Openbook is a new project that allows you to search Facebook’s publicly available user data to see all the skeletons in its 500 million online closets — including yours.
May, 2010
US banks: perfect or mutants?
US banks — Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, etc — have recorded perfect trading quarters and massive profits as of late. But rather than be grateful for post-GFC recovery, there’s an awful sense of foreboding.
Berg: The fudged Budget figures
Wayne Swan claimed the economic stimulus package saved the Australian economy, with a clever graph tucked inside the Budget showing exactly that. Except, the figures were hand picked to give the answer Wayne wanted, writes Chris Berg.
Big breasts explained (through science)
Big breasts are an “anomaly” unique to the human primate. So why do femalehomo sapiens have them? Because male homo sapiens like them, apparently.
Holy real estate prices: how churches make money
Churches aren’t just selfless, religious organisations. If the Mormon church was a company, it would make the Fortune 500 list, while the Catholic Church owns more real estate globally than anyone else.
Wall St pays Senators hush money
Why wasn’t the US “too big to fail” policy — bailouts for struggling banks in order to save the economy — scrapped? Because the Senators voting against it get most of their donations from the financial sector.
Former Google employee: How Facebook will crush Google
Former “Googler” Bindu Reddy explains why Facebook will usurp Google as the world’s top internet company — just as Google did to Microsoft, and Microsoft did to Netscape. Google is about searching, Facebook is about discovery.
How much is Obama worth?
The White House has released Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s 2009 financial disclosure forms. Amongst other revelations: the First Dog, Bo, is worth $1600, Obama scored $1.4 million for his Nobel prize win, and he has been making millions in book royalties since taking office.
revealed The real cost of fibre-to-the-home
McKinsey and KPMG have just released their $25 million dollar study into Conroy’s fibre-to-the-home plan. But their suggestions aren’t exactly what the government was promising. Jock Given explains.
Why the deal may do more harm than good 
Is Iran’s nuclear deal a Turkey?
Iran has attempted to defuse some of the international concern over its nuclear program by agreeing to ship its uranium off to Turkey to be enriched. But if you read the details of the deal, it’s all a farce, explains Glenn Kessler: Iran’s nuclear ambitions are as strong as ever.
The devil’s in the details The non-liberal Liberal party: isn’t it ironic?
It’s a rich world of irony in Australia’s political world, from the Labor Party who tries to end union power to a conservative party called the Liberals. Bill Collopy investigates our political language.
What’s wrong with Kevin?
Daily media wrap: Kevin Rudd and the ALP’s approval ratings took another big polling hit yesterday. The nation’s pundits weigh-in on who and what is to blame, and whether Julia Gillard could really prove the Party’s saviour.
Atkins: Abbott’s fatal f*ckup
Tony Abbott admitted on The 7:30 Report last night that you can’t believe everything he says. This reveals fundamental flaws in Abbott, if he can’t even do a simple TV interview without stuffing up, writes Dennis Atkins.
How to quit Facebook (without actually quitting Facebook)
So you want to ditch Facebook over their privacy policy and because all the cool kids are doing it — but you still want to see embarrassing pictures of your friends? Lifehacker explains how.
BP oil spill: blame Bush
The Bush administration and its pro-oil industry policies should shoulder a large part of the blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, argues Matthew Yglesias.
Does Macklin’s office have no shame?
Jenny Macklin’s dismissal of a review that has found income management is not making an impact on tobacco and healthy food sales in remote NT communities is an insult to the Government’s professed commitment to “evidence-based policy”, writes Melissa Sweet.
Essential: The budget edition
Snap! It’s a polling trifecta today, with the latest Essential Report following Newspoll and Galaxy’s lead at 50-50. Plus additional questions on the budget reveal… most Australians don’t care, reports Possum Comitatus.
Can newspapers afford to snub theatre-goers?
The Sun Herald has followed the lead of the Herald Sun in dropping theatre and arts coverage. But as newspaper readers and revenues dry up, can they really afford to marginalise the large arts-loving audience? asks Jason Whittaker.
How to make a bomb: with al-Qaeda
The AfPak Channel has an al-Qaeda propaganda video showing bombmakers assembling IEDs, plus insight from a demolition and pyrotechnics expert into just how much (or little) skill it takes to construct a DIY bomb.
Income management evidence trivialised in a lemonade solution
Jenny Macklin’s response to the latest evidence that Income Management doesn’t work is only the latest example of anti-evidence based decisions in the welfare system, writes Eva Cox
Essential: Labor has stopped the rot but still on level terms
The catastrophic fall in Labor’s vote has ended, according to Essential Media’s latest poll, but it remains stuck on a two-party preferred outcome of 50:50, and the Coalition is strengthening its primary vote.
