ACTA is an International agreement among volunteering nations to put new controls into place for copyright infringement on the Internet; however it’s being veiled as a way to stop counterfeit goods and generic medicines. Additionally, it’s how these new controls are imposed which creates problems including how the agreement has been negotiated which has raised a lot of concerns.

I think everyone in the world agrees that counterfeit goods, counterfeit medicines and copyright infringement is a problem, but as we just learned with SOPA and PIPA, going about fixing the problems the wrong way will get you nowhere and only creates more issues, including nationwide protests and ‘blackouts’.

Here are some of the concerns with ACTA that you should be aware of:

• Drafting and talks of ACTA has been shrouded in secrecy. Talks began back 2006 with official negotiations starting in 2008 and no public drafts have been made available until April 2011; those that were able to see copies prior to 2011 were bound by non-disclosure agreements.
• Once made public, the agreement says that it will remove legal safeguards that protect Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from liability for the actions of their users, in effect giving ISPs no option but to comply with privacy invasions and collection of data in order to police their users and conduct filtering of content.
• Also just like with SOPA, sites that host or link to infringing content would be held liable. ACTA would also facilitate privacy violations by trademark and copyright holders (MPAA, RIAA) against private citizens suspected of infringement activities without any sort of legal due process which will result in blocking of access to the Internet, fines and jail time.
• ACTA would require that existing ISPs no longer host free software that can access copyrighted media, and DRM protected media would not be legally playable with free or open source software, which would stop the ability to distribute free software via peer-to-peer networks.
• ACTA has been lobbied heavily by the Entertainment industry (MPAA, RIAA) which through experience we know that they have their own interests in mind, and not the peoples.

For an even better explanation, in video form, watch below and see just how evil ACTA really is. [via]

The new interface is impossible to use, even for users with IT backgrounds, no I am not exaggerating. It is also super frustrating because it’s anti-social and most of the provided functionality doesn’t actually function.

The once thriving community of StumbleUpon has clung to each other as they spread across the web and can be found, still playing in the pool together, in several fun places. The best two options are:

• Categorian (best option for people who liked the way of blogging SU once provided)
• Tumblr (best option for people who like instant gratification on their shared posts)

You can find everyone else and all their other blogs at the new forum SUCats, where everyone is hanging out these days.

Form a team of 2 to 4 people, and apply to become official StumbleUpon ambassadors. If your team’s chosen, sign up as many users as possible between October 22, 2010 and March 1, 2011. It’s that simple!*

Automatic Prizes:

1,000 signups: FlipCams for all team members
5,000 signups: iPads for all team members

Grand Prize:

The team with the highest number of signups over 5,000 receives a vacation for the whole team (hotel + flight credit up to $5,000).

You can also score other prizes and increase your chances of winning the Grand Prize for demonstrating creativity in your approach and keeping your users stumbling!

[Via stumbleupon.com]

This free app allows you to thumb up sites you like and share them with your friends, even while on a long road trip with that friend that never shuts up! I whip out my droid and stumble in parking lots waiting for habitually late people and am no longer irritated about having to wait an extra 15min from the time I was instructed to be there. Doctor office waiting rooms are no longer hell on earth… Thank you Stumble app… thank you so much!

“Stay tuned for future updates to this app coming soon, like the ability to see the number of shares you have waiting right beside your text message and email notifications, the ability to find new Stumblers to follow, and more! (And for those of you using a web-enabled mobile device other than an iPhone or an Android phone, we’re investigating StumbleUpon app possibilities for other mobile operating systems. We’ll update our blog with any developments on that front!)”

Oh I’ll be staying tuned all right, from my phone!!!

There is also an app for ipad users.

After stumbling onto “Project Kickass” I looked around and found Chris on StumbleUpon. Its unlikely I would have ever wondered onto his site on my own, I owe the Stumble Button a big ty on this one, yay stumbling! I hereby deem him a Star Stumbler.

I ♥ funny bloggers. Chris is a bit “anit-geek” and I still like him (a lot), that should tell you something right there. I snagged up the first few comments on the post for this shirt so you could see what I mean:

• Matty T says:

  July 25, 2010 at 10:33 pm

  I can easily see that and I’m colorblind :/ nice try though.

• Carson says:

  July 26, 2010 at 7:24 am

  I can easily see that and I’m not colorblind :/ nice shirt

  • Marly says:

    July 28, 2010 at 9:19 am

    Hey Nick! If your colorblind, then how’d ya know that the shirt was red and green, huh?

    • Hannah says:

      July 29, 2010 at 10:57 am

      Uh, Probably because he is only colorblind to red and green? He said Red-Green colorblind, in which he can see other colors BESIDES red and green.

  • fadsfsa says:

    July 30, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    I’m completely blind and unerilwvnsjnzjipushg894r-qr8gw-9rehenauhui huwhpgguwpgfwqpo ewioqfpj irgww-gpjerw.

  • Erin says:

    July 30, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    The point is that the colorblind cannot see the words. So the colorblind will not know he “secretly loathes” them. You are not colorblind. You can read the words. lrn2humor.

  • Arianna says:

    July 31, 2010 at 11:34 am

    No, the point is that you can only see the heart if you’re colorblind…not the words inside of it….

• Nick says:

  July 26, 2010 at 9:56 am

  Same as Matty. I’m red-green colorblind and that’s clear as day.

  • Chris says:

    July 26, 2010 at 10:42 am

    I am mostly deaf and I can see it as well!

  • Kelcie says:

    July 27, 2010 at 10:47 am

    what does being deaf have to do with seeing the shirt?

    • Conn says:

      July 27, 2010 at 12:28 pm

      It’s a really loud shirt

    • Eric says:

      July 27, 2010 at 8:06 pm

      It is a loud shirt.

      • Semloh says:

        July 27, 2010 at 10:28 pm

        Because the colorblind people clearly hav never taken a colorblind test and dont understand how they work.

      • Semloh says:

        July 27, 2010 at 10:28 pm

        Meant for comment below. Sorry, im colorblind AND stupid.

• miken says:

  July 26, 2010 at 1:21 pm

  Pretty sure its so easy to read for you blind-o’s because they just superimposed the type on top, so there are all these distinct hard edges. With the colourblind tests the letters or numbers are made up of an arrangement of dots similar to the ones that make up the background.

• Claire says:

  July 26, 2010 at 6:41 pm

  WAHAHAhahaha i wish that was like an actual color-blind test, still made me laugh

  • Tim says:

    July 26, 2010 at 11:40 pm

    I’m reading this website in Braille, and I don’t get it.
• mark says:

  July 26, 2010 at 7:33 pm

  I am completely blind and I have NO IDEA what it says

• Clifford says:

  July 26, 2010 at 8:14 pm

  I am 80 percent deaf and i can’t hear the shirt :/

Click here to read the rest of the comments. Last time I checked there were 185 comments.

I would have loved to have been there to pick his brain! I was a little disappointed at how lame some of the questions from the audience were. Some people were just asking for small business advice and stuff and I was like “meh go google it newb” but Garrett was of course very friendly and dished out tidbits of advice to those who asked. He talked about how exactly StumbleUpon makes its revenue which I know has been a long time curiosity of many active and nosy users!

Melanie Wells who conducted the interview dissed on Garrett’s clothes which was meant to be funny I guess? It came off as rude from my perspective though, she was obviously jealous that Garrett went straight from college to creating and running StumbleUpon, I thought she was going to swallow her own face when he mentioned how during the period that eBay owned SU he experienced “having a boss for the first time” since he had “never had a job before”. Melanie was obviously a little bit elitist and ended up totally coming off like she thought she was too good to be doing that interview or something which kind of cracked me up because it just made Garrett seem even more charming when he took her grainy personality with a smile. Good job Garrett.

Thursday | June 17 | 8pm
111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco
21 and over, No Cover
Google Map!

There will be cool giveaways, dancing and loads of fun! If you don’t have an SU tshirt to wear to the party, you can grab one below! Take pictures in the GQ photobooth with all the cool people you meet and then come back and post them here!

Design a personalized gift at Zazzle.

]]> http://bestofstumbleupon.com/geek/stumpleupon-bash-party-with-the-crew-and-community-win-an-ipad/feed 0 http://bestofstumbleupon.com/pictures/another-traveling-star-stumbler http://bestofstumbleupon.com/pictures/another-traveling-star-stumbler#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 02:55:48 +0000 admin http://bestofstumbleupon.com/?p=2070

You may recall my post from last month when I first discussed Traveling Star Stumblers, this is another installment of Stumblers going around the world! Today I bring you Setabnevets aka Steven from Australia, who on his trip around the world stopped off to visit several other Stumblers!

His first flight on his epic journey was to Los Angeles, CA but the trip first began on Stumbleuopon, where he invited friends from SU to welcome him into their homes as he made his way around the planet. The following is a quote from his SU page:

New Update (August 22) Well it’s all underway now, Booked my flight yesterday… Leaving for LA on the 12th of September. I intend to explore the West coast of America, the start on the middle bits moving southward. Then from Florida flying down to Brazil & maybe other parts of Sth America. Then back up exploring the East coast, then over to the UK & Europe, & maybe Russia etc. Possibly South Africa New Zealand & then back home, Some six months or so later. Of course I may not get to every place I would like. I have been studying maps & have discovered that Planet Earth is very large.

If you are one of those who were kind enough to invite me to your home, would you please email me your address, phone numbers & any other contact information.

The Stumblers did just that! Setabnevets received an overwhelming amount of invitations to come stay in various countries with other Stumblers! Of course he was very busy along the way but he did stop off and log into SU every now and then to tell us where he was and who he was currently playing with from SU land! The first of such updates informed us that he had already been to Wilmington, Delaware, New York City, New burgh, Sara toga Springs, Houston Texas, New Orleans, Nashville Tennessee and back and forth between a few!

Here he is in Oxnard, CA With Guitargirl from StumbleUpon:

Steven has an open ended invitation to return and here is a bit of what she had to say about his visit:

Steven chose one of the busiest weeks of our lives to come visit! During the time he was here, he attended a flute recital, a high school football game (Rachel plays with the marching band), a jazz jam session, and joined us on a 3 day camping trip at Lake Cachuma.

While I was at work during the day, Steven cleaned my back patio, worked on my lawn, cleaned up my patio furniture (which I thought was junk – now it is beautiful!), and helped out with the kids. He picked Vaughan up from school and made sure he did his homework. Steven did all this while recovering from a horrible case of jetlag.

He sounds like a wonderful guest!! I wonder if he plans to do this again sometime? It was clearly a success!

Here he is with Akapearlofagirl:

With honkytonkyme:

Some of you may know fellow Stumbler setabnevets and that he’s on a world tour. He’s in Nashville this week and we’ve just enjoyed a night out on the town. Went out for dinner and to hear some music.

With fontanelle in December:

“My world stumbling is in my 4th month now. I still cant believe its happening”

British Airways lost my baggage
Jan 15
I have been in London for 8 days waiting for my baggage.
My daughter joins me in London today, flying to Germany on Saturday.

Although his trip wasn’t without its strife, I do believe he had a wonderful time! There is plenty more to this story so make sure to click through!

He stayed with a huge list of Stumblers, Moira, Hustengutsel, Deviantblonde, Tindink and Notrouble just to rattle off a few more Stumbler names! What a wonderful adventure he had! Thank you so much for taking us with you Steven! The only real shame is that he wasn’t wearing a cool StumbleUpon tshirt in any of his pictures! Perhaps he didn’t know where to get them?

Design a personalized gift at Zazzle.

]]> http://bestofstumbleupon.com/pictures/another-traveling-star-stumbler/feed 0 http://bestofstumbleupon.com/geek/get-your-own-cool-su-t-shirt-and-then-take-a-vacation http://bestofstumbleupon.com/geek/get-your-own-cool-su-t-shirt-and-then-take-a-vacation#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 21:27:43 +0000 admin http://bestofstumbleupon.com/?p=2057
Browse other personalized gifts from Zazzle.

I wonder if someone over at SU staff saw my post about the Traveling Star Stumblers from a couple weeks ago? The reason I ponder this is because this neat little blog post popped up on their official StumbleUpon blog today, which is how I found the link for those super cool tshirts to share with you guys! There are also some great tips on how to customize vacation research with the use of your StumbleUpon account, fantastic stuff!

]]> http://bestofstumbleupon.com/geek/get-your-own-cool-su-t-shirt-and-then-take-a-vacation/feed 0 http://bestofstumbleupon.com/pictures/traveling-star-stumblers http://bestofstumbleupon.com/pictures/traveling-star-stumblers#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 21:42:03 +0000 admin http://bestofstumbleupon.com/?p=1973

It was a cool day in Paris but you would never know it from our photograph. We braved the wind and cold to show off our new StumbleUpon Tshirts. When we were asked if we would like to have a couple of their new stylish shirts to take along with us during our travels we happily accepted.

We were surprised to see just how subtle the logos on the t-shirts were. They were even nice enough for us to wear around Paris and feel right in place with the good looking Parisians. So where did we head to first with our new duds?

The Eiffel Tower of course!

What a terrific example of fun and stumbling! These two invite you to join them on their travels! You can check out their amazing blog full of stories and photographs featured above or go visit them on their SU blog featured below.

Dave and Deb are an adventure couple that loves to travel. They want to network with other travelers and travel writers/photographers.

Canada’s Adventure Couple! Aren’t they just down right adorable?!? Well I think so! I will surely be keeping my eye on them from now on! It is always a treat to run across a unique set of Stumbler’s like this couple!

]]> http://bestofstumbleupon.com/pictures/traveling-star-stumblers/feed 4