99 problems but the web ain't one !

If we consider the web as a jungle, I swear that the jungle fever it can provoke doesn't sound as good as the one Stevie Wonder was singing about !

So here is my top 10 of the things you need to know

before venturing into this virtual jungle that is the Internet

and if you want to survive in I-land...

1.

This one's for the ladies...

Don't you ever send naked pictures of yourself !

Even if the addressee is your boyfriend, or your husband. Men are men, and they just can't be trusted ! Who knows what they'll do with these pictures the day you leave them for someone hotter and younger. Okay I'm kidding, but seriously, don't send emails with intimate pictures, because your email account could be hacked and God only knows where your pictures might end up !

2.

This one's for the rookies...

Never click on a link that looks suspicious !

That's what I did on Facebook when one of my contacts sent me a video link, and that's also why my computer got a huge virus and my Facebook account is now disabled.

3.

This one's for the lovers...

Stop trying to spy on your ex boyfriend/girlfriend by Googling his/her name !

You won't learn anything, it won't change the fact that this person is your ex and that trying desperately to use the new technologies to know what he or she is doing with his or her life is pathetic ! Be careful about that, it can get pretty addictive !

4.

This one's for the haters...

Stop trying to find embarrassing peaces of information about people you hate !

We all did that once, maybe twice for the evil ones. But writing anonymous comments is even more pathetic than spying on your ex because it starts with bad intention.

5.

This one's for the naive and paranoid people...

Don't believe everything said on Twitter, especially when it's about the death of a celebrity !

Two days ago, my best friend called me to announce me that rap singer Kanye West had just died !You must know that I love Kanye since the day I heard his first single All Falls Down, and that I saw him performing on stage several times, so you can imagine how shocking that information was to me. The first trending topic on Twitter was actually RIP Kanye West ! Thank God, it was just a stupid rumor, but my friend and I got so worried. Especially considering the disturbing video that Kanye had just posted on his blog the day before (what do you guys think about that by the way?). Anyway, love him no matter what !

6.

This one's for the impatients...

Don't bother to create another Facebook account if yours has been disabled !

That's what I did, and it turned out to be nothing but a waste of time. I actually thought that my former account was doomed to stay disabled, so I created another one and took the time to add my friends and to tag some pictures. But three weeks later, the Facebbok Team finally dared to answer my emails and announced me that my account was had been reactivated !

7.

This one's for the Facebook addicts...

Don't only count on Facebook to remind you your friends' birthday !

Last week was my Birthday, and as I didn't have a Facebook account at that moment, a lot of my friends forgot it, how sad ?! No facebook account, no B-Day ! So try to remember the exact date of your friends' birthdays without using Facebook because they might leave the network for a while and experience the same thing as me...

8.

This one's also for the facebook addicts (they're everywhere!)...

Stop refreshing your profile page hoping that something is going to happen !

Do I really need to explain this ? Common, we do it all the time ! When you're home and borred, Facebook seems to be the thing which keeps you connected to the outside, and to your social life. But waiting for someone to come and talk to you on Facebook is as desperate as it is in real life !

9.

This one's for the geeks...

Don't fantasize on people you met on networkings !

It is almost like the lottery: you never know what's coming ! It is easy to seem cool and handsome on photos, but harder in real life...

10.

This one's for everybody

Check every piece of information you find on the Internet !

It is very important to know where the document you're reading comes from, if it was written by journalists or bloggers, professionals or amateurs. That's the danger with sites such as Wikipedia, very useful but that also have the tendency to simplify the information.

So like Jay-Z said it, you may have 99 problems, but the web ain't one now that you checked these 10 rules ! Well he didn't exactly said that but...Let's just say that with this top ten, you'll be the survivor that his wife Beyoncé was talking about !

E-Books and Books...they can cohabit !

Liv, Me, Alone

Mission 3 : Fighting Against A F*****g Virus

Ok, I probably deserve it, as I wrote an article about cybercrime a week ago and tried to freak everyone out, but three days ago and for the very first time of my life, I've been infected ! Let me tell you what happened...

I was innocently checking my Facebook account when I saw this video posted on my wall by one of my contacts. It was late, I was tired and I really wasn't in a suspicious state of mind. So I clicked on the link to see what the video was about, and then...Boom Boom Pow ! A very scary message appeared on my screen saying that I had been infected. From that moment, everything happened so fast...All my contacts started to receive messages from me, which I was obviously not sending, inviting them to watch the same video that had just infected me. I changed my password like ten times, but nothing helped ! My Facebook account has been hacked, or phished, or whatever, bottom line is that it has been so messed up ! But the worst thing is, my entire computer got the virus.

So I spent the last three days trying to make this evil virus go away. It was so bad that I couldn't even connect myself to the Internet. So I had to learn something I didn't know : trying to heal a sick computer. As my anti-virus had expired, I had to download another one, which has been very difficult considering the fact that the Internet wasn't working. Fortunately, a friend of mine help me to install different anti-virus sytems and after hours of perseverance one of them finally kicked the virus's ass : Avira AntiVir Personal, which I recommend you as it's free and efficient. Now I can connect myself to the Internet just in time to write my weekly article. This is Live From Liv !

But the thing is, my Facebook account has been disabled. I'm virtually dead ! I thought that the problem was resolved, but I sent a report to the Facebook Team to let them know that I had been a victim of cybercrime, and instead of helping me, they killed me ! I feel like some kind of creepy outcast who doesn't have a social life anymore. I tried to write to Facebook using different email addresses but nobody answered me, so scandalous !

I really wanted the virus to leave me alone, and it did, but I didn't expected to become Liv, Me, Alone.

Thank God Twitter still loves me !

Get Wavy Baby !

Mission 2 : Looking for some hot stuff

Now that I learned the basics of Twittering, I think it's time for me to move to the next level and to try to look for things I've never heard of, which is kind of hard. How am I supposed to find something if I don't know what I'm searching for...Here I am, facing the dilemma that all the researchers in the world have known. Research is one paradoxical activity, but maybe that is what makes it stimulating. Anyway, the good news is, I just found something really interesting while I was surfing on the net searching for something I didn't know. Still following ?
It is a new project launched by Google called Google Wave described as a personnal communication and collaboration tool. This new service will be a merger of e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networkings. I'm sure it is about to revolutionize collaborative work, even if, to be honest, I don't really understand how. Spelling and grammar checking and automated translation between 40 languages will be included into Google Wave. People will then be able to work together in real time even if they are miles apart, because this new device is gathering an impressive number of tools that became essential to work. I'm glad I learned about this project because I often have group works and it's hard for everyone to be available at the same place, on the same day. With a tool such as Google Wave, I think e-learning has a lot of chances to soar because it is going to get easier and easier to work thanks to the Internet.

The man that knows something knows that he knows nothing at all

When it comes to the Internet, I still consider myself as a rookie...

There are many things I'd like to do but just don't know how. I think it's time for me to deal with that because using and knowing the codes of the Internet is the key to modern communication.

So here I am, challenging myself to learn at least three things that I've always wanted to do on the Internet and that could be useful in my future career or my personal life.

Check it out, this is Live from Liv...

Mission 1 : Twittering

Ok, I know this is lame, but I still haven't got the opportunity to spend time on Twitter and to really understand what this trendy social network was about. I do have an account but I'm not following a lot of people, so people don't follow me back that much !

But now I've got a good reason to be a Twitter addict. Remember when I was telling you about the fact that I was writing articles for Onlygroove.com ? Well, this week, I got the chance to make my very first interview ! The artist I interviewed was Jeremih, a young american R&B singer from Chi City, famous for his very sensual song Birthday Sex. Well I really enjoyed doing this, the artist was totally receptive to my questions and we even got to chat a bit. He asked me if I was on Twitter, so I obviously said I was even though I never use it ! Now, I'd really like to thank him for the interview, but I don't know how to do that...If I'm only updating my status, he won't see it because he's not following me. I need to find a way to directly talk to him. Just going to check his Twitter page, waouh, nice pictures...Anyway, think I just found what I've been looking for : a special application that allows to mention someone in your status so that he will see it !

Thanks for the interview @Jeremih

And that's how the job is done !

I know what you're all thinking...It took her that long to do that ?

Well did I ever tell you I was blond ?

Wow, look at this : @Live_from_Liv No prob. Thanx for havin me. Will be back out here soon !

And ever since Jeremih answered me, people I don't even know are following me including US TV Channel Trace !

Does Twitter rock, or what ?

CMM International

What are the impacts of the Internet on music ?

Here are our specialists trying to figure that out...

Mama's Gun

The "six degrees of separation" is a theory first held by Frigyes Karinthy and detailed by sociologist Stanley Milgram putting forward the fact that human society is a small world characterized by short path lengths.

According to different experiences, Milgram showed that one people is generally linked to antoher by a network of five other persons. For exemple, only five people are separating me from the president. Because I (unfortunately) know someone, who knows someone...who happens to know president Nicolas Sarkozy.

In spite of the controversy that surrounds this theory, I found it interesting to relate it to the Internet and especially with a phenomenon that is spreading faster and faster called cybercrime.

Indeed, social networks seem to rely on Milgram's theory and tend to embody it by inviting people to widen their network of family, friends and colleagues. The whole point of a social network is not only to be linked to people you know, but also to get in touch with people you may or could know. The world is becoming even smaller than what the six degrees of separation was telling us. We are getting to know more and more people thanks to the new technologies.

But is having someone as your Facebook friend or your Twitter follower really knowing that person ?

The answer to that question would be no for at least 50% of my contacts. This phenomenon of virtual friendship leads to very dangerous activities.

Twitter has recently been a victim of phishing, which is a specific form of cybercrime. It means that hackers actually managed to create a very convincing copy of the original Twitter website in order to usurp the identity of its users. As soon as you enter your username and password on this fake website, the hackers are intercepting all these pieces of information and can connect themselves to Twitter from your personal account. Not only the hackers have an access to your personal stuff, but their main goal is to send infected messages to fool your contacts too and create a bug.

But the worst thing about cybercrime is not on the Internet, it is when the crime is no longer virtual and becomes a reality. If you google your own name, you will see how easy it is to get information about who you are, what you do, where you live and so on. Websites like 123people are collecting every piece of information about each person on the Internet and can enable you to learn things you shouldn't know about strangers.

But what if you were that stranger ? What if someone was actually using the Internet to learn about you at this very moment ? Wow ! I'm starting to freak myself out...

But in a nutshell, the line between the virtual world and the real one is not that thick, and cybercrime can have a lot of impacts on reality. Let's all try to control our own image, and be careful not to reveal to much of ourselves on the Web, otherwise, who knows who might knock on your door...

Ok didn't mean to scare the hell out of you !

Bottom line is : stay aware, okay ?