This video, produced by Socialnomics, suggests that all of these common things will be killed by technology in the next 6 years:

• Wrist watches
• Paperback books
• Instruction manuals
• Car keys
• Greeting cards
• Credit cards
• Memo pads
• Maps
• Alarm clocks
• Cash
• Smartless phones
• Classrooms
• Traditional homework
• Education inequality
• Newspapers
• DVD
• Brooadcast TV
• Terrestrial Radio
• Checkbooks
• Paper resumes
• Mail order catalogues
• Electronics stores
• Clipping coupons
• Boring planes
• Tollbooth operators
• Gas stations
• Privacy

What do you think? Are these predictions realistic? Voice your opinion in the comments below.

Not only is Newt Gingrich’s plan for lunar statehood insane — it’s also illegal! As BuzzFeed points out, Gingrich’s plan for an American moon colony or a 51st Moon State violates the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which was pitched by the USSR, UK, and USA. The worry back then was putting nukes on the moon pointed at Washington or Moscow. Now, 45 years later, it’s crushing Candidate Gingrich’s crazy dreams.

The treaty, in part, states that:

The exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind;

Outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States;

Outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means;

Extending the United States to the moon contradicts just about all of that.

Sorry, Newt. As nice as your lunar statehood plan sounds, it’s just not feasible.

The long-awaited IPO of the year, or perhaps the decade, is here. Facebook will file paperwork for an Initial Public Offering on Wednesday, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

This will be the largest tech IPO in history, yielding around $10 billion for the social giant. The next largest tech IPO is Infineon, a German company that raised $5.9 billion in 2005.

There aren’t many details, Facebook refuses to comment, and the WSJ’s source is unnamed. But they have a long track record on stories like this, so we think it’s a safe bet.

The $10 billion share offering would yield the company a total valuation of $100 billion, which is right where we expected it to be.

Facebook halted its trading in secondary markets earlier this week, a strong indicator that an IPO is on the way.

This also explains why Facebook so quickly rolled out Timeline to all users. Once it files its paperwork, it will be forced to go into a “quiet period,” without product announcements, interviews, or other public statements.

Are you excited for Facebook, or will this be a change for the worse? What do you think, and will you buy a slice?

Thanks to iMacquarium for the picture.

Today’s technology is tomorrow’s junk and there is nothing you can do about it. New computers will be released, faster processors will be manufactured and bigger hard drives will be announced. The exponential improvement of technology creates an exponential growth of computers in landfills. There is no way around it. What most people don’t know is there are things you should do to protect your security and information when throwing these machines out. Make sure you follow these tips when you are getting rid of an old computer.

Backup Phase

The first thing a person needs to do when getting rid of an old computer is get all of their information backed up and saved somewhere other than the computer. Flash drives and external hard drives are cheap, easy ways to store and transfer information from computer to computer. These devices can also be used to save backups of your important documents when you’re not migrating computers.

Before you move onto the next phase, do a test and make sure your files will open on a new computer if you are moving them. Especially when moving to a different operating system or from older machines, the formats can get mixed up a bit. Do the necessary testing to make sure everything works before it’s too late.

It is also a good idea to make sure you can locate all of the installation files and CD’s for all of your programs. Nothing is worse that not being able to find the disc to reinstall your favorite program or game as soon as you need it.

Cleanup Phase

A backup copy has been made and you now have access to all of your precious information. You can chuck the old computer into the nearest dumpster now, right? No. Because not only do you still have access to all of your information, so does whoever picks up your old computer. The computer needs to be wiped clean before you do anything with it.

Many simple programs exist that will easily complete this task. My favorite is Darik’s Boot and Nuke, also known as DBAN. A person can burn it to a CD, boot the computer to that CD, type in the word ‘autonuke’ and DBAN will automatically wipe the hard drive a specified number of times, making it completely useless to someone snooping for information. *NOTE* This is not reversible! This deletes your information FOREVER! Only do this if you have completely backed up everything!

There are other “cleaning” methods that will get the job done just as well but will leave your hard drive a little bit more unusable. A person could take a giant magnet to their hard drive, use a big hammer, or one of the favorites of the internet, shoot it with big guns. These options are more viable when you don’t need to use the hard drive again and not the preferred route if you want to sell your computer.

Discharge Phase

Recycle. The first option for getting rid of that old hunk of junk is recycling it. There are many public and private companies that are always ready to take any and all electronics and recycle them in an eco-friendly manner. Please do not just throw your computer away. If you must get rid of it and no one else can use it, please recycle it.

Donate. If your computer is still in functioning condition, there’s no reason not to keep it in service. If you’re feeling generous, donate your computer. There are many different charities looking for computers that can be re-purposed for families that can’t afford a computer and even after school programs.

Another place to donate your used computer would be to your local geek. Geeks love computers. Just because your computer doesn’t have much value to you, doesn’t mean that someone else couldn’t use it.

Sell it. I believe this is one of the worst options for getting rid of your computer because electronics lose their monetary value quicker than anything else. While they usually maintain their functionality, people are more likely to spend their money on a new computer rather than a used one. But, you can always take out a newspaper ad, try eBay, Craigslist, Zaarly and all the others and try to make a few extra dollars.

Don’t want to get rid of that old computer just quite yet? Learn a bunch of different, cool and educational ways to re-purpose it.

Did you enjoy this article? Find more from Devon at Blog.DevonSchreiner.com.

Statistics. Facebook is the second most-visited website on the Internet after Google. Creating a Facebook page is a way to get the word out to 800 million users. That’s big. Further, according to Nielsen, 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations, while only 14% trust advertisements. Social media is the way to go.

It’s free. The best thing about social media is that it always fits into the budget — for the most part, it’s still 100% free. When you make your debut on Facebook and Twitter, you have nothing to lose, but plenty to gain.

It’s not “just for kids.” A lot of bosses will pull out the stereotype that social media is only used by teenagers. On the contrary, the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is 55- to 65-year-old females.

It generates leads and provides analytics. Many companies are already acquiring customers with social media. And most social media sites provide insights into your consumer demographic, as well as how your customers are interacting with your stuff.

It’s here to stay. Social media isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It plays a huge role in today’s world — there’s no reason not to be using it. After all, we’re living in the Facebook era.

When you speak to your boss, be prepared to answer any questions he/she will ask you, and present a solid strategy on how you plan to use social media for the business.

The samples do have some things in common, though. They all have at least a 4-inch display (made by LG on at least one of them). None of the samples have the iPhone 4/4S form factor, and none of them are the final versions.

Also, there’s no sign of the MacBook Air-inspired teardrop design that was rumored prior to the release of the 4S. All of the samples are  symmetrically shaped.

The report goes on to say that production could begin very soon, and we could expect to see a summer launch at WWDC (a pattern Apple maintained until last year).

While you should certainly look at this report with a skeptical eye, it looks more credible than the crap we see from publications like DigiTimes.

Reviewing various prototypes before deciding on a final model is common in manufacturing. Also, there’s something to be said about the vagueness of this rumor (no precise screen measurement, nothing about the insides, etc.). If you’re going to make something up, why not add more details?

What do you think about this latest iPhone rumor? Let us know your opinion in the comments.

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Google is also combining user data across its services. So if you supply data to one Google service, it applies to other Google services as well. As Google says: “In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products.”

This is exemplified in Google’s personalized search product. Going forward, Google Search will give you results not only from the web, but from your personal stuff too. For example, if you’re searching for a restaurant or other business, you’ll find the business’s website, as well as relevant social content from your friends on Google+.

Google is trying to personalize the entire web experience, including advertising, location-based reminders, spelling suggestions of friends’ names, and more. From the blog post: “People still have to do way too much heavy lifting, and we want to do a better job of helping them out.”

Google is also trying to make its privacy policy shorter and easier to understand, eliminating as much legal jargon as possible.

You can preview the new privacy policy here.

The homepage of the site has been replaced by an Anonymous logo, a rap song, and a warning to politicians and authorities about further action should SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA be passed:

If SOPA/PIPA/ACTA passes we will wage a relentless war against the corporate internet, destroying dozens upon dozens of government and company websites. As you are reading this we are amassing our allied armies of darkness, preparing boatloads of stolen booty for our next raid. We are sitting on hundreds of rooted servers getting ready to drop all your mysql dumps and mail spools. Your passwords? Your precious bank accounts? Even your online dating details?! You ain’t even trying to step to this.

Oh noes! Looks like the FTC's http://t.co/2GRdDVav has been hacked by #Anonymous! ^__^

January 24, 2012 1:08 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@YourAnonNews

Anonymous

Last week, Anonymous brought down the FBI’s website, along with nine others, in response to the DOJ’s decision to suspend and investigate Megaupload.

The investigation is one of the biggest criminal copyright cases ever, with Megaupload costing the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million in lost revenue.

Last week, Anonymous was planning an attack on Sony, in response to the company’s initial support of SOPA. It didn’t happen though. Yesterday, Anonymous threatened to go after Facebook, which seems very unlikely when you take security and lack of motive into consideration.

Anonymous seems to be trying to build a reputation as a defender of the people, rather than just a troublemaker. An attack on Facebook would contradict that, so it’s probably not going to happen.

I think we can expect to see more attacks on the US government, though, if it continues to push anti-piracy Internet bills. And it will.