Ypulse Essentials: The Day The Internet Died, Brands Use Music To Entice Millennials, Passwords Are The New Letterman Jackets

Today was the day the Internet went black (in a movement against the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act — SOPA — and Protect IP Act — PIPA. The bill is designed to end the distribution and streaming of copyrighted content, but includes conditions that some companies, including Google and Wikipedia, oppose, saying the bills will “fatally damage the free and open Internet.” In response, several sites have gone black for the day to give users an idea of what life would be like without such free exchange of information and ideas...oh wait, you’ll have to check that out tomorrow because that site is temporarily dark. The importance of the issues aren’t lost on the online audience who have been imagining a world without the Web; we’ve been laughing at #FactsWithoutWikipedia all day. If you don’t have time to scroll through all that, here’s a collection of a few of the best comments) (WSJ, reg required) (NYT, reg required) (Good.Is) (Twitter) (HuffPo)

- Toyota’s favorite rapper, Gadget, is dropping a beat for fans (in the brand’s latest crowdsourced campaign for the Yaris. Fans can create and upload their own music videos to the brand’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. They can also send in comments about their daily frustrations and Gadget and his sidekick Slick will turn the best stories into a rap video. In other music news, with the Grammys less than a month away, Pepsi and Pandora are teaming up to give music fans a mixtape. Aww, how cute, I think Pepsi likes you! The mixtape is actually a Pandora station featuring a collection of songs from Best New Artist nominees) (PSFK) (Giant Step)

- Teens signify the seriousness of their relationships by (sharing passwords. Back in the day it was the fraternity pin or letterman jacket, but now teens are showing they’re serious about their boyfriends or girlfriends by giving them access to their Facebook accounts, email accounts, and text messages. Sure, passwords can be changed, but we think this is a serious sign of trust! After all, keeping passwords secret is one of the tenets of online safety for minors) (NY Times, reg required) (Minyanville)

- MTV, The College Board, and Get Schooled are working together to launch (My College Dollars, a Facebook app that combs through students’ profiles to help them find money to pay for college. The site also includes star-studded motivational videos and help for filling out application forms. The goal? To eliminate excuses that prevent students from even looking into getting a college education) (Fast Company)

- For Millenials, being a good parent — eventually — is more important than having a good marriage (according to new research from Pew that reflects a widening gap compared to previous years. The under-30 set is less likely than their older peers to say that growing up in a household with both parents is important and less likely to view single parenthood or unmarried couples raising children as bad for society)

- Wanna show some love for that band you can’t stop listening to on Pandora and Spotify? (Then try out Shirtify, which recognizes which bands you listen to most on the streaming music services and then sends you a shirt from one of your top bands either quarterly or monthly, depending on your subscription. Speaking of music, we’ve been rocking out to the new single by Santigold, which was totally worth the four year wait. Now if we could only get our hands on her new album due out this spring…) (IHeartDaily) (PopDust)

- Every year, brands at the Consumer Electronics Show unveil (a few products that get us very excited. Here’s a round up of a few of the more interesting toys and gadgets) (Trendcentral)