Person using cell phone while driving. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s a definitive sign that Americans have taken multitasking way too far: They’re looking at their smartphones while doing it.

Nearly 20 percent of young adult smartphone owners in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 34 use their smartphones during sex, and nearly 1 in ten U.S. adults who own smartphones use them during sex.

The survey from Harris Interactive on behalf of start-up Jumio did not ask respondents what they are “using” the phones for. Perhaps there’s something much more kinky going on here. Probably though it’s just a lot of people surreptitiously glancing at their iPhones to see if they got a text or a new comment on their Facebook post.

Smartphones are also impacting our relationships in other ways: According to the study, 33 percent of adults use them while on dinner dates, and 35 percent use them while at the movies. 12 percent of people reported that they feel that their smartphone gets in the way of their relationship. At least we recognize it’s an issue, right?

Harris Interactive conducted its online survey of more than 1,100 U.S. adults between June 13 and June 17, 2013, and the results were a startlingly reminder of just how tethered to technology we’ve become. Take a look at the other places people admit to using their smartphones:

Source -: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Image via CrunchBase

You know that people are making money from YouTube (and that YouTube is making earning from videos), but do you know just how much revenue that the ads on YouTube videos generate? The average person who makes a YouTube channel earns around $2 per 1,000 views. This might not seem like a whole lot, but it’s also a passive way to earn money; video makers post videos that may get more and more views over time. Super, you may be thinking, but are people seriously making a living from this? Yes, indeed they are.

The highest grossing YouTube video of all time is Psy’s Gangnam Style, which was released last summer. In less than a year, Gangnam Style has seen over 1.5 billion views, which is the most viewed YouTube video ever and the first video to reach a billion views (the runner up has just about 850 million views, for comparison).  In January, news came out that Gangnam Style generated over $8 million in ad revenue; the revenue is divided up between YouTube and Psy.

Justin Bieber’s song, ‘Baby feat. Ludacris,’ is the second most viewed YouTube video of all time with nearly 850 million views since it was released in February 2010. According to statistics tracking website Social Blade, Baby has earned an estimated revenue of anywhere from $637,000 to nearly $6 million. This is a huge range, but factors like deals that YouTube may have made with a record company factor into ad revenue earnings. Unfortunately, YouTube has not publically released information about what individual videos gross for the site.

Research done by UK newspaper, The Independent, partnered with TubeMogul, an analytics company, to calculate the highest earning independent performers (i.e. not affiliated with a record company, movie studio, etc) are making. They published a list of YouTube stars taking in the most cash as of 2010.

The top earner on the list is Shane Dawson who earns around $315,000 annually from his YouTube channel. At the moment Shane’s channel (ShaneDawsonTV) has 3.6 million subscribers and 843.5 million total video views. Shane is a 20-something comedian from California who describes himself as an “innocent guy with a dirty mouth.”

The next independent act that made the list is The Annoying Orange, which is an anthropomorphic, “obnoxious fruit” that often reenacts scenes from pop culture or media and seems to exist to irritate other fruits. The Independent estimated this channel’s revenue at $288,000 annually and the channel currently has almost 3 million  subscribers.

The third spot on the countdown is Philip DeFranco, with $181,000 in annual earnings. His channel, sxephil features a weekly show that involves his commentary on news, gossip, and other topics. He also has weekly shows on movies and more serious topics. At this writing, he has 2.5 million subscribers.

Fourth up is Ryan Higa, who vlogs from the channel nigahiga, which has 7.9 million subscribers and 1.4 billion total views as of today. According to The Independent’s research, Higa earns $151,000 per year from YouTube. His channel includes comedy and commentary.

Finally, the fifth person on the list is Fred Figglehorn and his channel, Fred. The creator of the character is Lucas Cruikshank, who plays the Fred, an overly excited 6-year-old. The channel is estimated to be making $146,000 per year and Lucas has also made a deal to work with Nickelodeon.

As previously mentioned, this list is a few years old and it’s likely that if this list were compiled now, these performers would still be some of the top earners, but there would be some new earners in the mix. According to statistics site VidStatsX, Smosh is now the channel with the most subscribers, followed by RayWilliamJohnson, and the ever popular JennaMarbles. One expects that these would be some of today’s top YouTube earners.

Angie Picardo is a writer at Nerdwallet, a personal finance website that offers advice on money saving tactics from finding scholarships for college to LAX wifi. by Angie Picardo

Image via CrunchBase

There are certain people it can be awkward to friend on Facebook. It’s not always the best idea to be friends with parents and coworkers on Facebook, but there seems to be a consensus that there is one person you should never friend-request: Your boss.

According to a survey of 722 people conducted by survey site SodaHead and anonymous feedback site YouTell, 81 percent say you should not be Facebook friends with your boss. Slightly more men than women said it was OK to friend your boss, and those age 25 to 34 (college-age kids when Facebook first appeared on campuses) were the most comfortable with the practice. A parallel survey that asked whether or not you should be Facebook friends with your co-workers was split: 55 percent said yes and 45 percent said no.

If you’re an active Facebook user, your Facebook friends will likely be able to see many aspects of your life: photos of you, your family, and your vacations, as well as status updates, events you’re attending and more. People probably don’t want their bosses to be able to see so much information about them, and don’t want to have to go back in time to censor Facebook photos from their wild college days. People generally like to keep a professional distance at work, and when your boss and coworkers can see every photo taken of you in the past 5 years, things feel a lot more personal. Plus, you don’t want your boss seeing the photos from last night’s party after calling in sick, or seeing that you’re posting on friends’ walls when you’re supposedly at a funeral.

People have been fired for Facebook posts. In 2009, a Swiss woman was fired from her insurance job because she had told her boss that she couldn’t work at her computer and needed to lie down in the dark. She was fired when she was seen to be active on Facebook. In 2010, a woman was fired from her waitressing job after complaining about a pair of customers on her Facebook page. It’s not just Facebook where you have to be careful; people overshare about their jobs on Twitter, too.

Whether or not you choose to Facebook-friend your boss probably has a lot to do with your line of work, and, as we can see from this survey, your age.

Source:- http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Lower case ‘a’ from Adobe Caslon Pro, superposed onto some guides. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While it is true that the use of interesting fonts may be a delightful activity for most of the graphic designers, one needs to remember that a thin line exists between a fun typographic character and something that is unreadable and undesirable.

Nothing can be worse than the scenario where one has completed a project and then realizes that all the efforts have gone in vain. Follow the below listed rules and ensure that your typography meets the accepted levels.

1.) Do not fall into the all caps impulse :

In most scenarios when one is dealing with some design, it usually happens that one forgoes the essential grammar rules and tends to write in capital letters. One perceives that this trick will work and the content will be more readable and attractive. However, you will be surprised to know that truth is exactly opposite in this case. The mind has been trained in such a manner that is adapted to perceiving the letters in its usual shape and size. The brain is pattern oriented and any out of the box idea falls flat. If you decide to go in for all capital letter approach, the brain reacts in a distinct way and slows down the interpretation. Sticking with the usual lower case format is the key of success and you should follow the same.

2.) Finding the proper spacing :

It is a fact that kerning and tracking are two vital fundamentals of any typography design. As you key in text in any project or web page, you need to find the perfect balance between too much and very little space. In case the space is too less, the words run the risk of running together. If however, they are too wide, finding the beginning of next line will be a tough task.

3.) Focus on the demographic :

Ensure that the font size you are using in your endeavor is directly proportionate to the target group, the website is catering to. In case, most of the users of your website are young, prefer using a standard font that is clearly readable. Have a setting of 10 to 11 for the standard font that you use for the venture. If in case, you are catering to an age group varying between 40 and 65, going in for a medium font between 11 and 12 points is the best course of action to pursue.

For someone working on websites for the elderly, the use of largest standard text sizes is advisable. Place the text size to be between 14 and 16 and you can connect in a better way with the targeted audience.

4.) Do not confuse between fonts and size :

Remember that not all fonts are made the same way. There can be variation between sizes , even at same points. Keep this in account and compensate for the same. If in case, you are set on a specified font but the sizing is not appropriate, you can go one step up or down and this will make all the difference.

5.) Breaking up the text :

Any font can be straining on the eyes. Keep this fact in mind and choose a font that soothes the eyes. To make it even better, you can break the same with images and header.

Follow the above listed measures and you will come up with a winning composition that will benefit you personally and professionally.

About The Author: Claudia is a writer/blogger. She loves writing, travelling and reading books. She contributes to Hydroxycut

How Did It All Begin?

Yebhi started its online show in the year 2009. Stepping into online business with a wide range of shoes, the online store paced up to include more categories to increase its product strength. The categories available with Yebhi include footwear, apparels, bags, electronic products, jewellery, home appliances, kitchen appliances, mobiles, toys and cosmetic items.

Flipkart rolled its wheels into online business with unbelievable loads of books in the year 2007. It did not remain a book seller for long as it included a wide range of products to its collections namely apparels, footwear, watches, bags, computers, home appliances, kitchen appliances, toys, personal products and cameras. Beginning as a bookseller, its collections on the run is amazing.

Range Of Products – Flipkart Gains Speed

Yebhi does have stunning range of products but Flipkart has more categories to offer. Even if you go by the commonly available products, we find Yebhi doing well in some sections namely apparels, bags, footwear and toys while Flipkart does great in electronics, mobiles, home appliances and kitchen appliances. The difference is huge where Flipkart leads and hence, it could be said that Flipkart provides better results than Yebhi.

Quality And Price – Yebhi Holds The Reins

It is true that both Yebhi and Flipkart offer leading brands but Yebhi outperforms Flipkart in quality of products. Yebhi has earned a name for its quality products and though Flipkart does well here, it is placed behind Yebhi. As far as the rates are concerned, it could be said that Yebhi provides a wider choice in all price ranges. Flipkart is not charging more but Yebhi charges lesser. However, you could enjoy great discounts from both the online stores using Yebhi discount coupons and Flipkart coupons.

Customer Service – Yebhi Outruns Flipkart

Be it delivery or efficient customer service, Yebhi is far ahead of Flipkart. Flipkart should be given credit that is due to it for being a very stunning performer in its initial years. However, in the later years its speed seems to have slowed down, which has affected the customer service. There are many complaints about delivery of faulty goods, not honoring delivery schedule and obvious failure in handling customers’ complaints. Yebhi too has received a fair share of complaints from customers. As far as complaints about Yebhi is concerned, the soothing feature is that the company tries to address the complaints and set the problems right. It is obvious from reviews that it makes attempts while Flipkart seems to turn a deaf ear to the complaints.

Efficient customer service is the backbone of any industry. If a business fails in customer service, it is sure to be removed from the memory of the buyers. In the world of internet, words spread like fire and one negative statement does not take more than a few seconds to go round the world. Hence, offering quality service is very important. Yebhi and Flipkart do make mistakes in their delivery right from missing the delivery date to shipping the wrong product. The advantage as far as Yebhi is concerned is that it tries to improve its efficiency. Hence, Yebhi has the power to stop Flipkart’s march.

A credit card, the biggest beneficiary of the Marquette Bank decision (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How’s this for a phone call you don’t want on a Sunday night: Visa’s fraud unit, calling to ask whether you’re aware that $1,371 has been wired from your bank account via Western Union.

Lisa Rokusek was definitely not aware of this transaction, since she hadn’t initiated it.

As it turns out, Rokusek, a US woman from St. Louis, Missouri, should have been wary of that phone call, too, if the caller did in fact claim to be from Visa’s fraud unit, as originally reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

As a Visa representative told me (and at least one reader pointed out) after this story first ran, Visa’s fraud unit doesn’t call consumers when they detect suspicious patterns in such cases. Instead, they call the card’s issuing bank, which has the consumer’s contact information.

This is an important note, because scammers try to phish information by claiming that a call is coming from Visa’s fraud department, Visa told me.

Given that the funds were wired from her account, the Visa representative pointed out, Rokusek was likely the victim of wire fraud. Could somebody have pulled a fast one with her debit card? Or did somebody get her account information solely through phishing?

We don’t know at this point. At any rate, however the money came out, it got out, and it made Rokusek one of many victims of credit card or debit card fraud last month.

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Gallagher notes, a report from ACI Payment Systems released in October found that 42 percent of US survey respondents have been victimized by credit, debit or pre-paid card fraud over the prior five years.

It’s bad outside the US, as well, with one in four survey respondents across 17 countries reporting such victimization.

When it comes to this type of fraud, there’s a big difference between credit cards and debit cards.

When users spot fraudulent charges on their credit card bill, they can simply decline the charges and not pay the bill.

Debit cards, in contrast, draw money directly from your checking account, with no intermediary credit card company acting as a buffer.

That can mean a world of hurt to those whose debit cards are compromised.

Bankrate.com cites the case of the T J Maxx data theft, which resulted in $150 million in fraud losses – much of it clawed directly out of customers’ bank accounts.

Frank Abagnale, a secure-document consultant, told Bankrate that credit card users in that breach got their accounts straightened out, with new cards in the mail, within a few days.

Debit card holders, on the other hand, waited an average of two to three months to get the swindled money reimbursed.

That’s a lot of time to live with a bank account that’s been popped like a balloon.

So how can consumers protect themselves from debit card fraud?

Some safeguards, from the St. Louis Dispatch and other sources:

1. Don’t fall for phishing emails -: Phishing email tries to trick victims into thinking that it comes from retailers, banks, or the US Internal Revenue Service (or whichever tax organization pertains to a given country), for example.

In fact, brazen phishers recently even used the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as a cloak. The FTC in January issued a warning to businesses about a phishing attack that was targeting small and medium-sized companies with bogus complaint files that purportedly originated from the FTC.

Once you click on a phishing email, you’re typically taken to a phony website that lures victims into giving up their card or bank account numbers. Presto – the thieves are in.

2. Pay attention to bank and credit card statements -: Speed is of the essence when it comes to reporting debit theft. If you report fraud within two days of receiving your statement, your liability is limited to $50.

If you wait up to 60 days, that liability goes up to $500. You can lose everything – your entire account balance – if you wait longer than 60 days.

In that time, you’ll run the risk of bouncing important checks, such as those used to pay the rent, your mortgage, or your credit card bill.

Compare that with credit card liability: If you lose your credit card, your loss is limited to $50, although most credit card issuers won’t charge you anything at all. If the card number is stolen, as opposed to the card itself, the FTC says you’re not liable for anything.

You can find more information on liability for the US here and the UK here. People from other countries should check with their local financial authority for liability information.

3. Don’t let your debit card out of your sight -: That’s the advice Denise K DeRousse, senior vice president for retail banking at Pulaski Bank, gave to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Gallagher.

Pay attention when clerks swipe your card. Also, take care when handing over your card if you want helpers to pick up groceries. They’ll have your name, your security code and the card number: all they need, in other words, to vacuum out your account.

4. Ditch the debit/credit card -: Detective Michael Hodge, who was assigned to Lisa Rokusek’s fraud case, told Gallagher that he recommends using a simple ATM card along with a separate credit card, rather than the combined debit/credit cards that are now so popular.

That’s constitutes a tradeoff, unfortunately, given that many banks are now requiring a minimum number of debit-card-used-as-a-credit-card purchases in order for account holders to qualify for high-performance bank accounts, which pay slightly less anemic rates than otherwise.

Good luck in choosing which is less painful in that scenario. I’m mulling it myself.

Articles by Lisa Vaas from Nakes Security.

English: Assortment of gift cards (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Facebook’s newest e-commerce idea: A gift card users can buy for each other that can be spent at retailers and restaurants including Target, Jamba Juice and Olive Garden.

The company is building on the gifts service it introduced last fall. That lets people send chocolate, flowers and other real-life goods to their Facebook friends.

Facebook Inc. said Thursday that the reusable card will be available to U.S. users gradually.

To send gifts and gift cards, users can click on the “gifts” icon on their friends’ Facebook pages or alongside birthday notifications.

Gifts amounted to a tiny portion of Facebook’s revenue in the fourth quarter. The Menlo Park, Calif., company expects it to stay very small this year.

Source:- http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Psy (Photo credit: Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer)

We remember when the K-Pop hit first made its way to YouTube in July. We remember when it became the most-watched video on the network in November. We remember when it hit 1 billion views in December.

Now we learn about another milestone “Gangnam Style” has reached. During Google’s fourth quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Google chief business officer Nikesh Arora revealed that “Gangnam Style” had brought in $8 million on YouTube views alone.

Google allows creators to monetize popular YouTube videos by placing advertisements before the video you want to watch. For ultra-popular videos like Gangnam Style, this practice can be lucrative: Christopher Mims of Quartz does the math and says the $8 million in earnings reported by Arora means the video is generating about $0.65 in revenue per click. For a video with 1.23 billion YouTube views and counting, that kind of cash adds up — fast.

Of course, Psy doesn’t get to keep all of the money. Half of the cash from YouTube advertising goes to YouTube itself, which means Psy likely pocketed a (relatively) piddling $4 million. Still, that’s a figure more than most YouTube sensations make. The 58-second viral “Charlie Bit My Finger” made its creators around $158,560 – enough to send Charlie to college, but not enough to make him a millionaire.

Six-figure prospects are certainly enough to tempt many a hopeful viral video creator. In 2011, Claire Cain Miller of The New York Times published a piece on how YouTube sensations could monetize their viral status. Creators, she said, aren’t limited to YouTube ads for moneymaking; Miller suggested commercial contracts, direct merchandising and TV appearances as other ways of cashing in.

Psy has certainly raked in cash from “Gangnam Style” in ways that aren’t YouTube-related. Last year, the AP estimated that the Korean pop star made $8.1 million off “Gangnam Style” off not just YouTube videos, but also a combination of iTunes downloads and TV commercials.

Source :- http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Where the Internet is stored (Photo credit: debs)

Next year will be the year of the mobile security threat, according to Internet security software giant McAfee, based on the predictions report it released today of the leading security threats expected in 2013. With online technology rapidly moving from computers to the palms of our hands, cybercriminals and hackers are evolving their methods to fit the times. Whether it’s the new Windows 8 OS or the trendy HTML5 browser language, cybercriminals will be stepping up their game in 2013 to capitalize on the newest technology.

So what can consumer expect to see in the way of cyber threats in 2013? We read through the report and focused on some of the biggest threats you should look out for in 2013, and what you can do to protect yourself.

• Mobile threats will increase :

“Mobile threats are starting to increase as we get closer to 2013,” McAfee Threat Researcher Ryan Sherstobitoff pointed out. McAfee predicts that both OS X and Android will be big targets in the mobile world in 2013.

There are a number of different attacks that mobile users need to be weary of in the coming year. This includes mobile worms on your phone that buy malicious apps so that the creators of the malware will profit, as well as ransomware kits that allow criminals without programming skills to extort payments from you. To help protect yourself, it is important to make sure that your phone’s operating system is always up-to-date, as well as installing mobile-specific Internet security software on your phone. One of the more worrisome mobile threats that will be increasing in 2013 is malware that blocks security updates to your phone, leaving it vulnerable to known malware that it should be blocking. This malware is more common in smartphones that have been “rooted” or “unlocked” since those phones generally don’t receive software updates from providers, so try to avoid using a phone that’s been rooted or unlocked.

• Windows 8 is the next big target:

Windows 8 is a cash cow for cyber criminals, so even though the new Windows 8 is more secure, they will figure out a way around the increased security so they can reap the rewards, according to McAfee. They predict that the most popular ways criminals will attack is by phishing and other techniques that will either trick users into revealing information or install malicious programs on the user’s computer. This means that if you do upgrade to Windows 8, do not solely rely on the operating system to keep you safe. Always make sure that your Internet security software is up-to-date as well as all of your programs.

• “Big-Scale” attacks on businesses will be a focus:

“Hacktivism” from groups such as Anonymous have been popular in 2012, but McAfee predicts that such attacks will only grow in 2013. Even those hackers not interested in hacktivism have started attacking companies for the soul purpose of causing as much havoc as possible. And it doesn’t help that the technical aspect of hacking a company is so easy for hackers.

“If attackers can install destructive malware on a large number of machines, then the result can be devastating,” the report explains.

Most of these hackers are experts at what they do, so while making sure you have the right security measures in place is a smart move, in these instances, the best way to help protect yourself and your users is to make sure all of your data is backed up off-site. It would be a good idea for users and businesses to look into an online backup service that incrementally backs up their system, so if an attack were to occur, all important data will still be safe.

• HTML5 will become a new challenge for hackers:

HTML5 has become the new darling of the standard language of Internet browsers. McAfee reports that 75 percent of users in North America and 83 percent in Europe use a browser that supports HTML5. With this new technology comes new challenges for cybercriminals. Original HTML relied on plug-ins that hackers used to exploit browsers. HTML5 doesn’t rely on plug-ins, making those types of malware obsolete. The hackers’ new focus will be on the added functionality of HTML5, which creates a larger attack surface for hackers.

“Powerful JavaScript APIs that allow device access will expose the browser as websites gain direct access to hardware,” the report explains.

Other threats that will increase in 2013 include the Citadel Trojan, which is based off the Trojan horse Zeus that steals banking information, and can now better target specific victims or groups of victims. Another threat on the rise will be “Snowshoe Spam.” Though these annoying marketing campaigns that send hundreds of spam messages aren’t malicious like the other threats discussed in the report, they have been increasing over the past two years and are “currently one of the biggest problems in the spam world,” write McAfee researchers.

While this list includes some of the top security threats expected in 2013, it obviously can’t predict every piece of new malware to watch out for, so it’s always a good idea to make sure your computer has the most up-to-date operating system, you computer is backed up and you have an updated version of Internet security software on your computer to help protect against any security threats that might pop up.

Source :- http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Pornography (Photo credit: bigcityal)

With all the porn watching humanity has been doing, it’s a wonder we ever do anything else.

The search engine PornWatchers.com (warning: if you go there, you will see porn) released a report that claims people have watched 1.2 million years worth of porn since 2006 — and that’s based on data from just two porn sites.

The report claims videos on YouPorn.com and xHamster.com have received 93 billion views in that same time period. That’s 15 views per person on earth.

There are 700,000 videos on both sites combined with 22,000 videos added every month.

People also apparently like to talk about the videos they’re watching. There are more than 7.5 Million comments posted under videos catalogued in the report.

The Inquisitor notes that there are hundreds if not thousands of other adult tube sitesthat were not examined in the study, which means the numbers reported would “likely skyrocket” if those sites were included in the analysis.

At the same time, Silicon Angle throws some cold water on the stats:

We should point out that PornWatchers is promoting its own niche here, so the numbers ‘could’ have been exaggerated somewhat. 93 billion views seems to be an awful LOT of views, and I’d hazard a guess that we don’t all make a habit of viewing porn. Do we?

Source :- http://www.huffingtonpost.com