In December, Facebook made a series of bold and controversial changes regarding the nature of its users’ privacy on the social networking site. The company once known for protecting privacy to the point of exclusivity (it began its days as a network for college kids only – no one else even had access), now seemingly wants to compete with more open social networks like the microblogging media darling Twitter.

Those of you who edited your privacy settings prior to December’s change have nothing to worry about – that is, assuming you elected to keep your personalized settings when prompted by Facebook’s “transition tool.” The tool, a dialog box explaining the changes, appeared at the top of Facebook homepages this past month with its own selection of recommended settings. Unfortunately, most Facebook users likely opted for the recommended settings without really understanding what they were agreeing to. If you did so, you may now be surprised to find that you inadvertently gave Facebook the right to publicize your private information including status updates, photos, and shared links.

Want to change things back? Read on to find out how.

1. Who Can See The Things You Share (Status Updates, Photo, Videos, etc.)

Probably the most critical of the “privacy” changes (yes, we mean those quotes sarcastically) was the change made to status updates. Although there’s now a button beneath the status update field that lets you select who can view any particular update, the new Facebook default for this setting is “Everyone.” And by everyone, they mean everyone.

If you accepted the new recommended settings then you voluntarily gave Facebook the right to share the information about the items you post with any user or application on the site. Depending on your search settings, you may have also given Facebook the right to share that information with search engines, too.

To change this setting back to something of a more private nature, do the following:

1. From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at the top right and click “Privacy Settings” from the list that appears.
2. Click “Profile Information” from the list of choices on the next page.
3. Scroll down to the setting “Posts by Me.” This encompasses anything you post, including status updates, links, notes, photos, and videos.
4. Change this setting using the drop-down box on the right. We recommend the “Only Friends” setting to ensure that only those people you’ve specifically added as a friend on the network can see the things you post.

2. Who Can See Your Personal Info

Facebook has a section of your profile called “personal info,” but it only includes your interests, activities, and favorites. Other arguably more personal information is not encompassed by the “personal info” setting on Facebook’s Privacy Settings page. That other information includes things like your birthday, your religious and political views, and your relationship status.

After last month’s privacy changes, Facebook set the new defaults for this other information to viewable by either “Everyone” (for family and relationships, aka relationship status) or to “Friends of Friends” (birthday, religious and political views). Depending on your own preferences, you can update each of these fields as you see fit. However, we would bet that many will want to set these to “Only Friends” as well. To do so:

1. From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at the top right and click “Privacy Settings” from the list that appears.
2. Click “Profile Information” from the list of choices on the next page.
3. The third, fourth, and fifth item listed on this page are as follows: “birthday,” “religious and political views,” and “family and relationship.” Locking down birthday to “Only Friends” is wise here, especially considering information such as this is often used in identity theft.
4. Depending on your own personal preferences, you may or may not feel comfortable sharing your relationship status and religious and political views with complete strangers. And keep in mind, any setting besides “Only Friends” is just that – a stranger. While “Friends of Friends” sounds innocuous enough, it refers to everyone your friends have added as friends, a large group containing hundreds if not thousands of people you don’t know. All it takes is one less-than-selective friend in your network to give an unsavory person access to this information.

3. What Google Can See – Keep Your Data Off the Search Engines

When you visit Facebook’s Search Settings page, a warning message pops up. Apparently, Facebook wants to clear the air about what info is being indexed by Google. The message reads:

There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and see a link to your Facebook profile. They will still only see a basic set of information.

While that may be true to a point, the second setting listed on this Search Settings page refers to exactly what you’re allowing Google to index. If the box next to “Allow” is checked, you’re giving search engines the ability to access and index any information you’ve marked as visible by “Everyone.” As you can see from the settings discussed above, if you had not made some changes to certain fields, you would be sharing quite a bit with the search engines…probably more information than you were comfortable with. To keep your data private and out of the search engines, do the following:

1. From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at the top right and click “Privacy Settings” from the list that appears.
2. Click “Search” from the list of choices on the next page.
3. Click “Close” on the pop-up message that appears.
4. On this page, uncheck the box labeled “Allow” next to the second setting “Public Search Results.” That keeps all your publicly shared information (items set to viewable by “Everyone”) out of the search engines. If you want to see what the end result looks like, click the “see preview” link in blue underneath this setting.

Woah this is pretty nasty:

“Active ingredients found in counterfeit fragrance include things like urine, bacteria, antifreeze,” Valerie Salembier, senior vice president and publisher of Harper’s Bazaar, said.”

Would you still buy them??

A Detroit band says so.  Here’s their song.  What do you think?

For Ryan’s last DUI class next week, he has to draw a picture of his DUI.  We want you to send us your drawings – send it to  ryanbeamanfm at gmail.com.

Mark Barnes sent this one…

Here’s Claudia Ariana’s entry…

Our intern, Sean, drew his rendition.  We think it’s hilarious….

NEW YORK  CNNMoney.com) — Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. said Tuesday it is asking dealers to temporarily suspend sales of eight models.

The company’s sales suspension is part of a recall announced last week to correct a problem that could cause the accelerator pedal to stick.

“Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company,” said Toyota USA group vice president Bob Carter. “This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized.”

About 2.3 million vehicles will be affected by the recall, Toyota (TM) said Tuesday in a statement. That’s more autos than Toyota sold in all of 2009, when it sold 1.8 million vehicles.

The automaker also said that it will halt the production of vehicles in certain production facilities in Canada, Indiana, Kentucky and Texas during the week of Feb. 1 to “assess and coordinate activities.” The vehilcles currently being built will not be sold until they are fixed, a Toyota spokesman said.

“Suspending sales and production is certainly good to reassure the public that they are serious about doing something, but too many jobs and lost sales are involved for this to be a PR stunt,” Edmunds.com Director of Vehicle Testing Dan Edmunds said in statement. “They must really be concerned about this being something other than a rare condition. Hopefully this means the fix is very close to being ready, because suspension of production and sales is not tolerable for very long.”

The recall affects Toyota’s 2009-2010 RAV4, Corolla, Matrix, 2005-2010 Avalon, certain 2007-2010 Camry, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.

General Motors’ Pontiac Vibe, which is essentially the same car as the Toyota Matrix, was also included in the recall. GM is not participating in the order to stop selling the cars because it has already stopped production of Pontiac vehicles as part of its wind-down of the Pontiac brand, a GM spokesman said.

This new recall is to correct a situation in which the gas pedal could stick without the presence of a floor mat.

The situation is rare, according to Toyota, but can occur when accelerator pedal mechanisms become worn. The problem will usually develop gradually, Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons said. The pedal may become harder to press and may become slower to return when released. In the worst cases, it may become stuck in a partially depressed position.

A Toyota spokesman said there are no confirmed deaths traceable to the defect.

The new recall, involving sticking accelerator pedals, is separate from an ongoing recall of 4.2 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles due to the risk of pedal entrapment because of a loose floormat.

About 1.7 million Toyota Division vehicles have been affected by both recalls.

Toyota owners with questions should call Toyota’s customer service line at 800-331-4331.

A letter sent to 90sBuzz.com -

Since I clearly didn’t give him enough explanation in my facebook status update, here are 4 quick reasons why Ryan should be excited about the Super Bowl

1) The New Orleans Angle-  The city still hasn’t 100 percent recovered from Katrina. As someone who took a Katrina  tour about three years ago, I can tell you that the government hung those poor people out to dry. In the aftermath of the devastation, the city attached itself to their football team (that (sucked) for years).  Four years later, they win their conference championship in the same building that so many members of their community suffered in.  I don’t know of anyone who isn’t an Indiana resident that is rooting against New Orleans.

2) The Miami angle- The Super Bowl will be played in Miami, the second most pretentious city in America (just behind LA). Rather than host an influx of New York Jets fans for the big game, they will be stuck with blue collar, borderline white trash, Indianapolis residents taking over their city… and it’s happening for the second time in four years.

“Isn’t anybody interested in our $500 a night rooms at the Delano on South Beach??? Anyone??? Anyone??”

3) The Kim Kardashian angle- She’s the girlfriend of Saints running back Reggie Bush…. and she really likes making sex tapes with famous black guys (like Ray-J). If the Saints win the Super Bowl, we’d have to put the odds of a drunken, celebratory sex tape at about 2-1.

4) Peyton Manning might be gay- Granted, this is a really weak 5 year old rumor.

Technically, he’s married to a “college sweetheart”, but in ten years of watching this guy play football, I’ve never seen her at a game or on TV. Plus, there was a rumor that he was (with) Kenny Chesney in 2005. I don’t know if a closeted Peyton Manning excites the gay community….  But it’s just another reason for Ryan to pay attention.

Hope this helps,

(Pete)

Can’t WAIT!~

She wrote the 2010 Winter Olympic Theme–>