On Internet Privacy

I?m starting to get frustrated by the way in which the debate about internet privacy is currently being waged. There appears to be a constant media buzz about how we?re all at terrible risk from hawkish advertisers who are just waiting to swoop in, steal our browsing history and then make millions from it.

I hope I?m not alone in my disdain for this alarmist and arguably ignorant view of how the Internet works.

I should be clear of course; I?m not against internet privacy. Neither am I advocating any kind of Big Brother-esque government monitoring of internet traffic. My beef lies with the panicky reactions we?ve seen from the media, governments, the EU and many internet users in regards to internet privacy.

Barely a month goes by without a story about how Facebook is planning to sell customer details to advertisers. This then sparks inevitable outrage from users who feel they?ve been wronged in some way before Facebook backs down again, forced to go back to the drawing board and work out how it can actually make money from its social media machine.

The Facebook example is a particularly good case study, actually. I find it constantly amazing that people will be splashing around drunken photos of themselves on it one week, and then the next week will denounce Facebook for telling an advertiser they?ve listed fashion in their interests. Granted they?ve made the choice to put up the pictures but haven?t had a say in whether Facebook has shared their details or not, but is the value of what Facebook is sharing really so great to them?

On Internet Privacy on privacy in facebook


It gets even more paradoxical when you point out that Facebook can?t share information it doesn?t have; users have to make the choice to upload personal information such as their interests, location and relationship status. I know that this information is then only available to friends, but I find it?s those with a friends list numbering in the high hundreds or even thousands that often complain the loudest when they feel their privacy has been violated. How much privacy did you think you had exactly while you were broadcasting every status update, photo and even your location to every person you?ve ever met?

The fact that Facebook has always been and will always be free also seems to be forgotten, lost in the backlash at Facebook?s audacity at actually trying to make some money while keeping its service free.

The majority of the fuss centres on the cookies that get downloaded to consumers' PCs that can track their movements and report back on what they've been viewing. Advertisers can then use this information to better target adverts at that particular PC, hopefully improving their effectiveness and their relevance to the user.

This sounds like a win-win situation to me, but for those who don?t like the sound of it then privacy controls have existed in web browsers for years. There are even privacy-specific browsers out there, free to download for whoever wants them. These options have been consistently ignored by consumers, though, who only seem to take net privacy seriously when it?s accompanied by a scare mongering headline.

On Internet Privacy on privacy in facebook


It's also ironic that internet privacy will often make news headlines right next to articles about the latest celebrity relationship gossip, or paparazzi snaps of the royals. We love to pry into other people?s lives but don?t like it so much when the boot is on the other foot and it?s our own details being shared.

A part of the problem is down to the fact that companies are still trying to work out how best to make money from the Internet, especially in the current economic climate. This is forcing companies to investigate other revenue streams beyond the traditional advertising model; a strategy that's going to lead to a number of conflicts as companies attempt to find where the line of acceptability lies.

Unfortunately for us, though, public opinion needs to change too. The opinion that the Internet is free seems commonplace, but behind most news stories, articles or online services is someone who needs to earn a wage. The first moves have been made in changing this perception - the recent move by The Times of charging for online content is the obvious example - but it'll be a long hard road to get people to pay for what has been free for so long.

How successful the approach adopted by The Times has been will only become known with time, but changes are definitely afoot on the big old World Wide Web. Regardless of what shape these changes take, it?ll be an interesting place to watch for the next ten years. Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

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Blog - Fall 'n' Spring

On Internet Privacy

I?m starting to get frustrated by the way in which the debate about internet privacy is currently being waged. There appears to be a constant media buzz about how we?re all at terrible risk from hawkish advertisers who are just waiting to swoop in, steal our browsing history and then make millions from it.

I hope I?m not alone in my disdain for this alarmist and arguably ignorant view of how the Internet works.

I should be clear of course; I?m not against internet privacy. Neither am I advocating any kind of Big Brother-esque government monitoring of internet traffic. My beef lies with the panicky reactions we?ve seen from the media, governments, the EU and many internet users in regards to internet privacy.

Barely a month goes by without a story about how Facebook is planning to sell customer details to advertisers. This then sparks inevitable outrage from users who feel they?ve been wronged in some way before Facebook backs down again, forced to go back to the drawing board and work out how it can actually make money from its social media machine.

The Facebook example is a particularly good case study, actually. I find it constantly amazing that people will be splashing around drunken photos of themselves on it one week, and then the next week will denounce Facebook for telling an advertiser they?ve listed fashion in their interests. Granted they?ve made the choice to put up the pictures but haven?t had a say in whether Facebook has shared their details or not, but is the value of what Facebook is sharing really so great to them?

On Internet Privacy on privacy in facebook


It gets even more paradoxical when you point out that Facebook can?t share information it doesn?t have; users have to make the choice to upload personal information such as their interests, location and relationship status. I know that this information is then only available to friends, but I find it?s those with a friends list numbering in the high hundreds or even thousands that often complain the loudest when they feel their privacy has been violated. How much privacy did you think you had exactly while you were broadcasting every status update, photo and even your location to every person you?ve ever met?

The fact that Facebook has always been and will always be free also seems to be forgotten, lost in the backlash at Facebook?s audacity at actually trying to make some money while keeping its service free.

The majority of the fuss centres on the cookies that get downloaded to consumers' PCs that can track their movements and report back on what they've been viewing. Advertisers can then use this information to better target adverts at that particular PC, hopefully improving their effectiveness and their relevance to the user.

This sounds like a win-win situation to me, but for those who don?t like the sound of it then privacy controls have existed in web browsers for years. There are even privacy-specific browsers out there, free to download for whoever wants them. These options have been consistently ignored by consumers, though, who only seem to take net privacy seriously when it?s accompanied by a scare mongering headline.

On Internet Privacy on privacy in facebook


It's also ironic that internet privacy will often make news headlines right next to articles about the latest celebrity relationship gossip, or paparazzi snaps of the royals. We love to pry into other people?s lives but don?t like it so much when the boot is on the other foot and it?s our own details being shared.

A part of the problem is down to the fact that companies are still trying to work out how best to make money from the Internet, especially in the current economic climate. This is forcing companies to investigate other revenue streams beyond the traditional advertising model; a strategy that's going to lead to a number of conflicts as companies attempt to find where the line of acceptability lies.

Unfortunately for us, though, public opinion needs to change too. The opinion that the Internet is free seems commonplace, but behind most news stories, articles or online services is someone who needs to earn a wage. The first moves have been made in changing this perception - the recent move by The Times of charging for online content is the obvious example - but it'll be a long hard road to get people to pay for what has been free for so long.

How successful the approach adopted by The Times has been will only become known with time, but changes are definitely afoot on the big old World Wide Web. Regardless of what shape these changes take, it?ll be an interesting place to watch for the next ten years. Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bit-tech/blog/~3/O2o_rP3NV58/

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Weekend Open Forum: Your favorite bookmarking service?

Hardware 21 - The Coffee Incident

Hardware 21 - The Coffee Incident

Posted on 1st Apr 2011 at 11:59 by Paul Goodhead with 14 comments

This week's podcast finds Harry, Paul and Clive having a good chat about what's current in the PC hardware world.

At the top of the list is Nvidia's new graphics card, the GeForce GTX 590 3GB. The card crams two whole GPUs onto a single PCB, and its performance is great. As we discuss in the podcast, though, it's really the driver support that will make it either a classic or a flash in the pan.

Also discussed is the Intel Core i7-990X and the way in which the CPU market has changed; six months ago we would have recommended the 990X, but it's almost irrelevant now.

Finally, we also had a chance to comment on some of the news stories from the past couple of weeks. First up is the rumour that Intel?s Ivy Bridge CPU refresh will bring PCI-E 3.0 support with it and what that means for you. We also dissect the news that OCZ has recently bought Indilinx, and what effect that?s likely to have on other SSD manufacturers.


As always, we've also set up our weekly competition too, the lucky winner of which will walk away with a Mionix Propus 380 mousepad. This sleek mouse mat will provide the perfect tracking surface, whichever mouse you choose to use.

As ever, the bit-tech hardware podcast features music by Brad Sucks, and was recorded on Shure microphones. You can download the podcast direct, listen in-browser or subscribe through iTunes using the links below. Also, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the discussion in the forums.

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Weekend Open Forum: Your favorite bookmarking service?

Chrysler Experiments with Hydraulic Hybrid Minivans

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chrysler Group have partnered to test a hydraulic hybrid system for minivans that could be cheaper than conventional hybrid systems and could save more gasoline. EPA and Chrysler are each spending $2 million (for a total of $4 million) on the project, and they expect to begin road testing next year.

Conventional hybrids save gas in part by using energy from braking to charge a battery. A hydraulic hybrid captures energy by using a hydraulic pump instead of conventional friction brakes to slow the vehicle. The pump forces fluid into a tank, compressing air that can then be used to help propel the vehicle.

Hydraulic systems are bulky and loud, which has limited their use to large vehicles such as garbage trucks. But they're attractive because pumps and air storage tanks are cheap compared to batteries. Also, hydraulic hybrids have the potential for larger fuel economy improvements than battery hybrids because hydraulic systems can store energy very quickly, allowing them to capture more energy from braking.  While conventional battery hybrid systems for minivans might improve fuel economy by 25 percent compared to gas-powered cars, hydraulic systems could improve fuel economy by 30 percent to 35 percent under most conditions, says David Haugen, manager of the technology development group at EPA's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory. In city driving, the improvement could be as much as 60 percent. Chris Cowland, Chrysler's director responsible for advanced powertrains, says the 60 percent improvement is "way more significant than any other technology that we know of today."

To make the system work in minivans, engineers will need to find ways to incorporate bulky air storage tanks?which take up more space than the car's gas tank?without eating into cargo or passenger space, and without compromising safety. "Since we are working with an existing vehicle structure, we will have to modify some areas and reinforce others to maintain the strength of the current vehicle," Cowland says. They'll also need to minimize noise, likely by using some of the techniques automakers have used to muffle the sound of hydraulic steering systems.

Manufacturers are continuing to roll out hydraulic hybrid garbage trucks. Parker Hannifin, of Cleveland, Ohio, has partnered with Autocar, of Hagerstown, Indiana, to bring 11 hybrid refuse trucks to South Florida. Eaton, of Cleveland, Ohio, has more than 70 trucks in municipal fleet operations. Eaton says that although fuel economy varies by duty cycle, route, terrain, and driver, the hybrid hydraulic system in a refuse truck can save more than 1,000 gallons of fuel per year on average, reduce emissions by up to 20 percent, and, by reducing the use of friction brakes, extend brake life by up to 300 percent.

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Social Search, without a Social Network

Google may be built on an algorithm for taming the Web, but yesterday the company added social features that will let your friends help determine what ranks high in the search results you see. The approach requires Google to know the social connections of its users?something that so far is not a core feature of the company's products or uppermost in the minds of people using them.

Google's new social tool is the +1 button, which it wants you to click to signal which search results and Web pages you appreciate. The button will appear alongside every page listed in search results, and later on sites across the Web (enable +1 on your account now here). Your +1 clicks will be used to boost the ranking of that page in the results friends see. To Google, "friends" means people you are connected to by the company's e-mail or instant-messaging service or its Twitter clone Buzz. The new +1 service will eventually appear on other Google products like Maps and YouTube, says Google.

In design and intention, the +1 button is a close imitation of Facebook's Like button, which appears both on Facebook's site and on pages across the Web as a way for users to share content with friends with a single click. Facebook says that every week more 250 million people engage with Facebook's tool for external sites?most often via the Like button.

Google's plans to shape search with +1 have a precedent, too. Microsoft's Bing search engine has since late 2010 used Like-button data in a partnership with Facebook, in which Microsoft owns a stake. The results of some types of searches?for example, for restaurants?promote or highlight pages that have been Liked by a person's friends. To use this feature, the person must be logged in to Facebook.

"I think +1 is a big step forward," says Vivek Wadwha, a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information, who last month organized an event examining the problem of search spam. However, it is unclear whether Google has enough information about its users' social connections for the strategy to be very powerful, says Wadwha. "It is clear that Google is on the defensive and is trying its best to give consumers what they need," he says. "But it is at a disadvantage because it doesn't have a social graph in the same way Facebook does." Microsoft's close relationship with Facebook gives it access to more powerful and comprehensive data, says Wadwha.

Not only does Facebook have more users enrolled in its Web-wide scheme, but its users have more incentive to click Like buttons than Google users do to click +1. Clicking Like shares a link to that page with Facebook friends, or even adds something?say, a movie?to your Facebook profile. Clicking +1 only adds a link to your Google profile page, a widely ignored feature that Google wants to encourage more of its users to embrace. It is possible to view what Google considers your "social circle" at a dedicated page, but there is no way to edit that list of friends without deleting e-mail, chat, or Buzz contacts.

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This week at Microsoft: Windows 8, 20 foot screens, and bad tattoos

It?s time for our weekly Microsoft round-up, and that means we are going to stick our heads into days past to find the best, and the wackiest, stories from the last 7 days.

For this week?s question, sound off in the comments if you have downloaded or tried the release version of Internet Explorer 9. If so, what do you like the least? And as always, be sure and follow TNWmicrosoft on Twitter for both fun and profit.

Now, let?s get into the news:

Windows 8 Starts To Leak

We had a variety of Windows 8 leaks this week, tantalizing us with tiny tidbits of information that were often, and we hate to say it, a touch dull. None of the big, new elements that we have been eagerly awaiting have cracked above the surface.

We do, however, have more screenshots than ever of backup tools, and of new UI file information. Sure, it?s not much, but the floodgates have been opened it seems, as news flowing from the Windows 8 font seems to be picking up speed.

Even more, there are rumors just beginning to percolate that we might see a first full build of Windows 8 loose in the near future, as some are being distributed to select testers. Cross your fingers.

Is 234 Inches Enough?

Microsoft loves to show off, usually in an attempt to woo and wow customers, but sometimes they seem to do it just for the heck of it. This is one of those times.

Microsoft has put together a 234? touchscreen that it is using at conferences, almost casually, but to great effect. Yes, we have a video of it. Enjoy:

Hotmail Upgrades

Hotmail and Internet Explorer 9 are becoming better and better friends, with Microsoft this week releasing new integration between the two. If you  pin Hotmail to the taskbar on Windows 7, IE9 will constantly update your unread mail count.

We like this because it shows cohesion between different Microsoft units, something that company does not always strongly foster. If you were curious, it looks like this:

And if you were wanted to know, new news from Microsoft has pegged IE9?s adoption rate at five times what IE8 saw. Yes, the browser is better, but is it good enough? We?ll have the numbers to know that in just a few weeks.

Do Not Get A Microsoft Tattoo

This is in fact a public service announcement: do not get a Microsoft tattoo. Why? Because they always look terrible. Want some proof? Here you go:

We have been trying to take a lighter approach with these weekly posts because we know that by the time Friday rolls around, taking it easy is required. If you need all the hard news straight from the wire, be sure and scroll through the archives.

Oh, and don?t forget, follow us on Twitter.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2011/04/01/this-week-at-microsoft-windows-8-20-foot-screens-and-bad-tattoos/

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