Whats Up, Lady Gaga: 2011

Twitter Goes Gaga: 4 Tips to Protect Your Twitter and Facebook Accounts From Hackers

attract love, wealth, money, power, desire, get rich, magic

Opinion by HEMANSHU (HEMU) NIGAM

Dec. 21, 2011

Were you one of the 17 million Lady Gaga Twitter followers, or 45 million Facebook fans, who got the message yesterday saying Gaga would give you a free iPad 2?
Given that they would cost more than $20 billion, those iPads would be quite a generous Christmas gift. Unfortunately for all the monsters out there -- Gaga's affectionate name for her fans -- the tweets and updates were false.

Hemu Nigam

Lady Gaga's accounts were hacked. All anyone who clicked on the links in the tweets got -- there were at least 7,000 people, according to TechCrunch -- was a virus that could do major damage to their computers.
Lady Gaga isn't the only celebrity to have her account hacked recently. The long list ranges from Bristol Palin to Selena Gomez, from Paul Pierce to Marc Jacobs. The same free-iPad hack reportedly hit Nelly Furtado's Twitter account soon after it hit Gaga's.

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And hackers aren't only stalking celebrities' accounts -- they're going for yours too. Twitter says it's growing by 460,000 users a day. Just as in the real world, criminals go where the potential victims are.
So, how do you make sure this doesn't happen to your Twitter account, Facebook account or even your bank account? Here are some tips.

Do the password shuffle. Create a different password for everything that is important online! You already do this in the real world by having different keys for all important areas in your real life: the house, the office, the safe deposit box -- so do the same thing online. Read more on passwords here.

Get the virus vaccine. Make sure that your security software is up to date. That way, just in case you get caught up in the Lady Gaga frenzy, the virus could be blocked by your anti-virus software before it does any damage.

Always update security settings in your account. Users need to remember to exercise the same caution with their Twitter accounts that they would with their email or banking websites.

Suspect everyone. If a friend, relative or acquaintance tweets something that is out of character, assume that it isn't from them. If your friend Suzy sends a link to an offer that sounds too good to be true, go with your gut and don't click on it. Then, do your friend Suzy a favor and let her know her account might have been hacked and that she should change her password.
Millions love Twitter -- which means hackers do too. Don't let the vultures feed on your feed, and know how to separate the good tweet from the bad.
This work is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.
Read more about Hemanshu Nigam here.
Learn more about cyber safety on "20/20's" "We Find Them" page.

Lady Gaga Named AP’s “Entertainer of the Year”

Thursday, December 22nd 2011 | Leave a Comment

Pop singer Lady Gaga has had one hell of a year, and now the Associated Press has topped it off by naming her their “Entertainer of the Year” for 2011.
Gaga beat out fellow artists Taylor Swift and Adele for the title, as well as other figures in pop culture, like the cast of “Harry Potter,” TV star Charlie Sheen and even late Apple founder Steve Jobs, who she reportedly beat by just 3 votes.

Over 135 ballots were submitted by news organizations that make up AP’s membership, who were asked to cast their votes on the person they believe had the most influence on entertainment and culture in the year 2011.
“I am humbled and honored to be named ‘Entertainer of The Year’ by The Associated Press,” Lady Gaga said in a statement Monday signed “Mother Monster.”
“My deepest gratitude to the broadcasters and journalists who’ve supported me over the years, and in turn, are now supporting the loves of my life: my fans. Thank you for believing in ‘Born This Way.’ May you continue to brave the dreams of Showbiz.”
Among the things voters considered when casting their votes for Gaga were her multi-platinum album “Born This Way” (released at the beginning of the year), her “Monster Ball” Tour, her Emmy Award winning HBO concert special, her “A Very Gaga Thanksgiving” TV special, which aired on ABC, and her collaborations with legends like Elton John, Cher and most recently Tony Bennett.
In addition to all of that, Gaga has also visited the White House, she performed for Bill Clinton‘s 65th birthday this year, and has over 17 million followers on Twitter.
“She gets people talking,” says Greg Retsinas, digital director of the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, Calif. “She’s a polarizing figure not just in music and fashion but in pop culture and society. In a recent week, I heard her referenced personally by my 9-year-old daughter, a prominent local CFO and an airline pilot, all glowingly.”
Previous winners of the AP Entertainer of the Year include Betty White, Taylor Swift, Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert.

Lady Gaga 'So Happy' About Oscar Recognition

Pop star's duet with Elton John, 'Hello Hello,' is on short list for Best Original Song.

By Jocelyn Vena (@jocelyn1212)

How does Lady Gaga feel about making the short list for the Best Original Song race at the Oscars? Well, she's pretty excited.

"Just heard my duet 'Hello, Hello' with Elton [John] is up for nomination at the Oscars! 'Gnomeo & Juliet' is such a beautiful film," she wrote on Twitter. "I'm so happy!!"
On Monday, it was announced that the Gaga/Elton duet is one of the 39 tracks vying for a nomination. will.i.am's "Rio" track, "Hot Wings," Mary J. Blige's "The Living Proof" from "The Help," and Zooey Deschanel's "Winnie the Pooh" track, "So Long," along with multiple tracks from "The Muppets," are also in the running. The final nominations will be announced January 24, and the awards show is slated to take place February 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
Gaga is celebrating her latest achievement in Japan, where she will spend the holidays. "Well, I'll be in Japan right up until Christmas Day," she recently told MTV News. "So I'll be eating with all my Japanese Little Monsters. I like shabu shabu [a type of Japanese hotpot]."
Since touching down, Mother Monster has been keeping her fans up-to-date on what she's been up to on Twitter. "Sipping tea in Japan with Haus. Feeling so grateful," she wrote. "We sold about 1 million albums a month worldwide since the release of BORN THIS WAY."
The busy holiday season caps off an even busier year for Lady Gaga, who happened to be MTV News' Top Newsmaker of 2011. She tirelessly released singles, videos, personas and a chart-topping album (Born This Way) and scooped up awards at seemingly every show from the Grammys to the VMAs. She was also #5 on our list of Best Artists of 2011, and her disco empowerment track "Born This Way" snagged the #5 spot on the Best Songs of 2011 list as well.

Lady Gaga Crashes at Boyfriend’s Beach Shack in Cali

by: Amy Sciarretto Yesterday

Christopher Polk, Getty Images

Lady Gaga wasn’t kidding when she said she is happy not having her own home (or the mortgage that goes along with it) and instead crashing on the air mattress at her parents’ apartment in New York City.
The ‘Marry the Night’ singer carries that attitude when she stays with her alleged boyfriend and ‘You & I’ video co-star Taylor Kinney in his San Diego beach shack. Photos of the abode have surfaced and it’s certainly a bit rugged!
Kinney has three roommates but Gaga would prefer to crash out with him than make accommodations elsewhere, which she can easily afford! Perhaps the Mother Monster is really in love with Kinney and wants to spend time with him in his own comfortable surroundings!
Brittany Sackett, a real estate agent who dated Kinney for about a year, spoke to In Touch Magazine (as reported by The Daily Mail) about Kinney’s digs, saying, “It’s really run-down.” You can see from the photos that it’s certainly laced with a beachy, frat dude, surfer-stoner vibe, with all the bright paintings.
Sackett said she broke up with Kinney when she caught him on a date with Gaga. He accidentally called her while he was out with the Mother Monster in September. What a bad time to pocket dial, huh?! Sackett said she heard Gaga gushing about Kinney and saying he was “sexy and creative.”
However, Sackett doesn’t share Gaga’s positive feelings about Kinney, calling him “dishonest and disloyal.” She also said that he’s “fame hungry,” which intimates that Sackett thinks that is the reason he is dating the most famous woman in the world who has said that her greatest work of art is how she handles her fame. Gaga also has an album called ‘The Fame’ and a re-release called ‘The Fame Monster,” so Sackett seems to be saying that Kinney is latching onto Gaga for her fame.
For what it’s worth, the fact that Gaga crashes out in a beach shack is cool by us. It’s not surprising either, since Gaga’s Lower East Side apartment is the East Coast/New York City equivalent of Kinney’ beach bungalow. She’s been there, done that and has fond memories of that period.

Filed Under: Hot AC, Hot Off the Press, Lady Gaga, Pop, Rhythmic Category: News

Lady Gaga “Marry The Night” Download Day Didn’t Really Register, Did It?

Lady Gaga Marry The Night single cover art

Last week, Lady Gaga’s “Marry The Night” creaked up three positions to #29 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. To date, Mother Monster’s nocturnal tune is her 12th single, and, so far, it’s looking to be her first to miss the Top 10 altogether. So how did that Marry The Night Download Day Facebook campaign turn out, then? The date Little Monsters were to mobilize was yesterday (December 20).

“On Tuesday, December 20th (4 p.m. local time) fans around the world will download the song on their country’s iTunes,” reads the Facebook page for the fan movement. “If you already have a copy, you can gift another one to your friend.” Alas, only 7,154 Facebook users “liked” the campaign’s page — not really enough to make much of a blip on the radar.
We pretty much kept our hawk eyes trained on iTunes’ Top Songs chart throughout the day yesterday, and the highest we saw “Marry The Night” climb to was #39. As of today, the tune has dropped back down to #42.
Allow us to quote from Gaga fan Cris Sanchez, who wrote the following on the Facebook wall of the campaign today: “guess Marry The Night is going to be Gaga’s first single to not make the top 10….”

By Robbie Daw on Wed Dec 21 2011
Posted to: Lady Gaga

Thursday, December 22, 2011