Tarek Hoteit Notebook

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"Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application."

Labels: society, technology

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Labels: art, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Online social networks are changing the way people communicate, work and play, and mostly for the better, says Martin Giles"

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 1:06 AM | Permalink | Comments

"The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved Arabic domain names, giving the countries of Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates a chance to begin creating web addresses in their native languages…

"This marks a pivotal moment in the history of Internet domain names," says ICANN CEO and president Rod Beckstrom. "These international names will now allow people to type entire domain names in their own language."
By June, the four approved countries can request that local language addresses be included in domain names root systems that can be accessed by all Internet users.
The ICANN calls the move the biggest in over 40 years for the foundations of the Internet."

Labels: arab, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

"ScienceDaily (Jan. 16, 2010) — A consortium of European researchers, coordinated by the Computer Vision Centre (CVC) of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has developed HERMES, a cognitive computational system consisting of video cameras and software able to recognise and predict human behaviour, as well as describe it in natural language. The applications of the Hermes project are numerous and can be used in the fields of intelligent surveillance, protection of accidents, marketing, psychology, etc."

Labels: science, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:23 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Computer hackers this week said they had cracked and published the secret code that protects 80 per cent of the world’s mobile phones. The move will leave more than 3bn people vulnerable to having their calls intercepted, and could force mobile phone operators into a costly upgrade of their networks.

Karsten Nohl, a German encryption expert, said he had organised the hack to demonstrate the weaknesses of the security measures protecting the global system for mobile communication (GSM) and to push mobile operators to improve their systems. "

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:24 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Computer hackers this week said they had cracked and published the secret code that protects 80 per cent of the world’s mobile phones. The move will leave more than 3bn people vulnerable to having their calls intercepted, and could force mobile phone operators into a costly upgrade of their networks.

Karsten Nohl, a German encryption expert, said he had organised the hack to demonstrate the weaknesses of the security measures protecting the global system for mobile communication (GSM) and to push mobile operators to improve their systems. "

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Now researchers at The University of Nottingham, SRI International in Silicon Valley California, two Canadian universities -- Simon Fraser and York -- and online games developer Multiverse are to begin a new three-year international project examining online behaviour in virtual gaming environments.

The Virtual Environment Real User Study (Verus) will explore the relationships between the real-world characteristics of gamers and the individual activities and group dynamics of their avatars in online virtual worlds. Investigating how individuals interact within online environments will have many benefits."

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:21 AM | Permalink | Comments

"SENDING a text message is often the most time-consuming and expensive way to transfer data. Yet it remains popular not only in countries that use Latin-based languages, such as America, Britain and most of Europe, but also in China, Japan and most of Asia, where written languages often have much larger alphabets. Letting people send messages in these languages involves transliterating the text or, in some cases, developing new ways of reading what has been written."

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments

"(PhysOrg.com) -- Yale University researchers have devised a computer model to explain how the brain makes decisions based on statistical probabilities-as, for instance, when a doctor makes a diagnosis based on several conflicting test results."

Labels: science, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:01 AM | Permalink | Comments

"…Turning a profit through social networks involves unprecedented business savvy, and even the social network powerhouses like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube struggle with business models that can bring about a tangible return.

…

There is a sales potential to social networking, but profiting means reaching beyond the traditional business paradigm. Social networks enable new ways of reaching people, which can still be lucrative. Scholarship programs and non-profit programs are one example. "

Labels: media, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

"CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has begun making its national archives digitally available on the Internet in Arabic, having last month registered the world's first domain name in Arabic script."

Labels: middle east, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 3:57 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: science, society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Your day begins with a wake-up call from your Google Android phone. As you run to the shower, you hit Google News and check headlines, then Gmail. Your first appointment of the day has been moved to a new location; Google Maps will direct you there. Quickly update your expense report--including the printout of that sales presentation using, say, Google Template--and shoot them to the back office in India (in Hindi, if you prefer, with Google Translate). Your boss wants to discuss your group's contributions to some marketing documents? Lean on Google Groups. You're not even out the door yet. You have the rest of the day to search for work-critical information on the Web while you're at the office--to say nothing of snatching a few moments to download a game, check stock prices, organize your medical records, share photos and pick a restaurant and movie for the evening. How convenient.

And a little creepy, perhaps."

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Well, it's a good thing life comes with an unlimited data plan, as a recent study conducted by the University of California, San Diego has found that Americans consume plenty of gigabytes in the average day. Thirty-four gigabytes, to be specific, which translates to a grand total of of 3.6 zettabytes of information consumed by American households in 2008 (or 3.6 billion trillion bytes). Of course, that doesn't just consist of gigabytes "consumed" the traditional way, but instead encompasses everything from TV (still the leader by a wide margin) to phone calls to newspapers. In terms of time, the study found that Americans spent about 11.8 hours a day consuming information in one way or another, the majority of which was spent staring at a screen of some sort -- and, yes, they did take HD content into account, but its growth apparently hasn't yet resulted in a huge jump in data consumption."

Labels: society, technology, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Social media moves so fast, it's hard to keep up. Here are the week's top stories in scan-friendly format:

• Dell Tweets Itself $6.5 Million in Sales
• Because of Google, Watch What You Say On Facebook
• Social Networking Helps Win DARPA Balloon Challenge
• Twitter Opens Up Full Stream To All Developers, Has 50,000 Apps

"

Labels: media, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Children who blog, text or use social networking websites are more confident about their writing skills, according to the National Literacy Trust.

A survey of 3,001 children aged nine to 16 found that 24% had their own blog and 82% sent text messages at least once a month.

In addition 73% used instant messaging services to chat online with friends.

However, 77% still put real pen to paper to write notes in class or do their school homework.

Of the children who neither blogged nor used social network sites, 47% rated their writing as "good" or "very good", while 61% of the bloggers and 56% of the social networkers said the same.

"Our research suggests a strong correlation between kids using technology and wider patterns of reading and writing," Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, told BBC News."

Labels: education, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments

In a research for her healthcare management course at University of Dallas in Arlington, Mayssaloun Tay writes about social networking and healthcare.  Abstract is below and complete article is available at http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhfqpfcz_0gtfrpvgr

ABSTRACT

Healthcare organizations are progressively implementing a type of electronic health record system (EMR) to replace the traditional handwritten health record system. Reviews are mixed about this new electronic system, and both healthcare providers and patients complain that it does not serve its purpose as a collaborative tool. The EMR does not provide real time collaboration among the diverse group of healthcare providers nor does it allow patients to either communicate with their physicians or to access their health records. Healthcare givers and patients would like to see the development of a better healthcare community.

Two physicians, two nurses and an IT expert were interviewed for this research. They all welcomed the idea of having a type of a social network for healthcare that is secure, collaborative, easy to use and effective in the exchange and transfer of information.

Based on the success and popularity of Facebook as statistics show, the idea of suggesting a facebook-like social networking for the healthcare industry came into play. If implemented as a Facebook application or maybe as a stand-alone application, the healthcare social network would use a nationwide healthcare system that allows the electronic use and exchange of information.

Among the numerous benefits of healthcare social network, the system can serve as a marketing tool, a reputation management tool, an educational tool, and as a support group tool that helps improve the overall outcome of healthcare.

The research focuses on the issues facing the implementation of a facebook-like social networking for healthcare and ways to overcome the hurdles. The most notable issues include security, privacy, controlling as well managing content, and compliancy with HIPAA and federal regulations.

Technology is changing the way we do business every day, but healthcare organizations are still reluctant to embrace the new technology of social networking. The healthcare industry should look far into the future. Schoolchildren are tomorrow’s healthcare professionals and have already established their method of handling information socially and that is through online social networks. The healthcare industry must adapt and jump on the online social networking wagon.  

Mayssaloun Tay  - 11/17/2009

read complete article on http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhfqpfcz_0gtfrpvgr

Labels: science, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-banking/

Regards,
Tarek Hoteit
http://tarek.hoteit.org

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

Male and female shopping strategies show evolution at work in the mall http://bit.ly/88EC0n

sent via twitterfeed

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/physorg_com/status/6284801256

Regards,
Tarek Hoteit
http://tarek.hoteit.org

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The Internet and social-media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have given local governments and community groups unfettered access to deliver their message directly to constituents.

The only problem is, most people don’t seem to care and they aren’t listening.

Local governments have been able to attract only small audiences, ranging from a few dozen people to a few hundred."

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments

"A leading scientist from the University of Kent in the UK has warned that the e-mails can be wiped out within the next ten years due to the rise of social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter.

Professor David Zeitlyn has said that the social networking sites are becoming easier and accessible through the mobile. So, mailing messages through Instant Messaging or social networking sites is a good option to look for. Even, the celebrities and politicians are have been fans of those faster and interesting methods.

Professor Zeitlyn also noticed that the younger generation is more equipped with quick and smart services like IM and social networking.

Professor Zeitlyn says, “Email took 20 years to develop into the phenomenon it is now, but could take just half as long to die out again.”

However, not everyone is not of the same opinion with Professor Zeitlyn.

Dan Grabham from TechRadar says, “Email won't completely die off - it'll probably still be used for some important purposes such as sending crucial files to someone particular.”"

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

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Labels: religion, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 3:53 AM | Permalink | Comments

"MUMBAI—In the furthest reaches of India's rural heartland, the cellphone is bringing something that television, radio and even newspapers couldn't deliver: Instant access to music, information, entertainment, news and even worship.

Despite its rapid modernization, many of India's 750,000 villages remain isolated except for the cellphone reception that now blankets almost the entire country after a decade of rapid expansion by operators. So in villages that don't receive any FM radio stations, people have begun calling a number that has a recording of Bollywood tunes and listening to it on their headsets. "

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments

"ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2009) — Natural history plans to chart life on earth, yet the discipline risks being buried under a landslide of painstakingly collected data that isn't always used. Now researchers at London's Natural History Museum have created a social networking tool called 'Scratchpads' where natural historians can get together and share their data."

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Clay Shirky discusses his new book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations."

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments

"CNN's Stan Grant undergoes a dramatic change of character and turned into a cartoon."

Labels: middle east, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

"In 2000 the developing countries accounted for around one-quarter of the world’s 700m or so mobile phones. By the beginning of 2009 their share had grown to three-quarters of a total which by then had risen to over 4 billion (see chart 1). That does not mean that 4 billion people now have mobile phones, because many in both rich and poor countries own several handsets or subscriber-identity module (SIM) cards, the tiny chips that identify a subscriber to a mobile network. Carl-Henric Svanberg, the chief executive of Ericsson, the world’s largest maker of telecoms-network gear, reckons that the actual number of people with mobile phones is closer to 3.6 billion."

Labels: technology, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments

Ganesh Bhutkar, Jalindar Baban Karande, Manikrao Dhore

"ABSTRACT:Many computerised medical applications are enhanced by mobile networks expanding their reach. Thus, the domain of mobile Healthcare (m-Healthcare) is expanding rapidly capitalizing on exponential growth of mobile networks. There are many advantages of m-Healthcare applications such as faster searching and availability of relevant information, efficient decision-making and quicker documentation by physicians and medical staff.
Patients can remain under constant observation of expert physicians without being physically present at the hospitals. With these advantages, there are many significant challenges in implementation of m-Healthcare applications. In this article, the authors have categorized these challenges as issues with usability, mobile networks, ethics and application management. These observations about various challenges are compiled based on authors’ experience with mobile networks, healthcare applications and medical usability. If these challenges are overcome in the near future, then medical users like physicians and patients will use m-Healthcare applications on wider scale."

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 1:54 AM | Permalink | Comments

"…EMR  (Electronic Medical Records) technology has been available for more than a decade, yet members of the medical community have been slow to adopt it due to the perception of EMRs being disruptive, expensive and hard to implement. The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates only 38.4 percent of doctors are using EMRs. In a new study by the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE), which polled 1,000 members, physicians argued that current EMR systems were clunky, hard to use and not far enough along in their development. However, when the process is outsourced, doctors and hospitals are more likely to experience less disruption and frustration because they have access to expertise and specialized skills in implementing such systems and realize a greater return on their investment."

Labels: science, society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The use of open source in healthcare will break down many barriers, from high cost and lack of interoperability, to inaccessibility and complexity….

From 44,000 to 98,000 hospital deaths each year are caused by preventable medical errors, representing the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States. These errors, however, can largely be eliminated through the adoption of an EHR and the subsequent clinical transformation the EHR enables.

….

At present, only 15 percent of U.S. hospitals have comprehensive clinical information systems in place. This deficit is caused by many factors, chief among them poor clinical adoption, capital-intensive business models, antiquated vendor business models that promote silos of data, and lack of transparency and interoperability. "

Labels: science, society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments

from http://monopolycitystreets.com/

"Welcome to Monopoly City Streets. You versus the world in the biggest live game of MONOPOLY in history!

On the 9th SEPTEMBER, a world of property empire building on an unimaginable scale will be launched! A live worldwide game of MONOPOLY using Google Maps as the game board. The goal is simple. Play to beat your friends and the world to become the richest property magnate in existence.

Own any street in the world. Build humble houses, crazy castles and stupendous skyscrapers to collect rent. Use MONOPOLY Chance Cards to sabotage your mates by building Hazards on their streets.

Which strategy will you employ? Determined drive? Ingenious daring? Intelligent caution? Will you thrive under the pressure of a fast growing global property empire – or will you crumble? Find out if you’ll thrive, or even survive, in the amazing world of MONOPOLY City Streets. It's going to be epic fun!"

Labels: media, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

Google News launched four new Arabic editions of Google News for Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates last week.

Labels: arab, middle east, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe is the most dangerous Arabic celebrity in cyberspace, according to research from McAfee. The security company found that Wehbe was the Arabic celebrity whose name was used most often to draw web surfers to websites with unsafe and malicious content.

Singer Wael Kfoury was the second most commonly used celebrity name for unsafe sites in the Middle East, with Paris Hilton ranking as number one worldwide." read complete article : Haifa Wehbe most dangerous Arabic celebrity online | LebSpy.com

(2007 news but worth to remind society on the dangers of clicking on celebrity-related links on some of the websites.

Labels: arab, media, middle east, society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

ABSRACT: "We propose a model of communication in organizations in which the quality of communication depends on the match between senders and receivers of messages. The model allows for two dimensions of knowledge: breadth and depth. Specialists have deep knowledge of few areas while generalists have superficial knowledge of many areas. Generalists are useful because they can communicate with many different specialists. As a consequence, optimal organizational structures are such that generalists are at the top and specialists are at the bottom. Our model has implications for organization design, the optimal degree of centralization of decision making, and the depth of hierarchies. In particular, we show that an increase in the complexity of the environment together with improvements in communication technology lead to a decrease in specialization at the top."

Labels: society, technology, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit social networking or blogging sites, accounting for almost 10% of all internet time, according to a Nielsen report “Global Faces and Networked Places."

read complete article: Social Networking’s New Global Footprint | Nielsen Wire

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

Google Wave is a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year

Google Wave Preview

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments

“Eric Kandel probes into the mind to demonstrate how it is much more complex than just a series of processes carried out by the brain. Howard Hughes Medical Institute 2008 This lecture is boring at times but it's substantive and helps fill an area which is lacking on YouTube (neuroscience/brain)”

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Labels: education, science, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Arlington, VA- July 7, 2009- Through Tweets, e-mail and Web sites, job hunters are being told that they can make lots of money from the comfort of home using Twitter and Better Business Bureau warns that the large print for such offers may promise big returns but the fine print can cost them every month.

Currently 14.7 million Americans are out of work and looking for a way to bring home a paycheck according to the most recent jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Work-at-home schemes have often preyed on unsuspecting job hunters and now Twitter is being used as a way to convince cash-strapped individuals that they can make quick and easy money. "

Labels: technology, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments

Extract from executive summary:

“ From the submissions, IC3 referred 72,940 complaints of crime to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies around the country for further consideration. The vast majority of cases were fraudulent in nature and involved a financial loss on the part of the complainant. The total dollar loss from all referred cases of fraud was $264.6 million with a median dollar loss of $931.00 per complaint. This is up from $239.1 million in total reported losses in 2007. Other significant findings related to an analysis of referrals include:

* Non-delivered merchandise and/or payment was, by far, the most reported offense, comprising 32.9% of referred complaints. Internet auction fraud accounted for 25.5% of referred complaints. Credit/debit card fraud made up 9.0% of referred complaints. Confidence fraud, computer fraud, check fraud, and Nigerian letter fraud round out the top seven categories of complaints referred to law enforcement during the year.

*Of those complaints reporting a dollar loss, the highest median losses were found among check fraud ($3,000), confidence fraud ($2,000), Nigerian (west African, 419, Advance Fee) letter fraud ($1,650).

* Among perpetrators, 77.4% were male and half resided in one of the following states: California, New York, Florida, Texas, District of Columbia, and Washington. The majority of reported perpetrators (66.1%) were from the United States; however, a significant number of perpetrators where also located in the United Kingdom , Nigeria , Canada , China, and South Africa.

* Among complainants, 55.4% were male, nearly half were between the ages of 30 and 50 and one-third resided in one of the four most populated states: California, Florida, Texas, and New York. While most were from the United States (92.4%), IC3 received a number of complaints from Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, India, and France.

*Males lost more money than females (ratio of $1.69 dollars lost per male to every $1.00 dollar lost per female). This may be a function of both online purchasing differences by gender and the type of fraudulent schemes by which the individuals were victimized.

* E-mail (74.0%) and webpages (28.9%) were the two primary mechanisms by which the fraudulent contact took place.”

click here for the full report

Labels: finance, society, technology, united states, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 from vineel reddy on Vimeo.

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Information and communication technologies (ICT) can serve as fundamental enablers for the global economic recovery according to the World Economic Forum whitepaper ICT for Economic Growth: A Dynamic Ecosystem Driving the Global Recovery."

Labels: technology, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments

"The secret to translating complex Arabic into English can now fit in the palm of your hand. New state-of-the-art translation software was announced earlier this week, coinciding with the merger of two high-tech companies in the Middle East and the United States.

…

Sakhr Software, a company that specializes in Arabic speech and language solutions, acquired San Fransisco-based mobile and voice-entry technology company Dial Directions on Tuesday."

Labels: arab, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments

from NYTimes article

“Skeptics note that only a small number of people used Twitter to organize protests in Iran and that other means — individual text messaging, old-fashioned word of mouth and Farsi-language Web sites — were more influential. But Twitter did prove to be a crucial tool in the cat-and-mouse game between the opposition and the government over enlisting world opinion. As the Iranian government restricts journalists’ access to events, the protesters have used Twitter’s agile communication system to direct the public and journalists alike to video, photographs and written material related to the protests.”

Labels: politics, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments

2009-05-25: Today W3C publishes the report from the April 2009 Workshop on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social Development. Participants discussed how numerous services available on mobile phones could help people in underserved regions. Discussion underlined the need for a concerted effort among all the stakeholders (including practitioners, academics, regulators, governments, and the mobile industry) to build a shared view of the future of the mobile platform as a tool to bridge the digital divide. The Workshop was jointly organized by the W3C Mobile Web Initiative and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Government of Mozambique, with the generous support of Gold Sponsors UNDP, the Web Foundation, Nokia, and Bharti Telesoft; and Silver Sponsors Opera Software, UNESCO, Microsoft Research, and MIT Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship. This work is part of the Digital World Forum project (European Union's FP7). Learn more about the W3C Mobile Web for Social Development Interest Group and the W3C Mobile Web Initiative. (Permalink)"

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments

"There is a need for integrated support for annotation and sharing within the primary tool used for interacting with the World Wide Web, which today is a web browser. Based on prior work and user studies in our research lab, we1 propose design recommendations for a global shared annotation system, for the domain of scholarly research. We describe a system built using these design recommendations (NeoNote), and provide an example video demonstrating the suggested features. Finally, we discuss the major challenges that remain for implementing a global annotation system for sharing scholarly knowledge."

Labels: education, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

Cell phone vital, air conditioning not so much

Friday, Apr 24, 2009 8:47PM UTC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - What would you give up first, air conditioning or your cell phone?

In tough economic times with people looking to cut costs many Americans said a cell phone or computer are must-have items and regard a clothes dryers, air conditioner and microwave as less of a necessity, according to survey by the Pew Research Center.

"A relative newcomer in the everyday lives of most Americans, the cell phone is among a handful of newer gadgets that have held their own on the necessity scale from 2006 to 2009," Pew researchers said.

The number of people who said microwaves were a necessity for their homes fell 21 percentage points in 2009 from 2006. Air conditioners dropped 16 points while dishwashers slumped 14 points, the poll showed.

Job losses, the months-long recession, and tight access to credit have convinced U.S. consumers to reduce their spending in the past year on anything they consider unnecessary or a luxury.

It has left a big hole in sales for many retailers. The 2008 holiday sales season was the worst in nearly 40 years as consumers clamped down on shopping trips.

But as tech gadgets increasingly find a place in homes, cell phones, flat screen TVs and Apple's iPod are now part of the must-have category, according to the survey of 1,003 adults.

While there was a three point increase in the number of people who thought flatscreen TVs were essential, the iPod's following rose one point.

Despite the difficult times, consumers have not abandoned their love for automobiles. From 2006 to 2009, there was only three percentage point decline in the number of people who see the car as an everyday necessity.

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments

Conficker virus begins to attack PCs: experts

Friday, Apr 24, 2009 9:32PM UTC

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) - A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said.

Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of personal computers into servers of e-mail spam and installing spyware, they said.

The worm started spreading late last year, infecting millions of computers and turning them into "slaves" that respond to commands sent from a remote server that effectively controls an army of computers known as a botnet.

Its unidentified creators started using those machines for criminal purposes in recent weeks by loading more malicious software onto a small percentage of computers under their control, said Vincent Weafer, a vice president with Symantec Security Response, the research arm of the world's largest security software maker, Symantec Corp.

"Expect this to be long-term, slowly changing," he said of the worm. "It's not going to be fast, aggressive."

Conficker installs a second virus, known as Waledac, that sends out e-mail spam without knowledge of the PC's owner, along with a fake anti-spyware program, Weafer said.

The Waledac virus recruits the PCs into a second botnet that has existed for several years and specializes in distributing e-mail spam.

"This is probably one of the most sophisticated botnets on the planet. The guys behind this are very professional. They absolutely know what they are doing," said Paul Ferguson, a senior researcher with Trend Micro Inc, the world's third-largest security software maker.

He said Conficker's authors likely installed a spam engine and another malicious software program on tens of thousands of computers since April 7.

He said the worm will stop distributing the software on infected PCs on May 3 but more attacks will likely follow.

"We expect to see a different component or a whole new twist to the way this botnet does business," said Ferguson, a member of The Conficker Working Group, an international alliance of companies fighting the worm.

Researchers had feared the network controlled by the Conficker worm might be deployed on April 1 since the worm surfaced last year because it was programed to increase communication attempts from that date.

The security industry formed the task force to fight the worm, bringing widespread attention that experts said probably scared off the criminals who command the slave computers.

The task force initially thwarted the worm using the Internet's traffic control system to block access to servers that control the slave computers.

Viruses that turn PCs into slaves exploit weaknesses in Microsoft's Windows operating system. The Conficker worm is especially tricky because it can evade corporate firewalls by passing from an infected machine onto a USB memory stick, then onto another PC.

The Conficker botnet is one of many such networks controlled by syndicates that authorities believe are based in eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, China and Latin America.

(Editing by Jason Szep and Philip Barbara)

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:47 PM | Permalink | Comments

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - About one in 10 videogame players show signs of addictive behavior that could have negative effects on their family, friends and school work, according to a new study."

..

The researchers, who studied 1,178 American children and teenagers, aged 8 to 18, found some displayed at least six of 11 symptoms of pathological gambling as defined by the American Psychiatric Association

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Phishing scams have grown up from the unsophisticated swindles of the past in which fake Nigerian princes e-mailed victims, who would get a big windfall if they just provide their bank account number. Even as authorities try to stamp out that con and other e-mail and online scams, scammers are getting more wily and finding new loopholes to exploit."

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:22 PM | Permalink | Comments

NIST Creates YouTube Channel
K.C. Jones, InformationWeek

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has turned to YouTube to help teach citizens about its programs. NIST announced last week that it has created its own channel on the video social networking site.
The creation of the channel is just one of many steps NIST will take
to reach out to people on the Web. 'This official YouTube channel is
the first of several planned NIST Web sites hosted by the private sector,' Gail Porter, director of NIST's public and business affairs office, said in a statement. 'The effort is part of a broader, government-wide effort to encourage openness and transparency and to 'go to where the people are.' The move is part of a larger U.S. government plan to make more information available to the public."

http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/federal/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216500604
See also the NIST YouTube launch document: http://www.youtube.com/user/usnistgov

Labels: technology, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments

"February 19th, 2009 By GREG BLUESTEIN , Associated Press Writer in Electronic Devices / Consumer & Gadgets

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments

17 Feb 2009

The term Enterprise 2.0 is gaining traction in organizations across the globe. This article investigates the underlying concepts of Enterprise 2.0, its relationship with Web 2.0, and the various tools and services that apply to it. Examine the benefits of employing Enterprise 2.0 in your business, and explore some of the potential drawbacks associated with it. Use this article to help you decide how to best implement Enterprise 2.0 in your organization.”

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

"On 10 Feb 2009, at 18:49, PR Newswire wrote:

Al-Ahram, Egypt's number one publishing house with over 40 publications and a distribution of 1.5 million for flagship daily newspaper Al-Ahram, has embarked on a major initiative for their publishing re-modernisation with KnowledgeView Ltd. "

Labels: media, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

"While the iPhone is currently available in a slew of countries ranging from Senegal to Japan, we'll soon be able to add two new Gulf countries to the list: the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. This deal marks the first new markets for the iPhone in 2009."

Labels: middle east, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments

"A unique laboratory has been established at The University of Alabama in Huntsville that combines psychology with technology to focus on the interaction between humans and complex systems."

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments

"A screen grab showing Google's upgraded mapping system is seen in this photo provided by Google Inc. The new software to be released Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009, will enable people to use mobile phones and other wireless devices to automatically share their whereabouts with family and friends.

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Online search powerhouse Google launched a new service Monday to allow Internet users to explore the depths of the world's oceans from the comfort of their homes on dry land."

 

http://earth.google.com/ocean/

Labels: technology, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

"(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA and Google announced Monday the release of a new Mars mode in Google Earth that brings to everyone's desktop a high-resolution, three-dimensional view of the Red Planet."

Labels: science, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Growing numbers of American seniors are going online, chipping away at the dominance of 18- to 44-year-olds who comprise half the Web population, according to a study released Wednesday."

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Stanford University scientists are perfecting an email system that figures out who messages are intended for and finds them whether or not senders know the addresses."

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:52 PM | Permalink | Comments

(i don’t usually paste an entire blog post but this is one is really worth to store.

15 great myth-busting, women vs men stat articles about Games | PERSONALIZE MEDIA Gary Hayes writes: 

“PDF report by Pew Internet. “Adults and Video Games”

• More than half - 53% - of all American adults play video games of some kind
• Independent of all other factors, younger adults are still more likely to play games.
• Among older adults 65+ who play video games, nearly a third play games everyday, a significantly larger percentage than all younger players, of whom about 20% play everyday.
• Gaming consoles are the most popular for young adults: 75% of 18-29 year old gamers play on consoles, compared with 68% who use computers
• Computers are the most popular among the total adult gaming population, with 73% of adult gamers using computers to play games, compared with 53% console users, 35% who using cell phones, and 25% using portable gaming devices.

“Games Women Play” Sep 08 from the Edge

• Online casual games bring in 150 million women every month– roughly half the population of the United States.
• Nearly two-thirds of women casual players online are over 35.
• Women play casual games 5 to 10 hours per day – significantly greater than the 7.4 hours per week by a survey by the Casual Gaming Association.
• Competition, rather than simple relaxation or escapism, motivates them to play.
• Female players who are 18 and older represent one third of the game-playing population while male players who are 17 or younger represent only 18 percent of casual gamers
• Playing casual games is often the first thing women do after waking. They check their ranking and play for on average of 2 ½ hours every morning.
• Women engage in trivia games with the family members but play action games alone.
• Most women players are married or in a relationship and have children.

Online Gaming Popularity Grows Among Youngest and Oldest Female Segments in the U.S. ComScore report.

• Significant user growth among teenage girls between the ages of 12 and 17 and women between the ages of 55 and 64.
• Growth in the 12 – 17 age range was 55% compared to the total female online gaming audience rate of 27%
• The over-55 age range grew 43%.

BBC 23 December 2008 “Battle of the Sexes”

• It found that the most hard-core players are female, that gamers are healthier than average, and that game playing is an increasingly social activity.
• Despite gaming being seen as a male activity, female players now make up about 40% of the gaming population.
• The study (detailed link here from Wiley interscience) looked at gender differences in more than 2,400 gamers playing EverQuest II.

Industry Facts from Entertainment Software Association ESA

• The average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for 13 years.
• The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 40 years old.
• Forty percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (33 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (18 percent).
• In 2008, 26 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999
• Sixty-three percent of parents believe games are a positive part of their children’s lives.

Women Embrace Casual Games from RedHerring “Casual Gamers Anything But”

• Spend as much as 20 hours each week playing their favorite games.
• More than 70 percent said they play at night, and 58 percent have no children living at home.
• Results from the Harris research reveal that 67 percent of the women over 40 who play games do so at least four times per week. Nearly half play every day.
• Some 60 percent say they would rather play a casual game than talk on the phone or do projects around the home, while nearly 50 percent said they would rather play a casual game than go to a movie.

BBC 17 Sep 2008 “Online gamers are not unhealthy“

• The “couch potato” image of computer gamers is unfounded, with many in better than average shape, claim US researchers.
• More than 7,000 players of the online game EverQuest II were quizzed about their health by scientists.
• They found gamers’ body mass index (BMI) tended to be lower than the US average - with many taking “proper” exercise more than once a week.

Driving Force in Video Gaming: Women and Baby Boomers. Reported on PC World Aug 2008. IBISWorld claims that:

• 38 percent of US gamers are women
• The average player is 35 years old
• 24 percent are over 50.
• The percentage of female video gamers climbed from 33 to 38 percent in five years bolstered in part by Nintendo’s Wii, but also “interactive group games” such as Singstar, Rock Band, and Lips, as well as The Sims, The Movies, Nintendogs and NeoPets.

Demographics of the top 3 games on Facebook - from Bret on Social Games

• Scramble which is the only game among the top three developers dominated by women(63%).
• The age of Zynga players is spread more evenly among the three age segments, but with ~50% in the 22-25 age bracket.
• Blake Commagere’s Monsters games also have ~50% of their users in the 22-25 age bracket.
• They also have a fairly even male-female ratio.

Second Life demographics and usage - reported by Lost in Bananaverse

• 83.79% of the population is 25 years and older, and the older users spend far more time in Second Life than younger users
• Females spent nearly twice as long online in Second Life as males. Females make up 45.5% of the Second Life population.
• Total user hours for April totaled 29,069,684 hours
• Those 45 and older continuing to be the heaviest users on average.
  • 45 and older: 70.17 hours per user per month
  • 35-44: 66.06 hours per user per user per month
  • 25-34: 55.55 hours per user per user per month
  • 18-24: 37.84 hours per user per user per month
  • Teen grid: 24.67 hours per user per user per month

The demographics of World of Warcraft (useful but old 2005 data from Nick Yee)

• The average age of the WoW player is 28.3
• 84% of players are male
• 16% are female. Female players are significantly older (32.5) than male players (28.0)
• On average, they spend 22.7 hours per week playing WoW.
• There are no gender differences in hours played per week.

ESSENTIAL FACTS ABOUT THE COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY 2008 SALES, DEMOGRAPHIC AND USAGE DATA (full report from ESA at Scribd)

• 13 is the average number of years adult gamers have been playing computer or video games. Among most frequent gamers, adult males average 15 years for game playing, females for 12 years.
• 59% of gamers play games with other gamers in person. This is a rise from 56% in 2007 and from 51% in 2006.
• The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is: 40
• 56% of online game players are male 44% are female.
• What is the One Type of Online Game Played Most Often?
  • 12% Other
  • 47% Puzzle/Board/Game Show/Trivia/Card
  • 16% Action/Sports/ Strategy/Role-Play
  • 14% Downloadable Games Such as Bejeweled and Diner Dash
  • 11% Persistent Multi-Player Universe

Women are hardcore gamers from bNet in 2006

• Electronic Arts’ casual game site Pogo.com draws 11 million unique users per month. Fifty-five percent of those are women.
• On the subscription side, 75 percent of the more than 1 million subscribers are women over the age of 35.

Study: Women Gamers Outnumber Men in 25-34 Age Group - from GameDaily 2006

• Consumer Electronics Association study found that 65 percent of women in the 25-34 age bracket play video games, while only 35 percent of men in that group said that they play video games. The key factor involved with these findings is the increasing popularity of casual games, especially among women. (These casual titles are typically found on web portals like Yahoo!, AOL Games, PopCap Games, EA’s Pogo.com and elsewhere.)
• Women were found to be slightly less likely than men in the 25-34 bracket to play traditional console games on systems like PlayStation or Xbox.

Old (2000) but interesting item on ‘gender bending’ in games from womengamers.com

• 6% of subjects play female characters for 25% or less of their gaming time
• 24% play females for 26-50% of their gaming time
• 15% play females for 51-75% of their gaming time
• 42% play females for 76-100% of their gaming time
• 12% did not answer this question “

Labels: media, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments

" "

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

"ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2009) — A new study connects young adults' use of video games to poorer relationships with friends and family – and the student co-author expresses disappointment at his own findings."

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments

Steven D. Levitt writes:

“The one question I ask most often about the internet is the following: why do people make such great stuff and then give it away for free?

The website Poptropica is a perfect example. Poptropica is a virtual online world in which children take part in adventures that require creativity, persistence, logic, and coordination to solve. If you have kids aged 6 to 12, it is definitely worth taking a look.

Not only is it fun for kids, but it is fun for adults too (at least this adult), and it is a great learning tool."

Labels: education, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The death of the video game arcade has not, alas, been greatly exaggerated. For gamers older than 30, memories of plugging endless quarters into Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat and After Burner cabinets are just that: memories. In most of the world, arcades with stand-up cabinets and pinball machines have been replaced by high-powered home consoles.

…..

That's the topic of a new book by Brian Ashcraft, who now resides in Osaka writing about video games and technology for gaming blog Kotaku, Wired magazine and other outlets.

The Dallas native has penned perhaps the first coffee table book for gamers: "Arcade Mania: The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers."

Labels: education, media, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

NEW YORK, NY, September 23, 2008 - Mind Evolve Software, a leading publisher of brain-training software, today announced the launch of Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro. This new consumer software is the most sophisticated brain-training application on the market and employs the only training method scientifically proven* to make users smarter.

Working-memory and fluid intelligence compete for brain power; by training and strengthening a user's working-memory Brain Fitness Pro increases the processing power available to solve problems. The software progressively taxes the brain, pushing the user to remember and process visual and auditory information under time pressure. This novel approach increases intelligence, reverses the adverse effects of aging, boosts test scores, and improves job performance.

"We're on the cusp of a new era in brain fitness," said Martin Walker, Founder and CEO of Mind Evolve Software. "It's always been assumed that we were stuck with the brain-power we're born with; but with Brain Fitness Pro people can improve their raw ability to think. It's a big step forward."

Labels: media, science, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments

The Department of Defense [United States] is soliciting proposals for a computer program that would enable young children to interact with a virtual version of their parent. Officials hope it could provide reassurance and general chat when phone or internet contact is not possible.

The DoD believes that "the stresses of deployment might be softened if spouses and especially children could conduct simple conversations with their loved ones in immediate times of stress or prolonged absence".

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments

click here for a list of virtual world sites

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments

Rodney Brooks says robots will invade our lives | Video on TED.com : "

“In this prophetic talk from 2003, roboticist Rodney Brooks talks about how robots are going to work their way into our lives -- starting with toys and moving into household chores ... and beyond.”

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments

Activists have turned to defacing websites, taking over computers, and shutting down Facebook groups.

US Military sites, Nato, and an Israeli Bank have all been targeted.

…

On 7 January, pro-Palestinian hackers defaced several high-profile websites, including a US Army website, and the Nato Parliamentary Assembly's website.

…

Israeli Arab and pro-Palestinian sites have also been targeted. Last year, hackers defaced three websites, replacing pages with the Israeli flag and the symbol of the banned far-right group Kach.

Labels: politics, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:31 AM | Permalink | Comments

thanks to The Big Picture blog post: The History of the Internet (Animated Infographics)

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments

Trevor Harmon, James Marca, Pete Martini, and Raymond Klefstad of the University of California, Irvine, explain that one of the key failings of modern transport systems is the inept collection and distribution of usable traffic information. According to one US survey, they point out that less than a third of signaled intersections on arterial roads had any form of electronic surveillance. In other words, around 70% of all traffic lights have no electronic monitoring and this does not take into account the regions between traffic signals.

They explain that there is research currently underway to address this issue using local-area wireless technology. This technology will allow vehicles to form an ad hoc network that can exchange timely information about traffic conditions, incidents, and accidents. The research team has a vision for such a traveler-centric, zero-infrastructure system they have named Autonet. This network would share information through a peer-to-peer (P2P) system akin to those used by file sharers on the internet but exchanging useful traffic information rather than music and video files.

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments

As correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, neuroscience research into how we think and what we're thinking is advancing at a stunning rate, making it possible for the first time in human history to peer directly into the brain to read out the physical make-up of our thoughts, some would say to read our minds."

Labels: science, society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments

Yochai Benkler explains how collaborative projects like Wikipedia and Linux represent the next stage of human organization. Filmed Jul 2005 and Posted April 2008

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments

"A survey of more than 27,000 web users in 16 countries has shown that the Chinese spend the largest fraction of their leisure time online.

However, UK housewives spend even more than China's average - 47%.

Germans are the most likely to meet someone in real life that they first met online; more than three quarters have done so.

The study also found that the UK is the least trusting of information in its newspapers among the 16 countries."

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: education, finance, politics, science, society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: education, science, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

In recent years, the Internet and other information and communication technologies have had great impacts on almost all aspects of human life, locally and globally. The extant of these impacts can be seen in the ubiquity of the use of the prefix 'e-', as in e-commerce, e-business, e-government, e-democracy, e-science, e-learning, e-entertainment and so on. Thanks to the cheaper prices and ease of use of these technologies, more and more people are able to access digital contents, as part of a mass audience, and more and more people are able to create and publish content off their own initiative. The Web has moved from being a one-way communication channel extending traditional media, to a complex "peer-to-peer" communication space with a blurred author/audience distinction and new ways to create, share and use knowledge in a social way. This establishes new global fora, started by a few, and sustained by millions of local acts. This change of paradigm is currently profoundly transforming most areas of our lives: our interactions with other people, our relationships, ways of gathering, creating and disseminating information, ways of developing social norms, opinions, attitudes and even legal aspects as well as ways of working and doing business. It also raises a strong need for theoretical, empirical and applied studies related to how people may interact on the Web, how they actually do so and what new possibilities and challenges are emerging in the individual, business and technology dimensions. It is not the first time in the history of social media that a new technology becomes suddenly available to a wider group of people due to a specific social, economical and historical context.

The last time something similar happened, the availability and diffusion of the printing press, according to many authors, the opportunities for the rise of modern society emerged. We are probably facing a similar new extraordinary change that we can barely describe today. According to the law of accelerated return identified by Ray Kurzweil, this change is taking place at a much faster speed than before. This is a major challenge for social science in a world where 'internet time' now runs at a clock speed several orders of magnitude faster than that of academic research.

In order to explore these possibilities and tackle the challenges, a more interdisciplinary scientific approach is required. The visionary founding fathers of cybernetics and systems theory urged for this new vision of the sciences as soon as they started working on teleological machines interacting with human beings during the Second World War. Not surprisingly, today, Sir Tim Berners Lee (the inventor of the World Wide Web) is developing a vision for new field of interdisciplinary study called Web Science. The goal of this conference is therefore to bring researchers and practitioners together to explore within a sociocybernetic approach the issues and challenges related to social aspects of the new communication technologies and especially the Web.

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:26 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments

Get news on the go with the Mobile News Network. Visit http://www.apnews.com to learn how to get it for your phone.

Regards,
Tarek Hoteit
http://tarek.hoteit.org

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:28 PM | Permalink | Comments

[.... homosexuals parked in cars next to one another in one are......]

" 'What happens next? Nothing - without Bluetooth,' Elton replied. 'Bluetooth changed my life. Without it, all this would be pointless.' Bluetooth enabled a mobile-phone user to contact another one within a ten-meter radius without needing to know their phone number. In a country where it is rude to be seen to be approaching strangers, and in one so wedded to its cars, it was a very useful tool.
{......}
but the thing Bluetooth doesn't help you discern is the class of the receiver. 'If a high-class boy makes an advance on someone slightly more lowly than them and the lower-class boy says no then he's in trouble.'
(page 206)

Regards,
Tarek Hoteit
http://tarek.hoteit.org

Labels: arab, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, published in 1944 by Princeton University Press, is a book by mathematician John von Neumann and economist Oskar Morgenstern which is widely considered the groundbreaking text that created the interdisciplinary research field of game theory. In the introduction of its 60th anniversary commemorative edition from the Princeton University Press, the book is described as "the classic work upon which modern-day game theory is based."

The book is based on prior research by von Neumann, published in 1928 under the German title "Zur Theorie der Gesellschaftsspiele" ("On the Theory of Parlor Games").

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 2:44 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments

Gary Hazlitt, Gazlitt and me take a ‘break’ in over fifty worlds comprising the current metaverse, here is the holiday video…

I am doing a commercial report and curriculum development on the evolving range of social virtual worlds and have recently ventured into fifty of them to review and sample the culture, creative, business and educational potential. On my travels I got out my virtual camera and decided to capture a bunch of small vignettes which quickly turned into a body of audio visual delights - so decided to create a nice seven minute video for posterity.

I thought I would share the video publically as it demonstrates how ubiquitous, popular and streamlined many of these spaces are becoming across the intraweb / ‘cloud’. With over 300 million frequenting or registering for the non-game based worlds and millions of new investment in 2nd and 3rd generation services there seems to be no stopping them…Enjoy

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments