New Study: Student digital habits interfer with learning

The typical college student plays with his or her digital device an average of 11 times a day while in class, according to a new study by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor.

More than 80 percent admit that their use of smart phones, tablets and laptops can interfere with their learning. More than a fourth say their grades suffer as a result.

Barney McCoy, an associate professor of broadcasting, embarked upon his study after launching his teaching career seven years ago and noticing the instructional challenges presented by students' digital devices.

From the front of his classroom on multimedia, he often saw the smart phones creeping out.

The view from the back of a classroom while a colleague taught Mass Media Principles was equally telling.

"They've got their laptops open, but they're not always taking notes," McCoy said. "Some might have two screens open -- Facebook and their notes."

Rather than rely on anecdotal evidence, McCoy decided to try to quantify how often college students tune out their instructors in favor of tweets and texts. During fall 2012, he surveyed 777 students at six universities in five states about their classroom use of digital devices for non-instructional purposes. He also asked the students how often they are distracted by others using digital devices and for their perspective on how digital devices should be policed.

"I don't think students necessarily think it's problematic," McCoy said. "They think it's part of their lives."

Read More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131023151612.htm

What? New milestone that mothers and fathers: when the cell phone is first used

Nearly two in five babies have used a mobile phone or tablet - before they can even speak full sentences, new research has found.

A survey has found that 38 per cent of children aged under two have used gadgets like iPhones or Kindles for playing games or watching films.

In 2011 the same figure was just 10 per cent.

The researchers said that the findings showed a ‘fundamental change in the way kids consume media’.

They should also serve as a wake-up call to parents who increasingly turn to gadgets to entertain their children - but could be doing them harm.

The current recommendation from the American Academy of Paediatrics is that the under-twos should have no screen time at all.

Jim Steyer, director of U.S. pressure group Common Sense Media, which commissioned the survey, said: ‘Kids that cannot even talk will walk up to a TV screen and try to swipe it like an iPad or an iPhone.’

The survey results showed the speed at which mobiles and other gadgets are becoming a fact of life, even for babies, when they were compared to a similar study that was carried out in 2011 by Common Sense Media.

Back then, 38 per cent of under-eights had used a phone or a Kindle. Now that same statistic applies to the under-twos.

In 2011 the amount of time the under-eights spent on their phones or tablets was just five minutes a day.

The figure for this year is 15 minutes, on average.

The study, called ‘Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America, 2013’ was based on a national survey of 1,463 parents with children under eight.

Vicky Rideout, the author of the report and the similar one released in 2011, said: ‘I was blown away by the rapidity of the change.

‘iPhones and tablets are game changers, because they are so easy to use.

Among the other findings were that children now typically spend an hour a day in front of screens, though that covers everything from watching TV to using computers and watching films.

Children aged two to four average two hours a day, and those aged five to eight averaged two hours and 20 minutes.

But despite the rise in the use of gadgets, TV still is the dominant media that children consume.

Almost 100 per cent of children under eight have a TV and cable.

Thirty per cent have the Internet with their TVs meaning they can watch films on demand.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2478328/A-modern-milestone-40-babies-use-mobile-phone-tablet-speak-sentences.html#ixzz2j201mR3w

Online Privacy: Free Tool to See Who Is Looking Over Your Shoulder When You Surf The Web

Firefox released a security upgrade after it emerged that the NSA was exploiting vulnerabilities in the browser to gain access to computers using Tor, a sophisticated anonymity tool.

But Mozilla insisted that Lightbeam itself will not compromise the privacy of users who agree to upload and share data. Lightbeam will not log IP addresses, the information will be aggregated anonymously and the software can be uninstalled, Mr Surman promised.

Lightbeam initially will only be available for desktop browsers. Apple has reportedly rejected from its store apps by developers which incorporate “cookie tracking” technology. “The whole mobile environment is closed,” Mr Surman said. “You have to go through Google and Apple for apps.”

Just who is looking over your shoulder when you browse the Internet? Tomorrow, web users will be given a new tool to shine a light on the commercial organisations which track your every movement online.

Lightbeam, a download produced by Mozilla, the US free software community behind the popular Firefox browser, claims to be a “watershed” moment in the battle for web transparency.

Everyone who browses the Internet leaves a digital trail used by advertisers to discover what your interests are.

Users who activate Lightbeam will be able to see a real-time visualisation of every site they visit and every third-party that is active on those sites, including commercial organisations which might potentially be sharing your data.

Mozilla wants users who install the Lightbeam add-on to Firefox, to crowd-source their data, to produce the first “big picture” view of web tracking, revealing which third-parties are most active.

Lightbeam promises a “Wizard of Oz” moment for the web, “where users collectively provide a way to pull back the curtains to see its inner workings,” Mozilla claimed. 

Mark Surman, Mozilla’s executive director, said: “It’s a stake in the ground in terms of letting people know the ways they are being tracked. At Mozilla, we believe everyone should be in control of their user data and privacy and we want people to make informed decisions about their Web experience.”

Mozilla already offers users the ability to disable “cookies” - small files that download from websites onto a computer, allowing advertisers to target users based on their online activity – an option taken up by 18 per cent of UK Firefox users.

Lightbeam will reveal the source of the third-party adverts, scripts and images stored on a web page which are linked to servers in other domains. An expanding graph visualises the interactions between the sites a user intentionally visits and the third parties which may not be welcome.

Mozilla has come under “tremendous pressure” from trade bodies over its mission to bring transparency to the web, said Alex Fowler, the company’s Privacy Officer.

The software company said it was responding to increased privacy concerns following the revelation that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had tapped directly into the servers of Internet firms including Facebook, to track online communication in a surveillance programme.

Read More: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/mozillas-lightbeam-tool-will-expose-who-is-looking-over-your-shoulder-on-the-web-8902269.html

Social Media: Train passenger live tweets former spy chief's conversation after hearing him bashing Obama

A former political reporter turned the tables on a former spy chief.

Tom Matzzie, who last wrote for Huffington Post, overheard former NSA director Michael Hayden Thursday afternoon bashing the Obama Administration ‘on background’ – and live-tweeted the whole conversation.

A source talking on background can be directly quoted, but cannot be cited by name and is usually referred to ambiguously – in this case as ‘a former senior administration official.’

‘Former NSA spy boss Michael Hayden on Acela behind me blabbing ‘on background as a former senior admin official’ Sounds defensive,’ Mr Matzzie tweeted just before 4:30pm.

Sitting directly  in front of Mr Hayden while riding an Acela train that left Washington, D.C. at 3pm, Mr Matzzie had a front row seat to listen in on multiple interviews being given by the former head spook.

Mr Hayden spoke critically of the Obama Administration on topics ranging from 'a famous blackberry' to rendition and black sites, Mr Matzzie detailed in multiple tweets.

‘Michael Hayden on Acela giving reporters disparaging quotes about admin. ‘Remember, just refer as former senior admin’ #exNSAneedsadayjob,’ Mr Matzzie tweeted.

Showing time away from the beat hasn’t softened his journalistic chops, Mr Matzzie also was able to identify at least one reporter speaking to Mr Hayden – Time’s Massimo Calabresi.

‘On Acela listening to former NSA spy boss Michael Hayden give ‘off record’ interviews. I feel like I’m in the NSA. Except I’m in public,’ Mr Matzzie tweeted.

It didn’t take long for the ex-spy to get to the bottom of who was spying on him, as Mr Matzzie’s phone began ringing after only 15 minutes.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2476171/Former-NSA-chief-Michael-Haydens-conversation-train-gets-live-tweeted-passenger.html#ixzz2ikhrDjA1

The power of social media: NSA uses fake Twitter to abuse rival

White House National Security official fired for criticising colleagues with anonymous Twitter account

Jofi Joseph is a director in the non-proliferation section of the National Security Staff at the White House

In one Twitter rant he called Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett a 'vacuous cipher'

In other posts he called Sarah Palin and her family 'white trash'

A White House national security adviser is out of the job after it was revealed he was behind a Twitter page popular amongst Washington D.C.'s foreign policy community that he often used to anonymously insult many of his bosses and other powerful D.C. insiders.

Additionally, Jofi Joseph, a director in the non-proliferation section of the National Security Staff at the White House, used the account - with the moniker @natsecwonk - to reveal internal information about the Obama White House for more than two years.

At times, Joseph even used the page to take shots at Jews.

'Is it just me, or with the Jews celebrating Rosh Hashanah tonight, is Twitter much quieter?' he posted on September 4.

Joseph started posting on the account in February 2011 and used it to insult powerful politicians until it was deleted last week, presumably after he'd been shown the door at the White House.

Two administration officials confirmed to the Daily Beast that Joseph was the man behind the account.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2472956/Jofi-Joseph-White-House-official-fired-anonymous-Twitter-account.html#ixzz2iZCwz800

Global Study: Young adults say technology can be dehumanizing

The survey, which was conducted in Brazil, China, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan and the United States from July 28 to August 15 found millennials are tech-savvy young adults who grew up with smartphones and iPads, but many think technology makes people less human, according to a poll released on Thursday.

Dr. Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist and research director at Intel Labs, said although the results of the survey that examined global attitudes towards technology innovation may indicate that young adults are rejecting technology, the findings could be more complicated.

"A different way to read this might be that millennials want technology to do more for them," she said in a statement.

Nearly 90 percent of young adults questioned in the poll admitted innovations in technology make life easier, but about 60 percent said people rely on it too much and that it can be dehumanizing.

Seventy percent said technology enhances their personal relationships and about half believe it will have a good impact on education, transportation and healthcare.

Women age 45 and older, and those living in emerging markets such as Brazil and India, are more enthusiastic about the impact technology could have on their lives.

The survey of 12,000 people aged 18 and older in eight countries, commissioned by Intel Corporation, also showed that 18- to 24-year-olds want technology to be more personal and know their habits. Older women and those living in emerging markets are the most enthusiastic about the role technology can play in their lives, the findings showed.

In China, more than 70 percent of women said technology is not used enough.

"Women historically have become avid users of technology when that technology solves a problem, helps us organize our live and that of our families, as well as aids us in saving time and time shifting," Bell said.

The findings showed that Italians and Japanese held the most negative attitudes toward technology.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.89 percentage points.

SOURCE: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/young-adults-technology-dehumanizing-poll-122045068.html

Yahoo Mail users furious over Marissa Mayer's redesign

Can't please all the people all the time - especially with technology.

Apparently, hundreds of thousands of Yahoo users are upset about the changes made to Yahoo Mail (TM). Most are complaining that the useful features have disappeared and now Yahoo is looking and feeling like a Gmail knock off.

I guess if you can't beat the #1 email service you just got to imitate 'em - right?

One writer on the tech site ZD Net has called the redesign a 'disaster' that has left many users questions whether they will keep using Yahoo or flee to other online email services.

The biggest complaint has been the elimination of a feature that allows users to open search pages and emails in individual tabs - something that distinguished Yahoo Mail from its biggest competitor, Gmail.

Another complaint is the the "print" button has been taken away or hidden very effectively.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2460096/Yahoo-Mail-users-furious-Marissa-Mayer-led-redesign-wiped-away-features-left-interface-looking-like-Gmail-knockoff.html

Facebook Gets Rid of Privacy Option And Makes All Users Searchable

Any change to Facebook, whether it's a tweak in its site design or an overhaul of its privacy settings, generates a groan or two.

In another effort to improve its users' experience on the social network, Facebook is getting rid of an old and sometimes glitch-prone privacy option that will now render every Facebook user searchable to any other user.

The old privacy setting -- called "Who can look up your Timeline by name?" -- gave users the option to not appear in Facebook search results. If Mark Zuckerberg himself wanted to keep all Facebook users from looking up his Timeline and activity via the Facebook search bar, he could toggle the setting so that only friends, or friends of friends, could do so.

However, according to Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer Michael Richter, that led to some problems with the search function itself. "People told us that they found it confusing when they tried looking for someone who they knew personally and couldn't find them in search results," he said in a statement. Facebook is phasing out this privacy option and will make all users accessible via the search bar.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-makes-users-searchable/story?id=20543155

How to view your socal sharing stats - for free - on your web page or blog

Here is a simple and free method to view the social stats on your web site or blog.

In other words, find out exactly how many visitors to your web site or blog are sharing your pages to their network.

First you have to download the Chrome browser. Here is a ling to the English version....
https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/

Once you have that installed on your computer or phone you have to download the Social Analytic Extension for Chrome .... (this is the link to English version)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/social-analytics/pgckigmaefoaemjpijdepakcghjkggmg?hl=en

Again, both of these are free.

Once that Extension is installed, visit your blog posts using Chrome or go to your web pages .... the cool part is that viewing that extension, you will see the number of times your pages have been shared.

Sometimes that extension takes a while to load depending on the speed of your internet connection. Give it a few minutes to have the number appear. That number shows you the total shares, click on the extension icon in Chrome to see the details of those shares.

Steu Mann, 541.210.4375, www.EzWebManifesting.com

SEO: simple nine step program

This is the nine step program that defines a five-star SEO program. We agree that it’s an oversimplification, so just know going in that there is much “doingness” underneath each of these steps.

1. Fine tune and tweak page content keywords with meta tags (title, descriptions, author, and description).

2. Produce and maintain all page content descriptions to include trending high search volume keywords

3. Build and establish organic link building, along with submitting site to high ranking directories, forums, blogs, and review sites.

4. Write and submit blog articles to various directories. Plus, using keywords in those articles.

5. Produce changes in page structure, heading tags, internal links, image alt tags as needed.

6. Manage YouTube video titles and descriptions to include keywords and appropriate links.

7. Analyze crawlability of site pages and take the lead on fixing errors and suggesting solutions to spider or analytic issues.

8. Integrate social media strategy, maintain it and provide measurements.

9.  Monitor performance of organic traffic and measure it. Implement methods to improve inbound links.

Steu Mann 541 210 4375

SEO Specialist

Google rules the West but Japan still prefers Yahoo

Google rules the West but Japan still prefers Yahoo: Map reveals how different internet giants dominate countries across the globe

Google has become so much a part of everyday life many people now use the brand name as a verb for searching, but a new map highlights exactly how far and wide the site spreads across the globe.  

The map, created by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, used data from millions of people's browsing history worldwide and shows Google as the most popular site, in 62 countries. 

Facebook was the second most visited site globally, in 50 countries, while the third place site - China's 

Baidu search engine, was popular in just two countries.

To work out the number of visitors, Dr Mark Graham and Stefano De Sabbata from the institute combined the number of estimated average daily unique visitors, with the estimated number of page views for that site from users in a particular country, for a particular month. 

The data shown in the map covers the period of July and August this year and uses information collected by website analytics firm Alexa.

Each colour represents that most visited website in that country and each three individual blocks represent around one million users. 

The countries are unusual sizes as the map effectively exaggerates countries that almost exclusively use one type of search engine.

Google is shown in red, Facebook is blue. Yahoo is shown in purple and has a stronghold over Japan, while China's favourite site is the search engine Baidu. 

Baidu is also popular in Korea, ahead of the country's own search engine Naver.

The majority of most-visited sites were search engines, but Facebook was also popular.

Although Facebook was predominantly popular in the west, it was also the most visited site in Nepal and Mongolia.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2443825/Google-rules-West-Japan-prefers-Yahoo-Map-reveals-different-internet-giants-dominate-countries-globe.html#ixzz2gmUiqmbw