Robots danced and one cruise ship employee learned the hard way about Apple's cloud technology this week. In the U.K., a child blogger inspired change in her school while Apple's Jonathan Ive received the highest accolades.

And one viral video mocked Facebook's Timeline, as well as how much people hate it.

Student's Food Blog Inspires Healthier Meals

A 9-year-old student in Scotland decided to write a blog about her school lunches, complete with pictures. The pathetic lunches caused a national uproar and drew the attention of celebrity chef and healthy eating advocate Jamie Oliver.

Martha Payne, the student, started the blog in April, and it quickly gained attention for highlighting the sorry state of school lunches, which rarely included vegetables and doled out suspiciously small portions.

In response, the school amended its cafeteria menu to include healthier food, including generous servings of fruits and vegetables. Perhaps Payne will inspire young bloggers across the ocean in the U.S. to write about their cafeteria lunches, as American children continue to struggle with high obesity rates and poor nutrition.

Apple's Jonathan Ive Gets Royal Approval

Princess Anne knighted Apple's chief designer Jonathan Ive at Buckingham Palace this week, bestowing the British designer with the honor of knighthood for his contributions to technology.

Ive, who lives in San Fransisco but grew up and went to school in the U.K., chatted with Princess Anne about her iPad after he received the honor.

He also emphasized how highly he thinks of British education and how often he comes back to visit, perhaps underlining his devotion to his homeland despite his ex-pat status.

Facebook's Timeline as a Disease

A new Funny or Die video portrays the slow but inescapable move to Timeline as though it is a contagious disease, highlighting how frustrated users get when they get forced to upgrade to a feature they do not like.

Facebook's habit of forcing users to update to a newer version is often met with anger and derision, though not enough to convince people to quit the social media site.

The parallel between Facebook's Timeline and a contagious disease is clearly hyperbolic, but raises a good point: people who are extremely upset about being forced to switch to Timeline should probably find something more important to obsess over.

Girl Schools IPhone Thief

When someone stole Katy McCaffrey's iPhone from a Disney Wonder cruise ship in April, she thought the phone was long gone. But then the pictures the phone bandit took automatically uploaded to her Facebook page.

Through the incredibly dumb move on the part of the thief, who is a Disney Cruise employee, McCaffrey could see snapshots from the petty criminal's life. She took the liberty of adding humorous captions to his photos.

Only days after McCaffrey made the album public, Disney took action and put the thief, "Nelson," on administrative leave. It shouldn't be long before McCaffrey gets reunited with her iPhone.

Robots Get Their Groove On

Choreographer Thomas Freundlich created a new show called "Human Interface" featuring dancing industrial robots.

It's actually much more graceful than it sounds. The robots and the dancers move together in hypnotizing unison.

Freundlich's show features two robot dancers and two human dancers, and premiered in Helsinki this week. Industrial robotics company ABB supplied the robots, and is probably enjoying all the free publicity.

The Chat Room: School's Food Sucks? Shame Them With a Blog originally appeared at Mobiledia on Wed May 23, 2012 3:53 pm.

Mark Zuckerberg may be counting his cash a bit too fast, as a collapse in Facebook's (NASDAQ: FB) stock price triggers regulatory investigations.

In Brief boils down complex events to give you the heart of the matter -- today and what it means for tomorrow -- clearly and simply.

Two top federal financial regulators said Tuesday they are reviewing the issues surrounding Facebook's IPO, after shares closed at $31, taking a drastic 11 percent drastic plunge Monday. The stock was priced at $38 per share originally -- and while a $7 difference may not sound like much, the $31 price tag means Facebook lost more than $19 billion in market capitalization.

While some analysts have dismissed the stock drop as the result of an optimistic view of Facebook's value, regulators are putting pressure on Facebook, lead underwriter Morgan Stanley and NASDAQ to get to the bottom of the matter.

What Happened?: According to Reuters, Morgan Stanley's consumer Internet analyst cut his revenue forecasts for the social network just days before the offering. However, the information wasn't disclosed to NASDAQ until the stock listed. While not illegal, the move is raising eyebrows among federal regulators.

In addition, last week, Facebook urged analysts at 32 underwriters, including Morgan Stanley, to lower estimates ahead of the IPO.

"Facebook changed the numbers. They didn't forecast their business right and they changed their numbers and told analysts," a source at one of the underwriters told Reuters.

The lower estimates came after a May 9 report, highlighting Facebook's continuing problems with mobile advertising, which may cause the company to be worth less than originally estimated. Facebook didn't warn that the IPO pricing would be less as a result, but the disclosure shows the social network may be worth less than its $38 per share initial price.

What It Means: Federal investigators are looking into whether Facebook and Morgan Stanley intentionally left smaller investors out of the loop while disclosing that the social network's financial forecast.

Facebook isn't commenting, but Morgan Stanley spokesman Pen Pendleton said the company followed the same rules for Facebook as it always does for IPOs, and it complied with all regulations.

Morgan Stanley wasn't the only firm to change its forecast, though. Other lead underwriters JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, along with Merrill Lynch, all revised their estimates after hearing Facebook's results.

What's Next?: If the lead underwriters were selectively picked and informed, that's a matter that may bring Facebook -- and Zuckerberg -- under scrutiny it may come to regret. While the company was privately held, Zuckerberg could spend as he pleased, including using $1 billion on a surprise purchase of Instagram in April.

But after the IPO, Facebook agreed to open its books and practices to federal scrutiny, and Zuckerberg, as the majority shareholder, may find that going public means paying with his, and his company's, financial privacy.

Selective disclosure is "a matter of regulatory concern to us and I'm sure to the Securities and Exchanges Commission," said Richard Ketchum, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's chairman and chief executive. "And without saying whether it's us or the SEC, we will collectively be focusing on it."

In addition to the federal investigation, Facebook and Morgan Stanley are facing state investigations as well.

In Massachusetts, Secretary of Commonwealth William Galvin subpoenaed Morgan Stanley in connection with investor discussions about buying into Facebook, and in Los Angeles, a lawsuit has already been filed seeking class action status against Facebook and the underwriters about how it disclosed its financial information.

The Takeaway: Although the storm clouds are looming over Facebook's IPO -- and how much information Zuckerberg and company disclosed and when -- technically, the company wasn't legally obligated to share its forecasts with anyone.

Publicly held companies must make their finances known under the federal Regulation Fair Disclosure rule, but if Facebook gave its underwriters information before Monday's IPO, then its books weren't open for public scrutiny yet.

In addition, there is some gray area between when Facebook filed its revised prospectus and when it told analysts that the stock estimates should be lowered.

Meanwhile, NASDAQ itself may be in trouble after Facebook's debut was delayed by about a half hour. A lawsuit was filed late Tuesday in Manhattan federal court to seek class-action status to anyone losing money through what's being described as a technical glitch.

NASDAQ, though, says that even with the glitch, the Facebook IPO was the market's largest ever, and denies the problems with have a long-term effect on either Facebook stock sales or the market itself.

However, the problems surrounding Facebook and its IPO may give other privately-held tech companies pause before they go after the big dollars that can come with going public. The IPO made Zuckerberg a billionaire several times over -- even with the problems that are continuing -- but legal fees will likely chip away at his newfound riches.

Furthermore, the scrutiny will cast a cloud over a company that, until now, seemed to make no missteps in its rapid climb, and remind its founder that he's no longer playing games in his Harvard dormitory room.

In Brief: Facebook's Price for Going Public originally appeared at Mobiledia on Wed May 23, 2012 1:45 pm.

AT&T and Verizon are both trying to boost revenue with the same tactic: shared data plans. But will they work?

Right now, family plans allow members to share voice minutes, but carriers allot separate data plans for individual devices. That will change soon on these two major U.S. carriers, which will give plans with multiple devices one pool of data to use later this summer. The new plans are designed to make data more affordable to consumers, and could likely relieve heavy traffic congestion and spectrum strain for carriers as well.

Roger's, one of Canada's major carriers, already adopted the approach and saw a boost in data usage, so AT&T and Verizon likely expect the same thing happening for them.

But the strategy carries two distinct risks.

1. Data Sharing Could Lose Money

The plans might not bump up costs for consumers, which means the carriers won't increase profits. Frugal families may end up paying less for the combined plan than they did with multiple data packages if they choose a small group package and don't go over the limit. If that happens, AT&T and Verizon will not benefit from the change.

With AT&T and Verizon effectively killing off unlimited data, people are likely to keep an eye on their data usage to prevent caps, and if they notice the family plan could increase their fees, they may overhaul their data usage to save money. Data consumption is rising in general among consumers eager to stream movies and perform more tasks on tablets and smartphones, but awareness of data usage could also grow, curtailing revenue growth in this avenue.

2. Data Sharing May Drive Customers Away

AT&T and Verizon are trying to sell this change as something consumers want, but the only way it will benefit the carriers is if it charges customers more money to generate revenue, which may breed contempt and cause defections. Both major U.S. carriers are taking a bet and assuming the payoff is worth the risk of alienating customers, but it may give smaller companies like Sprint room to edge into the competition.

Sprint is still offering unlimited packages as a way to differentiate itself, but A&T and Verizon both throttle or slow data when users reach certain limits, so if the family plan strategy backfires on the two major carriers it could help Sprint gain more traction in the market.

For its part, T-Mobile has disavowed family data plans. T-Mobile believes consumers don't want a "one size fits all" approach to shared family data plans, according to T-Mobile's senior vice president of marketing Andrew Sherrard. T-Mobile is instead boosting a new prepaid mobile broadband data plans for tablets, which allows customers pay in daily, weekly or monthly installments for data, starting at 300-megabytes per week for $15 and going up to 5-gigabytes per month for $50.

All carriers are banking on rising data usage to fuel revenue streams in the future, but the dilemma is how best to offer the service to consumers. AT&T and Verizon are betting on shared family data plans as one way to entice more consumers to adding data to their plans, but Sprint and T-Mobile offer other approaches that could help them gain a footing with consumers turned off by the "one bucket for everyone" plans.

Risky business, indeed.

2 Ways Family Data Sharing Can Backfire originally appeared at Mobiledia on Wed May 23, 2012 1:35 pm.

Some Indian farmers now use cell phones to activate their irrigation systems, highlighting just how vital mobile technology has become in developing countries.

The $56 Nano Ganesh service connects farmers' mobile phones to electric pumps in their fields, allowing them to remotely "call" the irrigation system rather than manually turning on each pipe.

Santosh Ostwal of Pune developed the technology after watching his 84-year-old, crippled grandfather walk several kilometers every midnight to turn on water pumps.

As India's electric supply is notoriously unreliable, Ostwal's grandfather was often forced to make multiple return trips through the snake-infested fields. After witnessing this hardship as a boy during the 1970s, Ostwal began a lifelong journey to help rural Indian farmers water their fields more easily.

He first tried using an alarm clock to activate irrigation pumps and then switched to radio frequencies. But the second attempt required a large investment and Ostwal barely had money for food, so he made a desperate gamble on mobile technology.

"I can tell you within 15 minutes, I got the result using the bulky Motorola T 180 mobile," he recalled.

Ostal's 2009 invention is now spreading throughout the subcontinent as well as to Egypt and even Australia, where it benefits the environment by reducing overwatering and saving power. The service may also do well in Africa, where farmers already rely on cell phones for medical help and to prevent crime.

Nano Ganesh is just one example of developing countries' growing reliance on mobile technology, which has become especially vital for rural farmers who sometimes lack the infrastructure to access vital resources for their endeavors.

MKrishi, another Indian agricultural service, lets farmers snap photos of diseased crops with cell phone cameras and text them to experts for advice on proper pest control.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently began assisting rural Indians by funding mobile inventions, like Ostal's, which help farmers living on less than $2 per day.

In Kenya, KickStart helps farmers buy seeds and fertilizer via a text-based layaway program. Using the M-Pesa money transfer service, they can even buy costly irrigation systems in piecemeal payments without running up large debts or consigning away future crops.

As mobile farming inventions like Nano Ganesh catch on in developing countries, those previously living in poverty may finally gain the freedom to think beyond daily necessities with a solution that is literally at their fingertips.

How Indian Farmers Use Phones to Water Crops originally appeared at Mobiledia on Wed May 23, 2012 12:42 pm.

Therapy is moving online, removing traditional obstacles like location, affordability and privacy and becoming a convenient source for counseling services.

Is This Thing On?, or ITTO, is our Wednesday column showing how everyday people use technology in unexpected ways.

New online platforms are pioneering different and less expensive ways to deliver counseling services to a wider, global audience. Governments and other organizations are taking notice, giving a big boost to these emerging programs, and solving some of their own budget problems at the same time.

Group and One-on-One Sessions: A Combination Approach

Start-up Talktala is an example of two-pronged online counseling service targeting those who face common life challenges in group and one-to-one sessions conducted by certified therapists.

The site offers a wide-range of general topics intended to address common life challenges for a person who may be inexperienced with counseling, but may still need some help. Some topics include "Our relationship lost its spark" and "I'm losing control over my drinking."

Most sessions start at $10 each, last 45-90 minutes, are therapist-moderated and available through video, audio or chat. Each of the approximately 50 approved therapists had their license and malpractice insurance verified before they being allowed to offer sessions.

Talktala co-founder Oren Frank told Mashable current online therapy sites "only address people who know what they have and are diagnosed. They don't approach all those people who say, 'I don't know if I need therapy, but I could certainly talk to someone.'"

The group session allow the Talktala therapists to charge less expensive hourly rates than other counseling platforms. So if a person has no history of therapy, but is having some marital problems, for example, they can take part in one of the affordable group sessions, and if needed, possibly move from there to one-on-one counseling.

It is an affordable way to experience different therapists and their styles to find the best fit, but this approach stands in contrast to traditional counseling methods, where patients move from singular consults into a group setting. Still, Frank doesn't see that as a negative, but more as an adaptation to the digital age.

Online Benefits

One big advantage of this kind of counseling is choice, since the patient can choose a therapist for reasons beyond their location. And, some people may actively select a therapist from across the country, for the very reason they may feel more comfortable with someone who doesn't have local-area connections. Finally, consumers have the convenience to conduct their sessions from their own home, which increases the sense of privacy for many.

These benefits are fueling a growing number of organizations to roll-out their online-counseling programs. Canada's Thunder Bay Counselling Centre, Children's Centre Thunder Bay and the Catholic Family Development Centre banded together to launch community online counseling services this spring, proclaiming anyone who can navigate the Web can enter the world of online counseling.

The Canadian program screens all patients to make sure more serious cases get handled face-to-face, but its online component is based on confidential email exchanges and provides secure website registration information and transcripts for all sessions. The online accessibility should bring the services to people in isolated and remote locations that would be unable to get traditional assistance.

Across the pond, the U.K.'s Online Therapy Institute offers Mootu, a national network of over a hundred U.K.-based professional counselors and psychotherapists who offer one-to-one and face-to-face for counseling and psychotherapy online via Skype video.

As private firms gear up to expand their online services, the public sector in the U.S. is taking a look at the programs to save money.

Online Counseling for Inmates

A greater percentage of correctional facilities' growing populations need mental health services, and state governments dealing with delivering this service amid growing cost concerns are looking for alternatives.

In response, correctional healthcare providers are deploying a two-way telehealth V2VIP service to deliver low-cost, face-to-face mental health consultations over mobile devices across the nation. Similar to general online counseling, these programs reduce travel expenses, in addition to minimizing the risks and liabilities for on-site visits, inmate transports and reducing disruption to prison routines.

Also, Wind Currents Communications, one of the providers of these systems, estimate a monthly savings of $30,000 to $40,000 per state using the service, which includes a hosted VoIP platform, video software and special videophones.

In addition to state prisons, there are a growing number of local jails and facilities exploring digital communication tools.

For example, Minnesota's Dakota County Jail recently tested an online video chat service using Skype. With the service, families can visit inmates without taking their children to jail, which are often upsetting.

The program, offered through Wisc.-based TurnKey Corrections, is convenient for inmates' loved ones, but the jail is benefitting too, and could result in reduced spending for taxpayers. County jails in Oregon, Idaho, North Dakota, Indiana and Missouri also have the service.

With Internet access, a computer and a Web camera, inmates' friends and relatives can register to use the service. The company monitors all calls to make sure no inappropriate behavior, like women undressing, occurs. Prison officials can revoke the privilege for inmates, too.

The popular video chat calls cost inmates 35 cents a minutes, which generates revenue. The first few months of this year in Dakota County, officials estimate the program, which costs about $12,000 for equipment and installation, generated just over $2,600, a percentage of which the county receives from TurnKey.

In addition to making it easier for family members to visit inmates and generate money for the jail, the program is also credited with fostering communication and bonds with family and friends for those behind bars, something studies show makes them less likely to become repeat offenders.

Government Initiatives are Taking Notes

Use of online counseling by consumers and correctional facilities is paving the way for adoption of the technology for other projects.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama helped unveil the Alzheimer's Foundation of America's Plan for Providing Solid Stepping Stones Towards Substantial Change program.

Part of the New York-based AFA's plan aims to "ease the daily toll on American families" to make sure "all elements of the plan are implemented and that new strategies and practices are considered."

To achieve that goal and still "be realistic about available dollars," the AFA recommends a whole host of options for optimal care and services to people, caregivers and families confronting dementia. The agency's summary lists counseling by licensed social workers via a toll-free hot line and Skype as an available service, a signal that will add to online counseling's adoption and momentum in the future.

Nobody believes online counseling will replace traditional face-to-face sessions in a therapist's office, but the technology can be used to efficiently and affordably address more general counseling needs in many different settings, features that will continue to make its way to a webcam near you soon.

ITTO: Digital Therapy in an Analogue World originally appeared at Mobiledia on Wed May 23, 2012 11:59 am.

Thinking of buying those shoes with your iPhone? Make sure you're protected from identity theft first.

Neal O'Farrell, the executive director of the Identity Theft Council, gave a talk called "The Hackers Are Coming -- Why the Small Business is the Big Target and What You've Got to Lose" to highlight the dangers of mobile banking for small businesses.

O'Farrell believes the dangers can jeopardize a large segment of businesses and people, explaining, "Eight out of ten mobile banking apps have security flaws, but Apple and the banks don't want you to know that. I'll wait another 20 years to stick my toe in that pond."

Even users with Macs can get their information stolen, and recovery is often problematic. Identity theft via online banking is on the rise, but police investigate less than 1 percent of the crimes.

O'Farrell advocates using a separate, cheap netbook for money transactions, so more frequently used mobile devices won't have the sensitive information on them.

Online banking is far from safe, and mobile finance systems taking stabs at winning loyal users will meet difficulty if people realize how vulnerable their security is to attempted hacks.

O'Farell's advice is at odds with the intentions of a variety of up-and-coming mobile payment systems including Isis and Google Wallet. These businesses will only succeed if consumers feel comfortable with online financial transactions, but O'Farrell points out the need for caution. Isis could have an easier time because it went to great lengths to round up an expansive coterie of security backup, but it still may not outsmart greedy hackers.

In addition to plumbing smartphones and tablets for financial information, hackers also recently targeted medical data, highlighting how identity thieves are liable to explore lots of options to gather sensitive information.

The medical records contained information the hackers could use to figure out passwords and banking information, so although it was not a direct attempt to steal money, identity theft was the end goal. This suggests hackers could also breach smartphones without banking information on them and use other sensitive data to puzzle out account information anyways.

Mobile banking is convenient and consumers have a growing number of options for transactions on the go, but every transaction brings a real identity theft risk. Even though companies are pouring money into ways to make mobile payments mainstream, the continued rise of smartphone-related identity theft may curb adopting this type of transaction unless companies can prove their mobile systems are secure.

Buyer Beware: Why You Should Be Wary of Mobile Banking originally appeared at Mobiledia on Wed May 23, 2012 11:45 am.

Facebook-haters at WikiLeaks started their own social network, while Facebook fans made waves by posting a loving tribute video following the IPO.

Richard Dreyfuss might want to team up with WikiLinks, because he revealed his disdain for Facebook as well at the Webby awards.

And PayPal's founder saw his pet project launch a rocket into space, as Spanish scientists watched robot fish patrol their shores.

WikiLeaks Launches Social Network

WikiLeaks introduced an encrypted network called Friends of WikiLeaks (FoWL), meant to facilitate conversations between supporters of Julian Assange's controversial muckraking website.

WikiLeaks took to Twitter to announce the site, which it called "encrypted Facebook," and the tweets described why FoWL served its users better than Mark Zuckerberg's social media juggernaut.

In true WikiLeaks fashion, it lambasted Facebook as a surveillance device and outlined how FoWL went to great lengths to ensure its users privacy. No word yet on how many people are signed up for FoWL.

Some People Really Love Facebook

A group of people, many of whom have never met in person, collaborated to create a fan video honoring the social media site on the occasion of its IPO.

"I'm taggin' you, you're taggin' me, and we're making history" sing the video's stars, who are genuinely enthusiastic about the social network.

Deborah Torres Patel, Gianluca Verrengia and Jeffery Anaba wrote and sang "Thank You Facebook," which is available on YouTube and has its own Facebook fan page. Something tells me they won't be particularly interested in WikiLeaks' social network, seeing how enamored they are with the original.

A Corporate Space Race?

PayPal founder Elon Musk's space exploration company SpaceX launched an unmanned space capsule at Cape Canaveral, becoming the first private company to do so.

SpaceX's Dragon space capsule and Falcon 9 rocket are moving towards a space station, where they will deliver supplies to astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA does not send people to the ISS, so SpaceX will grant the U.S. access to the site, which was only accessible to Russia, Japan and Europe. Other U.S. companies have considered doing a similar launch, but SpaceX is the first to successfully make it happen.

Attack of the Robot Fish

In Northern Spain, researchers developed robotic fish that scan the water for pollution and can bring data back. The robotic fish have chemical sensors capable of sniffing out pollutants, and their design helps the robots navigate through shallow waters with ease.

The robotic fish have an advantage to humans taking samples because they will constantly be in the water, so they can offer a more comprehensive idea of how polluted the water is at all times.

The only glitch: the battery life for the robotic fish is not very long, so they have to be taken out and recharged frequently. Once they get a better battery, the fish may become fixtures in Spanish waters.

Facebook and Google Founders Mocked by "Jaws" Actor at Webby Awards

Actor Richard Dreyfuss took a few pot-shots at Mark Zuckerberg and Google executives Eric Schmidt and Sergey Brin before launching into a tribute to Steve Jobs at the Webby Awards.

Dreyfuss took a moment to accuse Zuckerberg and the Google execs of invading privacy, and made sure to let the crowd know he was not joking around.

The "Jaws" star went on to fondly recollect his relationship with Jobs, contrasting his harsh opinion of tech's current superstars.

The Chat Room: A Facebook for Hackers originally appeared at Mobiledia on Tue May 22, 2012 3:39 pm.

Jurors in the infamous Rutgers bullying trial relied heavily on a damning trail of digital evidence to convict former student Dharun Ravi, but in his surprisingly light sentencing of the defendant, the judge pointed at the evidence's limitations.

In Brief boils down complex events to give you the heart of the matter -- today and what it means for tomorrow -- clearly and simply.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman sentenced Ravi to 30 days in jail for spying on his gay college roommate, Tyler Clementi, with a webcam and writing about what he saw from the device on Twitter.

The judge could have given the 20-year-old student up to 10 years, but used his discretion as well as considered a filing from the prosecution, which indicated it also didn't support the most severe punishment.

18-year-old Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge days after learning Ravi had announced on Twitter that he'd seen him "making out with a dude," and had invited friends to a "viewing party" to watch Clementi on a second date in their freshman dorm room.

The case marked the first time Twitter, Facebook, text messaging, e-mails, surveillance cameras, and swiped university identification cards combined to play such a major part in a conviction. But while this data played a role in the trial, it wasn't paramount in the sentencing phase, suggesting that what seems like rock-solid electronic evidence might not convey the full picture, and individual actions and motivations must still be interpreted.

What's Happening: The digital footprint was not in dispute, as both sides basically agreed to the well-documented dates and times of events. Instead, Berman's sentence reflects contemplation of the defendant's intentions and behavior, and in that regard, he found certainty.

"I do believe he acted out of colossal insensitivity," Judge Berman said in handing down his sentence.

What's Really Happening: Surprisingly, in a case built so firmly on digital information, the sentence didn't stem from the solidity of that data. In addition to the sentence, Berman ordered 300 hours of community service, counseling and restitution of $10,000 that will go to an organization providing help to victims of bias crimes.

These requirements support the notion that the interpretation of the facts, and not so much the facts themselves, were critical in determining justice. Initially, many saw Ravi as an evil villain, but the defense portrayed him as a tolerant person not inclined to gay bias, but one who used very poor judgement.

Prosecutors offered Ravi a plea deal in December that would have spared him any prison time, but he rejected it. And the jury's conviction of Ravi in March only added to the bigger conversation taking place around the country about the tragic events.

The sentencing phase contributed to the national discussion, as it presented an opportunity for parents of both students to speak.

Ravi's mother said since her son's arrest, he has lost more than 20 pounds and is devastated and broken into pieces. The victim's family called Ravi's actions reprehensible, but didn't explicitly state what punishment they thought the defendant deserved. Both sides used the opportunity to express their sorrow and heartbreak.

What's Next:Though the prosecution vowed to appeal the case, for now the jury's verdict, the pleading statements from the families, and the judge's sentence are all part of the tapestry in this cautionary tale about acceptance, transparency and poor judgement in the digital age.

Many will complain the verdict was too lenient, while it satisfied others. Some will also think it adds to the debate over technology and privacy, or contributes another nuance to the problem of hate crimes. And as electronic evidence plays a larger role in courtrooms, the case poses questions of how much juries and judges can glean from it when it comes to verdicts and sentencing.

The Takeaway: Court-watchers of the Ravi case expected the role of the digital data to be at the forefront, to showcase how people's electronic trails can follow them into a trap of their making. While that was certainly true and was highlighted in this trial, the judge's sentence took the case beyond that, to the most indecipherable places of all, the human heart and mind -- and divining those motivations, intentions and understanding is something technology is still a long way from accomplishing.

In Brief: Why Rutgers Bullying Is a Cautionary Tale originally appeared at Mobiledia on Tue May 22, 2012 2:24 pm.

Curious teenagers who wanted to look at pornography used to hide a stolen Playboy under a mattress -- but they're now able to satisfy their interests more immediately with mobile technology.

The easy, all-the-time access has experts worried new technology is creating a new generation of people addicted to hardcore pornography.

Internet pornography isn't anything new, and most parents of teenagers are tech-savvy enough to know the pitfalls that come along with the privileges of having high-speed Internet in their homes. Many people have taken the necessary precautions of keeping computers in an open place in their homes, installing protection software and monitoring their children's online activities.

However, smartphones, tablets and even video games are making it easier for teens and even younger children to look at pornography when they want -- and they're looking. A recent study of 14 to 17-year-olds says 58 percent of them have watched pornography online or on their phones.

And of those, a quarter of the teenage boys surveyed said they watch explicit scenes at least once weekly -- and five percent admitted they watch pornography every day.

"I'm very concerned," said Jeff Schultz, a counselor with the Sonoran Healing Center, a Phoenix clinic that treats sex addicts, to KTAR.com. "They can watch this material in complete anonymity," Schultz continued, adding, "You can be pretty much anywhere with a smartphone and no one would know."

What They're Learning

Remember in the old days, when most teenagers said they learned about sex from their friends? Well, with online pornography, their knowledge is taking a darker turn through mobile technology. After all, smartphones and mobile devices mean that teens are no longer just stealing a Playboy from Dad's secret stash. More than a third of teens say they're not only getting sex advice from friends, researchers say, but increasingly, from the Internet.

Schultz said the combination is dangerous and encourages ideas about sexuality that are not healthy.

"It also increases the dominating and controlling aspects of behavior, especially for teenage boys' [actions] towards teenage girls," said Schultz.

While some might dismiss the activity as being just more teen curiosity over sexual matters, the addictions may also affect the innocent.

A report by researchers at the London School of Economics, Open University and the U.K.'s Institute of Education, found a third of under-18 texters received a lewd sexual image by text or e-mail.

On top of that, the focus group research revealed a substantial portion of young males had dozens of sexual pictures of their peers on their mobile devices, indicating their habit of sharing explicit photos with each other.

"Girls are being pressured by text and on BlackBerry Messenger to send 'special photos' and perform sexual services for boys from an early age. In some cases they are as young as 11. Even while we were interviewing them they were being bombarded with these messages," Institute of Education researcher Jessica Ringrose said.

But I Have Everything Protected

You do? Think again.

The number of people who have a smartphone is growing -- and many parents, when buying their child that first phone -- are bypassing feature phones altogether and allowing that first smartphone. After all, a Gartner survey showed teens would rather have a smartphone than a car, and parents, hoping to keep in contact with their children are providing them with smartphones. Take a casual walk through any shopping mall and look around, and you'll notice most of the teens you see are texting, taking photos, or talking on their smartphones.

Most parents are at least somewhat tech-savvy. After all, Internet access has been around for some time, and by now, parents likely know they should set up some protection software on the home computer.

But the days are gone when a person had to sit in front of a computer screen to use the Internet. With smartphones, the Internet is in the user's pocket all the time -- which experts say is a recipe for disaster as far as pornography addiction is concerned.

But My Kid Doesn't Have a Smartphone;

Most teens seem to have a smartphone, but there are still many who don't. However, parents shouldn't relax, because mobile technology reaches to far more devices beyond smartphones. Many other devices allow Internet access, and while a teen's parents might think he's just reading "The Hunger Games" on his Kindle, he might be feeding some other kind of hunger altogether.

Video games like the Wii and XBox 360, e-readers like Nooks and Kindles, and the iPod touch can all access the Internet, but according to studies, few parents have extended Internet controls to those devices.

What You Can Do

Talk to your child, but don't wait until he or she is a teenager. With younger children -- including babies -- playing around on iPads, the chance that your child will be exposed to pornography at a very early age is highly likely, even if only through a simple Internet search.

Then, take stock of the devices in your home that are Internet-capable. Even that Blu-ray or DVD player your kids are watching their cartoons on? Those are Internet-capable too.

You can go through every device in your home and individually set the parental control settings, or you can even consider filtering your whole network at home through a network filter such as OpenDNS, which allows users to block content categories, such as pornography or even instant messaging.

There are also filtered Web browsers for smartphones and mobile devices that replace the standard ones -- if you can wrestle the phone away from your teen long enough to install it.

But even if you have everything blocked, don't forget that one of your neighbors -- or even the local Starbucks -- often have open Wi-Fi connections, and a tech-savvy teen could easily learn a way to get around any pesky blocks Mom and Dad have installed at home.

What If it Doesn't Work?

There's no magic solution to this problem -- because there's no magic solution to a teen's curiosity when it comes to sex. Basically, it's up to parents to teach their children about the birds-and-bees, or risk them learning about it on the street, or on their smartphones.

Also, even the most advanced blocking software likely won't stop a determined teen from borrowing a friend's phone -- or for that matter, even going out and buying a prepaid phone of his own.

So, even with all the modern technology at everyone's fingertips, sometimes the old ways remain the best ways. Keeping the lines of communication open -- through open, frank conversations -- may be the best tool of all when it comes to how your child learns all about the facts of life.

Smartphones and Porn: Is Technology Creating a Generation of Addicts? originally appeared at Mobiledia on Tue May 22, 2012 1:35 pm.

People who text while driving are responsible for the accidents their distracted behavior causes -- but what about the people at the other end of the conversation, who aren't driving?

A New Jersey couple out for a motorcycle ride almost died after a young man texting while driving stopped paying attention to the lanes and sideswiped them.

David and Linda Kuber each lost a leg and sustained life-threatening injuries. The driver, Kyle Best, pled guilty to the charges brought against him. But the matter still isn't over: the couple's lawyer is making a case against the woman sending messages to Best during the ill-fated drive, arguing that her actions are akin to aiding and abetting a crime.

The lawyer argues that, based on the pattern of texts, Shannon Colonna knew Best was driving at the time of her texts and still expected him to respond, which encouraged him to break the law and cause the bloody accident.

Distracted driving causes a substantial part of car accidents, and while erring drivers are often charged for their crimes, this case will set a precedent for assigning guilt to the people on the other end of the text conversation.

If the court finds Colonna guilty, it could prompt other victims of distracted driving to file suits against the people who texted their vehicular assailants, bolstering convictions against these people.

Colonna's lawyer argues she had no way of knowing when Best would read and respond to her text, but if the Kuber's lawyer can prove she knew he'd text back, they may have a successful suit.

With lawmakers across the U.S. honing in on the dangers of texting while driving, and one town in New Jersey outlawing texting while walking to curb accidents that happen to hapless pedestrians, the country is gravely concerned about the distracting nature of smartphones.

If the judge wants to make an example of Colonna, the verdict may influence a number of cases being brought against distracted drivers and jumpstart a change in the way courts find these drivers culpable, shifting some blame to the people texting them.

Technology designed to re-route phone calls and texts for people on the move may gain traction, and people will likely think twice about hitting "send" if they don't know the whereabouts of the text recipient.

The Kubers' lawyer raises some interesting questions, but it may be difficult to prove Colonna knew Best was in the car. In addition, as more young people use smartphones with mobile Facebook and Twitter apps, this case may raise more questions -- could people be held responsible for accidents that happen when a driver gets distracted by their tweet? The answer to that question will likely open up a gray area and complicate an already escalating issue.

Why Texting to Drivers May Land You in Jail originally appeared at Mobiledia on Tue May 22, 2012 12:39 pm.

Forgot your iPhone charger? If you're not too thirsty, just add water.

PowerTrekk, a portable system that uses water to generate hydrogen-based electricity, can re-charge a dying phone even if it is miles away from an outlet.

The system uses hydrogen cartridges, which contain a chemical that begins to produce energy when mixed with water. The cartridges, called PowerPukks, are biodegradable and disposable. Developed as an offshoot of a program to bring electricity to underdeveloped rural areas, outdoor goods haven REI will sell the kit for around $200, with hydrogen cartridges running around $3.

It would take an astronomical hike in natural gas prices to make the technology feasible for larger-scale projects, so for now, PowerTrekk's source of energy is best for extreme situations for individual users.

There are a bevy of unusual ways to charge iPhones cropping up, including a system harnessing energy from viruses and another from footsteps.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army is developing cloth that charges smartphones. These innovations demonstrate a demand for alternative ways to charge electronics, especially as they become linchpins for professional and military communication in areas without easy access to traditional power sources.

Those systems are likely less cumbersome than carrying around a PowerTrekk box, but the PowerTrekk box is extremely efficient, which may make it the best bet for use in emergencies -- as long as a the user can reach a viable water source.

Each cartridge will re-charge a depleted iPhone two times, and can power LED lights for weeks at a time, which could be crucial to an outdoor sports enthusiast in an emergency. The situation James Franco's character experienced in the film "127 Hours", for example, when he got trapped while hiking without a way to get into contact with anyone, would have turned out to be more like 3 or 4 hours if he'd carried the PowerTrekk.

Forgot Your Charger? No Problem, Just Add Water originally appeared at Mobiledia on Tue May 22, 2012 11:37 am.

Everyheartbeat.org aims to unite medicine and social networks, instantly connecting patients with doctors online to offer more personal, comprehensive care.

The Facebook-like medical network will allow people to upload their heartbeat data for expert analysis, according to Dr. Leslie Saxon of the University of South Carolina. The cardiologist says everyheartbeat.org can easily detect "all sorts of abnormalities" and will enable "unbelievably predictive analytics across populations" once the database grows large enough.

"I imagine this as a medical iTunes," Saxon explained. "The sooner in medicine we let patients learn for themselves and start to look at their data and understand it, the more sophisticated our own dialogue will be."

Saxon's creation, now in super-stealth mode with an expected launch in 2013, joins other social networks in uniting doctors with patients, in spite of difficulties like privacy concerns.

Facebook apps, for example, now joins sick people with matching kidney and blood donors in hours and not the usual rate of days or weeks.

Facebook and Twitter also host medical data at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic and Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida. Mayo's health care professionals have started using Facebook to schedule appointments, while Sarasota's patients simply tweet their doctors about health issues.

But the founders of HealthTap, a private social network connecting patients with over 5,000 doctors, say patient confidentiality must be a priority if such systems are to succeed. Medical data is subject to highly stringent federal data regulations, and possible breaches or leaks are a major risk.

"Facebook and Twitter are dangerous for doctors, but everyone wants to take part in social networking," said HealthTap CEO Ron Gutman, warning that even a slight privacy breach may cost doctors millions in lawsuits.

A solution to this problem may lie in tightly controlled social networks like Doximity, which pre-screens its doctors to avoid disastrous hacks like those against Utah's Children's Health Insurance Program.

The attack, which exposed 780,000 Social Security numbers, highlights the difficulties of maintaining a secure medical social network in the wild online world.

But if everyheartbeat.org can overcome these challenges, it may prove an extremely useful tool for both patients and doctors in diagnosing heart conditions.

Bringing Medicine and Social Networks Together originally appeared at Mobiledia on Tue May 22, 2012 11:31 am.

Mark Zuckerberg said "I do" to public stock options and a lovely bride this week, while Apple tried to convince Cupertino residents they'd like a gigantic new off-limits campus in their city.

One mother invented a genius punishment for her daughter's wayward Facebook behavior, while orthodox Jewish men whipped themselves into a frenzy trying to fix the Internet.

And even though summer is upon us, "Winter Is Coming" to Facebook -- a "Game of Thrones" game is on the way.

Mark Zuckerberg Ties the Knot

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had a huge weekend -- in addition to the social media juggernaut's IPO, Zuckerberg married his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan in a secret backyard ceremony on Saturday.

Despite the social media scion's huge IPO payday, the wedding was an understated, intimate affair with less than 100 people, who thought they were coming to a party celebrating Chan's graduation from medical school.

Over 1 million Facebook users "liked" the couple's updated marital status, suggesting that no matter how the company's stock does, Zuckerberg will continue to have well-wishers.

Orthodox Jews Launch Anti-Internet Protest

40,000 male orthodox Jews congregated at the New York Mets' Citi Field to protest the Internet. Women observed the events from Brooklyn and and New Jersey at "viewing parties," to keep with the religion's gender-segregated behavioral norms.

The men at the event gathered to discuss the dangers of the Internet and how they could protect their communities. They believe society is damaged by exposure to pornography and reliance on impersonal forms of communication like Twitter.

The New York Times reported that the rabbinical group sponsoring the event is connected to a software company that blocks offensive websites, and that the rally decided that all orthodox Jews should install that type of software.

Game of Thrones Game Coming to Facebook

Facebook's gaming landscape will gain a lot of courtly intrigue once Disruptor Beam releases its upcoming Game of Thrones game for the social media site.

Game of Thrones, based on the series "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin, and now a popular show on HBO, pits noble houses against each other in an bloody, political epic.

The game will allow players to immerse themselves in the rich fictional world of Westeros, where the Iron Throne sits. No release date is set yet, but the game will put players in the middle of the action and allow them to choose a political alliance.

Mother Invents Unique Facebook Punishment for Daughter

A mother angered by her underage daughter's decision to post photos with alcohol-related content decided upon an appropriate punishment.

ReShonda Tate Billingsley, an author, decided to use Facebook to make her daughter learn a lesson about posting inappropriate content online.

She made her daughter pose for a picture with a sign reading "Since I want to post photos of me holding liquor I am obviously not ready for social media and will be taking a hiatus until I learn what I should + should not post. BYE-BYE."

Apple Puts Positive Spin on Giant, Exclusive Spaceship Campus

Apple is building an enormous new campus in Cupertino, Calif. Unlike its other facilities, this campus will be entirely off-limits to non-employees, and it will look like a giant spaceship.

Despite the fact that it doesn't clearly benefit people in the community, Apple is trying to get the neighborhood excited for the potentially loud and obnoxious construction project. CFO Peter Oppenheimer sent out a brochure asking neighbors what they thought of the upcoming project.

Residents are concerned about an increase in traffic, but the city of Cupertino is enthusiastic about the project.

The Chat Room: Zuckerberg Gets Hitched originally appeared at Mobiledia on Mon May 21, 2012 3:28 pm.

Stroke victims can now play a video game to regain motor control, thanks to improved medical technology that engages patients more fully than traditional therapy.

The "Circus Challenge" game tricks participants into exercising their arms while performing virtual acts like juggling, taming lions and walking the tightrope.

Circus Challenge, a joint creation between scientists at England's Newcastle University and gaming developers at Limbs Alive, has already made a difference in one stroke patient's life. Danny Mann of Northumberland had so much fun pretending to swing on the trapeze that he barely noticed the exercise involved in the activity.

"The therapy exercises I normally have to do are dull but necessary but this game is something different which encourages me to keep going with my therapy," he said.

Janet Eyre, professor of Pediatric Neuroscience at Newcastle, suggests at-home gaming sessions like these may improve motor skills faster than traditional therapy.

"The brain can re-learn control of the weak arm but this needs frequent therapy over many months and there are not enough therapists to provide this on a one-to-one basis," she explained. "With our video game, people get engrossed in the competition and action of the circus characters and forget that the purpose of the game is for therapy."

This video game and others like it are striving to improve the lives of stroke patients, cerebral palsy victims and those on the autistic spectrum who have difficulty with movement and communication by challenging them with fun, but still focused, activities.

The Webhab program, for example, combines Nintendo's Wii gaming system and cloud computing so therapists can remotely assist stroke patients in their own homes. "Pop Those Balloons," a Canadian medical video game, gently prevents stroke victims from "cheating" and reinforces exercising the impaired sides of their bodies. And Aeir Talk, an app created by Joe Hill for his two autistic sons, lets parents upload audio flashcards so children learn to associate words with a familiar voice.

These medical apps and video games may eventually produce a new kind of "gamer" as the medical world intersects more with the entertainment medium for patient therapy. And that possibility is growing, as doctors, developers and governments alike begin to realize the benefits of using technology to promote motor and speech therapy.

Circus Challenge's developers, for instance, plan to make their creation public later this year thanks to a $2.4 million grant from the British government. If the investment pays off, the invention could lead to other games that will allow stroke victims and others to enjoy -- and not dread -- their physical therapy sessions.

How Video Games Help Stroke Recovery originally appeared at Mobiledia on Mon May 21, 2012 3:13 pm.

Apple and Samsung's companies' top executives are meeting in court-ordered settlement talks over patent infringements, but recent rulings against Motorola and HTC may scare Samsung into submission.

In Brief boils down complex events to give you the heart of the matter -- today and what it means for tomorrow -- clearly and simply.

What's Happening: Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung executive Gee-Sung Choi will meet with Judge Joseph Spero in San Francisco to discuss the patent infringement cases Apple has against Samsung and try to work out a solution.

Since the court ordered mediation in April, Samsung execs discussed their willingness to cross-license, which demonstrates the South Korean powerhouse may want to avoid a trial.

What's Really Happening: Samsung's Choi may be on his best behavior at the meetings, because Apple's most recent patent infringement case against fellow Android phonemaker HTC ended up getting HTC's lauded handsets banned in the U.S. Some of HTC's phones are now just starting to stream into the U.S. after being held up by the International Trade Commission in customs over patent issues, but the delay likely slowed momentum for HTC's big push into the market.

Similarly, Motorola Mobility saw some of its Android handsets banned after losing in a patent battle with Microsoft. Both Motorola and HTC will likely see their bottom lines substantially damaged by the bans, and Samsung may try to avoid a similar fate by trying to reach a compromise.

What's Next: Samsung will likely be receptive to some talk of compromise, but will Apple? The company is in an advantageous position, as its aggressive patent stance against Android phone makers is starting to pay off.

Apple's robust patent portfolio will help the tech giant attack Samsung, and Apple may use the verdict against HTC to prove that Samsung committed a similar infringement. It may also draw on its patent victories against Samsung in Germany to bolster its place in the U.S. talks.

President Obama may still overturn the HTC and Motorola bans, if he decides the prohibition damages competition and hurts the market. If that happens, then the tables may turn, as Samsung could argue banning its phones would similarly stymie competition.

The Takeaway: Samsung may defy these predictions and show up to the meetings with a bellicose, devil-may-care attitude, or Apple may act with uncharacteristic mercy towards its rival -- but, with the ITC's willingness to ban handsets for copyright infringement, that scenario is simply not likely.

Samsung is Apple's biggest competitor, and though Tim Cook has not vocalized disdain for the South Korean company with the vigor of Steve Jobs, getting Samsung phones banned would be a huge win for Apple. Although Cook is more diplomatic than Jobs, he is likely to take a firm stance bolstered by the precedent-setting bans and wait for Samsung to agree.

In Brief: How Apple Beats Samsung in Patents originally appeared at Mobiledia on Mon May 21, 2012 2:26 pm.

Blind and visually impaired people who have an iPhone handy may not need a guide dog anymore, thanks to an app that guides them through unfamiliar places.

Navatar, the smartphone app created by University of Nevada engineers, helps blind and visually impaired people get around by providing an affordable, portable indoor navigation system.

The system uses 3-D sketches of buildings, which are generally accessible through Google's SketchUp program. Once the user enters the information, the app provides step-by-step directions.

Navatar may have the sketches pop up automatically in the future, and the team is also considering adding GPS to create an outdoor navigation app.

This innovation demonstrates how mobile technology can replace many current solutions to problems for people with disabilities. Although indoor navigation systems already exist, they need expensive hardware that isn't affordable. Navatar's choice to use existing devices like smartphones will likely propel it towards widespread adoption.

Smartphone apps are already helping the blind read Braille and do homework by using tactile mobile technology, so people who cannot see can feel vibrations giving them the necessary information.

Scientists and engineers are making strides in harnessing advanced technologies for the disabled, but some of them, particularly innovations to help people who cannot walk, are often prohibitively expensive. One of Navatar's concrete advantages is that it will likely be very affordable, since it is a simple app on a smartphone.

PETA gave Navatar an award because it decreased the need for guide dogs, but that's not the only potentially cost-cutting recent invention that replaces dog labor with mobile technology. The "e-Nose," a digital bomb-sniffer can help keep dogs out of harm's way by detecting threatening scents digitally. Together with Navatar, the e-Nose demonstrates how mobile technology can interpret the outside world by simulating one of the five senses.

People often associate apps with fun games like Angry Birds or entertainment like Facebook and Pandora, but as a platform, apps can offer a stunning variety of services, and Navatar demonstrates how some of these services have the potential to positively impact lives.

IPhones: Man's New Best Friend originally appeared at Mobiledia on Mon May 21, 2012 12:11 pm.

Chicago's NATO summit has the world watching, and protesters, law enforcement, and hackers are using technology to milk the event for all the publicity it's worth.

The growing realization that these global events draw traditional media attention as well as prominent world leaders has contributed to a circus-like atmosphere almost designed to showcase fringe groups outside the highly secure official meeting spaces.

In a city as large as Chicago, the challenge for protesters to make their voices heard above the crowd was substantial, but that didn't keep them from trying. At the same time, the Chicago Police Department is focusing on the fine line of allowing for peaceful protests, while still ensuring the streets are orderly and containing the crowd.

Protesters Seek New Audience

While their individual causes are different, the protesters have a similar mission: to spread their message beyond their core group and gain wider attention and momentum. These groups understand the world's attention on NATO, as well as digital tools, can help them meet that that goal.

And so, as the busloads of demonstrators headed to the Windy City late last week, the passengers weren't watching the scenery roll by. Instead, they were posting to Tumblr and tweeting, hoping to piggyback their groups' messages on the world's focus on Chicago's big event.

"Part of it is how much of this will get out there," said NATO Indy Media's Jimmy Johnson in the Chicago Tribune. "It's fine if all the protesters retweet our stuff, but what we really want is to reach a new audience."

The wide-ranging issues they are demonstrating over include a moratorium on foreclosures in the housing market, improved healthcare services and availability, solidarity against the war in Afghanistan, marriage equality and immigration reform, just to name a few. Many of the causes echoed those from earlier "Occupy" protests, and there were a few clever people among the protestors promoting legal services for those who got arrested.

For their part, summit organizers used several digital tools to stream its message. In addition to a NATO page as a main source for official updates, the group created a YouTube channel, live broadcasts and video of the meetings, a smartphone app, Facebook page, Flickr feed and encourages Twitter followers to use the standard @NATO press office feed.

The dizzying array of expected protests and media underscore how the anticipation for the event built for months, during which time the Chicago Police have been planning for the NATO-affiliated activity. The department is employing both low- and high-tech strategies to make sure the city it serves and protects is presented in the best light.

Police Employ "Something Old, Something New"

Department leaders have said bicycle patrols will be a key part of their plans to deal with protests and rallies surrounding the gathering of world leaders that begins Sunday, and police bike units have been a very visible presence in the weeks leading up the big event, like at the May Day marches kicking off the month.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said using the patrols makes sense because large teams of officers can move quickly to get ahead of marches, avoid traffic and not lag behind on foot. McCarthy told business leaders at a briefing last week he has doubled the department's bike patrol, though officials have not revealed its total number.

"They're a very, very viable strategic tactical unit that we can deploy quickly. And they're very, very effective in crowd control, and they can cover an awful lot of ground," McCarthy said.

To balance out this low-key strategy, the CPD is still covering all bets, reportedly ordering $1 million worth of riot-control equipment, which includes a "sound cannon" that can used to emit sound waves up to 150 decibels for crowd control.

According to the Guardian, Chicago police have confirmed that a long-range acoustic device, or LRAD, will be on hand at the protests, and that officers intend to use the device "as a means to ensure a consistent message is delivered to large crowds that can be heard over ambient noise," police spokesperson Melissa Stratton told the publication. "This is simply a risk management tool, as the public will receive clear information regarding public safety messages and any orders provided by police."

If the CPD employs the sound cannon, it wouldn't be the first time. The Pittsburgh police used the LRAD against activists at 2009's G20 summit and again in 2011 during football's Super Bowl festivities, and the device's cannon emitted shrill noises, causing those within earshot to cover their ears and back up.

While that may sound nasty, don't expect LRADs to go away anytime soon. Last week Britain's Ministry of Defense announced they will deploy a sound cannon during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where it will mostly be used to blast verbal warnings to boats on the River Thames, according to the Associated Press.

The Protesters Strike Back

Technology gives the police abilities to manage crowds at a large scale, but it also grants protesters a growing technological savvy as well. For example, the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in New York made use of the
"Inhuman Microphone" app to amplify their message and get around a state law banning the use of megaphones in protests.

The Inhuman Microphone takes the concept of the old-fashioned human microphone to the digital realm, making iPhones into voices capable of achieving the same result. A speaker shouts into an iPhone running the app, which contacts a cloud-based server that then prompts other protestors' phones to echo back at full volume.

The microphone app joins others that have helped demonstrators spread their message far and wide. For example, "Go," developed by Hollr, helps demonstrators coordinate anonymously by skipping the self-authentication step many social media sites like Facebook and Twitter require.

Recognizing the growing sophistication of these digital tools, some cities look to disrupt the connection between mobile technology and dissent, even by shutting it down. And, earlier this year, Chicago's City Council discussed problems with this very issue of suppressing phone reception.

Chicago was out ahead in planning, hoping to avoid the fate of San Francisco when the city drew fire for shutting down mobile reception on public transit during protests. San Francisco's public transit team successfully prevented the protest, but it endured heavy criticism and retaliation from hacktivist group Anonymous afterwards.

Although the CPD didn't use controversial reception blocking devices and there weren't any major incidents of widespread police engagement, hacking group Anonymous still targeted the City of Big Shoulders over complaints of police brutality.

Anonymous Gets in on Action

Members of AntiS3curityOPS, which claims it is affiliated with Anonymous, posted a video on YouTube taking credit for a hacking that allegedly brought down the Chicago Police website, accusing them of brutality during clashes Saturday night with protesters.

"We are actively engaged in actions against the Chicago Police Department, and encourage anyone to take up the cause and use the AntiS3curityOPS Anonymous banner. For those able, chicagopolice.org should be fired upon as much as possible," according to a transcript of the video, which is no longer available. "We are in your harbor Chicago, and you will not forget us."

Social media and mobile communication are increasingly considered rights, not privileges, and idea governments are likely to struggle with as they balance them with public safety. CPD has a difficult history with protesters, dating back to the tumultuous Democratic National Convention over 30 years ago. Ironically, that earlier history may have set the stage for today's worldwide summits, which are less about the official players and scheduled discussions at the heart of the gathering, and more about the municipalities' ability to showcase their cities and control the often chaotic side-show of protests and demonstrations.

NATO Chicago: How Tech, Police and Protesters Converge originally appeared at Mobiledia on Mon May 21, 2012 11:49 am.

People answer texts more honestly than verbal questions, according to a study, highlighting another way the communication medium affects user responses.

During the study, six hundred people received questions like, "During the past 30 days, on how many days did you have 5 or more drinks on the same occasion?" and "How many songs do you currently have on your iPhone?"

Respondents gave more truthful and accurate answers to these questions via text message than over the phone, according to the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

"We believe people give more precise answers via texting because there's just not the time pressure in a largely asynchronous mode like text that there is in phone interviews," said researcher Fred Conrad.

Conrad's observations highlight how a communication medium like texting can influence content, either for better or for worse. Besides allowing respondents more time to gather their thoughts, the electronic nature may also insulate both sides of the communication, allowing them to communicate more freely without regard to the immediate impact and consequences of their output.

In some cases, this distance can help, especially when it comes to gathering accurate data for research purposes. The ability to be candid in a text may prove useful in the political survey industry, which targets landline owners to assess voter opinions. One in five households now relies exclusively on cell phones, however, and mobile owners are more likely to text than call. Surveying people via text could not only gather more data, but the information gleaned could be more accurate as well.

Sometimes, however, the impersonal, detached nature of e-communication can backfire, as when inebriated mobile phone owners send incoherent messages to former romantic interests. Fortunately, apps like "Textalyzer" and "Don't Dial!" exist to prevent such mishaps by forcing people to do logical tests before hitting the send button.

Besides sending drunken texts, mobile owners may sometimes feel tempted to send brutally honest insults over the phone where they would never do so in person. As a less intimate medium than talking, texting allows adults to channel their inner bullies when fighting over the phone.

Teens, of course, grapple with the issue of cyber-bullying, with electronic communication giving a comfortable enough distance to allow young people to say and do things they wouldn't consider in face-to-face conversation.

The behavior is so prevalent that bullying is now a focus of teen activism, especially as more cases come to light of the pernicious effects e-bullying can have on its victims.

In any case, honest texting will likely continue, since over half of U.S. teenagers use the medium to send upwards of fifty messages per day. Today's teenagers may eventually turn to instant messaging instead, but until then they seem to lead the way in brutally unvarnished texts.

How Texting Encourages Honesty, For Better or Worse originally appeared at Mobiledia on Mon May 21, 2012 10:28 am.

Kanye West talks a big game, but he's backing up the promise he made on Twitter to release a sci-fi short film on seven screens.

Meanwhile, A woman in India decided to divorce her husband based on his Facebook status, while in the U.S. a hapless Facebook user found his status "liked" by an unexpected number of people.

Steve Wozniak signed on to help Aaron Sorkin write about Steve Jobs in an upcoming movie, and Tyra Banks is turning to the Internet to revive interest in "America's Next Top Model."

Kanye Gears Up for Donda Film Debut

Kanye is debuting the movie at the Cannes Film Festival next week.

West first announced his intentions to create the film, as well as the Donda tech collective, on a semi-coherent Twitter rampage, so many people dismissed the idea as a passing whim. The film, called "Cruel Summer," will premiere on May 24-25, and admission is free at Cannes with an RSVP.

It is set in 2016 and, according to its press release, it is inspired by the upcoming G.O.O.D. Music album of the same name.

Facebook Privacy Snafu Inspires Laughs

Ross Brah, a Facebook user who clearly doesn't understand his privacy settings, got the surprise of his life when over 118,000 people "liked" one of his statuses.

This wasn't the work of an ImprovEverywhere troupe, but rather a genuine viral incident. Brah's Facebook status, which contained salty language, questioned how people with whom he had no mutual friends could "like" his status.

Apparently it tickled the fancy of a sizable portion of the Facebook community, because within days the number of people "liking" his status grew exponentially. Hopefully this inspires users to make sure they know how their privacy settings function.

Woz to Advise on Sorkin's Steve Jobs Movie

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is supposedly acting as an advisor for the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic penned by "The Social Network" screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. Wozniak will function as an expert on both Jobs and the technical aspects of his rise to fame.

Sorkin told reporters he does not plan on writing a straightforward biopic, but he's not certain exactly what approach he is going to take while writing the film.

As long as he doesn't cast Ashton Kutcher, he'll probably make fans happier than the minds behind the rival Steve Jobs biopic, "Steve Jobs: Get Inspired," an independent film already in production.

"America's Next Top Model" Turns to Online Voting

For the 19th season of "America's Next Top Model," the audience will vote online, the first time the modeling competition will let viewers weigh in on the winner.

After so many seasons, the show is likely looking for a new way to appeal to its Internet-savvy target demographic.

Several cast members from "ANTM" will not join Tyra Banks for the upcoming season, including longtime judges Nigel Barker, J. Alexander and Jay Manuel, so the show may be trying to win back fans unhappy with the shakeup.

Indian Woman Blames Facebook for Divorce

A woman in India filed divorce papers based on her husband's Facebook profile, citing how her husband kept his Facebook relationship status set to 'Single' as a primary reason for the marriage's nullification.

The couple was only married for two months, and the man insists he simply forgot to update his Facebook page amidst wedding preparations.

The woman, an IT professional, sought to divorce her husband in family court, but the judge was not convinced by her reasoning, and ordered the couple to undergo six months of therapy.

The Chat Room: Kanye's Movie Is Really Happening originally appeared at Mobiledia on Fri May 18, 2012 3:46 pm.

Facebook's (NASDAQ: FB) stock started trading for $38 a share, giving the company around $16 billion on opening day. Here's why you should care:

1. It Will Affect Your Privacy

Facebook is an enormously popular website, but how will it translate that popularity into money for investors? The social media giant's biggest asset is its wide collection of personal information, and though the company probably isn't going to risk alienating its user base by doing anything too extreme, it is likely to try to find a way to dip into that resource to increase profits.

As Rep. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) explained, "To respond to the demands of profit-hungry shareholders, Facebook will be under increasing pressure to squeeze revenue from its most valuable asset -- the vast treasure trove of personal information it's collected on users."

But don't worry too much -- any attempts to capitalize on personal information will meet intense scrutiny from lawmakers and consumer groups.

2. It Means More Ads

One of the perceived weaknesses of Facebook's stock stems from the company's inability to monetize its mobile platform. Facebook has yet to find a way to deliver ads to its mobile users, but that is likely to change due to pressure from investors.

Unlike the privacy issue, where any major attempts to plumb the company's data stockpile will almost certainly be met by consumer outrage and legal scrutiny, adding ads to the site is unquestionably legal and probably not going to deter users from logging in, as long as Facebook doesn't adopt a plethora of obnoxious pop-ups.

But even if you aren't bombarded by flashing pop-ups, this IPO will usher forward an era where Facebook is more ad-driven than ever before.

3. It Foreshadows Facebook's Entry Into the Paid-App Game

Besides amping up its ad revenue and possibly exploiting its data trove, Facebook may look to boost profits by introducing more opportunities for users to purchase apps and app ad-ons through a mobile payment system.

According to Bloomberg, Facebook's only source of non-ad revenue comes from people using "Facebook Credits" to buy stuff on FarmVille and other Zynga games. Only a small percentage of users make these purchases, but they still account for 18 percent of Facebook's revenue, suggesting the company has room to expand these services.

If Facebook can get a convenient mobile payment system up-and-running, similar to iTunes or the App Store, it could considerably boost profits.

4. You'll Get a Raw Deal Buying Individual Shares

Wait, you mean you aren't a millionaire trader, but you still want to buy into Facebook? People lining up for individual shares will likely get the short end of the stick, as Facebook is allocating its stocks primarily to "prestige clients," or investment institutions. People who are thinking about dipping their toe in the market because they're fans of Facebook may have to pay more for individual shares, and they will have a hard time getting hold of a substantial amount of the stock.

As stock market analyst Mark Wolff explains, "The IPO allocation is an elite lottery system, where people who don't need to win are invited to play." Meaning: if you want to strike it rich through Facebook, you'll have a hard time getting enough of the stock to do so.

5. You Just Might Make a Fortune... or Lose It All

If you're in a position to buy the stock through a fund, like The Global X Social Media Fund, you may be able to get a bigger chunk than you would if you tried to buy it on your own. That will only make you a fortune if the stock ascends, of course.

You can also tamp down your Facebook-fervor and wait it out, assessing how the stock does over time (and possibly saving money so you can afford a larger purchase) before throwing down for a portion. Then again, tech stocks are notoriously volatile. Will Facebook still be around in five years? Who knows.

5 Reasons Facebook's IPO Matters to You originally appeared at Mobiledia on Fri May 18, 2012 1:54 pm.