NETUCATION Blog

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  • Beat death on Twitter

    Your Twitter account now no longer needs you to survive — in a very literal sense. Even if you die, your account will keep on ‘tweeting on’ by sharing content similar to yours.
    Engineers at Lean Mean Fighting Machine is collaborating with experts at Queen Mary University to create a new app called, LivesOn.
    The plan is simple. The app studies your tweet patterns and creates a digital ‘twin’, which will eventually impersonate you after death. You just need to hand over your twitter password to the company or to a friend with specific instructions on, when to ‘execute’ this program.
    LivesOn’s tagline is rather macabre: “When your heart stops beating, you’ll keep tweeting. Welcome to your the social afterlife.”
    The product, however, isn’t complete yet, but the creators are saying that advances in the field of AI are bringing them ever closer to their final goal. Because of Twitter’s limitations on message size, users generate a massive number of tweets, giving machine-learning algorithms a massive set of data to copy writing styles from.
    The software seems even more plausible, considering the increasingly realistic virtual spam bots that have now become common online, and how AI programs are performing better at Turing Tests.
    But LivesOn isn’t the only company that’s trying to compete in the ‘virtual afterlife’ market, the app ‘DeadSocial’ allows you to schedule messages to be posted on your Facebook wall after your death.
    Not everyone, though, seems comfortable with the idea, but both LivesOn and DeadSocial have gotten messages expressing interest from thousands.
    If social media such as Facebook and Twitter are to survive for a long period of time, how they handle death may become an extremely important issue. And in many ways now, a person’s Facebook profile seems to be much more effective than a tombstone.

    Remember to follow us on www.facebook.com/techChronicle for more crazy tech stories from the digital frontlines of innovation.

    source: The Asian Age

  • 82% children on Facebook receive vulgar messages

    A majority of school students in India start using Facebook before the age of 10, but have been subjected to vulgar and offensive messages on the social networking website. A survey of 13,050 school students from seven cities, including Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad, has revealed that 67% of them had a Facebook account before they were 10 and about 82% had received inappropriate messages on the site as well as through email.

    “The most disturbing finding is that many children are accepting Facebook friend requests from strangers. This is very dangerous because children, especially pre-teens, are vulnerable to being bullied or abused,” said Debasis Nayak, director of the Asian School of Cyber Laws, which conducted the survey.

    The survey of students from Class 7 to Class 10 also revealed that 36% did not know their Facebook friends in real life, while 26% had more than 500 friends on the popular social networking site.

    Cyber experts feel parents and teachers have a role to play in protecting the children. “Curiosity levels of children are high, but instead of forbidding them from using the Internet, they should be educated to use it responsibly,” said Vicky Shah, a cyber expert.

    source: hindustantimes.com

  • Minding your p’s and q’s when texting: Depends on age

    Millennials are more tolerant of cellphone use in social settings, a survey finds.

    More and more people pull out their smartphones or cellphones at meals, in meetings or in the classroom. But which habits with those mobile devices get a thumbs down?

    A new survey finds that many Americans feel using the mobile devices in those settings is just inappropriate. But opinions on mobile device manners vary by age, according to the survey out Monday. Younger people tend to be more tolerant of cellphone use during meals, meetings and classes.

    The Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and Bovitz Inc., a market research and strategy firm in Encino, Calif., conducted the nationwide survey of 989 Internet users. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%.

    “The purpose of this technology is to facilitate relationships,” says Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future. “We need to find a balance to foster or facilitate communication, not to replace or inhibit it.”

    Among those surveyed:

     

    • 62% said just having a mobile device on the table during a meal was inappropriate.
    • 76% said texting during a meal was inappropriate.
    • 84% said talking on a mobile device during a meal was not right.

     

    Cole says age affects views because younger people who grew up with the technology have fully integrated it into their lives as opposed to their grandparents.

    One of the biggest differences between age groups is that 50% of those ages 18 to 29 consider texting during a meal permissible, compared with 15% of those age 30 and older.

    Click here to read the full article

    source: USA Today / Cathy Payne

  • Half of Facebook parents joined to spy on kids?

    You think half those adults on Facebook are there because they love Facebook? No, no. These are merely parents engaged in covert operations.

    (Credit: Sjbiased/YouTube Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

    I had always imagined that adults entered the world of Facebook because they wanted to re-enact their teenage years, find a new lover, or “connect” with long-lost relatives whom they never really liked.

    Yet a new piece of research has proved mind-altering.

    My failure to regularly read the Education Database Online has been mitigated by Mashable and has led me to a new appreciation of the adult world.

    For these vital statistics reveal that American parents aren’t trying to imitate children so much as spy on them.

    It’s perfectly well-known that children can be trusted about as much as news stories in Pravda during the Brezhnev era.

    So parents feel forced to take the radical step of joining them so that they can beat them. In a psychological sense, you understand.

    Indeed, this study suggests that half of all parents sign up with Facebook at least partly in order to see what drugs their kids are taking, who they are consorting with and what they really think about, well, their parents.

    An excitable 43 percent of parents admit that they check their kids’ Facebook pages every day.

    Some 92 percent of them make it so easy for themselves by openly becoming Facebook friends with their kids.

    Some might reach the inevitable conclusion that American parents aren’t very bright.

    If they are making it so obvious they are snooping on their kids by friending them, might they not imagine that the kids, in turn, will not express themselves fully on Facebook, instead choosing to go to Tumblr, Instagram, or some other relatively recondite place?

    Might that be one reason why several recent studies suggested that kids think Facebook is old?

    The Education Database Online figures offer that a third of kids would defriend their parents “if they could.”

    I, though, am left fascinated as to how much adults are exposing themselves.

    Surely the kids — just, you know, for fits and giggles — trawl around their parents’ Facebook pages and speculate as to which of their Facebook friends are former (or even current) lovers.

    Surely the kids take a look at these people’s profile pictures and pray that they never, ever end up as wizened and alcohol-sodden as some of them appear.

    Given that the kids are far, far more tech savvy than their parents will ever be, might they be far better spies than their parents?

    While the adults think they’re being clever in following the kids, I suspect it’s the kids who get more information out of this social-networking exchange — information that they’ll choose to use just when they need it.

    source: CNET

  • Women more prone to jealousy on Facebook

     

    Women are more prone to romantic jealousy spurred by Facebook posts on their boyfriend’s wall than men, a new study has found.

    Their jealousy increases particularly if they think other people can see that their relationship may be in trouble, researchers from the University of Alabama said.

    As many as 226 heterosexual college-age men and women in the US were told to imagine that they had discovered a photo of their partner with a person of the opposite sex on the social networking website Facebook, ‘MyHealthNewsDaily’ reported.

    The study participants, during the hypothetical scenario, could view the privacy settings of their boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s Facebook account and thus could see whether the photo was visible to others on Facebook.

    Women reported greater feelings of jealousy when they imagined the scenario than did men. They rated their level of jealousy as a six out of a possible nine, compared to a four out of nine for men.

    Both women and men reported the greatest level of jealousy if the photo’s privacy settings meant that the photo could not be viewed by other people on Facebook – an indication that their romantic interest was trying to hide something.

    If the photo could be seen by other people on Facebook, men’s level of jealousy dropped, while women’s remained high.

    Women were also more hurt by the scenario than men if there were relatively few photos of them with their partner on Facebook.

    “These findings suggest that the public nature of potential infidelity may influence emotions differently for men and women,” the researchers said.

    “Women may experience more negative [emotions] when they believe that others are able to view lack of evidence of being in a committed relationship,” they said.

    Other studies have found that people who spend more time on Facebook report greater levels of romantic jealously, and more frequent viewing of their partner’s Facebook profile, than people who spend less time on the social networking site.

    According to researchers Facebook also presents people with opportunities to misinterpret information.

    source: Deccan Herald

  • A Valentine’s Day video game love story

    Two players of the online music trivia game ‘SongPop’ met each other in the real world and are now engaged to be married.

    Millions who love music have flocked to the music trivia game SongPop after seeing it in the music gear reviews. But two random competitors are taking their game to a whole new level: marriage.

    Sara DeSpain and Nathan Purdom were playing SongPop on Facebook last summer and struck up an online conversation. After each game session – you hear a series of song clips and try to identify the artist or song faster than the other player – you can send a message to your competitor. They struck up a conversation. Using her profile picture, Purdom found DeSpain on Facebook and sent her a friend request. (Since then SongPop, which can also be played on mobile devices, has added a player locations to the game.)

    “That is how it all happened because I was beating him more and more in SongPop so he had to know more about me,” says Sara DeSpain, 33, a self-described SongPop addict who owns a salon and day spa in Savanna, Ill., about 150 miles west of Chicago.

    It turns out they lived only about 100 miles from each other, so they decided to meet face to face in September. “We connected immediately and we knew we were the ones for each other,” he says.

    Purdom, 37, a surgical technician, proposed on Nov. 29 and DeSpain accepted. They plan to get married in May — they are yet to decide a wedding song. “I am very thankful that SongPop was on Facebook,” he says. “Even though she beats me constantly, we still enjoy playing against one another.”

    The game, which is one of the most popular Facebook diversions, can be a place to flirt that was not the case with the couple. “I wasn’t even looking to date anyone and neither was he actually,” she says. “But thank god for SongPop, because I found my soul mate.”

    Other games such as World of Warcraft have led to real-world teamups, but this is the first official wedding to be facilitated through SongPop, as far as developer Fresh Planet knows. “We created the game because we love music and the connection it provides- especially when there’s a bit of fun competition in the mix,” says CEO Mathieu Nouzareth, who founded the 16-person New York-based company. “In Sara and Nathan’s case, we were thrilled to hear how it had changed the course of their lives!”

    source: USA Today

  • Motor Vehicles Accidents

    Motor vehicle accident law refers to an area of law that is a hybrid of traffic law and personal injury law. Vehicle vehicles (including trucks) and motorcycles are subject to traffic laws while users of electric personal assistance vehicles are subject to traffic law.
    Vehicle accident law, which does not change much, consists of a number of sections.
    In certain cases, in addition to motor vehicle accidents, the owner of an parked personal assistance vehicle will be liable for the damages due to this if the owner does not insure the vehicle or did not register it with the DMV within the time required.
    Personal assistance vehicle law is simple but can be tricky if you have a problem. If you do not care for the issue and are not trying to manipulate someone, you do not have a case. If you have a real issue, you are not going to get any sympathy here. You are basically asking for an attorney, in addition to being prosecuted. There is no case for this type of situation and the only way I can see is if the car is stolen or if you have a ticket for a traffic violation and no insurance or no registration, in which case you are not going to get anything from an attorney for this.
    In some states, personal assistance vehicle laws will get you the same punishment as a traffic ticket. Some states have a maximum fines range for DUI for them.
    If you have a mechanical problem with an electric personal assistance vehicle, and it is not a battery or electric system problem, this is probably the most forgiving thing you could possibly be charged for. If you have an electric vehicle problem and a mechanical problem with the vehicle, you may be facing a possible 15 days in jail. These are penalties that could apply in most situations but getting a lawyer can also help you with this from sites such as https://valientemott.com/practice-areas/car-accident-attorney-las-vegas/ online.
    For those of us with vehicles that are not classified as electric personal assistance vehicles, there are still some issues to be aware of. Some states have special registration requirements for electric personal assistive vehicles.
    Some states have laws requiring liability insurance for drivers of these vehicles that do not have minimum coverage. For states that are subject to these types of laws, you may have to look elsewhere for insurance.
    Electric personal assistance vehicles are not included in auto insurance, unless you have the vehicle registered with the DMV. In these states, auto insurance rates are usually higher than a reasonable percentage of the vehicle’s actual value. Do not put your own life and property at risk with an electric vehicle. The typical real estate agent might charge a lot more than that.
    It is important to check your state’s laws if you are thinking about buying an electric vehicle. If you are having any type of problem with it, do not buy it. If you believe you have been overcharged, this is a thing that you need to be prepared to pay for. If you do not want to buy one, don’t buy one. It is something you could have resolved with the dealer if you knew what you were doing.
    What type of insurance will I need? In addition to requiring auto insurance for all owners of electric personal assistance vehicles, some states have additional laws that govern these vehicles and their owners. For example, some states require the drivers of these vehicles to obtain specific coverage for injuries of the passengers and/or passengers of the owner and/or a designated passenger of the vehicle. This requires an extra policy to cover these people.

  • Why to use SEO

    SEO can help you build better relationships with your audience and improve the customer experience. In the next steps, I’ll discuss how to create a blog post that takes advantage of the blog-loop to get more traffic for your content. As mentioned earlier, this process is an iterative one, where you make some minor adjustments based on what you’ve learned. The specific adjustments that you make to your content and your blog post will depend on your own niche. If you’re not satisfied with your SEO results after you’re done, don’t feel bad, there’s plenty of time to improve things later. The Key Word If you’re reading this post, chances are good you are following a content marketing strategy. Whether it’s a search engine optimization process, blogging approach, or SEO strategy, a content strategy helps you get the highest quality traffic for your content. That said, it is important that you understand the goals of your content strategy before you begin. In this post, we will consider five keywords you could use to test your blog content strategy. Blogger Even though these keywords are simply “blogger”, you don’t need to worry about them too much. A Google-powered blog won’t cost you much. Most major search engines will return pages with at least one of these words. As you might guess, for SEO purposes, you need to consider these keywords. This is because the keyword will start indexing and ranking well as soon as you add them to your website, if you want to learn more about this, find out here what you should do in SEO. What is SEO, SEO and more SEO? Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the practice of using the best ranking signals to make sure your website ranks in the top spots for relevant keywords. What is great about SEO is that it will increase your traffic and your sales. But, SEO isn’t just about increasing your traffic and sales, it’s also about improving your website’s health. Without a solid knowledge of SEO, you will not reap the full benefits of having a great website. In this guide, we will give you everything you need to know about what SEO is, how to think about and implement a great SEO strategy, and a step-by-step guide on how to accomplish SEO in your blog. So what are we going to cover? SEO Competitor Research Before you get started on your SEO strategy, you need to have a very good idea of what you are up against. Fortunately, SEO is a multi-dimensional process. Just like in any other industry, you need to be making it possible for users of your site to find what they need. If your site has a small audience, you won’t be able to do a lot of SEO on your own. The most effective approach would be to partner with a reputable blog and host your content there. However, if your audience is very large or if you just have a ton of content, you may need to do some extra legwork on your own. You will need to learn how to find a keyword in your niche that has similar ranking signals to your blog posts.

  • Scientists Develop Smartphone App for Psychological Testing

    Image source: www.uib.no/news/nyheter/2013/02/new-brain-test-app

    It seems that there is a mobile phone application for everything — from financial transactions to multi-player games. Now, you can use your smartphone for psychological testing.

    Scientists in Norway have developed an app that is similar to a program psychologists use in the lab to measure brain function. A listener hears two different syllables in each ear at the same time, and says which one sounds the clearest. According to research team member Josef Bless, “the test indicates which side of the brain is most active during language processing.”

    More than 1,000 people have downloaded the free app, and half have sent their test results to the researchers.

    “The results from the app were as reliable as those of the controlled lab tests,” says Bless. He expects to see more psychological research teams using mobile apps to collect data.

    The researchers have also developed a version of the software for people who suffer from auditory hallucinations. The scientists say the mobile app helps patients learn to ignore the voices in their head.

    The report on the brain-test app appears in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

    Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

    source: Voice of America

  • Cyberbullying can be more harmful than the physical kind, research suggests

    If there’s anyone left in the world who thinks online bullying isn’t as harmful as the physical kind that happens live and in person, a new Michigan State University study says that it’s not just as bad – it’s worse.

    “We should not ignore one form of bullying for the sake of the other,” Thomas Holt, an associate professor of criminal justice and one of the study’s authors, said in a release. “The results suggest we should find ways to develop school policies to combat bullying within the school environment and then figure out how to translate that to the home, because the risk goes beyond the schoolyard.”

    The study, published in the International Criminal Justice Review, looked at data from more than 3,000 students in grades 3 through 11 in Singapore. The survey data found that 27 per cent of students who were bullied online skipped school or thought about skipping compared with 28 per cent who were sent bullying text messages and 22 per cent who were physically bullied.

    As well, students who were bullied online were more likely to report suicidal thoughts – 28 per cent compared with 22 per cent – than students who were physically bullied. Of those students bullied through cellphones, 26 per cent reported suicidal thoughts.

    After B.C. teen Amanda Todd committed suicide last fall, Canada’s justice and public safety ministers said that while there are some provisions in the Criminal Code to fight cyberbullying, more needs to be done to deal the problem.

    Last month, the Senate’s human rights committee called for a unified, national strategy to fight cyberbullying.

    Parents should carefully monitor what their kids are doing online, Holt said, and must also “carefully educate their children on the risk of bullying victimization via mobile phones and ensure that they can speak to one or both parents about negative experiences.”

    source: THE GLOBE AND MAIL