Benton Pena @ technology + culture + life and everything in between

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28
Jan 12

This Week’s Most Popular Posts: January 21-27 [Highlights]

This week we learned a few simple ways to avoid the extreme negative effects of long days in your office chair, got more from the long press shortcut on the iPhone, dabbled in a new operating system, and more. Here’s a look back.

How Sitting All Day Is Damaging Your Body and How You Can Counteract It

Do you sit in an office chair or on your couch for more than six hours a day? Then here are some disturbing facts: Your risk of heart disease has increased by up to 64 percent. More »

All the Awesome Things You Can Do with a Long Press on Your iPhone, iPad, or iPad touch

Long pressing-that is, tapping and holding down on a part of your screen-provides a lot of handy shortcuts on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. More »

Try a New Operating System This Weekend

We write about a variety of platforms here at Lifehacker, and even if you’re perfectly happy with what you’re using, nothing makes you feel more appreciative (not to mention knowledgeable) than trying something new. More »

The Manual Photography Cheat Sheet Keeps You Familiar with All Your Camera’s Different Settings

If you’re just starting out with a DSLR camera, you’re probably pretty overwhelmed with all the different settings you have available. This cheat sheet from weblog Living In the Stills will help you keep it all straight. More »

How to Look Your Best In Photos

A lot of us hate having our picture taken, but family members and friends insist on doing it anyway. If you freeze and then end up looking like a deer in the headlights in every photo, there’s a few things you can do to prevent it from happening.
Photo by Jim Kelly.
The Stupid Things You’re Doing… More »

Google Is Facebook Is AOL: What Happens When a Good Google Goes Bad

Two weeks ago, Google announced that they were integrating Google+, their brand new social network, with Google search results, calling the new feature “Search, Plus Your World”. More »

What Should I Use for My Home Theater PC: Apple TV, Nettop, Old Computer, or Something Else?

I’m finally in the market to get a home theater PC, and I’m not sure which direction to go. You guys have advocated a number of things, from using an old PC to building your own, or even buying a cheap nettop or an Apple TV 2. More »

The Five Most Common Causes of a Check Engine Light and What You Should Do About Them

You’re driving home from work one day when the car owner’s worst nightmare happens: the check engine light pops on. It comes without warning and with no explanation. More »

Top 10 Tools for Finding and Moving into a Great New Home

Whether you want to rent or buy, finding a new home can be pretty tough without a little help. Thanks to the internet, that help is freely available. More »

You Don’t Need All Those Chargers: How to Consolidate Your Extra Bricks and Still Power Your Gadgets

Every new device you buy seems to come with its own charging brick and cable-which is good, until you have a drawer full of them in your office, or wind up having to pack a dozen charging cables, bricks, and wall adapters before you so much as go to the library with your laptop. More »

How Do I Quit a Job I Just Started?

Dear Lifehacker,
I started a new job a month ago and now realize it’s not really a good fit for me. Even after a month I’m still not comfortable and I dread going in every morning. More »

Ditch Hard Drive Clutter with an Organized, Automated Home Folder

Your home folder is the base of operations on your computer, where you throw every document, app installer, photo, and other file you’ll need later. So why does it look like it’s been ravaged by a virtual tornado? More »

How to Build a (Nearly) Hack-Proof Password System with LastPass and a Thumb Drive

It seems like every day there’s news that a new site or service has been hacked. The intruders make off with usernames and passwords, and even if they’re encrypted the service forces users to change them. More »

Article source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Jyfkzpa7zjk/this-weeks-most-popular-posts-january-21+27

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28
Jan 12

Restore a Discarded Bicycle [Weekend Project]

If you want to try bicycling on the cheap and support keeping waste out of landfills, consider restoring a discarded bicycle as your next project. While the time and money investment will vary depending on the condition of the bike, you still should save a decent chunk of money and will have learned essential repair skills.

Instructables user schkip1973 provides a knowledge base for learning to restore dumpster bikes by recommending specific bicycle repair books, tools, and materials to have on hand, taking you through stripping down the bike into parts, restoring the frame, and reassembling the bike.

Of course your found bicycle’s may also have problems with the wheels, brakes, gears, etc. While this particular instructable does not go into those details you should have no trouble finding similar tutorials online or in the recommended bicycle repair manuals.

There are lots of salvageable bicycles in most every town or city. If you need a ride or you’re looking for a new hobby why not give bicycle restoration a try?

Restoring a Vintage Dumpster Bike | Instructables

Article source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/zn6AiTsPhSs/restore-a-discarded-bicycle

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28
Jan 12

Top 10 Ways to Avoid Fees and Get Free Money [Lifehacker Top 10]

A simple mistake like overdrafting from your account can incur lots of unnecessary fees, making you lose money for, essentially, no reason. Similarly, by signing up for simple rewards programs or otherwise cleverly using your bank and credit card, you can get money from doing the things you already do. Here are our top 10 ways to increase the cash in your pocket without changing how you spend.

10. Find the Right Bank

Obviously, if your bank is chock full of fees, you might want to start looking somewhere else. However, while you’re looking, you might want to check out our primer on what to look for in a bank. Fees aren’t the only thing to watch out for; you should also research minimum balances, interest rates, and other features to make your finances a bit easier to manage. While you’re at it, though, you should check out the three most common bank fees and make a mental note to avoid them.

9. Switch to a Credit Union

If, on the other hand, you’re sick of big banks and their high fees, bad customer service, and other annoyances, you can put your money in a smaller, member-supported credit union. They can often offer competitive interest rates and great customer service, though there are a few things you’ll want to know before you jump in. Check out our guide to making the switch if it sounds like something you’d be interested in. While you’re at it, check out NerdWallet to find the best credit union near you. They also have a list of other big bank alternatives, if a credit union isn’t your cup of tea.

8. Skip the Fee-Ridden Perks

While perks are a good way to get some of that free money, other perks—like identity theft protection and credit score tracking—can come with fees attached that, over time, will add up and get you spending more money than you should. And, in a lot of cases, they aren’t that great anyways.

7. Use Jenny’s Number for Grocery Store Discounts

You probably have a rewards card at your most frequented grocery store, but don’t let that stop you from visiting other stores—or getting discounts when you do. You don’t need to sign up for a rewards card everywhere you go; just give them Jenny’s Number (867-5309) to get an instant discount.

6. Combine Your Cash Back Credit Card and Checking Account

Lots of credit cards give you cash back rewards, but you can double your rewards with a simple trick: just combine it with a cash back checking account. Charge everything to your cash back credit card, then pay it off with the checking account and you’ll get (nearly) double the rewards. All it takes is finding the right combination of bank and credit card and you’ll get double the free money back.

5. Try a High Interest Savings Account

If you like to keep a lot of money in the bank, you can get a lot back with a high interest savings account, like one of these five. When we asked you guys, you gave ING Direct your seal of approval, so that may be a good place to start. Alternatively, if that isn’t for you, you can try a Flexible Savings Account, which sets aside money for things like health care before taxes are deducted from your paycheck—which means you can save up to 30% on those costs.

4. Apply Student Discounts to Everything You Can (Even If You Aren’t a Student)

You can get student discounts on all sorts of things, including some of our favorite tech-related products here at Lifehacker—both hardware and software. It doesn’t take a lot of work to get them, but it can save you a ton of money. And, if you aren’t a student anymore (and have flexible ethics), you can get those discounts anyway with a bit of fudging.

3. Find Unclaimed Money in Your Name

As ridiculous (and spammy) as it may sound, you could actually have unclaimed money or property in your name, just waiting to be picked up. Use a search engine like Missing Money, Treasury Hunt, or the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits to find out if you have anything in your name waiting for you. Remember, of course, that claiming said property should never incur a fee, so don’t fall for any scams when you’re trying to claim what’s yours.

2. Use a Debit Card Without Getting Screwed

If you like the convenience of debit cards but don’t like the risk they carry, there are a few things you can do to make the most of them. Make sure you know your rights, like when overdraft fees are allowed. Then, learn the tricks to avoiding all those fees, while also preventing fraud. Again, they aren’t always the safest way to spend your money, but they’re one of the simplest ways if you can make sure you use it responsibly.

1. Maximize Your Credit Card Rewards

The safest way to spend is with a credit card. Not only are you less likely to incur fees, but they’re much more likely to come with awesome cash back rewards. We’ve rounded up the five best credit cards for getting rewards, in addition to our hive five on travel-based rewards cards (you know, if you’re more of a globetrotter). They aren’t without fees completely, of course, but with a bit of foresight, you can spend your money safely while getting quite a bit back in return. Of course, if you’re stuck with a certain card, you can always make the most of its lousy rewards program by selling your gift cards, too.

Got any of your own tips for getting the most money out of your bank, credit card, or other rewards? Share them with us in the comments below.

Title photo by Aperture51 (Shutterstock).

Article source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Px4_rkJqjTo/top-10-ways-to-avoid-fees-and-get-free-money

Technology — No comments
28
Jan 12

HTC Titan II works its charm on the FCC with AT&T LTE included

Boss of the Year Entry Form

Now that we’ve thrown ‘em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they’re required.

Article source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadgetmobile/~3/mir4OPuQXzQ/

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28
Jan 12

Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast with guest CrackBerry Kevin, live at 5PM ET!

Just wake up from a very restful week-long slumber? First of all, we’re envious of your good fortune. Second, Research in Motion made a few changes to its leadership chart. Third, you must be really hungry right about now. So grab a sandwich, come back in an hour and join Myriam, Brad, Sean Cooper and our very special guest Kevin Michaluk (yes, Mr. CrackBerry Kevin himself) as we discuss the northern news, as well as anything else that happened this week.

Be sure to send questions or comments you have for us or Kevin via Twitter (we’re @engadgetmobile), or make your voice heard in our Ustream chat room during the show!

January 27, 2012 5:00 PM EST

Article source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadgetmobile/~3/2C2_uacQgGU/

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28
Jan 12

Google tells Android devs to kick the menu button to the curb, seriously you guys

Boss of the Year Entry Form

Now that we’ve thrown ‘em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they’re required.

Article source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadgetmobile/~3/2f7wFKKKGms/

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28
Jan 12

Book Review: Distrust That Particular Flavor By William Gibson

William Gibson is the defining author of our digital age. More than any social media pundit or Popcorn futurist, he has defined the dystopia we can expect once we escape the dystopia we’re in now. His fiction – a trilogy of trilogies that works backwards from the distant future to a world that is ours – is constantly approaching the present while exploring what it means to exist in a culture mediated by electronics. Although his early work owes more to Burroughs and Verne than anyone cares to admit, he was wildly prescient in his prediction that soon we would see the entire world – an entire world – through the lens of gadgetry. While the web isn’t cyberspace yet and the East Coast isn’t the Sprawl, we’re headed in that direction.

And that’s just his fiction.

Gibson’s non-fiction writing is a peanut in the bland Cracker Jack of the dead tree publications where they first appeared. He’s often graced the otherwise leaden pages of Wired with his unique style and many of the pieces in this book appeared elsewhere, whether in magazines or at public talks. His non-fiction is rare enough that we definitely want more, but do we want a whole book’s worth?

If you are a Gibson fan, then yes, this is definitely worth a read. There are a few great pieces in here, like his meditation on watches and eBay in “My Obsession” as well as an excellent look at the growth of a fiction writer in his essay “Since 1948,” a piece that shows us all stages of his growth – from child of a nervous mother to draft dodger to writer to genius. That both of these pieces are available online is a lucky coincidence, not a reason to avoid this book.

The rest of the non-fiction here will be a little less familiar and is, at times, uneven. Gibson’s writing style is as conversational and puffy here as it is flinty and clear-eyed in his fiction. A story by William Gibson about visiting Tokyo involves no super-charged street samurai. Instead it involves mediations on gomi, toys, and colonialism. We assume Gibson to be more plugged in than most of us but instead he seems to have a lot of good, cool friends who show him around. That’s one of the benefits of replacing Tom Swift as the go-to boyhood sci-fi of the tinkerer.

The other stories – the talks, the mediations on futurism and on the dystopian – are beautiful in their own way, well written and often full of telling detail. He notices the “demented, heartbreakingly lyrical, 3D collage of cargo containers, dumpsters, an Airstream trailer, a cabin cruiser, a school bus” on the set of Johnny Mnemonic. To the average sci-fi nut, a wall of junk as a set piece would be as commonplace as a laser gun or a Tribble – it’s the visual landscape we expect in what the set director will imagine as the “hinterlands” and nearly every movie has a compacted wall of junk that stands in for the place where the wild future people live. To Gibson, however, it’s seen with new eyes. Not naive eyes, really. Just new ones.

If you’re new to Gibson, don’t start here. Get the Sprawl trilogy first, then the Bridge trilogy, then, if you’re not done, the Present trilogy, a group of three books that are connected by the Dotcom boom and have a certain airport lounge, endless travel, Razorfish feel that the average start-up drone will love. Those books hae have no overarching geographical locus to hang on just as the late 1990s and the early aughts left us listless and disconnected, pining for a day when everyone – students, surf bums, and even a woman allergic to branding, could find a place in an economy that whirred like a shining VCR read/write head.

Each trilogy moves closer to “speculative fiction of the very recent past.” While you’re in there, hit The Difference Engine as a palate cleanser. Then you can begin to distrust this particular flavor.

I’m probably preaching to the choir, though. Gibson is a gem, our own Jules Verne who planted so many seeds in popular culture that it is difficult to look out across our roiling intellectual landscape and not see his ideas. He knew that the ability to render fluid 3D was coming, that Japan would rise as a major techno-center, that man-machine relations would become seamless. One could argue that cyberspace now exists in the wildly detailed games we play and that we’re a few steps away from really jacking in, as his characters did. He foresaw urbanity as cancer – in the Sprawl – and as Alternative Flea Market/Edgy Disneyland on the Bridge. He saw the world as a grey waiting room populated by the rich and their helpers in his post 9/11 novels, and saw fashion as an expression of commerce.

He does the same here, although on a much smaller scale. He’s talking about real life so there are fewer mirrorshades. Instead we visit with him as he lands in Singapore and makes a movie and walks by a window full of ephemera in lower New York where a jumble of missile identification models was dusted one September morning with “blasted dreams” as it sits in a closed antiques shop. He’s seen a lot, and wants to tell us about it.

My one peeve? Gibson adds these little asides at the end of each piece, explaining just how he failed and how this story “needed a haircut” or how he went off on an odd tangent. It’s like a magician doing a serviceable rendition of the disappearing elephant, and then explaining afterwards that his curtain work was a little sloppy and if you looked under the stage you could see the elephant.

In the end, this collection of essays is a minor addition to the Gibson canon. It’s a worthy one, though, and well worth a read. And while you wait for it to download onto your Fire or your iPad or your Sandbenders, give thanks to the seer of our age who didn’t expect things to turn out that rosy yet still understood the good in both us and, more important, our variegated and ever more cunning tools.

Product Page

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/7Z1slaxI2hg/

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28
Jan 12

To Pivot or Not to Pivot

Editor’s note: Contributor Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder and CEO of WatchMojo. Follow him @ashkan.

“To pivot, or not to pivot, that is the question:
Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles.”
Hamlet, were it set in Silicon Valley, circa 2011.

Ah, the internet – how you hijack our vocabulary. A few years ago, “embedded” had connotations of journalists following soldiers. Today, it’s most associated with YouTube clips. Similarly, a pivot was something that I vaguely recall my basketball coach talking about. Today, it’s the repositioning of a company and without a doubt, 2011 was the year of the pivot.

Talk is Cheap

Let’s face it, despite the bravado and brashness, oftentimes Silicon Valley gets scared and zigs when it should zag. Lean Startup author Eric Ries popularized the term “pivot” but the concept has existed for years. Nokia used to produce rubber boots; today, well… that’s another story.

But the point is, while the concept of pivoting has become commonplace in startup lore, it’s good to separate the fad from the core concept to answer the question: “to pivot or not to pivot”?

Deconstructing Success

You may be driven by success, recognition, respect, money, power or fame. Whatever the case, success is i) subjective, ii) relative and iii) fluid. In other words, i) we define success based on what drives us, ii) but we tend to measure it relative to other people’s success and over time, iii) we convince ourselves to change its definition, revising upwards or downwards, depending on the conditions on the ground.

Don’t Believe the Hype

While Silicon Valley is entirely free and encouraged to have its own set of values, culture and objectives, the 24/7 media coverage startups and entrepreneurs are exposed to gives all entrepreneurs a sense that unless your idea and company blast off, you should pivot. In that context, the mindset of “fail fast” is understandable given the herd mentality and impatient nature of VCs, but wrong when you consider that 1% of projects fit venture capital’s profile and 1% of those become moderately successful.

In other words, while money may accelerate a company’s ramp-up and growth, the reality is that teams needs to gel, products take time to develop and businesses have a natural life-cycle that can’t really be circumvented.

Exacerbating this, of course, is that technology companies tend to compete in a zero-sum environment where the #1 and #2 players create value for shareholders but all others are left standing when the game of musical chairs stops. Meanwhile, content companies tend to be long term bets anyway: Machinima is one of the larger content providers on the leading video platform YouTube, but it launched in 2000 (12 years ago!). Vice is now featured in the pages on Forbes but it’s been around since 1994 (it launched as a magazine).

Despite these realities, boards rush entrepreneurs to adapt or die without letting the child crawl, let alone walk or run.

Yes, Pivots May Work, Sometimes

To be clear, the extreme cases of Groupon and Fab are prime examples for why pivoting is sometimes the only solution to a stagnating or declining project, but those tend to be the exceptions and not the rule.

But Usually, You’ll Simply Just Kill a Good Idea Before Moving to a Fad

As such, before throwing out the baby with the bathwater, understand the following.

Rule #1: Pivoting is a Function of Your Employees

When you recruit engineers and programmers, you can point them in any direction and challenge them to solve a given problem. If you are a content company, you hire writers or videographers and are, as such, limited to remaining in the content business unless you really choose to blow up the building and start from anew.

However, you can’t assume that a team that has built a search engine can build a better social network. So don’t let the tech vs. content variable underestimate the inherent challenges with any pivot.

As much as I dread quoting Donald Rumsfeld, “you go to war with the military you have, not the one you might want or wish to have at a later time”.

Time is crucial in any company and hiring a challenge. If you have good people, it might be better to improve something than assume you need to nuke the joint.

Rule #2: Focus on A Different Target

While the concept of the pivot refers to a radical and transformative change in company direction, strategy, focus and product line, it’s important to note that to become successful sometimes what you need is to pivot what industry or clients you are going after, and not the whole company. You may be developing a product and aiming for a B2B application, but perhaps by making it go free and targeting a B2C audience it might prevail.

Rule #3: Timing and Externalities Matter More Than You Think

After 9/11, a lot of companies repositioned themselves to serve the national security and defense industries. They hit the jackpot. This isn’t so much chasing a fad but realizing that the broader macro environment and trends will affect your industry and company more so than you think.

Rule #4: Success Comes From Incremental Gains, Not Hail Marries

Apple is the ultimate pivot. Most of its revenues come from iPhone and iPad – products that didn’t exist five years ago! But it was all born from the iPod. So the best pivots are not overnight 180-degree turns but progressive shifts and extensions. They are now charging into the post-PC era, but it was all an extension of their core. Hulu, too, is pivoting before our eyes (as are YouTube and Netflix), moving from pure-play aggregators to creators of content. After all, at that velocity even a seemingly small shift in strategy leads to a large change in overall trajectory.

While it’s difficult to define “pivot” and impossible to predict its outcome, you can drown out the noise and clearly ask yourself: “what do I define as success”. Once you do that, the rest falls in place.

Photo credit: purplemattfish

ASHKAN KARBASFROOSHAN

Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder of Granicus Group and CEO of WatchMojo, one of the leading producers and providers of professional video content to portals, web publishers, online magazines, blogs, social networks and video portals.

A finance graduate from one of the top colleges in the nation, Ashkan started his career as in-house finance analyst at one of the original meta-search engines on the Web, Mamma. From there he worked in the online publishing industry where he headed up advertising…

Learn more

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/TZ44rzUMMd4/

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28
Jan 12
iNdustrial Revolutions

To paraphrase Otto von Bismarck, “iPads are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” It’s an ugly story. Over a hundred employees “injured by n-hexane, a toxic chemical that can cause nerve damage and paralysis” because its use “meant workers could clean more screens each minute.” Other workers killed or injured by explosions. All so that iPads can be built as cheaply as possible, so that Apple can maintain its 44.7% gross margins. Isn’t that awful?

Yes, of course — but let’s try to maintain a nuanced perspective here. This is hardly a new story, and it’s hardly unique to the tech industry. Think of the exploitation of child labor to harvest Egyptian cotton and Cote d’Ivoire cocoa. Plus ça change; a decade ago it was Indonesian sweatshops and Indian fireworks exciting outrage. Think of the exploitation of Congolese workers to mine coltan, used in electronics everywhere. Show me a country with a large population of desperately poor people, and I’ll show you horrific exploitation of impoverished workers.

Please note, though, that the latter is an inevitable symptom of the former; and again, let’s please try to maintain a sense of perspective. It’s awful that a dozen Chinese workers were killed and hundreds injured building iPads–but at the same time, coal mining kills more than two thousand Chinese workers a year (down from almost 7000 ten years ago) and nobody’s suddenly outraged about them. We in the West don’t really seem to care that Chinese employees work under awful conditions and die in appalling numbers — unless they make shiny things that we use. We claim we don’t want people to suffer, but in fact we just don’t want our iProducts tainted by that suffering. Isn’t that more than a little hypocritical?

So what? you might say. It’s all horrible! Stop them all, or any of it that we can stop, right now! Right?

No. Not necessarily. This is a really complex and difficult issue, and there’s no obvious right answer. Over the last thirty years, trade and export-driven growth have been insanely great for China, and made life enormously better for the overwhelming majority of its billion-plus people. (My personal experience bears out all the data, for what it’s worth: in 1997 I spent a month roaming solo through central China, then came back nine years later. China 1997 and China 2006 were like two entirely different nations, and the latter was vastly better off.)

If Apple and other Western manufacturers were to pull production from China to other, better-paid, union-friendlier jurisdictions with stronger protections for worker rights, that would be disastrous for Apple’s profit margins and innovation speed — but it would also be disastrous for China’s people. On the whole, overall, despite the gruesome and heartrending disasters in the spotlight right now, both sides benefit greatly. That’s how and why free trade works.

At the same time, we can all agree that no businesses anywhere should be poisoning their workers and/or generally treating human lives like disposable Kleenex. This is especially true in a nation whose government only accepts trade unions which are powerless government puppets. But I would argue that it’s China’s steadily growing wealth — which comes from trade, and especially, manufacturing — that will ultimately transform it into a nation where real unions and real worker rights can and do exist.

It’s worth noting that Foxconn’s problems are China’s national problems writ small. Hexane pollution and aluminum dust are scale-model versions of the nationwide poisoned milk scandal, or the ongoing catastrophe of Beijing’s hyper-polluted air, or the major lakes entirely conquered by toxic cyanobacteria. Again, employee exploitation is a symptom, not a problem. The problem is ubiquitous grinding poverty – something that trade, investment, and economic growth slowly, over decades, alleviates, albeit at a terrifying cost to the environment.

Think of the West’s Industrial Revolution. That’s more or less the same revolution transforming China right now. Is it possible to have such a revolution without some concomitant Dickensian horrors? The available evidence sadly indicates “probably not.”

In the interim, what Apple (and the countless less-sexy enterprises whose products are manufactured in China under similar conditions) can do to improve the lot of those who craft its wares is this: increase their leverage over their suppliers, by making the threat of moving production elsewhere credible. Foxconn wants to keep Apple happy, obviously – but they’d be a lot more proactive about doing so if they genuinely thought they might lose massive amounts of Apple’s business to someone else.

A concrete example: Apple shouldn’t get Foxconn to manufacture iPads in Brazil: they should have another company entirely build iPads in Brazil. Right now Apple needs Foxconn almost as much as Foxconn needs Apple. Real competition among suppliers would mean that each of them will jump a lot higher and faster when Apple says “worker rights.”

But let’s not get myopic about Apple and iPads, when the landscape of globalization and its excesses is so much vaster and more diverse. Let’s not pretend that the dynamic is purely “rich Western tech companies exploiting poor nations.” And let’s remember that technology, and China’s growing wealth, will probably ultimately solve this problem. Remember that decade-old outrage about child labor in India’s fireworks industry? Well, it’s much diminished these days, thanks to automation and India’s much wealthier society. Similarly, China’s burgeoning online population has pressured its government to pay attention to air pollution… and Foxconn is already roboticizing its assembly lines.

Most of all, let’s not lose sight of the fact that the technology pioneered in large part by the very same cohort of Western companies who outsource production to China is, slowly but steadily, lifting China, India and sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty. That, not where your iPad came from, is the most important story in the world today.

Image: Smog over Tiananmen Square in 2006, by yours truly. By all accounts it’s gotten much worse since.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/LPewG8--NOU/

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28
Jan 12
7 Big Privacy Concerns for New Facebook and the Open Graph

It’s not always clear how Facebook apps interact with the data you share on the social network. Are they allowed to broadcast it? Sell it? Compile it in a way that you never intended?

“When you turn all Platform applications off, your User ID is no longer given to applications, even when your friends use those applications,” says a portion of Facebook’s privacy policy. “But you will no longer be able to use any games, applications or websites through Facebook.

Simply, should you choose not to share with apps at all, they are taken away from you. If you want to use some, but limit their functionality, you have to carefully customize your privacy settings in order to ensure your information is used appropriately. With the Open Graph, which can push any information to your Facebook page without explicit permission each time, it becomes more of an imperative.

Here are seven things you may not realize that Facebook knows, and is using to interact with your friends or advertisers. Concerned about what you share on the social network? Be sure to check the Apps You Use in the Privacy Tab to ensure that you have full control of your privacy in a way that makes you feel comfortable.

1. Where You’ve Been

You’ve always kept your location up to date on Facebook, ensuring everyone knows when you change cities — but you’re not interested in geotagging. Watch out, because your exact location can still be picked up by Facebook and broadcasted.

One of the more prominent design features in Facebook’s new Timeline is the “Maps” feature, which gathers the meta data from a user’s location and prominently displays check-ins, life events, photos, and the like on the map. The issue is, for those who aren’t necessarily keen on sharing discrete location details, this feature is virtually unavoidable. According to Facebook’s privacy policy: “We receive data from the computer, mobile phone or other device you use to access Facebook. This may include your IP address, location, the type of browser you use, or the pages you visit.” This data is collected every time, even when a friend of yours has GPS turned on and tags you in a picture she’s uploading from her mobile phone.

Even if you’re stringent about your whereabouts not making it to a highly visible plane, Facebook has already gathered data from you retroactively, ensuring that every time you’ve changed your city location — or listed your home town– it will show up on the map as well.

2. What You’re Listening To

You just downloaded Spotify and you’re really excited to get started. You signed up and were asked to link to Facebook before launching the app, so you clicked the boxes and everything seems ready. But don’t click play on that MC Hammer track just yet…

Since September, Spotify has required that new users sign in through Facebook, thanks to a partnership forged after the music giant hit the U.S. Essentially, anytime a regular Spotify user turns on the app and clicks play, whether via desktop or through mobile, the app can beam information right into Facebook and broadcast it to friends without prior notice. In response to major backlash, Spotify now includes a “Private Listening” mode, which blocks sharing immediately to Facebook. However, it will turn off after a restart or an extended period of time.

The only way to circumvent the compulsory posting is to turn it off permanently in both places. Spotify’s desktop app does have a “turn off publishing to Facebook” within its settings, but the only way to ensure posting does not occur is to revoke Spotify’s publishing abilities within Facebook apps.

3. When You’re Creeping

That girl you met at the event you went to last week. Your ex from college. Your worst enemy from middle school. Odds are, they’re all on Facebook, and you can’t resist the urge to creep. Just remember that Facebook is watching, too.

Naturally, anything you do on Facebook is seen and gathered by Facebook, and creeping on people is no exception. Facebook specifically tracks all clicks done within its platform in order to better tailor an experience for the user. Do you ever wonder why certain people show up in your feed, while others are hardly ever reported on? That’s your creeping doing its work. Visit your frenemy’s page enough times, and he or she will end up gracing your feed more often than you may like.

Don’t worry, Facebook does not specifically share this data with other users, though it will assume that this person is important in your life. Marking someone as a VIP can lead to their appearances more often in your advertisements or apps in addition to the extra face time on the feed.

4. Where You Run

Social running is all the rage these days, and you’re ready to load up your iPhone with RunKeeper, connect it to Facebook and get to stepping. But there’s more, and it has to do with that sneaky little GPS…

Runkeeper is one of the poster children for Facebook’s new “frictionless” user experience. A social network for avid (and aspiring) runners, Runkeeper packs sophisticated technology usually reserved for GPS watches and other athletic gear into a handy iPhone application and has the option of linking material to Facebook. Except, with the Open Graph, linking gives companies an opportunity to simply push all of the info that they collect into a user’s Timeline. And in this case, that means valuable GPS data.

Say that you go on a run with Runkeeper around the park. The GPS data routes the run you made and then pushes it to Facebook so your friends can see where you’ve been and for how long. This may not be much of a problem for you, but what if one day you forget to turn off Runkeeper and go to work? Anywhere you go from that point on is at risk of becoming common knowledge among your social circle, which can be unnerving at best and dangerous at worst. Runkeeper does a great service for those motivated for fitness, but in participating in the Open Graph, the information is fair game.

5. Your Saturday Night Plans

Your local bar is having a comedy night, and you have to RSVP on Facebook to get on the guest list. But when you click “Attending,” your plans can be broadcast to your social network — whether you realize it or not.

One of the trickier features of Facebook is the “sponsored stories” section, which is a particular form of advertising. Companies can sponsor particular Facebook actions, called “stories,” that double as advertising for a brand. However, this also means that your information could be used as an advertisement for another brand.

“Sponsored Stories” are a possibility every time you like a brand or location or respond positively to a public event. When you do this, companies can tap into your friends and let them know that you like or are attending an event — with the hopes of getting them involved, too. Liking a brand or attending its event automatically makes your information available for brand ambassadorship, and you can become an advocate for the event or the brand without implicitly signing up.

6. When You’ve Slacked on Your Diet

You have a Fitbit and you’re ready to get your connected fitness in gear. You allow your account to connect with Facebook so you can broadcast your successes to friends and family, but the Open Graph does change things.

Fitbit is not currently on Facebook’s list of fully-adopted Open Graph apps, but its potential (and partnership with Runkeeper) can create quite an issue for users who are concerned about privacy. The nuances of Facebook’s Open Graph mean that everything is done for the user as soon as permission is granted, rather than approving every singular action within an app. Combine that with an app that already makes those decisions for you, and the possibility of sharing information you actually don’t want to share is high.

The key issue with Fitbit is that it already uploads very personal information automatically whenever the portable device is near its connected docking station. Combined with Open Graph, data could be broadcasted to friends without even logging into Facebook.

7. What News Articles You Just Read

A friend read an article that catches your eye through the Washington Post Social Reader. You click on the title and realize that the app requires permission before linking to the article. You may think little of it and click through to the article, but Facebook watches as you keep reading.

The main news app that has adopted Facebook’s Open Graph structure is the Washington Post Social Reader. You may have already seen the app in your News Feed, highlighting some articles read by friends that could be of interest to you. However, if you’re interested in one of the articles, you’re going to have to allow the app to access your personal information.

That can be an inconvenience for some, but the real issue lies after you read that first article. Because of the app’s structure, you aren’t prompted whether you want to share a particular article with your peers. So, once you begin clicking around the Post’s website, all of your articles become fair game for posting onto someone else’s mini-feed. The result is, from that point forward, even without accessing the app directly through Facebook, your connection to your reading habits is already cemented and anyone can access it.

Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/cOOizKSK90A/

Marketing — No comments
28
Jan 12
7 Big Privacy Concerns for New Facebook and the Open Graph

It’s not always clear how Facebook apps interact with the data you share on the social network. Are they allowed to broadcast it? Sell it? Compile it in a way that you never intended?

“When you turn all Platform applications off, your User ID is no longer given to applications, even when your friends use those applications,” says a portion of Facebook’s privacy policy. “But you will no longer be able to use any games, applications or websites through Facebook.

Simply, should you choose not to share with apps at all, they are taken away from you. If you want to use some, but limit their functionality, you have to carefully customize your privacy settings in order to ensure your information is used appropriately. With the Open Graph, which can push any information to your Facebook page without explicit permission each time, it becomes more of an imperative.

Here are seven things you may not realize that Facebook knows, and is using to interact with your friends or advertisers. Concerned about what you share on the social network? Be sure to check the Apps You Use in the Privacy Tab to ensure that you have full control of your privacy in a way that makes you feel comfortable.

1. Where You’ve Been

You’ve always kept your location up to date on Facebook, ensuring everyone knows when you change cities — but you’re not interested in geotagging. Watch out, because your exact location can still be picked up by Facebook and broadcasted.

One of the more prominent design features in Facebook’s new Timeline is the “Maps” feature, which gathers the meta data from a user’s location and prominently displays check-ins, life events, photos, and the like on the map. The issue is, for those who aren’t necessarily keen on sharing discrete location details, this feature is virtually unavoidable. According to Facebook’s privacy policy: “We receive data from the computer, mobile phone or other device you use to access Facebook. This may include your IP address, location, the type of browser you use, or the pages you visit.” This data is collected every time, even when a friend of yours has GPS turned on and tags you in a picture she’s uploading from her mobile phone.

Even if you’re stringent about your whereabouts not making it to a highly visible plane, Facebook has already gathered data from you retroactively, ensuring that every time you’ve changed your city location — or listed your home town– it will show up on the map as well.

2. What You’re Listening To

You just downloaded Spotify and you’re really excited to get started. You signed up and were asked to link to Facebook before launching the app, so you clicked the boxes and everything seems ready. But don’t click play on that MC Hammer track just yet…

Since September, Spotify has required that new users sign in through Facebook, thanks to a partnership forged after the music giant hit the U.S. Essentially, anytime a regular Spotify user turns on the app and clicks play, whether via desktop or through mobile, the app can beam information right into Facebook and broadcast it to friends without prior notice. In response to major backlash, Spotify now includes a “Private Listening” mode, which blocks sharing immediately to Facebook. However, it will turn off after a restart or an extended period of time.

The only way to circumvent the compulsory posting is to turn it off permanently in both places. Spotify’s desktop app does have a “turn off publishing to Facebook” within its settings, but the only way to ensure posting does not occur is to revoke Spotify’s publishing abilities within Facebook apps.

3. When You’re Creeping

That girl you met at the event you went to last week. Your ex from college. Your worst enemy from middle school. Odds are, they’re all on Facebook, and you can’t resist the urge to creep. Just remember that Facebook is watching, too.

Naturally, anything you do on Facebook is seen and gathered by Facebook, and creeping on people is no exception. Facebook specifically tracks all clicks done within its platform in order to better tailor an experience for the user. Do you ever wonder why certain people show up in your feed, while others are hardly ever reported on? That’s your creeping doing its work. Visit your frenemy’s page enough times, and he or she will end up gracing your feed more often than you may like.

Don’t worry, Facebook does not specifically share this data with other users, though it will assume that this person is important in your life. Marking someone as a VIP can lead to their appearances more often in your advertisements or apps in addition to the extra face time on the feed.

4. Where You Run

Social running is all the rage these days, and you’re ready to load up your iPhone with RunKeeper, connect it to Facebook and get to stepping. But there’s more, and it has to do with that sneaky little GPS…

Runkeeper is one of the poster children for Facebook’s new “frictionless” user experience. A social network for avid (and aspiring) runners, Runkeeper packs sophisticated technology usually reserved for GPS watches and other athletic gear into a handy iPhone application and has the option of linking material to Facebook. Except, with the Open Graph, linking gives companies an opportunity to simply push all of the info that they collect into a user’s Timeline. And in this case, that means valuable GPS data.

Say that you go on a run with Runkeeper around the park. The GPS data routes the run you made and then pushes it to Facebook so your friends can see where you’ve been and for how long. This may not be much of a problem for you, but what if one day you forget to turn off Runkeeper and go to work? Anywhere you go from that point on is at risk of becoming common knowledge among your social circle, which can be unnerving at best and dangerous at worst. Runkeeper does a great service for those motivated for fitness, but in participating in the Open Graph, the information is fair game.

5. Your Saturday Night Plans

Your local bar is having a comedy night, and you have to RSVP on Facebook to get on the guest list. But when you click “Attending,” your plans can be broadcast to your social network — whether you realize it or not.

One of the trickier features of Facebook is the “sponsored stories” section, which is a particular form of advertising. Companies can sponsor particular Facebook actions, called “stories,” that double as advertising for a brand. However, this also means that your information could be used as an advertisement for another brand.

“Sponsored Stories” are a possibility every time you like a brand or location or respond positively to a public event. When you do this, companies can tap into your friends and let them know that you like or are attending an event — with the hopes of getting them involved, too. Liking a brand or attending its event automatically makes your information available for brand ambassadorship, and you can become an advocate for the event or the brand without implicitly signing up.

6. When You’ve Slacked on Your Diet

You have a Fitbit and you’re ready to get your connected fitness in gear. You allow your account to connect with Facebook so you can broadcast your successes to friends and family, but the Open Graph does change things.

Fitbit is not currently on Facebook’s list of fully-adopted Open Graph apps, but its potential (and partnership with Runkeeper) can create quite an issue for users who are concerned about privacy. The nuances of Facebook’s Open Graph mean that everything is done for the user as soon as permission is granted, rather than approving every singular action within an app. Combine that with an app that already makes those decisions for you, and the possibility of sharing information you actually don’t want to share is high.

The key issue with Fitbit is that it already uploads very personal information automatically whenever the portable device is near its connected docking station. Combined with Open Graph, data could be broadcasted to friends without even logging into Facebook.

7. What News Articles You Just Read

A friend read an article that catches your eye through the Washington Post Social Reader. You click on the title and realize that the app requires permission before linking to the article. You may think little of it and click through to the article, but Facebook watches as you keep reading.

The main news app that has adopted Facebook’s Open Graph structure is the Washington Post Social Reader. You may have already seen the app in your News Feed, highlighting some articles read by friends that could be of interest to you. However, if you’re interested in one of the articles, you’re going to have to allow the app to access your personal information.

That can be an inconvenience for some, but the real issue lies after you read that first article. Because of the app’s structure, you aren’t prompted whether you want to share a particular article with your peers. So, once you begin clicking around the Post’s website, all of your articles become fair game for posting onto someone else’s mini-feed. The result is, from that point forward, even without accessing the app directly through Facebook, your connection to your reading habits is already cemented and anyone can access it.

Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/cOOizKSK90A/

Marketing — No comments
28
Jan 12
Breaking Down Apple’s Billions [INFOGRAPHIC]

It’s no secret Apple, one of the most valuable public companies in the world, is making major cash off today’s tech gadgets — but how much?

This week, the company reported a record net profit of more than $13.6 billion for its quarterly report lasting 14 weeks and ending Dec. 31, 2011. A rumored summer release of the iPhone 5 will help keep the money flowing in this year for the more than $400 billion company.

“We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in a statement. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

Cook alone raked in $378 million last year, naming him the highest-paid CEO. In the past three months, Apple brought in four times more profit than Walmart, the world’s largest retailer.

It seems unimaginable to see how far $400 billion could be used. The infographic below puts into perspective Apple’s monetary power and influence around the world. First off, $400 billion could cover 42% of the United States if dollar bills were laid flat across the South.

Apple could pay off the public debt of eight European Union countries. Apple could also write $6,622,516 checks to each of its employees before exhausting its fortune. More than $97.7 billion of Apple’s money is in cash reserves, and two-thirds of the money is stored offshore.

How could Apple’s money be better spent? Should Apple spend more money on its China suppliers to improve working conditions for workers?

Infographic created by MBA Online; Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, wdstock

Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/_dV9HBlW0_g/

← Older Entries

Benton Pena @ technology + culture + life and everything in between

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