When Text Messaging Gets Ugly

Another use for 24/7 text messaging services: bullying children in the British school system. —When Text Messaging Gets UglyWired) Similar:How Artists on Twitter Tricked Spammy T-Shirt Stores Into Admitting Their Automated Art Th…Yesterday, an artist on Twitter named Na…BusinessEmail (finding the right tone as a writer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXlgO…CybercultureIn journalism, the speech is more important than any speaker.…

They Weren't Meant to be Games

“When a game is done well, the motion picture industry can’t compete. Last year, people spent $14 billion worldwide on films, but Americans alone spent $8 billion on games for their homes and another $7 billion in arcade playing.” Brad King —They Weren’t Meant to be Games (Wired) Similar:I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the…

Me Crush Middle-Class Tax Hike!

“Raaaah! Gronk hate H.R. 3712, the Income And Property Tax Reassessment Act! Senator Gronk crush middle-class tax hike!” Sen. Gronk —Me Crush Middle-Class Tax Hike!The Onion) Similar:Letter Grades Deserve an 'F'In a points-based grade book, the studen…AcademiaMeasuring Humanities Degrees Misses Much of Their Value“I don’t see why we are fixated on the s…AcademiaInside the utopian,…

America's Might: A Comic Tale

“MIT professors claim the gear would let grunts leap 20-foot walls, become nearly invisible on command, deflect bullets, heal their wounds quickly, protect against chemical and biological agents — and strike fear into the hearts of evildoers everywhere. ” Noah Shachtman —America’s Might: A Comic TaleWired) The researchers reportedly used a comic book hero as…

Playing Dirty in the War on Plagiarism

“My idea is to pollute the source in order to discourage students from eagerly grabbing papers off the Internet and assuming they will get the grade that the term-paper service almost guarantees. ” Vincent Moore —Playing Dirty in the War on Plagiarism (Chronicle) Similar:Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Star-Spangled Banner and the War of 1812 When he saw “by…

Hindi Chatbot Breaks New Ground

“A computer chat program that speaks Hindi could open up computers to India’s illiterate millions. ” —Hindi Chatbot Breaks New GroundBBC) Similar:Texas School Censors All Of ‘Huck Finn’ Except The N-Words (Satire from The Onion)Is it only a matter of time until this p…BooksMy Review of the Charlottesville Tryout of "A Few Good Men" 30…

Is Our Children Learning?

“But after spending 20 minutes just designing the introduction page, the students still can’t answer the most basic question: What does the liver do? ‘I don’t know; we were supposed to do the gallbladder,’ answers a shy Latino girl with pigtails. They are learning how to use PowerPoint, but they have no idea what the…

There's No Place to Hide

“The next word in security is a system so thorough that it will reveal even the contents of a cigarette pack hidden in your coat pocket. Developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the scanner uses holographic imaging technology to provide full-body, 360-degree coverage of a person in near real time. ” —There’s No Place to…

Students Complain About Devices for Reading E-Books, Study Finds

“Navigating through digital texts was one of the e-book users’ biggest complaints. They found moving from page to page ‘tedious.’ They also found it difficult to find specific chapters in texts and to find particular words.” —Students Complain About Devices for Reading E-Books, Study Finds (Chronicle) Similar:Remnants of a Legendary Typeface Rescued From the River ThamesA…

SatireWire Has Landed

“Citing creative differences, SatireWire’s founder and sole employee, Andrew Marlatt, announced that as of today, the site will no longer be updated. Unlike everything else on the site, this is not a joke.” Andrew Marlatt —SatireWire Has LandedSatireWire) SatireWire was never quite as good as The Onion, but it did have a pleasant “doing this…

A World Without Water

“But what of the world’s water crisis? Currently the UN identifies approximately six ‘hot stains,’ places where water is so scarce that human life may not be sustainable and conflict over dwindling resources is an ever present threat. ” Ginger Adams Otis —A World Without WaterVillage Voice) Similar:Twitter changes strategy in battle against internet 'trolls'Reducing…

The Environmentalists are Wrong

“Why does the developed world worry so much about sustainability? Because we constantly hear a litany of how the environment is in poor shape. Natural resources are running out. Population is growing, leaving less and less to eat. Species are becoming extinct in vast numbers. ….There is, however, one problem: this litany is not supported…

Satellite Tracker Finds Goose in Freezer

A goose fitted with a £3,000 electronic transmitter to chart its migration has been tracked 4,500 miles (7,245 kilometres) by satellite – to an Eskimo hunter’s freezer. —Satellite Tracker Finds Goose in Freezer (BBC) Similar:My Ouya arrived.My Ouya arrived — a Kickstarter-funded …CybercultureEveryone thinks AI is replacing factory workers, but Amazon’s layoffs show it’s coming…

War of the Worlds

“Science fiction has often featured ‘evil empires’ against which are set utopian ideas whose survival must be fought for against the odds by a small but resourceful band of men. Such empires often turn out to be amazingly fragile when faced by intelligent idealists.” —War of the WorldsGuardian) The argument that Osama Bin Laden was…

Judge Tosses BT Hyperlink Case

“U.S. federal Judge Colleen McMahon has dismissed a claim by British Telecom that it developed and holds a patent to the hyperlink technology used to whisk Web users from one site to another. ” Michele Delio —Judge Tosses BT Hyperlink Case (Wired) Similar:Don't Talk to the Police (law professor explains why everyone — even if you're…

Report: Millions Behind Bars in U.S.

Not! The headline says “Millions Behind Bars,” but paragraph 4 says there are 1.3 million in prison. The lead paragraph counts not only prisoners but also those on probation or parole, to come up with a total six times larger. —Report: Millions Behind Bars in U.S. (AP)) 1.3 million is still a staggering number, but…

Hacking Las Vegas

“For six years in the 1990s, Lewis was a principal member of the MIT Blackjack Team, an infamous cabal of hyper-geniuses and anarchistic whiz kids who devised a method of card counting that took the gaming world completely by surprise. ” Ben Mezrich —Hacking Las Vegas (Wired) Similar:Who cares about hyphens, commas and capital letters? You…