war goat
Continue Reading

Is World War Goat Coming?

We’ve all been told not to believe everything that we read on the internet. (The exception being this site of course!) But after a newspaper in the UK had to run a correction about a possible human vs. goat war, maybe we shouldn’t put much stock in newspapers either. Apparently World War Goat isn’t coming soon, or at least as far as we know.

Continue Reading

What Will Facebook do with Drones?

Facebook drones. If those two words strike terror into your heart as you envision the loss of all privacy, you probably don’t need to be afraid. Nevertheless, Facebook drones may become a reality as the company looks to gain its next billion users.

Continue Reading

New Google Project Tango Phone Learns and Maps Your Surroundings

Google is releasing a new device, still currently known as Project Tango. This device can be used to create 3D maps of an area such as your home. Before you get too excited about this, Project Tango is only being released to about 200 developers so that they can develop programs for this technology, but it is headed our way sooner or later.

Continue Reading

Google to Glass Users: Don’t be Glassholes

Google has a message for their Google Glass users, also known as Glass Explorers. Google implores their beta testers of their product: Don’t be Glassholes. We see what you did there Google. But despite them owning up to the term, it was out there before as a reference to anyone using Google Glass. Google wants to make it clear that those who are obnoxious with their technology do not speak for them.

Continue Reading

Groupon Celebrates President’s Day by Honoring President Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton, Groupon thinks that you’re absolutely great! For some people, President’s Day is all about the guys whose faces are carved on Mount Rushmore. You know, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and those other two guys. Frankly, we’re still upset that Washington’s birthday and Lincoln’s birthday used to be separate holidays in February and got combined into one holiday known as President’s Day. Groupon decided to break out of the traditional mold and celebrate a lesser known president – President Alexander Hamilton of the $10 bill.

Continue Reading

How Will the Comcast Time Warner Merger Affect Me?

The Borg are the dreaded, unstoppable enemy that was introduced to us first in Star Trek: The Next Generation. And of course many are familiar with Jeri Ryan’s Borg character, Seven of Nine as she appeared in Star Trek Voyager. The concept of the Borg, what made them so scary, was that they were basically all consuming and couldn’t be stopped. They took new technology and assimilated it into their “collective.” And what was considered inferior was discarded or otherwise ignored.

Continue Reading

Some Want Netflix House of Cards Early

Ever since viewers binge watched season one of Netflix House of Cards, they have been eagerly awaiting the release of the second season. The good news was that that second season was guaranteed as Netflix made the wise decision of locking up two seasons of production when it ordered the initial episodes of the hit show.

obama limits nsa phone metadata surveillance-1
Continue Reading

Full Text of Obama’s Speech on NSA Phone Metadata Collection Program, January 17, 2014

In his speech regarding changes to the NSA’s Section 215 phone metadata collection and surveillance program, President Barack Obama stated outright, “I am ordering a transition that will end the section 215 bulk metadata program as it currently exists.” During his speech (full transcript below), President Obama also announced that the federal government will need to go to the the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) every time that they want to search data, rather than relying on previous orders.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

How to Make Sure You’re Not Reading Fake Reviews on Yelp, Expedia, Trip Advisor, and Other Review Sites

Many consumers rely heavily on the reviews of others before making purchase decisions. Whether Amazon, Yelp, Trip Advisor or Expedia, consumer reviews tend to heavily influence all types of purchase decisions, from toasters to vacations.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

The Unfolding Boston Marathon Bombing Story and Internet Coverage, Observed from the Perspective of a U.S. Citizen in Europe

The moment I heard about the Boston Marathon bombing, I did what many people did: I immediately sought out as much information as possible online. I watched the now widely dispersed videos of the bomb exploding, I looked at the gruesome pictures of victims of the attacks, and I read countless articles about the unfolding tragedy. It is of course trite to observe that the internet has fundamentally altered the way people consume news, breaking or otherwise, but the importance of this fact, however obvious it may be, was made especially vivid to me as I watched the story of the Boston Marathon bombing unfold over the last few days from England, where I am currently in graduate school.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

Technology, Social Media, and the Boston Marathon Bombing

The Boston Marathon bombing, like most tragedies, has prompted countless reflections and questions; some of this soul-searching has been quite general – how is humanity capable of both ruinous evil and heroic good? – and some of it is quite specific – how many people where injured, who are they, exactly how did they get hurt? The much-discussed topic of how technology and social media have impacted the response to the Boston Marathon killings is both general and specific. It is general in that people are asking expansive questions about what role, if any, amateurs armed with computers and an internet connection should play in an active terrorist investigation, and it is specific in that, regardless of how you answer the first question, amateurs are playing a role in an active terrorist investigation, zeroing in on the minutest details of the thousands of photos of the crime scene floating around the internet. We’ll attempt to navigate between the two poles, exploring the intersection of technology, social media, and the Boston Marathon bombing details that have emerged so far.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

Make Purchases Through American Express Amex Sync and Look Like a Twitter Spammer at the Same Time!

Twitter is trending with the promoted hashtag #AmexSync. Do you get annoyed with the “deals” that your Facebook friends “like” showing up in your newsfeed? Well prepare for it to get even worse on Twitter, as American Express and Twitter introduce Amex Sync, the service that connects your American Express credit card directly to your Twitter account. And rest assured, as Twitter has proven time and time again, your private information is secure behind their hack-proof system. (Not!)

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

Top Designers and Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Put Fashion Shows Online

Big name designers such as Michael Kors, Nanette Lepore, Badgley Mischka and Carolina Herrera have taken advantage of digital media by showing their fashion shows online during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. Major designers are realizing that online fashion shows are a great way to bring their collection to wider audience, and new designers can produce online fashion show for a fraction of the pricetag of an in-person show, which can cost upwards of $100k.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

California Law AB 242 Would Require Privacy Policies to be Written at an 8th Grade Reading Level and be No Longer Than 100 Words

Proposed California law AB 242, introduced by Assemblyman Ed Chau, is creating quite a buzz due to its wording, or rather, proposed lack of wording. AB 242 would require that all commercial websites and services offered through the Internet which collect personal information about California consumers make its privacy policy be written at a level of 8th grade reading, and be no longer 100 words.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

Hacker Guccifer Hacks Email Accounts of Former President George W. Bush and His Family and Friends

A hacker, who goes by the name “Guccifer”, has hacked the email accounts of former president George W. Bush, as well as the accounts of his family and friends, and has taken to posting his findings online, including private photos, emails and private home addresses. Guccifer told The Smoking Gun, who broke the story, that he isn’t worried about the feds coming after him because they have actually been investigating him for awhile and this latest stunt is “just another chapter in the game.”