Some believe that this “Hyperwords” Firefox plug-in could change the way people browse, discover and aggregate information. Currently when one reads text online only certain words are hyperlinked for more information. But with the Hyperwords plug-in, every word becomes a hotlink, thus creating an even more immersive web experience. Users can highlight a word and choose from options to search, seek references, translate, shop, even map.

For a demo (in firefox, if you dont have firefox and are for some odd reason using IE go puke on yourself) click here: http://www.easierweb.info

To watch a demo click play on this nifty video;

The word on the street is this: Google is going to start “ranking” social networking users according to how influential they are. The most influential users on a social network, as determined by a predetermined equation, something such as # of friends x logins x posts a day x how many people read your posts will be strategically chosen to display google adwords on their profiles.

This is happening, and is true. Google recently applied for a patent on the technology and given their track record with discovering ingenious ways on how to monetize online advertising - it only seems fitting this a step forward with their heavy user-targeted-ad-buy-relevant-content-to-everyone strategy…..or something like that.

In a nutshell the web giant will apply this technology to rank search results on certain online personalities in an attempt to sell advertising on their respective profiles.

Patent application documents published this year show the company has devised a system to “rank” users of social networking sites depending on how influential they are.

Users would be given a rating based on how many people visited their profile, how many friends they had, how active they were, which groups they were a member of and so on.

The most popular users in a community, dubbed “influencers” by Google, would then be singled out to have advertisements displayed on their profile.

“The number of advertisements displayed on a profile depends on the rank of the member within the community,” reads one example of how the system would work.

A spokesperson for Google played down the application and said the company filed plans for many ideas but did not act on all of them.

“We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don’t,” said Google Australia spokesman Rob Shilkin.

“Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications.”

The patent application was revealed in July after being kept under wraps for 18 months in line with the US Patent and Trademark Office’s pre-grant publication rules.

The office has published 69 applications for patents filed by Google so far this year, containing ideas ranging from smart billboards that could display products available in nearby stores to floating data centres that draw power from waves.

The 15-page document on social networking ranking details a series of methods to determine a user’s influence that go beyond simply counting how many friends they have.

For example, a user who acted as a conduit between different groups of people would be ranked higher than one who had more friends belonging to just one circle.

“Factors such as member interactions, content on member profiles, dynamically changing size of the community and the like establish a hierarchy within a community where certain members are more popular than others and, consequently, wield enhanced influence over other members,” the application says.

The application also mentions the possibility of using PageRank, the system Google uses to rank search results, to determine the influence of each user in a community.

If adopted, the system could give Google an edge over rival Microsoft in controlling advertising on social networking sites.

Microsoft currently has a deal to provide ads for market leader Facebook, in which it owns a small stake, while Google has a partnership with MySpace.”

Another one of my favorite gangster films stars one of the most intense working actors to date. Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) exploded onto the scene as Kelly, a young poor paperboy who’s outrage over media moguls William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer makes for a sticky situation in the groundbreaking piece NEWSIES. I found myself reciting lines from that one for weeks.

And best of all, the best of the best, and what I think is the most influential gangster film of all time, HOODRATS 2: HOODRAT WARRIORS. The Hoodrats series is the existential gangster film that takes story telling from the streets to the next level. If you haven’t had the privilege to view this landmark film, I suggest you gather your friends for a viewing party. It will change your life.

And now Stacy Peralta has given his take on gangster life with his new film “Crips and Bloods: Made In America”. In all honesty though, this film looks really good. This isn’t a subject matter you would expect Stacy Peralta to tackle but it seems to me he has created something very special here. Check out the trailer here.

Now the Catholic Church and others are calling this a desperate attempt to sell magazines. I don’t find this desperate though, I find it to be a regular marketing ploy. Businesses use all of our holidays to sell their products. I guess my thing is, if you don’t like what they are doing, don’t buy it. Fact is they are doing nothing illegal and Hugh Hefner is The Man. Period. 

On a different note about old Hugh, he shipped out his 3 tramps and moved in two knockout twins… Who I imagine are also tramps, God he is the man.

Look, I agree that the system may be flawed with all of these computer rankings and this ridiculous equation that makes the BCS tick, but I also think that our Justice Department is better served looking out for our interests elsewhere. Remember last time that Congress got involved… Last years Baseball Steroids fiasco… nothing came of that either. Plus at least with that everyone knew that Steroids are illegal to take no matter what. Here they are talking about a system agreed upon by everyone in 1998. College Football will fix this in due time, Congress needs to stick to fixing our economy and that little 7 year war that we have been involved in. I am personally ashamed of these Congressmen for abusing their power like this.

Barry Cooper, a former Texas police officer with eight years of specialty in drug interdiction, first made waves when he released the film “Never Get Busted Again,” a how-to guide for evading police drug seizures.

Austin, Texas-based Cooper’s latest project is not nearly so benign, and will likely generate for the former drug warrior an army of enemies in law enforcement.

‘KopBusters’ is a reality TV program that aims to sink crooked officers.

“KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana,” claims a release from NeverGetBusted.com “When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.”

“The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster’s attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster’s secret mobile office nearby.

“The attorney was handcuffed and later released when eleven KopBuster detectives arrived with the media in tow to question the illegal raid. The police refused to give KopBusters the search warrant affidavit which is suspected to contain the lies regarding the probable cause.

“It is not illegal to grow plants under a light in your home but it is illegal to lie on an affidavit and plant drugs on a citizen. This operation was the first of its kind in the history of America. Police sometimes have other police investigating their crimes but the American court system has never dealt with a group of citizens stinging the police. Will the police file charges on the team who took down the corrupt cops? We will keep you posted.”

Cooper’s “Never Get Busted Again” was a runaway success, the sales of which serve as financial support for this most recent project.

“The drug war is a failed policy and the legal side effects on the families are worse than the drugs,” Cooper said to the Dallas Observer in early 2007. “I was so wrong in the things I did back then. I ruined lives.”

The ‘Kop Busters’ sting was the feature of a CBS 7 report, aired Dec. 4, 2008.