Pay for send me a message ?

Want to send me a Facebook message? But you’re not my Facebook friend? Pay up.

The social network is overhauling its in-house messaging system with a new set of filters that it says will help users reach out and poke each other more effectively. Part of the overhaul: A test that will allow some users to ping people they’re not friends with, if they’re willing to spend a dollar.

Facebook says the changes are primarily designed to let Facebook users who already know each other make sure their missives connect. But the most interesting part of the move is what the social network is calling a “a small experiment to test the usefulness of economic signals.”

Here’s how it will work: A limited number of U.S. Facebook users will now have the ability to pay Facebook a fee to send a message other U.S. Facebook users who they don’t know. Facebook isn’t spelling out the cost publicly, but people familiar with the company’s plans say it will start at a dollar a message, and will tinker with the fee over time. The option will only be available to individual users — not marketers and brands — and Facebook will only allow users to receive a single paid message per week. But users can’t opt not to receive paid messages.

Here’s Facebook’s rationale for the move:

This test is designed to address situations where neither social nor algorithmic signals are sufficient. For example, if you want to send a message to someone you heard speak at an event but are not friends with, or if you want to message someone about a job opportunity, you can use this feature to reach their Inbox. For the receiver, this test allows them to hear from people who have an important message to send them.

Glass half-empty translation: Facebook is selling access to your inbox, which you previously could have kept closed to anyone you don’t know, to the outside world.

Glass half-full version: Maybe you do want to hear from those people! And the one-message-a-week cap, combined with the $1 fee, will prevent your inbox from filling up with spam.

Newtown shooting: Gun lobby defiant as US remembers

The US has observed a moment of silence for the 26 victims of the Connecticut school shooting, as a gun lobby group called for armed security at schools.

Bells in Newtown tolled 26 times, one week after 20 children and six adults died at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

In Washington, the National Rifle Association called for "good guys" to be armed for "absolute protection".

Adam Lanza, 20, carried out the attack at 09:30 EST (14:30 GMT) after killing his mother. He later shot himself dead.

Funerals for those killed have taken place throughout the week, and continue in Newtown on Friday.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has asked people throughout the state to join the moment of silence, and churches in many other states also rang their bells 26 times.

The governor, with his deputies, marked the moment on the steps of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown.

NRA defiant

In Washington on Friday, influential National Rifle Association (NRA) broke a week-long silence with a robust defence of its pro-gun position.

ef executive of the NRA, criticised politicians who had "exploited" the tragedy in Newtown for "political gain" and took aim at laws designating schools as gun-free zones.

"They tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk," he said.

Mr LaPierre called for a national database of the mentally ill and blamed violent video games and films for portraying murder as a "way of life".

He spoke out against the media for demonising lawful gun owners, and for suggesting a ban on certain types of weapon would be effective.

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," Mr LaPierre told reporters.

Congress should authorise funding for armed security in every school in the country, he said, adding that an "extraordinary corps" of trained professionals could be drawn from active and retired police officers, security professionals and firefighters around the country.

At the scene in Newtown

Zoe ConwayBBC News, Newtown

Governor Malley had called for a day of mourning. It seems the weather obliged. The rain has been pouring down for hours. When the moment of silence came at 09:30, the governor and the town's dignitaries stood huddled on the steps of the town hall - a pretty, quaint New England building. The rain and winds swirled around them.

Across the street the Episcopal church rang its bell 26 times. Further down main street, the employees of the local bank stood on the porch in silence. People stood stock still in the street and got drenched. The silence lasted for 10 minutes, which is how long it took Adam Lanza to kill 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook elementary school just one week ago.

Mr LaPierre was interrupted twice by anti-gun protesters carrying banners and declaring that the NRA had "blood on its hands".

Afterwards, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is an advocate for tighter gun control laws, said the NRA's response was "a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe".

The guns used in the shooting had been legally bought by the gunman's mother, Nancy Lanza.

The shooting has seen some pro-gun congressmen say the mass shooting has prompted them to change their views on whether guns should be regulated more strictly in the US.

Meanwhile California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who has been an advocate for tighter gun laws, said she would introduce new legislation when Congress meets for the first time in the new year.

But there is no bipartisan consensus on the issue, with others backing the NRA line that teachers in schools should be armed in order to better defend students if a shooting occurs.

Biden tasked

In Connecticut, Governor Malloy has called Friday a "day of mourning" and invited the governor of other states to participate in the acts of remembrance.

Protests during the NRA news conference in Washington

President Barack Obama said he would observe the tribute to the shooting victims privately.

Since the mass shooting, the Obama administration has indicated that it will look for ways to tighten gun laws in the wake of the attack.

Vice-President Joe Biden has been assigned to lead the response to the Sandy Hook massacre, and Mr Obama has demanded a set of "concrete proposals" within a month.

Speaker of the House John Boehner has said the Republican-controlled chamber would consider new proposals.

Mr Obama has said he would support reinstating an assault weapons ban that lapsed in 2004.

The White House has also suggested the president would back other gun control measures on high-capacity ammunition clips and closing loopholes that allow people to buy guns without background checks.

Online games shut out US sex offenders

Hundreds of accounts for online games used by registered sex offenders have been shut down in the US.

More than 2,100 gaming accounts were closed as part of Operation: Game Over run by New York's attorney general.

It was able to target the accounts because registered sex offenders are required to surrender details of their online aliases.

Blizzard, Microsoft, Sony, NCSoft and many other game firms are backing the purge, aimed at protecting children.

"The internet is the crime scene of the 21st Century, and we must ensure that online video game platforms do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators," said New York's attorney general Eric Schneiderman in a statement.

Mr Schneiderman said the action would make online gaming communities a safer place for children. Many parents did not know, he said, that online gaming platforms and services let players communicate anonymously. However, he added, offenders had used this capability in the past to contact and "groom" children they later went on to abuse.

New York's Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act, known as the e-STOP law, requires convicted sex offenders to tell the state which email addresses, login names, screen identities and other online aliases they use. These are then passed on to game and web firms that have signed up to help the programme.

Gaming accounts on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Gaia Online and many others have been deleted as a result of the law.

This action builds on the first stage of the e-STOP programme that saw more than 3,500 online accounts used by sex offenders shut down.

Google see what we do and ....

Just when you thought Google couldn't target you with more specific advertising - based on your web surfing - it's going one step further.

The search giant now intends to use data uploaded by retailers about consumers' offline purchases in order to target them with even more targeted ads.


In other words, it will know what you spend at the mall as well as at the keyboard.


In a low-key announcement, Google has begun the new advertising project - Conversions API - that will merge offline consumer information with online intelligence.

Targeting consumers with just online information only allows advertisers to learn so much, Google explained this week in a post on its DoubleClick site.

'Conversions' - the digital metric made by everything a user has done online - is an incomplete picture unless coupled with real-world data.

'We understand that online advertising also fuels offline conversions,' the blog post read. 

'To capture these lost conversions and bring offline into your online world, we're announcing the open beta of our Conversions API for uploading offline conversion automatically.'

With the new service in-store transactions, call-tracking and other online activities can be inputted into Google and combined with other information that will eventually optimize ad campaigns based on 'even more of your business data'.

Any collected data will be protected through safeguards allowing for the anonymity of customers.

As one example of how this new connection between online browsing and real world shopping will work, Jim Edwards imagines one scenario for Business Insider.

'If you bought a T-shirt at the Gap in the mall with your credit card, you could start seeing a lot more Gap ads online later, suggesting jeans that go with that shirt,' Edwards writes.

Though safeguards are in place, it is still possible your information could be hacked and stolen by a third party.


Google does not explicitly note that intelligence used in Conversions API will be anonymous.


It's not just advertising companies who'll benefit. In November, Google reported that the U.S. government requested personal information from approximately 8,000 users in just the first months of the year.

 

Privacy: User data will be kept anonymous behind multiple security measures but there is still a danger of being hacked

 

Federata Serbe e futbollit merr ne dore "Jeten Sportive te Kosoves "

Federata Serbe e Futbollit e ka marrë me gëzim lajmin e fundit nga FIFA, e cila i autorizoi serbët që ta lejojnë apo jo përfaqësuesen e të rinjve të Kosovës të luajë në territorin e Kosovës. Krerët e futbollit serb kërkojnë nga pala kosovare që t’i pyesë ata për miqësoret, derisa konfirmon kundërshtimin e fuqishëm për anëtarësim të FFK-së në FIFA e UEFA.

Bordi Ekzekutiv i Federatës së Futbollit të Serbisë (FFS) e ka mbajtur të shtunën mbledhjen e vet të fundit për këtë vit, ndërsa temë qendrore e kishte vendimin e fundit të Komitetit Ekzekutiv të FIFA-s në lidhje me ndeshjet miqësore ndërkombëtare të përfaqësueses së Kosovës për të rinj.

Anëtarët e Bordit Ekzekutiv janë informuar nga kryetari i FSS-së, Tomislav Karadzic, rreth më të rejave, respektivisht për letrën e pranuar nga FIFA, e cila e ka autorizuar vendin fqinj që ta lejojë ose jo Kosovën për zhvillimin e ndeshjeve miqësore në territorin e Kosovës.

“E ashtuquajtura FFK ende nuk është anëtare e UEFA-s e as FIFA-s dhe përfaqësuesja e Kosovës nuk ka të drejtë të zhvillojë ndeshje miqësore. Ndër të tjera, për çdo lojë që duan ta zhvillojnë në territorin e Kosovës dhe Metohisë, janë të obliguar të diskutojnë me Bordin Ekzekutiv të Federatës tonë. Disa ndeshje do të luhen jashtë me kategori të reja, me femra dhe ekipe, por nuk do të kenë të drejtë përdorimin e karakteristikave kombëtare”, shkruan në ueb faqen zyrtare të FSS-së.

Serbët: S’do ta lejojmë Kosovën të hyjë në FIFA

 

Ndërkohë, serbët e kanë konfirmuar edhe njëherë kundërshtimin e tyre të ashpër për pranim të FFK-së në FIFA e UEFA, të paktën derisa Kosova nuk është pjesë e Kombeve të Bashkuara (OKB).

“Federata serbe do të vazhdojë t’i përdorë të gjitha mjetet legjitime dhe legale për ta luftuar ruajtjen dhe respektimin në përputhje me parimet themelore dhe statusin e UEFA-s dhe FIFA-s dhe në pengimin e anëtarësimit të FFK-së në këto institucione, për faktin se Kosova nuk është anëtare e OKB-së”, vazhdon konkluzioni i nxjerrë të shtunën nga pala serbe.

Në mes të janarit, presidenti i FSS-së, Tomislav Karadzic dhe sekretari i përgjithshëm i saj, Zoran Lakovic, do ta zhvillojnë një takim me autoritetet e FIFA-s dhe UEFA-s, ku do të bisedojnë rreth çështjes së Kosovës.

Obama urges smaller ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

Facing a stalemate in "fiscal cliff" talks, President Barack Obama on Friday pressed his Republican foes in Congress to have some eggnog, sing some Christmas carols and come back to work next week ready to pass a scaled-back plan to help middle-class Americans.

“Call me a hopeless optimist, but I actually still think we can get it done,” the president said in hastily announced remarks in the White House briefing room. “This is something within our capacity to solve. It doesn’t take that much work. We just have to do the right thing.”

Facing a Jan. 1 deadline, the president and Republican House Speaker John Boehner have thus far failed to agree on a compromise that would avert the largest tax hike in American history and painful government spending cuts that, taken together, could plunge the fragile economy into a new recession.

Obama pressed polarized lawmakers to extend current tax rates on household income up to $250,000, extend unemployment benefits due to expire and set the stage for broader talks in 2013 on reducing the deficit. “That’s an achievable goal that can get done in 10 days,” he insisted.

“I am still ready and willing to get a comprehensive package done,” he added.

“As we leave town for a few days to be with our families for the holidays, I hope it gives everybody some perspective," he said. "Everybody can cool off. Everybody can drink some eggnog, have some Christmas cookies, sing some Christmas carols, enjoy the company of loved ones.”Conservative opposition to raising any tax rates forced Boehner to yank a “Plan B” fall-back option late Thursday. That legislation would have raised rates only on income above $1 million. The speaker said early Friday that “God only knows” how Washington can avoid the "fiscal cliff" and said it was now up to Obama and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to find a way.

Republicans "remain hopeful" that Obama "is finally ready to get serious about averting the fiscal cliff," Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck told reporters by email. "Speaker Boehner will return to Washington following the holiday, ready to find a solution that can pass both houses of Congress.”

Obama spoke to Boehner by telephone and met with Reid at the White House before making his remarks. Afterward, he left for his home state of Hawaii to spend Christmas with his family. His schedule did not include a return date, but Congress was expected back in Washington on Dec. 27.

The White House has said that it is prepared to go off the "cliff," while warning that the expiration of Bush-era income tax cuts and profound cuts to domestic and defense spending could sorely weaken an economy that has just started to show signs of strength. Democrats also worry about the fate of some 2 million Americans whose unemployment benefits will expire Jan. 1.

"This is not simply a contest between parties in terms of who looks good and who doesn’t. There are real-world consequences to what we do here," the president said Friday as he pleaded for bipartisan compromise.

“In this Congress, laws can only pass with support from Democrats and Republicans,” the president said. “And that means nobody gets 100 percent of what they want. Everybody’s got to give a little bit in a sensible way. We move forward together, or we do not move forward and all.”

Final Day of Funerals For Newtown Shooting Victims

The final three victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School will be laid to rest today, ending a somber week of funerals.

A mass will take place today at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church forJosephine Gay, who had celebrated her 7th birthday on Dec. 11.

Friends and family have been asked to wear Josephine's favorite color, purple, in her honor.

PHOTOS: Victims of Sandy Hook Massacre

A homegoing celebration will take place at The First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Conn., for Ana Marquez-Greene. The 6-year-old with a beaming voice sang in a home video with her brother, who was also at Sandy Hook Elementary School during the massacre, and seemed destined to take after her father, a jazz musician.

Emilie Parker, the budding artist who carried her markers and pencils everywhere, will be laid to rest in Ogden, Utah today.

The 6-year-old would have been would one of the first to comfort her classmates at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had a gunman's bullets not claimed her life, her father said.

"My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing and giving support to all the victims because that's the kind of kid she is," her father, Robbie Parker, said last Saturday.

"She always had something kind to say about anybody," Parker said. "We find comfort reflecting on the incredible person Emilie was and how many lives she was able to touch.
"

Top 10 Scandals of 2012

 #1 Kate Middleton

Our top scandal is a familiar tale: A beloved princess and some unwanted photographic attention. The former Kate Middleton, wife of the future king of England, was on holiday at a private home in France when a photographer captured grainy images of the duchess sunbathing topless. The French magazine Closer printed the images, prompting a lawsuit from the royal family.

#2 Jackson family fight

Although Michael Jackson died in 2009, the battle over his estate continued through 2012.Michael's siblings Janet, Jermaine, Rebbie, Tito and Randy wrote to the executors of Michael's will objecting that the document was fake. (At the heart of their concern was that it named only their mother, Katherine, and Michael's three children, Paris, Prince and Blanket.)

The controversy raged through the summer, with an altercation at the family compound that resulted in the police being called and custody of the children temporarily transferred from Katherine to a cousin. As it currently stands, Katherine has shared custody of her grandchildren, and there is little evidence that the document will be overturned

#3 Lance Armstrong doping

Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner, was stripped of his titles and dropped from millions of dollars in endorsement deals after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released an extensive report accusing the cyclist of doping throughout his career. Cycling would appear to have bigger issues than Armstrong—all seven runners-up to Armstrong's Tour de France wins are embroiled in their own doping scandals.

#4 General David Petraeus affair

The resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus, a four-star general who had overseen American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, placed high on our list. An FBI investigation revealed that Petraeus had an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. The story eventually tied in Florida socialite Jill Kelley (who had received threatening emails from Broadwell), a shirtless FBI agent, and Gen. John Allen, who exchanged thousands of emails with Kelley.

 #5 New Orleans Saints bounty suspensions

The New Orleans Saints' yearlong battle with the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell made our list, after the league office leveled suspensions against the team's players and coaches for allegedly putting bounties on opposing players. In short: Players were rewarded for injuring members of opposing teams. Many of the suspensions were reduced after an appeals court ruled that Goodell had overstepped his authority.

 #6 Bobby Petrino affair

Former Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino crashed his motorcycle while transporting a female athletic department employee who was not his wife. Petrino had used his influence to get his mistress a job and then failed to disclose details of the accident to school officials until days later, resulting in his termination.

"I have played it over and over in my head a million times," Petrino told ESPN in his first postfiring interview. "How could I do this? How could this happen? And not just the hiring. Or that day. But my actions, my behavior—for months it was just wrong.

 #7 Secret Service in Colombia

The Secret Service found itself in the spotlight after a confrontation between an agent and a prostitute in Colombia. A member of an advance team for President Barack Obama during his April trip to South America became involved in a heated argument with an escort over compensation. The police became involved, and the incident was reported by a local news outlet.

The resulting scandal forced an international investigation by the White House and Pentagon: At least nine Secret Service agents have either resigned or been forced out.

#8 Jimmy Savile/BBC controversy

The late BBC personality Jimmy Savile—host of the show "Jim'll Fix It," where he made the wishes of children come true—was a hugely popular figure in Britain. So popular, in fact, that he was knighted in 1990.

After Savile's death in October, BBC rival ITV aired a documentary exposing the host as a pedophile. The BBC's own news division—highly respected in England and worldwide—had compiled a similar program, but was told not to run it because the report would disrupt the holiday schedule, which included multiple tributes to Savile.

#9 Air Force sexual assault investigation

The ninth-most-searched scandal was the endemic sexual harassment and assault at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Lackland is the primary training base for the Air Force, graduating 35,000 airmen each year. An investigation into at least 25 instructors and 11 commanders resulted in multiple convictions for the rape, sexual assault and harassment of dozens of female trainees. The Air Force installed Col. Deborah Liddick as commander of the base in September.

#10 London Whale

JPMorgan Chase trader Bruno Iksil (nicknamed the London Whale) gambled big on an obscure corner of the credit market—and lost in spectacular fashion.

The London Whale not only incurred $6.2 billion in trading losses but allegedly also mismarked some of the losses to cover up their magnitude. His supervisor, Javier Martin-Artajo, was sued by the bank for assisting in the cover-up, and JPMorgan has been the subject of an investigation by the U.S. government. Still, CEO Jamie Dimon has found his name mentioned for positions in the second Obama administration, and JPMorgan Chase stock had rebounded to its prescandal levels by October.