IAMAI, Facebook partner to educate children on Internet safety:

Press Trust of India | 15-Jul-2013 14:32 PM

Mumbai: Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has joined hands with social networking giant Facebook to launch internet safety education programme in the country for students aged between 13 17 years.

The programme will train children, teachers and parents on how to reap maximum benefits from internet while not compromising on their safety and security, IAMAI and Facebook said in a joint statement today.

The campaign, which is focused on building community awareness on the issue, will also train educators and child safety NGOs about internet safety practices, it added.

As a part of the first phase, the programme will be rolled out across Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad to cover 18,000 students across about 30 schools and institutions, it added.

"IAMAI has been running the Safe Surfing campaign in India for past four years covering 6.25 lakh students across the country. We are delighted that Facebook has come forward to support this critical initiative and enrich the campaign with their global learnings," IAMAI President Subho Ray said.

The programme will conclude with a national conference in New Delhi addressing online child safety issues later this year. The program will be extended to other Indian cities through 2014.

"Safety is an ongoing conversation between parents and kids, teachers and students, companies and the people who use the Internet. We encourage parents to have conversations about safety and technology early and often, in the same way that they talk to their kids about being safe at school, in the car, on public transportation or playing sport," Facebook India Director of Public Policy Ankhi Das said.

Facebook will develop the content and training materials and translate the same in regional languages. As part of the partnership, Facebook safety specialists will work with IAMAI trainers on safety content and participate in these training programs.

Key presentations and events will be live streamed via https://www.facebook.com/FacebookIndia.

Facebook has already created a Safety Advisory Board that advises the company on safety issues. The members of that board are leading Internet safety organisations like Childnet international, Connect Safely, The Family Online Safety Institute, The National Network to End Domestic Violence and Wired Safety.

http://m.ibnlive.com/news/iamai-facebook-partner-to-educate-children-on-internet-safety/406733-11.html

DOJ Ruling That Apple Violated Antitrust Laws

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Justice Department Issues Statement on U.S. District Court Ruling That Apple Violated Antitrust Laws

Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division made the following statement today after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found that Apple Inc. violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by conspiring to raise e-book prices and end e-book retailers’ freedom to compete on price:

“This result is a victory for millions of consumers who choose to read books electronically.  After carefully weighing the evidence, the court agreed with the Justice Department and 33 state attorneys general that executives at the highest levels of Apple orchestrated a conspiracy with five major publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster – to raise e-book prices.  Through today’s court decision and previous settlements with five major publishers, consumers are again benefitting from retail price competition and paying less for their e-books.

“As the department’s litigation team established at trial, Apple executives hoped to ensure that its e-book business would be free from retail price competition, causing consumers throughout the country to pay higher prices for many e-books.  The evidence showed that the prices of the conspiring publishers’ e-books increased by an average of 18 percent as a result of the collusive effort led by Apple.

“Companies cannot ignore the antitrust laws when they believe it is in their economic self-interest to do so. This decision by the court is a critical step in undoing the harm caused by Apple’s illegal actions.

“I am proud of the outstanding work done by the trial team.  The Antitrust Division will continue to vigorously protect competition and enforce the antitrust laws in this important business, and in other industries that affect the everyday lives of consumers.”

Background
           
On April 11, 2012, the department filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Apple, Hachette Book Group (USA), HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C., Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC, which does business as Macmillan, Penguin Group (USA) Inc. and Simon & Schuster Inc., for conspiring to end e-book retailers' freedom to compete on price by taking control of pricing from e-book retailers and substantially increasing the prices that consumers paid for e-books.

At the same time that it filed the lawsuit, the department reached settlements with three of the publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. Those settlements were approved by the court in September 2012.  The department settled with Penguin on Dec. 18, 2012, and with Macmillan on Feb. 8, 2013.  The Penguin settlement was approved by the court in May 2013.  Final approval of the Macmillan settlement is pending before the court.  Under the settlements, each publisher was required to terminate agreements that prevented e-book retailers from lowering the prices at which they sell e-books to consumers and to allow for retail price competition in renegotiated e-book distribution agreements.

The department’s trial against Apple, which was overseen by Judge Denise Cote, began on June 3, 2013. The trial lasted for three weeks, with closing arguments taking place on June 20, 2013.  The court has not yet scheduled a hearing to address the parties’ proposed remedies.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/July/13-at-772.html

Microsoft's Kinect powers 'magical' smart home in Spain:

Agence France-Presse, March 09, 2013

With a flick of the wrist, residents of a futuristic home developed in Spain can browse Internet pages displayed on the living room walls, switch off a giant projected alarm clock in the bedroom or transform the entire interior into a busy streetscape or tranquil beach.

It may seem light years ahead of current "smart home" technology, but this prototype apartment in Fuenterrabia, a city in Spain's northern Basque country, is far from the realms of fantasy.

The technology used to create the interactive interior is the same as that already being used in video games.

The team behind the prototype have linked projectors which beam interactive applications on to walls to Kinect motion sensors, developed by Microsoft for its X-box 360 console, thus allowing residents to control their environment simply by waving their hands.

It seems to work like magic.
In the morning, a wave at the wall will switch off the alarm and display your diary at the same time.

If you fancy a change of scenery, just one small gesture will splash video on every wall, turning half of the apartment into a busy urban street or picturesque seascape, complete with sound effects.
"The project is a working prototype of a smart home," said its creator, Ion Cuervas-Mons, at a visual presentation of the project to AFP in Madrid.

"What we have done is to add a digital layer to a physical space to be able to interact with digital information through gestures, people's different movements," he said.

Cuervas-Mons launched the Openarch project in November 2011 and built the prototype in his own apartment.

He now leads the Think Big Factory, a core team of five architects and engineers, who collaborate with others to develop various products.

"There is a general interface, which is in the living room and which interacts with your hands," he explained.

"You go two metres away from the wall and move a type of cursor and you can switch lights on and off, turn music on and off, launch Internet sites, which then come up in a projection on another wall."
But the project is only 40 percent complete, he said.

"When we have finished the prototype, we will start to transform the applications into products. That is our goal for next year," he said.

The development team want to make the system unobtrusive so that a user can manipulate the gadgets in the most natural way possible.

Instead of trying to sell the entire interactive home system, the team aims to develop specific products from it.

But each product would be able to communicate, allowing a buyer to create a system for the entire house should they wish.

And homes are not the only destination for the technology, Cuervas-Mons said.

"For example, we have been working with a large retail business and the first sector where we might see this technology could be supermarkets," he said.
"This technology lets you convert non-commercial spaces into commercial spaces. You will be able to buy anywhere. You will be able to shop from your home, from the metro, from your car," he said. "I think this will totally change the way we shop."

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/news/microsofts-kinect-powers-magical-smart-home-in-spain-340331

Google Glass banned in Seattle bar over privacy concerns...

Google Glass banned in Seattle bar over privacy concerns, way ahead of official launch:

by Chris Smith on March 9

The Google Glass virtual reality-friendly eyewear isn’t even available in stores yet and the product has already been banned in a Seattle bar over privacy concerns.

Since Google Glass users will be able to take pictures and record everything and anything they desire, privacy will most likely be a delicate topic when talking about this particular product.

Dave Meinert, who owns the 5 Point bar in Seattle, took to Facebook to announce that Google Glass usage will not be allowed in the bar:

”For the record, The 5 Point is the first Seattle business to ban in advance Google Glasses. And ass kickings will be encouraged for violators.”

Meinert looks at the issue half-jokingly, but at the same time, he says he wants to protect the privacy of his patrons and that he has no problem with them wearing the glasses outside of the bar:

First you have to understand the culture of the 5 Point, which is a sometimes seedy, maybe notorious place. People want to go there and be not known … and definitely don’t want to be secretly filmed or videotaped and immediately put on the Internet.

One interesting thing about 5 Point is that the bar is located near Amazon, which means that “tech geeks” working for the giant retailer may be among the regulars with the cafe, although the Google Glass ban doesn’t seem to be related to their presence.

On a more humorous note, in case the Google Glass ban will stand in this particular, it means future buyers won’t be able to rely on Google Glass to impress their dates while inside 5 Point.

Will we see Google Glass, and any other similar products, get banned in other establishments in the future?

75,000 missing children remain untraced: government - New Delhi

Around 75,000 children who had gone missing in the last three years are yet to be traced,  the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday. Of the about 2.36 lakh children who went missing in the last three years, 1,61,800 have been traced, minister of state for Parliamentary affairs Paban

Singh Ghatowar said during the Question Hour. "Unfortunately about 75,000 are still untraced," he said. The Centre, he said, has issued advisories to states to appoint nodal officers at all police stations to deal with such cases and make registration of FIRs mandatory. The advisories followed two interim orders of the Supreme Court in January 2013, he said.

The Supreme Court had ordered mandatory recording of FIRs with regard to missing children and the formation of special juvenile police units in different states.

Read More: http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Chunk-HT-UI-IndiaSectionPage-North/75-000-missing-children-remain-untraced-government/Article1-1022043.aspx

Latest News Families with missing children need support:

Latest News -
Families with missing children need support -
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2013-03-03 15:48

Xie Chaohua, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, urged the government to offer assistance to families with missing children.
There were at least one million families with missing children in China by 2012, with 76,000 new families added each year, according to a report by the China Zhigong Party, a non-communist political party.

Xie, who also serves as deputy president of the Beijing committee of the China Zhigong Party, said those families face daunting pressures in areas such as healthcare and psychological support.

It is necessary to implement State mechanisms to assist the families, such as a complete social security system and enhanced subsidies, Xie said.

The Internet Turns 30 This Week, Kind Of:

The Internet turns 30 this week — kind of - Technology on NBCNews.com

As the ball dropped in Times Square in New York City and New Year's greetings went out on Twitter, Facebook and other networks, the Internet itself was celebrating an important milestone of its own: its 30th birthday.

Well, kind of.

January 1 marked the 30th anniversary of the switchover of all computers on ARPANET — the Internet’s predecessor —to a technology called TCP/IP. TCP is short for “Transmission Control Protocol," and IP “Internet Protocol.” Together these two
technologies work together to route Internet data traffic — or “packets” — from one Internet-connected computer to another.

(Read More)

Sony Decides Trade-In Value of Computer is Zero:

The Consumerist

http://consumerist.com/2012/12/20/sony-decides-trade-in-value-of-my-computer-is-0/

Joe Trippi - The Soul & Technology of Politics:

Joe Trippi on the Soul and Technology of Politics | MIT Technology Review

Google No Longer Allows You To Disable Safe-Search:

WEB WORLD MANIA! / WebProNews - Google no longer allows you to disable safe-search:

Google No Longer Allows You to Disable SafeSearch, and That Makes Google Search Worse:

By Josh Wolford

Google has just made their Image search worse in an effort to protect your virgin eyes.

If you’re in the U.S. and trying to search for boobs on Google Images right now, you’re going to have a tougher time. That’s because Google has prevented U.S. users from disabling SafeSearch. And if you want to find NSFW images, you’re going to have to be more specific with your searches.

Google users should be familiar with the SafeSearch toolbar at the top right of Image searches. Until recently, that bar allowed users to select MODERATE, STRICT, or OFF. As of right now, those options have been removed from the drop-down menu – but only in the U.S.

Do you think Google should have messed with the SafeSearch format? Do you think it makes Google Image search worse?

(Read More)

U.S. Rejects Telecommunications Treaty:

By ERIC PFANNER
Published: December 14, 2012

DUBAI - Talks on a proposed treaty
governing international telecommunications collapsed in
acrimony on Thursday when the
United States rejected the agreement on the eve of its scheduled signing, citing an inability to resolve an impasse over the Internet.

"It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that the United States must communicate that it is unable to sign the agreement in its current form," Terry Kramer, head of the American delegation announced moments after a final draft appeared to have been
approved by a majority of nations.

The United States announcement was seconded by Canada and several European countries after nearly two weeks of talks that had often pitted Western governments against Russia, China and developing countries. The East-West and North-South divisions harked back to the cold war, even though that conflict did not stop previous agreements to connect telephone calls across the Iron Curtain.

While the proposed agreement was not set to take effect until 2015 and was not legally binding, Mr. Kramer insisted that the United States and its supporters had headed off a significant threat to the "open Internet."

(Read More)

About Active Search Results Page Ranking Technology ASR Ranking:

ASR Ranking is a new search engine page ranking algorithm that allows search engines to rank search results higher for websites where the owners or promoters
of those websites have a history of
performing actions or events defined as Activity.

The goal of ASR Ranking is to rank
websites higher in organic search results where there are real active people supporting those websites. Websites will rank higher in the search engines results page (SERP) when the ASR Ranking is higher.

(Read More)

To track missing children, Haryana to launch MCTS:

Express news service

In order to track missing children, Haryana is set to launch the Missing Child Tracking System (MCTS) by next year, announced Sumita Misra Director General
Woman and Child Development Department, Haryana, on Thursday.

“The Haryana government will launch a two-day training programme on the ‘formulation of web portal to track missing children’ on December 10 and 11.
The programme will be organised to effectively and efficiently monitor and generate a data bank on missing children and child tracking. The data will be co-jointly collated and fed by WCD and the Home Department that will further be amalgamated with the
central data bank at the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Delhi,” Misra said.

“The central government has planned to develop a comprehensive, integrated and live database of children living in uncongenial and challenging
environment and to develop a national portal on missing children. The government had visualised a need to constitute an interface between WCD and
Home Department, Haryana, in order to effectively monitor the missing children and implement child protection services,” Misra added.

House Approves Resolution To Keep Internet Control Out Of U.N. Hands:

The Hill

The House on Wednesday unanimously passed a Senate resolution introduced by Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that calls on the U.S. government to oppose United Nations control of the Internet.

The 397-0 vote is meant to send a signal to countries meeting at a U.N. conference on telecommunications this week.
Participants are meeting to update an international telecom treaty, but critics warn that many countries' proposals could allow U.N. regulation of the Internet.

Read the whole story The Hill

The FBI's Child ID App on your Smart Phone:

Do You Have The FBI's Child ID App on Your Smart Phone? - Dormont-Brookline, PA Patch
(Click Link For More Information From The Huffington Post.)

Guy Kawasaki Wants You To Love Google+ As Much As He Does:

By Chris Crum

If you follow the social media industry, you probably know who Guy Kawasaki is. Just in case you’re not familiar with him, he used to be the chief evangelist of Apple. He’s the co-founder of Alltop.com and Holy Kaw, and the author of APE, What the Plus!, Enchantment, and nine other books. What the Plus! (Google+ for the Rest of Us) version 2.0 was recently released by McGraw Hill, and after reading the book, we decided to pick Kawasaki’s brain about some of the points he makes in it, and about social media in general.
To listen to Kawasaki talk, you would think Google+ is the best social media experience one can have on the Internet. I’m guessing some of you have a different opinion. Let us know what you think in the comments.

The Steve Jobs Google+ Analogy

In the Book, Kawasaki says that Google brings power to Google+ “roughly equal” to Apple having Steve Jobs as CEO. When we attended BlogWorld last year, we sat in on a discussion between Kawasaki and Chris Brogan, in which he expressed similar sentiments. At that time, he said, “I think Google+ is to Facebook what Mac is to Windows.”

We asked him about the general response he gets from people when he makes such an analogy, whether or not people agree, and if those who are not on Google+ actually believe it.

“I haven’t much response to this comment at all,” he tells us. “I think the analogy is flattering to both parties. To think that one person could equal the force of all of Google. And to think that Google could equal the force of Steve Jobs. No one picked up on the cleverness of my analogy.”

In the afterword of the book, Kawasaki says he wants people to love Google+ as much as he wanted people to love the Macintosh. When asked why he cares so much, he says, “This is because of my Apple DNA: I want people to use the best tool for the job so that they can become more creative and productive. I can’t stand sub-optimization. To this day, when I see someone firing up a black, plastic, thick, ugly laptop, a little piece of me dies.”

Can Google Reach Twitter’s Level For Real Time?

Kawasaki says in the book that “Twitter is for real-time perceptions”. It seems that Google is really lacking access to this kind of info since it lost the Twitter firehose for realtime search results. The company has even indicated in the past that it could bring back the feature with Google+ data (along with data from other sources). So far, it doesn’t seem like Google has done a great job on that front.

We asked Kawasaki if he thinks Google+ can get to where Twitter is for “real-time perceptions”.

“I don’t see it happening soon nor is it clear to me that this is Google’s goal,” he tells us. “The sweet spot of Google+ is posts that are more cogent than ‘My cat rolled over’ or ‘Obama sucks.’ Real-time perceptions and thoughtful composition are inherent opposites. A social-media site can’t be both. If I just wanted to blast out 140-character messages without embedded photos or video, I already know where to go.”

Yet, that’s kind of what I’m getting at. You go to Twitter, and it’s hard for Google to accomplish its mission of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible when it can’t provide real-time updates when they’re at their most relevant. Google risks pushing people away to Twitter.

(Read More)

WEB WORLD MANIA! Website:

Join WEB WORLD MANIA! on Twitter:

Google Background Images Are Going Away:

Google Background Images Are Going Away, People Not Happy | WebProNews

iPad Mini - First Look Video:

CNET - iPad Mini First Look | Webmaster Videos :: SPN Videos :: Videos on Marketing, SEO, & More

Missing Iowa Cousins, Leads From Computer?

Missing Iowa Cousins: Victims of Human Trafficking? | Gather

Should Google Use Link Disavow As A Ranking Signal? | WebProNews

Should Google Use Link Disavow As A Ranking Signal? | WebProNews