September 9, 2009 • 9:00 am
As social media continues to play a bigger role in mainstream culture, we once again assess if we’re actually sharing too much information online. Jennifer Maderazo, in an article she wrote two years ago, Are We Sharing Too Much Information via Social Media?, says “for all of its positive points, social media might also entice users (including me) into lowering our guard and sharing too much of ourselves with an audience of unknown observers”. She explains how the question “What are you doing?“, a statement used on family and friends is nearing its obsolescence in utility because people broadcast, for the whole world to see-what they do, think about or feel online all the time. Even if not everyone in your personal or professional network use social networks, the sheer number of those who do makes you think if social networking is a platform people patronize that exchanges privacy for the sheer pleasure of getting attention.
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Filed under: Networks, Social Media , Big Brother, Internet Privacy, Online Sharing, Public Eyes, social networking, Social Networks
September 2, 2009 • 8:45 am
Now that there are more ways for employees to casually interact online, companies cites an increasing risk of exposing sensitive data to the general public. A recent study shows a more than 10% increase in the number of companies “impacted by the exposure of sensitive or embarrassing information.” Although email is still the number one source of data leaks, social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, blogs and Twitter contribute to the risk of company employees divulging proprietary and confidential information online.
Aside from the technological aspect, the current economic state brings risks to companies’ data concerns. Data leakage caused by the recession have been attributed to layoffs, budget constraints and resignations.
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Filed under: Information, Networks , Company Security, Data Leakage, Privacy Issues, Social Media
August 31, 2009 • 8:45 am
Since top universities like MIT and Berkeley have integrated Open Source into their learning programs, even making some courses available for free, the debate continues as to the necessity, value and effectiveness of open source software on non-commercial applications.
But just like Linux revolutionizing the OS market, open source software can bring about a transformative impact on the way knowledge is shared, developed and nurtured in any academic setting. The benefits the new technology can bring ranges from reduction of school’s administrative costs to enhanced electronic interaction between teacher and students.
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Filed under: Information, Innovation, Networks , Academic Innovation, Knowledge Sharing, MIT, Open Source
August 25, 2009 • 8:45 am
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon, MIT and the networking company Akamai suggests companies that run large data centers can potentially save millions by utilizing an Internet-routing algorithm that moves data where electricity costs are lowest at a particular time. Based on their findings, when considering the cost of rerouting information is compared from possible savings from lower energy costs, experts found that companies can cut 40% of their energy consumption.
There are still concerns in the actual reduced energy consumption and emission that energy-routing systems can bring. According to Jonathan Koomey, a Lawrence Berkeley National Scientist, “”The trick is to be able to control these systems well enough and to create controls that are cheap enough to be able to take advantage of the arbitrage opportunity available from differential electricity prices, without affecting reliability or latency”.
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Filed under: Innovation, Networks , Data Centers, Energy Reduction, Internet Technology
From NYT.com
There’s a theme emerging here in Las Vegas at the CTIA conference: Add mobile data capability to absolutely everything, including video cameras and the human body.
That quasi-science-fiction notion is being tossed around at the show by mainstream companies like Qualcomm and AT&T. At a lunch for the press and industry analysts on Thursday, AT&T discussed its new “emerging devices” division, which is working on wireless applications for consumer electronics devices, including game machines, electronic book readers and video and still cameras.
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Filed under: Information, Market Research, Networks, Science , Innovation, Network, Technology
February 17, 2009 • 5:22 am
From NYT
The cellphone is the world’s most ubiquitous computer. The four billion cellphones in use around the globe carry personal information, provide access to the Web and are being used more and more to navigate the real world. And as cellphones change how we live, computer scientists say, they are also changing how we think about information.
It has been 25 years since the desktop, with its files and folders, was introduced as a way to think about what went on inside a personal computer. The World Wide Web brought other ways of imagining the flow of data. With the dominance of the cellphone, a new metaphor is emerging for how we organize, find and use information. New in one sense, that is. It is also as ancient as humanity itself. That metaphor is the map.
“The map underlies man’s ability to perceive,” said Richard Saul Wurman, a graphic designer who was a pioneer in the use of maps as a generalized way to search for information of all kinds before the emergence of the online world.
Filed under: Information, Innovation, Marketing, Networks, Science , Cell, Innovation, Maps, Mobile
February 5, 2009 • 5:13 am
From AdWeek
It may seem like Google always has been the search engine of choice. There was a time, though, when AltaVista, Lycos and Yahoo ruled the roost in the late-1990s, only to see Google blow past them. A new survey by Forrester Research concludes that such a turnabout could happen again, despite the solid and growing lead Google maintains in the search market. It found that brand loyalty to search engines is quite low. That coupled with the lowest of switching costs makes the still nascent search market an open playing field, the researcher concludes.
Over half of respondents said they search using multiple engines. Just 20 percent use Google exclusively. Yahoo is the exclusive engine for 8 percent, AOL by 3 percent and MSN a piddling 1 percent. Forrester surveyed more than 4,800 U.S. online adults about their search habits. Their activity was self-reported, not observed.
Google has built a sizable lead in attracting searchers, which has in turn made it into an Internet advertising powerhouse. Microsoft last year tried to close the gap with a deal to acquire Yahoo, only to have it fall apart after Yahoo resisted.
According to comScore, Google sites generated 85 billion searches in 2008, accounting for 90 percent of the growth in queries last year. Forrester’s self-reported data tracks Google’s share of searchers at 59 percent, up from 41 percent three years ago.
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Filed under: Information, Market Research, Networks , Google, Search
Something you should read:
On Ideasonideas.com Eric Karjaluoto writes:
I have a theory. It could prove incorrect or even shortsighted, nevertheless, it’s a bet I’m willing to make. I think businesses on the web are going to get a lot smaller. In the web world, we’re currently experiencing the fallout of the second of two tidal waves. The next one, however, will be slower, more distributed, and come with far less of a shock.
Panning for gold
The last two surges have been exciting at times and harrowing at others. I’d characterize it as largely bulimic, contrasting ridiculous excesses against severe slashing. The most recent web gold-rush perhaps didn’t seem as profoundly exaggerated as the first, but it was still founded on the notion of endless wealth and massive payouts. Hence, many people started small companies in their garages with hopes that their operations would gain traction and ultimately be purchased by the one of the big guys.
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Filed under: Information, Innovation, Networks , ideas, Innovation, Internet
