Geek Stuff category archive

California is threatening to sue smartphone application designers who do not comply with the state law to post written privacy policies. Makers of “free” apps are the worst offenders.

It seems that some developers don’t want to discuss their privacy practices.

Some Silicon Valley app developers have resisted scrutiny over how personal information is collected and sold to advertisers, arguing that regulation will slow the pace of development. A September study by the technology research company Gartner Inc. predicts that the number of mobile applications downloaded will total more than 45 billion this year, nearly double last year’s number.

Even if an app maker clearly lays out its privacy policy, Higgins (Parker Higgins of the Electronic Freedom Foundation–ed.) said the most common privacy breaches come from agreements between apps and advertising networks.

Concerns over mobile apps’ access to personal data landed in court this year when a Texas man filed a lawsuit alleging the social networking app Path Inc. violated his privacy by storing his address book information on its servers without his permission.

“Slow development.” Indeed.

Noz’s iJunk won’t leave him alone and must needs chastised.

William Shatner is in town and his twitter feed twitted that he was planning to visit the U. S. S. Enterprise, which is being decommissioned due to old age.

Then he wasn’t. When questioned about the twit, his publicist responded as follows:

Of the Twitter post that sparked news reports of Shatner’s appearance, Hepburn said, “Oh honey, you know he doesn’t run that, right?”

Wonder how you get to be a “star’s twit”?

Afterthought:

You didn’t really believe that these important folks who consider themselves important lowered themselves to actually twit for themselves, did you? Tell me you didn’t.

They hire twits to twit.

All seriousness aside, any legal mumbo-jumbo you post on Facebook, or any other site with a “Terms of Service” that you agreed to, means nothing. The TOS pwns you, baby.

At Science 2 dot 0, Kimberly Crandell considers real versus artificial trees from an environmental perspective. A nugget:

While chopping down a living tree may see like the most un-environment friendly thing you can do, in this situation it actually appears to be the “greener” choice. Because it’s not so much about how many uses you can get from your tree… as it is about what the tree is made of, and what it does to the environment when it is created and when you dispose of it.

Artificial trees are manufactured using a polyvinyl chloride (or PVC), which is a petroleum-derived plastic. The raw material for fake Christmas trees is both non-renewable and polluting. Furthermore, PVC production results in the unhealthy emission of a number of carcinogens, such as dioxin, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride.

More at the link.

Jimmy Fallon:

Facebook and the Department of Labor have teamed up for a new app that displays job openings. It’ll be weird when people find a job because of Facebook, then get fired from that job for using Facebook, then use Facebook to find another job.

I have another podcast up at Hacker Public Radio. In this one, I discuss the Move! Bike Computer Android app. If you bike, hike, or run and want to keep track of your route and performance, you might want to check it out.

In the Guardian, Henry Porter considers the allure of twitterers.

Twitter is not alien or new to humanity. It is part of us and shaped by the extrovert side of human nature. Spend time in a room of strangers and it is easy to spot the tweeters, not simply because of the phone in their hands, but they are usually extroverts or have something to sell. A game for an idle moment is to choose natural tweeters from history. Dickens, yes; Austen, no; Sir Joseph Banks, yes; Darwin, no; John Wilkes, yes; Dr Johnson, no; Disraeli, yes Gladstone, no. Shelley, yes; Keats, no. You may disagree with my take, but you see the point: not every personality is naturally drawn to the marketplace.

Facebook will begin rolling out on Friday a new tool which will allow online retailers to track purchases by members of the social network who have viewed their ads.

(snip)

The sales information that advertisers receive is anonymous, said Baser. “You would see the number of people who bought shoes,” he said, using the example of an online shoe retailer. But marketers would not be able to get information that could identify the people, he added.

Remember that, when you drill back far enough, at some point the information is no longer anonymous. Facebook knows who clicked what. In fact, with their persistent cookies, they can know even if you are not logged in to Facebook.

Juan Cole explains how your data is sliced, diced, repackaged, and sold.

Via LQ.

I have a new podcast up at HPR (and still another that I recorded yesterday and will edit today).

This one concerns KeepassX, a free and open source cross-platform password vault that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and is compatible with an keepassdroid for Android. I resisted password vaults for years until I was introduced to KeepassX; its cross-platform operation and versatility have converted me.

If you have a number of important passwords to manage (I just counted–I have over 40 that must be secure and therefore unique and that I use regularly), check it out.

Please practice Safe HEX.

Smartphone users are putting themselves at risk of having their identities stolen by failing to log out of apps and clear their browser histories.

A survey by credit reference agency Equifax has found that while more than a quarter of people do online banking on their phone, a third don’t log out of social media or banking websites, 42% fail to clear their browser history and 45% do not protect their smartphones with passwords.

More at the link.

For iJunkies, available for $199.00:

If he can get iJunkies to spring two hundred simoleons for this, more power to him. They are already willing to pay twice as much for half as good.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a long article about cell phone text message spam.

Text spam has increased significantly with sales of smart phones, since the recipient can click on a link right there on the handset. Carriers do not believe that your number has been specifically compromised, but that the spammers are using war dialers.

I’ve gotten a few of these and, following instructions from my carrier, forwarded them directly to 7726 (that’s S P A M on the dialer). Once I do, I almost immediately get a text from my carrier asking for the “from” number for the text, so be prepared with the number.

If you have a smart phone, read the article. It will help you practice Safe HEX.a href=”http://www.ajc.com/news/business/text-spam-messages-on-the-rise/nSW3C/”

Facebook: self-love.

Turns out that when you think of Facebook, you may be feeling a hunka-hunka burning love.

Cue the Barry White makeout music.

Researchers at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business say the desire to indulge in Facebook, Twitter and other social-media pastimes is among the strongest temptations we now face — right up there with sex and cigarettes.

New York City spreads cyber-dragnet.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday that he’s doubling the number of detectives assigned to combating local teen gangs and that increased surveillance of social networks will be a major part of the strategy.

Join us Thursday.

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source.

What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.

Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.

Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.)

When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, October 4.

Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)

Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)

For some fool reason, as I listened to this episode of Radio Times about “wearable computers,” I was unable to shake this image:

Via Sampler, an image site. Some images NSFW.