MillionFace

Ever wondered where do millionaires and billionaires of the world network ?

Well, here is the answer most of them patronize `exclusive social networks’ that are open strictly by invitation.

Welcome to the social networking for the elite and creame da creame of the society. These myspaces of the rich provide them with a platform where they can flirt, swap advice, plan parties and find new pals without mixing with the commoners.

While some of these networks have a rigorous application process based on education, job title and many more must-haves, others, such as Squa.re and Quintessentially are relatively lenient.

Here’s looking into the exclusive social networks.

1) ASMALLWORLD.NET

aSmallWorld is an exclusive social networking site launched in 2004 by former Lehman Brothers banker Erik Wachtmeister.

With 320,000 members globally, the site was termed `MySpace for millionaires’ by Wall Street Journal.

Strictly by invitation only, the social networking site members don’t have to pay any entry fee. Newcomers are inducted on the basis of education, profession and most important, their network of personal contacts. If you don’t know a member with invite powers, you’re out of luck.

Once invited to join the network, a member can browse the market guide, surf the luxury-travel guide and global-event guide, or participate in forum discussions — one of the site’s most active and popular features.

Members can interact with like-minded individuals who share the same circle of friends, interests, and schedules. Members range from entrepreneurial and business opinion makers to leaders in media, entertainment, fashion, art and sports.

Most of the websites content is produced by the members only who offer travel suggestions, feedback, lively forum discussions, and other topics of common interest.

2) DiamondLounge.Com

Diamond Lounge is one of the most exclusive sites with small membership. The site claims to be a luxury online space aimed at those who want a sophisticated and classy alternative to the standard online dating and social networking websites.

Read the rest of this entry »

Increasingly people are becoming tech-savvy and moving on towards Internet for more and more information. It goes so far that seekers self-diagnose their health-issues through the net. New research is giving a completely different dimension to it: the simple act of Googling may be good for your brain health!

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have shown that searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. The findings, to be published in the upcoming issue of The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, suggest that searching the Web helps to stimulate and may even improve brain function.

The U.C.L.A. researchers studied healthy people between the ages of 55 and 76. Half of the study participants had experience searching the Internet, whereas the other half had no experience. Participants performed Web searches and book-reading tasks while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, which measure the level of cerebral blood flow.

While all participants demonstrated the same brain activity during the book-reading task, the Web-savvy group also registered activity in areas of the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning, the researchers said.

“Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading — but only in those with prior Internet experience,” said principal investigator Dr. Gary Small, director of U.C.L.A.’s Memory and Aging Research Center, in a press release.

“The study results are encouraging that emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults,” Dr. Small said. “Internet searching engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function.”

During Web searching, the Web-savvy volunteers showed a twofold increase in brain activation when compared with those who had little Internet experience. The tiniest measurable unit of brain activity registered by the functional M.R.I. is called a voxel. During Internet searching, those with prior Web experience sparked 21,782 voxels, compared with only 8,646 voxels for those with less experience.

The researchers noted that compared with reading, the Internet’s wealth of choices requires that people make decisions about what to click on, an activity that engages important cognitive circuits in the brain. Dr. Small said the minimal brain activation shown by the less experienced Internet users may be due to the fact that it was a new experience, and the Web users weren’t yet adept at clicking around and making choices. He said that with more experience, the novice Web users may eventually demonstrate the same level of brain activity as the more computer-savvy participants.

A simple, everyday task like searching the Web appears to enhance brain circuitry in older adults, demonstrating that our brains are sensitive and can continue to learn as we grow older.

Happy surfing and happy health!

That said, it originated from the Land of Kamasutra and now it’s displaying on Google. It is very apparent from the fact that Pakistan and India stand amongst the top Google search of the average worldwide traffic of the keyword “sex” in all years.

Internet users in India and Pakistan are the world’s most frequent searchers for Web sites using the keyword “sex” on Google search engines, according to statistics provided by Google Inc (Please brows this link)

Either the Indian sub continent is too inquisitive for sex or has a voracious appetite for it but whatever it is, it seems to be sex starved and can’t seem to get enough of it. At the same time the need for educating themselves on sex is also at its peak.

While Pakistan as a country stays on top, Indian cities Delhi and Chennai take the cake. 3 out of the top 10 cities are from India with Delhi being at Number 1 followed by Chennai at close second and Mumbai at Number 4.

What is also interesting to note is that seven out of top ten countries are Muslim countries.

Well, now don’t get surprised by this, Here is an extended list of top searches for other keywords

Terrorism: Pakistan on top

Extremism: Pakistan on top

Taliban: Pakistan on Top

Jihad: Pakistan on Top

Child Sex: Pakistan on Top, Top three cities - Delhi, India, Chennai, India, Mumbai, India

Sexy, Sexy Girl, Nude, Sexy Video: Pakistan and India amongst top three

Last but not the least

Education: Pakistan and India on top

Sex Education: Pakistan and India take the number 1 and number 2 spot.

From Sex to Education to Sex Education – That completes the cycle of Karma Sutra

Some more updates from Seattle Times

” The Yahoo shareholders who spoke at the company’s meeting in San Jose today were not particularly interested in raking the company’s board of directors over the coals for its handling of Microsoft’s acquisition offer. In fact, several who spoke praised the board and were glad that it held off Microsoft. In the quote of the day, one man, who said he owns 1,200 shares, along with his wife, described Microsoft as “a corporation-destroying, over-the-hill, green tentacled octopus from Redmond.” Zing.

There was no announcement of the outcome of the vote for the board of directors — meaning no indication of the number of shareholders who expressed their discontent with the board by withholding votes.

Chairman Roy Bostock went back through the entire Microsoft acquisition saga from Yahoo’s point of view. His version of events elicited a one-line statement from Microsoft before the Yahoo meeting concluded”

I am dying to hear the outcome, meanwhile Jim Goldman is providing updates at CNBC. Here are excerpts

2:10 pm EST: Jerry Yang stayed on message, reiterating the strategy, in broad brush strokes, that the company has been implementing since the end of last year.

“Yahoo is a great brand, well recognized around the world,” he proclaimed. The company is focused on “driving relevance,” good for both users and advertisers.

Yahoo, says Yang, “attracts a huge number of users…500 million users a month…Number 1 or 2″ in every major category used to measure net influence and success.

He says Yahoo is unique as a platform, that “no other company… has this collection of assets,” that he and his management team “remain very excited to transform” the company.

1:52 pm EST: As soon as Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock took the microphone at today’s shareholder meeting, he immediately went on the offensive, responding to a shareholder who requested that Yahoo execs fill out timesheets to show just how much they’re actually working, he said he’d be more than happy to.

He also said, “A great deal of misinformation, a great deal of misunderstanding” about the company, its strategy and its executives.

He said, there’s been “tremendous forward progress by the company since the middle of ‘07″ when Jerry Yang succeeded Terry Semel as the company’s CEO.

On negotiations with Microsoft, he said, “The board controlled the process in dealing with Microsoft from the beginning… We called the shots… Our number one priority was maximizing shareholder value.”

On the offer confusion over what Microsoft was offering: “Microsoft’s initial $31 bid was the only written proposal ever received by the company…

“In an offhand comment, (Microsoft said to one of our executives), ‘There may be a few more dollars on the table. It was never explicitly communicated to the board, and never communicated in writing.” On the partnership with Google

“After Microsoft withdrew the offer, and only after they withdrew the offer, we entered into a deal with Google.”

On Carl Icahn, “He’s a smart guy, and despite some of the things written about him…a good guy.”

“Needless to say, the last six months have been full of twists and turns,” but Bostock wants shareholders to focus on what he calls an ambitious plan and “one hell of a performance by this management team” especially in light of Yahoo’s decision not to change guidance for the remainder of 2008.