In RetroTech: NetLingo Blog

That's the punchline my girlfriend is using these days, she even wants to get t-shirts made. But despite all of the viral jokes about Tiger's philandering, it's sad. The lesson? Aside from his infidelity issues, Tiger got caught because of his digital footprint. That's right, recently called telephone numbers left on his cell phone and hundreds of text messages saved on someone else's mobile device got Tiger caught in the digital act.

As I research technology and the psychological impact it has on our lives, I find myself questioning what do we value most? Judging by how we spend our time, it's definitely our computers. Most people spend more time with their computers than with their spouse or significant other. More than 80% report that they grow more dependent on their computer every year and 24% say the Internet can serve as a substitute for a significant other. The fact that 1 in 3 boys ages 13 and 14 are considered heavy online porn users, and that 11% of adults say they'd be willing to implant a device in their brains that would allow them to access the Internet, causes reason for concern. (Source: The Week)

Computers are also a growing source of stress. The average person experiences frustrating computer problems twice a month and wastes 12 hours a month due to computer problems and hours each day due to the side effects of multitasking. Not to mention the stress and humiliation of getting busted because you left your digital footprint behind! As I've said before, the advice is to either not engage in improper activities or only communicate about such activities in person, in real time. Just ask Tiger, this thing hasn't even gone viral yet.

The new NetLingo book is a handy guide of every text abbreviation and chat acronym you'll ever need to know! Just in time for the holidays, "NetLingo: The List" is a great "gag" gift and conversation starter to say the least. Not recommended for children under 12 due to adult content, this "coffee table meets toilet humor" book contains thousands of hilarious sayings used by millions of people.

NetLingo is the leader in tracking online terms and "NetLingo: The List" is the largest collection of text and chat acronyms to date! More than 82 million people text regularly, it's no wonder you've seen some of this cryptic looking code... but you haven't seen it all until you've seen "NetLingo: The List." Get a few copies to give to your peeps today!

* Material is not appropriate for children under 12 due to mature and suggestive themes
* Contains a cornucopia of crude humor, sexual content, profanity, drug & alcohol references,
* It's modern, it's shocking, it's funny, it's real, it's timely, it's handy, it educates, it entertains
* It's for parents and professionals, educators and enthusiasts, everyone who gets online
* Explains the difference between acronyms, abbreviations, shorthand, initialisms, and leetspeak
* Take an inside look at the dynamic language that eludes conformity or consistency
* People magazine says "The NetLingo Guide to acronyms is super!"
* Great gift for adults, only $9.95, get copies of "NetLingo: The List" here!

Happy December everyone,
Erin

Reduce your carbon footprint with the best holiday gift I've seen! Consumers obsessed with the "need to upgrade" are flooding landfills with non-biodegradable, old cell phones, laptops, and iPods.

The MOTO W233 Renew offers a potential solution.
The first "carbon neutral" cell phone is constructed with a casing made from 100 percent recycled water bottles. It even comes with a prepaid envelope for when you inevitably need to dispose of it; just mail it back to Motorola to be recycled. Only $49.99, you can buy it on Motorola.com

In social networking news: A new worm is spreading on Facebook. It posts a racy photo on victims' walls. Clicking the image takes users to a porn site. The image is then posted on the user's wall. Yikes! It's unfortunate but true, criminals are increasingly targeting Facebook users so keep aware. And last week 19-year-old Rodney Bradford of Brooklyn, NY convinced police to drop charges that he committed a robbery at 11:50am by proving he'd updated his Facebook page at 11:49am. It's the first criminal case in which a Facebook entry has provided alibi evidence.

In international news: Egypt is launching the world's first Arabic-language Internet domain. The new domain name will be ".masr" --which means ".Egypt" -- written in the Arabic alphabet. "It is a great moment for us," said Egyptian communications minister Tamek Kamel. "Ther Internet now speaks Arabic. "But press-freedom activists warn that content in the new domain would likely be censored. "The fact that Egypt is launching this Arabic domain is ironic really," said Soazig Dollet of Reporters Without Borders. "Egypt is one of the enemies of the Internet." The international Internet regulatory body, ICANN, voted last month to allow use of non-Latin characters in Web addresses.
Source: The Week

And now for something a little crazy: A man marries a video game character... what? A man has married his virtual girlfriend. That's right. The girlfriend is a character in the Love Plus video game. They honeymooned in Guam and held a public wedding reception, read more about it here. Until next time, see you online.
Erin

Twenty-something workers may often seem to be in a "constant whir of socializing," said Jeffrey Zaslow in The Wall Street Journal. They text, they send instant messages, they even tweet. While some worry that "hypersocializing" can kill productivity and dull interpersonal skills, others see the benefits. Younger workers have a "gift for multitasking," and they know how to get "to the pithy essence of an issue." They still schedule a meeting or pick up the phone when it's necessary, says technology analyst Ben Bajarin. "If not, they text."

These days, the generational divide in the workplace isn't defined primarily by what you wear or the music you like, said Alina Tugend in The New York Times. It's defined by how you communicate. Even if you're not about to ditch your land line or use Facebook as a primary means of communication, understand how your younger colleagues communicate, and keep an open mind. For example, don't bother leaving a voicemail when calling someone younger than 30. "They don't listen to them." And if you must send emails, "make them short and sweet - no rambling missives."
See also: generation d, generation e, generation x, generation y

As quoted from our favorite magazine The Week.
Join NetLingo in the coming months as we look at the generational divide in the workplace, online, and in real life. Sign up for our blog updates here!

Unfriend has been named the "2009 Word of the Year" by the New Oxford American Dictionary, chosen from a list of finalists with a tech-savvy bent. "Unfriend has real lex appeal," said Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for Oxford's U.S. dictionary program.

"In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year." Other words deemed finalists for 2009 by the dictionary's publisher, Britain's Oxford University Press, came from other technological trends, the economy, and political and current affairs. In technology, there was "hashtag," which is the hash sign added to a word or phrase that lets Twitter users search for tweets similarly tagged; "intexticated" for when people are distracted by texting while driving, and "sexting," which is the sending of sexually explicit SMSes and pictures by cellphone.

Here are some of the other words considered finalists for "2009 Word of the Year" -- netbook, paywall, freemium, funemployed, zombie bank, birther, choice mom, death panel, teabagger, brown state, green state, ecotown, deleb, and tramp stamp; to learn more about these terms, check out David Coursey's article in PC World.
AAYF,
Erin

Twice a year, the organization representing the wireless industry puts out facts and figures on how much we're using our cell phones in the U.S., and each time the survey results are announced, the findings are astounding.

The big number this time around, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association: In the past six months alone, Americans sent an estimated 740 billion text messages, which equals about 4.1 billion text messages each day!

Or look at it like this: An SMS has a maximum capacity of 160 characters, let's say (for the sake of example) that your average text message is about 80 characters long. And let's assume that your average novel contains about 100,000 words, and each word has about five letters. Assuming all that, we here in the States are writing the equivalent of about 656,000 books--all via SMS--every 24 hours. At that rate, we could match the entire catalog of the entire New York Public Library system (which holds about 20.4 million books) in a little over a month.

A few other interesting facts and figures from the CTIA survey:
* The average cell phone bill in June 2009 was $49.57, up more than a buck from June 2008;
* The average length of a voice call was just 2.03 minutes, shorter than any other year since the CTIA started keeping records in 1988;
* There are about 276,610,580 wireless subscribers in the U.S., up about 14 million from last year, and more than double the number in 2002;
* The various wireless carriers (or at least the ones who reported figures to the CTIA) raked in $151.2 billion in revenue from June 2009 to June 2008—again, more than double what they made in 2002.

In any case, if the CTIA's tally of 740 billion text messages in the past six months stays on track through the rest of the year, we'll pass 2008's total of one trillion text messages easily, ending up at nearly a trillion and a half messages for 2009 (and remember, that's just in the U.S.). Can anyone say information overload?

The full CTIA survey results can be read here. Sign up to get the NetLingo blog on your Yahoo or Google page here!

Facebook plans to keep profiles of the dead. Death doesn't erase the digital footprints that people leave in life and Facebook has announced it won't erase them either. The site will "memorialize" profiles of the dead if their friends or family request it.

Such accounts will be different from regular Facebook profiles, according to The Associated Press. For example, the site will remove any contact information and bar people from logging in. The person's profile also won't appear in the "suggestions" section of Facebook, and only the deceased person's confirmed friends will be able to find them in a search. The development comes as Facebook becomes an important social hub for its more than 300 million active users worldwide to keep up with friends and family.

And in other social networking news...

Hollywood studios have begun inserting anti-Twitter clauses into stars' contracts in order to prevent leaks of confidential information via social networking. Cameron Diaz and Mike Myers are among the first to sign contracts including language said The Hollywood Reporter. Their contracts with DreamWorks for the next film in the Shrek franchise are said include a clause forbidding postings to any "social networking site, blog, or other Internet-type site."

And finally, in a special story called "Trick or Tweet" Wired reported that as many as one in every 500 links posted on Twitter lead to sites hosting malware. The spread of malware is aided by the popular use of short URLs on Twitter, which generally hide the real website address from users before they click on a link, preventing users from self-filtering links that appear to be dodgy. As I've said before, if you're a Twitter user you should learn how to handle these short URLs. There are several ways to see the underlying URL, unfortunately most methods are still inconvenient.

One of the easiest ways to check short URLs is an add-on for Firefox called Long URL Please. It automatically converts any short URL on the Web. You won’t even see a short URL, you’ll only see the underlying link. Others take more work, for example, Untiny and PrevURL will check short URLs for you but you have to copy and paste the short URL into these sites. Or if you’re an avid Twitter user, you might like TweetDeck. It organizes your Twitter account on your desktop and can preview most short URLs. Of course in every case, you may see URLs you don’t recognize so you still won’t know if the site is safe.
MfG,
Erin

The newspaper industry is in trouble. Fewer people are subscribing to newspapers because instead we're getting our news online. It's fast, convenient and mostly free. But browsing the Web to read your news isn't the same as leafing through a paper.

Take Google News, for example. It is one of the most popular destinations for online news but it isn't the most appealing site. You see a thumbnail photo with each story and the rest of the page is filled with links and short blurbs. Yawn. But now, Google has launched a new way to view the news on its site: fast flip. It presents you with screen shots from news sites, so you don't just see headlines and blurbs, and you get a quick glimpse of the site and the headline.

To get a closer look, simply click on a screen shot, then, use the arrows at either side to "flip through" different stories. To read an entire story simply click on the screen shot when you're in flip view and it will take you to the site. It may not replace the feeling of reading the paper over morning coffee, but it sure makes online news much more enjoyable to view!
Check out Google fast flip here,
Erin

A 16-year-old girl has been arrested for online harassment in Texas. A new law that went into effect September 1, 2009 criminalizes online harassment on social networking sites and through email or text messaging. If a person posts one or more messages on a social networking site with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten another person, it is considered a third degree felony. Read the full story.

And in other teen news...

The FBI has released photos of a Massachusetts man who allegedly enticed dozens of teenage girls to perform sexual acts for him in front of their computer webcams, some of which he recorded and posted on the Web. Lawrence Joseph Silipigni, 41 was arrested and is expected to answer to federal child pornography charges today in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The FBI announced yesterday some of the alleged victims “have not yet been identified.”

One alleged victim, a 13-year-old California girl, first made contact with Silipigni in December 2007, believing him to be a 17-year-old boy named “Jamie,” who became her “online boyfriend,” according to federal court records. After agreeing to perform for “Jamie” privately in a real-time chatroom, the girl later discovered a video of herself masturbating online. Another alleged victim, a 15-year-old Bay State girl, agreed to go to the movies with Silipigni in Worcester even after she learned his true identity.

On April 6, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Silipigni’s home and seized two computers. On those computers were found 103 porn videos of “unknown underage victims,” court records state. Silipigni’s screen names have included “Boston,” “Jamin,” “RJLarry” and “here4Sam.” His family declined comment. Silipigni has confessed to authorities. People who believe Silipigni preyed on them or their children are urged to call local police or the FBI’s Los Angeles Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (S.A.F.E.) Team at 310-477-6565.
Read the full story here.

Parents: Talk to your children about cyber safety! Here are 10 tips:

1. Explain risks to your teen and talk about the good and bad points of the Internet.
2. Keep the computer in an open area so you can supervise its use.
3. Limit the number of hours per day or week of online time.
4. Help your teen create an email name that is not sexually suggestive and does not identify him or her in any way.
5. Teach your teen NEVER to give out his or her name, password, home address, school address, telephone number, or individual or family pictures.
6. Tell your teen to let you know if someone sends a message that makes him or her feel uncomfortable.
7. Teach your teen to NEVER meet anyone in person that they have met online.
8. Spend time online with your teen. Ask him or her to teach you about the computer.
9. Check with your Internet Service Provider for information on how to block or filter inappropriate materials and report inappropriate conduct to your ISP.
10. COMMUNICATION IS KEY! Setting up guidelines and trust are crucial.

Parents, if you don't yet know about the need to protect your kids online, read these statistics and let NetLingo help you Get With The Program.
BBBG,
Erin

Police, parents and children’s organizations are alarmed at the growing trend of “sexting”, where young people send explicit and indecent photos to each other using their mobile phones. Did you know that one in every five teenagers say they have electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude images of themselves?

It's not just the risk of sending the photo on a mobile device that's causing concern, now police say predators are increasingly trolling social networking sites to find explicit pictures taken by teenagers of each other. They then contact the young people involved, using the photos to blackmail them into committing indecent acts.

Murad Ahmed of the Times Online reports that what started out as risqué fun among adolescents has spread quickly and with serious consequences. In the past year, there has been a huge rise in the number of pictures being stored on hard drives by pedophiles that have been taken by teenagers in relationships.

Often the photographs are taken by teenagers in relationships who then split up and place them on social networking sites such as Facebook or BeBo. The pictures also get passed around by friends at school, leading to cyberbullying.

New research in August 2009 revealed that a quarter of all youngsters between 11 and 18 have received a “sext” by phone or email. Controversial cases of sexting in the U.S., England and Australia have resulted in campaigns to educate young people about the dangers of their behavior. Teenagers across America have been arrested on child pornography charges, cases of cyberbullying and suicide as a result of sexting are on the rise, and there have been reports of high school graduates losing jobs or college scholarships as a result of being identified in sexually suggestive pictures on the Internet.

Attention Parents! You need to educate your kids about keeping track of their digital footprint, not only for online privacy issues, but because it could come back to haunt them in a serious way. As a parent, it is your responsibility to teach them about these things. It's understandable if you don't know yourself, so start by reading the digital footprint definition, and sexting and cyberbullying -- and read the "see also" and "more info" links. Read through NetLingo terms like these once a week with your kids and have them be the expert and explain it all to you. The point is do whatever it takes to open up the lines of communication so your kids know they can come to you about cyber safety issues if and when the need arises.

The message is this: If you don't want an image of yourself to be seen by other people, don't take it because once you share content electronically, you've lost control of it. Pictures are like a cyber-tattoo, it is easy to publish information but difficult to get it removed. Oh and BTW, adults: This goes for you too!
ITS,
Erin

Wow, what a week! I just got back from NYC where I taped a segment on The Martha Stewart Show! Can you believe it? OMG, Martha is so high-tech. The good news is that it was a very rewarding experience :-) The bad news is that it won't air until next Spring 2010 :-( I will be sure to let you all know when to watch it!! And I'll post some of our speaking points a little later on...

In the meantime, I'm back in sunny Santa Monica plowing through my "Finalize Product Development list", and I realize I've done it. I've accomplished a huge number of NetLingo upgrades that my friend and coach in NorCal and I decided were my priorities. When I encountered this list to cross off --and was able to cross off every one of them and more!-- I was like OMG, and so I decided to dedicate this blog to another Martha I know, Martha Danly, this one's for you...

We had a follow-up column and sure enough, these are all DONE :-)
Content:

• Dictionary/Website – needs upgrading to PHP, streamline design, run broken links, add wiki feature, add new shop capability, add new ad system, possible subscription - DONE
• Homepage – to feature popular editorial topics and add your own lingo - DONE
• Monthly Newsletter email – broken, needs upgrade - DONE
• Word of the day email – ready to launch - DONE
• Webcast – on-demand requests - DONE
  

• Book – time to publish another book - THE LIST
• PDF – produce handbooks for walgreens/subscription - NEXT MONTH
  
• E-book – bundle with websafety/nokia - instead DEVELOPED AN IPHONE APP!

• Pocket Dictionary - mini-browser - FIXED
  
• RSS - new and updated terms delivered immediately - ENHANCED
  
• Search & Browse Box - use the dictionary from any website- SAME
  
• Toolbar - keep on browser for easy search - NEW
  
• Widget – word of the day on Google - NEW
  

It's here! NetLingo has a new iPhone app and it's called:
The List: Text & Chat Acronyms
(this link will launch iTunes)

Whether you're a parent who wants to know what your kids are online chatting about, or a texting or chat addict who needs the latest acronyms, this app is for you! Powered by NetLingo, the largest library of texting, chat and IM acronyms and abbreviations on the web, this handy application provides an instant reference to over 1800 acronyms, plus 230 smileys.

Each acronym, abbreviation and smiley is defined and additional information such as acronym origin, usage, and classification is provided. Free future updates will include new acronyms and smileys from our ever-expanding database, plus enhanced application features such as lingo search, cross-linked acronym references, and the NetLingo.com "Word of the Day" feeds direct to your app. Happy messaging!

Special Offer: For a limited time, buyers of version 1.0 will receive a future free upgrade to NetLingo Premium upon it's release, which will include the ENTIRE NetLingo dictionary of online jargon for everything from business to technology to organizations, and more ;-)
Learn more about the NetLingo iPhone app here!

2G2BT,
Erin

iPhone users are the most active social networkers of all the smart phone users, according to the quarterly Smartphone Intelligence survey released this week. Among the social networking apps, Facebook has won out as the iPhone app of choice. Approximately 71% of users use the app to access their account, and 37% list Facebook among their top three most used apps.

Even though iPhone is leading the way in apps -- iPhone users are more likely to spend money on their apps preferring those priced under $5, and 72% of iPhone users download 10 or more apps -- iPhone has ranked as the worst smartphone for mobile advertising click-through rates according to online advertising network Chitika.

No surprise really, apps rock and advertising bites, but the thing to stay aware of is practicing prudence with regard to online scams. Most recently a Missouri woman was tricked into wiring $4,000 to someone in England after receiving faked messages from a friend on Facebook asking for help.

Apparently someone took over the Facebook account of Grace Parry and changed the password so she couldn't access it. They then sent out messages saying she and her husband had been detained in London and needed money. Jayne Scherrman wired the money through Western Union after receiving what she believed were several requests for help from her friend. She was even called by a man with a British accent who pretended to be an immigration official! Police say it's unlikely she'll get her money back.

Facebook said Internet schemes like this one aren't uncommon. Facebook has systems to detect suspicious behavior tied to compromised accounts and blocks it when it possible, but the onus is on you. Remember to change your passwords often and be careful about posting personal information.
DBEYR,
Erin

The Internet is facing a mid-life crisis. It’s impossible to set an exact date for the birth of the Internet. According to Stan Schroeder, you could say that it was born when the first two nodes of the ARPANET were connected between UCLA and SRI International in Menlo Park, California, on October 29th, 1969. Or you could say that it all began when Len Kleinrock and his team at UCLA transferred some data between two computers on September 2nd that same year. Either way, he claims it was last seen with a blonde in a red corvette.

According to Anick Jesdanun, AP Technology Writer, a variety of factors that are seen as barriers to its growth are to blame. Spam and hacking attacks force network operators to erect security firewalls. Authoritarian regimes block access to many sites and services within their borders. And commercial considerations spur policies that can thwart rivals, particularly on mobile devices like the iPhone.

"There is more freedom for the typical Internet user to play, to communicate, to shop — more opportunities than ever before," said Jonathan Zittrain, a law professor and co-founder of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. "On the worrisome side, there are some longer-term trends that are making it much more possible (for information) to be controlled."

Early obscurity helped the Internet blossom, free from regulatory and commercial constraints that might discourage or even prohibit experimentation. "For most of the Internet's history, no one had heard of it," Zittrain said. "That gave it time to prove itself functionally and to kind of take root." Even the U.S. government, which funded much of the Internet's early development as a military project, largely left it alone, allowing its engineers to promote their ideal of an open network.

"Allow that open access, and a thousand flowers bloom," said Kleinrock, a UCLA professor since 1963. "One thing about the Internet you can predict is you will be surprised by applications you did not expect." That idealism is eroding.

An ongoing dispute between Google Inc. and Apple Inc. underscores one such barrier. Like some other mobile devices that connect to the Internet, the iPhone restricts the software that can run on it. Only applications Apple has vetted are allowed. Apple recently blocked the Google Voice communications application, saying it overrides the iPhone's built-in interface. Skeptics, however, suggest the move thwarts Google's potentially competing phone services.

On desktop computers, some Internet access providers have erected barriers to curb bandwidth-gobbling file-sharing services used by their subscribers. Comcast Corp. got rebuked by FCC last year for blocking or delaying some forms of file-sharing; Comcast ultimately agreed to stop that. The episode galvanized calls for the government to require "net neutrality," which essentially means that a service provider could not favor certain forms of data traffic over others. But that wouldn't be a new rule as much as a return to the principles of 40 years ago.

Now, what the Internet's leading engineers are trying to avoid are barriers that are so burdensome that they squash emerging ideas before they can take hold. Already, there is evidence of controls at workplaces and service providers slowing the uptake of file-sharing and collaboration tools. Video could be next if consumers shun higher-quality and longer clips for fear of incurring extra bandwidth fees. Likewise, startups may never get a chance to reach users if mobile gatekeepers won't allow them. If such barriers keep innovations from the hands of consumers, we may never know what else we may be missing along the way. As seen in The Week. Read the full story on Yahoo! Tech News, and read Stan's post on mashable here.
BHIMBGO,
Erin

You know you are living in auspicious times when you get to ring in the year 2000 and technology such as the Internet changes your daily routine. But to be around when the one millionth word is added to the English language? Incredible, not to mention the fact that the word happens to be Web 2.0!

Did you know the English language contains more words than any other language on the planet? According to Global Language Monitor, a Web site that uses a math formula to estimate how often words are created, more than 14 words are added to English every day.

As a lexicographer who specializes in online communication, I'm fascinated by words and I'm here to tell you that MANY MORE terms are going to be added to our lexicon. NetLingo gets new acronyms and text messaging abbreviation submissions everyday. Now of course, not all of the online jargon or business and technology terms that you see on NetLingo will be officially "added" to the English language, but that doesn't mean they're not in use all around you.

Believe it or not, Web 2.0 is most likely all around you. Now is a good time to make sure you understand what it means ;-) See also: NetLingo definition of Web 2.0; CNN announcement of one millionth word
FTR,
Erin

It's a good week for patience, as seen in The Week, after an Australian website started transmitting text messages to Gliese 581 d, the closest planet outside our solar system likely to support life. Estimated delivery time: 20 years. Check it out Earthlings: http://www.hellofromearth.net

Actress Jessica Biel has overtaken Brad Pitt as the most dangerous celebrity to search for in cyberspace. According to Internet security firm McAfee Inc., who surveys which A-list celebrities are the riskiest to search for, Biel was deemed the most dangerous, with fans having a one-in-five chance of landing at a website that has tested positive for spyware, adware, spam, phishing, or viruses.

"Cybercriminals are star watchers too - they latch onto popular celebrities to encourage the download of malicious software in disguise," said McAfee's Jeff Green. "Every day, cybercriminals use celebrities' names and images, like Kim Kardashian and Rihanna, to lure surfers searching for the latest stories, screensavers and ringtones to sites offering free downloads laden with malware."

Brad Pitt topped the list in 2008 and Paris Hilton came in first in 2007. Coming second on the list for the second year running was pop star Beyonce, with McAfee finding that putting "Beyonce ringtones" into a search engine yielded a dangerous website linking to a distributor of adware and spyware. Actress Jennifer Aniston was third, with more than 40 percent of the Google search results for "Jennifer Aniston screensavers" containing nasty viruses. Megan Fox and Angelina Jolie tied as the eighth most dangerous celebrities on the Web while newlyweds Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen came in fourth and sixth respectively.

However, U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, who have been featured on most celebrities list this year, were not at the top of risky public figures to search. The Obamas ranked in the bottom-third of this year's results, at No. 34 and No. 39 respectively. Best advice? Go to the stars' official sites!
They're GRAS,
Erin

Did you hear about the massive cyberattack that shut down Twitter for several hours last week and also interfered with Facebook? Maybe you experienced it yourself when you tried to update the world about your daily activites and suddenly you couldn't.

It turns out it was caused by a Russian effort to silence a Georgian blogger, according to Internet security experts as seen in The Week. The blogger, known as Cyxymu--the Cyrillic spelling of Sukhumi, a Georgian city damaged during last year's war with Russia--is famous for his anti-Russian posts. Security experts believe that Russian cyberattackers sent out a huge volume of spam with links to Cyxymu's sites on Twitter and Facebook; when the spam's recipients clicked the links, the resulting traffic overwhelmed the sites.

Talk about a sci-fi, action, thriller movie plot gone awry; obviously it isn't too far fetched when it actually hits home... your home. These are modern times we're living in so please do yourself a favor and take a moment to understand what a DDoS is, and better yet, remind yourself of the most important tip I always tell you: Don't click on links in email messages or blog posts, especially if you don't know the person who wrote it!
Be safe, surf well, NetLingo is here to help.
PEEP,
Erin

Many of us have done it, many of us still do it, and many of us will keep on doing it even though there are now laws against it. But this vice may actually end up killing someone and believe me, you don't want that on your conscience, let alone your criminal record. I'm talking about texting while driving.

Drivers who send text messages while at the wheel are 23 times more likely to get into an accident, a new report concludes. Researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institiute installed video cameras in the cabs of long-haul trucks and observed them for 18 months. They found that just prior to collisions or near-collisions, the truckers typicallty spent five seconds or more looking at their texting devices instead of at the road. Yikes! Truckers texting while driving? First I was fearful of your random drunk driver on the road, now I have to be concerned about EVERYONE on the road including truckers? And what happens when all of our kids grow up?

They don't have to grow up, it's already happening. Kids who are as young as 14-years-old are trying to educate other teens about the dangers of doing it. Why? Because they've already killed people. Please take this opportunity to share this information with your teenager so they don't make the same mistake. Still not quite sure, read through the thousands of news reports about deaths while text messaging here.

One of my best friends is afraid to eat in the car for fear she might choke and then die in an accident, but she has no problem texting constantly while she's racing around at 65 miles per hour. I tell her it's illegal and dangerous but somehow it doesn't matter to her, whatever's on her little phone is suddenly more important than her life and the lives of those around her. Listen up people, you can't do it any longer. Period. There are now bumper stickers that say "Don't Text While Driving," c'mon get a clue. For a list of Countries and U.S. States that ban cell phones and text messaging while driving, click here. And please, take a break from all that instant communication and keep your eyes on the road.
CIL,
Erin

According to one of my favorite journalists Eric Effron, Executive Editor of The Week, it was disturbing enough when scientists developed chess-playing computers that could vanquish even the world's great chess masters. Now comes the alarming news that machines could soon be putting us to shame in our national pastime.

Japanese researchers last week unveiled robots that can hit and pitch a baseball with remarkable acumen. The robotic hitter swings only at balls in the strike zone and almost never misses, while the pitcher robot throws strikes 90 percent of the time and is even developing a wicked curveball. The robots can't yet spit chewing tobacco, but with technology getting exponentially smarter as well as more agile (see my previous blog posts about kissing a robot and socially assitive robots), the prospect of a machine-ruled apocalypse, long a mainstay of science fiction, is starting to seem a little less far fetched.

Its not just Terminator aficionados who worry about the "rise of the machines." A group of leading computer scientists, artificial intelligence researchers, and "roboticists" recently convened a private conference in Menlo Park, CA, to debate the need for limits on research that "might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems," according to a distressingly nonchalant account in The New York Times. Among the experts' concerns: What would happen if machines developed their own capacity to build ever-smarter and stronger machines? And what about robots that can "kill autonomously"?

The hope, apparently, is that with the right guidelines, the cutting-edge science that has been moving these scenarios into the realm of the possible will improve the human condition--rather than, say, spawn lethal, superintelligent machines that will eventually wipe out humanity. Those rules better be good. At the very least, though, Eric Effron suspects the machines will kick our sorry, human butts in baseball. But I might add, robot butts aren't nearly as fun to look at during the seventh inning stretch ;-)
NBFABS,
Erin