Shocking revelation about Digital Copiers and Data Theft

Image by TranceMist via Flickr

... As he says, ”The type of information we see on these machines with the social security numbers, birth certificates, bank records, income tax forms… would be very valuable.” - Digital copiers - a privacy and security timebomb, Kim Cameron's Identity Weblog.

Apparently, every digital copier made after 2002 has a hard drive that stores an image of every document copied, scanned, or emailed by the machine: if you think of the stuff you copy...

If you run a business, it might be a good idea not to sell your copier, right, think what is inside it, and it ends up at China or somewhere!

Please read more here.

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The Trading of information

Image via Wikipedia

Pushing the boundaries of Twitter:

"Earlier today, convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by a Utah firing squad; the first execution of its kind in the United States in 14 years. Shortly before that, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff announced it with a couple of tweets.

One of them read: “I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner’s execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims.” Earlier, he tweeted: “A solemn day. Barring a stay by Sup Ct, & with my final nod, Utah will use most extreme power & execute a killer. Mourn his victims. Justice.”"

- Mashable

The mark of a civic society is the self-restraint it shows in public behaviour. Twitter might be a great tool for communication, but announcements made on matters of life and death in such an anonymous media that fosters intimacy not through shared memories, but the trading of information, seems inappropriate to me. I think what we have here is the result of misplaced priorities where information is divorced from its context.

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The Passion of a Connected World

Image via Wikipedia

"People used to talk about boredom as though it were a thing, not a mood—a sort of physical object. It “descended” on you. You “escaped” from it, you “fled” it. Or you “dispelled” it, as though it were a fog. This wasn’t always easy to do; sometimes the boredom was just too thick, too “heavy.”

Boredom Is Extinct - Magazine - The Atlantic

There have been some posts in this blog lately, linking to the distracting influences of social media, and this is just another one in that line. Walter Kirn has a short incisive piece at The Atlantic which takes a look at this question, and decides may be we have lost some of our creativity, but Twitter, Facebook, iPad, Blackberry and more such technologies have liberated us from boredom.

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Roger Ebert has written a great article, "Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!", which makes you feel no matter what they say, Twitter definitely is a force for the good. I found it moving, obviously he is writing from the heart, and he owes up that he is addicted to Twitter, and actively looks for stuff to tweet about. He also outlines his basic rules of tweeting-

"My rules for Twittering are few: I tweet in basic English. I avoid abbreviations and ChatSpell. I go for complete sentences. I try to make my links worth a click. I am not above snark, no matter what I may have written in the past. I tweet my interests, including science and politics, as well as the movies. I try to keep links to stuff on my own site down to around 5 or 10%. I try to think twice before posting."

It is obvious that Ebert is not doing this to escape boredom or loneliness, this is a passion that has found expression in tiny bits of information.

Whether the internet is a distracting, destructive phenomenon does not seem to be as big a question as it was- but I am sure of this- people who are creative and love to communicate make best use of it. Internet seems to focus their interests into a body of work that not only stands alone by itself, but also actively helps them seek and engage the people they are addressing. It is like a conversation that has matured into a lecture. 

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Pinker on the Plastic Brain

Image by Ben Lawson via Flickr

"Experience does not revamp the basic information-processing capacities of the brain. Speed-reading programs have long claimed to do just that, but the verdict was rendered by Woody Allen after he read “War and Peace” in one sitting: “It was about Russia.” -Op-Ed Contributor - Mind Over Mass Media - NYTimes.com

In an incisive article, Steven Pinker argues that the plasticity of the brain proves nothing for or against the supposed distracting influences of social media. In fact, if anything, they make it easier for us to find information. It takes huge amount of training to think to a purpose, and the increasingly available modes of networked information is no deterrence to analytic thinking.

A good point, it seems to me, against the line of thinking that that says internet corrodes the brain.

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Edward Hugh, Blogger.

“I am meeting all sorts of interesting people and they are paying me to have lunch with them.”
Edward Hugh, 61, "Blog Prophet of Euro Zone Doom" - NYTimes.com

Edward Hugh is an inspiration to all bloggers, if he is not yet, should be. Self educated economist who wrote reasoned posts that predicted why Euro zone is unsustainable, is now no recluse- he is respected, and the IMF has called for his assistance to analyse the Spanish Economy.

So if you get a feeling that you are flogging a dead horse in a dead world, your time might yet come: just keep doing what you are best at, and give it all you can.

A Nation of Bloggers

The most important news and commentary to read right now. - The Slatest - Slate Magazine:

A bit late sharing this, but Jobs' statement never sounded so right as now:

"... Jobs came out in favor of paid newspaper content, warning, 'I don't want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers.' 'We need editorial more than ever right now,' Jobs added. 'Anything that we can do to help the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal find new ways of expression so they can afford to get paid, so they can afford to keep their editorial operations intact, I'm all for it.'"

Google

Whoo! Almost missed this: Google celebrates 30 years of Pac-Man

Unlike other Google Logos, this one is actually playable.

via ReadWriteWeb

Facebook Privacy

For those of us who are worried about our privacy on Facebook, Lifehacker has two great links:

There is an article which shows you how to find how much of your privacy is made public by Facebook. That article was published some time back.

But today, Lifehacker has published an article which links to a bookmarklet which, at a click addresses your Facebook privacy concerns.

This should be useful.

Lazyfeed: the Maximum Exposure Feed Reader for Bloggers.

In case, you've noticed, I don't give more than two or three tags to my post, because I feel too many tags make the cloud look messy. But look here- lots. That is because of Lazyfeed.

I am the kind of person who hates chaos, and wants to keep things under control. Lazyfeed gives me a reason to break the pattern- you just can't keep anything in control when you use Lazyfeed as your RSS aggregator.

I think a brief introduction to Lazyfeed is in order: unlike other aggregators, Lazyfeed brings you feeds by tags- now you know, don't you!- I want this post to get into Lazyfeed through many windows, so multiple tags.

And that is the reason bloggers should help Lazyfeed find its feet: it is relatively new with its redesigned user interface, and it could do with your support: and you could do with its.

There are only two ways for me to get into your feed reader: either you subscribe to this blog, or in case you use Google Reader or Netvibes, I follow you and hope that you follow me back and read my feed.

But with Lazyfeed, there is hundred percent chance that everyone who has subscribed to the tag that you add to your post will get a chance to see it. For bloggers, this should be a godsend. This sort of random exposure is likely to earn you a good amount of readers if your blog is any good.

So, I hope Lazyfeed finds strength. The more people sign up, the better it is for us.

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That is just one reason. Lazyfeed is a sort of misnomer, it is busy. Imagine you have subscribed to just about ten or twelve tags, like, social media, twitter, friendfeed, facebook and so on- and consider the amount of writing that is given these tags: there is no way you can keep track of all the posts that are generated all over the web. They all come into Lazyfeed. And it lets you subscribe to any number of tags you want to. Chaos.

I hated it in the beginning: before I could finish reading a post, three more would have come in. It was stressful, and frustrating. My feed reader is Google Reader- it is as static as static can be. Lazyfeed is nothing like it- if Reader is a docudrama, Lazyfeed is a disney film.

Don't think of Lazyfeed as a feed reader- no matter what they say. It is more like Luckyfeed. Because there are literally thousands of posts streaming into your feed everyday. What happens is that you get to read some of the feeds that get updated in realtime while you are at Lazyfeed, and it is your luck that decides what you get to read.

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Sounds crazy, right? But not so. Many of us haven't heard of RSS, and of those who have, there are many who hate feed readers. It doesn't look right for them. And here is Lazyfeed, trying to turn the basic purpose of feed reader on its head: I use my reader to keep track of blogs and news, Lazyfeed would have none of it. It is a stream, and you go fishing, and there are lots of fish out there, just cast your net- you are sure to come up with what you want.

It works, actually.

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So, I'd like you to sign up at Lazyfeed. If you are a blogger, you should- because it gives you and me and people like us greater exposure than what we've got till now. And if Lazyfeed thrives, it works better for us. So, support Lazyfeed, no question about that.

And then, if you don't have a blog, but post on Twitter and Facebook, Lazyfeed will help you find and share good stuff. You can connect your accounts to Lazyfeed, and update them with a couple of clicks.

Here are my suggestions on how to use Lazyfeed:

• Don't try to read every update in every feed. Relax and enjoy the reading experience. If you have subscribed to the tags that interest you, chances are that, you will get more than what you have bargained for.
• There is a way to get around the randomness, though. If you 'bookmark" (subscribe) to the posts (shared items) of the people who share your interest, you'll get to look at what they have shared: this works like curated content. For instance, if you subscribe to that of thirty people who share content on Social media, there is no way you'll miss anything important. In fact, whatever is important, you are certain to get by way of your friends.

And I'd like Lazyfeed to enable these two things at least:

• Give an RSS feed to my posts and let me do whatever I want to with it- may be I'll autopost it to Tumblr, or use Twitterfeed to post to Twitter at regular intervals (if I share from Lazyfeed to Twitter on realtime, my followers will get about twenty links in one hour! They are sure to hate me for it)
• Merge all my Bookmarks (Subscriptions to shared content on Lazyfeed) into a single stream. The way it is now, I have to click every one of them individually to view them one after another. Too much work for a lazy man. Fact is, most of us will spend less than a hour on Lazyfeed- it is hateful that there is no way to catch up with what has passed through during the rest of the day. Curated content, stuff by way of shared items, which you can access by timeline, is a way out to ensure that you miss out on nothing.

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In case you wonder, I am not quitting Google Reader- I've gotten used to it, and it is too valuable for me in many ways- but I'll look to use Lazyfeed a lot more, especially for the innovative design of the user interface. It is drastically different from Reader.

Do sign up at Lazyfeed, it is likely to change the way we use feed readers. May be everybody has been doing it the wrong way, and that is the reason it has not taken off, and Lazyfeed is on to something momentous: it could bring in the paradigm shift that RSS needs.

Spy Software monitors every photo and mail in your Blackberry

It seems a highly impossible ask, but apparently if you have the right spyware, you can view every mail and photo received/ sent from a Blackberry!-

BlackBerry Spy Software Unleashes Email and Photo Monitoring -- JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 27 /PRNewswire/ --:

"Retina-X Studios, LLC announced today new logging features for their Mobile Spy monitoring software for BlackBerry smartphones. The silent spy program now includes the ability to view every photo captured and every email sent or received. These new abilities help parents and employers track the activities of their monitored phones with greater accuracy."

Here is why you do this: How To Secretly Track BlackBerry Phones
:

"Track cheating spouse: For a spouse who suspects their partner is cheating, using software that enables them to track their partner is a key tool many use to uncovering their partner's infidelity. With a BlackBerry spy app used as a tracking device, spouses not only get to see where their parter is, but they can also dig a bit deeper into their partner's BlackBerry, reading their messages, viewing photos, and even secretly listen in on their partner's surroundings to find out what they are doing.

Track employees. Gone are the days of bulky GPS tracking devices installed in company provided cars. Now employers can easily track their employees via their company issued BlackBerry cell phones. Using BlackBerry tracking software, an employer can not only track their employees movements, but can also track their employees once they leave their cars. This might raise eyebrows, but this could be required for company safety policies, and/or to locate missing employees."

Apart from the ethics of this, and the possibility, does anyone actually feel the need to do snoop?

Sadly, yes, even in a close relationship: "Should You Use Technology to Catch a Cheating Spouse?":-

"Retrevo.com, a consumer electronics shopping and review site, recently polled 1,000 U.S. residents of varying age, gender, income and location to see whether they have ever spied on their significant other's e-mail. The results showed that 38 percent of those under 25 who are in a dating relationship have "snooped." Ten percent of the spies in that age group discovered the other person was unfaithful.

Retrevo's study found that 36 percent of people in committed relationships have spied on a partner's e-mail and call logs. Of those, only 3 percent found incriminating evidence."

 These are the times we live in- every technology brings with it great freedoms, and greater threats with it.

Facebook Like Button- make better use of it

This is old news: Facebook has added a Like button. I have a hunch that you'll find it everywhere soon, and we'll use it more often. There might be a few readers of this blog who are not aware of this, so I am posting what essentially are a couple of links.

If you want to add Facebook like button to your blog, Digital Inspiration shows you how.

And you'll find some blogs and websites don't have the Facebook Like button. There is a handy bookmarklet that you can keep on your browser- Like-o-matic. Just drag this to your browser and click it when you like any post or page: the Facebook Like icon will load and if you are logged into your Facebook account, you can share it with your Facebook friends by clicking the Like icon. The Bookmarklet is here, made by Kyle Bragger.

Note: In Blogger, the like button is likely to be hidden by the Blogger sidebar that is above the header of your blog (somewhere around the searchbox on top left of the Blogger Bar)

Another Strike for Social Media.

Conn. mayor donates kidney to Facebook friend - Yahoo! News

"Capone Almon, 35, had more than 1,600 "friends" on Facebook last year when she saw one of them, Carlos Sanchez, post a status update saying his friends and relatives had all been tested and couldn't donate a kidney."

The wonder of it is that Capone Almon is a politician and Carlos Sanchez, her constituent. And they got acquainted through Facebook.

Another strike for Social Media. I shall mail this to my socmedsceptic friend.

The Governmental worries about Data (Google Data)

Techcrunch reports this, "Google Exposes The Countries That Annoy Them The Most About Privacy":

Google has apparently built up a page which gives you information on the names and numbers of governments that request of them data and data deletion: sorry to say this, India ranks fourth on data requests and third on removal requests. But then, given our population and the security situation, may be, there is some justification for it.

The Uses of Twitter

A friend of mine is doubtful about the virtues of Twitter, not realised that it is a tool made serviceable by the user- here's someone who makes better use of it-

1. A subgroup N of G is normal if g^{-1}Ng = N for all g in G.about 15 hours ago via HootSuite
2. If 2^p - 1 is prime, 2^{p-1}(2^p - 1) is an even perfect number. Euclid, Prob IX.36.11:30 AM Apr 16th via HootSuite

Algebra Fact (AlgebraFact) on Twitter

Linked Pages in Blogger

I started this blog to make use of this particular feature, pages that work as tabs- Blogger now gives you the chance to have your posts displayed in tabs. What this means is that you can now group your posts into categories, and display them as tabs- and, also, provide RSS for each of them.

I wanted this feature, because I post too indiscriminately: and it makes sense to display them in particular categories, and have people reading only what they want to.

I learnt all about setting up tabs here- "How to get Tabs (navigation bar) on new blogger templates". It is incredibly simple.

And then, I should thank Giri for the idea of grouping posts under a particular label, and display them as tabs.

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I had suspended posting in We Belong Here, mainly because it had become too unwieldy after more than seven hundred and fifty posts. There's a blog I have set up in Tamil on Wordpress, ப்ளீஸ், ஒரு நிமிஷம் வெயிட் பண்ணுங்க…, and it had what I needed. I am now happy that I could do the same here in English and in Blogger.

I could have carried on in the old blog, but as I said, that one has become too unwieldy- because my idea is to have categories and people having the chance to choose to read only one or two of them. I could've done it there, but this seems like turning a new page. Let's see how it goes.