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Emoticons Invade Academia
 Emoticons Invade 
 Academia 
Sep 7, 2009 4:44 PM CDT

Emoticons Invade Academia

Teaching millennials causes new frustrations for college writing professors

(Newser) - College professors have lamented the state of student writing for centuries. But today’s Internet-obsessed culture brings new, infuriating errors to Writing 101 as students brazenly use colloquialisms like “:-)” and “LOL” in essays. “Occasionally, I've seen someone using the number 4 for the word 'for,'”...

Google Is Top Online Dictionary, But in Weak Field

Lack of sensical example sentences even in OED flummoxes Angwin

(Newser) - Nowadays, Google is just about as good a reference as the Oxford English Dictionary—or better, Julia Angwin writes in the Wall Street Journal. Type in a misspelled word, and the search engine corrects it. What’s more, Google will display a trove of up-to-date articles using the word, something...

'Tragedy Porn' Drags Down News Sources

Online outlets mull pay models, putting a price on sensational stories

(Newser) - Word is that newspapers will soon start charging for online news—but no one’s quite sure what it’s worth. Take a story like the Jaycee Dugard kidnapping: It’s “tragedy porn” that “neither informs nor enlightens. It merely titillates,” writes Simon Dumenco for Advertising Age....

'Twitter Opera' Wins Over Londoners

900 authors wrote Twitterdammerung libretto in tweets

(Newser) - The first-ever Twitter opera—a melding of high tech and high art with a libretto written in chunks of 140 characters—received an unexpectedly positive reception when it opened pver the weekend, the Washington Post reports. One critic called Twitterdammerung “an accident waiting to happen.” But it “...

Thank Beck, Internet for Van Jones Uproar

Strategy deflected attention from Jones' Beck boycott

(Newser) - The mainstream media entirely ignored the controversy over now-former Obama adviser Van Jones, who was slyly forced out by Glenn Beck and his online fans, Politico reports. Beck whipped up a fury over Jones—who once signed a 9/11 conspiracy petition—without mentioning that the green jobs czar was also...

Top Signs You're an Internet Addict

When you know it's time to get a life

(Newser) - Do you just like reading Newser, or are you addicted to the Internet? Seattle-based Internet addiction center ReSTART lists the signs of a bad online habit:
  • Heightened euphoria. Trolling through sites gives you your greatest thrill.
  • Whiling away more hours. You look up and it's suddenly 2 am, when last
...

Web Monitoring Firm Sells Kids' Chatter

Company also notifies parents when kids go astray online

(Newser) - A company that polices children's Internet chatter is also selling it to companies that want marketing data on the quick, CNET reports. Sentry Parental Control Software, which monitors kids online—and triggers a phone call to parents when kids go astray—is amassing their chatter about products and selling it....

China Orders Websites to Register Names of Users

Once-anonymous posters must register with true identities for 'social responsibility'

(Newser) - The Chinese government has quietly instructed news websites there to require new users and commenters to log on under their true identities, the New York Times reports. Netizens in China have long resisted the so-called “real name system,” which the government claims engenders “social responsibility” and greater...

Google Homepage an 'Unexplained Phenomenon'

(Newser) - Google’s home page presents a extraterrestrial quandary today, the Telegraph reports. The “doodle”—the sporadic reworking of the Google artwork that usually marks a specific event—depicts one “O” being abducted by a UFO. Mouse over the alien spacecraft and click, and you’re taken to...

Things the Internet's Killed
 Things the Internet's Killed 
ANALYSIS
Sep 5, 2009 5:15 AM CDT

Things the Internet's Killed

(Newser) - The efficiencies granted by the Internet have rendered many aspects of life obsolete—the Telegraph has compiled a full 50. Some highlights:
  • The art of polite disagreement. A quick look at the comment section on YouTube or any news or politics-related site will confirm this.
  • Fear that you are alone
...

Twitter Makes Dad a Star, Son Fields Book Deals

(Newser) - The delightfully profane dad who's the unwitting star of the August Twitter sensation "shitmydadsays," where his recently-moved-back-home son posts his cranky rants about making messes and dodging chores, may not be quite as clueless as he's been made out to be. Sam Halperin is actually a 73-year-old with...

2 Much Kittehs on teh Interwebs; 1-Day Ban Planned

Can "9.9.09 — A Day Without Cats on the Internet" possibly fly?

(Newser) - Let’s face it: Cats own the Internet. But it’s getting a little much, and that’s why the Urlesque blog is organizing “9.9.09—A Day Without Cats on the Internet.” The master plan calls for cats not to be mentioned, emailed, viewed, nor blogged...

iPhones Plod Along on Crowded Network

Heavy-using customers frustrated in busy areas

(Newser) - The iPhone has a slick package and a supercool image--but when it comes to speed, the gadget can be a clunker, the New York Times reports. Customers are fed up with the long waits that stem from heavy traffic on the AT&T network, currently the only one available to...

Happy 40th, Internet (Maybe)
 Happy 40th, Internet (Maybe) 
OPINION
Sep 2, 2009 7:20 PM CDT

Happy 40th, Internet (Maybe)

(Newser) - Forty years ago, two UCLA scientists exchanged data via computers, arguably making today the 40th anniversary of the birth of the Internet. "It would be more accurate to say some important seeds of the Internet sprouted with that data transfer," writes Stephen Shankland on CNET, but no matter....

Tweet a Commercial, Make a Quick Buck

Twitterverse split on ethics of Sponsored Tweets

(Newser) - A new company is brokering deals between businesses and Twitterers who want to make a few extra bucks plugging products, Time reports. The founder of the website Sponsored Tweets says 7,000 enterprising Twitterers have signed up for the service in its first month. Twitterers get paid based on a...

Website Finds Others to Do Your Chores

RunMyErrand.com pairs doers with can't-be-bothereds

(Newser) - The Internet is often considered a time waster—now it can be a time saver, too. RunMyErrand is a Boston-based startup that has other people do your pesky chores for you, Mashable reports. A typical errand (grocery shopping or returning something to the store, say) costs less than $10. The...

Gmail Goes Down Again
 Gmail Goes Down Again 
UPDATED
Sep 1, 2009 4:30 PM CDT

Gmail Goes Down Again

(Newser) - Google Inc.'s Gmail service got knocked offline today in a widespread outage that affected most users for a few hours this afternoon. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the disruption, which led users to get a "502" error message. Google first posted of the problem at 3:53pm...

'Craigslist Murder' a New Internet Phenomenon

Real-world cops with computers tracked real-world cybercrime

(Newser) - Accused Craigslist killer Philip Markoff’s alleged crimes and capture were so tied to the Internet that a “new kind of murder” has been born, writes Maureen Orth in Vanity Fair. Not only did Markoff allegedly find victim Julissa Brisman on Craigslist, but before the meeting that Boston police...

America: Why So Furious?
 America: Why So Furious? 
ANALYSIS
Aug 30, 2009 4:30 PM CDT

America: Why So Furious?

Terrorism, recession, economy drive nationwide rage

(Newser) - With town halls gone mad and anti-Obama protesters toting guns, this is America’s angriest summer in recent memory, McClatchy reports. The fury of voters has deep roots, from a long history of hate groups to anti-Vietnam marches to rage against George W. Bush when he left office—but it’...

Facebook: Defining Religion in 100 Characters

From agnostics to Jedis, users wonder how to sum up views

(Newser) - It could be a quick question: What's your religion? But Facebook’s request for that information has led many to review and revise their beliefs to fit into a 100-character space, the Washington Post reports. Answers range from Christian, Facebook’s most popular belief system, to a professed belief in...

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