. . . in 1974.

It’s now going to be much easier.

Facebook is moving to verified accounts for celebrities, and they will be able to create other accounts with fake names.

The biggest technology and gadget show, CES, just kicked off in Las Vegas, and as usual much of the talk surrounds Apple:

Apple is the only company that consistently gets big buzz out of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — without even attending.

This year will be no different.

Connected TVs — TVs that connect to and can access content from the Internet — will be a big part of CES this year. And just about everyone in tech expects Apple at some point to launch such a television — an iTV — that easily consumes and shares with other Apple devices content served from the company’s media-storing iCloud.

Microsoft made news earlier by saying this was the last year they would attend CES/ Why attend if Apple gets all the buzz anyways? Maybe Microsoft should focus on new products instead of protecting its Windows/Office cash cow? Or maybe not . . .

With the shopping frenzy of the holidays, there are so many deals out there your head will spin thinking about them. Also, your list of items can get ridiculously long.

Does anyone shop blindly today? Do you ever just walk into a store, browse around and buy something? I guess that still happens, particularly with things like clothes, but with gadgets, electronics and bigger stuff like cars, doing research online before you venture into a store or showroom is critical if you want to make a smart purchase. First, you have to get a better idea of what you want to buy, and then you can think about what deals are available so you can save money.

The good thing is that there’s a ton of helpful information out there on gadgets, electronics and cars. You can browse expert reviews and then look for reactions from consumers. Cast a wide net, and if you’re open minded and flexible, you can end up with amazing deals.

If you think about cars, for example, you can use an online used car price guide to arm yourself with information before walking into a car dealership. Now, like I said, flexibility is important. If you’re dead set on a 60s Mustang or a used Porsche 911 , then obviously you will have less leverage. But if you have a variety of potential cars you want, you’ll do much better.

The same applies to electronics. You might not be able to negotiate in the stores, but you’ll see auctions for products. If you’re not married to one product, you will do better with price.

When Xbox LIVE first launched, Microsoft talked a lot about the potential for the service and how quickly it could grow into the hub of all living room entertainment. It’s not quite there yet, but as the service list has grown, Xbox LIVE has gotten closer and closer to that goal. If you’re a sports fan and haven’t already hooked in to the service, now might be the time do so. ESPN on Xbox LIVE is going to get a major update on August 25th to help kick off the college football season.

“The new ESPN on Xbox LIVE is going to the take the sports viewing experience to the next level,” said Raphael Poplock, Vice President, Games and Partnerships at ESPN. “By putting fans in control through better personalization and interactive features, we’re able to deliver live events, highlights and more from ESPN in unique and innovative ways.”

The new features in the August 25 update include:

· My Sports – ESPN on Xbox LIVE now allows you to choose your favorite sports and teams and designate these channels as “My Sports,” so you can jump directly into the games and content you care most about. ESPN on Xbox LIVE will automatically provide you with a personalized daily feed of news and highlights based on “My Sports,” catching you up on only the teams and sports you care most about.

· Mini Guide – The Mini Guide gives you a preview and quick access to all the sports content you care about right at the bottom of the screen. Saturday is all about college football, and now the best fans don’t have to miss anything. Is another game tied up late in the fourth? Instantly switch to that game. Halftime? Play the earlier highlights.

· Split Screen – Because true sports fans want to watch more than one game at a time, ESPN on Xbox LIVE is adding Split Screen, allowing you to watch two events at once. Watch live events on both screens or a live event on one while you catch up on news and highlights on the other. You can even control both screens independently, pausing and rewinding each separately so you never miss a second of the action.

· Voice Control with Kinect ™ – Focus on your team instead of looking for the remote. Navigate through the Content Guide, skip to the next highlight, or play, pause, and rewind that big play…all with the sound of your voice and the magic of Kinect ™.

· Scoreboard – ESPN on Xbox LIVE is also adding a live college football scoreboard that you can jump to any time. You can even use Split Screen to watch the big game on one side of your screen while the live scoreboard occupies the other, keeping you up on all the action from around college football.

· Reminders – Too many big games to keep track of in your head? Not to worry – ESPN on Xbox LIVE now lets you tag games and set reminders so you never miss a moment.

· Live Alerts – With new live alerts, ESPN on Xbox LIVE will keep you posted on score changes from around college football, even if you’re not keeping a close eye on the scoreboard.

· ESPN BottomLine – The addition of the ESPN BottomLine to ESPN on Xbox LIVE keeps you in the know with breaking news and score updates from around the world of sports.

The college football season is close on the horizon, and ESPN on Xbox LIVE is giving you everything you need to dig in and see every second of the action you care most about in vivid HD-quality. Beyond football, ESPN on Xbox LIVE will continue to provide you with live games and highlights from the NBA, MLB, soccer, golf, tennis, and much more.

Limewire shutdown its popular file-sharing software in October after a federal court ruled against it for copyright violation. The company continued to run a legitimate digital music store, selling music from small, independent labels. It has decided to shut that service down as well, though the reasons are unclear.

Peter Kafka at MediaMemo thinks the decision is an attempt to shore up some cash against the impending January court ruling to determine how much Limewire owes the record labels listed in the October suit. It’s strange though, since Limewire had been talking up its service just months ago.

In any case, it’s a bummer. I’m sure a lot of people will be sad to see Limewire, both legitimate and otherwise, go.

Earlier this week Mark Zuckerberg held a press conference to announce a new messaging service. I say service because it’s not the email program that everyone was expecting. That’s part of the package, but it’s a small part and an optional one.

This new system is actually about conglomerating all of your message services – email, SMS, chat – in one place. The big issue, as Facebook sees it, is that we have too many places to look for our text-based communication with one another. By building the system into Facebook, Zuckerberg hopes Facebook can become your complete social hub for the web.

It’s more than that, though. While working on this project, Zuckerberg talked to high school students about the way they’re using email. Turns out, they aren’t. It’s too formal, which I can totally understand. I can get upwards of a hundred emails a day, and that’s a far cry from the deluge that other tech professionals will see. I don’t need to see, “Hi Jeff,” or “Hello Jeff,” or “Jeff, how are you today?” from promoters and marketers or even my coworkers. I need information, and I prefer that it’s short and to the point.

Zuckerberg is obviously pointing at the end of email, or at least the kind of formal, subject-line message system we understand as email today. He can’t say that, though, if only because he’s Mark Zuckerberg.

I’ve been writing here a lot about the development of online TV services and my desire to be able to truly cut the cord and fully rely on the internet for my media consumption. I don’t currently have a cable subscription of any kind, which makes me really really happy, but my system isn’t perfect and could definitely stand to get a lot better.

The biggest thing standing in my way are the paid subscription services. They show up every few weeks to say stupid shit like this about Hulu and similar services: “If I can watch Glee tomorrow morning and I don’t have to pay a pay TV service –- I think that’s bad.” That’s Dish Network’s VP of Online Content Development and Strategy, Bruce Eisen. Sorry, Bruce, but you’re a moron. For starters, Fox – you know, the company that broadcasts Glee – allows me to do this. Why do they do this? Because customers want it. That’s what being in any sort of delivery service is all about – catering to your customers.

Somewhere along the road to present day, guys like Bruce Eisen forgot that their companies exist to deliver a product that customers want, not to dictate those wants by delivering a mediocre product at a ridiculous price. Not to limit consumer access to content but to provide it. Every time a cable or satellite exec says something like this, I can hear PR firms squealing in dismay. “Bruce! You just told the customers you don’t want them to have what they want! You want to bleed them dry before they can have it! These people aren’t stupid!”

And there’s the other problem. All these execs like to talk as though we don’t understand their business, like we can’t possibly understand the position Hulu has put them in. Sorry for asking you to think, Bruce. Sorry for asking you to adapt. Sorry for asking that American business men do what they were born to do. Make things. We’ve stopped making and become a country of consumers. Well I, for one, am done consuming and I’m ready to make.

Yeah, Bruce, that’s from 30 Rock. I loaded it up on Netflix just now, scrubbed forward to the part I wanted and transcribed it. Why can’t you make things like this:

And less like…wait…hold on a sec. Just have to fire up the old satellite and dig through the DV-ah, fuck it. Nevermind.

Here’s some big news. Twitter started running in-stream ads at some point this week. It’s a big deal because it’s so insanely intrusive. I’m not a Twitter user, but I do check a few accounts here and there, and I would hate to see this kind of crap show up on a regular basis.

As you can see from the photo (which comes from Allen Stern at Center Networks), Twitter inserted an ad in between actual tweets from users, calling it a “promoted tweet.” I don’t really have a problem with these things showing up in search results, but in my own feed? How often will I have to see them? Can I opt out? Will that be a ‘Twitter Pro’ feature?

Whatever the case, it’s a shitty move by Twitter.