Philly Flash Mobs in police 'Lockdown'

Flash mob
"And if I even HEAR a Rihanna ring tone..."

The ludicrous act of the "flash mob" - in which a bunch of smug people who are all way too "into" the internet converge on a place to do something that may have been considered wacky and cutting-edge 20 years ago - is on the verge of being banned by fed-up law enforcers in Philadelphia.

While here in the UK harmless internet losers get together to recreate scenes from TV shows in a geeky, yet shy and inoffensive way, in Philly the flash mob trend has led to upwards of 2,000 kids getting together to block traffic, smash up cars and "rough up" bystanders.

It's all become too much for Philly mayor Michael Nutter, who's ordering his police force to monitor social networking sites for signs of imminent flash mob outbreaks - and could end with stricter curfews on teenagers to stop them meeting up to cause mayhem.

The "Get Facebook" war continues with STD link

It's been a seriously bad spell of anti-PR for poor old Facebook recently, what with a number of high-profile cases involving bad things happening after people hooked up through the social networking site. And now, while Facebook is (a) down and (b) newsworthy, the site has been linked with a rise in cases of olde worlde sex disease syphilis by a report in The Telegraph.

The paper quotes Professor Peter Kelly, the director of public health in Teesside, who says cases of the long-forgotten STD have risen "fourfold" in the North East thanks, in part, to youths using Facebook to organise casual... sex... things. Parties. Sex raves. Whatever it is young people do with their genitals these days.

Facebook

POKING: Always be safe - stay inside alone

Facebook, clearly a bit angered by this current and oddly rabid "Get Facebook" media trend, responded quite tetchily, saying "Facebook is no more responsible for STD transmission than newspapers are responsible for bad vision" and pointed out that it is not, in fact, a hotbed for casual sex. Weird Tech has certainly never had any action through Facebook, so is happy to back up that assertion.

Double six - let's kiss

And guess what? There's now an app for helping you not get syphilis. Just released on the App Store is "Spice Dice", a custom sexy times tool created by sexy times tool maker Durex, which offers sex tips and romance advice for people for whom staring at their iPhones in bed for half an hour is considered adventurous foreplay.

Durex

TOP TIP: And try to remember her name if you just met on the internet

The app also features a dice-rolling sexual position suggester complete with instructions about what goes in where, if there's nothing on telly tonight and you fancy a bit of a change (and your knees are feeling up to the challenge). It's on the App Store now, and is obviously free seeing as it's pretty much one huge advert for the Durex brand.

Cloaking device

Cloak Bag takes the hidden-camera idea favoured by odd men on trains and the edges of beaches the world over and makes it real, resulting in a product you can purchase for a small amount of money and a large amount of shame. Apparently designed to help nervous tourists take photos in places where they may get mugged, Cloak Bag lets you hide your camera from view, taking photographs in secrecy. Classy.

Cloak bag

GLORY HOLE: David Bailey would just ask if he can take a photo of their feet

There's a small chance the Cloak Bag might be an elaborate internet hoax designed as a "honeytrap" operation to capture the address details of all the sick perverts of the world, so you might want to be careful. Or just make your own by ruining one of your mum's old handbags.

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