Avoiding Exes on Facebook and Other Fascinating News around the Web

Breaking Up is Hard(er) To Do

If you are of a certain generation, then everyone you’ve ever dated has something in common. They are all on social media, and they are likely part of your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram experience. As New York Magazine’s Maureen O’Connor explains, the social media generation never really breaks up. “There was also a time, I am told, when staying in touch was difficult. Exes were characters from a foreclosed past, symbols from former and forgone lives. Now they are part of the permanent present. I was a college freshman when Facebook launched. All my exes live online, and so do their exes, and so do their exes, too.” I’m a little too old to be directly affected by this new reality. In my generation, we’re mostly worried that our kids will someday read our old Tweets.

(Scheduling note: NextDraft will be only be published on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week.)

Cybercrooks Busted

For about four years, identity thieves and credit card artists knew there was one excellent place to score fake identification cards and driver’s licenses: Celtic’s Novelty I.D. Service in Las Vegas. What they didn’t know was that Celtic’s itself was a fake. Wired’s Kevin Poulsen on the secret service agent who collared cybercrooks by selling them fake IDs. (If you can’t trust a fake ID salesperson in Vegas, who can you trust?)

Hope for the Middle East

The Middle East is where bold ideas for peace have gone to die. But that isn’t stopping John Kerry from making a push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians a key focus of his tenure as Secretary of State. Kerry has already made six trips to the region and has managed to get the two parties to agree on a model for restarting talks. No one is placing their bets yet, but here’s The New Republic’s Ben Birnbaum with seven reasons there’s hope for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Tips for Microsoft from The Wire

“We got a weak product, and we holding on to prime real estate with no muscle.” So said The Wire’s Stringer Bell to his soon-to-fall boss Avon Barksdale. They were in the drug dealing business. But could the same line be applicable to the decline of Microsoft? Slate’s David Auerbach pieces together how Microsoft lost its way, as understood through The Wire.

+ It’s hard for Microsoft to hold its turf as Apple sells millions of iEverythings, and Google now serves 25% of North American Internet Traffic.

+ How did Charles Manson go from being a low-level pimp to being a frighteningly effective sociopath? According to a new book, he was greatly influenced by a prison class based on Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.

+ Eight business lessons from Whitey Bulger.

+ Need another fool-proof way to get ahead in business. Start smoking. And then stop.

How Ideas Go Viral

“In our era of electronic communications, we’ve come to expect that important innovations will spread quickly. Plenty do: think of in-vitro fertilization, genomics, and communications technologies themselves. But there’s an equally long list of vital innovations that have failed to catch on. The puzzle is why.” The New Yorker’s Atul Gawande examines why some ideas go viral and some don’t. Luckily for Gawande, this story is already the most popular on his site, proving that nothing is as viral as article on why things go viral (except maybe cat photos).

Dubai Rape Victim Freed

Marte Deborah Dalelv reported being raped by a co-worker in Dubai. She was then sentenced to a “16-month sentence for having sex outside marriage.” Thankfully, those charges have been dropped. But that probably provides little solace for other victims (who don’t benefit from an outcry on social media) of similarly crazy laws.

Britain Limits (Some) Porn

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has introduced a set of measures designed to block adult content on the Internet by default. If citizens want to access such content on the Internet, they would have to call their ISP and ask to be opted out of the block. They should use the same block for news about the Royal baby.

It’s a Boy!

It has been the ultimate labor party in England (and around the world) as everyone in the media has been focused on the royal baby – which was born at 4:24 pm local time and weighs 8lbs 6oz. If you are one of those people, here’s the royal baby media circus liveblogged. Most people haven’t paid this much attention to a uterus since birth.

+ Four Historical Royal Baby Birthing Traditions.

Harper Lee’s Blockbuster Lawsuit

“She published only one novel, but today, 53 years later, it remains a global blockbuster, having sold more than 30 million copies in 40 languages and still selling 750,000 copies a year.” And all these years, Harper Lee has been making millions off her smash hit, To Kill a Mockingbird. Now she’s in court claiming that her agent duped her into signing over the rights to her own book. From Vanity Fair: To Steal a Mockingbird.

The Bottom of the News

There’s a new movie about Bruce Springsteen that is made up of footage submitted by fans. And according to at least one confessed fanatic, the movie rocks.

+ The ten most expensive photographs in the world.

+ The Ultimate Silicon Valley Start-up: Chuck E. Cheese.

+ 21 pictures that will restore your faith in humanity.