Facebook not enough to score Oscar hosting gig for Betty White

LOS ANGELES Facebook fans brought Betty White to “Saturday Night Live,” and now they’ve got their eyes on the Oscars.A page on the social networking website, called Official Page for Getting Betty White to Host the Academy Awards, has collected more than 56,000 fans.One commenter wrote that “Betty White would be one of the best hosts ever!!!!!”

But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says it isn’t ready to let Facebook make casting decisions for film’s biggest night.Spokeswoman Leslie Unger says the academy plans to continue with its protocol of allowing the producers to select the host that will best serve the show they’re trying to put together. (AP)

High school students across New Jersey walked out of class to protest proposed budget cuts

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. High school students across New Jersey walked out of class Tuesday to protest proposed budget cuts.Walkouts, organized on Facebook, were reported from Rancocas Valley High School in Mount Holly to West Orange High School, with more planned throughout the day. Students in Newark were planning to leave class and march to the district offices.It wasn’t clear how many of the state’s roughly 400,000 public high school students would join the walkout, but a Facebook page used to organize the protest had some 17,000 fans by Tuesday.

Organizer Michelle Lauto, who graduated last year from Old Tappan High School in Bergen County and is now a student at Pace University in New York, said she wanted to join the cause because her mother is a teacher and her sister is a school secretary.”What we want to do is get attention to the issue and show primarily that the youth is not apathetic to the issue,” said Lauto, 18, an actress who’s especially concerned that arts programs could be eliminated.

The protest comes one week after voters in 59 percent of the state’s school districts rejected property tax levies to pay for schools, leaving municipal governing bodies to make cuts.

It was the first time in 34 years that the majority of budgets were defeated.

The battle over school funding has been especially acrimonious this year since Gov. Chris Christie’s budget proposal last month called for schools to see their combined direct state and federal aid decreased by about 11 percent on average with many districts getting bigger reductions that that.Most of the state’s school districts planned teacher layoffs and tax increases to make up for the lost aid.Christie says layoffs can be avoided, though, if school employees agree to one-year salary freezes and to start paying 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health insurance premiums.

Most of the state’s teachers unions have balked at the notion, though, saying Christie is unfairly trying to balance the state’s budget at their expense. Christie has been unapologetic, consistently criticizing the leaders of the New Jersey Education Association for being selfish.The NJEA says students are “engaging in civil disobedience” but shouldn’t walk out of classes.

Four U.S. senators want Facebook to make it easier for its more than 400 million users to protect their privacy as the website develops new outlets to share personal information

SAN FRANCISCO Four U.S. senators want Facebook to make it easier for its more than 400 million users to protect their privacy as the website develops new outlets to share personal information.The call for simpler privacy controls came in a letter that the senators plan to send Tuesday to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The Associated Press obtained a draft of the letter signed by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo; Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska; and Sen. Al Franken, D.-Minn.It marks the second time in the past three days that Schumer has expressed his misgivings about a series of changes that Facebook announced last week. The new features are designed to unlock more of the data that the online hangout has accumulated about people during its six-year history.

Schumer sent a letter Sunday to the Federal Trade Commission calling for regulators to draw up clearer privacy guidelines for Facebook and other Internet social networks to follow.The political pressure threatens to deter Facebook’s efforts to put its stamp on more websites, a goal that could yield more moneymaking opportunities for the privately held company.

Facebook’s expansion “raises new concerns for users who want to maintain control over their information,” the senators wrote in their preliminary draft.In a statement late Monday, Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the company wants to meet with Schumer to explain its commitment to privacy.

“We’ve developed powerful tools to give our users control over what information they want to share, when they want to share it and with whom,” Noyes said.Among other things, Facebook is plugging into other websites so people can communicate their interests with their online entourages. Facebook also tweaked its own website to create more pages where people’s biographical information could be exposed to a wider audience.

Before personal information can be shared with other websites, the senators want Facebook to seek users’ explicit consent, a process known as “opting in.” Facebook currently can share some personal information with websites unless individual users opt out by telling the company they don’t want those details to be passed along.The senators also object to Facebook’s decision to allow other businesses store users’ data for more than 24 hours.

Zuckerberg, who turns 26 next month, says he just wants to build more online avenues for people to connect with their friends and family. Some of his previous efforts have been detoured by privacy concerns, most notably in 2007 when Facebook users revolted against notification tool, called Beacon, that broadcast their activities on dozens of websites.Facebook responded to that rebellion by giving people more control over Beacon before scrapping the program completely. (AP)

Facebook users protest how tough it is to get the 'opt out' of new features on facebook.

Now Facebook has claimed that distinction.Annoyed users who want to be asked to “opt in” rather than being forced to “opt out” are protesting how many steps it takes to get rid of the latest Facebook features.When users logged into Facebook on Wednesday, they got this message: “Connect with your friends on your favorite websites.”

Clicking on a “Learn More” link, they discovered they would have to “opt out.” When they unchecked the box to reject “instant personalization,” up popped a box to inform them just how lonely they would be on the Internet, left out of the rich experience of sharing the Web with their friends.Oh, and by the way: “Please keep in mind that if you opt out, your friends may still share public Facebook information about you to personalize their experience on these partner sites unless you block the application.”

So it’s off to yet another link: “You can opt-out of instant personalization by disallowing it here. By clicking ‘No Thanks’ on the Facebook notification on partner sites, partners will delete your data. To prevent your friends from sharing any of your information with an instant personalization partner, block the application: Microsoft Docs.com, Pandora, Yelp.”

Health experts on Wednesday raised concern about the growing use of smokeless tobacco by teenagers

Health experts on Wednesday raised concern about the growing use of smokeless tobacco by teenagers, and suggested its use by Major League Baseball players is influencing young people to take up the cancer-causing habit.The use of smokeless tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff, by teens has risen in recent years, reversing a trend toward declining use of all tobacco products by teens, Terry Pechacek of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a U.S. congressional panel. He said data to be released in the next few months will show an increase mainly among white and Hispanic young males.

“Across the nation … we are seeing an uptick,” Pechacek told the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce health subcommittee. “This uptick has been going on for several years now.”Health experts say smokeless tobacco can cause cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus and pancreas. Pechacek said the CDC is concerned that high school students perceive smokeless tobacco to be safer than cigarettes.

Former baseball player and sportscaster Joe Garagiola, a one-time user of chewing tobacco, said the league should ban the use of smokeless tobacco by players.”Like many other players I thought being a Major League player meant you had to chew,” Garagiola told the panel. He said he quit when his daughter asked him if he was going to die from it.”Get together guys, ban tobacco and anyone who uses it is penalized. Get it out of our game,” he said.

All tobacco products have been banned from the minor leagues since 1993. But extending the ban to the majors has to be done as part of a collective bargaining agreement with the players union, Robert Manfred, executive vice president for labor relations and human resource for Major League Baseball, told the committee.David Prouty, the chief labor counsel for the Major League Baseball Players Association, said the union opposes a ban.”We believe baseball players should not be prohibited from using substances that are perfectly legal and available to the general public,” he told the panel.

Prouty promised to discuss the issue with players to see if they would agree to include a ban in the next contract talks.Gregory Connolly, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, said research shows that about one-third of Major League players and one-quarter of minor league players report using chewing tobacco and moist snuff.”The use of smokeless tobacco by players has a powerful role model effect on youth particularly among young males in sport, some of whom ironically remain addicted in future careers as professional athletes,” Connolly said.He said teens often extol the virtues of smokeless tobacco on baseball social networking sites such as Facebook.(Reuters)

iPod and iPhone, iPad predictable emergence would greatly affect the history of the world's electronic devices.

iPod and iPhone, iPad predictable emergence would greatly affect the history of the world’s electronic devices. According to Henrik Brogaard, Head of Network Systems Sales, Nokia Siemens Networks Indonesia, the iPad would shift the role of portable computers to replace its role in the next few years. “I think, because of the emergence iPad, the existence of the netbook will be missing two or three years,” said Henrik Thursday, April 1, 2010.

According to him, ipad own more than a handheld mobile computing devices. “For me, iPad is a large cell phone,” said Henrik. Smartphones are also experiencing a significant increase in growth, so that growth will also cause the surging consumption data. around the world. In 2009 and 2010, Internet traffic originating from mobile handhelds is still around zero coma at a percentage of the total data traffic across the world.

But later in 2015, data traffic from the mobile handset has managed to take the portion up to nearly 50 percent of the total mobile traffic and laptops, which amount approximately 23 exabita. “Although mobile laptops are still continuing to grow, but growth will be greater over the phone,” explains Henrik. According to him, smart phones has changed the habits of people in connecting to the internet.

Once a very rare person who will be accessing the internet via mobile phone. But now many Indonesian people who update Facebook via mobile. In Indonesia, the smartphone also grew rapidly. According to Hastings Singh, Regional Director Distribution, RIM Asia-Pacific, the growth of smartphones in Indonesia last year reached 9 percent increase from the previous year which is only 4 percent.

That growth is also accompanied by increased consumption of customer data telecommunications operators who achieve a growth of 426 percent. At the same time, consumption dropped by voice instead of minus growth. RIM estimates, the growth of smartphones in Indonesia would continue to increase to 16 percent in 2012.

Nokia N900, The Computer Cell

Leading mobile phone maker from Finland, Nokia, again making a new breakthrough. In the near future they will release a new series, the Nokia N900. Once the sophistication of these products, so mention that this is a miniature version of a computer. No doubt the title as a mobile computer attached to this product. Features and advantages make it more suitable gadget called a portable computer than a phone.

Nokia N900 itself uses operating system Linux-based Maemo. Maemo technology allows the Nokia N900 has a high performance result N900 allows users to perform a variety of things like being on the computer desktop, including the opening of various applications, for instant messaging, calendar, contacts, etc. simultaneously and without the constraint means. This is because the Nokia N900 has been equipped with high-capable processor at the heart of the main.

Features superior owned by Nokia N900 more complete as many offline and online applications can be opened quickly, to maximize results, this application memory can be added up to 1GB. Games on mobile enthusiasts also will feel the sensation of playing for fun in the 3D graphics accelerator technology in the Nokia N900 is very pampering eyes.

To accommodate mobile users who frequent online wherever and whenever the Nokia N900 is a good choice. Classical problems such as long loading on any other smart phone hardly found on the Nokia N900. This sophisticated phone allows the fans on Facebook games like Mafia Wars, Mob Wars or the Texas Holdem Poker can play hard.

Users of the Nokia N900 also be at the same time to chat or browse in cyberspace without the constraints mean that the power of the processor allows the user to move windows easily. All open applications directly just by touching or sliding a view screen.

Not only that, the Nokia N900 also accommodate users who want audio visual entertainment as a whole. Users just choose a song or movie collection and favorite music video clips with easy access from one screen.

Afraid of getting lost on the road? No need to worry! Nokia N900 is equipped with technology A-GPS (Assisted-Global Positioning System) and Ovi Maps application that allows its users to find points of complex nan road in a city. Want to have all the sophistication of this product? Wait for the presence of the Nokia N900 which is also known as “mobile computer” was in Indonesia at the end of March 2010.

Microsoft said on Tuesday that it will be delivering several updates to its Bing search engine in an attempt to cut into Google's dominant position in the space

Microsoft said on Tuesday that it will be delivering several updates to its Bing search engine in an attempt to cut into Google’s dominant position in the space.According to Microsoft, its research has shown that 42% of all Bing queries require some refinements for users to find exactly what they’re looking for. Currently, Bing offers a “Quick Tabs” pane to the left of results to help users get to content that might in some way relate to their query. And although Microsoft claims the feature has been popular, it thinks it can do better.Microsoft plans to test new Bing designs “over the next few months” that will move the Quick Tabs pane to the top of the search page. The company thinks that the modification will help users “make faster, more informed decisions.”

One of Bing’s core focuses is on real-time data. Currently, the search engine lets users see the latest tweets and Facebook status updates on a particular subject. In order to make real-time data a more present part of its search, Microsoft said that it will begin testing better availability of real-time results. Bing will also start offering real-time content, such as the “most popular shared links,” from other sites around the Web.

To improve Bing Maps, Microsoft partnered with location-based service Foursquare to create an app for its mapping tool. Bing Maps users will be able to see Foursquare data, such as mayorships, badges and check-ins, around a particular area.

As exciting as the updates might be for some Bing users, the effect they will have on search market share will probably be minimal. According to market-research firm comScore, Google enjoys more than 65% search market share, while Bing has captured just over 11% of the market. A few updates to design or functionality probably won’t be enough for the company to gain significant ground. Historically, catching up to a dominant search provider takes a long time.In other words, Microsoft is facing an uphill battle in search that probably won’t be ending anytime soon.

Facebook says it is "aggressively disabling" applications that claim to allow users to see who is viewing their profile

Facebook says it is “aggressively disabling” applications that claim to allow users to see who is viewing their profile. It has also confirmed that the programmes do not work and won’t allow access to private information. Several variants of the so-called “stalker apps” have appeared on Facebook in recent days.

Unwitting users have helped spread the rogue software by attempting to install it. Among the applications that have now disappeared from the site are “Stalker Check”, and “Who has visited my profile”. They claim to show users who, among their friends, is regularly visiting their page. In a statement, Facebook said: “Don’t believe any applications that claim they can show you who’s viewing your profile or photo. They can’t.”

Our philosophy is that having an open system anyone can participate in is generally better Most of the stalker apps appear to have been created to generate cash for their designers. Facebook’s Head of European Policy, Richard Allan, said: “Applications try to attract users in and try to get people to install them. “Once a large number of users have installed that application, they can try to offer services like advertising that will make money.” However, there remains the potential for victims to be directed to sites containing viruses and other malicious software.

It has, once again, raised the question of Facebook introducing an application vetting process, along the lines of Apple’s App Store system. Speaking to Newsbeat in March 2009, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg rejected the idea. He said: “There will occasionally be some applications that people don’t like. “Our philosophy is that having an open system anyone can participate in is generally better.”

Facebook beat Google's search engine giant for the first time

social networking site Facebook has become the most popular in the United States (U.S.), last week. This also marks the success of Facebook beat Google’s search engine giant for the first time.Experian network analyst firm Hitwise said that the number of visitors for Facebook much more than Google visitors until 13 March.”This shows that the content sharing service more attractive and encourage people to surf the Internet,” said Hitwise spokesman Matt Tatham was quoted as saying on CNN television stations pages.Tatham said that the primacy of Facebook also shows that more people trust the opinions of their friends than the results offered by search engines. “Ease of sharing information and content offered by Facebook is the key to their success,” said Tatham to Computerworld.

A total of 7.07 percent of U.S. Internet users visit Facebook last week, while Google’s 7.03 percent accessible. Then in succession Yahoo! Mail to 3.80 percent, the main site Yahoo 3.67 percent, 2.14 percent and YouTube.Although the difference in visits to Facebook and Google is very thin, but the growth of Facebook far beyond Google. Compared with the same period last year, the number of visits to Facebook increased by 185 percent while traffic to Google is only increased 9 percent.”This victory is certainly of great significance for Facebook, although the difference is very small,” said Tatham.