Justin Bieber: More than just a teenie bopper, I swear

A lot of people see Justin Bieber as a 12-year old boy who's singing love songs to teenagers and isn't good for much else. Some people may not like this, but I strongly disagree. He is a living example of how the internet can make you.

We all know of the YouTube videos that everyone has seen. The shoes song, leave Britney alone, that Harry Potter puppet one, dramatic hamster, Charlie bit me, and that kid that went to the dentist. What else have we seen from the creators of those that were as popular as their "one"? None. They are the one-hit wonders of YouTube.

Justin Bieber, however, broke that. With the channel name "kidrauhl," he began to post videos in January 2007 and does so consistently up to this day. He was signed October 2008 and now, a year and a half later, everyone knows who this kid is. All because he posted videos of himself singing. I'm not sure when his Twitter account became activated (because I am not going back that far with how much he updates), but regardless, he has over four million followers. He replies to quite a few fan messages, which gives all fans the hope of him replying to theirs and keeping the hype alive. It shows just how far connecting with followers can take you.

He had no previous connection to anyone in the music industry and, by the name of his YouTube channel, had no intention of being discovered as the next big thing. It did happen, though, which means that there is a chance for other hopefuls with talents. He paved the way for ultimate internet stardom to turn into international pop icon.

Say what you want about him, but he did change how you can use the internet.

His YouTube channel can be found here.

foursquare is social networking's next big thing

I've been using foursquare since March 27 (I looked it up) and have checked in 181 times. I'm hooked and check in everywhere.

foursquare is a location-based application that you download on your phone. Once you make an account, whenever you visit a public place, you check-in. Once you check in, you earn points, a possible mayorship (I have 7), a possible badge, and the ability to share with all your friends where you are. And no, you can't check into a place you aren't actually at. If you're more than 1000 meters away, it doesn't count for anything, so no cheating!

At first, I thought it would be creepy because, really, why would I want to tell people where I am? A creep could find me and stalk me. It's all public places (with a few people making their homes a check-in spot, which is the biggest danger I see), so if a stalker wants to find you, they need to track your location and get to you in the time that you are there. It keeps you checked in a place for two hours, so even if you leave and don't check in anywhere else, it says you're still there. The chances of stalking aren't likely because, well, we tell people where we are anyway on Facebook statuses, don't we? "Going to the mall!" "At work fml." "Seeing a concert today!" foursquare makes it that more easy.

It's also very, very fun. You want to get as many mayorships and badges as possible, so it's addicting to say to yourself, "I can't leave yet, I need to check-in first," in case you didn't right away.

It's pretty easy to function because they list all the places for you in the app. It tells you what's close to you and you pick the one that you're at. Yes, here you can cheat a little bit because if you're at a place that's close to other businesses, you can check-in at both. However, you can't check-in back-to-back because you don't get points for one (trust me, I've tried). Plus, it takes the fun from it.

You realize with foursquare that you go to places way too often (I've been to Pick n Save 12 times in the past two months and I don't do the grocery shopping), but it gives you a sense that it's okay because you get to be mayor or a better chance to be. Also, you can get the local badge.

foursquare's website can be found here.
The app can be found for the iPhone, Droid, and BlackBerry.

Toytoa Sienna's YouTube channel

So I've seen these commercials quite a few times. They're clever, sure. I've also noticed every time that there was a link to YouTube shown at the bottom. It got me thinking about why it wasn't a Facebook page or Twitter account because, really, YouTube is more of a secondary site. You link people first to Facebook or Twitter, then post your YouTube link on there. YouTube is all video while Facebook and Twitter can incorporate them as well as give lots of information.

I finally checked out the channel.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea because it's quite the contrary. However, the Sienna is a family vehicle. Mom is probably going to buy this while dad takes care of the paperwork. Mom and dad, most likely, don't have YouTube accounts. Facebook and Twitter, maybe, but they don't know how to make videos and upload them. Therefore, use for YouTube is very minimal, meaning they aren't familiar with it. Yet, Toyota is using YouTube for a van that is targeting parents. A vehicle that appeals to high school or college aged people would be different because we live on the internet. We know how to navigate YouTube like the back of our hand.

A good idea? Yes. Appropriate? No.

Give me a YouTube channel for the Chevy Camaro and we'll talk.

Sienna's Channel can be found here.
Video courtesy of YouTube.

Nielsen: What Americans Do Online

We can't be too surprised, right? Why play a game if you can update your status, telling people you're about to play a game?

Article and photo can be found here.

United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to ban BlackBerry use

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are going to ban the use of BlackBerry cell phones for security reasons because they cannot monitor encrypted data.

I think what they're doing is BS. If for security reasons the United States banned the use of BlackBerrys, all the people out there that have them (which is quite a lot) would be outraged as well as other smartphone users because they fear that they may be next. We have laws, of course, that prevent this from happening, and the governments overseas are different, but why wait this long to do it? Israel banned the iPad almost as soon as it came out for security reasons. The BlackBerry has been around for years, so why act on it now?

Read the BBC article and make your own opinion.

Article can be found here.
Photo courtesy of Amana Holdings.

BlackBerry Torch

The BlackBerry Torch is the latest smartphone that is to be released next Thursday the 12th, challenging, of course, all the other ones out there, to name a few the iPhone, Droid, and HTC.

Which lucky carrier gets it? AT&T.

It's a touch screen with a slide out keyboard and only $199 with two-year contract.
I'm pretty much won over.

The press release can be read here.
Photo courtesy of AT&T.

"Middle Men" Movie

Someone had to be the mastermind behind it, right? Really, internet porn is probably one of the biggest industries out there.

"Middle Men" was made in 2009 but is being released this Friday the 9th. It stars Luke Wilson, which is neat because he's usually in comedic roles and having him in a more serious one is refreshing. It's rated R (for obvious reasons), but I think that the story itself is what will attract audiences.

To us, internet porn is something that's always been there and giving us annoying popups. However, it is incredibly successful, but how? How did it happen? This movie will (hopefully) tell us how.

Video courtesy of YouTube.

"The Social Network" Movie

I didn't know about this movie until I read a L.A. Times article about how it was an Oscar Best Picture contender. After watching the trailer and Mr. Timberlake saying, "A million dollars isn't cool. You know what is? A billion," I was pretty much sold. Plus, London from "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" on the Disney Channel showing a different side of her had some impact, too.

If you don't know anything about the movie, the whole theme is about Facebook's creator and, well, him creating it. The trailer shows pretty clear that he rises, rises, rises, then hits a snag. The movie isn't due to theaters until October, but that doesn't mean big buzz isn't surrounding it. I mean, hello, a social network movie is going to be supported by social networks.

In my opinion, I'm more surprised that a movie like this wasn't created years ago about MySpace. As much as we shun MySpace now, that is the platform that even created what is now known as social networking. Without MySpace, chances of there being a Facebook and Twitter are slim. MySpace paved the way.

Better late than never, though, because it seems Facebook will be around for a lot longer than MySpace was.

The official movie website can be found here.
The L.A. Times article can be found here.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.