Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Social networks vs A Job?
Schools Spy on Students through Laptops
The Lower Merion School District is accused of spying on their students through the webcam on their school-supplied MacBooks while they were at home. A green light would turn on (to indicate a live camera) at unexpected, random moments. The school district says it never used webcam images to monitor or discipline students and believes one of its administrators has been "unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked." A suit filed by a student, has acknowledged that webcams were remotely activated 42 times in the past 14 months, but only to find missing, lost or stolen laptops — which the district noted would include "a loaner computer that, against regulations, might be taken off campus." "Despite some reports to the contrary, be assured that the security-tracking software has been completely disabled," Superintendent Christopher W. McGinley said in a statement on the district's Web site late Friday. Officials vowed a comprehensive review that McGinley said should result in stronger privacy policies. Students worried that they were being watched while they were undressing.
"The Robbins family caught the school out in a big lie. On November 11th 2009, their 15-year-old son Blake was disciplined by his school's assistant principal Lindy Matsko as he had "engaged in improper behaviour in [his] home." The 'fun' part was that Matsko provided a photograph of the improper behaviour taken by the webcam in Blake's school-provided laptop."
-itWire
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/school-spies-students-9907184
Automatic Parallel Parking
Read more: http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2006/09/ls_460_parking.html
New iPhone Revealed
The latest buzz in the Apple world is about the “outing” of a prototype of the iPhone.
Heres what happened:
An Apple engineer, Gray Powell lost his iPhone at a bar in Redwood City, CA. Brian Hogan says it was given to him by another person in the bar who asked if it was his. Brian "says" he asked around about it, and then left the bar. According to bar staff, he made no attempt to notify them. He took the iPhone home and removed the case, realizing it was an Apple prototype. Eventually, Hogan sold the phone for $5,000 to a gadgets Web site, Gizmodo. Gizmodo shared photos, videos, and information about the device. The investigation continues. The new model is due to be announced in June.
Facebook OWNS You
Facebook, the popular social networking site, has announced that it is taking control of any content anyone posts on its site...including your photos.
-Knoxville blogger Katie Allison Granju said:
“Apparently, Facebook has recently slightly revised its Terms of Service so that users have essentially forever signed away all rights — including commercial rights — to anything they upload to the site.
“I can see it now: Facebook harvests hundreds of randomly entertaining ‘25 Things’ lists written by users, and publishes a book … without paying the contributors a dime.”
Wal-Mart Takes Over the World
Ipad Saves the World
- web-cam
- USB plug-ins
- note-taking app
- textbook app (saves trees)
- MORE apps
- flash
MTV Website Review
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Craiglist Sued By States for Sex Ads
Web Sites Entice Users With Reward System
New iPhone Launched in June
Principle Urges Parents to Remove Students from Facebook
First Lady Tweets
Topeka renames town Google in atempt to get faster internet
PBS predicts iPad will change education
1. They are about productivity.
2.They are about convergence.
3. They are about mobility.
4. They are about price and availability.
5. They are about community.
They also point out that the iPad provides a much more eco-friendly option to textbooks.
Google Chrome is fastest web brower
South Korea Internet Connection...Better?
Broadband internet speeds are about 1/4 as fast as those in South Korea. Connections are cheaper in South Korea also. South Korea has more varied choices to choose internet provider, unlike here in the U.S. They have higher population density that us. it is cheaper to set up internet in tightly populated areas than an open area. There are other reasons South Korea's internet connections are better. The article explains in more detail.
Twitter Ad Service
Twitter launched an advertising service. it will let advertisers' tweets appear at the top of the search results. Its the network's first attempt to make money from its users. Its similar to Google search ads. Google's ads appear on the top of search pages. They will be mostly be little texts and links.
Compete with iPad?
Analyists are saying that there is really no competition for the iPad. There are no real competitors. its questionable if anyone can replicate the iPad experience. Microsoft and HP are having to retool their tablets to compete with Apple.
Youtube User Fees
Webby Awards
Roger Ebert won a Webby for Person of the Year. The rock band, OK Go, was honored with an award for their viral music videos. Amy Poehler won actress of the year for her online series, "Smart Girls at the Party." College Humor and NY Times website each won 5 awards. Jim Carrey's website won best celebrity or fan website.
Facebook Hacker
A hacker hacked in facebook. Apparently, he logged into a lot of people's profiles and tried to sell them on the black market. He offered log-in data as low as $25 for people with 10 or fewer friends.
Google Books
Google plans to release books online on their own. this will compete with amazon.com and apple who already sell digital books. Google said it will let users buy digital copies of books through its book-search service. This will be interesting to see how well it works i think. I think this shows that digital books are becoming more popular.
Cybercrime
this article talks about cybercrime. The CEO of Dell want a collaborative effort to fight cyber crime. Its becoming a problem. He says that goverment and private companies should work together to develop the appropiate framework to secure cyber space.