In what I think is long overdue news, the FTC today announced that bloggers must disclose if they are being paid to review or post a product on their website, as well as post a “clear and conspicuous” disclosure if such a post is being made under paid pretenses. The penalties include fines up to $11,000 per violation. The new ruling, available directly on the FTC’s site, also mandates that “celebrities have a duty to disclose their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media.”

Finally!

Have you ever noticed how when a new product comes out, a lot of websites have the identical text when reviewing the product? I’m not talking about a few sentences here and there. I’m talking about the same verb use, the exact same sentences, and the exact same 4 1/2 and 5 star reviews. That’s payola at work for you. There’s even a very popular website that apparently fired it’s reviewer for actually posting an honest review when the game company had paid for advertising on that site.

What’s also interesting is the specific mention in the article that “word of mouth” advertising also applies. This regulation makes it mandatory that even if it’s activity beyond websites, if it’s paid for, it needs to have that notation clearly attached. The RNC and DNC should watch out for this little tripwire from the FTC. I can see them stepping on this in some of their “campaigns”, too.

I think what will probably come of this for the web will be a puny little “advertisement” banner on the top of a paid post, much like what is in magazines and TV ads nowadays. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

When someone cheats on you, it’s devastating. Devastating. There is no other word for it. There is no kind way to frame it.

A few days ago, David Letterman admitted on his show “he is the victim of an alleged extortion attempt and admitted to having sexual relations with several members of his staff”. A few mild jokes later, ha ha, it’s so funny, and let’s not talk about it anymore. Next guest!

Fine. But I think David missed one very critical thing.

Nevermind the blackmail or the producer or the money. David needs to apologize to Regina Lasko. Because since this was revealed in the public eye, it needs to be addressed in the public eye. He has apologized to his staff, his audience, his friends, but nothing to the woman who has been with him since 1986. 23 years and one child apparently doesn’t merit one public “mea cupla”.

On his show, in the same context as the original confession, he needs to say “Regina, I’m sorry for having cheated on you.” Then take a week or two off to really seriously work on the relationship. Quit going back to the scene of the crime and hiding behind work. Go home, take your hits, and make things better. I’m sure Craig Ferguson will be happy to cover the Late Show.

And if you go back and there isn’t any love? Let them go. Quit wasting someone’s life who loves you if you really don’t have the same love for them back. Let them go to be with someone who will really love them just as much as they loved you.

Cheating is anything you can’t do in front of your partner. If they’re OK with having whatever done right in front of them, then it’s not cheating. It’s as simple as that.

If you have a hotmail.com, msn.com or live.com. account, or if you have one of these as part of your Xbox 360, you should know that more than 10,000 of these account passwords were just posted online. Most of these accounts were in Europe, but quite a few were here in the US.

If you have any one of these accounts, take a moment right now to change your password. In Hotmail, you need to go to OPTIONS in the top menu and then down to MORE OPTIONS. From there you can choose VIEW AND EDIT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION. Finally, click the CHANGE link next to the password field to type in something new.

Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.

* The H1N1 (Swine Flu) is getting ugly. A quietly released CDC paper that you can download here says H1N1 is adapting to everything being thrown at it. The paper says “…humanity faces a dangerous threat. Viruses isolated from a sample of patients with confirmed cases in early phases of the outbreak demonstrated resistance to amantadine and rimantadine…. More recently, pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus resistance to oseltamivir emerged during treatment of 2 immunosuppressed patients in the United States. Such cases demonstrate that oseltamivir resistance can emerge in infected persons treated with oseltamivir. To date, all isolates tested have been susceptible to zanamivir.” The paper is written in med-speak, but it’s quick reading. Stock up on Zanamivir and buy stock in GlaxoSmithKline. [CDC (CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION)]

* Related to the H1N1 (swine flu) mutation and adaptability… not surprisingly it is spreading. A website from the CDC shows “Twenty-seven states are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. Any reports of widespread influenza activity in September are very unusual.” The website is an overall 2009 H1N1 update and is good a good reference to bookmark. The stats on the bottom of the website are particularly worrisome. “U.S. Influenza and Pneumonia-Associated Hospitalizations and Deaths from August 30 – September 19, 2009… 12,863 hospitalizations and 1,197 deaths.” That’s in just 20 days. Stock up on masks and meds now. [CDC (CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION)]

* Meanwhile, the FDA has released a warning for consumers not to eat or purchase certain imported dried plums because they’re spiced with lead. The problem isn’t with any plums from the US, so check the labels. Or better yet, just skip plums altogether. Yuck. [FDA]

* When blood used for a transfusion is over 30 days old, it doubles the possibility of death for the person receiving the blood according to an article in the LA TIMES. The article says the American Red Cross believes blood has a “shelf life” of 42 days, but the reality now looks like 30 days or less. Seriously, one of the better things you can do on a weekend is go and donate blood. You will not only be helping saving someone’s life, but when this goes mainstream, you can bet the blood banks will need donations more than ever. [LA TIMES]

* Is vitamin water really better for you? Nope. At least according to an article in Food Business News. Vitamin water is better than most sodas, but compared to water? Not so much. And for athletes, sports drinks are superior to vitamin water too. Save your money, folks. [FOOD BUSINESS NEWS]