Topic: Internet

Making ‘Cyberbabies’ is not child’s play

By Christine Anne Piesyk | July 7, 2008 |

Just when I became complacent, when I thought I’d seen everything…along comes “Make a Baby,” the newest and most appalling link to date on MySpace and other social websites. Yes. You read that right. “Make a Baby.”

I was happily checking out new postings on a young relative’s MySpace website when I stumbled upon this program, colorful centered on his page.  This application, though “not developed by MySpace,” is accessed through and used onMySpace, which should make it not just a parental freak out but a serious MySpace concern. Look up “Make a Baby” in search mode and you’ll find a blurb that says “Make babies [plural] with your friends. Clink the link below to start.” The site is run by Sibblingz and the link is http://www.bebo.com/makeababy. It was created in November, 2007. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Issues, News, Opinion | No Comments

Low residency: Alternative programs fuel options in higher education

By Christine Anne Piesyk | January 17, 2008 |

Distance learning. Low residency programs. The new way to mix higher education with real life.

Goddard College in northern Vermont (and now with a west coast Port Townsend campus) was among the first, a prototype program years ahead of its time, and not without rocky roads along the way. It offered graduate and undergraduate programs, but is no longer the solitary figure of progressive education. It’s in good company now.

With the hectic pace of modern life and extensive access to the internet a reality, more and more colleges, universities and specialized institutions of higher learning are jumping aboard the distance learning bandwagon. The select few have gone global. An educational industry. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Opinion | No Comments

The Re-Revolution of the Internet and Its Political Future

By Michael Covington | April 16, 2007 |

In the years since Al Gore invented the internet, it has since become much more than anyone ever expected. Those of us who remember AOL 2.0 (and still have floppy disks lying around somewhere) will fondly recall when the internet was simple. There weren’t too many fancy graphics, internet smut took hours to download, and chat rooms were the place to be.

Now we have information at the push of a button in mere seconds. It seem strange the type of culture that the internet has produced. Patients are becoming the doctors with the help of self diagnostic tools and information readily available online, people who can’t leave their homes are finally earning their college degrees via internet classes, and everyone can become an expert on anything they like with a few keywords typed into Google. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Technology | No Comments

Inside Google: The search engine we know and love

By Bill Larson | September 9, 2006 |

Indexing the Internet is not easy. It’s something that Google however does exceedingly well. How do they do it? Find out in this interesting documentary about the worlds largest search engine. Consider this a chance to meet those faceless people who are behind the machine. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Business | No Comments

Video: Painting with sand and light

By Bill Larson | August 24, 2006 |

I can’t even begin to figure out how you discover a talent like this, but I am glad they did! The video shows a sand animation artist at work. Using only their fingers, a Sand artist draws with sand on glass table, producing works of art in seconds! Read more to see one in action! «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure | 1 Comment »

AOL releases search data on 650,000 users

By Bill Larson | August 7, 2006 |

Slashdot is running a story on AOL (Time Warner) releasing the search queries for 650,000 aol users. They hid the userid by changing it to a random number for each user. While they did this with the best of intentions(for research purposes), the problem is the type of stuff that people search for. This might include their names, friends, family members, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers. All of this can lead to your identity being easily discovered, or stolen. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | No Comments

Charter Sucks!

By Tom Paine | July 4, 2006 |

It’s not often that I vent on a business — I know how hard it can be in this competitive world to satisfy ever more demanding customers. But I am about over Charter Communications. For over a month now, we have had missing channels and bad reception. We made an appointment and they never showed up, which doesn’t leave you feeling particularly good about having wasted a day to be there for them. Nor were they particularly apologetic about not showing up.

And every time you try to get a response from them, you are back to square one: you have to navigate a phone menu that resembles chinese water torture more than anything else. If and when you do get a human being, it’s a whole new world — you have to explain all over again what the problem is. And they will want you to make yet another appointment. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Opinion | 6 Comments

Clarksville Department of Electricity requests to provide additional services

By Bill Larson | June 14, 2006 |

Information has become the lifeblood of the 21st century. Much like Water, Electricity, and Natural gas. Inexpensive access to data, is something that our city needs to fuel it’s growth in the coming years. Without a modern and reliable data infrastructure we will not be able to attract new businesses to our city, and thus our citizens will miss out on the associated economic opportunities, which new businesses bring with them. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, News, Politics | 5 Comments