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  Facebook Harms American Marriages, Survey Suggests

  JP 1:47 am on June 7, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: divorce lawyers, facebook (320), high school sweetheart, marital infidelity (2), Mary Cay, nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), survey (7), US

  Filed under: Web, Social Networking

  

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  We knew that Facebook has torn apart many a marriage across the pond. But according to a recent survey, it’s become just as problematic for couples here in the US, too.

  A survey of high-profile divorce lawyers throughout the country reveals that increasing numbers of quarrelsome couples are now using Facebook data as evidence of marital infidelity. As attorney Mary Cay Trace told MyFoxPhilly, “More and more I have clients coming in and I say, ‘Why are you here today?’ And they say, ‘Facebook.’” Trace went on to point out that the social network now allows frustrated spouses to more easily “find somebody to replace what you think is missing in your marriage.” By the same token, it’s also a lot easier for lovers to find incriminating proof of their significant others’ unfaithfulness. One woman, for example, recently discovered a trail of lovey dovey Facebook messages that her husband sent to his old high school sweetheart. Upon busting them, she abruptly ended their 13-year marriage, and the aforementioned sweetheart soon followed suit.

  Continue reading Facebook Harms American Marriages, Survey Suggests

  Facebook Harms American Marriages, Survey Suggests originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Apple Ends 'Get A Mac' Ad Campaign, We Pour One Out For Justin Long

  JP 2:03 am on May 26, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Apple Ends, campaign (7), commercial platform, end (3), hard fact of life, Justin Long, Mac (36), nbsp (1,691), pc marketing, Read (1,473), US

  Filed under: Computers

  

  Whether it’s the Beatles, ‘LOST’ or the US economy, it’s a hard fact of life that everything good and pure in the world, at one point or another, must come to an end. Well, grab your nearest box of Kleenex, readers, because today, we say goodbye to Apple’s classic ‘Get a Mac’ ad campaign.

  According to Engadget, the company has reportedly decided to bring the commercial franchise to an end, and will now begin redirecting users to its ‘Why You’ll Love A Mac’ page. The fundamental, Mac-vs.-PC marketing trope will remain intact, but, as you’re well aware, it just won’t be the same. Sure, Justin Long tried to cushion our inevitable fall last month by warning us that the series would be discontinued. And true, Apple hasn’t released a new ad since October, when it used the iconic commercial platform to take a swipe at Windows 7, so perhaps the decision shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Sugarcoat it any way you want, this is definitely an end of an era (200X, we say). And we’re not ashamed to shed a tear or two. [From: Engadget]

  Apple Ends ‘Get A Mac’ Ad Campaign, We Pour One Out For Justin Long originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 21 May 2010 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  US Government Acknowledges That Piracy Estimates Can't Be Trusted

  JP 10:40 am on April 17, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: business software alliance, government (10), government accountability office (2), ip infringements, nbsp (1,691), piracy, Read (1,473), US

  Filed under: Computers

  

  Quantifying the effect that online piracy has on businesses and copyright holders has always been an inexact science. For years, suspicion has been brewing over the accuracy of estimated losses claimed by software companies, the MPAA and even governmental agencies. Yesterday, though, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finally admitted to the scientific shortcomings of many common estimates, and determined that it’s generally “difficult, if not impossible, to quantify the economy-wide impacts” that digital piracy inflicts.

  In a report that examined the “efforts to quantify the economic effects of counterfeit and pirated goods,” the GAO found that even industry-specific studies are prone to significant quantitative uncertainty, simply because “the illicit nature of counterfeiting and piracy makes estimating the economic impact of IP infringements extremely difficult.” The study also acknowledged the inherently problematic process of determining what exactly constitutes a “lost sale.” The Business Software Alliance, for example, has long assumed equivalence between individual downloads and lost sales. As the GAO points out, though, this kind of presumptive substitution technique ultimately rests upon “assumptions… which can have enormous impacts on the resulting estimates.”

  Continue reading US Government Acknowledges That Piracy Estimates Can’t Be Trusted

  US Government Acknowledges That Piracy Estimates Can’t Be Trusted originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Bank Employee Infects ATMs with Malware to Secretly Swipe Thousands

  JP 10:40 am on April 17, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: America (15), american banks, ATMs, bank, bank of america atms, Charlotte (4), Eastern Europe, government prosecutors, nbsp (1,691), North Carolina (6), Read (1,473), Rodney Reed Caverly, Russia (2), Ukraine, US

  Filed under: Computers

  Robbing a bank may no longer be the cinematic feat it once was, but as one North Carolina banker has proven, it can now be way more insidious. 37-year-old Rodney Reed Caverly, from Charlotte, has been charged with one count of computer fraud after allegedly installing malware on several Bank of America ATMs over a seven-month period ending in October 2009. As Wired reports, the former Bank of America employee used the malware to withdraw thousands of dollars without leaving any trace whatsoever. Government prosecutors haven’t specified exactly how much money Caverly is accused of stealing, but an official charging document said that the amount surpassed the $5,000 statutory minimum. The defendant, who is also the former founder and CEO of software development company Slovidian, LLC, has reportedly entered a plea agreement with prosecutors, and is scheduled to appear in court on April 13.

  Charges against Caverly, ironically enough, were filed on the exact same day that Visa issued an official warning to American banks about similarly virulent ATM malware that has spread across Eastern Europe. Last year, a malicious code was discovered on about 20 individual ATMs across Russia and Ukraine, and apparently gave criminals access to PIN codes, bank card data, and the ability to withdraw any amount of money available from a given cash dispenser. Now, according to Visa, a similar version has popped up in at least 16 ATMs in the US.

  Continue reading Bank Employee Infects ATMs with Malware to Secretly Swipe Thousands

  Bank Employee Infects ATMs with Malware to Secretly Swipe Thousands originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Library of Congress to Store Entire Twitter Archive

  JP 1:49 am on April 17, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bill (5), congress library (2), library (2), library of congress (4), massive storehouse (2), nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), Twitter (176), US

  Filed under: Web, Social Networking

  If you’re on Twitter, and you tweet publicly, you’re about to be immortalized in history. That’s because the Library of Congress today formally announced its plans to begin digitally archiving every single public tweet ever posted since March, 2006. The Library broke the celebratory news via, of course, its Twitter page, where it also promised that more details would be soon to follow.

  As ReadWriteWeb points out, there are still a lot of questions that remain to be answered. It’s not yet clear, for example, if friend and connection data will also be included in the database, or if the Library is planning on implementing a new interface for users to search all archived tweets. More interesting, though, will be user reaction. Some may not be entirely comfortable about having their every tweet archived and cemented for all of history to remember, and some international users may take issue with having their Twitter history recorded in US history without their permission — if, that is, international users are included at all. And should we soon expect the Library to begin collecting all of YouTube’s collection? Will blog posts soon be placed alongside the Bill of Rights?

  At the very least, today’s news should be seen as a defining moment in the evolution of publishing. By bringing Twitter’s massive storehouse of data under its wing, the Library of Congress has basically affirmed that, in today’s digital age, we’ve all become atomized publishers. Twitter, Facebook and every other online forum already does the same archival work that the Library does. It’s just that now, all of our digital data will be alongside pretty much every other important document in modern history. All questions and speculation aside, that’s a pretty mind blowing thing to think about [From: ReadWriteWeb, Facebook, Twitter and Library of Congress]

  Library of Congress to Store Entire Twitter Archive originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  DARPA's 'GUARD-DOG' Aims to Replace Human Intelligence

  JP 1:51 am on April 2, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: computer advancements, defense advanced research projects agency (3), GUARD-DOG, intelligence (2), nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), research projects agency (5), U.S. Army (3), US

  Filed under: Computers

  

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  In an effort to provide a faster turnaround, the U.S. Army could replace some human intelligence officers in war zones with a complex system of computers. According to Wired, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA, or the freaky arm of the US Military) is hosting a workshop for a new project dubbed Graph Understanding and Analysis for Rapid Detection – Deployed on the Ground, or GUARD-DOG. (Yes, that’s really the acronym they came up with.) It can take as long as 48 hours for intelligence to be analyzed after it’s collected in the field, which causes about 80-percent of the intelligence that’s collected to become useless by the time somebody acts on it.

  With GUARD-DOG, the Army could analyze social networks and cultural tendencies much faster by using graphs, algorithms and other computer advancements to predict human behavior. A proposal by the agency states, “GUARD DOG will provid[e] dismounted soldiers with real-time assessments of the human networks relevant to their local battlespace, including threats, vulnerabilities, and uncertainties; and cues on engaging the people they encounter.” It would replace the current system, HUMINT, which involves having trained interrogators on the ground, and fill in the blanks where human intel leaves off.

  Continue reading DARPA’s ‘GUARD-DOG’ Aims to Replace Human Intelligence

  DARPA’s ‘GUARD-DOG’ Aims to Replace Human Intelligence originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Twitter, Facebook Finally Freed as US Military Lets Stationed Soldiers Sign On

  JP 12:50 am on March 4, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: blogging sites (2), cbs news (3), David Wennergren (2), Deputy Assistant (2), deputy assistant secretary (2), facebook (320), nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), Twitter (176), U.S. (109), US

  Filed under: Web, Social Networking

  Social networking sites may offer a plenitude of distractions for us civilian folk. But in the U.S. military, apparently, the potential benefits of sites like Twitter and Facebook far outweigh any downsides.

  After an expansive, seven-month review conducted by the Defense Department, the Pentagon has decided to allow soldiers and military civilian leaders to use social networking and blogging sites as a means of facilitating communication, recruitment, and collaboration across ranks. Though the new initiative means that sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter will now be unblocked on the military’s non-classified network, it also allows for commanders to suspend access to these sites as a security measure, or as a means to preserve bandwidth for more urgent use. The Pentagon originally blocked many of these sites back in 2007, claiming that they dragged down the network. But, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Information Technology David Wennergren told CBS News, “We need to take advantage of these capabilities that are out there — this Web 2.0 phenomena.” Wennergren also stressed safety, though, saying, “The idea is be responsible and use these tools to help get the job done.” (Pornography, in case any of you soldiers were wondering, will remain blocked.)

  Continue reading Twitter, Facebook Finally Freed as US Military Lets Stationed Soldiers Sign On

  Twitter, Facebook Finally Freed as US Military Lets Stationed Soldiers Sign On originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Twitter, Facebook Finally Freed as US Military Lets Stationed Soldiers Sign On

  JP 12:51 am on March 3, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: blogging sites (2), cbs news (3), David Wennergren (2), Deputy Assistant (2), deputy assistant secretary (2), facebook (320), nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), Twitter (176), U.S. (109), US

  Filed under: Web, Social Networking

  Social networking sites may offer a plenitude of distractions for us civilian folk. But in the U.S. military, apparently, the potential benefits of sites like Twitter and Facebook far outweigh any downsides.

  After an expansive, seven-month review conducted by the Defense Department, the Pentagon has decided to allow soldiers and military civilian leaders to use social networking and blogging sites as a means of facilitating communication, recruitment, and collaboration across ranks. Though the new initiative means that sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter will now be unblocked on the military’s non-classified network, it also allows for commanders to suspend access to these sites as a security measure, or as a means to preserve bandwidth for more urgent use. The Pentagon originally blocked many of these sites back in 2007, claiming that they dragged down the network. But, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Information Technology David Wennergren told CBS News, “We need to take advantage of these capabilities that are out there — this Web 2.0 phenomena.” Wennergren also stressed safety, though, saying, “The idea is be responsible and use these tools to help get the job done.” (Pornography, in case any of you soldiers were wondering, will remain blocked.)

  Continue reading Twitter, Facebook Finally Freed as US Military Lets Stationed Soldiers Sign On

  Twitter, Facebook Finally Freed as US Military Lets Stationed Soldiers Sign On originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Facebook Leapfrogs Yahoo! to Become Second Most Visited Site in U.S.

  JP 12:50 am on February 23, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: consumer attention (2), destination web (2), facebook (320), nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), time (22), U.S. (109), U.S.Facebook (3), US, Yahoo (5)

  Filed under: Web, Social Networking

  

  It was only a matter of time, really. After ceding its traffic throne to Google two years ago, Yahoo! has recently been knocked down yet another notch. As Mashable reports, Facebook has shot past the search engine to claim the title of second-most visited site in the US. According to new data released from Compete.com, 133.62 million people visited Facebook in January, compared to the 132 million who went to Yahoo!. Facebook had been gradually narrowing the gap for some time, but last month marked the first time that it actually overtook the once-proud portal.

  Although Facebook still trails the Google juggernaut by a good 14 million monthly visitors, Compete’s analysis shows that when it comes to actual time spent on a given site, Facebook far outpaces the competition. Last month, a whopping 11.6-percent of all online time was spent on Facebook, compared with just 4.25-percent on Yahoo, and 4.1-percent on Google. This large a discrepancy really isn’t surprising, since Facebook is, for the most part, a destination Web site, and since both Google and Yahoo! primarily serve as vehicles to other sites. Those statistics have significance with advertisers, though, many of which are more interested in sustained consumer attention, rather than sheer volume.

  Continue reading Facebook Leapfrogs Yahoo! to Become Second Most Visited Site in U.S.

  Facebook Leapfrogs Yahoo! to Become Second Most Visited Site in U.S. originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Facebook Leapfrogs Yahoo! to Become Second Most Visited Site in U.S.

  JP 12:51 am on February 22, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: consumer attention (2), destination web (2), facebook (320), nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), time (22), U.S. (109), U.S.Facebook (3), US, Yahoo (5)

  Filed under: Web, Social Networking

  

  It was only a matter of time, really. After ceding its traffic throne to Google two years ago, Yahoo! has recently been knocked down yet another notch. As Mashable reports, Facebook has shot past the search engine to claim the title of second-most visited site in the US. According to new data released from Compete.com, 133.62 million people visited Facebook in January, compared to the 132 million who went to Yahoo!. Facebook had been gradually narrowing the gap for some time, but last month marked the first time that it actually overtook the once-proud portal.

  Although Facebook still trails the Google juggernaut by a good 14 million monthly visitors, Compete’s analysis shows that when it comes to actual time spent on a given site, Facebook far outpaces the competition. Last month, a whopping 11.6-percent of all online time was spent on Facebook, compared with just 4.25-percent on Yahoo, and 4.1-percent on Google. This large a discrepancy really isn’t surprising, since Facebook is, for the most part, a destination Web site, and since both Google and Yahoo! primarily serve as vehicles to other sites. Those statistics have significance with advertisers, though, many of which are more interested in sustained consumer attention, rather than sheer volume.

  Continue reading Facebook Leapfrogs Yahoo! to Become Second Most Visited Site in U.S.

  Facebook Leapfrogs Yahoo! to Become Second Most Visited Site in U.S. originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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