Twitter

After continued high-profile security breaches over the past year, Twitter Inc. on Wednesday announced it will bring increased security features to users, a way to further verify a user’s identity when logging in to his or her profile…The process is much like other two-factor authentication services across the Web. When a user tries to log in to his or her profile, they are asked to provide a cellphone number. Twitter sends an SMS message to that phone, and the user is asked to enter that code to continue the login. The new feature is optional, and must be turned on inside the settings menu…The new feature comes in the wake of a string of widely publicized hacks of visible Twitter accounts, including those owned by news outlets like the Financial Times, the Guardian and others. Most recently, when the Associated Press account was hacked, a single alarmist tweet was enough to send U.S. stock markets into a tailspin, plunging the Dow by upwards of 150 points in a matter of minutes. [WSJ, earlier]

Diamond talked the situation through with Jennifer, his wife of 26 years. “What is the best thing right now I can do for the firm?” he asked. His answer: “Step aside and shut up.” His daughter, Nell, a recent graduate of Princeton, wasn’t quite so discreet. The morning after Diamond announced his resignation, she tweeted: “George Osborne and Ed Miliband you can go ahead and #HMD” — referring to a slang term that can’t be reprinted in these pages. (Google it.) She immediately called her father. “ ‘Dad, I think I did something really bad. I think I’m in trouble,’ ” Diamond recalled her saying. He told her: “Sweetie, I love you. That’s so nice. I think we’re probably all in trouble.” [NYT, earlier]

Suck it, technology! Read more »

New rules. Read more »


[Twitter via BI]
Only two are visible in this photo he tweeted of himself and Prince Charles but presumably the gold thing behind the couch is an oil painting of his HRH and one would hope that if the cameraman zoomed out, we would see glossy 8X10′s of this, this, this, and this. And maybe a huge version of this, on the wall behind his desk.

“It doesn’t take very long. I take my cup of coffee, one or two cups, and get my brain working and then something comes to mind that listeners might take advantage of or be respectful of. Do I tweet what is exactly on my mind? In some cases because of the 140 letter limit, it’s hard to get across the message. But yes, I enjoy tweeting.” [Bloomberg TV]

  • 11 Jan 2013 at 5:28 PM

Trust the Oracle of Twitter

You just can’t keep a mildly amusing idea of (at best) questionable value down.

Remember Derwent Capital Markets? The hedge fund that spent six months talking up its hedge fund that invested based on what people were saying on Twitter, launched it and then shut it down a month later because the idea was just too good to waste on a hedge fund? Read more »

Unclear if this sit-down will take place at Louis’ Restaurant in the Bronx, or if Duncan Niederauer went on to say, “Let’s see how tough he is without his Twitter handle.” Read more »

For those of you who do not keep up with the drama in the Twitter universe, many, many people are very angry with a user who goes by the name @comfortablysmug, for spreading false information during the worst of Hurricane Sandy that included claims that ConEd workers were “trapped in a power station,” that ConEd was shutting down “ALL power in Manhattan,” and that the New York Stock Exchange was under three feet of water. These reports turned out to be complete lies and @comfortablysmug was shamed in the town square, outed, and forced to offer a “sincere apology to the people of New York,” noting that “while some would use the anonymity and instant feedback of social media as an excuse,” he would take “full responsibility” for his actions. Many in the media, however, are still quite miffed and one guy who’s really pissed? The dude who happens to have the same name (in real life) as comfortablysmug AKA Shashank Tripathi. Read more »

Despite a jam-packed day with no time to comment to reporters, Jack Welch interrupted his schedule this afternoon to tell the Journal he “wasn’t kidding” about his Tweet this morning that the most recent jobs data had been gotten to. Again, because he is so busy, Welch did not have time to elaborate, but he wanted to make sure that was clear. He jokes a lot so he wasn’t sure if it was. [WSJ, earlier]

Jack Welch, writing on his Twitter account, said the Obama administration manipulated U.S. employment data for political gain by showing a drop in the jobless rate. “Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers,” the former General Electric chief executive officer said in a message posted immediately after the U.S. Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, the lowest since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009. The Obama administration denied the allegation as baseless and defended the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which computes the figures…Welch is in meetings today and isn’t available for comment, said Rosanne Badowski, his executive assistant. She said Welch is the only one with access to the Twitter account. [Bloomberg]