BP recently acknowledged that a photo, showing ten screens with underwater images, exaggerates the activity at its oil spill command center in Houston.  Two screens were originally blank and a staff photographer used Photoshop to add images.  I thought they only used Photoshop in the fashion world?!?!?

I remember reading the story of Kyle MacDonald, a Canadian, who started “Craigslist swapping” with a red paperclip (using 14 trades to upgrade from a paperclip to a house).  I thought to myself, could I do this?  And that was all the thought I put into it.  Today, I read yet another success story of how a 17-year-old Californian, Steven Ortiz, used Craigslist to upgrade from an old cell phone to a 2000 Porsche Boxster!

Craigslist is much like a newspaper’s classified section – where people list their unwanted goods in hopes for cash in return.  Online users are taking advantage of sites such as Craigslist and are instead bartering with one another.  And why not?  After all, one man’s trash may be another man’s treasure.

“How did he do this?” is probably the first question that pops to mind.  Each day,  Steven spent five to six hours searching for the right kind of swaps on Craiglist.  It took him two years and 14 trades with items including an iPod touch, various dirt bikes, a MacBook Pro, a golf cart, and a 1975 Ford Bronco.

What’s the lesson to be learned?  The Internet is being used more and more frequently by individuals of all ages as a virtual swap meet – with larger and more rewarding payoffs.

Brother, a company known for their sewing machines, is going to shake up the battery world.

Brother has come up with vibration-powered generators, which allow you to charge gadgets, just by giving it a good shake referred to as “Vibration-powered Generating Battery.”  These batteries will fit in a slot designed for AA or AAA batteries and will afford the luxury of charging anywhere, at any time.

The company will be showing off these Vibration-powered Generating Batteries at a trade expo later this month.

In today’s society, no matter where we look, we are constantly being bombarded by  advertisements – companies trying to convince us that their product is better than their competitors.  Most I find annoying and many times I wonder how individuals actually get paid to produce such nonsense.  The ones that captivate my attention are the ones that are creative and clever and the ones which use unusual humour.

According to Old Spice, they have 71 years of experience helping guys improve their mansmells  with deodorant, antiperspirant, and fragrances. However, it is only within the past year that Old Spice has dominated the internet and created such buzz.  Old Spice’s ads “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” starring a bare-chested Isaiah Mustafa, launched in February and since then has generated over 70 million hits.  Their ad has hit the Internet by storm with a series of hilarious videos about smelling good.  Last week, Old Spice and ad agency Wieden + Kennedy used social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to answer questions from fans with personalized video messages.  The first of these videos were filmed on Monday and released on Tuesday, and according to Visible Measures, a company that tracks viral videos, reported that the videos had already received an unprecendented16.3 million views as of Friday afternoon.

To give you an idea of some of the most popular viral videos to date (based on the first 24 hours):

Old Spice responses to viewers: 5.9 million

Barack Obama’s victory speech: 4.8 million

George W. Bush dodging shoes: 4.4 million

Susan Boyle: 3 million

Old Spice is using the ABCs – Authenticity, Bravery, and Consistency – of social media success.  They are using an authentic character answering real questions from real people.  This was a brave move as the videos which encourage men to smell like men, from the shower, on a horse, etc could have been a flop from the start. Old Spice, who, since February knew they had a hit on their hands, has been consistent with keeping the buzz going for the campaign.  The company has combined the superpowers of advertising and social media, whereby social media has revolutionized how individuals are connected.

This is the first campaign which answers individuals’ questions so personally and so quickly, in a way where the acting and writing are both brilliant and it leaves the consumer demanding more.  Other companies will indefinitely jump on the bandwagon and will shift their focus to responding to users in real time.  I have no problem with this, as long as the catch phrases are as out-of-this-world as ““Hello, ladies, look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped using ladies scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me. Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on a boat with the man your man could smell like. What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it, it’s an oyster with two tickets to that thing you love. Look again, the tickets are now diamonds. Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady. I’m on a horse.” [Smell like a man, man. Old Spice]”

The latest edition of Wordpress (3.0) was recently released with much anticipation.  The majority of the new features in this edition will focus on improving security and stability.  The first difference that most will notice is the different login screen.  Instead of the default ‘admin’, users are immediately asked to create a unique username.  This eliminates the major security issues in the past with the ‘admin’ username. 

The other main difference with this release is that the default theme has been changed.  Wordpress has discarded the standard ‘Kubrick’ theme and will now be using a more dynamic theme called ‘2010′.  Some of the new features include:  built-in support for child themes, header customization and background alterations. The new theme also has built-in support for drop down menus.  The theme comes with 8 pre-loaded custom header backgrounds which makes modifying your theme so easy.  There is also code that can be added to your them to enable support for custom headers.

One of the minor changes that will be included is aimed at those who are concerned with the social media and be able to share across multiple platforms with ease.  This can be accomplished be using the new ‘Shortlinks’ feature.

Another change that will definitely come in handy is the ability to create custom post types.  This creates a straightforward method to create custom content aside from your regular posts and pages.

With all the changes mentioned above, I think that the possibility of creating more functional websites that are easy to customize and maintain are endless.