Society and technology
Social networking changing the language
I guess it’s a sign of the times. Terms from social networking are quickly changing status from being specialized slang to becoming recognized in general language reference works. The New Oxford American Dictionary has chosen “unfriend” as 2009 Word of the Year.
It may be descriptive but I still think it’s a clumsy term.
Cyberwarfare is a reality
A new report from the security firm McAfee says that political activities involving Internet attacks are increasing:
McAfee, Inc. today revealed that the global cyberarms race has moved from fiction to reality, according to its fifth annual Virtual Criminology Report. The report found that politically motivated cyberattacks have increased and five countries – the United States, [...]
Is the Internet killing story telling?
Writing at the the Times (UK), Ben Macintyre bemoans the effect of the Internet’s communication methods on our attention span and our ability to concentrate. He says that the constant flow of small snippets of information is changing our capacity to stick with anything for long and that narratives are disappearing in an online blizzard [...]
Google Zeitgeist
By knowing what we are all searching about on the Internet, Google has an unprecedented database about our interests and even our feelings. Google shares some of this knowledge at a site called Google Zeitgeist. The German expression “Zeitgeist” is an apt one. As Google explains, it means “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural [...]
Helping the elderly get connected
Although seniors have an increasing presence on the Internet, the elderly face certain psychological and conceptual barriers according to a report at Science Daily. A recent study urges designers to consider those barriers when developing new products:
While more older adults than ever are using cell phones and computers, a technology gap still exists that threatens [...]
Intel getting anti-trust heat
It looks like the US government may join the EU in citing Intel for anti-competitive practices. InternetNews reports:
U.S. antitrust regulators are moving toward filing a complaint against Intel Corp after the European Union fined the world’s biggest chipmaker $1.45 billion for engaging in anticompetitive practices, sources said.
Three of the four commissioners on the Federal [...]
Social networking keeps growing
The social networking sites just keep growing. The Pew Internet & American Life Project claims that 19 percent of the people who use the Internet also use one or more social networking sites:
Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about [...]
The Internet makes you smarter?
There are many who cry that the Internet is dumbing us all down. Now comes a study that says the contrary, at least for an older age group. Actually, it is not the content of the Internet but the intellectual activity of searching on the Internet that is supposed to sharpen us up:
Could it be [...]
The first real browser
The Web is so much a part of our lives today that it is hard to remember that not long ago we managed without it. One thing that was instrumental in the development of the Web was the Netscape browser. It was just 15 years ago that this first example of a popular browser was [...]
Is Windows too unsafe for secure online transactions?
A growing number of technology professionals are saying that the Windows operating system is too unsafe for sensitive online transactions like banking. This is not just the same old tired refrain from Linux and Mac fanboys. These are respected professionals making a sober assessment of a rapidly growing problem. For example, Michael Horowitz, who writes [...]
Assessing the state of malware and cybercrime
Malware and criminal activities on the Internet have reached a very serious level. So serious that some are saying that the usefulness of the Internet has been badly impaired. Exactly what is the situation? What can be done about it? An academic study that looks at these questions is from David Dittrich. Dittrich is a [...]