Auto-Downloading Slacker G2 Audio Player Gets Reviewed
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University of Kentucky Ditching Land Lines for Cell Phones
It's hard to find similarities across any random selection of college students, with each having different backgrounds, goals, and preferred alcoholic beverages. There is, however, one commonality: cell phones. A study at the University of Kentucky recently found that 98.2-percent of UK students had cell phones that they relied on for their primary means of communication, findings that have spurred the school to ditch land-lines in dorms, a move that will save the school $840,000-per-year.Land-lines are being deactivated at a savings of $25-per-student. This is money that will offset rising heating costs this year, meaning room and board fees will not increase as they otherwise would have. Students do have the option of having their lines enabled, but so far only seven out of 5,600 students living in on-campus housing have suffered the shame of doing so. In case of emergency, UK has a system that can contact students on their cell phones just as easily as land-lines, meaning everybody wins and everyone is safe -- except for old-school phone companies that haven't gotten with the times yet. [From: nky.com]
Teachers Integrating Cell Phones Into Classrooms
If you can't beat em'...let them use their cell phones in class.
Teachers, who have obviously realized that cell phones are as ubiquitous in schools as paper and pencils, are beginning to use the ubiquitous devices as educational tools. According to a Pew Research Center survey, approximately 71-percent of teens who responded to the survey own cell phones. Teachers are using the cell phones to send e-mails, virtual handouts and podcasts.
The logic here is simple, but it does raise questions. Will students unable to afford cell phones have a stigma attached to them and be ridiculed by their fellow classmates? Will students that can afford cell phones have an advantage over those students who cant?
If done correctly, this techno-integration of the classroom could be a teachers best friend. Conversely, if executed poorly, it could be the catalyst for yet another source of social segregation. [From: Textually]
Search for T-Shirts Online With PleaseDressMe
PleaseDressMe lets you perform text searches of the descriptions, as well as browse by tag, size, and price. The text search turns up surprisingly few results, but browsing by price, size, and color is quite helpful.
Now if only some of the shirts were actually funny. [From: Download Squad]
Related Links:
Top 11 Geek T-Shirts
Audio/Video, Celebrities, Back to School
Invest In Your Favorite Rock Band With Bandstocks
Everyone has a favorite band. What if you could actually support that band. We know, you support them by paying hard-earned money to buy their music and to see them when they're on tour. But what if you could literally help them make their next album. Intrigued?
We thought so.
A new Web site backed by the executives responsible for acts like Kaiser Chiefs and Primal Scream will allow fans to invest in their favorite acts. Bandstocks.com allows the public to purchase stakes in artists in increments of 10 British pounds (about $18). When money invested reaches a certain level, that money is released for the band to to record a new album.
Those who choose to invest in a band will receive the following:
- Credit on the CD sleeve
- Percentage of the profits from its sale and licensing
- Priority ticket booking
- Opportunity to buy limited edition releases
Online Bullying a Public Health Threat, Says CDC
Everybody knows that cyber-bullying (when someone goes out of their way to be a jerk online, a.k.a. 'griefing') is terrifically irritating. It's behavior that many gamers, particularly those in the online virtual world 'Second Life,' have turned into something of a degenerate art form. But is it a threat to our health? Yes, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC has elevated the discussion of this issue from niche online nuisance to a decidedly mainstream issue.According to a newly-released CDC report, cyber-bullying incidents rose 50-percent between 2000 and 2005. While there haven't been any studies since, there's little doubt that online bullying hasn't seen similar -- if not more dramatic -- growth since then.
Unfortunately, the report says, not much can be done about online bullying, since filtering non-profane but still hateful speech is all but impossible online. If you're a parent, we suggest you talk to your kids about online bullies and how pathetic they are -- not only so that they're not offended by them, but so that they don't turn into bullies themselves. And, if you're a victim yourself, just try to ignore it. Remember: Don't feed the trolls! [From: USA Today]
Microsoft Adds 'Porn Mode' to Internet Explorer 8
Worried about your girlfriend, wife, or mom seeing all the dirty stuff you check out online? Well, fear not, perv, as Microsoft's 8th edition of Internet Explorer (IE) will include a feature that lets you surf the Web without a trace of what you checked out.
The new tool, called InPrivate Browsing, will debut later this month in the second Beta version of IE 8. When you, um, turn this feature on, IE will not save your browsing or search history, cookies, form data, or passwords, and will clear its cache when you're, um, done. While Microsoft says it's designed for people using public or shared computers, do we really need to explain why this is being dubbed "porn mode?"
Other new features include InPrivate Blocking, which tells you when content is able to track your browsing history, and InPrivate Subscription, which gives you lists of sites to block. Another change is to the "Delete Browsing History" option, which now lets you keep cookies for certain sites. Mozilla, which was supposed to have similar features in Firefox 3.0, is hoping to have it in 3.1 sometime in the next few months. Stay tuned. [From: Computerworld]
Cell Phones, iPod, iPhone, Mobile Software, Back to School
New iPhone App Streams iTunes Collections Anywhere
In what may be most promising portable music sharing application to date, Simplify Media -- available now for iPhone and iPod Touch on the App Store -- lets users stream their friends iTunes libraries from any broadband Internet connection, making storage capacity something of a non-issue.
Like its sister apps for Mac, Linux, and Windows, the program lets users stream songs and playlists from both the their own computers and those of up to 30 friends, complete with album art and lyrics attached to each track. And here's what's awesome: The software even works over 2G and 3G networks, meaning you'll always be connected (if at a somewhat slower speed), even when not in range of a Wi-Fi network. While it's not a huge deal, the downside is that DRM-protected iTunes purchases won't stream through the program (it's a copyright thing).
The iPhone app is free to the first 100,000 to download it, $3.99 for everyone else. Get it, go, forth, and be merry. [Source: TUAW]
Computers, MySpace, Back to School
Is It Okay for Teachers to Communicate With Students Via Facebook?
A flurry of student-teacher sexual relationships has set off alarms with those who worry that Facebook and MySpace are just new places place for teachers to communicate with their students without supervision. CNN reports that legislators, teachers and parents nationwide are concerned, and a group in Missouri, specifically, is considering a bill that would make it illegal for teachers to befriend students on social networking sites.
Others, however, see the services as helpful for creating connections with struggling students who might be afraid to speak up in class or in person. Teachers are afraid to lose any weapon in their arsenal that helps them reach out to kids.
Sadly, we don't see a simple answer. The pros seem to outweigh the cons, but just barely. It is important here, as always, that parents play a role in monitoring their children's relationships with their teachers, even online. [Source: CNN]
Educational Twitter Leads to Class Moving Online, for Free
Do your professors twitter? Do they blog, or even e-mail? Professor Dave Parry from the University of Texas at Dallas does all of the above. Now, after twittering to solicit some ideas for taking one of his classes online, Parry is taking things a step further by opening up the seminar to (almost) anyone who wants to join in, free of cost -- assuming his school goes along with it. Online classes are of course nothing new, the Internet equivalent of correspondence courses of yore, but the one Parry hopes to offer to anyone is a bit different. The course is a graduate seminar on emerging media, entailing a lot of reading and discussion, but very little classroom-heavy presentation, which makes it ideal for moving into the online world of chat rooms and forums. So, yes, the class is free and open to anyone -- but right now Parry is thinking of limiting it to only 10 and to grad students at other universities. If you're interested, better apply soon! [Source: ars technica]
Ultra Motor's A2B Electric Bike -- For Hipster Urbanites
This comparatively small electric bike features a full suspension setup, an oversized seat and a battery arrangement that provides 20 miles of travel without a touch of the pedal. Also of note, riders can reach speeds of up to 20mph (or 50mph if traveling downhill, so we hear), and an optional secondary battery can double the aforesaid distance capability. Look for this one to hit authorized dealers next month for a presumably lofty amount of scratch. [From: BusinessWire via OhGizmo]
Update: And we've got a price of $2,599. $2,675 with pegs, a spash guard and a few random stickers.
Cell Phones, Computers, Back to School
Twitter Limits Users to Following 2,000 People
One of the most common techniques used by spammers to rack up a significant number of followers -- folks who track a particular person's tweats -- is to follow as many people as possible. The idea is that the folks a spammer follows will return the favor and follow the spammer eventually, too. Twitter is combating this practice by limiting the number of people any one user can follow, and therefore limiting the amount of people the spammer can connect to.
The limits are different for each account and based upon the number of followers and other undisclosed criteria, but generally the limit seems to be in the 2,000 range. Some may complain about the restriction, but it seems perfectly reasonable to us -- there is no way you could possibly keep up with following 2,000 people and get anything useful out of it. [Source: brentcsutoras]
Cell Phones, Computers, iPod, iPhone, Mobile Software, Back to School
DataCase Turns Your iPhone into a Wireless Hard Drive
DataCase is $6.99 and, once activated, allows other PCs on your wireless network to access two default folders on your iPod or iPhone. One is 'Drop Box,' a write-only folder to dump files for viewing, and the other a 'Shared Files' folder that allows you to read and write to files stored in the folder for sending and receiving data. DataCase also claims to be able to stream video from your iPhone/iPod to your PC.
Check out the video below to see it in action and head on over the The Unofficial Apple Weblog for a complete review. [From: TUAW]
Hackers Using Facebook Wall to Spread Viruses
Usually walls are used to keep things out, you know, like the wind, or bugs, or barbarian invaders. Ironic, then, that Facebook's iconic Wall, the thing that helped to set it apart from MySpace and grab a huge share of the online social networking space, is actually being used by some to spread malicious software capable of turning your machine into a zombie, so that others with bad intents can control it and make it do their bidding online. The "attack" is actually rather unsophisticated -- just a link posted to the wall to a site that supposedly has a video of, what else, a celebrity caught in a private moment doing naughty things with a special someone. Naturally the site doesn't have any such video, just a fake version of the Flash plugin that is actually the malware itself. You're prompted to install it to view the video and, once installed, your machine is theirs for the taking.
So, as always, be careful where you click, keep your virus scanner up to date, and only install plug-ins like that from official sources, like Adobe.com. [Source: PC World]
Cameras, Computers, Back to School
Student Arrested for Adding Webcam Spy Software to Womens' Laptops
Ever sat there and looked at the webcam in your laptop wondering if maybe someone, somewhere was, you know, watching you? Chances are that's just you being paranoid, but for a few unfortunate female students in Florida who relied on a supposed friend to fix their laptop computers, such fears were well-founded. Their no-fee technician, 23-year-old Craig Matthew Feigin, not only fixed the problems they reported to him, but also installed software on their laptops to automatically take pictures from their webcams and upload them to a remote server.One such student, Marisel Garcia, noticed her laptop was running unusually slowly after having Feigin work on it. She also noticed that a light on it popped on whenever she walked by. That light was the indicator of the integrated webcam turning on, taking pictures of her in various states of undress.
She went to the police and Feigin readily confessed, indicating "eight or nine more potential victims" according to the police in Gainesville, Florida. Unlike the 'Porky's' movies, where these sorts of hijinx would have been laughed at, Feigin is now facing felony charges and could spend some time in jail, where he'll be the one watched at all hours of the day and night. [Source: ars technica]
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