William Shatner Temporarily Removed from Google +

(CBS/What's Trending) - Emmy Award winning "Boston Legal" actor, William Shatner, was apparently booted from Google + temporarily. There has been no actual reason for the fleeting lockout of Shatner from the site, but the only logical reason is administrators thought this Captain Kirk was an imposter.

Shatner took to his Twitter to let fans know that his departure from the site wasn't voluntary or justified. Not too long after his page was restored, but not without a few snips from the actor.

Using several social media platforms is apparently all the rage, as Shatner continued to let his annoyance with Google + be known through his Google + circles saying, "I am back plusers I still do not know what happened but I will refrain from saying hello again for a while just in case. My best, Bill."

But, Shatner's removal from the site should actually a reassurance to users: It shows how tight Google's security is. The new social media site doesn't allow pseudonyms and makes very certain that those on the site are who they say they are on the site, unlike other social networks.

Google + is making a meteoric rise with a reported 10 million registered users according to CEO Larry Page. However, making enemies with celebrities is not a good idea, no matter how well-intentioned the act was. And, the heavy reliance on algorithms -- possibly the same ones that locked Shatner off the site -- could lead to its demise. Click here to read a warning by former MySpace CEO Tom Anderson on TechCrunch about relying too heavily on algorithms.

**UPDATE**
Shatner has returned.

William Shatner has boldy gone from being a member of Google Plus to being booted from the social network to being reinstated, all in a few short hours Monday. Google's entry into the social network market is only a few weeks old, but Shatner said he'd already been booted for "violating standards."

Hours after the tweet, Shatner was back on Google Plus.

"I am back plusers!" he wrote on Google Plus Monday afternoon. "I still do not know what happened but I will refrain from saying hello again for a while just in case. My best, Bill."

Rebecca Black’s New Single Is Here

Here it is, Rebecca Black's new single: "My Moment." That she released it on a Monday says a lot about how ready she is to move past "Friday." Good luck with that!

We were all curious how Rebecca Black would follow up on her miraculous somersault into fame. The answer is: With grown-up bangs. The self-released "This is My Moment," is a "look-at-me-now" love letter to all her haters—an inoffensive, mildly catchy rehash of a dozen Justin Bieber songs past. Turns out Ms. Black is actually not a half-bad dancer, and the only hiccup of the video is the fact that her date in the limo scene looks like he's maybe 7 years old.

It may just be enough to launch Rebecca Black into mainstream success, and put "Friday" behind her once and for all. Who knows, by next Friday Frieeeday, gotta get down on Frieeday.

Meet The Ostrich: For Desk Naps

It’s almost surreal to think that every afternoon we were obligated to sleep for somewhere between 30 minutes and one hour. Sure, in other parts of the world this luxury has translated into adulthood (see the siesta), but for us here in the USA, it’s work, work, work, and nap when you’re dead.

And you know what? I think there’s something incredibly unjust about that.

Enter architecture/design firm Studio KG, inventors of the OSTRICH — a portable and comfortable- (if not mildly claustrophobic-) looking “micro-environment” meant to both encourage and facilitate impromptu desk-dozes at any point during the day — who are attempting a solution to this problem.

In their words:

“Working patterns are constantly evolving. We gradually spend more time in our working environments, and this in turn means that we often need to make work and rest fully compatible within the same space. Some cultures have assimilated this concept more naturally than others, but in general the workplace has rarely adapted to this new working-resting paradigm.

“OSTRICH offers a micro environment in which to take a warm and comfortable power nap at ease. It is neither a pillow nor a cushion, nor a bed, nor a garment, but a bit of each at the same time. Its soothing cave-like interior shelters and isolates our head and hands (mind, senses and body) for a few minutes, without needing to leave our desk.”

Consider me sleepy sold.



(via Gizmodo)

Weekend Box Office: Harry Potter Is Bigger Than Ever

The boy wizard has broom-swooped through multiplexes one last time, and holly hippogriffs did he do well. Other stuff was in theatres too, of course, and it was a busy weekend overall, but Harry reigned hugely.

1) Harry Potter and the Money Explosion, Part 8 — $168.5M
When not adjusted for inflation, the final film in this grand old film series had the best opening weekend in the history of America. In all of America's proud history! Not even Paul Revere's beloved/reviled And the Horse You Rode In On, a thinly veiled erotic roman à clef about a famous horseman's libidinous exploits, did better, and that did pretty good. So yay, Harry. I saw the movie yesterday and I thought it was good, not as good as the first part, but it had a little less stuff to work with, so that's understandable. The Hogwarts battle could have been, I thought, a little grander. (Where were the house elves and the centaurs??) But of course in the end it was sad and sweet and, frankly, I just got a little sad typing the word "hippogriff" because man book three was a long, long time ago and the adventure is really over and now there's nothing. Well, there's Game of Thrones, but there's a lot of nipple-tweaking and seed-spilling in that so it's hard to be, like, nostalgic about it. Ah well. It was a great time, J.K.! Thanks again.

2) Transformers: Stink Factory 3000 — $21.5M
On the complete opposite end of the emotional spectrum comes this unspecial noise machine. I can't for certain say what it is about these movies that repulses me so, but I guess it has to do partly with how they are the complete opposite of the Harry Potter movies. Not that every movie should be whimsical and full of kindness and wonder. But like, it would be nice if there was some ounce of sympathetic humanity in a movie. Like, John McClane, for example. He populates loud, violent action movies and yet you care about him, in some way. Shia LaBeouf's character, on the flip-side? If movie number four is called Transformers: Shia LaBeouf's Character Dies In a Fire for Two Hours, I would see a midnight screening. I would order my tickets well in advance. Plus Michael Bay is gross and I hate how all his movies look like commercials and let's just remember that at the end of the day we're talking about alien robots that can turn into automobiles and other things and that's supposed to be cool, except most of us aren't eight-year-old boys with our fingers up our noses. Enough with these movies! Basta! Bring on the Gobots!

3) Horrible Bosses — $17.6
Dropping a small 37% from last week's solid opening, this movie looks to be a modest little hit. I can't tell if this means something good or something bad for my script Terrible Coworkers. I think it means good, right? Which is exciting, because it's a crackerjack script. It's all about a writer whose coworkers are all jerks. But they probably won't even know that they're jerks because they're not reading this, are they, the jerks? Ah well. We'll know, at least. We'll know who the jerks are. Another thing about the success of this movie that intrigues me is if this means Jennifer Aniston is going to go "dirty" now. She tried serious dirty in Derailed and it failed (poetry!), but this is funny dirty and it seems to work. More to come perhaps? The Object of My Sexfection? Friends With Moany? Along Came On Polly? The Bounty Cunter? So many possibilities!

4) Zookeeper — $12.3M
This film also didn't drop much from week one to week two, but when you consider it cost some 80-odd million dollars to make versus Horrible Bosses' $35 million, it's really not that big of a triumph. I mean, ha, I don't think anyone was ever going to associate the word "triumph" with the film Zookeeper, but you know what I mean. I guess some concepts don't play as well as others. Kevin James as bumbling mall guard? Priceless. Kevin James as bumbling zoo guard? Garbage. Kevin James playing a (fake) bear in Chuck and Larry? Correct. Kevin James talking to a (fake) bear in this? Absolutely not. The nuances are subtle and mysterious with this Kevin James person, it seems. Subtle and mysterious.

6) Winnie the Pooh — $8M
This is a nice little debut for this nice little movie. Lots of kids were off seeing Harry Potter, sure, but their younger siblings who aren't quite ready for blood and death and stuff were probably, much to their dismay, shuttled off to this instead. I mean, I'm sure they liked it once they were there, but obviously they wanted to go see the movie their older brother or sister was seeing with their friends, not this baby movie for babies, because they are not a baby, they are five now, and that's getting up there in years if you think about it. But yeah, in the end Tigger was fun to laugh at and Pooh said "Oh bother" in his nice comforting voice and really it wasn't so bad after all to not be at Harry Potter which, if the kids were honest with themselves, did look a little scary. See, it all works out in the end!

Vengeful Google Banishes Newspapers from Search Results

Do not cross Google—especially if you're a powerless Belgian newspaper. A group of Belgian newspapers sued Google for posting their articles in Google News without their permission and won. Now, Google has banned their websites from search results.

These newspapers got more than they bargained for when they won the lawsuit, which requires Google to pay fines of $35,359 per infringement if they post the papers' articles on Google News. Now, Google claims that the ruling applies to search results, too. But the newspapers are whining that they actually still want to be in search results, which makes sense: Since the ban took effect, their traffic has been dropping precipitously, and Google's search market share is as high as 90% in Belgium.

Why is Google being so boneheaded about this? Revenge, according to the papers. Like old-school mob bosses, Google's saying to these uppity papers: "Oh, you don't appreciate what we do for you? You want to be free of Google? Well, here, have your precious freedom. How do you like it out in the cold internet all alone? Not so appealing, is it?"

Google will probably re-install these papers back in the search results after their executives promise to rename their newspapers "I love Google"—you know, an extra special form of Search Engine Optimization.

[AP, Image via Getty]

Justin Bieber Crashed a Wedding Because He Heard His Song Playing - Weekend Media Round-Up

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez crash a wedding. Khloe Kardashian's husband mauls a pedestrian. Rachel Uchitel loses $10 million. Nikki Blonsky is the saddest washed-up celebrity in America. Monday gossip is the stuff of legend.

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez "were strolling on the beach when they heard Justin's hit 'One Less Lonely Girl' playing at [a Malibu wedding] reception." So they crashed the party and Biebs rushed the microphone, igniting a legend that would be whispered around campfires and teen girl slumber parties for years to come, involving playing "One Less Lonely Girl" at midnight while wearing a wedding dress and whispering "Bloody Bieber" three times in front of a mirror. That said, the people in this wedding appear to be well-adjusted adults, which means "One Less Lonely Girl" was probably being deployed ironically, which means Justlena (Sestina? Buliemez?) performed the equivalent of a live-action rickroll. Which is actually fairly mindblowing. [TMZ, image via PerezHilton.com]

• Lamar Odom's NYC chauffeur crashed into a motorcyclist and teenage pedestrian while he was in town for a funeral. Apparently Lamar was en route to a barber shop. You'd think he could shave his head by himself? [Us, NYDN]
• Speaking of Khloe and Lamar, they might be pregnant with twins, according to a blog that staked its reputation on Beyonce being pregnant, sixteen months ago. [MediaTakeout]
• At the dress rehearsal for her wedding to Nick Lachey, Vanessa Minnillo practiced laughing orgasmically while cutting the cake. Why do brides always have orgasmic laughs? Maybe they're practicing for their amateur wedding night pornos. [DailyMail, image via TLC]
• Marc Anthony on his splice from J. Lo: "They say I am a single man." So, still in the "processing" phase. Wake me when he gets to "sloppy one-night stands with waitresses." [Daily Mail]
• Rachel Uchitel was forced to return her $10 million Tiger Woods "settlement" (what were they "settling"? "Hush money" is more accurate) because she violated the confidentiality clause by going on Celebrity Rehab. Now the Uchi-Cuchi-Cooter wants to sue Gloria Allred for malpractice, according to a "source" who is probably just Rachel, in plastic eyeglasses and a fake nose with a mustache, reminding the world that she used to be rich. [TMZ]
• Nikki Blonsky's desperation has gotten really sad. Mall shoe store sales lady who still thinks she's a celebrity, sad. Tricking random men into being seen in public with her so she can pretend they're her boyfriends, sad. [P6, NYDN]
• Jane Lynch on growing up in Illinois in the '60s: "I didn't want to be too tall. I didn't want to be too loud. I didn't want to be gay." [Vogue]
• Will this plague of marines asking celebrities to the Marine Corps Ball never end? The latest victim is Betty White. Meanwhile, Adrian Chen is still free. [Radar]

Your Mark-Zuckerberg-Is-A-Robot Tale of the Day

When tech titans meet, sparks fly! Sparks from a blazing bonfire of social missteps. This weekend, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told NPR the excruciating tale of the time he met Mark Zuckerberg.

According to Stone, "I had a meeting once with Zuckerberg, and every joke I said landed like a dead fish on the ground." But were they good jokes? Something tells us they were not very good jokes. (Vegans are not exactly known for their senses of humor.)

Then this bit, with Stone, Zuckerberg and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, reads like a scene deleted from The Social Network:

Evan and I walked into the room. He walked in first, sat in a chair. There was a loveseat left. It was a small room. I walked in next, sat on one side of the loveseat. Ev walked in third and Ev said, oh, do you want me to close the door or leave it open? And Zuckerberg said, "yes."

So Ev said, oh, well I guess I'll just close it this much.

But then Zuck terns the tables when he refuses to skip the line at the cafeteria with Biz and and Ev because it's not the Facebook Way. New York says, "Suddenly, the story is one about a jerk mocking a nerd." Eh, we'd say it's one jerk mocking another jerk.

[via TheNextWeb, image via Getty]

The News Corp. Scandal Now Has a Body Count: Whistleblower Found Dead

Sean Hoare, the former News of the World reporter who was the first to come forward by name and accuse former NOTW editor and David Cameron adviser Andy Coulson of ordering widespread phone hacking, was found dead this morning.

Hoare told the New York Times Magazine last year that Coulson knew everything—that story helped jumpstart interest in the phone hacking allegations and led to the current maelstrom. More recently, he told the Times that NOTW reporters paid Metropolitan Police Service officers $500 a pop to access cell phone geo-location data for—or "ping"—celebrities' phones. Now he's dead.

The Guardian says his death is being treated by the MPS as "unexplained" but not suspicious.

[Photo of News Corp. offices via Getty, screenshot of Hoare via BBC]

This Is Why You Don’t Mic Umpires

During last night's 16 inning Red Sox/Rays pitcher's duel, home plate umpire Chad Fairchild got hit in the mask with a David Ortiz swing. Which led to something I always love: cursing on ESPN. That said, I'm impressed with the ump. I definitely would have said worse had Big Papi hit me in the face with a baseball bat.

The Ottawa Bluesfest Stage Collapse is Terrifying

The closing night of the Ottawa Bluesfest was cut short after a violent storm moved in very suddenly, and an accompanying gust of wind blew over the main stage where Cheap Trick had played just minutes before. Watch the terrifying collapse in this video. (There's also footage of the dark clouds rolling in here. It's straight out of Harry Potter!) The official statement from the fest was that there were "no serious injuries on site." Had the stage collapsed forward, and not backwards, that might have been a very different scenario. The Toronto Sun reports Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson was in a booth in a scaffolding tower when the storm hit, and only the "action of a quick-thinking aide" who grabbed his arm saved him from a 50-foot fall.