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One of Joan Rivers favorite charities, God’s Love We Deliver, helps people in NYC who are living with HIV/AIDS and cancer. We prepared nutritious meals and delivered them across the city and we lifecasted along the way!

Music by Samantha James
Photos by Marla Shulman

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For the exclusive promo of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, MTV invited me to Los Angeles for the MTV movie awards. I went dressed as Optimus Prime and got to walk the red carpet in search of Shia Labeouf. This was one of the only events where I was invited as a special guest and not as press so I wasn’t able to get any footage on the red carpet, but you’ve probably seen that already so I thought I’d post this anyway. I know that if I had meet Shia Labeouf or Megan Fox they would have come back to New York with me on Virgin America. Well, maybe not, but the would have definitely gotten a kick out of the Transformers gear.

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This week, Pop17 highlights today’s 11th anniversary of United States v. Microsoft, when MS was accused of alleged monopolistic business practices. We felt it was important to remind everyone of this landmark event as the decision paved the way for many of the applications and interfaces most of us take for granted! Imagine YOUR online experience without third party programming and apps!

Eleven years may seem and feel like ancient times in the ever-changing world of online and social media, but given the current tech and legal events developing in Europe, it appears that the case and its precedents are as resonant and relevant as ever. Over the past week and right after this episode was written and shot, reports came out that the EU is fining Intel over 1.4 billion dollars for similar alleged practices! But they aren’t stopping there, as it looks like the EU has Google in its sights as well! While we wouldn’t necessarily call this a warm celebration of the anniversary, it certainly looks as though the EU is paying homage and showing respect in its own way! Could the EU v. Intel case be the US v. Microsoft for the next web generation??

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I’ve had a few friendly feuds about what it means to be viral. Faris Yakob says, “as the viral / spreadable discussion continues, it is important to remember that how you think about something does matter, because the metaphors we use can change how we approach things.” Meme videos spread because we decide to share them with our friends. They’re “viral,” but not the “cold” kind. Or worse, like Swine flu.

Their views depend on our ability to communicate and engage each other with the content online. In today’s episode I go over the three best websites to track viral and meme videos: Visible Measures, Know Your Meme and Dipity.

An expanded list of meme examples of the most viewed videos from Visible Measures:
1. Soulja Boy: Crank That
2. Twilight
3. Mariah Carey: Touch My Body
4. Jeff Dunham: Achmed the Dead Terrorist
5. Susan Boyle (Britain’s Got Talent)
6. Leona Lewis: Bleeding Love
7. Avril Lavigne: Girlfriend
8. Chris Brown: With You
9. The Dark Knight
10. Alicia Keys: No One
11. Evolution of Dance
12. Miley Cyrus: 7 Things
13. Charlie Bit My Finger… Again
14. Rihanna: Please Don’t Stop the Music
15. Paul Potts (Britain’s Got Talent)
16. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
17. Lezberado: Revenge Fantasies
18. Hannah Montana: The Movie

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At SXSW, this year, I interviewed Jeremiah Owyang about Social Media and his predictions for this space. I pulled this from my hard drive to share today because it helps validate the future of our podcasting community.
Music by Podingtonbear
Photos by Jeremiah

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We went to the launch party for the new T-mobile Sidekick LX, which is hitting stores in a couple weeks. And guess what? I’m giving one away!

If you’d like to win one, link to this post in a blog, tweet, video or comment and send me a link to your entry. If you tweet, add the tag #sarahaustin and say why you want a Sidekick LX – don’t forget to leave a link to your entry.
Good luck!

Natasha Wescoat is an analog artist setting a distribution trend in the merchandise business. Her whimsical pieces of art have generated micro fame online. She sells her paintings by leveraging her social networks to pay the bills. We’re lucky to come out of the pillow fight in NYC a couple weeks ago alive. No one slammed us in the face!

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Nielsen reports that Twitter is today’s fastest growing social network. The Hollywood stars of Twitter unite as they talk, @reply and update us with their most immediate thoughts. Cool. So why would successful celebrities need to talk to their friends and fans online? They don’t need to, they want to because now good PR is up to them. They can refute rumors and break news all by themselves! For example, Demi More, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Aniston, John Mayer and Britney Spears are all on twitter. They are finding ways to use their status to advertise and make money. John Mayer is actually endorsing products like Campbell’s soup on his Twitter feed. As the commercial demand shifts to digital there will be a new breed of star Twitter feeds.