backchannelbook.com Aaron Brennan, Soph. Guerin Catholic · dbren5 Aaron Brennan on the Rise Posted on May 23, 2012 by Jared Grubbs Aaron Brennan is quickly becoming one of the hottest names in Indiana for the 2014 class. The junior to be had a breakout campaign, averaging over 17 points, 7 rebounds, and almost 2.5 blocks blocks a game while leading Guerin Catholic to the Indiana 3A state championship. “The feeling of winning a state championship is incredible, there is no other feeling,” Brennan describes. “All the work you put in the off season finally pays off in the end. Aaron is viewed as a power forward but he hardly restricts himself to the post. Coaches have begun to take notice of all his hard work. Aaron hasn’t been able to talk to the Butler coaching staff as much as he would like due to NCAA restrictions (coaches can’t directly call recruits until June 15th after their sophomore season), but coming from a family of Butler fans, he is no stranger to the Butler program.
The Future of Money: It’s Flexible, Frictionless and (Almost) Free | Magazine Cash in the clouds—neither paper nor plastic.Illustration: Aegir Hallmundur; Benjamin Franklin: Corbis A simple typo gave Michael Ivey the idea for his company. One day in the fall of 2008, Ivey’s wife, using her pink RAZR phone, sent him a note via Twitter. But instead of typing the letter d at the beginning of the tweet — which would have sent the note as a direct message, a private note just for Ivey — she hit p. It could have been an embarrassing snafu, but instead it sparked a brainstorm. That’s how you should pay people, Ivey publicly replied. Money Over Time A brief history of currency technology. —Bryan Gardiner 9000 BC: Cows The rise of agriculture made commodities like cattle and grain ideal proto-currencies: Since everyone knew what a heifer or a bushel was worth, the system was more efficient than barter. Just a decade ago, the idea of moving money that quickly and cheaply would have been ridiculous. Ivey got around that problem by using PayPal.
Some ditch social networks to reclaim time, privacy By Marco R. della Cava, USA TODAY Facebook reports that it has 400 million active users worldwide. Make that 399,999,999. Laura LeNoir is done. "I feel better, I feel lighter, I got my privacy back," says LeNoir, 42, an office manager at an educational software company in Birmingham, Ala., who logged off a few weeks ago. "People say, 'You'll be back.' As the social networking train gathers momentum, some riders are getting off. Their reasons run the gamut from being besieged by online "friends" who aren't really friends to lingering concerns over where their messages and photos might materialize. "When I first closed my Facebook account, I felt disconnected from the world and missed the constant updates," says Leanna Fry, 32, of Provo, Utah, who is teaching English in Erzurum, Turkey. Even super-connected celebrities are bolting. Lucca, Italy-based Seppukoo helped 20,000 people erase themselves from Facebook after the site launched last fall. Facebook is not amused. Ah, that word again.
Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: The Fundamental Limits of Privacy For Social Networks Recommendation engines are among the hottest properties on the web. These sites make make recommendations by mining the pattern of links that crop up in social networks. Facebook recommends new contacts based on the pattern of connections between existing users, Amazon recommends books and other products based on purchase histories and Netflix recommends movies based historical ratings. To be sure, these sites produce useful results for users which can dramatically increase sales for a merchant. But they can also compromise privacy. For example, a social network recommendation might reveal that one person has been in email contact with another or that an individual has bought a certain product or watched a specific film. In fact there’s a long history of privacy controversies associated with social networks. That’s quite a task given that there are various different approaches to making recommendations. That’s a potentially explosive result.
Huge LinkedIn Revamp Puts It Into Direct Competition With Facebook And Twitter The Oscars of Twitter: Shorty Awards to Honor Creators of Short-Form, Real-Time Content Last year, SawHorse Media, a Twitter aggregator that pioneered the concept of lists, put together the Shorty Awards. This contest and ceremony was intended to "honor the best producers of short, real-time content." The first show was such a success that SawHorse is currently producing a second event. Like the Webbies, the Streamys and other award shows for online content, this event will recognize the geeky heroes we probably follow more than we do real-world celebrities - the ones who make us laugh, think and act. Voting is now open in 27 categories; read on to see who's making the grade. Categories range in scope from serious topics such as government, health and politics and to lighter fare such as music, culture, celebrities and humor. The awards are given based on each content creator's whole Twitter oeuvre, not just a single tweet. Last year's special guests included MC Hammer and Gary Vaynerchuk.
How To Incorporate Your Audience's Twitter Use Into Your Next Presentation During your next presentation, odds are that some members of your audience are going to be broadcasting their commentary via Twitter. Don't just ignore this trend -- use it to your benefit. In an article for BusinessWeek, communications skills coach Carmine Gallo outlines some ways to incorporate Twitter into your presentations, taken from consultant Cliff Atkinson's new book, The Backchannel. These innovative strategies can help you engage your audience better, as well as give you a unique opportunity to tailor your presentation to their needs. Some suggestions: For details, read the article at BusinessWeek >