5 Predictions for Mobile Tech in 2013

If denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, then mobile isn’t just a city in Alabama. And if 2012 proved one thing, it’s that there’s no denying mobile is the present and future of technology.

Sales figures for mobile devices reached new heights in 2012. Market research firm Gartner predicted tablet sales would near 120 million, about doubling the total sold in 2011.

[More from Mashable: Would You Make Your Kid Sign a Contract to Use an iPhone?]

In addition, the number of active smartphones eclipsed 1 billion during the past year. That’s one for every seven people on the planet. And while it took almost two decades to reach 1 billion active smartphones, research firm Strategy Analytics projects there will be 2 billion by 2015, fueled by growth in developing economies in China, India and Africa.

It’s not just phones and tablets though. All sorts of smart mobile technology flourished in 2012, from watches and wristbands to glasses that can project video on the inside of the lenses. Speaking of glasses, in April, Google sent the tech world into a tizzy when it unveiled plans for a futuristic headset called Project Glass.

[More from Mashable: ‘Offensive Combat’ Brings Hardcore Gaming to Facebook]

Well, if you think mobile came a long way in 2012, this year could be even better. Here’s an outline of where we think mobile technology is headed in 2013.

Brand Wars Will Drive Innovation

In terms of smartphones, mobile in 2013 will be like an evening of boxing. For the main event, heavyweights Apple and Samsung will square off to see which can produce the world’s most popular device.

The Samsung Galaxy III recently dethroned the iPhone for that honor. While Apple went conservative with new features on the iPhone 5, Samsung went bold, equipping the Galaxy S III with an enormous 4.8-inch display, near field communication (NFC) technology (more on this later), a burst-shooting camera and a voice-enabled assistent akin to the iPhone’s Siri.

Apparently, Apple is preparing to counter-punch. There are already rumors that Apple is testing its next iPhone, identified as “iPhone 6.1″ which runs iOS 7.

Behind the iPhone and Galaxy a host of capable contenders are hungry for a shot at the belt, including devices from Motorola, HTC and Nokia.

There might even be some new players in the game. It seems likely that Amazon will debut a Kindle Phone sometime in 2013. There was even talk that Facebook was working on its own smartphone, but CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg squelched those rumors in September.

What does this all this mean for us? It means better phones. Competition drives innovation. Look for these brands to consistently try to one-up one another with faster processors, better cameras and more innovative features.

That’s not the only battle that will play out in 2013. Another one to watch will be the fight for third place in mobile operating systems. Android is the undisputed number one with nearly 75% global market share. While Apple’s iOS is miles behind Android, it is still firmly entrenched at number two.

In 2013, the top two contenders for third place will be Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10, which is expected to launch in the coming months.

A few dark horses are running in this race for third. Mozilla plans to launch a Firefox OS sometime during 2013. Then, there is Tizen, a Linux-based mobile OS. Samsung recently revealed plans to release Tizen-based devices in 2013.

Both Firefox and Tizen are open source mobile operating systems, but they won’t be the only ones. There are two other open source mobile operating systems to watch going forward. Jolla expects to release smartphones and possibly tablets running its Sailfish OS in 2013; and Ubuntu-based smartphones should hit the market by early 2014.

No NFC Mobile Payment, Yet

Before leaving the house, most will check to make sure they have three things: keys, wallet and cellphone. Well, thanks to NFC technology, cellphones might soon lighten the load by essentially replacing wallets with an “e-wallet.”

It seems like we have been talking about NFC for years now. Basically, it enables two devices to make a very short-range and secure connection through radio technology. If a smartphone is equipped with NFC, as are most newer-model Androids, and if a retailer has an NFC terminal, one could make a purchase by simply tapping the phone on the terminal.

NFC technology also has other applications, such as data transfer between phones, but mobile payments is the feature most often discussed.

Services like Isis and Google Wallet are already in place. They secure one’s payment information within a device.

The reason why mobile payment through NFC has not yet hit the mainstream is that device penetration is not at the point where it has prompted retailers to update their technology. Basically, not enough smartphones have the technology. Androids have started to adapt, but unlike iPhones, Android hardware is not uniform across the various devices.

While the wheels have been in motion for some time, they’re really spinning now that most new Androids, including the Galaxy S III, come with NFC. If Apple releases a new iPhone during 2013, and if Apple decides to include NFC this time around, it will probably tip the scales in favor of rapid adoption of mobile payment.

Even if all that does happen, however, there probably won’t be a new iPhone until later in the year, so odds are you’re not going to see NFC penetrate the mainstream during 2013. Maybe 2014 will finally be the year of NFC.

Flexible Smartphones

Here’s something you never knew you needed — a flexible smartphone. These devices will be lighter, more durable and the screen will be bendable. This feat is possible by making the display out of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and shielding it in plastic rather than glass. Samsung is reportedly moving forward with plans to start producing a bendable phone.

Samsung is not the only player in this game, however. Many companies are developing bendable screens. At Nokia World in London in 2011, Nokia showed off a device which not only bends but is controlled by bending. Check it out in the video below.

Since there are quite a few companies working on this, it seems likely that one will try to be first to market in 2013. There are rumors that the next model of Samsung’s Galaxy will feature a bendable HD display. We’ll find out much more about this at the Consumer Electronics Show, scheduled for next week. Stay tuned for updates.

The Future of Smartphone Cameras

Cameras and phones have been married for about a decade (they dated, previously). In that time, the relationship has been constantly improving in terms of specs, which has led to higher-quality photographs.

Nokia upped the ante significantly in 2012 when it released the 808 PureView, a smartphone equipped with a 41-megapixel camera. The iPhone 5 has an eight-megapixel camera. Granted, more megapixels doesn’t necessarily equate to better pictures, but it’s certainly one important element. The gallery below features pictures taken with the 808 PureView.

Nokia 808 PureView

The Nokia 808 PureView comes in several colors. It’s heavier than your average phone, with the camera lens protruding from the back. By far its most interesting feature is the 41-megapixel camera, which takes amazing photos.

Click here to view this gallery.

In 2013, we can not only expect more megapixels, and better sensors, flashlights and shutter speeds from smartphone cameras; there are also some futuristic developments in the works.

One most likely to hit the market in 2013: a sensor developed by Toshiba that will allow users to adjust the area of focus of a shot during post-processing, much like with a Lytro cameras.

Another development to anticipate is greater availability and lower cost for smartphone cameras that shoot 3D photos and video.

While all of these improvements are exciting, it’s not just smartphones that are getting better cameras. Better cameras are literally being turned into smartphones. In 2012, Samsung released a Galaxy Camera which Mashable’s tech editor Pete Pachal described as an “incredible device.”

Connected cameras might not become the norm in 2013, but they will definitely become more common.

Eventually, there could even be cameras that have the ability to penetrate objects such as thin walls, clothing or even skin. While the technology is in place, don’t look for it in 2013. The world probably isn’t ready for x-ray vision quite yet.

Wearable Tech

It’s not enough to carry technology anymore. Nowadays people want to wear it, too.

In April, the Pebble Watch, which integrates with both Android and iOS devices, received Kickstarter funding totaling over $ 10 million from nearly 70,000 backers. Pebble still has not shipped watches. It is currently accepting pre-orders, but has not announced a release date. It’s relatively safe to assume these watches will be available in 2013.

Although there are other smart watches currently available, Pebble may face some serious competition if the rumors about Apple producing a smart watch prove true. In fact, Apple recently received 22 patents that would enable the company to move forward with a range of wearable smart technology, including sneakers, shirts, skiing gear and more.

Patents alone mean very little. So unless you hear otherwise, don’t expect Apple smartpants (which, if they do happen, should definitely be called “smartypants”) anytime during 2013.

And speaking of extremely exciting wearable technology that probably won’t happen during 2013, let’s all re-watch this video for Google Glass while wistfully longing for the future to arrive.

On the bright side, since we survived the Mayan apocalypse, it looks like we might eventually make it to the future, after all. In case you hadn’t noticed, it seems pretty obvious that when we get there, glorious mobile technology will abound.

Images courtesy of Flickr, SETUP Utrecht, John Biehler and via Isis

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Justin Bieber Weed Controversy Statement

After a photo of Justin Bieber allegedly holding a marijuana joint went viral on Friday, the singer took to Twitter in an attempt to clear the smoke.

RELATED - Justin Bieber Confronts Paparazzi 

"Everyday growing and learning. Trying to be better. U get knocked down, u get up," he posted on January 5. "I see all of u. I hear all of u. I never want to let any of you down. I love u."

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While Bieber didn't directly address the photo, he went on to comment on his constant critics. "2013 ... new challenges. new doubters...Im ready. We are ready. see u all tomorrow and everyday after that," he wrote.

This was a rocky end to an already rough week for Bieber as a paparazzi attempting to get a photo of him was killed by a passing car. "While I was not present nor directly involved with this tragic accident, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim," he said in a statement. "Hopefully this tragedy will finally inspire meaningful legislation and whatever other necessary steps to protect the lives and safety of celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders, and the photographers themselves."

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Needle reaches the inner groove for Spec’s

In the end, even the almighty Adele and Taylor Swift could not hold back the inevitable.

Spec’s, one of the last great record stores, will close its flagship location in Coral Gables on U.S.1, thus joining once-favored chains like Virgin, Tower and Peaches, locally and abroad, that have withered from Internet shopping.

With the closing, sometime in January after the merchandise is liquidated, 64 years of history becomes memory for countless people who discovered a love of music in the home Martin “Mike” Spector built in 1948 when U.S.1 was but a two-lane road.

The original store, which sold cameras alongside 78-rpm records, was a few blocks south on the highway in South Miami and is now an Einstein’s bagel spot. The present location, opened in 1953 in Coral Gables, lived through the bobby sox era, Beatlemania, disco, punk, hip hop/rap, grunge, electronic dance music and all the format changes including 12-inch vinyl, 45-rpm, reel to reel, 8-track, cassette, compact disc and mp3.

After the first music industry recession in the late 1970s, Spec’s still managed to double in size by breaking through the walls of two restaurants in 1980 on its north side. The original room on the south side of the building would house, first, Spec’s’ VHS movie rentals and sales — Saturday Night at Spec’s! — and, later, one of the most expansive collections of classical music in town.

“It’s the soundtrack of our lives,” said store manager Lennie Rohrbacher, who spent 23 years of his life working at Spec’s, from Clearwater to Coral Gables

Music sales

At its peak, the Spec’s chain grew to some 80 stores in Florida and Puerto Rico. In 1993, annual sales exceeded $70 million. Spec’s went public in 1985 and, in 1998, the Spectors sold to Camelot Music Group, which was acquired by Trans World Entertainment Corp.

Trans World, which did not return several telephone messages, shrewdly kept the Spec’s name attached to the flagship store as goodwill even though, technically, it operated under the company’s retail subsidiary, F.Y.E. (For Your Entertainment).

But those are the cold, hard business facts.

Spec’s was “not like another Eckerd’s,” a drug store chain that also slipped into oblivion amid changing times, said Rohrbacher. “This was part of the community, part of my life. It’s not another store going under.”

Indeed, Spec’s was, first and foremost, a community gathering spot to share a love of music. In the ‘70s and ‘80s Spec’s resembled a makeshift camp site where people would sleep overnight in the parking lot to get the best shot at concert tickets in a pre-Internet world. Spec’s, a hop-skip from the University of Miami’s music school, served as its own music education outlet thanks to a knowledgeable sales staff.

Music education

“The proximity to the UM is prime real estate. Not to have it there will really be different. Even if they didn’t have what I was looking for, the staff was knowledgeable and you were sort of tapping into this knowledge base of people who could turn you on to new music. That’s what I’ll miss about it and the community around the store,” said Margot Winick, an employee at the Coral Gables Spec’s in the mid-1980s when she was a freshman at the UM.

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Miami police announce drug arrests, gun buybacks

With a vow to crack down on gun violence — in part by targeting gangs of drug dealers who are often involved in shootings — Miami leaders on Friday announced dozens of recent drug-related arrests, while also releasing plans for three gun buyback events in the coming weeks.

The arrests, which police said led to the dismantling of three criminal drug-dealing organizations, are the result of three long-term police investigations, one of which dates back to 2010. The criminal charges ranged from drug trafficking to criminal conspiracy to, in one case, attempted murder.

That attempted murder charge is against 20-year-old Jamar Jordan, who is accused of shooting his gun in a crowded Overtown park after an argument erupted. Youth football games were happening in the park at the time, and three people were wounded by stray bullets.

“We are going after all these shootings,” Miami Chief of Police Manuel Orosa told reporters at a Friday morning news conference. Orosa said the city has experienced a string of shootings in recent months, and is still trying to gather more information on some of the crimes. If members of the community can share any information they have, it will help police “put this behind us,” Orosa said.

Though Jordan was arrested in September, most of the arrests publicized Friday occurred in late December, police said.

The city’s planned gun buyback days will be Jan. 19, Jan. 26, and Feb. 2, with the events being held at local churches. Gun will be accepted on a no-questions-asked basis, with the city offering $50 gift cards for handguns and possibly higher payouts for larger assault weapons.

The gun buyback is being funded with $10,000 in donations from local businesses. By getting some of those guns off the street, Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado said “we will be able to at least save some lives.”

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EU says its Google case not affected by U.S. ruling

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A decision by U.S. regulators to end a probe into whether Google Inc hurt rivals by manipulating internet searches will not affect the European Union‘s examination of the company.

“We have taken note of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) decision, but we don’t see that it has any direct implications for our investigation, for our discussions with Google, which are ongoing,” said Michael Jennings, a spokesman for the European Commission, the EU executive.

U.S. regulators on Thursday ended their investigation into the giant internet company, which runs the world’s most popular search engine.

Other internet companies, such as Microsoft Corp, had complained about Google tweaking its search results to give prominence to its own products. But the FTC said there was not enough evidence to pursue a big search-bias case.

The European Commission has for the past two years been investigating complaints against Google, including claims that it unfairly favored its own services in its search results.

Google presented informal settlement proposals to the Commission in July. On December 18 the Commission gave the company a month to come up with detailed proposals to resolve the investigation.

If it fails to address the complaints and is found guilty, Google could eventually be fined up to 10 percent of its revenue – a fine of up to $ 4 billion.

(Reporting By Ethan Bilby; Editing by Sebastian Moffett and David Goodman)

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Lost Stars Walt and Michael Reunite

Who said former cast members don't ever keep in touch?

Lost star Harold Perrineau (who played Michael) makes a special cameo in Misfit Kids and Total Outcasts' (A musical duo comprised of Malcolm David Kelley [who played Walt] and As the Bell Rings star Tony Oller) new music video for Thank You.

Related: 'Lost' and 'Friday Night Lights' Alums Marry!

The former father and son pass each other on the street in the cute cameo, which starts at about 1:36.

Kelley and Oller met while filming 2010's Gigantic and began making music together, eventually forming Misfit Kids and Total Outcasts (MKTO), a pop, hip hop and R&B duo.

Check out the video to hear their catchy debut single, and click here for more info on MKTO.

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New Florida bill would speed up the foreclosure process

TALLAHASSEE --
A “faster foreclosures” proposal that sparked consumer outcry and protest last year has resurfaced in a more moderate form, with a new bill filed this week by Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples.

The bill, HB 87, offers a slew of changes to the civil procedures governing foreclosures in Florida, where home repossessions are on the rise again.

Most of the provisions are aimed at speeding up and cleaning up the foreclosure process, which currently takes more 600 days to run its course in Florida.

“We need to make the sure the process is as efficient as possible while at the same time giving the borrower their due process rights,” said Passidomo. “Unfortunately, if you don’t have an income or you can’t afford to pay anything, the property can’t just sit in limbo forever.”

The bill — which proposes strict paperwork requirements for lenders, fast-track foreclosure procedures and a shield against some thorny legal scenarios — comes at a time when banks are beginning to rev up their foreclosure machines again after a two-year lull.

Foreclosure filings in Florida jumped 20 percent in the last year, and the Sunshine State now has the nation’s highest foreclosure rate. And even though the housing market is improving, there are plenty of foreclosures still set to take place in the coming years. One in five mortgages in the state are currently delinquent, and more than half of those have not yet entered the foreclosure process, according to Lender Processing Services.

Lenders spent two years cooling down their home repossession machines after news surfaced in 2010 that bank employees had been rapidly filling out foreclosure paperwork without properly reviewing it. The “robo-signing” scandal led to a landmark $25 billion national settlement between states and five major banks last year, clearing the way for a more streamlined foreclosure process.

But nearly a year after the settlement was announced, foreclosures continue to slog slowly through the court system in Florida.

Passidomo’s bill aims to speed things up. It requires mortgage lenders to certify that they have the correct paperwork proving they have the right to foreclose.

The measure also gives condominium associations the ability to speed up the foreclosure process when a bank is moving too slowly. Condo associations have been forced to shoulder significant maintenance costs while banks carry out foreclosures. Banks have been accused of purposefully slowing down the process in order to limit their costs.

For their part, banks get a bit of a gift in the bill as well. Currently, if a lender forecloses on a home and later is sued for doing so wrongfully, the lender can only be forced to pay monetary damages. That means the homeowner can’t get his or her house back — a proposition that could be especially difficult if the bank has sold the home to an unsuspecting third party. Passidomo’s bill would eliminate that awkward scenario, and free the bank from having to recoup a house it sold to another party after a faulty foreclosure.

Some consumer advocates are already speaking out against the bill. It’s the third attempt by lawmakers in the last three years to push for foreclosure reform — and each has led to consumer outcry, including a march on the state Capitol last year.

“Might be a good time to start contacting your Florida state representatives in the state House and Senate on this issue,” Lisa Epstein, a West Palm Beach foreclosure activist, wrote in an email to her followers. “The more Floridians who oppose this bill and the earlier they oppose it, the better.”

The bill sheds some of the controversial provisions of the 2012 proposal, which passed the Florida House but died in the Senate last year.

A provision that would have allowed for faster foreclosures on homes that appear to be abandoned has been scrapped from the new bill. The “apparently-abandoned property” measure faced backlash from consumer advocates who said people would be thrown out of their homes without proper notice.

The measure includes a provision that consumer activists supported last year to limit banks’ ability to go after homeowners for additional debt after a foreclosure.

Banks currently have five years to pursue a so-called “deficiency judgment” against a homeowner. The bill reduces that time-period to one-year.

“The bill has far more borrower protections than what is current,” said Passidomo.

Toluse Olorunnipa can be reached at tolorunnipa@MiamiHerald.com or on Twitter at @ToluseO.

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No. 2 executive at UM medical school stepping down

Amid roiling faculty anger over drastic budget cuts, the University of Miami announced the number two executive at the Miller School of Medicine, Jack Lord, is “stepping down.”

The change, announced by Dean Pascal Goldschmidt, comes as a petition circulates among tenured medical school faculty expressing no confidence in both Goldschmidt and Lord.

In a statement Thursday, Goldschmidt said: “Last year we had many challenging issues to fix, as do many medical schools in the U.S. Thanks to Jack Lord’s leadership and hard work by everyone at the Miller School, we have met those challenges and turned things around financially. Our medical center is strong and well positioned for the future.”

Goldschmidt in a letter to faculty thanked Lord’s help in restructuring the medical school’s finances, which showed a surplus of about $9 million for the first six months of this fiscal year — compared to a $24 million loss for the first six months of the previous fiscal year.

Lord, a physician who had been chief innovation officer at Humana, became the medical school’s chief operating officer last March. He was deeply involved in a series of drastic changes, including laying off about 900 full-time and part-time employees in the spring. Lord will be temporarily replaced by Joe Natoli, UM’s chief financial officer.

Many faculty members, who had spent decades at the medical school without seeing mass layoffs, were angry that the cuts were made without consulting them. A report by a faculty senate committee said medical school professors described the layoffs as “unprofessional,” “graceless” and “heartless.”

The report said faculty “fear is widespread within the school. They cited instances in which someone suffered retribution for criticizing the school’s administration. ... Faculty with alternatives are leaving.”

UM did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report on Thursday. Last May, President Donna Shalala, a veteran administrator at several universities, said tradition-bound faculty often complained when tough changes needed to be made.

Associate Professor Sam Terilli, head of the committee that wrote the interim report in late August, said last week that a follow-up report is being prepared, but said it was too soon to offer details of what it would say.

Meanwhile, several anonymous sources have sent The Herald a copy of a petition being circulated among school faculty members who “wish to express, in the strongest possible terms, the concern we feel for the future for our school of medicine.” The petition blamed “the failed leadership of Pascal Goldschmidt and Jack Lord. ... We want to make clear that the faculty has lost confidence in the ability of these men to lead the school.”

The petition states: “Under the current leadership, there has been a major shift in the mission of the schools that we feel jeopardizes our educational, clinical and research enterprises. The deterioration of the relationship with Jackson Memorial Hospital fundamentally threatens both our graduate and undergraduate medical education programs without which the school of medicine cannot exist.”

A half-dozen persons closely connected to the medical school who requested anonymity told The Herald that they’ve heard that between 400 and 600 of the school’s 1,200 faculty have added their names to individual copies of the petition.

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Can the Government Really Ban Twitter Parody Accounts?

Arizona is entertaining a law that will make it a felony to use another person’s real name to make an  Internet profile intended to “harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten,” which to some sounds like a law against parody Twitter accounts. The legislation, if passed, would make Arizona one of a few states, including New York, California, Washington and Texas, to enact anti-online-impersonation laws. If these regulations seek to put a stop to fake representations online, that does sound like the end of fake celebrity baby accounts and Twitter death hoaxes. Then again, these laws have existed in these other places for years, and that hasn’t stopped the faux accounts from coming in. So what then does this mean?

RELATED: The Army’s Social Media Industrial Complex

What kind of stuff is the law intended to prosecute?

RELATED: Why French Broadcasters Can’t Say ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’ Anymore

The law does not say that all uses of another person’s real name can be charged as a felony, but only profiles made for the more nefarious purposes fall into that territory. The legislation is  targeted at more serious forms of impersonation, like cyber bullying. Two Texas teens were arrested and charged under this law for creating a fake Facebook page to ruin a peer’s reputation, for example. Or, the case of Robert Dale Esparza Jr. who created a fake profile of his son’s vice principal on a porn site might fall under this law, suggests The Arizona Republic‘s Alia Beard Rau. Or, in one of the cases brought to court under the Texas version of this law, an Adam Limle created websites that portrayed a woman he used to date as a prostitute. (The case was eventually dropped because of a geographical loophole. Limle lived in Ohio, not Texas.) 

RELATED: Prius Drivers Will Get Their Own Social Network

Okay, the harm and threat in those situation is pretty clear. How can it at all apply to something relatively harmless, like a Twitter parody account? 

RELATED: How the Deported American Teen Spent Her Time in Colombia

The term “harm” is pretty vague, as this Texas Law blog explains, referring to that state’s version of this legislation, on which Arizona based its own law. “‘Harm’ can be very broadly construed–one person’s joke is another person’s harm,” writes Houston lawyer Stephanie Stradley. 

RELATED: Netanyahu’s Son Demonstrates Another Political Risk of Social Media

So, that could extend to parody accounts then? 

Well, possibly. Stradley suggests that politicians who had parody accounts created to mock them might have a case. Some of the impersonation of Texas lawmakers has gone beyond just the jokey fake Twitter handle. Jeffwentworth.com is not the official site for Texas state senator, but rather redirects to the web site of the anti-tax advocate group Empower Texans which considers the San Antonio politician the “the most liberal Republican senator in Austin.” Wentworth told The New York Times this domain squatting amounted to “identity theft,” and could be the basis for the law’s usage. 

The law could also possibly effect sillier parody accounts, suggest privacy advocates. “The problem with this, and other online impersonation bills, is the potential that they could be used to go after parody or social commentary activities,” senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation Kurt Opsahl told The Arizona Republic’s Alia Beard Rau. ”While this bill is written to limit ‘intent to harm,’ if that is construed broadly, there could be First Amendment problems.”

Ok, but what about precedent? Has the law ever applied to a faux Twitter handle? 

Twitter has its own parody policy that mitigates a lot of the possible damage that could ever lead to a court case. Saint Louis Cardinals manager Anthony La Russa sued Twitter in 2009 because of a made-up account, but the account was removed before the case went anywhere (And that was before these laws went into effect.) 

But it’s not clear that parody would ever be considered harmful enough for the law. When California’s version went into effect, a first amendment lawyer suggested to SF Weekly‘s Joe Eskenazi that jokes could go pretty far without prosecution. “You’re going to have to have room for satire,” he said. The account would have to look fool people, he argued. “A key question is, ‘is it credibile?’” asks Simitian. “Do people who read it think it’s him?” Because of our increasing skepticism of things on Twitter, unless the site has verified checkmark, it’s unlikely that most people believe in a fake account for long. So, unless the imitation tweeter does something extremely harmful to someone’s character, it doesn’t sound like anyone would have a strong case. Alas, parody Twitter accounts, for better or worse (worse, right?) are here to stay. 

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Julianne Hough Speaks About Escaping Dark Past

ET was first to sit down with Julianne Hough on the set of her new movie Safe Haven and the actress opens up about a dark period in her past that "sucked the life out of me."

Hough, who recently revealed that she suffered physical and mental abuse while studying dance in her youth, said she identifies with her character in Safe Haven, who's forced to confront an abusive past. "Being Katie, I relate a lot to her. The fact that she had been in one situation that just sucked the life out of her, and it was a bad situation, and she needed to change and move on and kind of find her own again. And through that you find love and everything."

RELATED: Julianne Hough Reveals Horrific Childhood Abuse

The 24-year-old actress -- who is known for playing upbeat roles and appearing on Dancing with the Stars -- said it is the first time she's really opened up publicly about her darker times. "I think a lot of people got to know me through Dancing with the Stars and don't really know about my past before that, which I don't talk about much," Hough said.

"But yeah, I've been through certain things that have sucked the life out of me... and just the light about me was gone... and I was just a dark person," she added. "So I had to leave that situation and kind of come into my own again and I did."

VIDEO: Julianne Hough: Rock of Ages Set with Tom Cruise is a 'Blast'

Tune in to ET tonight for more of Julianne's interview.

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