Saturday, October 01, 2011


“Everyone has the right to an opinion, just as I have the right to laugh at the really stupid ones.” Bob Anonymous
On Newspapers, Public Discourse, and the Right to Remain Anonymous
October 1, 2011 by Dissent
Over on EFF, Jillian York and Trevor Timm respond to an editorial in the Washington Times:
In a recent Washington Times editorial titled “Internet trolls, Anonymity and the First Amendment,” Gayle Falkenthal declared that “the time has come to limit the ability of people to remain anonymous” online. She argued that any benefit to online pseudonyms has long since dissipated and anonymous commenters have polluted the Internet “with false accusations and name-calling attacks.” Newspapers, she wrote, should ban them entirely.
This argument is not only inaccurate, it’s also dangerous
Read more on EFF.


Ubiquitous surveillance. Now you can track terrorists (or stalk your ex-girlfriend) just as easily as the CIA, FBI, TSA, m-o-u-s-e...
How To Use A GPS Enabled Smartphone As A Tracking Device


This is not very amusing. It suggests a “test” for malware that does not include a process for identifying valid and unmodified applications. What would happen if a Payroll system or nuclear reactor alarm system was “accidentally deleted?”
Microsoft Anti-Malware Tool Mistakenly Snuffs Google Chrome
Microsoft’s Security Essentials anti-malware tool has mistakenly identified Google Chrome as a password-pilfering trojan — and actually removed the browser from many users’ machines — but a fix for this rather amusing false positive is now available.
… Google declined to comment on the matter Friday morning, but a company spokesperson has since pointed us to a blog post where the company says that over the next 24 hours, it will release an update that will automatically repair Chrome for those affected by Microsoft’s false positive.


I like my statistics to fit on a normal curve. Some of these seem to curve into the 9th dimension...
Hitwise: Singaporeans Spend The Most Time On Facebook Per Session
Hitwise just published a new study examining how much time people living in different countries spend on Facebook. Singaporeans actually spend the longest on the social network, with an average of 38 minutes and 46 seconds per session, while people living in Brazil spend less than half that with an average of 18 minutes and 19 seconds per Facebook session for August 2011.
… Facebook was the most visited Social Networking site in the US in August 2011 receiving 91% of visits among the sites followed by Twitter with 1.92% of visits. Tagged.com ranked 3rd for the first time, passing MySpace.com with 1.04% of US Internet visits.
The fastest growing country in terms of visits is India, which saw an an increase in market share of 88% in August 2011 compared to August 2010. The US also experienced a market share increase from Facebook of 5% year on year.
It’s no surprise that Facebook is seeing major growth internationally and in the U.S. Marc Zuckerberg just revealed that as many as 500 million members have used used Facebook in a given day, which is a milestone for the network. [and here I thought there were only about 300 million people in the US. Bob]


INFOGRAPHIC : Making The First Page Of Search Results
… Ever since Google burst onto the scene, it’s been a constant battle between them and Microsoft and Yahoo, each one constantly trying to outdo the other, in exchange for a bit more market share.
… And you have to wonder who will be the next bloodied casualty, especially with persistent reports that Microsoft’s Bing is losing a staggering $11 million a day.


For those who are actually paying for student textbooks...
Kindle Textbook Rental: Rent Textbooks On Kindle & Kindle Apps
… Amazon has a huge collection of textbooks in its catalog and it is now allowing students to rent them on Kindle devices and various Kindle apps for computers and mobile devices.
The books can be rented from 30 to 360 days, and can be converted to a purchase anytime during that period. Even if you don’t own a Kindle, you can read them on the Kindle app for PC, Mac, iPhone, etc.
Check out Kindle Textbook Rental @ www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000702481

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