Samsung’s Gear, NYTimes hacked and Miley’s twerking: #StuffToKnow on the web this week

Not a massive week on the web this time, most of the attention went to the gyrations of a pop singer and the ongoing Syrian crisis. Though some interesting things came up like we know for sure that the competition for the iWatch will launched next week and Facebook made most third-party apps for Pages redundant. Oh yeah and that tiny news site called the New York Times was hacked by terrorists, but in good news Zuckerberg countered the evil by planning to give the internet to literally everyone on the planet.

TECH

Samsung’s Galaxy Gear coming 4 September
It’s finally here! The dawn of smart wearable tech. Yeah, yeah I know there is the Fuelband, Jawbone and other wearable technology but no real power house brand and advanced multi featured tech yet, now we are playing with the big boys. This will be the new age with Google Glass and Apples iWatch, can’t wait, should be good.

Ballmer exit brings Microsoft a chance for reinvention
Well, it had to do something. Microsoft has given way to the likes of Google and Apple the last few years, never really “getting” the mobile or online scene. I seriously remember the crowd laughing the loudest in the whole movie when (the Amazing) Spider Man, a famously geeky persona, launched Bing to search something. Hands down the most unrealistic part of the movie… nobody uses Bing on purpose.

INTERNET

Facebook introduces more business-friendly promotions policy
Facebook released a new promotions policy on Tuesday, updating guidelines for businesses pages that run competitions and the like via the social network. The new update is designed to help businesses create and manage promotions without the need for third-party applications. It should however be mentioned that, as before, you cannot put promotions on personal Timelines.

This is how the Syrian Electronic Army ‘hacked’ the New York Times and Twitter
This was no easy hack done for the “Lulz”, this was complex, and not by Anonymous. This time it was by the hacking group the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), and it’s been on a roll. SEA is an independent group that is supportive of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. After it took the New York Times’ website down, it aimed it’s crosshairs for Twitter. This is how.

Zuckerberg explains Facebook’s plan to get entire planet online
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has a new project: Internet.org, a non-profit whose mission is to bring internet access to everyone on the planet. It’s not a small timer, it has partners that include the likes of Nokia, Samsung and Qualcomm. That being said, the goal is an ambitious one; but Zuckerberg has a vision for what he wants and I truly wish him and his team the best of luck in achieving it.

Zuckerberg sees it having a bunch of features: “messages, Wikipedia, search engines, social networks, weather access and commodities prices,” that should be available to everyone, similar to the dial
tone, remember those. This list is merely the beginning, he says.

Here is what South Africa’s internet looks like
A few interesting graphs showing the breakdown of how South Africans use the internet. In not exactly a big surprise, it shows that over 60% of South Africa’s internet users live in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

ENTERTAINMENT

Miley Cyrus twerks, stuns VMAs crowd
On Sunday night Miley Cyrus, you may know her as Disney’s “Hannah Montana,” put on a performance at MTV’s Video Music Awards, and wow lets just say Disney will not be airing it. The show she put on seemed specifically designed to elicit controversy and, by Monday morning, sure enough the controversy had arrived. The web and Social media went nuts!

For those who missed it, and I doubt many of you didn’t hear about it by now, she put on a performance that ranged from simply weird to blatantly offensive, with plenty of twerking (this is a real word now) and rude gestures with a foam hand more at home at drunken frat party than on an international stage.

NICE FIND

International exotica
Relax it’s safe for work, but you will be staring at your screen with lust in your eyes.