Categories
-Context 10.2 Computer Security: Reducing Risks 9.2 Inside the Web 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

How Scam-savvy Are You?

Cyber-scammers are always looking for new ways to get you to reveal valuable personal information. Can you tell the difference between legitimate requests and cyber scams? Take this short quiz to find out. The quiz is a promotion for OpenDNS, a security company, but it’s worth your time even if you’re not shopping for protection. If you’re not able to identify all of the fake sites in the quiz, the feedback page will show you the clues that you missed so you can be more scam-savvy in the future.
opendns.com/phishing-quiz

Categories
-Updates 7.3 Database Trends 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

A Big Picture of Big Data

The Internet teems with data waiting to be analyzed by companies, government, and savvy individuals. Big data has become an industry buzzword as more businesses and governments find ways to tap into the mountains of data our digital devices produce every day. Photographer Rick Smolan’s latest project is to make big data—and its impact on us—visible. This Huffington Post article describes this crowdsourced work of art and includes a direct link to The Human Face of Big Data.
huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/rick-smolan-the-human-face-of-big-data_n_1912641.html

Categories
-Context 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

Your Brain on the Net

Most of us inhabit two worlds: the analog world where our physical bodies live and the digital world where our minds spend hours every day. As our digital reality demands more and more of our time and attention, how do our brains change? This sobering Newsweek article summarizes the latest research about the impact of the Internet on the human brain. After you read it, you may want to switch off your smart phone and go for a walk with a friend in the woods….
thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/08/is-the-internet-making-us-crazy-what-the-new-research-says.html

Categories
-Updates 8.2 Wireless Network Technology 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

Walking on the Web

If you believe that the Internet should be accessible to everyone, iPavement may make you happy. This new technology promises to bring us a step closer to universal access by putting a wireless network underfoot.
good.is/post/ipavement-puts-a-world-of-knowledge-beneath-your-feet

Categories
-Context 7.4 No Secrets: Computers and Privacy 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

You Did Read It, Didn’t You?

npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/04/19/150905465/to-read-all-those-web-privacy-policies-just-take-a-month-off-work
Did you ever wonder about those privacy policies you’re required to accept before using popular web sites? This NPR story sheds a little light on those Internet annoyances.

Categories
-Updates 13.4 E-Commerce Ethics 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

The Dark Story Gets Darker

Mike Daisey’s monologue on This American Life a few weeks ago fueled the firestorm of criticism of Apple for treatment of workers that make all those iProducts. There’s truth in many of the criticisms, but there are enough untruths in the monologue to cause the producers of this popular public radio program to devote an entire episode to exposing the real, fully factual story. This episode says as much about the ethics of journalism as it does about the ethics of manufacturing gadgets.

Categories
-Context 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

The Divide that Hurts Everybody—Especially the Poor

After decades of technological advances, the Digital Divide is still with us. A lack of competition and other factors keep Internet access expensive for most of us and completely out of reach for many poor people. The cost of a lack of Internet access is staggering. Non-computer users can’t even apply for jobs at Walmart or Target. And, by the way, they can’t read this Huffington Post article, which shines a bright light on this dark corner of our Internet Age.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/01/internet-access-digital-age_n_1285423.html?utm_campaign=030112&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-technology&utm_content=FullStory

Categories
-Inventing the Future 1.7 Inventing the Future: Tomorrow Never Knows 4.4 The User Interface: The Human-Machine Connection 7.5 Inventing the Future: Embedded Intelligence and Ubiquitous Computing 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities 8.6 Inventing the Future: The Mind-Machine Connection 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

Will Your Phone Read Your Mind in 2016? Ask IBM

asmarterplanet.com/blog/2011/12/the-next-5-in-5-our-forecast-of-five-innovations-that-will-alter-the-landscape-within-five-years.html
As noted in Chapter 1’s Inventing the Future, predicting the future isn’t easy. But when the predictions are backed by one of the world’s biggest technology innovators, they’re worth considering. In this short, clever video, IBM describes and illustrates “5 in 5″— five technological breakthroughs that could reshape our lives within five years.

Categories
-Cross Currents 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

The Network of Hate

The Internet is a marvelous medium for free-flowing discussion and information sharing. But it can also be an amplifier of hatred and rage—especially on sites where opinions can be posted anonymously.

Categories
-Updates 10.1 Online Outlaws: Computer Crime 10.2 Computer Security: Reducing Risks 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

Spy vs. Spy in a Digital World

The war against hackers has become a global war of economics and politics. This in-depth Vanity Fair article takes a penetrating look at the grossly underreported impact of Chinese hackers on the US economy.