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The Telecom Digest for April 26, 2010
Volume 29 : Issue 115 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Teens and Mobile Phones (Monty Solomon)
Winfrey: Dnt Txt N Drv (Monty Solomon)
Be There or Be Square: The Rise of Location-based Social Networking (Monty Solomon)
Re: Please do not change your password (Gordon Burditt)
Re: Batteries, when to charge (was Re: batteries (was Waiting for Verizon..) (Joseph Singer)
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Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:58:45 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Teens and Mobile Phones
Message-ID: <p0624084ec7fa3e8fbd0e@[10.0.1.4]>
Teens and Mobile Phones
by Amanda Lenhart, Rich Ling, Scott Campbell, Kristen Purcell
Pew Internet & American Life Project
Apr 20, 2010
OVERVIEW
Daily text messaging among American teens has shot up in the past 18
months, from 38% of teens texting friends daily in February of 2008
to 54% of teens texting daily in September 2009. And it's not just
frequency - teens are sending enormous quantities of text messages a
day. Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500
texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or
more than 3,000 texts a month. Older teen girls ages 14-17 lead the
charge on text messaging, averaging 100 messages a day for the entire
cohort. The youngest teen boys are the most resistant to texting -
averaging 20 messages per day.
...
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones.aspx
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:28:25 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Winfrey: Dnt Txt N Drv
Message-ID: <p06240852c7fa9b6f816f@[10.0.1.4]>
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/opinion/25winfrey.html
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Dnt Txt N Drv
By OPRAH WINFREY
April 25, 2010
Chicago
WHEN I started out as a TV reporter in Nashville in 1973, a death
from drunken driving was big news. One person killed by a drunken
driver would lead our local broadcast. Then, as the number of drunken
driving deaths across the country continued to rise, the stakes for
coverage got even higher. One death wasn't good enough anymore. Two
deaths - that would warrant a report. Then a whole family had to die
before the news would merit mention at the top of the broadcast. The
country, all of us, had gotten used to the idea of drunken driving. I
just kept thinking: How many people have to die before we "get it"?
Fortunately, we did get it, and since 1980, the number of annual
traffic fatalities due to drunken driving has decreased to under
15,500 from more than 30,000. But in recent years, another kind of
tragic story has begun to emerge with ever greater frequency. This
time, we are mourning the deaths of those killed by people talking or
sending text messages on their cellphones while they drive.
Earlier this month, I visited Shelley and Daren Forney, a couple in
Fort Collins, Colo., whose 9-year-old daughter, Erica, was on her
bicycle, just 15 pedals from her front door, when she was struck and
killed by a driver who was distracted by a cellphone. I think about
Erica's death and how senseless and stupid it was - caused by a
driver distracted by a phone call that just couldn't wait.
Sadly, there are far too many stories like hers. At least 6,000
people were killed by distracted drivers in 2008, according to the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the number is
rising. A lot of good work already is happening to try to change
this. President Obama signed an executive order banning texting while
driving on federal business. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is
pushing for tougher laws and more enforcement. States are passing
laws, too. Local groups are gaining strength, spurred by too many
deaths close to home.
But we are hesitant to change. I saw this firsthand when I instituted
a policy at my company that forbids employees from using their phones
for company business while driving. I heard countless stories about
how hard it was for people to stop talking and texting while driving.
Everyone is busy. Everyone feels she needs to use time in the car to
get things done. But what happened to just driving?
It was difficult for my employees to adjust, but they have. Life is
more precious than taking a call or answering an e-mail message.
Because even though we think we can handle using our cellphone in the
car, the loss of thousands of lives has shown we can't.
So many issues that we have to deal with seem beyond our control:
natural disasters, child predators, traffic jams. Over the years,
I've done shows on just about all of them. But this is a real problem
we can do something about and get immediate results. All we have to
do is hang up or switch off. It really is that simple. Once we do
that, not another son or daughter will have to die because someone
was on the phone and behind the wheel - and just not paying attention.
So starting from the moment you finish this article, and in the days,
weeks and years that follow, give it up. Please. And to those who
feel like this is asking too much, think about your own child just 15
pedals from your front door. Struck down.
Oprah Winfrey is the chairman of Harpo Studios and the host of "The
Oprah Winfrey Show."
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:31:28 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Be There or Be Square: The Rise of Location-based Social Networking
Message-ID: <p0624085ac7faa14ee1de@[10.0.1.4]>
Be There or Be Square: The Rise of Location-based Social Networking
Published : April 14, 2010 in Knowledge@Wharton
To find the hottest restaurant, bar or concert venue in town, many
young adults are no longer checking in with their friends. They're
"checking in" virtually via Foursquare, a location-based social
networking site. Participants log onto the site and "check in" via
smartphone to let contacts who are fellow users know where they are.
At the same time, they learn what those users are doing -- whether a
co-worker is eating at the restaurant next door, or if friends are
gathering at a nightclub across town. As "check in" alerts are traded
between phones, the people attached to them instantly become aware of
the spots that are popular in their social circles.
Foursquare, which was founded by Dennis Crowley and Naveen
Selvadurai, was introduced at the March 2009 South by Southwest music
and interactive media festival in Austin, Texas. In recent weeks, the
New York-based company has made headlines by gaining about 100,000
users in 10 days during this year's South by Southwest event. Web
traffic to Foursquare has increased by 400% since October 2009,
according to the research firm Hitwise -- and that doesn't even count
users who access the service via third party mobile applications.
The site currently has more than 800,000 members "checking in" at
locations around the globe. In addition to sharing their location
with contacts, check-ins earn users points and digital merit badges
through Foursquare's built-in game. For example, a "Bands on the Run"
badge was offered to South by Southwest visitors who checked in at
seven concerts in one day. The most coveted title is that of "mayor"
-- rewarded to the most frequent visitor to any given location.
...
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2468
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 19:57:52 -0500
From: gordonb.h5yl6@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Please do not change your password
Message-ID: <2-OdnaQOaL2NeEnWnZ2dnUVZ_hednZ2d@posted.internetamerica>
>Not to mention the whole "forgot your password" secret questions. I seem to
>recall an article a year or two back in which researchers were able to
>utilize social media data to answer supposed secret questions.
You should never answer a secret question with an answer that could
be true for anyone (human or not). For example, a birthday, date
of birth, wedding anniversary, etc. should never be a date. Your
place of birth shouldn't be a location, even one on Romulus. It
might be "filet of teleph0ne solicitor with mus-tard topping".
Also, make some obvious mistakes. So far I haven't run into a
system that actually requires a date as an answer to a question
that seems to want one. They usually allow a fairly long response,
so you can use a passphrase.
If you're really, really sure you will never have to answer the
secret question to a human being, you might try some phrases that
represent sexual harassment (to both sexes), death threats, confessions
to crimes, etc. Your favorite pet, to take a phrase from the old
"Clue" game, might be "Abraham L1ncoln, in Chrysler's theater,
with the 457-terawatt kumquat".
I don't think passwords are really that insecure if you write them
down and put the piece of paper in your wallet, next to your cash
and credit cards which you are (hopefully) used to not losing.
Don't put the passwords and what they go to on the same piece of
paper.
Don't use the same password for unrelated systems. For example,
don't use the same password for Facebook, your bank, and that missile
launch code for work.
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:16:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Batteries, when to charge (was Re: batteries (was Waiting for Verizon..)
Message-ID: <330412.98268.qm@web52702.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:37:33 -0700 (PDT) Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:
> Thanks for the explanation. But now I'm confused: What is the best
> way to maximize battery life in a cellphone? Wait until it runs
> down, or, recharge it at a different level? (I don't use my
> cellphone very much, so my recharge cycles are about 1-2 months
> apart. So far I'm getting four hours of talk time on a charge. I
> usually have the phone turned off unless I'm expecting a call, so my
> standby time is brief).
For modern cellphone batteries i.e. if they're lithium ion or lithium
polymer do not let the batteries get completely flat. You can pretty
much charge them at will once you've initially "conditioned" them.
Do you arrange for people to call you at specific times so you never
have your phone on unless someone specific is going to call you?
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End of The Telecom Digest (5 messages)
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