Singer's Complaint vs. United Proves Power of YouTube

Glossier United Breaks Guitars: Song 2 is follow-up to viral hit

(NEWSER) - Dave Carroll, who so memorably commemorated his terrible experience with United Airlines in the YouTube sensation United Breaks Guitars is at it again, Consumerist reports. The singer/songwriter/guitar-rights activist has released a more ambitious video cleverly titled United Breaks Guitars: Song 2, with a slightly more conciliatory tone. And don’t worry, fans—it’s just the second in a planned trilogy about the careless airline. More»

'Appeasement' measure dumps 5-year shut-down

(NEWSER) - Syrian authorities are lifting a 5-year-old ban on Facebook, YouTube and other Internet sites in a move seen as an attempt to appease the public and stave off the kind unrest rocking Egypt. The country's state-owned ISP is in the process of unblocking sites including Twitter and Blogspot, although Wikipedia is still blocked, the Next Web reports. More»

Racy pics, suicide threats get would-be cops dumped

(NEWSER) - Law enforcement agencies are probing potential recruits’ digital lives for information that might make them unfit for the job, USA Today reports. More than a third of police agencies look into applicants’ social media presence, says a new report conducted for police executives. Reviewing postings to sites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube, some agencies require applicants’ online passwords, or want to see their text-messaging and email records. More»

Wired 's UK editor on why he bucks the trend

(NEWSER) - David Rowan knows that shunning social networks will make him sound like an "old dude." But the UK editor of Wired is OK with 'old' if that means avoiding the social and political costs of our "ever-greater enmeshment" in proprietary networks. Here's what turns this techie off:

• People accidentally share too much: Go to youropenbook.org and search for phrases such as 'cheated on my wife,' advises Rowan. "I’ll bet that most of the people whose intimate details you’ll get to read are unaware that their updates are being shared quite so openly," he writes. "Have they genuinely given Zuckerberg their informed consent?" Maybe not.

Mercedes installs new system, swears it's safe

(NEWSER) - Facebook has found its way inside what could be its most unlikely device yet: a car. Mercedes-Benz will soon be installing Facebook in its new cars, with a specially-designed, bare-bones version that, it hopes, minimizes the chance of someone crashing off the road while using it. The app, which was designed by Mercedes and will be announced at CES this week, focuses on a limited range of location-centric tasks—it will, for example, alert you to any friends who are nearby, or any businesses you've "liked." More»