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  • Facebook’s Eroding Privacy Policy: A Timeline

    Since its incorporation just over five years ago, Facebook has undergone a remarkable transformation. When it started, it was a private space for communication with a group of your choice. Soon, it transformed into a platform where much of your information is public by default. Today, it has become a platform where you have no choice but to make certain information public, and this public information may be shared by Facebook with its partner websites and used to target ads.

    To help illustrate Facebook’s shift away from privacy, we have highlighted some excerpts from Facebook’s privacy policies over the years. Watch closely as your privacy disappears, one small change at a time!

    Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2005:

    No personal information that you submit to Thefacebook will be available to any user of the Web Site who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings.

    Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2006:

    We understand you may not want everyone in the world to have the information you share on Facebook; that is why we give you control of your information. Our default privacy settings limit the information displayed in your profile to your school, your specified local area, and other reasonable community limitations that we tell you about.

    Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2007:

    Profile information you submit to Facebook will be available to users of Facebook who belong to at least one of the networks you allow to access the information through your privacy settings (e.g., school, geography, friends of friends). Your name, school name, and profile picture thumbnail will be available in search results across the Facebook network unless you alter your privacy settings.

    Facebook Privacy Policy circa November 2009:

    Facebook is designed to make it easy for you to share your information with anyone you want. You decide how much information you feel comfortable sharing on Facebook and you control how it is distributed through your privacy settings. You should review the default privacy settings and change them if necessary to reflect your preferences. You should also consider your settings whenever you share information. …

    Information set to “everyone” is publicly available information, may be accessed by everyone on the Internet (including people not logged into Facebook), is subject to indexing by third party search engines, may be associated with you outside of Facebook (such as when you visit other sites on the internet), and may be imported and exported by us and others without privacy limitations. The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” You can review and change the default settings in your privacy settings.

    Facebook Privacy Policy circa December 2009:

    Certain categories of information such as your name, profile photo, list of friends and pages you are a fan of, gender, geographic region, and networks you belong to are considered publicly available to everyone, including Facebook-enhanced applications, and therefore do not have privacy settings. You can, however, limit the ability of others to find this information through search using your search privacy settings.

    Current Facebook Privacy Policy, as of April 2010:

    When you connect with an application or website it will have access to General Information about you. The term General Information includes your and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, user IDs, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting. … The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” … Because it takes two to connect, your privacy settings only control who can see the connection on your profile page. If you are uncomfortable with the connection being publicly available, you should consider removing (or not making) the connection.

    Viewed together, the successive policies tell a clear story. Facebook originally earned its core base of users by offering them simple and powerful controls over their personal information. As Facebook grew larger and became more important, it could have chosen to maintain or improve those controls. Instead, it’s slowly but surely helped itself — and its advertising and business partners — to more and more of its users’ information, while limiting the users’ options to control their own information.

  • Eco Fashion: Stewart + Brown Organic Stevie Blazer On Sale!

    stevieblazer.jpg
    Sometimes eco-friendly fashion can be expensive, but at least you are getting sustainability along with great style.  Good news!  The Stewart + Brown Stevie Blazer is on sale!

    This cute buttoned up blazer will be sure to turn heads this fall. Fun 100% organic lace accents along front yoke. Short raise collar, belt in back. Fitted. Hits at hip.

    • 90% organic cotton, 10% polyester
    • made in usa
    • machine wash in cold water
    • all sales final
    • original price: $284.00 now: $158.00

    I love my Stevie blazer! The plum color is much darker than I imagined, but that was a pleasant surprise. Even though the blazer is from the fall line, it is the perfect light jacket for warmer temps. It is super comfortable, and like all Stewart + Brown items, the quality is high. These “organic pioneers” know how to make eco-friendly chic!


  • World’s largest optical telescope gains a powerful tool, with LUCIFER

    Installing LUCIFER 1 at the Large Binocular Telescope

    The world’s largest optical telescope is about to get a lot better, thanks to LUCIFER. No, no one’s made a deal with the Devil – LUCIFER is a new near-infrared camera/spectrograph system being added to the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mt. Graham in south-eastern Arizona. The tool has been in development for over a decade, and is now ready to offer astronomers “spectacular insights into the universe, from the Milky Way up to extremely distant galaxies.” Its large field of view and high resolution will allow for unprecedented observation of star-forming regions, which were previously difficult to view due to dust clouds.
    ..
    Continue Reading World’s largest optical telescope gains a powerful tool, with LUCIFER

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  • HP’s Immediate Plan For Palm: Invest


    Hp Palm Horizontal

    If anyone was hoping that Palm’s financial problems would lead to a less cluttered mobile operating system market—you are out of luck.

    HP (NYSE: HPQ) was resoundingly clear this afternoon during a conference call discussing its $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm. It intends on investing heavily in the webOS platform, and more broadly into the mobile devices market, which it calculates is worth more than $100 billion.

    HP did not say how much it will be investing beyond the acquisition, but plans to bring the webOS platform to multiple form factors including phones, slates, tablets and netbooks. The pitch from Todd Bradley, HP’s EVP of Personal Systems: “Together HP and Palm (NSDQ: PALM) can make a powerful combination. With a long history in Silicon Valley, our values and vision are consistent and complimentary. Together, we can move forward and coupled with our scale global reach and investments in ecosystem, we expect to see solid growth, compelling, connected mobile experiences.”

    HP, which has barely been participating in the mobile-phone space for the past few years, could be a viable contender when taking on such large and dominant brands, such as Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and others. It said that one out of five PCs shipped around the world comes from HP, or in other words, two per second. It clearly will be bringing that scale to Palm, which had been too small to move quickly.

    When asked why HP decided to buy its own operating system, rather than rely on Microsoft’s Windows or Google’s Android, Bradley said the market was just too big to pass up. “Our breadth of products between smartphone slates and netbooks is an enormous opportunity for our customers,” Bradley explained. “It’s an early stage market, the developer community will develop a suite of applications that will make it [Palm] more compelling than it is today. We are a strategic partner of Microsoft’s, and we’ll continue to be so. We believe there’s a unique opportunity with Palm to create an HP experience across these connected products.”

    Otherwise, HP was very coy on the call in providing any hints as to how it will integrate Palm into its operations, or the timeline for any products. On the decision to keep Palm’s CEO Jon Rubinstein on board, HP said they have a retention plan in place for all key employees, and that Rubinstein in particular, is “very excited about staying and executing his vision for webOS, and HP brings him the capabilities to do that, and his team is excited too.”

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  • BREAKING: Next-generation Sebring to be called Chrysler Nassau

    Chrysler Nassau Concept

    According to dealers and others familiar with the company’s product plan, Chrysler’s next-generation Sebring mid-size sedan will now be called Nassau.

    A Chrysler spokesman declined to comment when asked about the Nassau name, reports Free Press.

    The new name is seen as a move by Chrysler to re-establish credibility in the high-volume midsize car segment after the Sebring, which was criticized for its cheap interior and poor quality.

    The Nassau name was used on a Chrysler concept car that was shown at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show but the car will not look like that study, said Jim Hall, a consultant whose firm, 2953 Analytics, advises automakers on future vehicles.

    “Chrysler bought the Nassau name when they came out with the concept so it makes sense they would use it,” Hall said.

    – By: Omar Rana

    Source: Free Press


  • Google updates mobile image search for Android

    This upgrade is done so well that when you see it on your phone you will forget that you are accessing it from your phones browser. Its so fluid that it seems like it’s an app. Google is doing a lot of great things to improve their mobile sites and so far they all are a hit.

    Click here to view the embedded video.

    There is almost no lag when swiping from picture to picture. The thumbnails render really fast and scrolling through them is also quick. The only thing missing is the ability to zoom. You can’t do this by double tapping or pinch, this will likely be added in a future update. But as it stands, it’s a great site. Go check it out and see how you like it.

    [via Google]

  • LOK-IT USB memory with PIN entry hardware authentication

    LOK-IT flash drive from Systematic Development employs a hardware-based PIN system that ne...

    The portable convenience of Flash memory has its security down side. Whether the information contained on a drive consists of military or State secrets or is personal or commercial data, if the drive is lost or stolen varying degrees of panic ensue. Rather than risking potential memory stick security breach from reliance on unsafe software-based methods, the LOK-IT flash drive from Systematic Development employs a hardware-based PIN system that needs to be unlocked before any data can be accessed…
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  • Inimiga silenciosa

    Segunda-feira, dia 26, foi o dia destinado ao  Combate Nacional à Hipertensão, a chamada inimiga silenciosa. Ela  afeta em todo o mundo aproximadamente 500 milhões de pessoas,  e segundo a Sociedade Brasileira de Hipertensão, dentre os fatores de risco para mortalidade, a hipertensão explica 40% das mortes por AVC (Acidente Vascular Cerebral) e 25% daquelas por doença coronariana. Hipertensão arterial é a elevação dos níveis da pressão arterial a valores maiores que 140mmHg por 90mmHg (14 por 9).

    Os fatores causadores, possivelmente são a vida sedentária, o excesso de peso, ingesta elevada de sal, estresse, uso abundante de bebidas estimulantes, como o café, chá preto. A baixa ingestão de frutas e hortaliças cruas e o uso constante de cereais refinados, doces, refrigerantes, açúcares e sobremesas, são também outros fatores desencadiantes da doença.

    A prevenção e o combate à doença deve ser feita com uma alimentação saudável onde se deve preferir:

    – frutas cruas em abundância, melão, maracujá, limão, pêra, banana, morango, manga, kiwi, laranja, tangerina, goiaba, uva, pêssego, damasco, ameixa, figo, framboesa, mamão assim como frutas-de-conde, graviola, etc.
    Frutas secas: tâmaras, ameixa, uva e banana-passa;
    – Verduras e legunmes em abundância: chuchu, alface, nabo, cebola, alho, cenoura, salsa, couve, escarola, funcho, almeirão, rabanete, brócolis;
    – Grãos: milho, centeio, aveia, arroz, soja, guandu, lentilhas, grão-de-bico, feijão azuqui;
    – Castanhas e sementes tais como as nozes, sementes de girassol e de abóbora, amêndoa.

    As complicações da hipertensão são graves, que vão desde o derrame cerebral até:
    – doença de retina,
    – doença renal,
    – insuficiência cardíaca congestiva
    – enfartos
    – aneurisma
    – enfraquecimento da memória e da habilidade mental
    – rompimento de vasos sanguineos

    A relação entre a Hipertensão e nossa alimentação:


  • Slide deck from HP / Palm Investor Call

     

    Looking to see HP’s own tablet-centric talking points about their proposed acquisition of Palm? Look no further – they’ve posted them here.

    Bottom line: HP is dead-serious about investing in webOS and the hints about a webOS-based tablet couldn’t be clearer if they reached out through the line and smacked you with them. Another good sign is that HP is very excited about Palm’s "Deep bench of engineering talent" and "Strong and experienced management team," so we’re provisionally optimistic that this won’t be a slash-and-burn kind of acquisition. HP apparently just wants to throw their massive resources behind the platform. We sincerely hope that HP has the guts (and it does take some guts) to let Palm continue to pursue their philosophy of radical, web-based openness with webOS.

  • Even Through a Recession, We Want Our Web

    Given recent economic challenges around the globe, one might conclude that demand for the web is down, but apparently that’s not the case. According to a report from research firm TeleGeography, international bandwidth usage continued to grow in spite of the global recession of the past few years. It notes that:

    “International bandwidth usage increased 60 percent in 2009, in line with the past two years, and well ahead of the trend of 2002-2006. Growth has been particularly rapid in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. However, capacity requirements to seemingly mature markets, such as Europe and the U.S., have also grown at a compounded annual rate of more than 50 percent since 2002.”

    Home and enterprise Internet access are surely driving demand, but the TeleGeography growth numbers from the Middle East, Africa and Latin American regions are undoubtedly being impacted by the mobile web. In emerging markets, it’s not uncommon for the primary information source to be a cellular phone connected to the web. That’s something I learned during Nokia’s CES keynote earlier this year — a moving experience that I’ve not forgotten.

    Although the recession appears to be nearing an end in some areas of the world, the data has me wondering if readers would give up their Internet access — either home or mobile — before cutting back in other areas. There are too many scenarios to account for, so instead of running a poll here, leave us your thoughts in the comments. Would you give your web access during financially troubled times or is it one of the last items you’d drop in a cost-cutting measure?

    Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

    Why Carriers Can’t Afford to Wait for New Spectrum

  • HP buys Palm: Global webOS joy or beige mediocrity?

    I’m just out of a lunch meeting (wouldn’t you like to know what we talked about?) when I get a text from Aaron: HP just bought Palm. My reaction is surprise, but my first actual thought is, “Oh yeah, of course. Never thought of it but that makes total sense.”

    HP has money, resources, distribution channels and global brand recognition when it comes to computers – desktops, laptops and netbooks. They also have a history of making entirely forgettable smartphones. 

    Palm has … well, you know what Palm has at this point. They’ve got a great mobile operating system, an awesome patent portfolio that may or may not actually exist, and not much else. 

    And so they hook up. Of course they hook up. Suddenly HP has their own house brand mobile operating system that – as they’re all too happy to tell you, again and again already – is “scalable.” Scalable, of course, meaning, “Ready to kick some iPad/Google Tablet butt!” Suddenly HP has relevance in the smartphone and broader mobile tech scene. And suddenly – like Apple amongst others – they can create products, from concept to hardware to software, entirely in-house.

    Palm? Well, suddenly they have a new lease on life and a partner/parent company with the muscle Palm always wished it had. Suddenly there’s no reason why webOS devices can’t get pushed out faster and with more reliably made hardware. Suddenly webOS has some leverage when it comes to release schedules and carrier partners for new devices. Suddenly Palm can make choices based on strategy and not survival instinct alone. 

    And suddenly Palm + HP seems to = Tablet Computer. Tablet computer with slick, cards-based multitasking and 3D gaming support and nifty push notifications, and all kinds of other very un-iPad features. Tablet computer with audio powered by Beats by Dr. Dre, even.

    And suddenly the idea of “Next-Gen webOS phones,” is legit. HP didn’t spend a billion plus dollars on Palm just to let their smartphone business die. Next-gen Pres and Pixis – or whatever they’re going to be called – are sure to see the light of day now. No longer is it a matter of, “What could have been,” but rather, “When and how much and where are the leaked photos and spec sheets?”

    The cynic in me, of course, can only see an iPaq with webOS jammed into it. Picture it, a colorful OS running on the beigest of beige hardware. 

    But the optimist in me sees new Palm devices designed in the new but iconic and evolving Palm tradition, but powered by Hummingbird-Snapdragon type processors that can really make webOS fly, and built on hardware that comes from a large-scale, deep-pocketed operation that knows how to do build quality and cost effectiveness. At the same time, even.

    So we’ll have to see. Judging from the conference call and press materials that went out today, HP plans to keep Palm and webOS alive in a major way. Words like “slate” and “netbook” and “scalable” keep getting batted by around hPalm execs like so many ping pong balls through the air, as well, so that whole webOS tablet computer thing seems like a surefire bet.

    Only question now is can HP’s buttoned down aesthetic and Palm’s “everything is inspired by river stones” vibe learn to co-exist? Because as much as yesterday I hated the thought of something with so much potential as webOS dying an early death due to poor business and marketing execution, today I can’t stand the thought of something even worse: A being of such colorful beauty doomed to a life of boring beige.


  • Scientists create artificial skin that stretches like the real thing

    The University of Granada's fibrin-agarose artificial skin

    Scientists at Spain’s University of Granada have created artificial skin with the resistance, firmness and elasticity of real skin. It is the first time artificial skin has been created from fibrin-agarose biomaterial. Fibrin is a protein involved in the clotting of the blood, while agarose is a sugar obtained from seaweed, commonly used to create gels in laboratories. The new material could be used in the treatment of skin problems, and could also replace test animals in dermatological labs…
    Continue Reading Scientists create artificial skin that stretches like the real thing

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  • Rendered Speculation: Already rakish Hyundai Sonata slims down to two doors

    Filed under: , ,

    Take a good look at the 2011 Hyundai Sonata. The Korean competitor is obviously designed to go up against cars such as the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima. But, unlike those generally staid sedans, the Sonata features a rather rakish, swept-back design that has earned it plaudits among the motoring press and consumers alike.

    In order to properly compete with the aforementioned Accord and Altima (though not the Camry – Toyota cut its losses on the slow-selling Solara coupe), the Hyundai Sonata needs to be offered in a sportier two-door configuration. Will it happen? Though the Korean automaker isn’t willing to confirm anything at present, it’s certainly a distinct possibility that development of such a machine is well under way.

    According to Inside Line, a Hyundai Sonata Coupe could arrive late in 2011 or early 2012. If that’s the case, Theophilus Chin’s excellent rendering of such a machine seems likely to be spot on. As pointed out by IL, the presence of the Genesis Coupe would probably mean that a two-door Sonata wouldn’t be overtly sporty, but the availability of a 2.0-liter turbocharged four with 274 horsepower could go a long way towards spicing things up a tad.

    So… what do you think?

    [Source: Inside Line]

    Rendered Speculation: Already rakish Hyundai Sonata slims down to two doors originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Olive limited edition multi-room music system

    A limited edition Olive 2 zone player styled by Karim Rashid

    Acclaimed designer Karim Rashid has provided two new designs for audiophile-grade digital music manufacturer Olive to screen onto new limited edition versions of its number 4 music streamer and number 2 zone player. The pairing is capable of delivering lossless audio to up to ten rooms around the home, storing thousands of CDs and offering access to numerous internet radio stations…
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  • Google: Place Pages Mobile

    Notice any changes in Google Maps lately? Place Pages is a service that combined street view images with reviews and hours of operation for various destinations. You can even access these features right from your Android handsets browser. This service will help you and your friends pick the right place to dine or visit.

    Click here to view the embedded video.

    I tried this out earlier and when you click on a place all sorts of information about it pops up. The pages are beautifully rendered to fit your mobile device. This takes a little more work to do then the Places directory app but it seems to be more useful. Try it out and see how you like it.

    [via Google]

  • Decreasing Levels of Sea Ice Responsible for Unusual Levels of Warming Temperatures in Arctic 2010

    dailyseaiceextentApr42010_Figure2

    MonthlyMarchiceextent1979to2010_Figure3

    2010April28: Decreasing levels of sea ice are responsible for unusual increases in temperatures in the Arctic, according to a research study led by James Screen, a researcher the University of Melbourne, Australia. Arctic temperatures have risen twice as fast as the rest of the world in recent decades. According to Screen, “the emergence of these strong ice-temperature feedbacks can only increase the likelihood of further rapid warming and sea ice loss” (Guardian.co.uk, 2010).

    Reference: Guardian,co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/28/arctic-sea-ice-loss-warming

    Read the article in Nature http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7293/full/nature09051.html

    Image Description: (Figure 2) Text from NSDIC – “The graph above shows daily sea ice extent as of April 4, 2010. The solid light blue line indicates 2010; green shows 2007; dark blue indicates 1999, the year with the previous latest maximum extent, which occurred on March 29, 1999; and solid gray indicates average extent from 1979 to 2000. The gray area around the average line shows the two standard deviation range of the data.” — Image Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center. Image Description: (Figure 3) Text from NSDIC – “Monthly March ice extent for 1979 to 2010 shows a decline of 2.6% per decade.” — Image Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center. The images are located at National Snow and Ice Data Center http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

  • What Do Techies Know About the Future of Healthcare? Find Out on May 12

    Health IT
    Gregory T. Huang wrote:

    Health IT is one of those innovation sectors that is exploding around us here at Xconomy. Every day we’re hearing about a new company, or health-related website or gadget, or experienced financier who’s getting into the act. It’s still pretty early, but it won’t be for long. And the Northwest is already positioning itself as a big player in this complex field. (Just look at top business leaders like Jeff Bezos, Michael Dell, and Nick Hanauer getting involved with Seattle healthcare firm Qliance, for example.)

    Which is why Luke and I are particularly psyched as we gear up for our Seattle event on May 12 titled, “How Information Technology is Transforming Medicine and Healthcare.” This half-day forum is loaded with more than a dozen expert speakers who are using IT to create more effective medicines, help consumers monitor their health, enable providers to deliver healthcare more efficiently, and store and analyze the vast piles of data from our genomes that are the key to the future of medicine. (See Luke’s recent preview of the event and speakers here.)

    Coming on the heels of our successful Boston healthcare IT event earlier this week, I’m particularly pleased to highlight a couple of recent additions to the Seattle program here.

    —Peter Gelpi, the CEO and co-founder of Seattle-based Clarity Health Services, is working to make referrals between doctors a much more efficient process, through a simple Web-based interface and a deeper understanding of the health community. That’s just part of the story, though; Gelpi, a veteran of Aldus, Adobe, and MedOrder, will tell us more at the event.

    —Sujal Patel, the CEO and founder of Seattle-based Isilon Systems, is finding that biomedical and genomic data storage is one of the fastest-growing markets for his company’s technology. As of last fall, the medical and health sector made up about 10 percent of Isilon’s revenue, thanks to A-list customers like Merck, Sanofi-Aventis, the J. Craig Venter Institute, and the Broad Institute.

    What do these folks have in common with our other invited speakers, like Don Listwin, the former No. 2 executive at Cisco and founder of Canary Foundation, Rod Hochman, the CEO of Swedish Medical Center, and David Cerino, general manager in Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group? They’re all using IT to help create the future of healthcare. Come find out how on May 12 (registration info is here).

    UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS



























  • EPA’s “Climate Change Indicators in the US” report: News from the Oceans

    Next in our coverage of the EPA’s new Climate Change Indicators in the US report, below are key summary findings regarding the oceans.

    From very concerning increases in ocean acidity to a relatively fast-rising sea level to a heating ocean, all of our concerns are not in the atmosphere or on land.

    (more…)

  • Quantum Encryption Makes Messages You Can Only Read In One Location [Encryption]

    The problem with messages is that you can’t be sure who might pick them up at the other end. But a new scheme for a quantum communications ensures only a recipient in exactly the right location can read their message. More »







  • Katie Holmes Jackie Kennedy “The Kennedys” History Channel Mini-Series

    In a major career coup for Mrs. Tom Cruise, stylish former Dawson’s Creek star Katie Holmes has been tipped to play the ultimate fashion icon – iconic former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy — in the History Channel’s first original miniseries The Kennedys, the network announced on Wednesday.

    The eight-hour series — while will star Greg Kinnear as President John F. Kennedy — focuses on the triumphs and tragedies of The Kennedy Clan, America’s own Camelot.

    The Kennedys will premiere in 2011.

    Katie most recently appeared on screen in a dance tribute to Judy Garland on the FOX talent series So You Think You Can Dance last summer.

    What do we think of this casting, PopCrunch? Did the producers get it right?