Geek TOGO USA Computer Repair and Support: March 2012

Monday, March 26, 2012

Facebook forbids employers from asking job seekers for passwords

Published March 23, 2012

FoxNews.com

A Facebook user edits privacy settings. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)

Some companies and government agencies aren't just glancing at a job applicant's social networking profiles -- they're asking to log in as the user to have a look around. And Facebook wants an end to it.

The social-networking giant weighed in on the controversy Friday morning, reasserting a point in its privacy regulations intended to prevent such requests that makes it a violation of Facebook’s policy to request your log in.

“We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s right the thing to do,” wrote Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer, in a blog post Friday morning.

“As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job … that’s why we’ve made it a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to share or solicit a Facebook password.”

If you violate those regulations, the social network reserves the right to drop you and even delete your account.

In recent weeks experts have called such requests overly intrusive and various states have introduced legislation aimed at banning access by potential employers.

"It's akin to requiring someone's house keys," said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it "an egregious privacy violation."

The legality of the practice is the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland as well, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review public Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks.

Companies that don't ask for passwords have taken other steps -- such as asking applicants to friend human resource managers or to log in to a company computer during an interview. Once employed, some workers have been required to sign nondisparagement agreements that ban them from talking negatively about an employer on social media.

Asking for a candidate's password is more prevalent among public agencies, especially those seeking to fill law enforcement positions such as police officers or 911 dispatchers.

Facebook has taken heat in recent days over proposed changes to its terms of service, which the company publicly unveiled and requested comments on last week.

Facebook stopped allowing comments Thursday and is reviewing user feedback, ZDNet reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Got Tons of Facebook Friends? You May Be a Narcissist, Says Study

Samantha Murphy mashable.com

Do you have tons of Facebook friends and often update your status? If so, you may be a narcissist, a new study suggests.

Research from Western Illinois University showed a link between the number of Facebook friends you have and how active you are on the site to the likelihood of being a “socially disruptive” narcissist.

The study — which was recently published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences — was conducted among 300 participants, who took a Narcissistic Personality Inventory questionnaire.

Those with more Facebook friends, who tagged themselves in photos and updated their status throughout the day were more likely to have narcissistic traits.

“People who have a heightened need to feel good about themselves will often turn to Facebook as a way to do so,” study author Chris Carpenter from Western Illinois University told Mashable.

“Facebook gives those with narcissistic tendencies the opportunity to exploit the site to get the feedback they need and become the center of attention.”

SEE ALSO: Survey Says Facebook Feeds Narcissism [STUDY]

Carpenter said that Facebook users that self-promote themselves on the site show signs of two narcissistic behaviors. The first is called grandiose exhibition (GE), which refers to people who love to be the center of attention. The second is a category that involves entitlement/explotiveness (EE), which indicates how far people will go to get the respect and attention they think they deserve.

“There isn’t a baseline of how many friends a person has or how often they update their status that would qualify as them to have these narcissistic characteristics,” Carpenter said. “However, it’s interesting to note how often these people use first-person pronouns such as ‘I’ and ‘me’ on the site.”

This isn’t the first time a study has been conducted about Facebook narcissists. In 2010, a study published from York University highlighted the differences between how men and women self-promoted themselves on Facebook.

Men tended to promote themselves in the “About Me” description, while women used pictures that “include[d] revealing, flashy and adorned photos of their physical appearance.”

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Why doesn't the 'new iPad' have a name?

By John D. Sutter, CNN

updated 5:30 AM EST, Thu March 8, 2012

Apple CEO Tim Cook unveils the company's newest -- and unnamed -- iPad on Wednesday in San Francisco.

San Francisco (CNN) -- At the pep rally where Apple debuted its third-generation tablet computer, one question was on everyone's lips: So, what do we call this thing?

The answer, according to an Apple spokesman: "It's just 'iPad.' It's what it is."

Or it is what it isn't. It's not the iPad 3, and it's not the iPad HD. Both names were widely rumored before Apple's coming-out party for the device on Wednesday in San Francisco. It's not New iPad, which is what people on Twitter started calling it during a nearly 90-minute press conference about the device.

The longer Apple execs talked about the tablet computer's new features -- better screen, faster connection -- without actually giving it a name, the more anxious the People of the Internet became.

"Come on Apple, name it already," one person wrote.

"Is it an Anonymous iPad?" asked another.

Tech writer Omar Gallaga: "Screw it, I'm just going to call it 'Lover.' "

At a demo of the device after the press conference, the topic was widely discussed among technology journalists, who were trying to confirm what to call the thing.

"It's the new iPad. What are you talking about?" another Apple spokeswoman said, as if it's common for updated devices to come out with the same names as their predecessors.

Perhaps this naming convention -- sticking with a singular product name without numbers or the names of cats to follow it -- isn't entirely new for Apple. One journalist pointed out that the iPod follows the same tack.

But there still seems to be potential for confusion, especially since the first-generation iPad was just called "iPad" and the next one was called "iPad 2." If someone were selling one of these new iPads on Craigslist next year, what would they call it?

"So this is the 'New iPad,' " said Nick Bilton, a tech writer for The New York Times. "Is the next one going to be called the 'New-New iPad'? Where do they go from there?"

Maybe "iPad 4." That would seem logical if unlikely at this point.

On the other hand, Apple has been through this sort of thing before.

When the first iPad came out, people online were comparing it to a high-tech tampon.

"I don't think it will be a big deal," Ina Fried, a writer for the AllThingsD blog, said of the whole iPad name debate. "If you recall, people didn't like the name iPad when it first came out. They seem to have sold a few of them."

A few million, that is. The company says it has sold 55 million iPads since the device debuted two years ago. When it comes to tablets, Apple's competitors are scrambling to catch up.

It probably would take more than a name snafu to change that.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Apple iPad 3: What to expect

by Donald Bell

As Apple's iPad 3 announcement approaches, it's time to shut down the rumor mill, and make an educated guess about what tablet buyers should expect.

The iPad 3 is unlikely to look much different from an iPad 2.

(Credit: Apple)

This isn't our first rodeo. The wild, often contradictory rumors that precede an Apple product unveiling would have you thinking that the iPad 3 could take just about any form or shape. But really, so long as you don't get hung up on the specifics, it's fairly easy to piece together the big picture of the iPad 3. Now that we have confirmation of the event on March 7 in San Francisco, what exactly is it Apple will be unveiling?

Improved screen resolution
The rumors about the iPad 3 display are nearly unequivocal about a substantial improvement to screen resolution. In fact, the only sport left in this rumor is trying to figure out which supplier will provide the anticipated display.

Better cameraThe resolution most often cited is QXGA, or 2,048x1,536 pixels--essentially doubling the iPad's existing resolution. The result would be an improved realism for games, videos, photos, and e-books.

The front and rear cameras on the iPad 2 are decent. And let's remember, they're a heck of a lot better than the cameras on the original iPad, which were nonexistent.

With the camera on the iPhone 4S, it's clear that Apple considers image quality an important feature of a mobile device. With any luck, we'll see the front-facing camera bumped up to HD quality (improving FaceTime video chat quality) and a rear camera that comes closer to iPhone quality.

iPad 3: Key feature upgrades (photos)

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Faster processor
Both the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S already feature Apple's A5 processor. So what's next? The A6, of course. Improved graphics, speed, and efficiency are the expected benefits of the A6. Graphics performance in particular will need a bump for the iPad 3 to handle all the extra pixels afforded by the improved screen.

Will the A6 be a quad-core chip? There's good reason to question that, especially with Apple's emphasis on battery life. Will it make the original iPad feel like molasses? Without a doubt.

4G data
Will the iPad 3 be Apple's first 4G-compatible device? It seems likely. Apple has always offered versions of the iPad with cellular data support (priced $130 over their Wi-Fi-only siblings). With the iPad 2, Apple extended its tablet family to include iPads for both AT&T and Verizon. With both networks placing so much emphasis on their 4G data capabilities, it seems only natural that Apple would finally branch out and embrace their technology.

Siri

Siri will make the move to iPad 3.

(Credit: Apple)

Now that iPhone 4S owners have exhausted the novelty of Apple's Siri voice assistant, it seems only natural for that feature to trickle down to the iPad 3.

What's not changing?
None of the above predictions is earth-shattering. In fact, to brace yourself for further disappointment, let's run through the inventory of what isn't likely to change.

Apple's 9.7-inch screen size isn't going anywhere. Neither is its 4:3 aspect ratio. The entire app catalog is designed around these measurements and Apple clearly hasn't been suffering for it.

The iPad isn't likely to get any cheaper. Yes, the competition has shown that there's room for a low-cost tablet like the Kindle Fire, but going low-end has never been Apple's strategy. Besides, Apple still dominates the tablet market and needn't change what's been working. Sure, the company may make a separate, smaller product, offer the iPad 2 hardware at a discount, or beef up the iPod Touch with a bigger screen, but the iPad 3 described above is unlikely to cost less than $499.

The iPad 3's design is also not likely to be radically different. In the year since the iPad 2 has been on the market, only one tablet (the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime) has been able to match the iPad's design in both thinness and use of premium materials. Let Samsung and Sony flail around with daring new tablet designs. If Apple can maintain the design it has while introducing an industry-defining screen technology--that's enough.

Final thoughts
It's tough not to run wild with iPad 3 rumors and speculation, but the most likely scenario we'll see from Apple is an incrementally improved device that will stun users (and disrupt an industry) with a unique high-resolution display.