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Clear, the company known for giving their clients a free pass through security lines at airports, abruptly closed its doors on Monday.

Founded by journalist Steven Brill, Clear allowed members to skip long security lines for just 200$ a year. Of course this luxury was given to travelers for the mere exchange of all their vital information, including social security number, credit card, fingerprints and even an iris scan. Now that the company is no more, members are left to wonder about where this information is now being kept and by whom.

Clear has stated that it will attempt to sell their 250,000 members sensitive info to another company offering such fast lanes, but the duration of this window has not been specified. Is it worth 200$ a year to have such vital information on the market? Clear claims the information is in safe hands, but peace of mind is something I could never put a price on.

In our modern day and age of technology and media it has become common to gage the level of importance of an incident by the amount of internet traffic that it produces. Last Thursday, after the two popular media icons passed away, Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, cyberspace search engines and social networking sites were flooded with hits. Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times pointed out:

When Jackson’s death was first reported, traffic across the Internet spiked to virtually unprecedented levels. Google’s search engine slowed to a crawl; Yahoo reported “one of the biggest things” in its history; social networks Twitter and Facebook nearly collapsed under the weight of traffic. This newspaper experienced 12 million page views at its website, apparently because it was widely credited with confirming the death.      

Despite any criticism MJ may have received throughout his life, it was fairly obvious that his death provoked a whirlwind of reminiscent comments and photographs posted throughout cyberspace. Without him, pop culture will never be the same and his fans and enemies alike have acknowledged this.      ___________________________________________________________________________________ 

I was shown this video the other day, it is a commercial for AARP, formerly the American Association for Retired Persons. It is an inspirational clip as well as an ad and I thought that the message and the way that it was displayed were both very empowering: 

The highly anticipated I-phone 3G S’s secret is out. Apple has deliberately refused to release information regarding the chips inside the new phone, but due to a miscue, T-Mobile in the Netherlands has made it public. Apple shouldn’t panic though. As soon as it was released, someone would tear it up, and the secret would have been let out anyway. This does nothing to change the fact that whatever new technology is released by Apple, countless consumers fall prey to the uncontrollable desire to be hip and millions inevitably follow.

On June 12, the final transition from analog to digital television will be made nation wide. In order to enable the switch, the government has asked all analog television owners to purchase converter boxes at the reasonable price of 80$. Coupons have even been made available to cut the price by half. However, there is still a percentage of Americans (2.8%) unprepared for the switch taking place tomorrow. Should we be concerned for them? With the average American watching just under 4 hours of television per day, we need not worry, the stragglers will come around soon enough.

New LA based ‘restaurant’, Kogi, uses Twitter to alert consumers where the Kogi bus can be found.  

            There seems to be a million and one apps for iPhone users to download. Soon these people will be able to measure  glucose levels and monitor blood pressure right from their phone. Apple will be releasing a new version of the phone which allows its user to use external applications. See Full Story._______________________________________________________________________________

We recycle, we monitor our shower time, we carry our own reusable bags to the supermarket. Homes and swanky hotels are becoming more environmentally conscious. Energy-wasting electricity is being swiftly replaced in favor of solar power. The hot topic around the world is a lovely shade of green.  In another effort to encourage green-ward thinking, Giftzip.com has surfaced for your shopping convenience. Inspired by creator Sam Hogg, the start-up site out of East Lansing, Michigan, is urging shoppers to can plastic gift cards by promoting greener gift-giving, and they have just the solution: e-gift cards. The site is sponsored by most major retailers that offer gift cards to their shoppers, everything from Disney to Neiman Marcus. Don’t know what you’re looking for? Narrow your search down by category: Him, Her, House, Apparel, Gourmet, Family, and Unique. From there, you have the option of browsing all the retailers advertised, and, upon clicking, Giftzip will redirect you straight to the retailer’s official website.  Handy, or just another testament to our society’s increasingly lazy attitude? With GPS, Widgets, iPhones and quick links at our disposal, could Giftzip be just another shortcut, an excuse for time-saving that hides behind the power of Green? It’s possible. With Giftzip, there exists more opportunities for retailers to advertise, and the site will generate a decline in the purchase of plastic gift cards. Slowly but surely, Giftzip will contribute Mother Nature’s cause. 

Wikipedia is the most frequented website on the net for popular subject searches. Hard to believe based on the fact that pretty much anyone can write anything about any subject and it will most likely be published. However, recently Wikipedia decided to strike back against a series of entries authored by scientologists attempting to manipulate information regarding their religion. These authors have been banned by the site’s arbitration council in a 10-1 vote, overturning some vital wikiprinciples in the process. But will this ruling work in their favor? Or will this merely encourage others to continue in the scientologist’s footsteps, in a fight against censorship? http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/05/wikipedia-bans-church-of-scientology /Users/gabrielr/Desktop/wikipedia-logo-en-big-244×300.png 

Advertising agencies are producing astounding work nowadays from agencies based in remote locations outside of Manhattan, New York. For example, Greenwich, CT or Glendale, CA or Charlotte, NC. BooneOakley has produced this YouTube video to reflect their trademark satiric advertising strategies and simultaneously explain their purpose and uniqueness within the vast industry:  

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Furthermore, their entire homepage is crafted upon a series of explanatory YouTube videos. 
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