I was always wondering when this was going to come up... For starters, I am the ONLY person with my name, first and surname combination; in the world(I know, hard to believe but true nonetheless) I have never had a facebook account(and never will), but *yet* for some odd reason there is a faux profile of me(I shit thee not) is listed on it with some odd similarities including but not limited to race, sex, location, and activities that I'm into(again I shit you not). I have seen this profile and it has a picture of some loser getting high or doing whatever the hell he's doing WITH MY NAME. Now let's say for example, that I'm looking for a job and the potential employer does a Facebook search which I believe is SOP these days in the job market and that profile pops up. What then is the chance of me being looked at as suitable candidate?! Or let's say for another example I am contracting and the client wants to do some background research on me(which I feel is reasonable) and then again, THAT SHIT POPS UP All I'm saying is that this "feature" has the potential to do a lot of irreparable, long lasting, "digital" damage(i.e. the wayback machine) to a person that has never, nor has any intent, of being on "The Facebook". Sooo, is the only way I(or anyone else with this problem) can protect myself is to sign-up with a real profile in an attempt to set the digital record straight?! Truthfully, if I never get a job or contract again after a background check I fully and indelibly have no one but Facebook to blame...

I used to work for Microsoft Live search division, and they are referred to as "Google dumps". What I'm not sure about is if they(MS), or the advertiser, generates them as part of my job was to parse them(horrible work)... In any case it still comes down to the advertiser as they are the one's that pay for the keyword, phrase, etc.

From my experience, the best way anyone learns anything at all is by being introduced to some aspect of it that is basic, fun, and practical to that relative interest(s).

Win

The best story is when I worked for Windows Live Search a few years ago. Make a long story(which shouldn't have been long) short, some very big client was trying to run ads in Arkansas, Alaska...As this somehow did not quite compute, I showed my manager the map of United States, an atlas, and even the goddamn encyclopedia brittanica to illustrate that not only is there no town/ city in Alaska named Arkansas but that they were in fact 2 completely different states. I seriously got pulled into a 4hr long conference call to go over where on earth I could have possibly come up with this notion....

/true story
//fired 1 month later
//Bing wins

Well, after working with thus stuff for the past few years, I would have to say Lifesize. All you need is an HD webcam, ideally a static IP or port forwarding/ triggering, minimum 1mb upstream and then your done. Granted, if you want conference room status, and more than 4 locations then you may have to buy a Lifesize room codec(few grand, depends on how big the room is and if you actually VC with 8 parties all the time). I strongly recommend the minimum 1mb part...

How do you think that the african-american/ black Microsoft employees feel? Would they view this as "business as usual" or do you think that they might be offended? I would surely think that the consensus is probably split right down the middle in that context... Personally, I don't think that I would be able to help but feel a bit awkward at this point whether I was white or black(I'm black)but something like this could in fact create a rift in their business culture, because now they may have potentially damaged or tainted at the very least, the foundation of cultural diversity in their company...so at this point the white employees could be burdened with "white guilt" and the black employees will be burdened with the ever prominent sense of passive racism against them. So basically if there wasn't a racial line in that company before, then there surely is now. Way to go MS...