The number of college admissions officials using Facebook to learn more about an applicant has quadrupled in the past year, underscoring the effect social media has on U.S. culture and academic life, a survey shows. Googling is nearly as prevalent.

The rise suggests a growing acceptance of the practice, despite concerns that it invades student privacy.

“This is the world we live in now,” says Paul Marthers, vice president for enrollment at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “If you were able to find out that somebody misrepresented themselves in their application, I think it could be used to help you make a decision.”

Read it all.

[Principal Chris] Duncan said he normally wrote an 800-word article on education or school issues, but he was prompted to take a different approach after having to help a 16-year-old student who suffered serious abuse on Facebook.

“It was one of those reflex actions,” he said.

“I put it [the newsletter] out and thought this is going to offend half of the school community, but the feedback I’ve had is overwhelmingly positive.”

Mr Duncan said he was aware of students who had been sent into an “appalling state” due to abuse they received on Facebook, with some children being more vulnerable than others.

Read it all.

The tools of communication have changed. Use of social media has exploded, and the new services have influenced the way we interact with one another.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, LiveCast, blogs, gaming sites, online comment forums and many other interactive electronic platforms — they are fast and easy ways to fire off electronic messages, to forgo formalities, to avoid proofreading. And it’s common to reach a multitude with a few key strokes.

With speed and breadth, however, comes risk. As people rely more and more on social media, privacy diminishes and the opportunity to offend increases.

Read it all.

The Archbishop of York and a number of bishops are leading the way in inviting millions back to church this weekend for Back to Church Sunday 2011 (25th September). In addition to meeting people where they’re at, at a range of public events (from Sunday car boot sales to jazz nights), they are encouraging people to send friends invitations either in person or using social media.

The Archbishop of York, the Most Revd Dr John Sentamu, Tweeted an invitation to come back to church today, Monday, 19th September. He said: “This Sunday (25th September) is Back to Church Sunday. http://www.backtochurch.co.uk . Why not invite your friends too? Pass the message on!”

Read it all.

When companies I love (as a customer) and admire/enjoy writing about (as a journalist) do something that seems downright crazy to both sides of my brain, like splitting up a well-known brand and its useful and well-loved website, I tend to wonder if I’m missing something.

Netflix’s announcement that it would split into a streaming-only business (called Netflix) and a discs-by-mail business (called Qwikster) caught me by surprise. It’s easy to miss a lot of things when you’re surprised, particularly when the surprise drops after midnight on the east coast, and you stay up all night writing and talking about it.

When this happens, it’s best to look for smart people with different opinions from yours, who’ve probably also had more sleep than you have.

Read it all.

A California startup is extending social media to the dead.

I-Postmortem Ltd., based in Palo Alto, allows clients ”” while still alive ”” to create an interactive memorial to themselves through photos, letters, poems, and audio and video files.

After death, a client can also send timed messages ”” to a son on his 21st birthday, say, or a daughter on her wedding day.

Read it all.

Until recently, Google offered discounts on many of its paid services to nonprofit organizations, including churches. This past spring, with little fanfare, the company changed its policy. It created a new suite of applications, known as Google for Nonprofits, that includes significant discounts and advantages for a range of Google products such as grants for advertising on AdWords, free licenses for Google Earth Pro and the option to raise funds through a “donate” button at Google Checkout.

Google also added a remarkable list of restrictions for eligible charitable groups and institutions. Among those not able to apply for the program are websites where people donate cars to charity; child care centers, unless the “entire” purpose is to serve a disadvantaged community; hospitals; websites “that result in a poor experience for the viewer”; and — most troublesome — “places or institutions of worship (e.g., churches, ministries, temples, synagogues).”

This last restriction caught religious groups by surprise…

Read it all.

Just three months into its launch, the New Media Project at Union Theological Seminary has already gained footing in exploring improved ways in which pastors and lay leaders might use new technologies to strengthen their communities.

“This increasingly rich theological discussion seems to be striking a chord of interest among religious leaders who are thinking about the impact of technology on religious life,” said the Rev. Verity A. Jones, project director and former publisher and editor of DisciplesWorld magazine. “I am encouraged that the discussion is getting some traction.”

Read it all.

An unsuspecting Oregon couple’s ascendance to YouTube stardom happened by accident….

Read it all.

An internet security company has demonstrated a new weapon against deeply rooted malware that takes control of PCs and turns them into zombies.

McAfee said it has activated built-in security features and added software to Intel microprocessors, known as chips, to stop cyber criminals from infecting PCs via advance persistent threats, rootkits and zero-day attacks. Infected PCs can be directed to steal private identities, financial data and to send out spam.

If the new technology catches on, the pain of ensuring anti-virus software is up to date and running on a PC could become a thing of the past. It may even pave the way for similar hardware-based technology to be included in other internet-ready devices such as cars, TVs and teller machines.

Read it all.

Dear Kendall,

I have been appreciating your website “TitusOneNine” for almost two years now and I thought it was time to send you a brief note of gratitude for your service. I am.. [an] Anglican priest in the diocese of.. [ ] and someone pointed me to your website shortly after we [arrived in our current locale]… while I was discerning my call to the priesthood. Anyway, I normally read your site once a day and find it most helpful….

….I won’t bore you with too many other details of my life. Again, I appreciate your website. Every blessing upon you in Christ for your continued service.

With much gratitude,…

[signed]

Belgian security firm GlobalSign has temporarily stopped issuing authentication certificates for secure websites.

It comes after an anonymous hacker claimed to have gained access to the company’s servers.

If confirmed, it would be the second security breach at a European certificate authority in two months.

Read it all.

Microsites are not new to higher ed Web strategy. But as the creeping aesthetics of the app world make traditional college websites appear tedious, some institutions have begun experimenting with more offbeat microsites to collect information from prospective students and alumni.

“While these have always been around, one of the big differences now is that these sites often have a more cutting-edge, radical design,” says Mark Greenfield, director of Web services in enrollment and planning at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a consultant at the higher ed consulting firm Noel-Levitz.

“It’s as if the creative folk living in a straitjacket of the ‘official’ design format suddenly find themselves with no constraints at all,” says Bob Johnson, president of the higher ed marketing firm Bob Johnson Consulting.

Read it all.

I enjoyed this–check it out.

While many pastors and parents have heard horror stories about children straying into dark corners online, few are aware of just how common these problems have become ”” even in their sanctuaries and homes.

This is the kind of danger and sin that religious leaders often fear discussing, precisely because these realities have not remained bottled up in the secular world. Thus, Heil urged his listeners to ponder the following statistics in his presentation, drawn from mainstream research in the past year:

Ӣ Two-thirds of Americans under the age of 18 have reported some kind of negative experience while online. Only 45 percent of their parents are aware of this.

Ӣ Forty-one percent of children say they have been approached online by some kind of stranger, possibly an older predator.

Read it all, another from the long line of should-have-already-been-posted material.

A flash memory material based on graphene has been created for the first time and shows big advantages over current state-of-the-art technology. The material is almost twice as energy efficient compared to the industry standard and can store double the information.

Graphene has long been tipped as the material which will eventually replace silicon semiconductors in electronics. Compared with competitor materials graphene should be cheaper, more robust and highly efficient.

Read it all and there is more from the BBC there.

Almost half of UK internet users are going online via mobile phone data connections, according to the Office for National Statistics.

45% of people surveyed said they made use of the net while out and about, compared with 31% in 2010.

The most rapid growth was among younger people, where 71% of internet-connected 16 to 24-year-olds used mobiles.

Read it all.

Brian Young had big plans for his church’s IT strategy. But his vision suffered a serious setback this summer after Google Inc. altered its nonprofit program to prohibit all churches and religious organizations from participating.

For years, the search and software giant individually offered some of its products””including its office software and popular Gmail””for free or discounted use to qualifying nonprofits. Eligibility requirements varied by product, but churches and faith-based groups were welcome to use some.

All of that changed in mid-March when the company launched “Google for Nonprofits.” The new initiative united a robust set of Google’s tools into one program, but it also came with new guidelines that excluded numerous entities, including schools, political thinktanks, churches, proselytizing groups, and any organization that considers religion or sexual orientation in hiring decisions.

Read it all.

Standing under a funnel here–you know the feeling; KSH.

Q. Was the application process difficult?

A. We had to sign so many documents that my hand hurt after I was done. I had to pledge not to open a zoo, swimming pool or aquarium. It struck me as strange. Yes, it’s the bank’s duty to do due diligence, but this was just a silly restriction.

Q. But there was a happy ending, right?

A. Yes, after being turned down by 15 banks, it was a personal relationship that introduced us to a regional bank in New Jersey that gave us a $200,000 loan.

Read it all.

Please note carefully the wording. We are assuming you are worshipping somewhere–what has happened there that has most lifted your heart in the last year? Specifics and details help it to be more interesting for others–KSH.

The more specific you can be (why did you choose this particular book, what especially do you like about it, etc. etc.), the more others can enjoy your contributions–KSH.

I know you understand. Posts will be catch as catch can. I am seriously considering one open thread a day on an edifying subject so if you have suggestions for such threads please post in the comments below. Many thanks–KSH.

Enjoying a refreshing pilgrimage has never been more accessible or affordable, as the Bishop of Oxford issues an invitation to join him on pilgrimage via ‘tweets’ on the Twitter website. His progress – along with inspirational prayers taken from the new book Pocket Prayers for Pilgrims and useful links to information on his chosen destinations – will be read on mobile phones and computers free of charge by all who follow the Church of England’s national Twitter identity c_of_e at http://twitter.com/#!/c_of_e.

Read it all.

Watch it all (about 6 1/3 minutes).

[Cofer Black]… referenced last year’s Stuxnet computer worm, which some researchers think was designed to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“I’m here to tell ya … the Stuxnet attack is the Rubicon of our future,” he said. “I don’t necessarily understand how this was executed, but the important points are (that) it was really expensive, so a nation-state had to be involved.”

Hacking, once see as “college pranks,” has moved “into physical destruction of a national resource,” he said. “This is huge.”

Read it all.

In barely a decade Google has made itself a global brand bigger than Coca-Cola or GE; it has created more wealth faster than any company in history; it dominates the information economy. How did that happen? It happened more or less in plain sight. Google has many secrets but the main ingredients of its success have not been secret at all, and the business story has already provided grist for dozens of books. Steven Levy’s new account, In the Plex, is the most authoritative to date and in many ways the most entertaining. Levy has covered personal computing for almost thirty years, for Newsweek and Wired and in six previous books, and has visited Google’s headquarters periodically since 1999, talking with its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and, as much as has been possible for a journalist, observing the company from the inside. He has been able to record some provocative, if slightly self-conscious, conversations like this one in 2004 about their hopes for Google:

“It will be included in people’s brains,” said Page. “When you think about something and don’t really know much about it, you will automatically get information.”
“That’s true,” said Brin. “Ultimately I view Google as a way to augment your brain with the knowledge of the world. Right now you go into your computer and type a phrase, but you can imagine that it could be easier in the future, that you can have just devices you talk into, or you can have computers that pay attention to what’s going on around them”¦..”

Read it all.

Check it out.

We asked…[Brenda Wilhelmson] why she decided to go public with her alcoholism.

“I don’t know that I thought it was the best thing for me,” she said. “I thought it would be good for the millions of people who are struggling like I did, and are looking for something to connect and identify with, and speaks to where they are. … I didn’t want to put myself out there at first. I sat on my journals for a year and a half before I started working on them.”

Read it all