Robot conducts wedding in Tokyo

Here's the link

OMG

Ever seen something then didn't really believe you saw it? That would be me at right about the 24 second mark...

Is It The Future Yet?

Am I finally gonna get the jetpack I've been whining about for so long?



Click here for more info

Spokeo

Lots of questions in my email this morning about Spokeo.  I'll try to answer some questions here.

Spokeo was created by some students at Stanford.  Consistently self-billed as a "search engine", Spokeo uses an algorithm to collect data that is already out there & create a searcheable profile.  Some of the information might not be totally accurate or up to date either, since Spokeo does not use humans to make decisions about profiles.  (Click here to read what they have to say about that). 

For instance, when searching my own profile, I learned that I have 2 children.  When did that happen?  I sure wasn't aware of it...  I was also able to find out how long I've lived in my home, what my home might be worth, who my husband was (like I could forget that), what our street name was, what my interests were, etc.  I was a bit surprised to find out that one of my interests was cooking.  Actually it was Randy who was surprised ...

Spokeo uses info from social sites, real estate records, magazine subscriptions, census data, & who knows what else.  The info has been out there all along.  If you are on MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Picassa, LinkedIn, public message boards, newsletter subscriptions, etc., you could potentially have that info aggregated into a profile. 

Spokeo makes money by selling subscriptions to people/companies trying to collect consolidated information on a certain profile or profiles.  This could include: loan companies, bill collectors, private investigators, psycho ex-boyfriends, & the like. 

Then the psycho ex-boyfriend (or whoever) can use GoogleMaps to get a photo of your house & exact driving directions from the jail to your neighborhood.   Now the folks you paid a penny to in the 70's to get your record collection started from can find you & repossess all your Peter Frampton & Bay City Roller vinyl.

I find it interesting & disturbing that Spokeo protects those searching for you, but won't protect you from the searchers if you request it.  So you'll never know who is looking for you! 

Click here to read what they have to say about that.

The thing that is bothering folks emailing me today is that:

• no one was asked ahead of time if they could be included in this database of information
• the information is only partially accurate
• the information includes income, credit scores, personal photos (including children) & overall wealth in the same listing.
• personal data is now public & connected to a real name.  In other words a personal email address can be connected to a name which is connected to a phone number & address & spouse, etc.
• you can't control who sees your data

Supposedly you can have your name removed from this database but so far the 2 people I've talked to who have tried have had no success at all with it.

So now what?  Well, as I've said all along, there's no such thing as a free lunch.  When you sign up for something & it doesn't cost you money, there's a good chance that your privacy is going bye bye. 

I don't know how to erase data from sites like this.  I wish I did, but I don't.  I'm not sure it's possible at all.  I'll keep checking & will let you know what I find out.  Till then take a few deep breaths & go read some George Orwell.

Ron Popeil is 75

Without him we would have never had any of these amazing products:
Chop-O-Matic
Dial-O-Matic
Pocket Fisherman
Mr. Microphone
Inside-The-Shell Egg Scrambler
Six Star 20-Piece Cutlery Set
Solid Flavor Injector
GLH-9 Hair in a Can Spray
Drain Buster
Electric Food Dehydrator
Automatic Pasta Maker
Showtime Rotisserie
The Cap Snaffler

And here's my guess for the product you want but haven't ordered: