Well, it looks like Facebook Overlord Mark Zuckerberg might be in the midst of a family feud. His sister, Randi Zuckerberg, has come out with a charming picture book for children. Dot tells the story of a young girl named Dot. She taps, swipes, and shares, but mostly on her computer. She’s probably Facebooking a hell of a lot, too— maybe she even sends pokes to Uncle Mark.

Through Zuckerberg’s story, Dot learns to put the screens away, go outside, and explore with other humans. And through Dot, Zuckerberg reminds us of the downside of spending too much time connected. Dot’s going unplugged and maybe we will too… well, at least for the weekend.

Watch an animated preview of Dot.

(Photo by Waytao Shing/Getty)

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Far an akshen iz kain refueh nito: For the disease of stubbornness there is no cure.

TAURUS (APRIL 21- MAY 20): Taurus, the bull, is a fixed earth sign, often depicted with its horns pointing upward toward God. These ‘horns of the law,’ confer the Taurean bull with godly power and moral authority. Taurus is an important sign during Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah, as Kabbalists believed Taurus to represent the law of the Torah. Furthermore, the four rivers of the Garden of Eden are thought to represent the four fixed signs: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius.

Taurus is ruled by Venus, the goddess of love. As Taurus extraordinaire William Shakespeare wrote in Twelfth Night, “Shall we set about revels? What shall we do else? Were we not born under Taurus?” Often thought to be hedonistic fools for love, due to both a love of pleasure and material delights, Tauruses often need someone to take them by the horns.

Tauruses are substantial, practical, lovers of luxury, bluntly direct, and sensuous. You have the power to heal and soothe others, and are hypothetically relaxed yourself—but strong currents of nervousness run below the surface. Although you are usually reserved, you can be pushy, with a tendency toward backseat driving if you think you know what’s best for others. You would do well to me darf leben un lozen leben—live and let live. As your fellow Taurus Barbra Streisand says in Yentl, “Why is it people who want the truth never believe it when they hear it?”

Taurus governs the throat and neck; that is, you serve the head (ruled by Aries) and can be quite obedient, prefering to wait for something than to run after it. Although you are uncomfortable taking risks, you have great determination to stick to a course of action. This is usually a good thing, but can mean you obstinately refuse to change. Ask advice from everyone, but act with your own mind: Barat zich mit vemen du vilst; un tu miten aigenem saichel.

Mars in Taurus from April 20 to May 31 will give reinforce your bullish strength, while Mercury in Taurus from May 1 to May 15, will help you focus your mental energy on the material, earthly things. Now is the time to make way for new ideas, which will come in handy when Mercury enters its home sign, Gemini, from May 15 to May 31.

Famous Taurus Jews: Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Golda Meir, Barbra Streisand, Jerry Seinfeld, Mark Zuckerberg, Theodor Herzl, Bea Arthur, Irving Berlin, Billy Joel, Burt Bacharach, Howard Da Silva, Hank Azaria, Elaine May, Phil Silvers, Don Rickles, Lainie Kazan, Nora Ephron, Maya Deren, Tori Spelling, Aaron Spelling, Charles Grodin, David Krumholtz, Genya Ravan, Lena Dunham, Tavi Gevinson, Saul Bass, Jack Klugman

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): Take comfort in the fact that planets will be moving into your sign in the coming weeks. However, be careful with your words when Mercury moves from Taurus to Gemini, one of its home signs, on May 15. You’ll feel a sudden jolt in your imagination, which has heretofore been a bit farshluggineh (literally, shaken or mixed). Use this energy wisely. Gemini rules talk and news (read: gossip), but don’t let your inner yenta get the best of you.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 20): Cancers, ruled by the moon, are often emotional and moody—if not downright pessimistic. Just when it seems like life is adding up to bupkis (absolutely nothing), the new moon Eclipse in Taurus on May 9 will help bring you back down to earth. There’s a difference between being realistic and giving yourself over to needless suffering! Meanwhile, avoid any major commitments (signing a contract, etc.) for the time being; wait until closer to the middle of the month to tie up loose ends.

LEO (JULY 21-AUGUST 20): What can be said about Leo that hasn’t already been said about America’s Next Top Model? You regal beasts are fierce! Not that there’s anything wrong with that—and to you flashy Leos that’s nisht geshtoygen, nisht gefloygen (neither here nor there; it doesn’t matter). You’ve been in a fugue for far too long, now is your time to shine. Ruled as you are by the sun, you should take pride in the fact that you were put on this earth to give light—and your creative force can do just that.

VIRGO (AUGUST 21-SEPTEMBER 20): You think you know what’s best for everyone? You muttelmessig (meddlesome person, kibbitzer) Virgos can be so pushy! Der kluger bahalt dem saichel; der nar veist zein narishkeit (a wise man conceals his intelligence; the fool displays his foolishness), and it would be wise for you to keep your advice to yourself for once. With your ruling sign, Mercury, in Gemini (also ruled by Mercury) from May 15 to May 31, try to reign in your desire to tell people what they should be doing. Instead, with Venus entering Gemini on June 1, tell them how they make your life more bearable!

LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 20): Libras are guilty of being almost too forgiving of others—letting people walk all over you for fear of changing the fabric of your life. You may be a yiddisher kop (smart person), but the shtuss (a minor annoyance that arises from nonsense) you’ve put up with makes you seem like you’re dangerously close to becoming the ill-fated schlimazel. On May 9, the new moon eclipse in Taurus offers you a chance to start a new chapter in your life. Whether this means relocation or finally putting your foot down, stand up for yourself and how you want your life to proceed.

SCORPIO (OCTOBER 21-NOVEMBER 20): The full moon lunar eclipse in your sign on April 25 had you waiting on tenterhooks. As always, Scorpio assumes vos veyniker men ret, alts gezinter iz (the less said, the better – lit., the less you speak, the healthier). Your ruling planet Pluto’s continuing retrograde isn’t helping much to get you out of hiding. However, Scorpio boasts two out of the three Beastie Boys (MCA, may he rest in peace, was a Leo) giving you extra incentive to fight for your right to party!

SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 21-DECEMBER 20): Everyone knows the old adage that those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it, nu? With your ruling planet Jupiter in Gemini, which is considered to be quite lucky, you will find resolving tense issues from the past much easier. Make the most of it! However, because Sagittarians require a great deal of freedom, you may find working on relationships alle ziben glicken (not what it’s cracked up to be; lit. all seven lucky things). Fuhgeddaboutit! Relationships will be a big focus this year—while the grass is always greener, try to stay positive about what you’ve got.

CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 21- JANUARY 20): Take a cue from David Bowie, the Capricorn glam king chochem (genius): turn and face the strange changes. While may be consistently rockin’, you never know what life will throw your way—but you can prepare yourself for the possibilities. Az me muz, ken men: when one must, one can! Since you can’t fight change, continue to work on resolving past issues. for you capricious Capricorns, di shversteh arbet iz arumtsugain laidik: the hardest work is to go idle.

AQUARIUS (JANUARY 21- FEBRUARY 20): Deigeh nisht: don’t worry so much, Aquarius! It’s time to put on your dancing shoes—the energy on May 18 is favorable for finally letting loose! Venus, the planet of love, forming a favorable angle with your ruling planet Uranus heralds the possibility of a surprising night of fun! Although you Aquarians are turned off by anything too shmaltzy, you can still mach a leben (have fun) and still be true to yourself

PISCES (FEBRUARY 21-MARCH 20): Because your head is often in the clouds, you are prone to taking bubba meisah (old wives tales) too literally. Before you spit three times (to ward off the evil eye), take a look at what’s in front of you. Although the other signs of the zodiac could take imagination lessons from you, it can become dangerous if you close yourself off to reality completely. Spend too much of your time contemplating yeneh velt (the other world; the world to come), and you’ll miss the best that this world has to offer.

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 20): With your ruling planet Mars in Taurus from April 20 to May 31, your impulsiveness will slow down considerably. However, it will be replaced with stamina and endurance. Trigger-happy though you may be at any other time of the year, now you will be forced to consider the consequences of your actions. Men iz dir moichel di t’shuveh, nor tu nit di avaireh: never mind the remorse, don’t commit the sin!

What’s Your Sign?
Aires, the Headstrong Fire Sign
Pisces, the Dual-Natured Water Sign
Aquarius, Sign of Contradictions
Capricorn, the Cardinal Earth Sign
Sagittarius, the Adventurous Archer
Stinging Scorpio
Lovely, Lawful Libra
Virgo, the Anxious Maiden
Leo, King of the Jungle

***

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• According to Lena Dunham, Drake has a crush on Jewish actress Kat Dennings. Could it be beshert? [Vulture]

• You can send Mark Zuckerberg a Facebook message, but it might set you back $100. [Newser]

• What happens when you discover your husband’s great uncle was a Jewish gangster. [Tablet]

• Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger has some restaurant recommendations for you. [Immaculate Infatuation]

• Jonah Hill + Leo DiCaprio = BFF [Page Six]

• Here’s the trailer for Joan Rivers’ latest DVD, Don’t Start With Me:

The post Daily Jewce: Drake’s Jewish Crush, Facebook Messaging Mark Zuckerberg appeared first on Jewcy.

• Mark Zuckerberg donated $500 million to a Silicon Valley education and health initiative. [Newser]

• Bored to Death’s Jason Schwartzman is heading to Parks and Recreation. [HuffPo]

• We dare you to not read this Scroll post called ‘Homeland Is Obviously Anti-Semitic.’ [Tablet]

• Ramaz alum Natasha Lyonne has a new sitcom in the works loosely based on her post-rehab life. [Vulture]

• BuzzFeed’s most WTF celeb photo of 2012? Lena Dunham, pantsless at a premiere. [BuzzFeed]

• There’s Alison Brie again, rapping and being awesome. [Vulture]

The post Daily Jewce: Zuck the Philanthropist, Jason Schwartzman Heads to Pawnee appeared first on Jewcy.

• The first Hebrew translation of 50 Shades of Grey sold out in one day.

• The upcoming High Holidays are the perfect time to teach your kids how to apologize, Marjorie Ingall says.

• Look, it’s Clueless’ Jeremy Sisto playing Jack in a Titanic screen test. Wait, what?

• Performing in London, Lady Gaga dedicated her new morbid tune, “Princess Die,” to Princess Diana and Amy Winehouse.

• Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook stock has been a disappointment so far. We’re not mad, Zuck, just disappointed.

• Watch Claire Danes talk about Season 2 of Homeland, and filming for two weeks in Tel Aviv. “I really love Israel,” she says.

The post Daily Jewce: Hebrew ‘50 Shades of Grey’ Sells Out, Claire Danes Talks Israel appeared first on Jewcy.

• Concert technical issues be damned, Liza Minnelli’s still got it.

• Matthew Shaer breaks down (get it!) the history of book recycling—a fate that Jonah Lehrer’s quote-fabricating book, Imagine, will likely soon meet.

• It looks like that new H&H bagels will not actually be opening in downtown Manhattan. Quit playing games with our heart, bagel lords.

• Anthony Wiener and Huma Abedin moved into fancy new Park Avenue digs.

• Richard Roeper gives his approval of Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg’s performances in their new movie, Celeste and Jesse Forever.

• NBC’s Olympic commentators mistook Jesse Eisenberg, sitting in the stands, for Mark Zuckerberg. Now that’s what we call committing to the character.

The post Daily Jewce: Jesse Eisenberg is Not Mark Zuckerberg, Liza’s Technical Issues appeared first on Jewcy.

• Bob Dylan is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first album with a new album, out in September.

• Billionaires, they’re just like us (with lower interest rates): Mark Zuckerberg refinanced his California home’s $6 million mortgage.

• Introducing Dossim, a website for young Haredim by young Haredim.

• Donald Sobel, the brilliant Encyclopedia Brown creator, has died at 87.

The post Daily Jewce: Olympic-Sized Outrage, Bob Dylan’s Album-versary, and more appeared first on Jewcy.

I wish you and your wife Priscilla this same genuine happiness that connects love and friendship, that connects the intimate world and the social world, just as you have made with your creation.

“Like!”

(image via Facebook, obviously)

The post Shimon Peres Has a Wedding Message for Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan appeared first on Jewcy.

• Mark Zuckerberg married longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan. What did you get them?

• Meet Bill Berman, a frum dairy farmer in Florida.

• That men-only Orthodox anti-Internet rally happened this weekend.

• Sholem Aleichem’s great-great-granddaughter remembers the writer on his 96th yahrzeit.

The post Daily Jewce: Bar Refaeli’s Hotness Confirmed, Zuck Ties the Knot, and more appeared first on Jewcy.

At a café in the East Village, a father and his grown son are having an arduous conversation.  The son, living in an expensive East Village apartment that’s paid for by his father, wants to pursue a career in art and dad wants him to pursue a career in absolutely anything else.   Dad tries to play it cool by subtly bringing up potential career paths as random topics of conversation.

“You wouldn’t believe it!” Dad says.  “This guy comes into our office and gets paid ten thousand bucks a day to make the company Facebook account.  I’m telling you son, you should look into it.   It’s like a gold rush.  People are making truck loads just for knowing how to do Facebook.”

The son nods, making art out of his peas.  The dad sighs, probably wishing that his kid were more like AJ Vaynerchuck.

AJ Vaynerchuck and his brother Gary are the founders of Vaynermedia, one of the leading companies dealing the realm of exactly what pops was talking about.  Vaynermedia is essentially an advertising marketing company that deals solely in the realm of social networks.

“I would say a lot of our competitors established their social branch recently out of necessity.  We built a consulting agency around our knowledge and our experience of social media,” says AJ Vaynerchuck.

Gary, who is twelve years older than his brother, is currently a tech celebrity, a journey that began with his decision to transform his father’s liquor store into an empire, partly by taking advantage of the burgeoning internet market.  Gary then took it a step further by hosting a weekly video podcast called “Wine Library TV,” turning himself into a one of the biggest names in video podcasting.  While, most successful podcasts were, and are still, about technology, Gary’s show focused solely wine.

Meanwhile, AJ was about to graduate college at Boston University.  He’d majored in advertising with a concentration in computer science.  Most of AJ’s college nights and weekends were spent reading up on new trends in technology instead of drinking and going to parties.  For AJ, graduation couldn’t soon enough, as he was eager to take the reigns the boom he saw happening in the world of social media.

It wasn’t until AJ graduated and he and Gary founded Vaynermedia, that the Vaynerchuck name would start to become mentioned in the same breath as other post internet entrepreneurial pioneers like Kevin Rose or Mark Zuckerberg.

So, why are people getting paid thousands per day to make Facebook pages?  I asked AJ for specifics about what exactly Vaynermedia does for their clients, who according to the company website include, Pepsico, Harrah’s and the National Hockey League.

Sitting in the same East Village bar where earlier art kid and his dad were eating brunch, AJ tells me about a job they did involving, Gowalla, and The New Jersey Nets.

“We matched up Gowalla with the Nets and then targeted individuals who checked into sports related areas: parks, Foot Locker, etc.   Then we planted virtual tickets that could be traded for tangible tickets, so when a person checked into say, ESPN Zone, they’d get a blast from Gowalla saying You just won a pair of tickets.  It drove amazing user engagement, brand equity and conversation on social networks.”

It was interesting, but I still didn’t understand.  Why would a company invest all of this money into paying people to use internet platforms that are designed so that anyone can utilize them.  AJ explains that there’s a lot more to it than games, and making nice looking pages, that proper use of Social Networks is about building a network that is useful to you, and to whom you are useful.

I ask about Twitter, how does one build a network on Twitter?  How can a writer advertise his articles on Twitter aside from simply posting them once they’re published?  What about a novelist?

“The book world is fascinating.  We’re just beginning the marketing for Gary’s next book, The Thank You Economy.  One of my favorite things in the entire world is applying social media concepts and processes to non-traditional industries.  It’s so intellectually stimulating because the book world is so broken in so many ways that there’s so much opportunity for innovation.   99 percent of that world isn’t thinking the right way.  For me to go out and release a new social network there’s a lot of competition, people do smart things.  In the book world, so many people are falling behind there’s so much opportunity to do things that having been done before.”

AJ paused, then continued.

“I’d say do what’s counter intuitive.  I think one of the best things to do is give away free content.  A lot of authors would say, If I give away free content why would anyone buy my book? You need to give people a reason to have any interest in what you’re saying“

Does this mean that aspiring authors should simply be throwing their novels up on Bit Torrent?  According to AJ, the answer is “Sure.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?  People are going to be interested in your stuff?   50,000 people read your book, that way if you don’t get published, you could come back to a publisher and say, you better publish this now because thousands of people want this.”

While this sounds comforting, what about the music industry, which is essentially dying because of piracy?

Aspiring artists shouldn’t be worried about piracy. Kanye West should be far more worried about piracy than any up and comer.  I think the best thing that can happen for an up and coming artist is people sharing their content.

AJ stresses the importance of humanizing and personalizing interactions on the internet.  He tells me how his brother answers every direct message he gets on Twitter personally.

AJ, who approached the bar rather quietly, politely, with mussed hair under a the hood of a red sweatshirt and his hands in his pockets, sans beverage, has opened up at this point, his eyes almost aflame as he talks about strategies for utilizing social networks.

“For content generation, it’s far less about broadcasting than it is building your network on these platforms.  Sure, posting on Twitter is a tactic, but it’s far better when you have 50 times the people getting that link.”

However, he’s quick to warn about the dangers of indiscriminate networking.

“Using those platforms is one thing, but the main thing you can do to help get more distribution is to engage with other people when not talking about your work.  Find a topic you just wrote about.  Find people who are talking about those kinds of subjects.   Find the websites, find the forums and become a voice in those conversations.  I don’t mean show them your articles but give advice.  Say you just showed your stuff on some blog, people would be like, this person is just spamming the blog, who cares. It’s about building up authentic relationships and building loyalty amongst people, a sense that you’re someone who cares and is part of their community, not someone who’s just trying to sell themselves.”

AJ stops short and looks into my eyes.

“How many followers do you have on twitter?”

I try to come up with a number that’s not too large an exaggeration, but not embarrassingly low.  Too befuddled to think, the embarrassing truth ends up popping out.

“Seventy something.”

“How many of those 70 would you feel really comfortable with sending a personal email saying, hey I need you to read this article you wrote.”

I laugh and again, unwittingly tell the truth.

“None!” I say, admitting that half of my followers seem to think that I am a British documentary filmmaker or the singer of the band Hot Snakes, since I share the same name with them.

“Start with your seventy something followers, find out why they’re following you.  You don’t know who’s following them.  Maybe they have some great offline network.  For Gary, that one person following him was the executive producer of The Conan O’Brien Show.”

It occurs to me that people with acumen for working a room, the natural schmoozers and socialites used to populate the ladder of success.  Now, they’ve been replaced by those who’ve mastered encouraging comment or know when to poke.

Another thing that separates AJ from the pack is his dedication to being ahead of the curb.

“Instead of watching The Office during my subway ride home, I’ll take out my iPhone,” he says, taking out his iPhone and opening an app called, “Instapaper” and scrolling down a list of saved articles about technology.  Part of AJ’s job is knowing what’s on the horizon, what will stick.  Plainly, I ask AJ what’s going to be the next thing and he’s got a list of upcoming web projects that are on his radar.

LETTER.LY

“Essentially this is a network that helps people stay informed.  It’s a platform that allows people to subscribe to a person’s email newsletter at a charge.  So two to three times a month I’ll write my newsletter, which people can subscribe to for $2.99/ month.  It’s called In the Loop.

AJ recommends the DROP.IO founder, Sam Lesson’s personal newsletter as a good place to start on Letter.ly.

VENMO

“It’s SMS payments between peers, so lets say you and I are getting drinks.  I can put the tab on my card and you can pay me your share via SMS.  A co-worker at the office picked up sushi, and he didn’t’ even have to ask me for the money, he could just charge me for it.  When I got out of my meeting, there was sushi there, and I’d already paid him. It completely eliminates IOU’s.

FAST SOCIETY

“It’s group messaging.  Think of an AOL chat room on your cell phone.  I was at the Tahoe tech conference with friends.  At night we went to this casino and got into this Fast Society group, so if we got split up we could say, “Hey I’m over at the roulette table.  It’s like BBM on steroids.  Teenagers are going to eat it up.

Throughout Gary and AJ’s work, one thing that really sticks out as a theme is the importance of family.  The Vaynerchuck’s, a first generation Russian Jewish Family who moved to the states in 1978 are clearly tight knit.  When I first mention the religious association of Jewcy, AJ remarks.  “My parents will be psyched.”

With Wine Library, the books, the podcast and Vaynermedia, the success of the Vaynerchuck’s seems almost reminiscent of the early Jewish American immigrants who came through Ellis Island with a kind of drive for success that’s become more and more rare. I ask AJ what, for him, would be an indicator of true success.  Throughout our conversation, AJ shows a certain admiration for his brother and an appreciation that he is able to collaborate with him for a living.  AJ and Gary have expressed a desire to one day own the NY Jets.  However, after giving it a bit of thought, AJ says that for him, it’s much more simple than that.

“Just controlling my own destiny, working when I want to work, and doing what I want when I want, complete and absolute freedom of my time. The other day I got to leave work during the afternoon to go to the Jets game with Gary.  For me, that was the best thing in the world.”

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