This is more likely to be the
inevitable advance of technology rather than any pressing need to
read over your shoulder. Unfortunately, this leads (also inevitably)
to “We can, therefore we must!”
Surveillance
cameras so strong they can zoom in to read text messages
May 7, 2012 by Dissent
Surveillance
cameras are now so powerful they are able to zoom in and read your
text messages – leading to fears of further privacy intrusion by a
‘Big Brother’ style state.
As well as being
advanced enough to close in on an individual’s phone screen,
security cameras will soon be able to pick up on raised voices and
sniff out drugs too.
The revelations
were made at a privacy conference in Wellington, New Zealand, where
it was also disclosed that the average person is digitally recorded
about a dozen times a day.
So, do we have a
“reasonable expectation of privacy” from this now that some
courts have acknowledge that there really is some expectation of
privacy in public spaces? If law enforcement can not use long-term
warrantless GPS surveillance, what about this? And of course, what
stops private investigators hired by your angry ex-spouse?
Read more on Daily
Mail.
I'm already on 'double secret
probation,' what more can they do?
"Drew Wilson of ZeroPaid has an
interesting look at file-sharing. It all started with a
review of a Phoenix study that was used to promote SOPA. Wilson
says that the study was long on wild claims and short on fact. While
most writers would simply criticize the study and move on, Wilson
took it a step further and looked in to what file-sharing studies
have really been saying throughout the years. What he found was an
impressive 19 of 20 studies not getting any coverage. He launched a
large series detailing what these studies have to say on
file-sharing. The first study suggests
that file-sharing litigation was a failure. The second study
said that p2p
has no effect on music sales. The third study found that the
RIAA suppresses innovation. The fourth study says that the MPAA
has simply been trying to preserve
its oligopoly. The fifth study says that even when one uses the
methodology of one download means one lost sale, the losses amount
to less than $2 per album. The studies, so far, are being posted
on a daily basis and are certainly worth the read."
(Related) The Streisand Effect with
minor hurdles?
"Now that The Pirate Bay is
being blocked by ISPs in the UK, millions of people have a new
interest in accessing the site, even if they didn't before. The
reasons for this are simple. Not only do people hate being told what
they can and can't do, people – especially geeks – love solving
problems and puzzles. Unlocking
The Pirate Bay with a straightforward proxy is just too boring,
so just for fun let's go the hard way round."
Business opportunity: a roll up
keyboard.
Piano
Apprentice: An App-cessory to Foster Musical Interests
Piano Apprentice is an app-cessory. It
turns your iPad into a small electronic piano with the ability to
play video tutorials and sells itself as a piano teaching tool.
Is it because of where people search?
May 06, 2012
The
verdict: is blogging or tweeting about research papers worth it?
London
School of Economics: "Eager to find out what impact blogging
and social media could have on the dissemination of her work, Melissa
Terras took all of her academic research, including papers that
have been available online for years, to the web and found that her
audience responded with a huge leap in interest in
her work."
More thoughts on e-conomics?
Minting
the Digital Currency of the Future
A few weeks ago the Royal Canadian Mint
rolled out MintChip, a
digital currency that is “better than cash.” It isn’t an
alternative currency in that it’s a digital representation of the
sovereign currency — the Canadian dollar.
Nevertheless, digital money geeks are
atwitter, especially with comparisons to Bitcoin.
The MintChip business model is yet to be defined, however; the RCM
has issued a challenge —
prize money and all — to software developers to come up with apps
for using the currency. In the meantime, we decided to pester Marc
Brule, the RCM’s chief financial officer, to try and make some
cents of it all.
Put that in your iPad and stream it!
AudioLiterate lets you search for audio
files by author and genre. The simple homepage shows the recently
added book, genre categories, as well as feature audiobooks.
Clicking on an entry will allow you to download the whole audio file
from archive.org,
although you can also choose to stream each chapter with their
embedded audio player.
There must be money in this – it sure
ain't in teaching. (Why limit the article to Minorities?)
7
New Educational Startups Founded By Minorities in Tech
One of today’s most challenging yet
promising markets is the educational system. If you want to see
startups hungry to disrupt an industry, look no further. Founders
are trying to solve the problems plaguing our education system:
including reconciling student debt, providing students with the
skills required to land a job both before and after graduation, and
offering the best course material online regardless of age, location
and educational level.
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