helloworld.bensonchu.com » Internet

How Privacy Vanishes Online

Benson — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:34:58 +0000

If a stranger came up to you on the street, would you give him your name, Social Security number and e-mail address?

Probably not.

Yet people often dole out all kinds of personal information on the Internet that allows such identifying data to be deduced. Services like Facebook,Twitter and Flickr are oceans of personal minutiae — birthday greetings sent and received, school and work gossip, photos of family vacations, and movies watched.

FCC Loses Key Ruling on Internet Neutrality

Benson — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:30:22 +0000

A federal court threw the future of Internet regulations into doubt Tuesday with a far-reaching decision that went against the Federal Communications Commission and could even hamper the government’s plans to expand broadband access in the United States.

Teaching About Web Includes Troubling Parts

Benson — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:20:33 +0000

When Kevin Jenkins wanted to teach his fourth-grade students at Spangler Elementary here how to use the Internet, he created a site where they could post photographs, drawings and surveys.

And they did. But to his dismay, some of his students posted surveys like “Who’s the most popular classmate?” and “Who’s the best-liked?”

Mr. Jenkins’s students “liked being able to express themselves in a place where they’re basically by themselves at a computer,” he said. “They’re not thinking that everyone’s going to see it.”

The Chronicle: Putting lectures online

Benson — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:02:13 +0000

“Professors across the country are now wrestling with this issue. More and more colleges have installed microphones or cameras in lecture halls and bought easy-to-use software to get lecture recordings online. The latest Campus Computing Survey, which gathers data on classroom technology nationwide, found that 28 percent of colleges have a strategic plan to provide coursecasting equipment, and 35 percent more are working on a plan now.

Those plans raise a lot of issues. Some professors are camera shy—at least when it comes to their teaching. Others say they discuss ideas with their students that are not yet ready for prime time. And some administrators are nervous about giving away too much of their educational content as the cost of college continues to rise.”

Privacy concerns in an online world

Benson — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:14:54 +0000

“ON the Internet, things get old fast. One prime candidate for the digital dustbin, it seems, is the current approach to protecting privacy on the Internet.

It is an artifact of the 1990s, intended as a light-touch policy to nurture innovation in an emerging industry. And its central concept is “notice and choice,” in which Web sites post notices of their privacy policies and users can then make choices about sites they frequent and the levels of privacy they prefer.

But policy and privacy experts agree that the relentless rise of Internet data harvesting has overrun the old approach of using lengthy written notices to safeguard privacy.”

How fast is my Internet connection?

Benson — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:44:46 +0000

If you ever wonder how fast your Internet connection is, Cnet offers a good test. They also have a desktop widget to monitor your bandwidth.

Slow Internet connection speeds means that there is a lot of traffic going on in your network. If you’re experiencing slower-than-normal speeds, here are some things you should check.

Check any file-sharing programs. Some can be big bandwidth hogs without you knowing it. There is usually a setting in “Preferences” that you can set the upload and download limits. If you have no limits set, especially for uploading, then you have a problem. In some cases, you cannot change the settings (Opera’s built in torrent program) and will have to stop transfers.
Check for streaming music or video being played on your network. The more music and videos that are being streamed to computers on your network, the less bandwidth you will have, making for a slower connection.
How many programs are you running? This doesn’t directly affect bandwidth, but too many programs running- or even open- can cause your computer to operate at a seemingly slow pace.
Have you done a check for viruses or other malware? Some malicious programs are written to utilize your computer and network resources without you knowing. This can definitely have an affect on your Internet connection speeds. And, it’s always good to surf the Internet virus-free.

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Work at YouTube

Benson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:47:33 +0000

YouTube, in the beginning, was just a website with videos. It was somewhat organized but could never keep my attention for very long. After years and years of continuous development, I appreciate the website a lot more and find myself visiting it for almost all of my video needs. Two years ago, I visited it so much that I was compelled to create an account and save my favorite videos and start my own playlists.

Thanks for all the hard work, YouTube magic-box-on-the-Internet developers. You’ve brought organized video entertainment to the Internet.

For those of you that would like to work for YouTube, check out the below video and link.

Work for YouTube: http://www.google.com/jobs/workyoutube/

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Pet peeves in the Internet era

Benson — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:32:25 +0000

In today’s age, the little things still get the best of us.

Using a non-optical mouse that is unresponsive due to the buildup of dirt on the horizontal and vertical rollers
Using a mouse without a scroll-wheel or a second button (unless you’re a Mac user)
A “slow” internet connection

May God be with us in our darkest hour… (when the power cuts out, leaving us… stranded.)

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