Hmmmm

Check this out....




Facebook Faces Antitrust Suit From Advertisement-sponsored Skins Developer

By John Ribeiro, IDG News

Sambreel Holdings and two subsidiary companies that offered advertisement-supported skins for Facebook profile pages filed Monday an antitrust lawsuit against the social networking company in a U.S. federal court, its attorneys said.

The lawsuit charges that Facebook and third-party developers, that have their applications on Facebook, refused to deal with advertising partners that placed their ads on the browser-based PageRage application.

The social networking company also allegedly scanned computer users and demanded that they remove PageRage and the entire Yontoo platform offered by Sambreel, before accessing the Facebook site.

Sambreel in Carlsbad, California, offers software that is used to deliver advertisements. Users of the free PageRage will see additional ads placed by the company while browsing Facebook, it said on the PageRage website. These ads are not the responsibility of Facebook, it added.

Launched in October 2008, PageRage initially included the browser add-on along with an application that operated on the Facebook Platform.

By 2009, Sambreel was asked by Facebook to remove the application from its platform, according to a copy of the complaint on the website of Kotchen & Low, one of the law firms representing Sambreel in the case. Sambreel thereafter removed the application from the Facebook platform.

Facebook made it clear that it did not object to the browser add-on and even offered suggestions on how Sambreel could operate PageRage without the application, according to the complaint.

Between July 2009 and October 2010, PageRage grew significantly, to the point that it had over 1 million users per day and its revenue consistently exceeded US$1 million per month. At that point, Facebook's attitude towards PageRage changed, according to the complaint.

By the middle of July 2011, PageRage is claimed to have consistently had more than 4 million users per day. From Facebook's perspective, Sambreel had grown into a legitimate competitor in the sale of online display advertising impressions, leading Facebook by mid-2011 to allegedly boycott Sambreel's advertising partners, and demand users to remove Sambreel software, according to the complaint.

Sambreel's largest PageRage advertising partners, accounting for roughly 80 percent of the PageRage advertising revenue, are said to have ceased doing business with it.

Within two weeks of Facebook allegedly pressuring users, Sambreel is said to have lost more than one million users of its products. Facebook agreed to stop its demands on the users only after Sambreel agreed that it would no longer advertise on PageRage, and on Dec. 22 last year Sambreel took down all PageRage ads and stopped generating any revenue through PageRage, it said.

Since the start of 2012, Sambreel claims to have terminated 124 employees and contractors in San Diego County, which was more than half its workforce, stopped the development of new products, and suffered significant financial losses.

The law firm also said it filed a motion for preliminary injunction before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to prevent Facebook from requiring Sambreel's advertising partners to boycott Sambreel and to prevent Facebook from scanning the computers of users, and forcing them to uninstall Sambreel's applications before they are allowed access to their Facebook accounts.

The plaintiffs hold that PageRage does not alter the programming of Facebook's computers or interact with its computers in any manner. Instead, PageRage operates by adding layers to the web browser residing on its users' computers, the complaint said. The designs added by PageRage are visible only to individuals who have installed the Yontoo Platform and enabled the PageRage application, it added.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Kelly Law Firm in Tempe, Arizona, described PageRage as adware in a blog post in October. PageRage does not make actual changes to Facebook's site itself when it changes the social networking site's appearance on participating users' computers, and merely tweaks the way that Facebook looks when using a particular browser, it said. "It appears unlikely, then, that Facebook would have any grounds for legal action against PageRage's developers," the law firm added.

lets see what happens....

doo-doo strikes again

Olive told me she had to go to the bathroom so I helped her take off her clothes and she ran to the bathroom. She must of then ran out of the bathroom and into the yard with out me knowing because I then found her outside naked standing over a pile of doo doo barking and meowing saying, "Just like a doggie and cat mom. Ruff, ruff, meow."

life update

I will start this out with the funny and then go on to the not so funny.

Funny

I was checking my e-mail yesterday and Olive was happily playing outside by herself when it struck me that it was offly quite outside. Never a good sign. So I got up to see what Olive was up to. I opened up the back slider and what to my surprise was waiting for me outside and upon the lawn you ask? Non other than a Mr. Dookie himself. It looked as though a dog had come and shat in my yard. A perfect little frozen yogurt shape. Then along came Olive with this stuff all over her hands and legs. She thought it was funny, and I guess I did too. Until it was time to clean it up.
Yuk!

Not so funny
This week has been very stressful for John at work and for me that means very lonely nights. He had to help layoff 100+ people from his work yesterday. One of the hardest things he has ever had to do I am sure. His place of work is such a unique place. I have never seen a company work so hard as a whole to accomplish their goals and a have a company be so generous to its employees. This has been a major loss. I feel as though I am morning myself and I didn't even work there. I have been so close to everything being John's wife. From John being with the company when it was only 8 employees. I am so sad. John has been so distracted on helping out with what is next for the company that he has been gone. It is what I expect from him because I know I would be doing the same. I am so sad for everyone who has lost their jobs and most say it was the best job they have ever had. I am so sad for all the heads of the company because I am sure it was a difficult decision to make. I can only imagine what is like to go back to work with more than half your friends and colleagues gone or waking up and not having a job to go to. I guess we can just see it as a new beginning for them. I have complete faith that this company will be back to where it was because I have complete faith in the people running this company. Some of the smartest people around and I can't wait to see what they will do next.

Just showed Olive a picture of my grandma and asked her who it was. She said "grandma" and then said, " I wanna go say hi." Now I am crying. So happy she remembers her still and so sad we can't go say hi. Miss her so much.

Start the year off right

Things my children have said to start the new year off right:

Me: "Isaac, we are going go get a maid to clean this dirty house."
Isaac:" What! Ah...well, you better pay them extra."

while Olive and I were having a picnic in the yard she pointed to a mole I have on my arm and asked me, "What's that mom? A nipple? "

Happy New Year everyone!

voting should be like a party

Over dinner last night John and I were talking about the poles being up and I said we should start taking Isaac down there and teach him about the voting thing. Isaac automatically chips into the conversation because he ALWAYS has to be involved..... the unfoldings.....

Isaac: "Some guy told grandma, 'oh I voted too!' ."

Us:" bla bla bla bla we should take Isaac."

Isaac: "Oh yeah! D,o you get a goody bag? "

mommy starts to giggle

Isaac: "When you go to grandmas' church for the first time you get a goody bag!"

I thought this was pretty darn cute and it made me laugh pretty hard. But you know what, I think this kid is on to something! If there was a goody bag I would be way more eager to go vote. Dam... and all those candidates they should give us a nice big bag a swag! I think if that happened way more people would be wearing those "I voted" stickers, don't you? Man my kid is on to something!

DISCLAIMER: I am not serious about the goody bag people...please don't judge....Well, me of course, judge my son all you want.
I am just kidding people..... geez!

Cabs are fun

HEY JUST FOUND THIS IN MY DRAFTS FROM DEC OF 2009. CAN'T BELIEVE I NEVER POSTED IT......MUST READ .....

Let me start with a little background to this story

Isaac and I were at the book store and were looking at this "Ripley's Believe it or Not" book and found that some logger found a full dog in one of the trees he cut down. The dog must of got in the hallow tree some time and couldn't get out, died, and then became preserved because of the tree and bla bla bla. It was really cool and there was a picture in the book of it, the dog and tree are in some museum now.

So, Isaac asked me the other day if we were ever going to ride in a Cab. I replied, " yeah, probably some day"

with loads of excitement he answered," oh good mom, cuz when they ask me the question about the dog I will know the answer!"

It took me a second to catch on to that comment then I realized we had been watching "Cash Cab". I laughed a little and then had to explain to Isaac that all cabs aren't like that.

So cute.