Hasta La Gadget!

It may not be hard to trace, say, Rhea Perlman back to Kevin Bacon, but what about you? If the age-old theory holds water, we should all be no more than six degrees away from cuttin’ Footloose with Hollywood’s bygone golden boy — or anyone else for that matter. Well, Yahoo’s determined to put any six-degree doubts to rest with its Small World Experiment, and what better way to do so than on Facebook? Participating users are given a “target person,” and asked to “get a message to this person in as few steps as possible.” They are then prompted to select a single friend to pass the message on to, who will then be prompted to do the same, and so on. The idea is that if each subsequent recipient of the message continues to send it along, it will eventually reach its desired destination. No word yet on whether or not Mr. Bacon has given his blessing, but you can still sign up at the source link to get in on the action.

Yahoo experiment tests six degrees of separation on Facebook, cries out for Kevin Bacon endorsement originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wondering how you’ll be able to most efficiently brag to far away friends about your new PlayStation Vita? Sony’s got the answer in the form of newly announced apps for its next generation portable. Vita Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter and Skype apps will be landing in the PlayStation Store in Japan before the end of the year. The US and Europe will get their shot at the free apps in early 2012.

Update: It is unclear whether the apps will be available when Vita launches. The above dates are actually for the device itself.

Continue reading PlayStation Vita getting social networking apps, ‘winning’ hashtag making a comeback next year

PlayStation Vita getting social networking apps, ‘winning’ hashtag making a comeback next year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve heard of the Special Victims Unit, but what about the Social Networking Unit? The time has come for criminals dumb enough to boast about their exploits on Facebook and Twitter to pay the proverbial piper. According to NY Daily News, the Big Apple’s newly minted Assistant Commissioner, Kevin O’Connor, will enlist the department’s juvenile justice unit to hunt down ne’er-do-wells on various social networking sites. So remember, even if your friends don’t care about the Cookie Puss you just posted to your Facebook page, somewhere out there someone is watching.

NYPD creates social networking unit to pick perps, not poke them originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook’s facial recognition feature probably won’t find too many smiles in Germany, where federal regulators are challenging the social network to change its ways, or face the consequences. On Tuesday, Hamburg’s Data Protection Authority (DPA) sent a letter to the company, advising it to obtain user permission before harvesting biometric data, as outlined by EU privacy laws that require consumer consent. As it stands right now, users can opt-out of the photo-tagging function by tinkering with their privacy settings, but the DPA claims that’s still too invasive, and has “repeatedly” asked Facebook to shut down the feature altogether. Zuckerberg & Co. now have two weeks to respond to the letter, and could face a fine of up to €300,000 (about $427,000) if a compromise isn’t reached. In a statement, company spokeswoman Tina Kulow said, “We will consider the points the Hamburg Data Protection Authority have made… but firmly reject any claim that we are not meeting our obligations under European Union data protection law.”

Germany challenges Facebook on facial recognition, citing EU privacy laws originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twitter’s a rad place to hang and scope out the latest debt ceiling debate or find out what’s up with Tiger’s ongoing caddy search, but sometimes you just need another place to totally nerd out, you know? A safe haven for rampant geekery — that’s what we strive to make our personal Twitter stream — and we’re here to help you with that.

It’s been awhile since we’ve updated this here list, so we figured… there’s no time like the present. Have a gander below at the Engadget editors toiling hard behind the scenes, and feel free to add ’em if you so desire.

Engadget @engadget
Engadget Mobile @engadgetmobile
Engadget HD @engadgethd
Engadget Spanish @es_engadget
Engadget Germany @de_engadget
Engadget Japan @engadgetjp

Editors
Tim Stevens @Tim_Stevens
Darren Murph @darrenmurph
Donald Melanson @donmelanson
Christopher Trout @Mr_Trout
Richard Lai @richardlai
Sean Cooper @sean_cooper
Kevin Wong @KevinMWong
Ben Drawbaugh @bjdraw
Brian Heater @bheater
Zach Honig @ZachHonig
Michael Gorman @Numeson
Joe Pollicino @akaTRENT
Sean Buckley @seannicus
Joseph Volpe @jrvolpe
Terrence O’Brien @terrenceobrien
Amar Toor @amartoo
Sharif Sakr @shotsheriff
Myriam Joire @tnkgrl
Zachary Lutz @zacharylutz
Brad Molen @phonewisdom
Richard Lawler @rjcc
Dana Wollman @danawollman
Jesse Hicks @jhicks23
Dante Cesa @dantecesa
Billy Steele @wmsteele
Daniel Cooper @danielwcooper
Lydia Leavitt @lydialeavitt

Jon Turi (Intern / all-around know-it-all) @jonturi
Ross Rubin (Senior columnist) @rossrubin
Trent Wolbe (producer of the Engadget podcasts)* @tront
Joshua Fruhlinger (Editorial Director) @fruhlinger

And of course, don’t forget, you can always befriend us on Facebook. We like that, too.

*Views expressed in Trent’s Twitter feed are his own. We repeat: they are his own.

Who should I follow? Engadget editors on Twitter originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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