Social Recycling Might Save the World

October 18th, 2010

The Greenopolis Recycling System utilizes technology and internet speed so that people can interact and earn rewards for their good recycling deeds.  Here’s how it works:

• Interactive recycling kiosks nationwide, allow users to scan and deposit cans and bottles for recycling
• Users receive points for everything they deposit
• Points are redeemable on greenopolis.com for a variety of discounts or coupons from restaurants, theaters and retail establishments across the country
• Points can also be earned by participating on the Greenopolis website and playing Oceanopolis on Facebook
• Beyond rewards, the technology allows users to track their behavior and learn about sustainable living through online interaction
• The program’s goal is to use both digital and physical platforms to create awareness and increase recycling

Oceanopolis on Facebook lets you pretend that you’re on a beautiful island that’s unfortunately quite close to the Pacific Garbage Patch, so you have to keep your island beautiful by recycling the junk that washes ashore. Hopefully, players will learn the benefits of recycling while earning real life rewards.

Treehugger.com explains, “The game is a way for Greenopolis to extend its reach into social media, with the hopes of boosting awareness about the real-world interactive recycling kiosks by getting people hooked on building a sustainable island community with their friends. During game play, points are earned that can be added to what players earn through recycling at Greenopolis kiosks.”

Of course, there will still be those who just play and don’t soak up the lessons.  Treehugger’s Jaymi Heimbuch says that would be “like Farmville for people who would rather fake-grow food rather than start a backyard garden, ultimately it is not a path toward a sustainable world.”

Hopefully though, the promotion will work and can encourage more people to recycle consistently.  Fingers crossed!

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Happy Not to be Famous

October 15th, 2010

As if TMZ, E! News and Perez Hilton weren’t enough reasons to be glad you’re not famous, the site JustSpotted is set to launch next week.  It’s so controversial that Twitter terminated their agreement with the new celebrity spotting website. But, tenacious like stalkerazzi, JustSpotted said they’d still use Twitter to update celebrity locations, the L.A. Times reported.

The problem with JustSpotted is that it could put celebrities in danger.  The L.A. Times explains, “JustSpotted plans to use a combination of Twitter feeds, Facebook updates, Foursquare posts and blog updates to plot a celebrity’s location anywhere around the world in near real-time. A celebrity’s position is plotted on a map of the world, with information about the restaurant or other venue where they’d been spotted — but not the actual address.” 

Who needs the actual address when it can be looked up with internet speed?  It may not be dangerous if users aren’t in the same town that the celebrity is in, but for those who are, it would be easy enough to track down the celeb in real-time.  And don’t they already have enough problems with being followed?  Does no one remember what happened to Princess Diana?

“Once a celebrity might have worried about someone with a camera and a flash,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Washington-based advocacy group, Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Now they have to worry about someone with a cellphone and a Twitter account.”

So people, let the celebrities have some down time. Enjoy your celebrity gossip, but not in real time.

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Technology in the Classroom Statistics

October 13th, 2010

A lovely graphic from the site Online Colleges and Universities.net gave us the following interesting information, and we thought we’d share with internet speed!  Be sure to check out the complete graphic for all the info.

• 85% of U.S. schools have multimedia computers.

• The average number of students per computer is 24:1.  (Nearly 5 times the Department of Education recommended ratio.) 

• Overall, students attending poor or high minority schools have higher ratios than other students.  (This is known as the Digital Divide).

• 64% of U.S. schools have internet access. But only 14% of the actual classrooms have internet access. Delaware, Hawaii, New Mexico, and South Carolina have 100% school connectivity.

• Just over 50% of U.S. schools have CD-Rom drives.

• Since 1987, the percentage of college-bound seniors reporting no computer or coursework experience decreased from 26% to 9%. 

• Between 2005 and 2007 laptop ownership on college campuses went from 52.8% to 75.8%. 

• More than two-thirds of colleges and universities have wireless access.

• One professor found students who use laptops excessively did 11% worse than the other students in her class.

• 64% of teenage students used emoticons in their school work. : (

• Two-thirds of U.S. teenagers use internet writing shortcuts, (such as LOL and OMG), in their school work.

• Grade point averages of Facebook-using students were found to be a full grade point lower than those of non-users.

• Studies show electronic multitasking adversely affects grades and learning ability.

• 7th grade students found to be unable to discern valid websites from hoax websites. Researchers at the University of Connecticut showed seventh-grade students a website about the endangered “Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus” and all but 1 of 50 children thought the information on the website was valid.

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Teens Actually DO Care About Online Privacy

October 11th, 2010

Remember when you were a teenager and all you wanted in the world was some privacy?  Well Fast Company tells us that, “Despite what the Facebook CEO and other tech luminaries seem to think, a new poll shows 15- to 18-year-olds are just as worried about the vanishing world of online privacy as older generations.”

Of course!  How are any of us supposed to seem cool or mysterious with our naked baby pictures floating around online?  (Check out our previous post, “Babies Have Online Presence Too”) Or if some of our most embarrassing moments show up in a search engine? 

The results of a new Zogby poll (commissioned by privacy advocacy non-profit group Common Sense Media), found that of the 400 teens aged 15 to 18 surveyed, the majority want more control over their personal information. Fast Company reports, “The vast majority of teens understood that search engines (88%) and social networks (79%) were tracking their browsing habits for ads. However, many were not sure whether their data was secure: More than half of the respondents said they either did not think their personal information was private or were not sure. A whopping 92% of teens surveyed believed they should be able to request the deletion of all their personal information held by a search engine, social network, or marketing company.”

And by the way, Zogby also ran a separate poll of adults on privacy, the results of which very closely mirrored the teen survey.

Common Sense Media released the report last week in Washington alongside FCC chair Julius Genachowski and FTC chair Jon Liebowitz, two agency heads who will be intimately involved in privacy policy in the coming years, so let’s all keep our fingers crossed for more control over our personal information with internet speed!

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Babies Have Online Presence Too

October 8th, 2010

Internet security company AVG surveyed web-surfing moms in North America (USA and Canada), the EU5 (UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain), Australia/New Zealand and Japan, and found that 81 percent of children under the age of two currently have some kind of digital profile or footprint, with images of them posted online.

“Our research shows that the trend is increasing for a child’s digital birth to coincide with and in many cases pre-date their real birth date. A quarter of babies have sonogram photos posted online before they have even physically entered into the world,” says AVG’s CEO, JR Smith.

According to the research, the average digital birth of children happens at around six months with a third (33%) of children’s photos and information posted online within weeks of being born.

While it’s completely understandable why proud parents would want to upload and share images of their children with friends and family around the world with internet speed, it also can create challenges that no previous generation had to deal with. AVG’s CEO put it this way:

“First, you are creating a digital history for a human being that will follow him or her for the rest of their life. What kind of footprint do you actually want to start for your child, and what will they think about the information you’ve uploaded in future?

“Secondly, it reinforces the need for parents to be aware of the privacy settings they have set on their social network and other profiles. Otherwise, sharing a baby’s picture and specific information may not only be shared with friends and family but with the whole online world.”

Read more about it in Businesswire’s article Digital Birth: Welcome to the Online World .

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Where Tech Company Names Came From

October 6th, 2010

Here is the quick version, so you can learn about Tech legends with internet speed!

Microsoft
Microsoft combines “microcomputer” and “software.”

Google
comes from a specific large number called a “googol”

Twitter
In trying to come up with names that fit with the theme of a mobile phone buzzing in your pocket with an update, a brainstorming session narrowed down the options, put them in a hat, and let fate decide.

Yahoo!
The project originally consisted of categorized lists of favorite links on the web. Yahoo is actually an acronym for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.” But according to the company, the team chose the name for its definition: “rude, unsophisticated, uncouth.”

Nintendo
The three words “Nin” “ten” “do” is Japanese for “we do all that we can, as best as we can, and await the results.” Nintendo is sort of a motto and company name all in one. Who knew that the gaming giant was so poetic?

Android
Apparently Andy Rubin, the co-founder and former CEO of Android, really, really likes robots. “You have to be a little bit careful when you’re around Andy and his robots,” says Nick Sears, the other Android co-founder, in a YouTube video . “I’ve seen his dog attack his robots.”

Foursquare
Dennis Crowley’s first attempt at social networking for mobile phones was Dodgeball. Apparently Foursquare was actually always Crowley’s first choice, but the domain name wasn’t available when he founded Dodgeball. “Dennis chose to name both companies after playground games because they were both designed to be fun and playful,” said Foursquare’s PR manager in an e-mail.

Mashable
Pete Cashmore dubbed his blog “Mashable” because the original site covered tech “mashups” — web projects created by combining two services, like Flickr and Google Maps.

Check out Sarah Kessler’s 11 True Stories Behind Tech’s Top Names on Mashable.com!

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Suicide Hotline Resources with Internet Speed

October 4th, 2010

For anyone who feels alone and suicidal, there are resources just a click away that you can access with internet speed. Recent stories in the news about teens who committed suicide after being bullied about being homosexual pointed us to resources specifically for young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or questioning. 

One project is The Trevor Project, where teens can call the hotline or get support via live online chat. It was started by people behind the production of the HBO short film “Trevor” about a young man who could use a resource like this one.

Then on YouTube is the It Gets Better Project, started by a columnist from Seattle in response to one of the teen suicides.  “I wish I could have talked to this kid for five minutes. I wish I could have told him that however bad things were, however isolated and alone he was, it gets better.”

In his own video, he says words that be helpful to anyone at some point in their lives: 

“However bad it is now, it gets better.  And it can get great, it can get awesome. Your life can be amazing, but you have to tough this period out and you have to live your life, so you’re around for it to get amazing. And it can, and it will.”

He’s invited people to tell their stories about how it gets better, and even celebrities have joined in, including Neil Patrick Harris (in conjunction with MTV), Ellen DeGeneres and the cast of the 2nd touring company of the Broadway musical Wicked. 

For those who are burdened by suicidal thoughts for other reasons, a search for “suicide hotline” will bring up several choices, including Suicide Prevention Lifeline.org, and Hopeline.com.

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Science Fiction Turned Fact

October 1st, 2010

Mashable’s Sarah Kessler put together an article with 11 Astounding Sci-Fi Predictions That Came True that all sci-fi fans should check out with internet speed.  Here’s a mere overview, as our way of paying homage.

1. The iPad : mentioned in 1968 by Arthur C. Clarke in 2001: A Space Odyssey

2. Tanks: 1903 The Land Ironclads by H.G. Wells:

The first tank battle in history didn’t take place until 1916, though it’s possible that seminal sci-fi author H.G. Wells was drawing upon Leonardo Da Vinci’s 15th century design when he imagined this scene in 1903.

3. Virtual Reality Games: written about in 1956 in The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke. 

4. The Atomic Bomb: mentioned in 1914 in The World Set Free by H.G. Wells.

5. The cubicle: conceived of in 1909 in The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster.

6. Earbud Headphones: can be found in 1950’s Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury:

“And in her ears the little seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind.”

7. Video Chat: was written about in 1911 in Ralph 124C 41+ by Hugo Gernsback. (And here I thought it was first seen in the cartoon The Jetson’s….)

8. Automatic Doors: described in 1899 in When the Sleeper Wakes by H.G. Wells.

9. The Escalator: found in 1940’s The Roads Must Roll by Robert Heinlin.

10. The Submarine: came to be in fiction in 1869 in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.

Visit Mashable’s article to read the excerpts and descriptions from the tales themselves!

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Secretly Remove Exes from Your Social Networks

September 29th, 2010

One blogger put it this way:

“Very few of you think de-friending an ex on Facebook is a good idea. Sometimes doing nothing at all — not talking, not de-friending — sends the clearest message of all. But what if you’re tormented by his [or her] Facebook photos, cryptic Twitter updates, and blog posts?”  What if you’re being cyber-stalked by your ex and you don’t like it?

That’s where Block Your Ex comes in. It does what sheer will power cannot — with an ex-blocking tool that’s specially designed to, as another blogger said, “extract even the most stubborn evidence of past relationships gone bad from an otherwise pristine online existence,” and with internet speed! 

Designed by a Washington, DC creative agency called JESS3, the Ex-Blocker needs only for you to fill in the offending ex’s name along with his or her Twitter identity, Facebook page and blog URL. From there, the tool wipes that person right out of the user’s online life. More than 8,026 exes are currently being blocked thanks to the tool.

You can enter up to five people’s identities that you’d never like to hear again, and it will remove every image and mention of them from your online life. For-ev-er. (Or until you get back together and/or want to change the settings.)

The best part? You’ll still appear to be their friends and followers, so they will never know! 

Once that’s all sorted out…women can visit ExBoyfriendJewelry.com, where their motto is “You don’t want it. He can’t have it back” to profit from the pain and unburden themselves emotionally too.  And then visit Pink Kisses.com which, Springwise tells us “aims to “help women through heartbreak with all sorts of fabulous pick-me-ups,” in the site’s own words.

Maybe breaking up isn’t so hard to do anymore!

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Google CEO Not Good at Jokes

September 27th, 2010

Google Chief Executive, Eric Schmidt, was a guest on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report, which proves he’s a good sport. But of course, Colbert had to bring up Schmidt’s controversial suggestion that young people change their names to escape from the embarrassing things they posted on Facebook and elsewhere, which last forever. Colbert had mocked the suggestion on a previous show, calling it “control-self-delete.”

“It was a joke,” Schmidt said. And after a long pause, admitted, “It just wasn’t very good.”

Mr. Colbert replied amicably, “I guess it was too hip for the room.”

But Schmidt did roll with Colbert’s jokes well enough, and also educated the audience adequately that what Google does is not data mining, but using an algorithm to sort through data –something computers are better than people at doing.

Schmidt also assured viewers that we can trust Google to do its work with internet speed without using their power for evil.  It says so on their Corporate Philosophy page.  Here are their “Ten things we know to be true”:

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
3. Fast is better than slow.  (We at Speedplexer certainly agree on this one!)
4. Democracy on the web works.
5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
7. There’s always more information out there.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
10. Great just isn’t good enough.

Read more about Google’s philosophy on their “Ten Things” page and watch Eric Schmidt on The Colbert Report by visiting either the L.A. Times tech blog or the New York Times BITS blog!

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