Friday, November 16, 2012

Use Facebook's new Social Jobs app to find work | PCWorld

Use Facebook's new Social Jobs app to find work | PCWorld

Looking for a job? Now you can leverage one of the sites that you use the most, Facebook, to help in your hunt.

Facebook on Wednesday rolled out its long-awaited Social Jobs app for U.S. users, which has aggregated more than 1.7 million job listings from job search sites that were already using Facebook to reach recruits, including Jobvite, BranchOut, Work4Labs, and Monster.com.

The social network first announced plans for a jobs app last October as a joint venture with the Labor Department. The two launched the Social Jobs Partnership, a group that includes the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, and the Direct Employers Association.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis in a statement said “the foundation of an industry-supported open-source job-posting schema” is “helping America get back to work.”

The national unemployment rate in October dipped below 8 percent for the first time since January 2009.

Facebook says the app is a natural progression in social networking. NACE research indicates that 50 percent of employers already use Facebook to find new hires. Those employers said potential recruits can better use Facebook to find jobs by liking company pages and networking with contacts.

“Facebook is all about connecting people, and we’re thrilled to see developers leveraging our platform to connect job seekers and prospective employers,” Marne Levine, Facebook’s vice president for global public policy, said in a statement. “By allowing job seekers to view and share job openings based on personalized criteria, like location and industry, the Social Jobs Application builds on our broader effort to help people use social media to find jobs in the U.S.”

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Monday, November 12, 2012

How ‘social intelligence’ can guide decisions - McKinsey Quarterly - Strategy - Strategic Thinking

How ‘social intelligence’ can guide decisions - McKinsey Quarterly - Strategy - Strategic Thinking:

By offering decision makers rich real-time data, social media is giving some companies fresh strategic insight.

Women Fight to Define the Arab Spring - NYTimes.com

Women Fight to Define the Arab Spring - NYTimes.com

Women Fight to Define the Arab Spring - NYTimes.com

Women Fight to Define the Arab Spring - NYTimes.com

When Mabrouka M’barek is in the Tunisian capital these days, much of her time is spent writing a new constitution as an elected member of the National Constituent Assembly. It is a role the 32-year-old mother of two embraces with idealistic passion and more than a little amazement. Before President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in 2011, she never imagined herself a “founding mother,” as she referred to herself in a recent interview, of this country or any other.

The Worst Places to Be a Woman - By Valerie M. Hudson | Foreign Policy

The Worst Places to Be a Woman - By Valerie M. Hudson | Foreign Policy

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Social Media and Voting | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Social Media and Voting | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:

On Election Day 2012, the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds social media to be a significant part of the process by which voters are talking about their ballot selections, especially younger voters:

22% of registered voters have let others know how they voted on a social networking site such as Facebook or Twitter.
Social media platforms have also become a notable venue for people to try to convince their friends to vote.

30% of registered voters have been encouraged to vote for Democrat Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney by family and friends via posts on social media such as Facebook or Twitter.
20% of registered voters have encouraged others to vote by posting on a social networking site such as Facebook or Twitter.

Friday, November 2, 2012

On Twitter, Sifting Through Falsehoods in Critical Times - NYTimes.com

On Twitter, Sifting Through Falsehoods in Critical Times - NYTimes.com:

Deliberate falsehoods, including images showing the Statue of Liberty engulfed in ominous clouds and sharks swimming through waterlogged suburban neighborhoods quickly spread through the service, as did word that power would be shut off for the entire city of New York and that the floor of the New York Stock Exchange had been flooded.

Twitter says it cannot possibly regulate the millions of messages on its service, and that a bit of misinformation and mischief is to be expected. But in recent years, the service has become an indispensable funnel of information in critical times for many people, especially for those who lose access to power or cable TV. For them, it can be a crucial lifeline.

In Crisis, Public Officials Embrace Social Media - NYTimes.com

In Crisis, Public Officials Embrace Social Media - NYTimes.com

With Hurricane Sandy, public officials and government agencies have embraced social media to a greater degree than ever. For proof, look no further than the Twitter feed of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York: 400 messages on Tuesday, 300 on Wednesday and well over 100 on Thursday, featuring everything from photos of storm surge damage to updates on power restoration.

The governor’s followers have increased to 50,000 from 20,000 last Friday

“Twitter makes it possible for a public official to create a round-the-clock press conference, simultaneously informing their staff, the public and the press,” said Andrew Rasiej, the founder of the Personal Democracy Forum

Friday, October 19, 2012

Social Media and Political Engagement | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Social Media and Political Engagement | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

The use of social media is becoming a feature of political and civic engagement for many Americans. Some 60% of American adults use either social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, and a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that 66% of those social media users—or 39% of all American adults—have done at least one of eight civic or political activities with social media.

66% of social media users have employed the platforms to post their thoughts about civic and political issues, react to others’ postings, press friends to act on issues and vote, follow candidates, ‘like’ and link to others’ content, and belong to groups formed on social networking sites.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Campaigns Use Social Media to Lure Younger Voters - NYTimes.com

Campaigns Use Social Media to Lure Younger Voters - NYTimes.com:

In 2012, it is not enough for candidates to shake some hands, kiss a baby or two and run some TV ads. They also need to be posting funny little animations on the blogging site Tumblr.

If the presidential campaigns of 2008 were dipping a toe into social media like Facebook and Twitter, their 2012 versions are well into the deep end. They are taking to fields of online battle that might seem obscure to the non-Internet-obsessed — sharing song playlists on Spotify, adding frosted pumpkin bread recipes to Pinterest and posting the candidates’ moments at home with the children on Instagram.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Privacy Advocates and Advertisers at Odds Over Web Tracking - NYTimes.com

Privacy Advocates and Advertisers at Odds Over Web Tracking - NYTimes.com:

An effort to develop an easy way for consumers around the world to avoid being tracked and targeted by Internet advertisers appeared to hit an impasse Thursday, as privacy advocates and industry representatives accused each other of scuttling the process.

Monday, October 1, 2012

He Won't Tell You His Name, But He'll Help You Hide Your Money : Planet Money : NPR

He Won't Tell You His Name, But He'll Help You Hide Your Money : Planet Money : NPR:

We set up our shell companies. Then we wondered: What do people actually do with shell companies?

One popular use, it turns out, is what professionals call "asset protection." Ordinary people call this "hiding money."

That's debatable. What's not debatable: All these tricks are within the law. "It's legal," one lawyer said to me. "Is it moral? That's a question for the bishop."

Flightfox Lets the Crowd Find the Best Airfares - NYTimes.com

Flightfox Lets the Crowd Find the Best Airfares - NYTimes.com:

TRAVEL search sites have made it easy to find the lowest available fares ever since the Web’s early Jurassic period, when pioneers like Expedia and Travelocity opened shop. Many others, like Kayak and Hipmunk, have since joined in.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

NBC Unpacks Trove of Viewer Data From London Olympics - NYTimes.com

NBC Unpacks Trove of Viewer Data From London Olympics - NYTimes.com

For research wonks there’s no event quite like the Olympics. Roughly 217 million people in the United States watched the London Games, making it the most watched television event in history. And unlike other big, live events like the Super Bowl or the Academy Awards, the Olympics offer researchers a prolonged, 17-day period during which to study behavior.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Photos and Videos as Social Currency Online | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Photos and Videos as Social Currency Online | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:

46% of internet users post original photos and videos online they have created themselves and 41% curate photos and videos they find elsewhere on the internet and post on image-sharing sites. Women are more likely than men to use Pinterest, while Instagram and Tumblr attract equal shares of men and women.

A nationally representative phone survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that:

46% of adult internet users post original photos or videos online that they themselves have created. We call them creators.
41% of adult internet users take photos or videos that they have found online and repost them on sites designed for sharing images with many people. We call them curators.
Overall, 56% of internet users do at least one of the creating or curating activities we studied and 32% of internet users do both creating and curating activities.

In addition, this is the first time that the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project has asked questions about Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr.

In Microsoft’s New Browser, the Privacy Light Is Already On - NYTimes.com

In Microsoft’s New Browser, the Privacy Light Is Already On - NYTimes.com


IT could usher in a new era of online privacy. Or it might bowdlerize the Internet as we know it.

Then again, it might do almost nothing at all.

The item in question is Microsoft’s latest version of its Internet Explorer browser, scheduled to be available to consumers in late October, packaged with Windows 8. The browser comes with an option called “do not track.” It lets users indicate whether they’d like to see ads tailored to them by companies that track their online browsing histories — or whether they’d rather not have their online activities tracked, recorded, analyzed and stored for marketing purposes.

Of course, browsers like Firefox from Mozilla, Safari from Apple and even an earlier version of Internet Explorer already offered this choice for people who expressed a preference. But Microsoft is going further — by making privacy a more public issue. The new Internet Explorer 10 comes with the don’t-track-me option automatically enabled, a fact that the software makes clear. During installation, a notice will appear giving users the choice to keep that preselected don’t-track-me preference as is, or switch it off on a customization menu.

It’s a radical move for a technology company, especially one like Microsoft, with an ad business of its own.

“No one says today, when a consumer first loads a product, ‘Hey, by the way, there are some privacy choices you may want to consider,’ ” says Alex Fowler, the global privacy and policy leader at Mozilla. He believes that this may be the first time that privacy features so prominently “in the first-run experience of a consumer software product.”

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Keystrokes in Google Bare Shocking Rumors About Bettina Wulff - NYTimes.com

Keystrokes in Google Bare Shocking Rumors About Bettina Wulff - NYTimes.com:

Say a schoolchild writing a homework assignment about Bettina Wulff entered her name into the search engine. “Bettina Wulff prostitute,” Google’s autocomplete function would helpfully but perhaps slanderously suggest. “Bettina Wulff escort” would pop up for good measure.

“I was stunned,” Ms. Wulff, who vehemently denied the accusations, told the weekly newsmagazine Stern, one of several publications to feature her on the cover in recent weeks. “I felt powerless and cried a lot.”

Taking an aggressive tack against the rumors, she filed a lawsuit against Google in a Hamburg court.

Her suit signals the latest effort to force the Internet giant to play the role of online referee, following close behind Google’s decision to block an inflammatory anti-Muslim video from YouTube in certain countries.

In Ms. Wulff’s case, Google has countered that it is not to blame for her troubles. “All of the queries shown in Autocomplete have been typed previously by other Google users,” Kay Oberbeck, a spokesman for the company, said in a statement that suggested it was the curiosity of the many, and not the assessment of the company, that was causing the offending terms to pop up.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Intellectual networking | News & Events | University of Calgary

Intellectual networking | News & Events | University of Calgary

Ullyot started by requiring students to post their questions to him (@ullyot) via Twitter on the weekends before he would introduce new texts in class. Tapping into the resulting dialogue was a way for Ullyot to identify student preconceptions about the Shakespeare plays, and plan how best to deliver the course’s content during class time.

“Coverage of a topic is just as important as exemplifying critical practices, and teaching to the students who are in the room,” says Ullyot. “Twitter is known for its limitations — to 140 characters — but this limited tool can expand minds. It encourages ways of thinking and talking about the texts that’s more flexible and responsive to student needs.”

Not only did Ullyot notice a substantial increase in the number of student tweets over time, he also witnessed growth in expert thinking, intellectual discourse and dialogue among students.

“Students are already using Twitter in their daily lives,” says Ullyot. “This project was about taking student habits that were already established and repurposing them for intellectual use.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Google Won’t Rethink Anti-Islam Video’s Status - NYTimes.com

Google Won’t Rethink Anti-Islam Video’s Status - NYTimes.com


Google said on Friday that it would not comply with a White House request to reconsider the anti-Islam video that has set off violent protests in the Arab world in light of its rules banning hate speech on YouTube, which it owns.


Google said it had already determined that the video did not violate its terms of service regarding hate speech, because it was against the Muslim religion but not Muslim people.

The company also said Friday that it had blocked access to the video in India and Indonesia because it violated local laws.

These actions came after Google temporarily blocked the video on Wednesday in Egypt and Libya of its own volition — not because it violated laws or YouTube’s terms of service — an extraordinary measure that it said it took in response to the delicacy of the situation. The video is accessible in the rest of the world, even as protests spread to nearly 20 countries, from North Africa to Indonesia.

The company does not police videos uploaded to the site because of the sheer volume involved; 72 hours of videos are uploaded each minute. It reviews videos only if users flag them as inappropriate or if it receives a valid court order or government request to remove them for violating the law.

Kevin Bankston, director of the free expression project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit group that focuses on digital civil liberties, said that Google, as a private company, could decide what was appropriate on its sites and what was not. But he added, “Considering the power that many of these platforms have, it’s important for them to be as clear and transparent as possible about those decisions.”

Friday, September 14, 2012

Libya Attacks Came in Two Waves, Official Says - NYTimes.com

Libya Attacks Came in Two Waves, Official Says - NYTimes.com


The mayhem that killed and wounded more than a dozen American officials was actually two attacks — the first spontaneous and the second organized, a top Libyan security official said.

Turmoil Over Contentious Video Spreads - NYTimes.com

Turmoil Over Contentious Video Spreads - NYTimes.com

In Yemen, hundreds of protesters attacked the American Embassy, two days after assailants killed the American ambassador in Libya and crowds tried to overrun the embassy compound in Cairo.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Business Analytics: The Solution Behind the Crumb

Business Analytics: The Solution Behind the Crumb : A team of IBM analytics experts noticed that on rainy days customers were more likely to purchase cakes, while on sunny days the choice food was paninis. We couldn’t have guessed this by looking at the weather and sales reports separately, but together, we uncovered a new outcome. Now the bakery knows what to bake based on the weather forecast.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

The Engagement Gap - NYTimes.com

The Engagement Gap - NYTimes.com:

Forget the enthusiasm gap, let’s focus on the engagement gap.

In particular, let’s focus on the gap in the level of media engagement — particularly social media engagement — between President Obama’s campaign and Mitt Romney’s. Obama is on the winning side of that gap.

A study earlier this month by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at how the campaigns are using social media this cycle. It found that:

“The Obama campaign posted nearly four times as much content as the Romney campaign and was active on nearly twice as many platforms. Obama’s digital content also engendered more response from the public — twice the number of shares, views and comments of his posts.”

It is too early to say what the Obama campaign’s digital edge will mean on Election Day, but if it can convert virtual engagement into actual turnout, that could turn a tough race into an easy one.

Can Obama campaign convert virtual engagement to actual turnout? – The question sounds very similar to virtual vs. physical collective action.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Facebook’s Challenge - Making Money in Mobile World - NYTimes.com

Facebook’s Challenge - Making Money in Mobile World - NYTimes.com

The company is trying to find ways to show lucrative ads to mobile users without cluttering up their hand-held screens and driving them away in frustration.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Struggling to Recover From a Cyberattack - NYTimes.com

Struggling to Recover From a Cyberattack - NYTimes.com

When someone hacks into a company’s computer system and wreaks havoc, and a former employee is suspected, how does the business rebuild?

Twitter Followers For Sale - NYTimes.com

Twitter Followers For Sale - NYTimes.com

That friend who brags about having 1,000, even 100,000 Twitter followers may not have earned them, but simply bought them on the black market.

Electronic Scores Rank Consumers by Potential Value - NYTimes.com

Electronic Scores Rank Consumers by Potential Value - NYTimes.com:

Buying-power scores, compiled from huge amounts of data, measure your potential value as a customer. But you’ll probably never learn your total.

AMERICANS are obsessed with their scores. Credit scores, G.P.A.’s, SAT’s, blood pressure and cholesterol levels — you name it.

So here’s a new score to obsess about: the e-score, an online calculation that is assuming an increasingly important, and controversial, role in e-commerce.

These digital scores, known broadly as consumer valuation or buying-power scores, measure our potential value as customers. What’s your e-score? You’ll probably never know. That’s because they are largely invisible to the public. But they are highly valuable to companies that want — or in some cases, don’t want — to have you as their customer.

Internet Analysts Question India’s Efforts to Stem Panic - NYTimes.com

Internet Analysts Question India’s Efforts to Stem Panic - NYTimes.com

Internet companies say they are cooperating with efforts to stop posts and photos that are fueling ethnic tensions, but analysts say the government’s response was poorly planned.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Study: Viewers Turning To YouTube As News Source : NPR

Study: Viewers Turning To YouTube As News Source : NPR

A new study has found that YouTube has become a major platform for news, one where viewers are turning for eyewitness videos in times of major events and natural disasters.

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism on Monday released their examination of 15 months of the most popular news videos on the Google Inc.-owned site. It found that while viewership for TV news still easily outpaces those consuming news on YouTube, the video-sharing site is a growing digital environment where professional journalism mingles with citizen content.

"There's a new form of video journalism on this platform," said Amy Mitchell, deputy director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. "It's a form in which the relationship between news organizations and citizens is more dynamic and more multiverse than we've seen in most other platforms before."

More than a third of the most-watched videos came from citizens. Than more half came from news organizations, but footage in those videos sometimes incorporated footage shot by YouTube users.

The Japanese earthquake and tsunami was the most-viewed news event during the length of the study, which spanned January 2011 to March 2012. The top videos from Japan included footage from surveillance cameras, a news network and a Japanese Coast Guard vessel — a typical variety of sources.

Such dramatic events were often among the most watched videos. Other popular news events included the Russian elections, unrest in the Middle East, the collapse of a fair stage in Indiana and the crash of an Italian cruise ship.

Monday, July 2, 2012

On YouTube, Amateur Is the New Pro - NYTimes.com

On YouTube, Amateur Is the New Pro - NYTimes.com:

"How to be a YouTube Celebrity: A mash-up of advice from the people who know YouTube best: the amateurs."

When Internet Distractions Make Us More Efficient - NYTimes.com

When Internet Distractions Make Us More Efficient - NYTimes.com:

THE Internet is a rabbit hole of distraction. It’s easy to wind up knee-deep in paparazzi photos of Beyonce’s new baby when you intended only to answer a few e-mails.

But last week, I had a different experience. Stressed out, on a deadline, I was frustrated to the point of uselessness and began to post a handful of items to Twitter and Tumblr. For a while, my mind and fingers wandered aimlessly around the Web. When I grew tired of this, I turned back to my assignment, completed it and turned it in. The entire detour took less than 10 minutes, and it seemed to make me more efficient.

Social Media Is the Message for Olympics - NYTimes.com

Social Media Is the Message for Olympics - NYTimes.com:

At the Olympic Games in London, set to begin this month, the official motto of “swifter, higher, stronger” will be supplemented by a new label. If some marketers, fans and athletes have anything to say, these Games will be the first Social Media Olympics — the “Socialympics,” as some are calling them. Even the Olympic movement, which sometimes steps into the future with great caution, has warily accepted the idea.

Networking in the Groves of Academe - NYTimes.com

Networking in the Groves of Academe - NYTimes.com:

Yet she also urged students to discard any preconceptions they might have about what networking involved, especially “the notion that standing around in a roomful of strangers actually is the most productive way to network rather than, frankly, the least.”

She said that those who denigrated networking simply failed to understand it. “Leadership is the most exalted phrase in the corporate lexicon,” she said. “But leaders go to the Chelsea Flower Show. Leaders go to Davos.”

“I want everyone to have the same opportunities that leaders have,” she said.

“We are living in an era where the social and professional are increasingly blended,” said Ms. Hobsbawm. “But I want to refute the idea that networking is all about calculation. We need to trust people to bring what they really like doing anyway into their day job.”

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Fledgling Fashion Designers Use Fund-Raising Site to Raise Capital - NYTimes.com

Fledgling Fashion Designers Use Fund-Raising Site to Raise Capital - NYTimes.com:

Their creation? The Versalette by {r}evolution apparel, a convertible piece of cloth ingeniously engineered with the aid of buttons and drawstrings to be transformed with sleight-of-hand wizardry into a dress, shirt, scarf, purse — in fact, a total of over 20 different functionalities.

For financing, the partners turned to Kickstarter, the online fund-raising site for creative projects.

The money poured in, blasting past their $20,000 goal to eventually reach $64,246 in the women’s self-designated 35-day offering. The 796 backers contributed anywhere from $5 for which they received a thank you video, to $500, scoring four Versalettes, a poster and a T-shirt. The sweet spot was $75, the threshold price at which the backers secured a Versalette. “It was ridiculous,” said Ms. Whitehead, 26. “I was refreshing 60 times a day probably.”

Raising capital online: The new thundering herd | The Economist

Raising capital online: The new thundering herd | The Economist

Crowdfunding is booming. A report by Massolution, a research firm, forecasts that $2.8 billion will be raised worldwide this year, up from $1.5 billion in 2011 and only $530m in 2009 (see chart 2). There are over 450 “crowdfunding platforms”, including four in China, up from under 100 in 2007, with Kickstarter America’s largest. This month Indiegogo, its closest rival (though global and with a broader mix of projects), secured the biggest chunk of venture capital so far for crowdfunding.

The effect of this has perhaps been most marked in the creative arts: around 10% of the films shown at the Sundance and Cannes festivals this year were crowdfunded, says Mr Strickler. Charity is benefiting, too. But America’s recent Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups (JOBS) Act is raising hopes that crowdfunding will also transform the way in which firms raise capital. Duncan Niederauer, the boss of NYSE Euronext, claims that, properly done, it “will become the future of how most small businesses are going to be financed”. Is the hype justified?

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Acxiom, the Quiet Giant of Consumer Database Marketing - NYTimes.com

Acxiom, the Quiet Giant of Consumer Database Marketing - NYTimes.com: -

Few consumers may have heard of Acxiom, a database marketer. But it has amassed the world’s largest commercial data trove about them, analysts say.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Video: peer-to-peer health care | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Video: peer-to-peer health care | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:

18% of internet users, or 13% of adults, have gone online to find others who might have health concerns similar to theirs. In this video, our Susannah Fox gives an overview of the power of peer-to-peer healthcare.

This 5-minute excerpt of Susannah Fox's Medicine 2.0'11 keynote gives an overview of the concept of peer-to-peer health care:

Monday, June 11, 2012

Many Voices of Sweden, via Twitter - NYTimes.com

Many Voices of Sweden, via Twitter - NYTimes.com


Under a government initiative, each week a different citizen is entrusted the country’s Twitter account, @Sweden, to post at will.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Facebook Meets Brick-and-Mortar Politics - NYTimes.com

Facebook Meets Brick-and-Mortar Politics - NYTimes.com:

"To be sure, Facebook, Twitter and blogging are truly revolutionary tools of communication and expression that have brought so many new and compelling voices to light. At their best, they’re changing the nature of political communication and news. But, at their worst, they can become addictive substitutes for real action. How often have you heard lately: “Oh, I tweeted about that.” Or “I posted that on my Facebook page.” Really? In most cases, that’s about as impactful as firing a mortar into the Milky Way galaxy. Unless you get out of Facebook and into someone’s face, you really have not acted. And, as Syria’s vicious regime is also reminding us: “bang-bang” beats “tweet-tweet” every day of the week."

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Older adults and internet use | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Older adults and internet use | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:

As of February 2012, one third (34%) of internet users age 65 and older use social networking sites such as Facebook, and 18% do so on a typical day. By comparison, email use continues to be the bedrock of online communications for seniors. As of August 2011, 86% of internet users age 65 and older use email, with 48% doing so on a typical day.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Big Data’s Parallel Universe Brings Fears, and a Thrill - NYTimes.com

Big Data’s Parallel Universe Brings Fears, and a Thrill - NYTimes.com


The world’s bank of digital information is growing at a rate of five trillion bits a second, and there’s a lot going on inside that we don’t know about.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Twitter use | Pew Internet & American Life Project

Twitter use | Pew Internet & American Life Project:

Several demographic groups stand out as having high rates of Twitter usage relative to their peers:

African-Americans — Black internet users continue to use Twitter at high rates. More than one quarter of online African-Americans (28%) use Twitter, with 13% doing so on a typical day.

Young adults — One quarter (26%) of internet users ages 18-29 use Twitter, nearly double the rate for those ages 30-49. Among the youngest internet users (those ages 18-24), fully 31% are Twitter users.

Urban and suburban residents — Residents of urban and suburban areas are significantly more likely to use Twitter than their rural counterparts.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Digital Divides and Bridges: Technology Use Among Youth | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Digital Divides and Bridges: Technology Use Among Youth | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:
In her talk, Amanda focused on bringing together data that highlights the demographic differences among groups of youth in their adoption, use, and experiences with technology and social media. While such data may have illustrated what was called a “digital divide” in the past, it now highlights a variety of digital differences among groups of youth.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Google Privacy Inquiries Get Little Cooperation - NYTimes.com

Google Privacy Inquiries Get Little Cooperation - NYTimes.com:

After months of negotiation, Johannes Caspar, a German data protection official, forced Google to show him exactly what its Street View cars had been collecting from potentially millions of his fellow citizens. Snippets of e-mails, photographs, passwords, chat messages, postings on Web sites and social networks — all sorts of private Internet communications — were casually scooped up as the specially equipped cars photographed the world’s streets.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Big Data Troves Stay Forbidden to Social Scientists - NYTimes.com

Big Data Troves Stay Forbidden to Social Scientists - NYTimes.com:

It is “big data,” the vast sets of information gathered by researchers at companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft from patterns of cellphone calls, text messages and Internet clicks by millions of users around the world. Companies often refuse to make such information public, sometimes for competitive reasons and sometimes to protect customers’ privacy. But to many scientists, the practice is an invitation to bad science, secrecy and even potential fraud.

The issue came to a boil last month at a scientific conference in Lyon, France, when three scientists from Google and the University of Cambridge declined to release data they had compiled for a paper on the popularity of YouTube videos in different countries.

The chairman of the conference panel — Bernardo A. Huberman, a physicist who directs the social computing group at HP Labs here — responded angrily. In the future, he said, the conference should not accept papers from authors who did not make their data public. He was greeted by applause from the audience.

Last year the National Science Foundation said that researchers who receive its funds would be “expected” to share data with other researchers.

Many scientists agree that this is as it should be.

“The obvious answer is that there needs to be more access to data,” said Alex Pentland, director of the Human Dynamics Laboratory at M.I.T. “That is beginning to happen as governments and industry realize that they need to better understand the promise and limits of big data; for instance, we will be announcing a huge, multicountry release of phone data soon.”

Monday, May 21, 2012

Schools Go Into the 'Cloud' to Embrace the Popularity of Social Media - NYTimes.com

Schools Go Into the 'Cloud' to Embrace the Popularity of Social Media - NYTimes.com:

The newest catchphrase in online education is social learning.

Several start-up companies have begun offering cloud-based platforms that combine education and social media. Companies like Teamie, based in Singapore, provide software that lets teachers create, share and manage academic content, and also let students collaborate on assignments on platforms that are similar to the “walls” used on Facebook.

Friday, May 11, 2012

CNN transcript collection, 2000-2012

CNN transcript collection, 2000-2012:


Thanks to the Internet Archive and CNN, thirteen years of transcripts, about a gigabyte compressed, is available to download as one file.

For over a decade, CNN (Cable News Network) has been providing transcripts of shows, events and newscasts from its broadcasts. The archive has been maintained and the text transcripts have been dependably available at transcripts.cnn.com. This is a just-in-case grab of the years of transcripts for later study and historical research.

Three-quarters of smartphone owners use location-based services | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Three-quarters of smartphone owners use location-based services | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:
A new report finds that 74% of smartphone owners use their phone to get real-time location-based information, and 18% use a geosocial service to “check in” to certain locations or share their location with friends.

Monday, May 7, 2012

The rise of in-store mobile commerce | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

The rise of in-store mobile commerce | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:

More than half of adult cell phone owners used their cell phones while they were in a store during the 2011 holiday season to seek help with purchasing decisions. During a 30 day period before and after Christmas:

38% of cell owners used their phone to call a friend while they were in a store for advice about a purchase they were considering making
24% of cell owners used their phone to look up reviews of a product online while they were in a store
25% of adult cell owners used their phones to look up the price of a product online while they were in a store, to see if they could get a better price somewhere else
Taken together, just over half (52%) of all adult cell owners used their phone for at least one of these three reasons over the holiday shopping season and one third (33%) used their phone specifically for online information while inside a physical store—either product reviews or pricing information.

Just-in-time Information through Mobile Connections | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Just-in-time Information through Mobile Connections | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:

The rapid adoption of cell phones and, especially, the spread of internet-connected smartphones are changing people’s communications with others and their relationships with information. Users’ ability to access data immediately through apps and web browsers and through contact with their social networks is creating a new culture of real-time information seekers and problem solvers.

70% of all cell phone owners and 86% of smartphone owners have used their phones in the previous 30 days to perform at least one of the following activities:

Coordinate a meeting or get-together -- 41% of cell phone owners have done this in the past 30 days.
Solve an unexpected problem that they or someone else had encountered -- 35% have used their phones to do this in the past 30 days.
Decide whether to visit a business, such as a restaurant -- 30% have used their phone to do this in the past 30 days.
Find information to help settle an argument they were having -- 27% haveused their phone to get information for that reason in the past 30 days.
Look up a score of a sporting event -- 23% have used their phone to do that in the past 30 days.
Get up-to-the-minute traffic or public transit information to find the fastest way to get somewhere -- 20% have used their phone to get that kind of information in the past 30 days.
Get help in an emergency situation -- 19% have used their phone to do that in the past 30 days.

Creating a Language for the Web - NYTimes.com

Creating a Language for the Web - NYTimes.com:

It’s the vernacular of the Web.

Some of the words and phrases many of us use to describe our behavior on the Internet did not exist just a few years ago. Others have taken on new uses. In a recent update, for example, the Oxford English Dictionary altered its lexicon, including the coinages “LOL”(laugh out loud) and “OMG” (oh my God).

Many Competing Paths on the Road to a Phone Wallet - NYTimes.com

Many Competing Paths on the Road to a Phone Wallet - NYTimes.com:

“This was a gift, to be honest, that was sitting under our Christmas tree that we didn’t anticipate,” he said, of the recent moves by the credit card companies and VeriFone.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Teens & Online Video | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Teens & Online Video | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:
In a survey of 799 teens conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project between April 19 and July 14, 2011, the teens were asked about a number of online behaviors. The results for video-oriented activities are reported here. Among the findings:

37% of internet users ages 12-17 participate in video chats with others using applications such as Skype, Googletalk or iChat. Girls are more likely than boys to have such chats.
27% of internet-using teens 12-17 record and upload video to the internet. One major difference between now and 2006 is that online girls are just as likely these days to upload video as online boys.
13% of internet-using teens stream video live to the internet for other people to watch.
Social media users are much more likely than those who do not use social media to engage in all three video behaviors studied.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Engineer in Google’s Street View Is Identified - NYTimes.com

Engineer in Google’s Street View Is Identified - NYTimes.com:

At the center of the uproar over a Google project that scooped up personal data from potentially millions of unsuspecting people is the company software engineer who wrote the code.

Now a former state investigator involved in another inquiry into Street View has identified Engineer Doe. The former investigator said he was Marius Milner, a programmer with a background in telecommunications who is highly regarded in the field of Wi-Fi networking, essential to the project.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Stop Telling Students to Study for Exams - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Stop Telling Students to Study for Exams - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education: This dysfunctional system reaches its zenith with the cumulative "final" exam. We even go so far as to commemorate this sacred academic ritual by setting aside a specially designated "exam week" at the end of each term. This collective exercise in sadism encourages students to cram everything that they think they need to "know" (temporarily for the exam) into their brains, deprive themselves of sleep and leisure activities, complete (or more likely finally start) term papers, and memorize mounds of information. While this traditional exercise might prepare students for the inevitable bouts of unpleasantness they will face as working adults, its value as a learning process is dubious.

Nordic Countries Increasingly Attractive as Sites for Data Centers - NYTimes.com

Nordic Countries Increasingly Attractive as Sites for Data Centers - NYTimes.com:

While the cold temperatures in the Nordic countries provide natural cooling, Sweden, Norway and Iceland are also leaders in the production of inexpensive renewable energy.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Data Harvesting at Google Not a Rogue Act, Report Finds - NYTimes.com

Google Engineer Told Others of Data Collection, F.C.C. Report Reveals - NYTimes.com:

SAN FRANCISCO — Google’s harvesting of e-mails, passwords and other sensitive personal information from unsuspecting households in the United States and around the world was neither a mistake nor the work of a rogue engineer, as the company long maintained, but a program that supervisors knew about, according to new details from the full text of a regulatory report.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Demystifying social media - McKinsey Quarterly - Marketing & Sales - Digital Marketing

Demystifying social media - McKinsey Quarterly - Marketing & Sales - Digital Marketing:

Last year, for example, a hoax photograph posted online claimed that McDonald’s was charging African-Americans an additional service fee. The hoax first appeared on Twitter, where the image rapidly went viral just before the weekend as was retweeted with the hashtag #seriouslymcdonalds. It turned out to be a working weekend for the McDonald’s social-media team. On Saturday, the company’s director of social media released a statement through Twitter declaring the photograph to be a hoax and asking key influencers to “please let your followers know.” The company continued to reinforce that message throughout the weekend, even responding personally to concerned Tweeters. By Sunday, the number of people who believed the image to be authentic had dwindled, and McDonald’s stock price rose 5 percent the following day.
Responding in order to counter negative comments and reinforce positive ones will only increase in importance. The responsibility for taking action may fall on functions outside marketing, and the message will differ depending on the situation. No response can be quick enough, and the ability to act rapidly requires the constant, proactive monitoring of social media—on weekends too. By responding rapidly, transparently, and honestly, companies can positively influence consumer sentiment and behavior.

Understanding social media in China - McKinsey Quarterly - Marketing & Sales - Digital Marketing

Understanding social media in China - McKinsey Quarterly - Marketing & Sales - Digital Marketing:

No Facebook. No Twitter. No YouTube. Listing the companies that don’t have access to China’s exploding social-media space underscores just how different it is from those of many Western markets. Understanding that space is vitally important for anyone trying to engage Chinese consumers: social media is a larger phenomenon in the world’sa second-biggest economy than it is in other countries, including the United States. And it’s not indecipherable. Chinese consumers follow the same decision-making journey as their peers in other countries, and the basic rules for engaging with them effectively are reassuringly familiar.

Facebook Fight in Germany Leads to Battle Over Privacy - NYTimes.com

Facebook Fight in Germany Leads to Battle Over Privacy - NYTimes.com

Ariane Friedrich, an Olympic high-jump hopeful, published the personal details of a fan who sent her a sexually explicit message, prompting a stir in a country where the right to privacy is sacrosanct.


More than 10,000 people have posted comments on her Facebook page, split between those who cheered her decision as bold move against sexual harassment, and those who chastised her for “vigilante justice.” The “likes” on her Facebook page have jumped from 8,000 to 12,000. Newspapers and television have picked up the controversy as well.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Your Privacy Is Tested With Every Click You Make - NYTimes.com

Your Privacy Is Tested With Every Click You Make - NYTimes.com:
WHEN you write a post on Facebook about your sudden craving for blue cheese, an advertisement for gout prevention might suddenly pop up on your page. Post the phrase “bacon tidbits,” and you might get an ad for a book called “Forbidden Lessons in a Kabul Guesthouse.”

The robots are watching us. They’re announcing to the world that we just looked at Eames chairs on Pinterest and that we’ve listened to Taylor Swift and Conway Twitty on Spotify. They’re sending us ads labeled “Being Conservative in South Carolina” simply because we checked our e-mail in Charleston. They’re broadcasting the fact that we just read an article called “How to Satisfy Your Partner in Bed.” They’re trumpeting — with an undue amount of enthusiasm — that we just scored 6 points on Words With Friends for making the word “cat.”

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Rise in Scientific Journal Retractions Prompts Calls for Reform - NYTimes.com

Rise in Scientific Journal Retractions Prompts Calls for Reform - NYTimes.com:

In October 2011, for example, the journal Nature reported that published retractions had increased tenfold over the past decade, while the number of published papers had increased by just 44 percent. In 2010 The Journal of Medical Ethics published a study finding the new raft of recent retractions was a mix of misconduct and honest scientific mistakes.

Several factors are at play here, scientists say. One may be that because journals are now online, bad papers are simply reaching a wider audience, making it more likely that errors will be spotted. “You can sit at your laptop and pull a lot of different papers together,” Dr. Fang said.

But other forces are more pernicious. To survive professionally, scientists feel the need to publish as many papers as possible, and to get them into high-profile journals. And sometimes they cut corners or even commit misconduct to get there.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Facebook Offers More Disclosure to Users - NYTimes.com

Facebook Offers More Disclosure to Users - NYTimes.com:

In a posting on its privacy blog, Facebook said the expanded archive feature would be introduced gradually to its 845 million monthly active users. It goes beyond the first archive made available in 2010, which has been criticized as incomplete by privacy advocates and regulators in Europe.

“We welcome that Facebook users are now getting more access to their data, but Facebook is still not in line with the European Data Protection Law,” said Mr. Schrems, a student at the University of Vienna. “With the changes, Facebook will only offer access to 39 data categories, while it is holding at least 84 such data categories about every user.”

In 2011, Mr. Schrems requested his own data from Facebook and received files with information in 57 categories. The disclosure, Mr. Schrems said, showed that Facebook was keeping information he had previously deleted from the Web site, and was also storing information on his whereabouts, gleaned from his computer’s I.P. address.

Small Businesses Reap Benefits of Arab Spring - NYTimes.com

Small Businesses Reap Benefits of Arab Spring - NYTimes.com:

“Investors historically targeted well-established companies that had very low risk and provided high returns,” he said in an interview. “But now, after the Arab Spring, investors are pouring the same amounts of money into multiple smaller companies, betting a few of them will see a remarkable success.”

“Back in 2005 we were doing in the range of $300 million in MENA,” he said, using the acronym for the region. “We’re now allocating more than $2 billion a year.” The money was mostly going to small and midsize businesses, he said, with investment opportunities in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia and Morocco.

Digital differences | Pew Internet & American Life Project

Digital differences | Pew Internet & American Life Project:

The ways in which people connect to the internet are also much more varied today than they were in 2000. As a result, internet access is no longer synonymous with going online with a desktop computer:

Currently, 88% of American adults have a cell phone, 57% have a laptop, 19% own an e-book reader, and 19% have a tablet computer; about six in ten adults (63%) go online wirelessly with one of those devices.

Gadget ownership is generally correlated with age, education, and household income, although some devices—notably e-book readers and tablets—are as popular or even more popular with adults in their thirties and forties than young adults ages 18-29.

The rise of mobile is changing the story. Groups that have traditionally been on the other side of the digital divide in basic internet access are using wireless connections to go online. Among smartphone owners, young adults, minorities, those with no college experience, and those with lower household income levels are more likely than other groups to say that their phone is their main source of internet access.

Even beyond smartphones, both African Americans and English-speaking Latinos are as likely as whites to own any sort of mobile phone, and are more likely to use their phones for a wider range of activities.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Mining Our Own Personal Data, for Self-Discovery - NYTimes.com

Mining Our Own Personal Data, for Self-Discovery - NYTimes.com:
MOST of us accumulate huge amounts of data in our lives — including e-mails, telephone calls and spikes of writing activity, as measured by daily keystrokes.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Facebook Plays Offense and Defense by Buying Instagram - NYTimes.com

Facebook Plays Offense and Defense by Buying Instagram - NYTimes.com:
SAN FRANCISCO — Is it crazy for Facebook, a start-up that has not yet even gone public, to be throwing $1 billion at Instagram, an even younger start-up?

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Special Online Collection: Dealing with Data

Special Online Collection: Dealing with Data:
In the 11 February 2011 issue, Science joins with colleagues from Science Signaling, Science Translational Medicine, and Science Careers to provide a broad look at the issues surrounding the increasingly huge influx of research data. This collection of articles highlights both the challenges posed by the data deluge and the opportunities that can be realized if we can better organize and access the data.

Arab Spring Inspires Artistic Expression in Middle East - NYTimes.com

Arab Spring Inspires Artistic Expression in Middle East - NYTimes.com

AMMAN — As scenes of Arab street protests fill his television set, Abu Saqer, a petty domestic tyrant, panics at the thought of losing control of his household. His daughter wants to wear a brighter shade of lipstick. His son wants to join the protests.


“A barrier of fear has been shattered in the region,”


The Arab Spring has, at least momentarily, broken through decades of self-censorship and fear that plagued repressive societies. The regional revolutions have inspired forms of artistic expression.


Arguments go back and forth on political topics and human rights issues that were unmentionable in public before the Arab Spring.


social media activists are keeping a tab, in real time, on activists who have been taken into detention or otherwise attacked by governments new or old.


paintings inspired by the Arab Spring were removed from the annual Dubai Art Fair, deemed by the Dubai authorities to be unacceptable. a painting by the Moroccan artist Zakaria Ramhani, was based on the famous news photograph of a woman protester, widely referred to as the “girl in the blue bra,” half-stripped and beaten by the police in Tahrir Square in Cairo.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

'Girls Around Me' Shows a Dark Side of Social Networks | PCWorld Business Center

'Girls Around Me' Shows a Dark Side of Social Networks | PCWorld Business Center:

The makers of the mobile app Girls Around Me came under fire Monday for helping men to "stalk" unsuspecting women, but the incident also reveals how much we still have to learn about what social networks reveal about us.


The app collected data from FourSquare, showing local bars where women had checked in, and matched that with information from their Facebook profile, including photos and sometimes their dating status. The end result was that the app's users could see how many single women were in a particular nightspot, what they looked like and what their names were.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Viral Kony 2012 Video | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

The Viral Kony 2012 Video | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:

The 30-minute video released last week by the San Diego-based group Invisible Children calling for action against Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony provided striking evidence that young adults and their elders at times have different news agendas and learn about news in different ways. Those ages 18-29 were much more likely than older adults to have heard a lot about the “Kony 2012” video and to have learned about it through social media than traditional news sources. Indeed, a special analysis of posts in Twitter showed that it was by far the top story on the platform.

The Future of Apps and Web | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

The Future of Apps and Web | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:

The Web Is Dead? No. Experts expect apps and the Web to converge in the cloud; but many worry that simplicity for users will come at a price.

Tech experts generally believe the mobile revolution, the popularity of targeted apps, the monetization of online products and services, and innovations in cloud computing will drive Web evolution. Some survey respondents say while much may be gained, perhaps even more may be lost if the “appification” of the Web comes to pass.

New U.S. Research Will Aim at Flood of Digital Data - NYTimes.com

New U.S. Research Will Aim at Flood of Digital Data - NYTimes.com


The Obama administration is set to announce on Thursday a major initiative regarding big data computing, which will involve several government agencies and departments, with commitments totaling $200 million.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

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Geosocial networking: The secret sexism of social media | The Economist

Geosocial networking: The secret sexism of social media | The Economist:

According to Pew, a research outfit, geosocial services like Foursquare and Gowalla attract twice as many men as women. What makes this finding striking is that, in general, women use social media more heavily than men do. (The pop-psychology explanation: women are more social then men.) So why do women lag men in geosocial media?

Social Media Wallflowers - NYTimes.com

Social Media Wallflowers - NYTimes.com:

While many consumer goods companies have embraced social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as new avenues to reach customers, financial institutions, and especially private banks, have been reluctant.

A Surge in Learning the Language of the Internet - NYTimes.com

A Surge in Learning the Language of the Internet - NYTimes.com


The market for Web sites, night classes and online lectures in computer programming is booming, as demand grows for knowing how the digital pieces of the Internet fit together.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Hashtag Activism, and Its Limits - NYTimes.com

Hashtag Activism, and Its Limits - NYTimes.com


Online movements are probably not as effective as real world engagement, but occasionally they are powerful beyond the computer.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Uganda, After ‘Kony 2012,’ Tries to Emphasize the Positive - NYTimes.com

Uganda, After ‘Kony 2012,’ Tries to Emphasize the Positive - NYTimes.com:

KAMPALA, Uganda — In its own way, Uganda is trying to claim its moment in an unfortunate spotlight.

A video posted online this month,“Kony 2012,” which is trying to call attention to the brutality of the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Konyand his penchant for kidnapping and killing children, has turned the eyes of more than 100 million people to this developing, landlocked country.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Teens, Smartphones & Texting | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Teens, Smartphones & Texting | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project


Teens are fervent communicators. Straddling childhood and adulthood, they communicate frequently with a variety of important people in their lives: friends and peers, parents, teachers, coaches, bosses, and a myriad of other adults and institutions. This report examines the tools teens use to communicate, with a particular focus on mobile devices, and then places the use of those tools in the broader context of how teens choose to communicate with people in their lives.

The volume of texting among teens has risen from 50 texts a day in 2009 to 60 texts for the median teen text user. In addition, smartphones are gaining teenage users. Some 23% of all those ages 12-17 say they have a smartphone and ownership is highest among older teens: 31% of those ages 14-17 have a smartphone, compared with just 8% of youth ages 12-13.

Game Makers Give Away ‘Freemium’ Products - NYTimes.com

Game Makers Give Away ‘Freemium’ Products - NYTimes.com:

Still paying 99 cents to download a smartphone game? That’s far too much. More developers are now giving their games away — and then charging for extra features.

The strategy is known as freemium, as in free meets premium. 


And it is being adopted even by giant game makers like Electronic Arts that might once have sneered at the idea because free games had the reputation of being low quality or full of annoying ads.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Germany Trying to Cut Publishers In on Web Profits - NYTimes.com

Germany Trying to Cut Publishers In on Web Profits - NYTimes.com:

Under the proposal, Internet aggregators and search engines would have to pay the publishers if they wanted to display all or parts of their articles — even small snippets like those that are shown in search links.

Pinterest Aims at the Collector Hidden Inside All of Us - NYTimes.com

Pinterest Aims at the Collector Hidden Inside All of Us - NYTimes.com:

Pinterest, the most talked about start-up of the spring, did not take that approach. Instead, the company went after a different crowd when it introduced its service in 2009. The site lets users create “boards” where they can collect images from around the Web and share them with friends and strangers.

Social networking sites and politics | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Social networking sites and politics | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:

Friends disagree with friends about political issues and usually let their disagreements pass without comment. Among the SNS users whose friends post political content, 25% always agree or mostly agree with their friends’ political postings; 73% of these SNS users “only sometimes” agree or never agree with their friends’ political postings. When they disagree with others’ posts, 66% of these SNS users say they usually ignore the posts; 28% said they usually respond with comments or posts of their own; and 5% said it depends on the circumstances.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Hacker, Informant and Party Boy of the Projects - NYTimes.com

Hacker, Informant and Party Boy of the Projects - NYTimes.com:

On the Internet he was Sabu, a notorious celebrity who led a scattered tribe of politically motivated “hacktivists,” revered as the sly mastermind of brash computer attacks. Then, when he was caught, he slipped into the role of federal informant.

But always he was Hector Xavier Monsegur, party boy of the projects.

The multiple worlds of Sabu converged on Tuesday when court papers revealed his real identity.

As an informant, he helped bring down a batch of prominent fellow hackers in Europe and the United States. They were indicted on a charge of computer crimes that the authorities said affected one million victims, along with major companies and government agencies.

New Apps Connect to Friends Nearby - NYTimes.com

New Apps Connect to Friends Nearby - NYTimes.com: to find friends, and friends of friends, whenever they were nearby? Is that unnerving? Or is it terribly beneficial?

Many companies say it is beneficial and that their apps will help people forge new connections and meet someone they perhaps should know. App stores have been flooded with such tools in recent weeks. Kismet, Glancee, Highlight, Ban.jo, Meeteor, Pearescope, GetGauss, Intro, Qrious, Mingle and Sonar, hope to transform the smartphone into a social dowsing rod that delivers an alert when it detects other people nearby who share interests, friends or career goals.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

I Paid a Bribe and Similar Corruption-Exposing Sites Spread - NYTimes.com

I Paid a Bribe and Similar Corruption-Exposing Sites Spread - NYTimes.com

The going rate to get a child who has already passed the entrance requirements into high school in Nairobi, Kenya? 20,000 shillings.

The expense of obtaining a driver’s license after having passed the test in Karachi, Pakistan? 3,000 rupees.

Such is the price of what Swati Ramanathan calls “retail corruption,” the sort of nickel-and-dime bribery, as opposed to large-scale graft, that infects everyday life in so many parts of the world.

Ms. Ramanathan and her husband, Ramesh, along with Sridar Iyengar, set out to change all that in August 2010 when they started ipaidabribe.com, a site that collects anonymous reports of bribes paid, bribes requested but not paid and requests that were expected but not forthcoming.

Mr. Ragui in Kenya is working to develop a system to enable reporting of bribery by mobile phone that he hopes to have ready in time for elections later this year. The idea is to allow people to report vote-buying in real time that will be connected to a map. “It could be really powerful to have real time, granular data to analyze how much corruption affect the election,” he said.

“My real goal, though,” he added, “is to change just one government department and how it does business.”

That is what happened in Bangalore, where Bhaskar Rao, the transport commissioner for the state of Karnataka, used the data collected on I Paid a Bribe to push through reforms in the motor vehicle department. Some 20 senior officers in the department were “cautioned,” Mr. Rao said, and many others received ethics counseling.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Et Tu, Google? Android Apps Can Also Secretly Copy Photos - NYTimes.com

Et Tu, Google? Android Apps Can Also Secretly Copy Photos - NYTimes.com:

It’s not just Apple. Photos are vulnerable on Android phones, too.

As Bits reported this week, developers who make applications for Apple iOS devices have access to a person’s entire photo library as long as that person allows the app to use location data.

It turns out that Google, maker of the Android mobile operating system, takes it one step further. Android apps do not need permission to get a user’s photos, and as long as an app has the right to go to the Internet, it can copy those photos to a remote server without any notice, according to developers and mobile security experts. It is not clear whether any apps that are available for Android devices are actually doing this.

Impatient Web Users Flee Slow-Loading Sites - NYTimes.com

Impatient Web Users Flee Slow-Loading Sites - NYTimes.com:

Wait a second.

No, that’s too long.

Remember when you were willing to wait a few seconds for a computer to respond to a click on a Web site or a tap on a keyboard? These days, even 400 milliseconds — literally the blink of an eye — is too long, as Google engineers have discovered. That barely perceptible delay causes people to search less.

People will visit a Web site less often if it is slower than a close competitor by more than 250 milliseconds (a millisecond is a thousandth of a second).

“Two hundred fifty milliseconds, either slower or faster, is close to the magic number now for competitive advantage on the Web,” said Harry Shum, a computer scientist and speed specialist at Microsoft.

The hunger for speed on smartphones is a new business opportunity for companies like Akamai Technologies, which specializes in helping Web sites deliver services quicker. The company sees the mobile Internet as the next big challenge. “Users’ expectations are getting shorter and shorter, and the mobile infrastructure is not built for that kind of speed,” said Tom Leighton, co-founder and chief scientist at Akamai, who is also an M.I.T. professor. “And that’s an opportunity for us.”

Digital Skills Can Be Quickly Acquired - NYTimes.com

Digital Skills Can Be Quickly Acquired - NYTimes.com:

knowing how to use Twitter, update your timeline on Facebook, pin on Pinterest, check in on Foursquare and upload images on Instagram are among the digital skills that some employers expect people to have to land a job or to flourish in a current role.

“Six months ago, Pinterest wasn’t on everyone’s radar,” she said. “Because I am taking these courses, I am not behind.”

Pamela Tate, president and chief executive of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, based in Chicago, said digital literacy, including understanding social networking, is now a required skill.

“They are essential skills that are needed to operate in the world and in the workplace,” she said. “And people will either need to learn through formal training or through their networks or they will feel increasingly left out.”

For most people looking for a job, she said, it is vital that they understand how to use LinkedIn and other social tools to network and present themselves online. “If you don’t have a LinkedIn or Facebook account, then employers often don’t have a way to find out about you,” she said. To help bridge the gap, major universities, community colleges, online educational businesses from Lynda.com to ed2go.com offer continuing education classes in digital media, including social media skills, Web design, search optimization and Web analytics.

Harvard’s Extension School has a social media marketing course for $1,900 aimed not at midcareer executives, but at younger marketers who need help learning how to integrate social media at their companies.

Facebook Paves Way for Huge Growth in Advertising - NYTimes.com

Facebook Paves Way for Huge Growth in Advertising - NYTimes.com:
Facebook’s hundreds of millions of users could soon be faced with a lot more advertising — in their newsfeed, on their mobile devices and even when they log off.

Andy Kessler: When Will Social Media Elect a President? - WSJ.com

Andy Kessler: When Will Social Media Elect a President? - WSJ.com:

should we believe the hype about social media's impact on the 2012 election?

Pew Research says no. "Cable leads the pack as campaign news source," it concludes in a recently released 35-page report. "Twitter, Facebook play very modest roles."

Too bad that misses the point. New technologies have always altered campaigns and usually in mysterious ways. Party conventions were first televised in 1952 and soon lost their relevance, becoming scripted theater. Richard Nixon lost votes by sweating under harsh lighting during his televised debate with JFK. Bill Clinton bypassed the traditional news media, playing "Heartbreak Hotel" on his sax on Arsenio Hall's late-night show. MoveOn.org used the Internet to accumulate small donations and host a virtual primary won by Howard Dean, who in turn was brought down by a scream, which in turn went viral on the Web. YouTube was soon created and in 2008 hosted "Obama Girl" and other user-generated campaign ads.


In November 2008, Twitter had about four million users, and 100,000 followed candidate Obama. Today, President Obama has more than 12.5 million followers (while Mitt Romney has about 350,000 and Rick Santorum about 150,000). In 2008, Facebook had roughly 50 million users—nowhere near today's 845 million—and Google+ didn't exist.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Millennials will benefit and suffer due to their hyperconnected lives | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Millennials will benefit and suffer due to their hyperconnected lives | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project:

Teens and young adults brought up from childhood with a continuous connection to each other and to information will be nimble, quick-acting multitaskers who count on the Internet as their external brain and who approach problems in a different way from their elders, according to a new survey of technology experts.

Many of the experts surveyed by Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center and the Pew Internet Project said the effects of hyperconnectivity and the always-on lifestyles of young people will be mostly positive between now and 2020. But the experts in this survey also predicted this generation will exhibit a thirst for instant gratification and quick fixes, a loss of patience, and a lack of deep-thinking ability due to what one referred to as “fast-twitch wiring.”

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Echoes of an Arab Revolution That Rocked Sudan, Circa 1964 - NYTimes.com

Echoes of an Arab Revolution That Rocked Sudan, Circa 1964 - NYTimes.com:
KHARTOUM, Sudan — Watching discontented youths across the Middle East chanting for change on television brings back a flood of memories and a smile for Rabi Hassan Ahmad. He was once like them, helping start an uprising in the Arab world decades ago: Sudan’s 1964 October Revolution.