Just in time for the LA auto show, Ford has announced a new contest today on Facebook.
The request? Submit your idea for the best name describing the Ford Mustang V6 Performance Package (the package includes features like 19-inch wheels and upgrades to the breaking system).
The prize? A two-year lease on the new 2012 Ford Mustang complete with the performance package bearing the name you selected.
The Ford Mustang fan page currently has more than 950,000 members. The way the contest works is this: You can suggest a name on the fan page and then are directed to fill out a contest entry form (name, address, etc). Once your entry is submitted you can then reach out to your friends to vote on your entry, or you can cast your own vote.
Sidenote: I like that I didn’t have to “like” the page to submit a name.
A gallery on the Facebook page lets visitors see all the names that were submitted. After the five top names have been selected by the Facebook community, Ford will then choose their favorite and voila — Ford has a name for their product and someone wins a sweet car, however temporarily.
“We’re utilizing the power of social media to not only talk about what a fantastic package this is, but to also let Mustang fans across the country share a piece of it,” said Brian McClary, Ford social and emerging media specialist in a press release.
The first human case of bird flu in seven years has been diagnosed in Hong Kong, health officials said Thursday, urging the public to take precautions.
A 59-year-old woman was hospitalized in serious condition after a trip to mainland China, the Hong Kong Department of Health said.
Her illness was diagnosed as influenza A (H5), a variant of bird flu. It was unclear where she had contracted the disease. She did not have any contact with live poultry and did not visit farms while in China, Hong Kong health officials said.
Her 60-year-old husband developed possible symptoms ofbird flu, but has recovered.
Hong Kong health officials have stepped up surveillance by testing patients with severe pneumonia for bird flu. They also have launched a hotline to answer questions from the public, and are working with health officials in mainland China to monitor any occurrences.
Avian influenza does not normally infect species other than birds and pigs. But humans came down with bird flu inHong Kongin 1997, with the H5N1 strain infecting 18 humans, six of whom died.
Then, people became infected after coming into close contact with live infected poultry. Genetic studies showed the virus had jumped from birds to humans, and caused severe illness with high mortality.
Hong Kong's entire poultry population, estimated at 1.5 million birds, was destroyed within three days. That is thought to have averted a pandemic.
When humans came down with H5N1 bird flu in Hong Kong in 1997, patients developed symptoms of fever, sore throat, cough and, in several of the fatal cases, severe respiratory distress secondary to viral pneumonia.
Antiviral drugs can be used to treat and prevent bird flu in humans, but it can take months to develop a vaccine in significant quantities for a new virus subtype, according to theWorld Health Organization.
All birds are thought to be susceptible to the avian influenza, though some species, such as wild ducks, are more resistant than others. Domesticated poultry, such as chickens or turkeys, are particularly susceptible.
Infection triggers a wide spectrum of symptoms in birds, ranging from mild illness to a highly contagious and rapidly fatal disease resulting in epidemics. In severe cases, the flu is characterized by a sudden onset of severe illness, and rapid death, with a mortality that can approacwww.cnn.comh 100 percent.
Spammers have been increasing their momentum on Facebook, but a new pair of rankings that SafeToBe.Me debuted today show that the problem may have critical mass. Many of the most popular applications on the social network have the highest risk of spam and other dangers like phishing and forced file downloads.
SafeToBe.Me has scanned Facebook pages, status updates, comments and posts over the course of developing a security tool promising to protect your profile from various forms of malware, phishing, spam and other inappropriate content. You might feel motivated to add the beta version of SafeToBe.Me to your profile after checking out the developer’s rankings. There are two categories:
Most dangerous means that a post or comment contains a link leading to spamware, phishing or other malware.
Spammiest means that something increases your risk of getting spam postings on your wall or status update — and things in the ranking include at least one web address and get reposted repeatedly.
So, get a load of the very familiar looking things that SafeToBe.Me lists as the most problematic.
A malicious computer attack that appears to target Iran's nuclear plants can be modified to wreak havoc on industrial control systems around the world, and represents the most dire cyberthreat known to industry, government officials and experts said Wednesday.
They warned that industries are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the so-called Stuxnet worm as they merge networks and computer systems to increase efficiency. The growing danger, said lawmakers, makes it imperative that Congress move on legislation that would expand government controls and set requirements to make systems safer.
The complex code is not only able to infiltrate and take over systems that control manufacturing and other critical operations, but it has even more sophisticated abilities to silently steal sensitive intellectual property data, experts said.
Dean Turner, director of the Global Intelligence Network at Symantec Corp., told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that the "real-world implications of Stuxnet are beyond any threat we have seen in the past."
Analysts and government officials told the senators they remain unable to determine who launched the attack. But the design and performance of the code, and that the bulk of the attacks were in Iran, have fueled speculation that it targeted Iranian nuclear facilities.
Turner said there were 44,000 unique Stuxnet computer infections worldwide through last week, and 1,600 in the United States. Sixty percent of the infections were in Iran, including several employees' laptops at the Bushehr nuclear plant.
Iran has said it believes Stuxnet is part of a Western plot to sabotage its nuclear program, but experts see few signs of major damage at Iranian facilities.
A senior government official warned Wednesday that attackers can use information made public about the Stuxnet worm to develop variations targeting other industries, affecting the production of everything from chemicals to baby formula.
"This code can automatically enter a system, steal the formula for the product you are manufacturing, alter the ingredients being mixed in your product and indicate to the operator and your antivirus software that everything is functioning as expected," said Sean McGurk, acting director of Homeland Security's national cybersecurity operations center.
Stuxnet specifically targets businesses that use Windows operating software and a control system designed by Siemens AG. That combination, said McGurk, is used in many critical sectors, from automobile assembly to mixing products such as chemicals.
Turner added that the code's highly sophisticated structure and techniques also could mean that it is a one-in-a-decade occurrence. The virus is so complex and costly to develop "that a select few attackers would be capable of producing a similar threat," he said.
Experts said governments and industries can do much more to protect critical systems.
Michael Assante, who heads the newly created, not-for-profit National Board of Information Security Examiners, told lawmakers that control systems need to be walled off from other networks to make it harder for hackers to access them. And he encouraged senators to beef up government authorities and consider placing performance requirements and other standards on the industry to curtail unsafe practices and make systems more secure.
"We can no longer ignore known system weaknesses and simply accept current system limitations," he said. "We must admit that our current security strategies are too disjointed and are often, in unintended ways, working against our efforts to address" cybersecurity challenges.
The panel chairman, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said legislation on the matter will be a top priority after lawmakers return in January.
Do you ever worry about your preference to message a friend over Facebook then talk to them in person? Do you write on your roomate’s Facebook wall instead of wandering across the hall to talk to them? If this sounds like you don’t worry — these are all perfectly social behaviors according to a new Australian study.
Researchers at the Australian Psychological Society (APS) polled 1834 adults to see how they used social networking sites.
The survey found “online social networking increases, rather than reduces, face-to-face socializing.”
A majority of the respondents said that social media sites like Facebook gave them more regular contact with friends and family — especially if those loved ones live far away.
A quarter of respondents said social media sites makes them want more face-to-face contact.
“These findings are significant because we know strong social connections enhance people’s self-esteem and mental health while providing support and a sense of belonging,” said APS researcher Dr Mathews according to ITWire.
Here are more of the study’s key finding according to The Epoch Times:
·Seventy-one percent of users checked their profile daily, while 51 per cent did so “several times” daily.
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·Among those who shun online social networking, the most common reasons were loss of interest, having “better things to do” and preferring to speak to people face-to-face.
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·One in five of those aged 31 to 50 admitted to forming an “intimate relationship” with someone they met online.
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·People of all ages use social media, with 81 per cent of those aged 31 to 50, and 64 per cent of those over 50, using
·online social networking.
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·Facebook users aged under 30 had an average 263 friends, while those aged 31 to 50 had 206 friends and those aged over 50 averaged 92 friends.
However, study findings weren’t all positive. Almost one in three of those polled—with young adults under 30 the most affected — said they had been harassed, received unwelcome contact or had someone post unwanted information about them online.
