This week’s PRobecast, Alison Raymond, Tony Sapienza, Amy Krigman and Renatta Siewart talk California’s bill that makes it illegal to impersonate someone on the Web, cardless check-ins at the gym, business logos and more. Here are the issues we covered:

CA Bill says it’s illegal to impersonate – California recently passed a bill that makes it illegal to impersonate someone else on the web – and this means person or corporation. While instances like the whole Phoebe Price bullying case, would make me want to agree with this bill. What happened to freedom of speech?

Fingerprints at the Gym – An article in DailyFinance talked about a gym in the Silicon Valley installing fingerprint scanners at their front desk – as part of their national cardless check-in program. So gym-goers will scan their right and left index finders and the machine would keep in on file. The article brings up a good point, identity theft is already a problem but at least you can get a new account number. You can’t get a new fingerprint. Would you scan your print so you didn’t have to remember your card?

What to Consider when Creating a Business Logo – A mashable article talked about the 4 key things to consider when creating a logo and these included: Make sure your logo gives a good impression, Make your logo “sticky” – meaning non-changing, Find a great designer and introduce yourself into the social marketplace. I think this article brought up a good point – logos really need a good first impression. If it doesn’t look good, your audience will likely look elsewhere. And, secondly – introduce yourself to the social sphere, but think about where you want to go. Don’t spread yourself too thin. You want to make sure you have a plan as to what you want to accomplish and then proceed to do so.

Firefox 4’s Beta 4: Hello, Sync and Panorama – Mozilla just released its beta version of Firefox 4 which includes 2 features: Panorama and Sync. Panorama is a visual tool that allows you to see all of your open tabs in a group. It has a drag and drop interface so you can more easily manage them. Which is helpful for the tab-fiends. The Sync allows users to synchronize all their bookmarks, history, passwords, etc. across multiple computers. What are your thoughts on these new features

Could ‘Social Network’ hurt Facebook? – There’s a film coming out in October called “The Social Network” that is supposed to be about Mark Zuckerberg and how facebook was created. Apparently Zuckerberg didn’t have anything to do with the film and the film casts him in some bad light. If true, do you think this is going to effect how people will think of facebook?

Lindsay Lohan’s Potential New Radio Gig – Lindsay Lohan just got out of rehab and there is talk of her calling the East Coast home again. A radio show in Long Island is now offering her and her mother Dina $1M to host the morning radio show and talk fashion, tips, etc. Do you want tips from Lindsay

The Most Dangerous Celebrities to Google – McAfee recently put out a top 10 list of the most dangerous celebrities to Google. The Top 3 being Jessica Biel at 3, Julia Roberts at #2 and Cameron Diaz being the top dangerous celebrity. According to McAfee, the risk is greater when you include “nake” or “nude,” which isn’t really surprising. This really just goes back to the fact that you have to be careful what you click on, whether it’s a link that was sent to you or on Google.

The 15 Most Bedbug-Infested Cities in the US- There was a recent study of the top 15 bedbug-infested cities in the US and Boston came out as number 11. Gross! What are your thoughts on this epidemic?

Lastly, this week we are starting a PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which we go around the room and everyone votes on what story did the best job PR-wise. This week’s winner is Terminix who released the study on the top bedbug-infested cities. Not only does this story have the “yuck” – it also grabbed a lot of attention.

So, Congratulations, Terminix!

Hope you enjoyed PRobecast, Topaz Partners’ loosely edited weekly podcast!

Let us know what your thoughts are on these matters!

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In this episode of PRobecast, Alison Raymond, Tony Sapienza, Amy Krigman and Joanna DiTrapano talk PR, social media, location based services and Mel Gibson. Here are some topics we covered:

iPhone 4 – Was Apple rushing to get out the newest version of the iPhone without flushing out the kinks first?

KIN – Why is Motorola pushing promotion yet cutting the phone?

Facebook Rivals – Is Google building a facebook rival? How will these new rivals to the social networking giant work out?

Toyota recalls – Toyota was aware of a problem with certain Lexus models for the since 2008, yet they just announced the recall. Why are they trying to mask their issues?

Location-based services – Location-based technologies are now the new rage. How much information are you willing to give to people. Do you really want everyone to know where you are at all times? Is stalking going to be an issue?

You can send your feedback to bmoc@topazpartners.com. You can also call your feedback into 781-404-2403. Or leave a comment on our blog!

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The following video, “Social Media Revolution,” does an excellent job of capturing why social media is such a force for businesses today and why companies should take notice. Social media is changing the way advertisers, marketers, public relations professionals and businesses reach their target audiences. The research and predictions outlined here provide a persuasive argument for using social media strategically as part of your outreach efforts.

Thanks to Socialnomics for putting this together.

What are your thoughts about this video? What do you think of social media and the latest trends? How will social media affect your life in the future?

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