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Monday, February 3, 2014

Oh the places you'll go and the stories your can can tell about htem

The main problem with the current state of in-car, location-based services is that they aren't required to notify consumers. It's possible that some motorists are completely unaware of who uses their location data, and how. Also, for four out of the six automakers, customers do not have the option to request that their historical data be erased. (The "right to be forgotten" is included in the EU’s data protection laws and recommended by the GAO.) Read more in 

In-Car Tracking: We Know Where You've Been



Tuesday, January 28, 2014

3D printing brings the stars to the blind

Discussions of big data often touch on the challenge of visualization. An even greater challenge, though, is rendering the data into something that is comprehensible to people who have to use senses other than sight.

3D printing brings the stars to the visually impaired by rendering Hubble's images into tactile form.
Read more in 

Reaching for the Stars With 3D Printing

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Keeping your identity

Clones, robots, alien shapeshifters, or disembodied consciousness take over people's identities in shows such as Star Trek and Doctor Who. They can then take over the lives of the people they've duplicated, particularly when they have access to their memories. How can anyone defend himself when he can't tell friend from foe?

In real life, most of us don't fear having someone else show up in person claiming to be us. But we are concerned about identity theft. Our digital world makes it all too easy for the bad guys to hack into personal information posted online, as well as financial information that we can think is secure. The cost of identity theft can be huge when hackers get access to our credit cards, debit cards, and bank accounts.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Cellphone tracking: a matter of protection or loss of privacy?

With the right equipment, anyone can trace where we are through our phones. Whether and how this technology is used has been a source of controversy for years.
One of the latest flare-ups is police use of Stingrays. In this context, it's not a type of fish but the brand name of an International Mobile Subscriber Identity tracking device.
Read more in 

Cellphone Tracking: Protection vs. Privacy

Glassdoor



Glassdoor, once known primarily as a site for salary information and an insider's peek into corporate culture, has grown by building up its job search features, putting it squarely in competition with the better-known LinkedIn. That could be good news for job seekers and employees who want salary bumps or better benefits.
Read more here:IIn Glassdoor vs. LinkedIn, Employees Win

Monday, December 16, 2013

Written in the meta-data

Is it possible to identify an individual’s romantic partner on the basis of his/her social networks alone? That’s the question Jon Kleinberg, a computer scientist at Cornell University and Eric Bakstrom, a senior engineer from Facebook, teamed up to answer. After analyzing millions of Facebook data points, they came up with an affirmative response in Romantic Partnerships and the Dispersion of Social Ties: A Network Analysis of Relationship Status on Facebook -- they assert the answer is yes with a 60% probability. 

Read more in Your Romantic Attachments as Predicted by Metadata

Monday, December 2, 2013

Students on camera -- not for security

We have technology that can use cCameras in Class: Insight vs. Privacy
ameras in the classroom for analysis of lessons. What do you think? Learn more about the concept of  EngageSense in