Citing problems with brand recognition and logo “flexibility”, MTV General Manager Stephen Friedman says the re-design is “an updating that speaks to audience[s] in a much simpler, bolder way.”

For more on this story, check Advertising Age.

The ads are invisible to the common viewer, who wouldn’t think of accessing what is essentially the guts of the sites. However, those who access source-code for design and research purposes will most certainly be affected when, instead of instead of formulaic code, they will see these beautifully demonic, neon green images.

Assuming people who look at source code are drawn to epic, first-person RPGs, EA carefully drops a URL with which can only be accessed by finding secret codes hidden in other websites.

Found on AdFreak.

This year’s festivities were particularly interesting. With many big names opting out of “The Big Game” — instead choosing to save a few [million] dollars — we saw a few brands seemingly dominate the airwaves, namely Bud Light and Doritos.

Creatives and clients wanting to gauge the success of their creations needn’t look further than Twitter, where a clusterf*ck of real-time opinions, hash tags, retweets and fail whales peppered the digital realm with honest and often hilarious insights from everyday people.

So, without further ado, Slayterbox1748 presents to you our Top 5 Super Bowl XLIV Ads (in no particular order, courtesy of Hulu AdZone):

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Citing a study claiming “67 per cent of women regularly check their boyfriends’ phones,” Norwegian digibros Jorgnsn made it so your most… privileged information remains safe. And for only 99 cents.

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Microsoft has issued a response, stating that the Germans — the country responsible for the initial recommendation to stop using their popular web browser — had “over-reacted about the threat posed by the vulnerability, and that general users were not at risk.”

However, while the French and German responses certainly don’t fare well for Microsoft’s increasingly dwindling share of the web browsing market, Graham Cluley, a senior security advisor at Sophos, says: “Every browser has its security issues, so switching may remove this current risk but could expose you to another.”

For more information on this topic, check out Telegraph.

Hip-hop heads and Denisonians alike have something to look forward to on Friday, January 22^nd, as Hiptics.com Presents: Wiz Khalifa x EbGb x D. Julien, live at The Roost.

The show is FREE and starts @ 8PM. For more information, check Hiptics or WBUB.

Reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World, 2084 serves as the author’s critique of unrestrained free market capitalism, investigating “a corporate-controlled America and its culture’s mindset in a year deep into the 21st century.”

2084 is a world run and employed by a single mega corporation, whose reach extends into the very brains of the population, tapping into their fantasies and their base drives at the expense of everyone and everything around them. This technically controlled society is opposed only by the shrinking members of a free-thinking humanity.

While Combe, a Professor of English, has authored several books and articles, including A Martyr for Sin: Rochester’s Critique of Polity, Sexuality, and Society, Theorizing Satire: Essays on Literary Criticism, his latest literary creation embodies his “lifelong interest in the power and place of satire in literature.”

For more on 2084, check out Evelyn Frolking’s article on Newark Advocate, or buy it online at Amazon.

Upon tweeting this message to his 1.4 million followers, Wyclef Jean  ignited the largest text-based fundraising effort in history just hours after news of Haitian devastation  hit the US:

“Please text ‘Yéle’ to 501501 to donate $5 to Yéle Haiti. Your money will help with relief efforts. They need our help.”

But Yéle Haiti and American Red Cross are just two of the thousands who are harnessing the power of social networking to lend aid to the victims rocked by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti just days ago.

For more on how social networking websites and applications have been essential in raising awareness, and information on how you can get in on the action, check out Anita Hamilton’s article in Time Magazine.

Regardless, Google has undoubtedly changed the world. And in their latest debacle with the Chinese, the bandwidth behemoth is making a convincing argument that they’ve brought us together for better, and not for worse.

When Google decided to enter the Chinese market a few years ago, they complied with controversial censorship rules and moved into murky waters. While Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are respected for letting their creation simply “do its thing,” the decision to allow mass censorship suddenly brought their pious, arms-length stance into question. Suddenly, Google’s omniscience became overtly political, entering an ethical gray area.

Now, with a 15-20% share in the Chinese search market, perhaps the largest emerging market in the world, Google has made what could be one of the digital era’s most profound moves — by challenging China’s strict censorship policies and threatening to leave the country entirely.

So while the entire world stood more or less powerless in the face of Chinese censorship, Google comes along and challenges the world’s biggest nation. And with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton weighing in on the issue, could Google’s ultimatum be bringing us one step closer digital warfare?

AdAges’s Henry Blodget reminds us that Google isn’t playing a game of Socio-Political Chinese Checkers — it’s just good business:

Google has played the overall China situation maturely and brilliantly. It has not been evil. It has balanced the interests of its shareholders, employees, and, importantly, Chinese people. It has also done the most it can to address an appalling and ridiculous injustice in the world’s most populous country.

For more on this story, check out AdAge.

By essentially re-branding the veil as the signifier of an undesirable class, Ataturk managed to change the garment’s perception, and in turn the identity of an entire nation.

The decision to re-brand veils may have been only a small measure in Ataturk’s valiant march towards modernization. Nonetheless, the effect begs the question, “how many problems in life can be solved…by tinkering with perception?” At the July 2009 TED Talk in Oxford, England, Ogilvy Group Vice Chairman Rory Sutherland addresses what Ataturk realized over a century ago. One, that all value is actually relative, and that all value is perceived value. The second: persuasion is often better than compulsion.

For more on the value of perception, be sure to check Sutherland’s TED Talk, and read his blog on Brand Republic.

Whether you’re a fan of Jay or not, anyone interested in design should definitely check this video. Previously on District Fresh.

The folks at College Humor were kind enough to craft a handy compilation of the 22 most awesomely terrible local ads. <link>.

While many of the ads are downright awful, a few (including a familiar Super Bowl spot) are absolute gems. For instance, I find the commercial for Fred and Sharon’s Movies to be painful, but enjoy the ruthless Cash 4 Gold spot. The AFSCME commercial is “friggin’ hilarious” as well.

Many of these are ads entertaining, but nothing is more so than the advertisements between the advertisements. While College Humor is the web’s #1 comedy site, the idea of a company paying for advertising on a compilation like this seems cannibalistic. Oh well.

In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Bush and his government were given unequivocal free reign to launch the “war on terror”. In so doing they proposed a number of constitutional reforms which subsequently were passed without much retaliation.

In 2005, Bush passed a spy program allowing the surveillance of all American’s electronic communication without warrants or congressional authorization. Almost five years later, a lawsuit brought on by two American lawyers representing a now defunct Saudi charity has brought this issue to the feet of U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker.

Now that this case is garnering national attention, it may become the first step in preventing future U.S. Presidents from adopting other ‘Terror Surveillance Programs’. One more small step in reacquiring our constitutional rights as Americans.

In today’s world the average first world person is constantly bombarded with the threatening reality that identity theft could happen to them. We are told to be extra careful when disclosing any sensitive information to other parties, and if we follow all the right precautionary steps, we will avoid being just another horrific statistic. However, just when you thought you were safe, it turns out you really aren’t.

A recent study conducted by computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University, has concluded that by analyzing the SSN’s of the deceased, the living’s sacred 9 digit code is now highly predictable. Analyzing a public data set called the “Death Master File” can enable hackers and criminals to see birth information and SSN’s of people who have died, and thereby deduce by using complex patterns, living persons actual Social Security Numbers with a high degree of accuracy.

Oh, and if you’re a younger reader and think you may be safe because of all this talk about dead people, think again.

Before 1988, many people didn’t apply for SSN’s until after they finished college or got their first job. However, the government ‘wisely’ stepped in, and came up with the “Enumeration At Birth” initiative, allowing parents to apply for their new born children’s numbers right away. Subsequently this allows patterns based on birthdays to be more accurate for hackers and puts all the youngin’s at higher risk.

The answer to this problem? Continue to be extra safe with your vital information, and hope that with this new study, the government will step in a second time and prohibit companies from verifying identities with the disclosure of ssn’s.

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.

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.      ___________________________________________________________________________________