Ex-employee reveals Facebook's dark, sexist side

Facebook developed an experimental feature called "Dark Profiles" which would give secret accounts to people who did not even sign up, a new book by a former employee of the social networking site has claimed.

Engineers wanted to create shadow pages for those who were tagged in photos by their friends in the hope they would cave-in and join the social networking website, Katherine Losse, the author of 'The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network', said.

Nobody at Facebook "even flinched" when staff raised this disturbing new twist as they were so blinded by their mission to take over the world.

The book also claimed that in 2007 Facebook technicians worked on a programme called "Judgebox", which would let users compare and rate women in echoes of founder Mark Zuckerberg's sexist "Facemash" app he developed at Harvard.

It confirms for the first time that Facebook staff have a programme called "Facebook Stalker" which lets them track who has been visiting their profiles, the Daily Mail reported. And in the early days of the social networking website, employees were given the 'master' password with no security checks at all and allowed to do as they pleased.

These claims have been made in the new book by Losse who worked for Facebook between 2005 and 2010 and worked her way up from customer relations to be the speechwriter for its founder Mark Zuckerberg.

She claimed that in Autumn 2006 everyone at the company was "so convinced that Facebook was something that everyone should have that when the product team created an experimental feature called dark profiles in 2006, nobody even flinched". People can be tagged in Facebook photos even if they do not have a profile, and the idea was to create a 'dark' version which could apparently be activated if they finally signed up.

"It reminds me now of the way members of the Mormon church convert dead people, following the logic that if they had know about Mormonism when they were alive they would have been believers," Losse wrote.

The claims come at a difficult time for Facebook, it recently sparked yet another backlash after being caught out trying to force its 900 million users to adopt its own email service. It was accused of 'hijacking' users' contact details and deleting their personal email addresses without asking them first.

Chevrolet launches updated Captiva in India

Chevrolet has launched a revised version of their SUV, the Captiva in India. The Captiva now has a new 2.2-litre engine producing 186.5PS of power and 424Nm of torque.
This engine is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission. The company has priced the new Captiva at a base price of Rs 18.74 lakh.
The updated Captiva has a massive grille divided by the Chevy bowtie, new design headlamps and wing mirrors as part of its styling update.

The muscular wheel arches are flanked by 235/R17 tyres. Inside, the Captiva gets leather interiors, sunroof, HVAC for the third row and eight-way power adjustable driver seat.
On the safety front, the Captiva 2.2 AT has seat belt pretensioners with height adjust and six airbags.
GM will be continuing with the old 2.0-litre engine as well. The Captiva will now have three trim levels and their prices ex-Delhi are as given below.
- Captiva 2.0 MT: Rs 18.74 lakh
- Captiva 2.0 Xtreme: Rs 19.48 lakh
- Captiva 2.2 AT AWD: Rs 24.59 lakh

 

Porn stars will parade at India Gate, courtesy Ekta Kapoor: KRK

We all know for a fact that Kamaal R Khan has a habit of taking a dig at almost everyone in news. And the man certainly doesn’t know how to tame his language!

As always, he took to Twitter to express his take on the kind of films Mahesh Bhatt and Ekta Kapoor have been producing off late.

He tweeted, “Ekta kapoor ji shud get honor of dirtiest lady in India who maks dirtiest hit films like Raginimms dirty picture n now #kayasupercoolhainhum(sic).”

Explaining more about what Ekta is doing to promote sex, KRK wrote, “Ekta kapoor has promised to herself ki woh sex Hindustan ke ghar ghar tak pahunchakar hi rahengi so #kayasupercoolhainhum will be super hit(sic).” And added, “If Mahesh bhatt president n Ekta kapoor is PM of india then every morning 1000 of porn stars like sunny leone will do parade at india gate(sic).”

So is KRK jealous of Ekta or Sunny Leone’s growing popularity in India?

Only KRK can answer or perhaps tweet about that.

Sohail Khan car accident case: Father Salim breaks his silence

This Khan family of Bollywood is known for being a cohesive unit and its members have always stood by each other through thick and thin. They have been subject to severe controversies in the past and are now in the news for the death of a 70 year old destitute. And the head of the parivar, Salim (father of Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail) has broken his silence on the whole event.

Apparently, Chandan Bala, the woman who was crushed to death by Sohail Khan’s car was known to the Khan family. Salim’s wife Salma would often help the homeless with money.

Salim is of the opinion that the media is blowing things out of proportion and not being just in their approach. Though the family has promised to take care of Chandra Bala’s last rights expenses, they feel they are being targeted because of their celebrity status.

Talking to a leading daily, Salim said, “It was an accident and I don`t understand why the media is raising speculation. They need to be fair and objective in their jobs. Recently, three young boys aged between 17-20, died at Juhu beach, why isn`t the media focusing on them today? Unka koi zikr nahi hai.... Why are they highlighting this story so much?”

The Khan family has maintained that Sohail was not in the car when the accident happened. His driver Dhananjay Pimple had surrendered to the Police and was released on bail eventually.

Khan also added, “It`s sad but I wonder why such accidents, where celebrities are involved, are given prominence each time? Everyone should be treated equally and you have to deal with every case according to the law. Your job as part of the media, is to report, not give opinions. I haven`t once commented on Salman`s case. I have full faith in the law and I know it will take its own course.”

I have a split personality: Veena Malik

Pakistani model-turned-actress Veena Malik, who was born as Zahida, says that she has a dual personality in real life.

"I have a split personality. Veena Malik was born when I was 10 years old. Zahida Malik`s personality is very elusive, quite. She would sit in the corner and cry all the time. She falls in love very easily. She wants to stick to one person. She has no interest in cameras and lights. She is a very simple person," Veena told reporters.

"Veena is a very different person. I have pulled Zahida out of wrong relationship. Veena is a brave person. She hardly cries. She is a very strong person. I am so thankful to my studies like psychology that helped me understand myself. I am two people at one," she added.

Veena played a double role in her debut Bollywood film ‘Daal Mein Kuch Kaala Hai’ released Friday.

Gear up for the uncensored version of Sunny Leone's ‘Jism 2’

This was certainly coming. Pooja Bhatt’s much hyped project, ‘Jism 2’ starring adult film actress Sunny Leone has not been received well by the Censor Board.
The director took to Twitter to vent out her angst against the Board’s suggestion to cut down on the sleaze quotient from the film’s promo to be aired on television.

She wrote, “First music promo for #Jism2 has been given an `A` certificate. And this was what one could call a truly watered down version(sic).”

Pooja’s tweets clearly show that she is mighty peeved with the Censor Board.

She added, “So the deal is this-You can`t buy spots on TV for a promo with an `A` certificate. Which basically means you can`t publicize your music!(sic).”

An adamant artiste that she is, Pooja refused to budge and decided not to take the Board’s remark seriously.

“So will I pare down the promo of #Jism2 to appease the censors? Or release it on the internet & push forward a more sanitized song on TV?(sic),” she wrote asking her followers but made up her mind not to pay heed to the Board.

She tweeted, “Absolutely REFUSE to pare my scheduled trailer down to pander to an over cautious Censor board. Will release promo on the internet instead(sic).”

Moreover, the lady has decided that she would release the uncensored promo on the internet.

She tweeted, "So we've decided to throw all caution to the winds & go ahead and release our first music promo on June 29'TH as scheduled over the INTERNET(sic)."

"Since we're going the internet way,you'll see an uncensored version! "People who get easily shocked should be shocked more often" Mae West(sic)," she added.

Taxi driver Shanno's date with Aamir Khan!

The Bollywood charmer who has made his way into the hearts of millions with new TV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’, Aamir Khan has proved that when the time comes he can walk the talk. The actor has literally taken up the role of a social crusader as he visited the capital recently to present his research on medical malpractices to a Parliamentary panel. True to his word, Aamir hired the same female cab driver Shanno (featured on his show highlighting the menace of women facing domestic violence) whom he promised he would meet if he comes to Delhi next time for any work.
A superstar without any airs, Aamir reportedly called for Shanno when he reached Delhi and as promised traveled with her all along his way to the Parliament and more. Perhaps the most reachable of all Bollywood star’s, Aamir Khan has even earlier made headlines for going out of his way to be around common people whom he befriends while he’s on his stride.

In April last year, the actor visited Varanasi to attend the wedding of a friend`s son. The friend was Ram Lakhan, an auto driver he met while travelling incognito in Uttar Pradesh, and who went all the way to Mumbai to personally deliver the wedding invitation to the ‘perfectionist’ of Bollywood.