What Criteria Do You Apply Before Adding or Deleting Someone On Facebook?

December 27, 2011

New survey data from NM Incite shows what motivates us to add – or drop – friends on Facebook.

Why add someone? The most common reason is that you already know them. The most common reason to dump someone is offensive comments.

Some recent news articles – How Facebook Can Hurt Your Credit Rating, Privacy Fades in Facebook Era, and the recent FTC ruling against Facebook, Facebook Settles FTC Charges That It Deceived Consumers By Failing To Keep Privacy Promises – plus a new 30 minute school curriculum piece I just finished for ikeepcurrent may give you even more reasons to be selective when evaluating potential friends – because what they post may not only be rude, irritating or depressing, it may also harm your future.

Linda

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Posted by Linda Criddle

Facebook Dominates Social Networking, Garnering 95% of Consumers Social Networking Time

December 26, 2011

Social networking is all but synonymous with Facebook according to new an analysis of comScore data and charted by web publisher Ben Elowitz of Wetpaint.

The service commands 95% of all social networking time, a remarkable feat essentially accomplished in just 4 ½ years.

Facebook’s fortunes took off when the disastrous mismanagement of MySpace, horrific lapses in privacy and safety features (think of the news stories of early 2009 when MySpace had to acknowledge removing 90,000 convicted sex offenders) and tawdry ads placed on user’s pages disgusted their user base and marketers alike.

How much has Facebook learned from MySpace’s foibles?

While Facebook has largely avoided the label of being a haven for sexual predators, they have been slow to provide consumer with customer support or assistance, and they have trampled consumer privacy so many times that last month’s FTC charges against the company for deceiving consumers by failing to keep their privacy policies is but one incident in a long line of penalties and fines Facebook has faced for their practices. Of note is the $9 million dollar fine levied by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner’s office in 2009, the Facebook Buzz debacle, and the current demand by European countries for changes, see Europeans calls on Facebook to adapt data-privacy changes to comply with local laws.

It is tempting to believe that Facebook is an unstoppable juggernaut, but that may change if another, more respectful alternative comes along.

Linda

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Tech Use on College Campuses – 60% of Students Say they Wouldn’t Attend a School that Doesn’t have Free WiFi

December 22, 2011

It’s not news that this generation of college students is wired, but just how wired they are – and when they want face-time – can be seen in a new infographic showing research into technology use and preferences on campuses.

Asked which single website or online resource they couldn’t live without, only 3% picked Facebook, while 11% said Wikipedia and 36% said Google.

As for the most important software and applications for college students? Unsurprisingly, word processors are the most vital to 76% of students, but email came in second with 66% of students – so much for the theories that youth aren’t emailing. Scan the infographic to learn more….

Technology Use on the College campus
Via: Online Colleges Guide

Linda

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Giving Technology This Season? Use McAfee’s 10 Tips to Keeping Devices Safe

December 21, 2011

Tech items are wish-list toppers again this year, and if you’re among the millions planning on giving devices, don’t forget to include the safety, privacy and security tools and education that are needed to ensure the recipient is protected. This festive tip sheet from McAfee helps identify areas to think about.

Linda

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Most Users with Free Android Antivirus Scanners aren’t Protected

November 30, 2011

Many free AV apps exist for the Android market but new comparisons by AV-TEST, a globally recognized security institute out of Germany, uncovered sobering security failures when they took the AV products through their paces.

The products to come out best were for-pay services from “Kaspersky and F-Secure, which detected at least 50% of all malware samples already in inactive state.”

Among the free options “Zoner AntiVirus Free was best with 32% detected malicious apps. All other scanners detected at best 10% of the apps; some didn’t detect anything at all.” Commenting on the results AV-Test said, ‘the circulation of obviously near to useless security apps endangers those, who trust them.’

AV-TEST’s test results are shocking, particularly as the advice given by security experts is that all smartphone users need anti-malware software in place. Yet those who diligently installed one of these free programs, has an entirely false sense of security.

The program with the lion’s share of installations is Antivirus Free by Creative Apps who, along with GuardX Antivirus and LabMSF Antivirus beta, failed to identify any malware in either the manual or real-time on installation scan.

Not only should these ineffectual products be purged from the Android market, there should be a howl of protest from consumers insisting that apps claiming to protect consumers actually do so – and be required to show how well they protect in their descriptions.

Below are two tables from the research, click here to read the entire report.

Linda

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Top Tips to Avoid Malicious Apps

November 28, 2011

17.7 billion mobile apps are estimated to be downloaded in 2011 (a 115% increase from 2010). By 2012, mobile apps are projected to generate more than $15 billion in app store revenues from end-users alone, according to “Forecast: Mobile Application Stores, Worldwide, 2008-2015,” by Gartner.

“As the application market continues to boom, users should be more cautious that they know what they’re installing,” said Lawrence Pingree, Gartner analyst. “For example, they should only install applications from trusted sources and ensure that permissions match up with the respective application’s core features. Anti-malware protection will also go a long way in helping to ensure the user’s mobile device has the latest protection.”

To help consumers stay safer when selecting mobile apps to download, McAfee has just released their Top Five Tips to Avoid Bad Apps.

These include:

  1. Although smartphone malware is remains a relatively low threat compared to malware targeting PCs; being aware that it exists is the first step toward protecting yourself and your data.
  2. Always research any app and its publisher and check the ratings before downloading – you’re safer if you install apps that are broadly used or are recommended by friends or colleagues.
  3. Purchase from a well-known reputable app store market. For Android users, avoid installation of non-market applications by de-selecting the “Unknown sources” option in the Applications Settings menu on your device. If the option is not listed, it means your mobile service provider has already done this for the user.
  4. When installing an app, pay attention to the list of permissions it wants to access the hardware and software on your device, like your contacts, camera and location. If it wants permissions for things the app doesn’t need, don’t install that app! For example, an alarm clock app shouldn’t need to access your contacts or have the ability to transmit that data from your device.
  5. Install antivirus software on your phone. Always install an antivirus program when you get a new mobile device – before you add any other apps.

“Maliciously modified apps have started to become more prevalent,” said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president, McAfee Labs. “Based on McAfee detections, we’ve seen approximately 200 malicious apps versus tens of thousands of good apps. However, with mobile devices becoming a targeted platform for malware, it’s becoming more common for cybercriminals to attempt to corrupt a legitimate app. The best advice for users is to be careful, protect the mobile device and the mobile apps that reside on the device.”

These are tips to live by.

To learn more about mobile threats, see my blogs It’s No Accident – Mobile Money and Mobile Malware Set to Go Big in 2011, McAfee Threat Predictions for 2011 – Mobile: Usage is rising in the workplace, and so will attacks, More Mobile Apps Caught Inappropriately Collecting User Info and Installing Malware and Twenty-Five New Malicious Apps on Android; 30,000 to 120,000 Users Affected.

Linda

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New Report Takes Serious Look at Education and Provides “A blueprint for teaching young children in a digital age”

November 26, 2011

If you have children, teach children, or need a qualified workforce, this report is an exciting read as it takes a research based, expert driven approach to practically solving the quagmire in our current educational system.  The following excerpts are taken directly from the report and the report’s overview as I could certainly not say it better:

In January 2010, the Cooney Center, in collaboration with the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute, convened a Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council… The Council’s eighteen members from academia, industry, and policy assessed current practices in early education and elementary school teaching and have designed a professional development “blueprint” to advance the use of effective digital media in teaching and learning, with a special emphasis on instruction for underserved students.

To date, the wave of technological change currently transforming adult life, work, and leisure time communication has totally failed to help revolutionize formal learning. In fact, in some parts of the United States’ education system — in particular among preschool children — the need to limit technology and media consumption has defined professional practice for the past two decades.

This report, Take a Giant Step, represents the Council’s multi-sector action plan to enhance teacher education and a higher quality, 21st century approach to the learning and healthy development of children in preschool and the primary grades.

The report sets forth several goals for the nation to meet by 2020, including advancing technology integration and infrastructure; a more robust professional training program for early education professionals; the expanded use of public media as cost-effective assets for teachers; and the establishment of a Digital Teacher Corps.

Linda

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Report by the Institute of Medicine Highlights Risks with Unmonitored Health IT

November 24, 2011

Health IT

Technology has the potential to significantly improve healthcare while reducing costs, but there are two key stumbling blocks to the successful and safe implementation of these tools that have yet to be appropriately addressed.

The first stumbling block is one that has been a concern for some time – the privacy issues, around who can see and access the information, as well as the basic security of the information itself.
The second stumbling block has been laid out in a new report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) titled Health IT and Patient Safety – building Safer Systems for Better care.

Here are a few excerpts from the reporte:

“Health IT has clear and demonstrated potential to improve patient safety; it also can cause harm. Current literature is inconclusive regarding the overall impact of health IT on patient safety”

“Current market forces are not adequately addressing the potential risks associated with use of health IT”.

From the preface:

“Stories of patient injuries and deaths associated with health information technologies (health IT) frequently appear in the news, juxtaposed with stories of how health professionals are being provided monetary incentives to adopt the very products that may be causing harm. These stories are frightening, but they shed light on a very important problem and a realization that, as a nation, we must do better to keep patients safe.”

“The [IOM] committee was asked to review the evidence about the impact of health IT on patient safety and to recommend actions to be taken by both the private and public sectors. … We examined the peer-reviewed literature in depth and solicited examples of harm from the public… We found that specific types of health IT can improve patient safety under the right conditions, but those conditions cannot be replicated easily and require continual effort to achieve.

We tried to balance the findings in the literature with anecdotes from the field but came to the realization that the information needed for an objective analysis and assessment of the safety of health IT and its use was not available. This realization was eye-opening and drove the committee to consider ways to make information about the magnitude of the harm discoverable.

With between 44,000-98,000 lives lost every year due to medical errors in hospitals, the reports recommendation of creating an oversight agency that would investigate medical IT errors much like the way the National Transportation Safety Board investigates airplane crashes  makes a great deal of sense.

Linda

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Internet Word of the Month – Hackerazzi

October 18, 2011

The rapid evolution of new internet related words is nearly as fast as the development of new technologies making it a struggle to keep up – even for dictionaries. To help you stay up to speed with this new techno-lingo, here’s our second word-of-the-month.

This month’s word? Hackerazzi…..

Have fun incorporating it into your lexicon!

Linda

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Hotmail Adds More Spam Blocking and Management Features

October 16, 2011

Microsoft has announced plans to introduce better spam blocking functionality by the end of the year.  Building on the series of spam-fighting technologies the Hotmail team has already rolled out this year, Microsoft says the upcoming tools will target ““gray mail” – defined as email that isn’t necessarily spam, but it is email that you personally don’t want to receive.

New features include:

Changes to the Sweep feature. Sweep gave users the ability to move messages in bulk from one mailbox to another based on preset criteria. Now, you can schedule clean-ups and mass delete messages.

Better newsletter filtering.   A new filtering feature will automatically identify inbound newsletters and put them into a folder which can be deleted. Users can also leverage this feature to get removed from mailing lists and block additional newsletters by selecting Unsubscribe which triggers a Hotmail notification to the company asking them to remove you from their email list.

Enhanced folder management.  This feature will allow users to create and apply their own categories to individual email messages inline as opposed to the current two step process. Users will be able to right-click on a message to rename, delete, empty or mark as “unread.”

Better Housekeeping. Users will be able to set auto delete parameters on old emails  – like after 10, 20 or 30 days, and they will be able to choose whether to keep a whole thread of emails, or just the last message from the sender.

Keep high priority emails on top.  You will be able to flag messages and have them stay at the top of your inbox no matter how many new emails come in.

Make real-time choices. You will also be able to see buttons for common email tasks when you hover over a message. This allows you to delete, flag, sort, etc. in one step rather than two.  You will also be able to customize the buttons you see, or turn of the ‘Instant Action’ feature.

“Back in the day, Hotmail was the number one. But we lost our way a little bit. Gmail came on board, and suddenly we were getting things like storage all wrong, and not really focusing on users as much as we should, piping quite a few advertisements into Hotmail and not putting good enough controls around spam. We really are [now] focusing heavily on making the fundamentals — the non-glamorous stuff like spam protection, privacy, security and performance — are all best in class,” said Mark West, Microsoft product marketing manager for Windows Live, told ZDNet UK.

There’s something to look forward to.

Linda

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