Monday, February 04, 2013

In a multi-platform world, we need multi-platform malware.
Terrifying Android Malware Hacks Your PC and then Eavesdrops On You With Its Microphone
It's one thing when malware attacks your phone, but it's another when that same malware hops over to your PC and then uses it to listen in on all your conversations on top of just messing with your phone. A newly discovered Android app—one that's in the Google Play store—can do just that. Beware.
The sketchy app, which masquerades as a "cleaner" app called DroidCleaner, was discovered by Kaspersky, and if it infects you, its tendrils will wrap themselves around a seriously impressive number of things.


Was there an assumption that everyone used their phones as a phone?
Cell Phone Activities 2012

(Related)
Just Call Someone Already
You won't believe this. There's a technological marvel that, instead of forcing you to communicate with others in writing, actually allows you to hear other people's voices and words — you can even hear the tone and volume of their voices! And wonder of wonders, they can hear you! Across any distance! It's incredible! Not many people use the device today, but it's truly in a class by itself for productive communication.
Please pardon the sarcasm, but the way people shun the telephone these days is getting ridiculous.
You used to be able to just call people. You didn't have to be on someone's calendar to have a phone conversation.


How many strikes should social networks get?
Less than a week after social network Path settled with the US Federal Trade Commission for collecting childrens’ private information to the tune of $800,000 it has once again been caught publishing users’ private information.
The social network and photo sharing mobile app has been automatically geotagging users’ photos even when they have completely disabled location services. [“We look to see if you have 'Opted Out,' then we do it anyway...” Bob]
The bug was discovered by security researcher and hacker Jeffrey Paul who found that Path had geotagged a photo he published from his phone even though his location services had been disabled.
Read more on news.com.au. Path claimed initial ignorance of the issue and replied to Paul that they were addressing it. Now what, if anything, will the FTC do?


A reversal on this one may force us to “Open Source Only” resources. Fortunately, that's not a big deal.
February 03, 2013
Electronic Course Reserves Copuright Infringement Case Moves to Appeal
Chronicle of Higher Education, Jennifer Howard: "Fair use and electronic course reserves are back in court. A keenly watched copyright case that pitted three academic publishers against Georgia State University has entered the appeals phase, with a flurry of filings and motions this week and more expected soon. One surprise motion came from the U.S. Department of Justice, which requested more time to consider filing an amicus brief either in support of the publishers or in support of neither party...he case in question is Cambridge U. Press et al. v. Mark P. Becker et al. In 2008, Cambridge, Oxford University Press, and SAGE Publishers sued Georgia State, asserting it had committed widespread copyright violations when it allowed some of their content to be used, unlicensed, in e-reserves. The Association of American Publishers and the Copyright Clearance Center, which specializes in licensing content to universities, bankrolled the legal action."

(Related) Idiots can be found at all levels in all organizations.
"A proposal by the Prince George's County Board of Education to copyright work created by staff and students for school could mean that a picture drawn by a first-grader, a lesson plan developed by a teacher or an app created by a teen would belong to the school system, not the individual. It's not unusual for a company to hold the rights to an employee's work, copyright policy experts said. But the Prince George's policy goes a step further by saying that work created for the school by employees during their own time and using their own materials is the school system's property."


Think this is true? Could we run Geeks for Congress? (Interesting read)
Geeks are the New Guardians of Our Civil Liberties


Add to my library request list. Published only as an eBook?
February 03, 2013
MIT - The New Initiative on the Digital Economy
"The Initiative for the Digital Economy (IDE) is a major effort addressing the impact of digital technology on businesses, the economy, and society. Drawing upon MIT Sloan’s strengths in technology and innovation, its internationally recognized faculty, and over a decade of research and partnership with MIT Sloan’s Center for Digital Business, the new Initiative will analyze the broad sociological changes brought about by digital technology. Many of the key issues are described in a recent book by Professor Erik Brynjolfsson and Dr. Andrew McAfee, Race Against the Machine - How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy. In the book, they outline the relevant issues the new initiative will address..."


For all my students
These days, school careers advisors are more likely to be asked about careers in programming, IT, web and software developing, and anything else which involves a monitor and a keyboard. That is the subject of today’s infographic, courtesy of Schools.com.
So forget law school and medicine school – try programming school instead. Brush up on your database skills. And instead of learning Spanish, learn another language such as Python or Ruby. That will lead to the jobs with big bucks, especially when Skynet takes over the world and they need people human slaves to keep the computers upgraded.


I'm thinking, Math-Mag: Adventures in Addition. What do you think?
If you are looking to publish your content online in a way that is quite similar to traditional magazines, check out Zeen, an online content platform that lets users create and view elegant-looking web magazines.
Similar Tools: Appgreen, Themeefy, and Grisker.


A re-cap of Commercial Fest 2013
Super Bowl 2013 Commercials

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