Even as we applaud the use of crowdsourcing to find terrorists such as those who bombed the Boston Marathon, we must caution over the sharing of uncorroborated accusations and “news” via social media. CNN famously got a lot wrong both during and following the initial Boston Marathon bombing crisis, including sending out updates that erroneously stated that the police already had a suspect in custody. And if a major news outlet is fallible and can mislead the public, just imagine how badly untrained but eager-to-help social media users can can screw up. And screw up they did, when spreading the picture of Moroccan teenager Salah Barhoun around as a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Like many high school students, Ryan Orbuch and Michael Hansen had a problem, managing everything from mid-terms, to a simple homework deadline. But unlike your average high school student, these two did something about it, they created task management app “Finish,” (available for the iPhone, but not yet Android).

Gone are the days when paying through the nose is the only option for students who need textbooks, now students can rent textbooks from Amazon.com. While renting textbooks is not a new idea, the ability to do so through Amazon offers an attractive, easy, and simple textbook rental option, especially since so many students already have Amazon accounts.

Wow, it must really suck to be a student in Pennsylvania (at least the south-eastern part of it). First Montgomery county’s Merion school district spies on its students, now we find out that right next door, in neighboring Bucks county, they hire teachers who hate their students, and blog about it! Witness the tale, and blog, of one Natalie Munroe. Natalie Monroe is a high school teacher who clearly has even less respect for her students than they have for her.

The Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania is being sued by Holly and Michael Robbins, along with their son Blake Robbins, over the discovery that the school district was spying on their son via the webcam in the school-issued laptop which their son received from the school district. The Robbins and others discovered that school administrators were remotely accessing the webcams in the students’ laptops when a student was disciplined by the school for “improper behaviour in this home”, with the school’s assistant principal producing as evidence a photo taken with the webcam, of a scene in the student’s home!