Tech Talk

Anyone who ever said Twitter was just a waste of time and used only by the self-absorbed should look to one if its newest users.  It could very well lead to inner peace.

The Dalai Lama joined Twitter Monday, the official Tibetan Government Official Web site announced Tuesday:

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has joined the social networking line to keep in touch with his followers.

Evan Williams, the CEO of the social networking site, tweeted Monday:  

Met the Dalai Lama today in LA. Pitched him on using Twitter. He laughed.

But apparently he took the invitation to heart and accepted.

So far, His Holiness has posted a half dozen tweets linking to videos, photos and webcasts.

Previously there was a fake Twitter account claiming to be the religious leader, but it has since been removed.  And those concerned that this account is another fake can rest assured knowing that the account of the 14th Dalai Lama has been verified by Twitter.

If there was any question that Twitter is here to stay, it should be gone.

Satellite view of Vancouver courtesy of NASA, via Wired

If you think you get a good view of this year’s Olympics host city from the slopes, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Wired.com is offering a breath-taking, out-of-this-world tour of Olympics cities — past, present and future. And best of all, the tour is free and goes at your own pace.

Satellite technology has given us the opportunity to look at the world in a way our ancestors only dreamed of.  The technology magazine assembled dozens of images from various sources, added some descriptions and vintage artifacts to create a really memorable photo gallery.

Check it out.

It is important to understand the risks of the gadgets you are bringing into your home — and bedroom.

A lawsuit alleging that officials from a high school in an affluent area in Pennsylvania watched a 15-year-old at home on a school-issued laptop’s webcam has raised awareness of a relatively unknown risk.  Many laptops sold today have webcams built into the monitor creating for the potential of increased voyeurism.

According to an article on philly.com:

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court, the family said the school’s assistant principal had confronted their son, told him he had “engaged in improper behavior in [his] home, and cited as evidence a photograph from the webcam embedded in [his] personal laptop issued by the school district.”

The Lower Merion School District, the suit alleged, was able to turn on the webcams and illegally invade students’ privacy.

According to the publication:

A statement on the district Web site said the lawsuit’s allegations “are counter to everything that we stand for as a school and a community.”

Stephen Henderson, a law professor interviewed for the story, told philly.com that using such a camera for home surveillance “would violate wiretap laws, even if done to catch a thief.”

It is important for folks with webcams to understand how the popular device works. Some have lights that illuminate when activated, while some do not.  Many have the potential to be activated remotely.  To preserve one’s privacy, users with webcams could simple place a small Post-it note over the camera’s hole to avoid any unexpected or undesired exposure.

It is important to remember to always think of the worst-case scenarios with any piece of technology you bring into your home, because chances are someone else already is.

Facebook, according to at least one news report, is taking down fan pages that support the man who allegedly crashed a small plane into a Texas office building.

The social networking giant could be setting a dangerous precedent by restricting the speech of its users if the report disseminated by the reputable Breaking News Twitter account attributed to NBC News is true. As Facebook becomes the modern-day water cooler across America and around the world, it is becoming increasingly important to foster conversations — of all perspectives.

While Tech Talk would never condone the alleged actions of Andrew Joseph Stack, simply stating opinions should not be restricted.  In fact, such actions will likely make the situation worse as users could feel further ostracized and go further underground.  It would be better to have such conversations carried out in open.

It has been widely reported that Stack crashed a plane into an Austin office building with federal offices around 11 a.m. ET Thursday.  At least eight people were injured, according to the Statesman, and at least two people died, possibily including the pilot.  The newspaper reported that officials said the incident “appears to be an intentional act, appears to be by a sole individual, and it appears this individual was targeting federal offices inside that building.”

While it is still not certain what exactly the respective groups are stating, if they are simply discussing the act of domestic terrorism and not encouraging similar actions, it seems that they would not pose a threat to national security. 

America is founded on the freedom of speech, and such expression should be protected whether it is favorable or not, so as long as it does not encourage violence.

If you’re like me, you likely have some chocolate lying around your home or office — and chances are you get criticized for eating so much sugar. 

Well, now you can honesty tell your naysayers that you’ve got the nuggets of heaven, as I sometimes call them, on hand (at least partially) for the benefit of mankind and the pursuit of truth.

Your chocolate, Wired.com reports, can be used to measure the speed of light.  Really.

In just a handful of easy simple steps, you can morph your chocolate into the perfect ice cream topping — and a really cool science experiment.

So what are you waiting for?  Check it out.  You know you want to.

Google has announced its entry into the social networking arena, and confirmed the reports Tech Talk cited Monday.

Mashable has all the details and screen captures on Google Buzz.

Check them out now, and check Tech Talk later for analysis.

Google will launch a new feature as early as this week to make sharing media and updates with friends easier, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The new module, which will be integrated into Gmail, is intended to make the e-mail application “more social” by allowing users to “view a stream of status updates from people they choose,” the newspaper reported.

The new feature seems to expand off of the Google Talk application currently integrated into Gmail. 

I regularly update my Google Talk statuses to reflect what I am doing, and utilize the application to communicate with friends and colleagues — as I once did on AOL Instant Messenger.

The difference, according to the Journal, is that the development will include an area where users can sift through a stream of updates — that includes the Google-owned YouTube and Picasa services —  in a similar timeline view as on Twitter and Facebook.  It remains uncertain if updates from non-Google entities will be included.

If the development goes across networks, Mashable notes:

[T]he new features could be thought of more like a TweetDeck or Seesmic, looking to provide an aggregate view of your friends’ social media activities along with the ability to push status updates to the services you use from inside of Gmail. If not, it could be thought of as a major competitor to Twitter and Facebook as Gmail looks to covert its millions of email users into users of a whole new breed of social media service.

When I received an e-mail recently with the subject, “Please change your twitter password,” supposedly from the popular social network, I was suspicious. After all, many scammers seeking to seize sensitive information make similar claims.

Nonetheless, I read the e-mail, which began:

Due to concern that your account may have been compromised in a phishing attack that took place off-Twitter, your password was reset. Please create a new password by opening this link in your browser: [with a link here]

This will reset your password. Remember to choose a strong password that is a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Do not reuse your old password.

Although everything looked legitimate, I remained skeptical about its authenticity.

So I decided rather than clicking any of the links, I would attempt to log into my Twitter accounts.  One of my accounts made me change my password immediately, which seemed to confirm the contents of the note.

Since then I have read Internet reports confirming the authenticity of the e-mail.

John Paczkowski of All Things Digital received the following statement from Twitter:

As part of Twitter’s ongoing security efforts, we reset passwords for a small number of accounts that we believe may have been compromised offsite. In one case, a number of accounts posted updates indicative of giving their username and password to untrusted third parties. While we’re still investigating and ensuring that the appropriate parties are notified, we do believe that the steps we’ve taken should ensure user safety. We’ll continue provide updates as warranted at @safety and @spam. We do, as always, encourage our users to read our help pages on what to do if your account is compromised: http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/10713/entries/31796 and how to stay safe on Twitter: http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/10711/entries/76036.

It is important to remember that if you ever receive an e-mail that does not seem right, or that you are suspicious of, not to click any links in the e-mail. I would recommend verifying the information from said e-mail by accessing the site directly rather than clicking a link.  If you have further issues, I would recommend attempting to contact the respective company or organization directly.

This is also a good time to remember the importance of having strong passwords unique to each respective account that contain special characters.