Now, the security of the Oscar voting is being called in question due to the Academy’s decision to go digital in 2013.

The Academy is sourcing the job of developing an electronic voting platform to Everyone Counts, purveyors of “secure, transparent, and universally accessible election systems.” Everyone Counts is based in California and has provided online election solutions in places like New South Wales, Honolulu, and Denver.

PwC’s role in the Oscar voting will reportedly remain unchanged. They’ve been in charge of the ballots for 78 years and in that time have counted over 450,000 individual ballots. This year, 5,783 nomination ballots were sent to Academy members and final ballots were mailed out on Wednesday.

The current mail system has yet to produce a single security breach, according to PwC. Here’s how the ballots currently make their way to the Oscars:

Once the votes have been submitted and tabulated, PwC prepares two briefcases with a complete set of envelopes bearing the Oscar winners’ names. As a precautionary measure, both briefcases are then transported to the ceremony via separate, secret routes with each of the PwC balloting leaders. As a second preventive measure, the PwC balloting leaders also memorize every winner. During the live telecast, Oltmanns and Rosas remain backstage and hand each envelope to award presenters before they walk onstage.

Changing to online voting presumably wouldn’t change any of that, but it would change the way PwC receives the votes. And of course, with any sort of online voting, the first concern is security. And some analysts are concerned that the Academy Awards are opening themselves up to a slew of tampering problems.

Best Actor Ashton Kutcher, anyone?

The worry is that people who wish to mess with the awards could use a variety of cyber attacks – DDoS, malware, etc. These could be used somehow to influence the outcome while possibly remaining undetected.

“Everybody would like there to be secure internet voting, but some very smart people have looked at the problem and can’t figure out how to do it,” David Dill, a professor of computer science at Stanford University told the Guardian. “The problem arises as soon as you decouple the voter from the recorded vote. If someone casts a ballot for best actor A and the vote is recorded for best actor B, the voter has no way of knowing the ballot has been altered, and the auditor won’t be able to see it either.”

This is a general concern, but apparently some security experts are concerned with Everyone Counts specifically.

One security expert said he was unimpressed by the Everyone Counts software. A 2007 report concluded that the system created by Everyone Counts for a local council election in the UK had a “number of serious flaws.” Security experts tried to penetrate its defenses, successfully exposing the problems.

Of course, Everyone Counts is not the only organization to experience difficulties with online elections. The company’s CEO Lori Steele told the Guardian that no system is perfect but computers are more reliable than paper ballot, the latter of which is easier to forge.

“We are honored to have earned the trust of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in bringing online voting to the Oscars starting next year,” said Steele. “Our company was founded to set a new standard of security, accessibility, and transparency in elections. We’re proud to be working with the Academy, an organization that also represents the highest standards in its field.”

Since the changes won’t go into effect until 2013, the Academy plans to spend next year running everything through a series of rigorous tests.

Though the aging Academy population might object to all the newfangled internets and stuff, it’s hard to argue that online voting wouldn’t make things more efficient. But security is always a concern with thing sort of thing.

On the other hand, maybe hackers could finally use this opportunity to make the Academy give Tarantino a Best Picture Oscar one of these days.

I’ve reached out to Everyone Counts for comments, but haven’t heard back.

Today’s videos feature an awesome Doritos commercial that never graced the television, a gruesome marketing video from Capcom, a six man basketball squad, and a blind man cooking.

As most have been saying upon viewing this video, how did it not win the user-made Superbowl commercial contest last year? It has Unicorn tears.

What I love about this video is watching it with someone who has no idea what it’s from. Kudos, Capcom. Now that’s how you market a product. (It’s a viral vid for their upcoming game, Resident Evil: Revelations)

While there are many aspects of the video which should make you laugh, my eyes couldn’t leave his “According to Jim” t-shirt.

I don’t have anything clever or smarmy to say…it’s SPACEKISSER.

An extremely well made music video, which should leave you amazed at the end. If you’re not amazed, then re-watch.

Youth Lagoon – July from Tyler T Williams on Vimeo.

The video creator visited 17 countries in 343 days, and took 6,237 photographs. The results are beautiful, and completely surreal.

Time is Nothing // Around The World Time Lapse from Kien Lam on Vimeo.

I’m going to go ahead and make the call that this trailer will be better than the Oscars itself.

Now this is how you have a food fight to start the new year. The best part, it took place in Canada.

This strategy should be adopted by all basketball teams, just put six people on the court. No one will notice. As a sad side note, the losing coach lost his job the next day.

I thought these interrogation tactics were illegal under the Geneva code. You know, for being so adorable it hurts.

I really hope the tagline for this movie is “This year, the processing fees won’t be the only thing that kills you“

This one’s for all the people who are still trying to cope with the fact that the Harry Potter movie series is over. I’m sure these people have advice for you.

A pretty cool blind man shows us how he is able to cook on a daily basis. Those George Foreman grills are no joke, I burn myself all the time and I have 20/20.

The Social Network was up for: Best Picture, Best Direction, Actor in a Leading Role, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Mixing, and Music (Original Score). It won Best Adapted Screenplay, Film editing, and Music (Aaron Sorkin, Angus Wall/Kirk Baxter and Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross respectively).   

Last month, The Social Network won 4 Golden Globes for Best Director, Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Picture, Drama. It  had been nominated for 6.  Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who portrayed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, was nominated for the Best Actor, Drama award, but lost out to Colin Firth for his performance in the film, The King’s Speech. Andrew Garfield, who played Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Christian Bale for his performance in The Fighter. 

The film missed out on any wins at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, though Eisenberg was nominated for Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Leading Role. 

At the Oscars, The King’s Speech won Best Picture, Tom Hooper won Best Director for that film, Colin Firth won Best actor for it, Wally Pfister won Best Cinematography for Inception, and Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick also won Sound Mixing for Inception. 

Read our review of The Social Network here.

 The Google Lat Long Blog explains. “Take a virtual tour of the Kodak Theatre in Google Earth — as if you’re actually there! It includes the red carpet, paparazzi and even the Oscar statues.”

“If you’d like to take your own trip on the red carpet in Google Earth, download a 3D model of the Red Carpet, Hollywood and Highland Center, and the Kodak Theatre.”

Users can also view Oscar Search trends, see which nominees are being searched and read real-time news articles.

Beginning at 3:30 p.m. PT, Sunday, February 27, visitors to Oscar.com will be able to view red carpet arrivals of actors and celebrities via multiple camera angles. During the broadcast on ABC, users can view the backstage “Thank You Cam” where winners make their acceptance remarks.

For $4.99 users can register to get more online access, including multiple “360 cams” that can be controlled with the click/drag functionality of a mouse. Inside the Kodak Theater, viewers will see the presenters’ hair and makeup area, watch the guests interact during commercial breaks and see the Academy’s official winner portrait area. 

The access continues at the Governors Ball, where users will be able see Oscar winners arriving at the party and having their statuettes being affixed with nameplates.

iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can access the Oscar Backstage Pass App for $0.99 in the App Store.

Intrigued? 

"Movie fans and film buffs will have unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the 83rd Academy Awards from start to finish, beginning with the glamorous red carpet,  into the Kodak Theatre, backstage, and culminating  at the Academy’s official post-ceremony celebration, the Governors Ball," she says. 

"The site will provide a level of access into an awards show never before experienced by an online audience and is designed to be perfect companion to the Oscar telecast," the rep adds. "On Oscar Sunday, Oscar.com will offer unparalleled access to a multitude of cameras, providing online users with the ultimate insider’s view of Hollywood’s biggest night."

There will be special camera utilized specifically to provide live, behind-the-scenes footage via a "Thank You Cam". This will offer Oscar winners an extended opportunity to thank everyone they want, etc. in case they get cut off by the "wrap it up" music. 

There will also be a backstage cam aimed at capturing sound bites, backstage happenings, short interviews, and more behind-the-scenes footage. Finally, there will be Control Room and Press Room cameras. 

"Additionally, Oscar.com will offer a special ‘All Access’ premium feature that makes Hollywood’s biggest event even more accessible to movie lovers, allowing them to follow their favorite stars from the minute they set foot on the red carpet to the exclusive moments backstage and beyond," the rep says. 

Users will have to pay $4.99 to get access to live video footage of the evening’s events from over 20 cameras and "direct their own experience on the red carpet and inside the ceremony". This will utilize "360 cam" technology to control multiple cameras using a computer mouse. 

"All-Access" coverage will continue following the show, with special admission into the Governors Ball.

The Academy Awards are on February 27. The Red Carpet coverage begins at 6:30pm Eastern with the show beginning at 8:00pm Eastern on ABC. 

AP Live coverage of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards will feature social media elements, on-demand clips, photos and news.

AP Live is available on a Facebook fan page and syndicated to AP publishers and other distribution channels, including AT&T Entertainment.

On March 7, AP Global Entertainment Editor Alicia Quarles will be reporting live from the red carpet from 6, to 8 p.m. During the awards show and the after-parties, AP reporters will post updates to Twitter and Facebook.

AP Live also allows users to embed video to their Facebook profiles or their blogs. After the Oscars, AP Live will continue to focus on entertainment, featuring daily and weekly celebrity interviews and other content such as movie previews and a look at upcoming summer blockbusters.

"Through this strategic content and platform deal, we have launched the AP Live player which will feature year-round entertainment events coverage and daily live celebrity interviews," said Livestream CEO Max Haot.

"We look forward to supporting AP as they move forward to cultivate their events-based reporting for millions of fans across all screens and platforms."
 

Hitwise’s Heather Dougherty put together a list of the most searched-for personalities for the week ending February 14th.  Unsurprisingly, Chris Brown got the top spot, and Rihanna’s name showed up in second place.  Jeremy Lusk, a motocross rider who died following a crash, was third.

Next came Nadya Suleman, the woman who seems determined to repopulate the world before disaster strikes.  Joaquin Phoenix, the actor prone to awkward silences, nabbed fifth place.  And Robert Pattinson, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, Eliza Dushku, and Rush Limbaugh then wrapped up the top ten.

As for YouTube’s contribution to our little celebrity roundup, all manner of awards show clips were put on display.  A post on the YouTube Blog explains, "[W]e’re spotlighting Oscar-inspired parodies and humorous videos from YouTube users Jimmy Kimmel, Chad Vader (aka blamesocietyfilms), DC Lugi, and the Fine Brothers, who manage to give spoilers for all 80 Best Picture winners in less than five minutes."

Conan O’Brien deserves special recognition, too, since Friday was the talk show host’s last night in the 12:35 AM timeslot.  Here’s a clip of Conan picking apples with Mr. T.

Defamer’s writers are moving on, and the column is being taken over by Gawker’s Richard Lawson and a yet to be hired reporter, while being supervised by managing editor Gabriel Snyder. Denton announced the changes yesterday afternoon, just in time to get it switched over before the Oscars (of which there is plenty of coverage of on Defamer).

"Gawker now draws more than 3m visitors a month — four times the audience it had in 2007," writes Denton on his blog. "More than three-quarters of Gawker’s readership is from outside New York. The inclusion of Defamer’s Hollywood gossip — following an expansion of political coverage last year and the incorporation of Valleywag — reflects Gawker’s evolution into a national gossip site."

Denton told the Wall Street Journal that he is hoping to get a nice boost to Gawker’s traffic by rolling Defamer into the site, just as he did with Valleywag last year. If nothing else, the timing was a good choice for the move – the biggest Hollywood gossip day of the year.

Speaking of the Oscars, YouTube and Google Book Search are both highlighting Academy Award content. You can see parodies and books that some of the films were adapted from.

Whether or not you believe Antonella should’ve been voted off American Idol already, there’s no denying the fact that she’s been a blazing hot topic of conversation (and observation) throughout the entirety of the Internet. As rumors have surfaced regarding her alleged nude photo spread, she has quickly risen to the top of the Google search rankings.

Google was also inundated with searches surrounding the post-Oscar buzz, with Jennifer Hudson, and Babel showing a strong presence in the rankings. Topping most of the other Oscar-related searches on the charts, however, was Helen Mirren, who was rewarded for her brilliant performance of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the Oscar for Best Actress.

An item of particular merit on the list shows that searchers have taken a keen interest in the discovery of a giant squid caught by New Zealand fisherman close to the waters of Antartica. The behemoth catch weighed in at a beefy 992 pounds and measured nearly 30 feet in length, which inspires eerie comparisons among gothic horror aficionados to the ancient creature-gods depicted in H.P Lovecraft’s classic work, The Call of Cthulu.

Oh, and Al Gore also snuck into the top ten rankings with the breaking news that he still has no comment on whether or not he will seek the Democratic nomination for the 2008 presidential election. Excuse me for a moment while I yawn.

Ok, then! Here’s the list in its entirety for the Zeitgeist covering the week ending March 2, 2007:

   1. antonella barba
   2. american idol
   3. oscars
   4. helen mirren
   5. jennifer hudson
   6. giant squid
   7. al gore
   8. national weather service
   9. babel
  10. Leelee Sobieski