Well... Google is here to help, as always:
Not really. It's a prank. From the LA Times:
Links to a bogus website called Google Xistence (ed: Google has flagged this link as a phishing site, see below) have been making the rounds today. The tagline: "Life is hard. Let Google live it for you."
The site resembles a Google product page, complete with YouTube instructional video, and purports to let users plug in their Facebook, Twitter and blog log-in credentials. The service supposedly lets Google live your social life for you -- so you can "play World of Warcraft or Tower Defense."
A Google spokesman confirmed what we had already suspected. "Google is not affiliated in any way with that site," he wrote in an e-mail.
The prankster behind Xistence, Philipp Drössler, didn't run with the hoax for very long. He immediately tweeted a link on the bogus @googlabs account he set up pointing to The Next Web's blog post titled "Google Xistence: We wish it was real."
But Google gave him a metaphorical slap in the face by listing the site on its practically ubiquitous phishing list. The second- and third-most-popular browsers, Firefox and Chrome, ping Google's list when users navigate to a Web page.About the highlighted bits: that it did. And I'm just paranoid enough to not tempt fate when it comes to malicious sites, so I didn't open the Xistence page link to see what all the brouhaha was about. But I think the prank's concept is both funny and indicative of the times. I'm sure there's a study somewhere that shows how much time we all spend on Facebook, Twitter, and the blogs... either our own or those of others. Or there should be if there isn't.
That could be my life. I'm trying to wean myself away...
ReplyDeleteBuck, have I just missed out on all modern life? I do have a face book account, but hardly use it. What is the point, other than providing a database to snoop on old acquaintances and flames?
ReplyDeleteThere is a nom da guerre employed on my facebook...
We all need to go out and play, sometimes. Not healthy to stay indoors all the time.
As for twitter, I ain't even going there. Twitter might make me seem normal.
w/v; Skinfem. Cool.
Lou: Don't fight The Power. ;-)
ReplyDeleteDarryl: I gave Facebook a shot but quit after three months or so. I think I might have missed the point. As for Twitter... I'm a passive user for the most part, following hockey bloggers and a few politcos. Twitter IS very useful when something happens and you want real-time updates. E.g., the post-election Iran situation, Haiti earthquake.
I guess your experience mirrors mine. Your reason for twitter makes sense.
ReplyDeleteA friend in Ozzy thinks that Facebook and Twitter are used by governments to harvest and gather personal information, ie; Face Recognition for surveillance cameras. Makes sense, too.
Your friend in Oz makes sense, Darryl. One can never be too paranoid these days. ;-)
ReplyDelete