like

The number of folks who like Facebook's "Like" function is becoming one of the strangest meta-memes of the year. Earlier this week an Israeli couple named their newborn daughter "Like" after the world's most recognizable thumb, and now I've discovered an ancillary trend--"Like" as a fashion accessory.

Cufflinks, Inc., offers this pair of spiffyLike/Dislike links for those of us who have let social-networking addictions spill over into all facets of life. Just be careful to always put the "Like" link on your primary handshaking wrist, especially when meeting her dad for the first time.

Then again, if you're out to flaunt a little more attitude but still fly the Zuckerberg flag, try the "f me" design shown below.

The links cost 50 bucks a pair, and because you're all about instant gratification, the company even promises to ship them out the same day, if you order before 3 p.m.… Read more

Facebook is apparently spawning an epidemic of child cruelty at the hands of their own parents--we now have our second report of the inspiration for a newborn's name being drawn from Mark Zuckerberg's own baby. First there was the Egyptian infant who was named "Facebook," and now an Israeli child faces enduring adolescence with the name "Like." Yes, that Like, as in the little hand with the thumbs-up, constantly approving of photos of your niece, your drunken co-workers at happy hour, and of course, this story.

Like is the latest addition to the family of Lior and Vardit Adler. Father Lior says he was simply looking for a unique name and had considered some Chinese names, but settled on Like because, well, his wife liked the sound of it.

He says the name isn't part of any marketing gimmick and he hasn't been paid by anyone from Silicon Valley. In fact, he's not even that big of a Facebook fan, with less than 150 friends. Regardless, I'm clicking my Mazel tov! icon in honor of Like Adler.

(Via Huffington Post)… Read more

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Facebook launches Facebook Deals in a few, select cities

Facebook also rolls out the Send button, which is similar to the Like button, only not so public

Sony plans this fall to launch two tablets that will run Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" and have access to PlayStation content.

Yahoo buys IntoNow, a social network for couch potatoes

The Barnes & Noble Nook Color gets an update that allows it to run apps

T-Mobile pulls the Bobsled app because it was confusing Facebook users

We are cheap bastards, the lot of us. We don't want to pay for content. The New York Times puts up a pay wall that's leaky by design, so nonpaying readers can share stories they like with other people and articles pop up telling people how to take advantage to read all the newspaper online for free. The underlying conceit being that if you can get it all for free, no matter how valuable it is to you, you're a sucker if you actually pay.

But if we won't pay with cash to see stuff we like, there are other ways that publishers and marketers can extract value from our attention: By turning us into advertisements.

The latest experiment in micro-monetization is putting a "Like wall" between readers and content. The New Yorker tried a single-article trial last week for nonpaying readers; it made an essay by Jonathan Franzen available for "free" to those who would "Like" the magazine on Facebook. As Mashable notes, Self Magazine, Jennifer Lopez, and Lil Wayne have also put content behind Like walls

There are other pieces of content like this. Electronics manufacturer Denon is coming out with new models. The company promises Facebook users a peek at the new gear, but only if they "Like" Denon's page. The reputation site Honestly.com has an A/B test running (in other words, not all users see it), where registered users don't see their own ratings until they "Like" the site.

The idea, in these and other tests, is obviously to get people to tacitly recommend products on Facebook, in exchange for access to the online services. In some cases (like Denon), users are asked to Like something without fully knowing what it is. Call it the clueless vouch.

It's got to stop, for two reasons.

… Read more

Is Facebook getting ready to show its Share button the door?

The social-networking giant recently released an update that adds Share button functionality to the Like button, perhaps presaging the phasing out of the Share button. When a Facebook user clicks the Like or Recommend button on a third-party site, a full feed story with headline, blurb, and thumbnail is generated on the user's wall. Users will also have the option of commenting on it.

Previously, unless third-party publishers chose the Like with Comment version of the button for their site, users got only a link to the story … Read more

Links from Friday's episode of Loaded:

Google launches Recipe View to help you whittle your ingredient lists

Disney purchases Togetherville, a social network for children

Google makes a small change to its algorithm to push "content farm" links farther down in search results

Intel unveils its ThunderBolt data transfer technology, formerly code-named Light Peak

Angry Birds will fly on Windows Phone 7 in April

Bing extends Facebook's Like feature across its search results

Facebook breaks up with the Breakup Notifier app

Microsoft says the feature that highlights Facebook activity around some of Bing's search results has been "extended" to include any and all URLs.

The company announced the expansion in a blog post earlier today, saying that this integration was just "part of a longer journey," and that it played a complimentary role to the company's efforts in adding a social layer to is results, as it did with Twitter.

"This is the first time in human history that people are leaving social traces that machines can read and learn from, and present enhanced … Read more

What if your toothpaste could tell you whether you needed to leave the house carrying an umbrella? Or how hot the day was going to be?

Odd as it may sound, David Carr of MIT's Media Lab is working on just such a prototype product, "Tastes Like Rain."

Carr and his colleagues are focused on super-mechanicals, or the idea of taking a basic object and giving it dynamic properties (consider, for example, the Proverbial Wallets, also out of MIT's Media Lab, that know your financial state).

In this case, toothpaste is modified to dispense one of three flavors depending on the weather. If it's mint, you know it's colder out than yesterday. Cinnamon means it's hotter. Blue stripes indicate tartar precipitation.

The prototype is currently hooked up to a small Linux computer that pulls forecasts, using custom software to compare previous and current temperatures and divvy up the flavors.

Then, linear actuators squeeze out the proper variety of toothpaste through a heavily modded Mentadent dispenser. … Read more

Voting day is finally upon us, so don't forget to get out there and punch in your ballot or you will turn into that creature above! We're clearly experiencing technically difficulties while Jeff is away, so apologies to everyone watching today's video because I'm hulking out all episode! By the way, if you need help finding your nearest polling station, you can head over to Google Maps' voter info page, enter in the home address where you're registered, and Google does the work for you.

An artist here in New York has started a new project that literally integrates technology into the city. Aram Bartholl's "Dead Drops" is a public file-sharing network that places USB flash drives into buildings, walls, and curbs that are accessible to anyone with a computer and a willingness to share.

Each flash drive, distributed in five locations throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, contains a readme.txt file that explains the project and invites users to openly share their digital lives, but The 404 knows how low the Internet will go, and this doesn't bode well for the Dead Drops. The chat room has its own NSFW name for the USB keys, but we won't spoil it in the blog, so be sure to listen to the show to get all the filthy details.

A few weeks ago we showed you what OK Cupid tells us about the real Stuff White People (and other people) Like, but a new TED talk from David McCandless called "The beauty of data visualizations" shows what Facebook tells us about trends in breaking up.

The graph shows that the biggest peak in breakups is right before spring break, specifically on Mondays, which means that people like to party with other singles in the spring and summer months. Another peak happens right before Christmas, which could be attributed to penny pinching or perhaps the desire to get a fresh start for the new year. Thankfully, the lowest amount of breakups throughout the year happens on Christmas Day, so have a great holiday!