready and I can’t see the game .”

The Tweets started immediately from fans and fellow musicians. Most were not supportive.

LeToya Luckett, who was a member of Destiny’s Child, tweeted, “What in the FERGIE???? I want a light up bra too!!!”

Slash’s fans were very harsh and said that Fergie rendition the worst version of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” they had ever heard.

?uestlove of the Roots didn’t sound negative. He tweeted, “ferg is the first woman to perform the halftime show since nipplegate. highly surprised the unmoveable axl cleared this.”

Ryan Seacrest kept tweeting pictures from the show with no personal opinion. A wise way of reporting.

?uestlove of the Roots added, “now if wil is smart, nick will come and do “check it out”.” It was a ‘thinking outside the box’ opinion. No one really talked/thought about Nicki Minaj since they were just emphasizing how awesome or awful the show was. Everyone was ‘black or white’ and he totally went ‘no color’

Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe entered the Twitter war by tweeting “Worse halftime ever. Jesus. Really?”

Estelle focused on Usher’s appearance and tweeted, “Urshface! I love this perf!!! And the whole outfit this go round!!!! #yes!” And she later added, “This is a brilliant halftime show… Makes me wanna go see BEP in concert. The entire performance is visually incredible. #halftime”

Speaking of Usher, Justin Bieber tweeted, “THAT’S MY BIG BRO!!!” He sounded very happy about his mentor’s surprise performance.

Joey Kramer of Aerosmith agreed with Nikki Sixx by tweeting, “R they kidding with this ? Seriously WTF ?” He ended up taking to Sixx and said, “@NikkiSixx I hear ya brother.. WTF ?”

On the the hand, P. Diddy was very excited and said, “W0W!!!!!!!!!!! BEP! LeeGo!” Chris Brown also tweeted, “That’s was dope!!! ” the peas””

Jordin Sparks also liked it and tweeted, “They BETTER do the runnin man in the half time show!! Yessss. As a whole, I loved that half time performance! .” Jay Sean loved it too by tweeting “Just watched the black eyed peas perform at the superbowl. Wow. Wot a humongous production!!! AmAzing!!!!” Kim Kardashian tweeted as well, “Wow Black Eyed Peas killed it!!! Fergie looks sooo gorge!”

Avril Lavigne loved the BEP and said “The Black Eyed Peas just kicked ass at the Super Bowl. Great performance!!!! It was perfect. The dancers were insane.”

It seemed like that rock musicians liked Slash but didn’t like the BEP; pop celebrities loved the BEP and Usher but didn’t mention Slash… except for Justin Bieber who concluded by tweeting, “@BEP and @Slash and my big bro @UsherRaymondIV – #proud of u my dude. that split was crazy. #Halftimeshow.” He was pretty much all about Usher but sounded like he loved the show overall.

Jordin Sparks threw a question, “Did you like half time? Why or why not?”

Perez Hilton tweeted, “I think that was the best Half Time Show in years!” will.i.am replied, “@PerezHilton thanks perez…it means a lot from you…”

Some of them stared noticing that an intense controversy was happening on Twitter. Estelle tweeted, “It honestly doesn’t matter what we think tho…long as we watched it. Which we all did. #it‘sonlyentertainment ” and Jordin Sparks said, “Not saying it was perfect. But it was energetic, visually appealing & lots of surprises! Mixing def could’ve been better. Lol”

But when things were getting cool down, Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe shot this tweet, “WTF was that?”

Perez Hilton gave us the explanation, “So the Peas did not sound amazing, but they were very entertaining! Much better than The Who last year or Tom Petty before!” He was talking about The Who….?

It was a never-ending vicious cycled Twitter controversy caused by the Halftime show, which was even less than 15 minutes.

EA sometimes gets a bad rap as being a heartless, money hungry company, but there’s no denying that this was pretty cool of them.

When Ashley’s dog knocked over her Xbox 360, it ruined her brand new copy of Dead Space 2, a game that she was admittedly excited to play. “Iwas so extremely excited as i was absolutely in love with the first one,” Ashley said.

When Ashley took to Twitter to vent about her canine’s accident, she received a direct message on the service from someone from the EA account asking for her address.  After a few days, a package arrived at Ashley’s doorstep, and what’s inside was surprising to say the least.

Ashley received a replacement copy signed by the development team and a one of  a kind, custom artwork admonishing the dog for his wrong deeds.

“This was BY FAR the nicest thing anyone (especially anyone I didn’t even know) has ever done for me,” Ashley said.

Hey! You can follow us on Twitter, we sometimes give away cool stuff too! Follow Blast at @BlastMagazine.com and myself at @JoeSinicki.

source

Lady Gaga tweeted her up-coming single’s full lyrics today. She said on Twitter, “Are you ready for the full lyrics?! Can we trend #bornthiswaylyrics!? It has been in my heart for over a year. I’m so excited to share it. It’s #1 worldwide! That was fast! You’re so radical! Here you Monsters, this one’s for you.”

The single “Born This Way” will be available on February 13th and Gaga’s performance will be featured at the Grammys on the same day as well.

Here are the revealed lyrics of the tune:

INTRO:
It doesn’t matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M
Just put your paws up
’cause you were Born This Way, Baby

VERSE:
MY MAMA TOLD ME WHEN I WAS YOUNG
WE ARE ALL BORN SUPERSTARS

SHE ROLLED MY HAIR AND PUT MY LIPSTICK ON
IN THE GLASS OF HER BOUDOIR

“THERE’S NOTHIN WRONG WITH LOVIN WHO YOU ARE”
SHE SAID, “‘CAUSE HE MADE YOU PERFECT, BABE”

“SO HOLD YOUR HEAD UP GIRL AND YOU’LL GO FAR,
LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY”

CHORUS:
I’M BEAUTIFUL IN MY WAY
‘CAUSE GOD MAKES NO MISTAKES
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY

DON’T HIDE YOURSELF IN REGRET
JUST LOVE YOURSELF AND YOU’RE SET
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY

POST-CHORUS:
OOO THERE AIN’T NO OTHER WAY
BABY I WAS BORN THIS WAY
BABY I WAS BORN THIS WAY
OOO THERE AIN’T NO OTHER WAY
BABY I WAS BORN-
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY

DON’T BE A DRAG -JUST BE A QUEEN
DON’T BE A DRAG -JUST BE A QUEEN
DON’T BE A DRAG -JUST BE A QUEEN
DON’T BE!

VERSE:
GIVE YOURSELF PRUDENCE
AND LOVE YOUR FRIENDS
SUBWAY KID, REJOICE YOUR TRUTH

IN THE RELIGION OF THE INSECURE
I MUST BE MYSELF, RESPECT MY YOUTH

A DIFFERENT LOVER IS NOT A SIN
BELIEVE CAPITAL H-I-M (HEY HEY HEY)
I LOVE MY LIFE I LOVE THIS RECORD AND
MI AMORE VOLE FE YAH (LOVE NEEDS FAITH)

REPEAT CHORUS + POST-CHORUS

BRIDGE:

DON’T BE A DRAG, JUST BE A QUEEN
WHETHER YOU’RE BROKE OR EVERGREEN
YOU’RE BLACK, WHITE, BEIGE, CHOLA DESCENT
YOU’RE LEBANESE, YOU’RE ORIENT
WHETHER LIFE’S DISABILITIES
LEFT YOU OUTCAST, BULLIED, OR TEASED
REJOICE AND LOVE YOURSELF TODAY
‘CAUSE BABY YOU WERE BORN THIS WAY

NO MATTER GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BI,
LESBIAN, TRANSGENDERED LIFE
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN TO SURVIVE
NO MATTER BLACK, WHITE OR BEIGE
CHOLA OR ORIENT MADE
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN TO BE BRAVE

REPEAT CHORUS

OUTRO/REFRAIN:

I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!
I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!

I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!
I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!

Social media is praised for its role in bringing people from all walks of life, from all over the world, together in one forum to discuss and debate both public and private matters.

But when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head today at a Safeway in Tucson, the ugly side of social media reared its head. Take a look at this comment left on Sarah Palin‘s Facebook page, where she posted condolences to Giffords’ family after the shooting. It’s from Facebook/Twitter user Mark Kerr:

“Go, Sarah! Gifford deserved to die. She was a liberal, a Jew, a health care reformer, an enemy of the NRA, pro abortion and pro gay. What happened to the map? One down and 16 to go.”

The map Kerr is referring to is a map Palin previously posted on her website, SarahPAC.com, that used crosshair-like symbols to pinpoint each House Democrat who voted for health care reform and was up for re-election in November’s midterms.

Gifford was on the list, which can be found here. The map has since been taken off Palin’s website.

On Twitter, many have made up their minds that Palin is to blame. The following is from Tom Colicchio:

“Sarah Palin had Rep Gifford in her crosshairs. She is now officially dangerous.”

The shooting has quickly become, at least on social media, a fight between the left and right, and an excuse for many anti-Palin citizens to speak their minds about her rhetoric.

Markos Moulitsas, founder of the progressive political website The Daily Kos, posted this tweet not long ago:

“Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin, http://is.gd/knNgl“

The link above leads to a blog post regarding Palin’s map of health care reform-supporting House Democrats.

His tweet quickly got a response from conservative Andrew Breitbart:

“For the love of God, @markos. Stop it. Don’t go there, trust me. Trust me. Trust me. You will not like the blow-back, I assure you.”

Many are criticizing the reaction, calling for everyone to be tactful during this time of crisis, especially since we now know a 9-year-old was tragically shot dead during the attack.

UPDATE 9:08 p.m. ET: The author of the infamous comment posted on Sarah Palin’s Facebook, Mark Kerr, has stated, repeatedly, on his Twitter account that he was being sarcastic. Click here to see.

On Thursday, her 29th birthday, Britney Spears announced that her next album will be released in March. She tweeted, “I’m almost done with my new album and it will be coming out this March,” “I AM IN L-O-V-E WITH IT!”

She also said, “Just wanted to thank all of you for the amazing birthday wishes you guys have been sending all day.”

“My fans mean the world to me & waking up to all of your wishes really made me smile, so here’s something that I hope will make you smile….”

Did she make you smile?

WikiLeaks, which published a quarter-million sensitive diplomatic cables on Sunday, came under a denial of service attack by a hacker styled “th3j35t3r” (The Jester).

When the attack happened, th3j35t3r tweeted, “TANGO DOWN – for attempting to endanger the lives of our troops, ‘other assets’ & foreign relations.”

According to PCMAG.com, F-Secure’s Chief Research Officer, Mikko Hypponen said, “It was a weird case. Everybody assumed it was some large-scale Distributed Denial of Service attack, but the guy himself says it’s not. It’s a protocol-based attack from a single source.”

WikiLeaks recovered by changing its hosting providers, which were in France when the attack happened. They are currently using two different servers hosted by Amazon.com.

The hacker, th3j35t3r, characterizes himself as ex-military and often uses military terms. He uses a Russian Hotmail account.

Many celebrities, including Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams, Janelle Monae and Swizz Beatz are getting ready for a new campaign called “Digital Life Sacrifice,” which will benefit Alicia Keys’ AIDS charity, “Keep a Child Alive.” The charity organization was started in 2003 in order to support people in Africa and India who are affected by HIV/AIDS.

This is how this works. They will sign off social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter starting Wednesday, which is World AIDS Day. And, they will not come back until the charity campaign raises $1 million.

Alicia Keys told the Associated Press, “It’s really important and super-cool to use mediums that we naturally are on.”

Pink and racer Carey Hart attend the Second Annual Art of Elysium Genesis Event at Milk Studios on August 28 in Hollywood. (WireImage)

Singer Pink, 31, confirmed that she and husband Carey Hart are expecting their first child and that doctor told them that the baby will be a girl.

According to People, Pink said on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show” airing Wednesday, “My mom has always wished me a daughter just like me. I’m terrified one of us will go to jail.”

DeGeneres also tweeted tonight, “Pink is on the show tomorrow. Does she have big news? Baby. Did I say baby? I meant maybe. I just love her!”

Considering why Pink did not publicly admit that she was pregnant at first, she said, “I didn’t want to talk about it because I was just really nervous and I have had a miscarriage before.” Additionally, she explained that it (pregnancy) was planned and it worked out.

Here is not-so-meaningful “who to blame” game happening right now.

Kanye West on Friday canceled a performance on NBC’s “Today” show to protest what he called a “set up” when he was interviewed on the program regarding his comment about George W. Bush.

“Runaway” rapper was supposed to perform on the morning talk show on November 26 but canceled after the awkward interview on “Today” on Wednesday..

West tweeted, “I’m not performing on the Today Show for obvious reasons. I’m so happy the world got to see just a small piece of ‘the set up.’”

An NBC spokeswoman also confirmed the performance was canceled.

Regarding the “Today”  interview, West also intensely tweeted, “HE TRIED TO FORCE MY ANSWERS. IT WAS VERY BRUTAL AND I CAME THERE WITH ONLY POSITIVE INTENT.” “Everything sounds like noise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERYTHING SOUNDS LIKE NOISE!!!!!!! I don’t trust anyone!” “He played clips of Bush and asked me to look at his face while I was trying to talk to him. I wish Michael Jackson had twitter!!!!!!” “…And I don’t hate Matt Lauer… We don’t promote hate. That’s the whole point!!! I promote love and truth!”

OK, so where was MJ coming from to this issue?

As someone promoting “love and truth,” was it really the best solution that the performance got cancelled?

The most recent flaw discovered on Twitter was being exploited to send pop-up messages and links to porn sites, and in some cases, caused users to retweet the links without their knowledge.

Twitter has patched the flaw, but security chief Bob Lord advised, “Users may still see strange retweets in their time lines caused by the exploit. However, we are not aware of any issues related to it that would cause harm to computers or their accounts.” According to Twitter, user information was not compromised, so changing passwords is not necessary.

The code used to spread the worm exploited a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability. The command for the code was written in Javascript and automatically directed users to another website when the links were moused over; links typically looked like a block of color or random URL. The first of the self-replicating codes appears to have been developed by Magnus Holm, who states, “I simply wanted to exploit the hole without doing any ‘real’ harm.” Holm said his worm had passed around in at least 200,000 messages.

This recent flaw comes shortly after Twitter’s recent revamp of the site. Graham Cluley, a researcher at security firm Sophos, warned users to continue on their guard, as other hackers may now attempt to search for new flaws or even find way around the patch.

Twitter says that its team has fixed a cross-site scripting vulnerability on its web interface that allowed several worms to spread across the site on Tuesday morning.

According to The Guardian Technology Blog, a Japanese developer reported the XSS vulnerability to Twitter on August 14. The company launched a new site September 14, and the new site still had the vulnerability.

Twitter said Tuesday afternoon it had fixed the vulnerability, but not before countless malicious Tweets had been sent.

“We’ve identified and are patching a XSS attack; as always, please message @safety if you have info regarding such an exploit,” the company said in a status message posted at 6:25 a.m.

The exploit was perfectly simple. You see, when you send a Tweet with a link attached, the URL is converted to a hyperlink. The exploit changed the way the link was translated when you hovered your mouse over it to click.

Twitter has been hacked — just for the fun of it/

The site was overrun on Tuesday morning with posts discussing a programming flaw that pranks users, spread worms, and sends porn to unsuspecting Tweeters.

According to experts, the problem was limited to a JavaScript command in the old Twitter web interface, which is gradually being phased out.

The New York Times reported that one offending post included an “onmouseover” command that caused messages to pop up and sites to open automatically when a pointer hovered over it.

The script caused some users to forward the offending links to their followers — similar to the many Facebook worms that have been found over the past few years.

Twitter hasn’t issued a statement yet, but posted a status page message saying: "We’ve identified and are patching a XSS attack; as always, please message @safety if you have info regarding such an exploit." At 9:50 Eastern time Twitter said it had fixed the flaw. (XSS is short for "cross site scripting" and refers to Web-application flaws that enable hackers to inject scripts into Web sites.)

News outlets reported that due to the worm, Sarah Brown, wife of former British prime minister Gordon Brown, was circulating a link on her Twitter page that sent users to a hardcore Japanese porn site.

Twitter user Magnus Holm, who says he’s a Norwegian Ruby on Rails programmer, appears to have started the slaw.

In an email to the Times, Hold said he just “wanted to experiment with the flaw.”

But the hack isn’t so harmless, and it’s led to other acts of online vandalism.

Others appear to be taking the JavaScript exploit and using it for much worse actions.

The Times reported that Holm said one malicious worm “downloaded some nasty code from a Russian server.”

There is no word on law enforcement action yet.

John Mayer has decided to quit Twitter although he had more than 3.7 million followers.　The singer disappeared three days after he Tweeted, "Self Portrait of The Artist Three Days Before His Metaphoric Retirement," along with a black and white photo of himself with a laptop.

According to Associated Press, a spokeswoman for the pop singer says he has discontinued his Twitter account with his Battle Studies Tour "now at a close and a return to the studio planned."

That is a very justifiable reason for leaving Twitter and focusing on the next record as a musician but even if he had tweeted to promote his tour, people paid so much attention to his twitter page when he tried to clear up false rumors and clarify comments he’s made for the Playboy interview, in which he talked about intimate relations with ex-girlfriend Jessica Simpson and called her "sexual napalm in bed."

When that happened in February, he tweeted, "And while I’m using today for looking at myself under harsh light, I think it’s time to stop trying to be so raw in interviews. … It started as an attempt to not let the waves of criticism get to me, but it’s gotten out of hand and I’ve created somewhat of a monster." " I wanted to be a blues guitar player. And a singer. And a songwriter. Not a shock jock. I don’t have the stomach for it. Again, because I don’t want anyone to think I’m equivocating: I should have never said the word and I will never say it again."

So, good luck on making music and be careful not to publicly call any female like this because otherwise, his new account would have to be created again.

The Associated Press is reporting that a glitch in Twitter allowed users to fake their level of popularity by making it look like celebrities or hundreds of other people were following them.

Twitter said Monday that the flaw had been fixed. Though unclear how it could be done, the glitch allowed users to add anyone else to their list of people following them on the popular social networking site.

While Twitter fixed the bug on Monday, all of its users had zero followers for about an hour.

Twitter recommends you “unfollow” anyone you think added you without your knowledge.

Tony Hawk, the legendary skateboarder, is extending his gaming reach to the iPhone and iPod Touch, according to his Twitter feed.

A Tweet (which has since been deleted), read “In the PR world, this is considered ‘going rogue,’ but I’m too excited to contain it. This is real & dropping soon.”

He then uploaded the below picture of himself playing it, which looks to be very real.

Tony Hawk for the iPhone

The screenshot looks like Pro Skater 2, but feel free to correct me. Also, the Tony Hawk games require lots of quick-fingered movements and combos. Can the iPhone’s basic controls do it?

Source: GamesRadar

Yesterday, I was browsing through some Twitter pages. I was watching How I Met Your Mother at the same time, so, naturally, I went on to Neil Patrick Harris’ page to see what he’s been talking about/been up to/see if he’s said anything about Glee.

This was the first tweet I saw. I’ve anonymized the Twitter handle of the person NPH was talking to for reasons that will soon become apparent. “@anonymous No trouble at all, actually. Those who aren’t understanding have more to learn.”

Now, I don’t know the Tweeter in question, and I’m sure you don’t either. But I’m a nosy person, and I wanted to know what they were talking about. That’s why I love Twitter; it let’s me be a creep without anyone knowing (unless I write a blog post about it ).

So, I read the next tweet, also addressed to the same person: “@anonymous Stand tall. Be proud of who you are. Don’t break promises. Want to learn. Represent well. But more than anything, be safe.”

This one was even more intriguing than the first. So, I clicked on it and scrolled down the Tweeter’s profile to see what NPH was helping him with.

Here’s what I found, across three tweets: “@actuallynph hey do you have any advice for someone coming out as gay? my family wouldnt understand and im a musician in australia, so theyve been pretty proud of me so far. I’m nearly 18, i know im young i dont know who to go to everyone i seem to know is either fake or full of shit and i admire you so much that i thought i’d ask you.”

Got to love NPH. Legen…wait for it…dary role model.

Activision today confirmed Twitter incorporation into its upcoming cutting-edge racer “Blur.”

Bizarre Creations, the game’s developer wants us to believe “Blur” is the game of the future, so it needs to have Twitter built in, right?

What it looks like.

The idea behind it is for gamers to express their feelings (hopefully positive) about the game to all their followers and remain active in the social gaming movement.

The Tweeting has begun, as Bizzard Creations Social Media Manager, Ben Ward tested out the feature recently on the developers’ Twitter account.

“I’m tweeting directly from Blur – Yes, Twitter is in the game! – “I’m currently looking at the CCX-R in #blurthegame“

I’m a fairly heavy Twitter user (@EddieMakuch), but I just don’t see myself needing Tweeting from a game when my Twitter-enabled phone and computer are near me pretty much always.

“Blur” comes to PS3 and Xbox 360 this Spring.

Tweet Tweet.

Rapper Lil Wayne is headed to prison next week, but he’s showing us that it’s never too late to start a Twitter account.

Lil Wayne is expected to be sentenced to a year behind bars for weapons possession when he appears before a New York judge next week. But Wayne is not letting his impending prison stint stop him from reaching out to his fans. His Twitter name is “liltunechi” and his location, of course, is Mars.

"im super new to this twitter shit,” Wayne said in his first tweet, “but wudup tho !……….follow me biot¢h……….wudup mak……happy bday LO……8 days of freedom..ym."

In just three days, Wayne has amassed over 149,000 followers. His manager, Cortez Bryant, told Rolling Stone that Twitter could be one of the ways Wayne will stay in touch with fans while he’s serving his bid.

Google is scheduled to release its social network feature called “Buzz” over the next few days, according to PC Mag. Google describes Buzz as an ambitious attempt to combine the Gmail Web interface with status updates and media-sharing technology, making Google a more complete experience.

Google’s Buzz includes many appealing features, according to CNET. Users can post text, links and photos and can link their Twitter, Flickr, Picasa and Google Reader accounts to their Buzz streams to see information produced by friends on those networks. Buzz also includes a customizable algorithm that allows the user to pick and choose what sort of information and updates are displayed from their friend’s posts.

According to PC Mag, one the greatest strengths of this social network is its ability to separate public posts from private posts. Buzz users will be able to post updates publicly for their followers, like Twitter, but they can also post updates privately, like Facebook, for their friend’s eyes only. Since Buzz is a Google invention, users have access to Buzz using Google Maps via their mobile device. Users get the option of posting their exact locations on Buzz, as well as showing nearby restaurants, stores and other places of interest.

PC Mag states that Google will be gradually releasing Buzz to its users by displaying an icon beneath the Inbox icon on the left panel. Alternatively, users may get a full welcome page when they log in, touting the new feature. There will be an option to either try it out or ignore it and go to the regular Gmail inbox. Although Buzz has several minor advantages over Facebook, only time will reveal whether or not people will be inclined to switch from one social network to another.

The incidentally-informed generation of iPod-using, breakneck-texting facebooking bloggers will be pleased to learn that now, in order to read a book, they no longer have to buy one…or borrow their mom’s Kindle.

Twitter, which, at one point, was a site people only visited to get updated on Ashton Kutcher’s political opinions, has broken yet another boundary put in place by its detractors. Thanks to Kerry Israel, Audience Development Manager at the American Repertory Theater, tweeps who follow @ARTGatz can now ingest the classic novel “The Great Gatsby” in bite-sized 140-character pieces.

Israel was struck by the idea while trying to come up with a way to promote “Gatz,” the current production on at the Loeb Drama Center. The truncated Twitter promotion contrasts heavily with what it’s promoting; “Gatz” is a 6 1/2 hour play that recites the novel, word for word.

God bless the ART for trying to keep Fitzgerald relevant, but if you’re not a part of the Twitter nation and you don’t feel like sitting through a six hour play, perhaps you might just try picking up the book.

According to Twitter, Peter Molyneux, the Lionhead Studios boss, famous for the Fable series of titles, fell through the ice this morning near the Surrey development park where he works in  Guildford, England.

What it definitely didn't look like.

This is what Lionhead’s Twitter-updater had to say about the incident, in 140 characters or less of course.

“Peter Molyneux just broke through pond ice in the Surrey Research Park. Both his shoes and the man himself were saved… Be careful on ice!”

So maybe he was never in danger, but if this was anything more than an “oops my feet got wet” incident, we very well might see some sort replication of the incident in Fable III, for the lolz, if nothing else.

Source: Lionhead Twitter

Unless I’m living in a parallel universe where today is Nov. 17 only for me, the long-awaited Xbox 360 Fall Update has hit, bringing Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm to the Xbox Live masses.

The update, which popped up in the wee hours of this the November the 17th, has been available for those in the Preview Program for weeks now, but having entered my information incorrectly, I missed out on the pre-release fun.

However, now that the update’s gone live for one and all, there’s no excuse not to jump in on the new available social avenues from the seat of your pants on your Xbox 360.

Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm integration works pretty simply. You quickly enter your credentials from each of the three social-networking sites and within seconds you’re up and running, stalking friends, listening to music, and writing 140 character snippets of your life for all to enjoy.

A cautionary note: Using all three services demands typing, and as you know, the Xbox 360 controller is a b*tch to type with. Thankfully, USB keyboards (as well as the standard issue Messenger Pad), work just fine.

Right now? I’m enjoying listening to varied tunes streamed for me via Last.fm as I type this. Very, very nice!