Bookmarklets are an interesting and lightweight alternative to full-fledged browser extensions. Unlike regular bookmarks, bookmarklets don’t take you to a website, but perform an action on the page you’re currently viewing. They use bits of code, usually Javascript, to do things like send links, translate a page or mark a site for future reference. While they can’t offer the deep functionality and integration of a proper extension, bookmarklets won’t slow your browser down, are less likely to crash it, and, since they’re treated the same as regular bookmarks, can be synced across browsers and computers without a problem. If you’re ready to dive in, click past the break to explore our list of ten must-have bookmarklets.

Continue reading 10 Essential Bookmarklets for Better Browsing

10 Essential Bookmarklets for Better Browsing originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bookmarklets are an interesting and lightweight alternative to full-fledged browser extensions. Unlike regular bookmarks, bookmarklets don’t take you to a website, but perform an action on the page you’re currently viewing. They use bits of code, usually Javascript, to do things like send links, translate a page or mark a site for future reference. While they can’t offer the deep functionality and integration of a proper extension, bookmarklets won’t slow your browser down, are less likely to crash it, and, since they’re treated the same as regular bookmarks, can be synced across browsers and computers without a problem. If you’re ready to dive in, click past the break to explore our list of ten must-have bookmarklets.

Continue reading 10 Essential Bookmarklets for Better Browsing

10 Essential Bookmarklets for Better Browsing originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Electronic voting machines are notoriously buggy and hackable. Even the manufacturers of DRE (direct recording electronic) voting talliers have admitted so much. Some states have even gone as far as to ban the touchscreen devices. While they may not be great at recording votes (or leaving a paper trail), it turns out their outdated PC-like innards are perfect for playing retro arcade games. This particular machine, the AVC Edge, houses a 486 processor and 32 MB of RAM, making it about as powerful as a 15-year-old PC. Researchers J. Alex Halderman from the University of Michigan, and Princeton’s Ariel J. Feldman managed to open the machine, overwrite the embedded psOS+ operating system with the more pedestrian DOS, and install ‘Pac-Man‘ — all without leaving any evidence that the machine had been physically altered (aside from the ghosts chasing a yellow circle around the screen, that is).

Continue reading Electronic Voting Machine Hacked to Run ‘Pac-Man’

Electronic Voting Machine Hacked to Run ‘Pac-Man’ originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In response to protests from privacy advocates in Europe’s most populous country, Google is now allowing Germans to completely erase their homes from the company’s Street View feature — but only for a limited time.

In an unprecedented move, Google has decided to give Germans until September 15th to fully “opt-out” of Street View. Should a German user choose to nix the service, which is available in 20 German cities, his or her property will be completely blurred out by a special Google app. Interestingly enough, Google’s decision doesn’t seem to have been prompted by any newly passed German law or policy. Chancellor Angela Merkel, for instance, has publicly confirmed that she won’t blur her residence out of Street View. And, even though German Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maziere is currently pushing for a new law that would specifically target Google and its Street View team, he’s facing stiff competition from a clause in the German constitution that expressly prohibits such corporate targeting.

Continue reading Google Lets Germans Erase Their Homes on Street View

Google Lets Germans Erase Their Homes on Street View originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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File this under things impossible to prove, but a new study shows that, if you’ve got a lot of Facebook friends, you might actually be more likely to finish college. Abilene Christian University followed 375 college freshman for nine months, and tracked their social networking activity. What the university and its research partners found was that the students who returned for their sophomore year had slightly more friends and Wall posts than those who had decided to drop out. Researchers also tracked the number of photos posted and groups joined, but found no correlation between those activities and the likeliness that a student would return.

The suggestion is that students who were more active on Facebook were generally more involved at school, both socially and academically. Being more engaged in activities implied that a kid might be more invested in their education as well (although we suspect that rule would only apply to official and sanctioned activities). This data is, however, quite out of date. The research was actually performed during the 2006 to 2007 school year, but, for whatever reason, was not published until now. At the time, Facebook was still a young up-and-comer in the social networking market, and had only just opened up to members outside of colleges and universities. We suspect that, if this study were repeated today, the results might be less clear. [From: Wired, via: Geekosystem]

Can Facebook Predict Whether or Not You’ll Graduate? originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a great way to get yourself fired: logging onto Facebook, and letting the world know how much you hate your job — and the people you work for — especially if you work with kids. That’s exactly what Dr. June Talvitie-Siple did, and it totally worked.

Dr. Talvitie-Siple, supervisor of the math and science program at Massachusetts’s Cohasset High School, recently used the social networking site to air her grievances about her job and her community. “Residents are so arrogant and snobby,” she wrote in one post. In another, she emoted, “So not looking forward to another year at Cohasset schools.” As she told NBC’s WHDH affiliate, she had no idea that her rants were visible for the whole world to see. “I thought I had my privacy settings set so that I was only talking to my friends,” she said. “And it turns out I wasn’t.” Once word of her public criticism got around, Talvitie-Staple got her wish, and lost her job. Mission accomplished. [From: NBCBayArea and MSNBC]

Update: According to WCVBTV Boston and AOL News, Dr. June Talvitie-Siple was asked by school Superintendent Denise Walsh to resign.

Continue reading Teacher Fired After Criticizing Colleagues, Parents on Facebook, We Say ‘Duh’

Teacher Fired After Criticizing Colleagues, Parents on Facebook, We Say ‘Duh’ originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a great way to get yourself fired: logging onto Facebook, and letting the world know how much you hate your job — and the people you work for — especially if you work with kids. That’s exactly what Dr. June Talvitie-Siple did, and it totally worked.

Dr. Talvitie-Siple, supervisor of the math and science program at Massachusetts’s Cohasset High School, recently used the social networking site to air her grievances about her job and her community. “Residents are so arrogant and snobby,” she wrote in one post. In another, she emoted, “So not looking forward to another year at Cohasset schools.” As she told NBC’s WHDH affiliate, she had no idea that her rants were visible for the whole world to see. “I thought I had my privacy settings set so that I was only talking to my friends,” she said. “And it turns out I wasn’t.” Once word of her public criticism got around, Talvitie-Staple got her wish, and lost her job. Mission accomplished. [From: NBCBayArea and MSNBC]

Update: According to WCVBTV Boston and AOL News, Dr. June Talvitie-Siple was asked by school Superintendent Denise Walsh to resign.

Continue reading Teacher Fired After Criticizing Colleagues, Parents on Facebook, We Say ‘Duh’

Teacher Fired After Criticizing Colleagues, Parents on Facebook, We Say ‘Duh’ originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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School officials in Lee County, Florida have issued a new set of guidelines for the upcoming academic year. This go-round, they’re cracking down on Facebook.

As the AFP reports, the newly published protocol explicitly warns district teachers against interacting with their students via social networking sites, in order to avoid the kinds of legal or professional pitfalls that have plagued so many. “It is inappropriate for employees to communicate, regardless of the reason, with current students enrolled in the district on any public social networking Web site,” the guidelines read. “This includes becoming ‘friends’ or allowing students access to personal Web pages for communication reasons.” The guidelines also warn against posting personal information or photos, and now prohibit educators from posting any information about their students.

Continue reading Florida Teachers Barred from Friending Students on Facebook

Florida Teachers Barred from Friending Students on Facebook originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since March, at least, we’ve known that Facebook Places has been coming. We also knew that, despite its built-in audience, Facebook would have to offer more functionality than established location-based services like Foursquare if it hoped to succeed. Finally, after months of testing, Zuckerberg and crew have taken the cover off Places, and entered a brand new realm of usage. You’ll be able to start checking out the new tools tonight (Wednesday) by visiting the mobile Facebook page on your smartphone or updating the official iPhone app.

Places, much like Foursquare, lets you check in from various locations while you’re out and about. Checking in is connected to pages for those places (whether it be a restaurant or a park) that track recent activity at their respective locations. In addition to simply announcing that you’re at a location, you can see if any of your other friends have checked in from there, or tag the friends who are currently there with you. The functionality of tagging is almost exactly like mentions on Twitter (’@’ prefix and all), but, as with Facebook’s photos, users have the option to untag themselves or prevent themselves from being tagged altogether.

Continue reading Facebook Places Shares Where You Are

Facebook Places Shares Where You Are originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After months of back and forth and hand wringing, it looks like the strange tale of the Lower Merion school district may finally be coming to a close. In advance of the new school year, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger has announced that the federal government will not be filing charges against the district or its employees over the controversial use of tracking software on school-issued laptops that snapped webcam photos of students. Memeger says that an investigation turned up no evidence of criminal intent. Still, if we were students in the district, we might choose to turn down the offer of a free, school-issued laptop. [From: Google/AP]

Feds Not Filing Charges in Pennsylvania School Spying Controversy originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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