Why Google keeps your data forever, tracks you with ads
Not many companies could get away with defending controversial data retention practices by saying that the data is needed to "learn from good guys, fight off bad guys, [and] invent the future." But that's how Google sees itself and its practices—not surprising from a company that would give itself an unofficial motto like "don't be evil."
I had the chance recently to sit down with two of Google's top privacy people: deputy general counsel Nicole Wong and security/privacy engineer Alma Whitten. While the "good guy/bad guy" and "don't be evil" quotes may seem too cute by half to some, Wong and Whitten made a strong pitch for the truth of both slogans. In their view, Google really is fighting the good fight when it comes to your online privacy.
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Microsoft kills off mid-market Essential Business Server
Microsoft's mid-market server bundle, Essential Business Server, is being discontinued, with no further development after June 30. EBS shipped in November 2008, aimed at organizations with up to 250-300 desktops. The bundle includes a range of Microsoft server products, including Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, Forefront Security, and ISA Server. The discontinuation was announced on the EBS blog.
Redmond's Small Business Server product, aimed at companies with fewer than 75 desktops, has been a significant and popular part of its server software line-up for many years. The company hoped to replicate this small business success with EBS, but after just 16 months has chosen to terminate the package, citing changes in the demands made by the mid-size companies and a desire to streamline its product lineup. The growth of virtualization in this market means that corporate needs are better met by other products in the lineup.
An EBS R2 release, updated to include Windows Server 2008 R2 and other technology, was originally expected in the second half of this year. With this announcement, that's no longer going to happen. Instead, existing customers will be able to replace EBS with the equivalent standalone software for a six-month period from July 1 through to the end of the year. EBS itself will continue to be supported for a further five years.
This decision will not have any impact on SBS; an update to that package is expected later this year.
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The Indie Fund offers cash, wisdom to aspiring game devs
Making games is expensive. Unfortunately, for independent developers, getting ahold of enough money to actually fund a game can be a daunting task. Enter the Indie Fund. Founded by a who's who of independent developers, including members of 2D Boy, Capybara Games, and thatgamecompany, the fund is being billed as "a brand new funding source for independent developers" and "a serious alternative to the traditional publisher funding model."
Though further details will be revealed next week at GDC, Ars spoke with 2D Boy's Ron Carmel and Capy's Nathan Vella to find out what we can expect from the initiative.
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The poor don't care about broadband? Of course they do
By now most Ars readers have been saturated with statistical data about broadband adoption in the United States: who has access, who doesn't, where, why, and how we compare with the rest of the world. One of the conundrums with which all these surveys grapple is that allegedly stubborn portion of the population—mostly poor, rural, and older—who don't use the Internet at all, because they supposedly don't care to do so.
But a new study suggests that this community of broadband outsiders is rapidly disappearing from the landscape, particularly among low income Americans.
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The new age of online grocery shopping
"Buying your groceries online? What is this, 1996?" That's what someone said to me recently when they found out I do the majority of my grocery shopping through the Internet—yes, produce and all. Sure, online grocery shopping was one of those things that people envisioned to be common in "The Futureâ„¢" but many of the original efforts fizzled out during the first bursting of the dot-com bubble. Shopping for groceries and household items via the Internet is making a huge comeback, however, thanks in part to some major players who have taken it outside of the typical niche markets.
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Fixing US STEM education is possible, but will take money
The state of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in the United States has seen some unflattering appraisals in recent years, and deservedly so. In early February, the House of Representatives heard testimony on undergraduate and graduate education. The message from the panel, which included experts from academia, STEM-based industries, and the National Science Foundation (NSF), was clear: the problems in STEM education are well-known, and it‘s time to take action.
Both the hearing’s charter and its chair, Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), pointed out the obvious problem in higher education: students start out interested, but the STEM programs are driving them away. As the National Academies described in its 2005 report Rising Above the Gathering Storm, successful STEM education is not just an academic pursuit—it’s a necessity for competing in the knowledge-based economy that the United States had a key role in creating.
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M-rated video: the ESRB and video game trailers
We recently ran a video for the just-released Borderlands content "The Secret Armory of General Knoxx." To watch the video, you had to put your birthdate into the window to prove you were old enough to view the M-rated content.
We're sure most of you are familiar with age-gated video content, but we received a few e-mails asking about why some content is age-gated, and that got us thinking... how is video content regulated in the video game industry? We spoke to Eliot Mizrachi of the ESRB to get our questions answered.
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Weird Science wonders whether or not it was sex
Hoosiers don't always agree on what constitutes sex: Indiana University's Kinsey Institute tracks (among other things) the public's attitude towards sex, and recently published the results of a survey that asked a fairly simple question: would you say you "had sex" if you engaged in activity X? As the title—"Misclassification bias: diversity in conceptualisations about having 'had sex'"—implies, there's anything but universal agreement. The numbers generally go down as you move from plain old intercourse through anal and oral sex, but there are some surprising results in subpopulations. "A surprising number of older men did not consider penile-vaginal intercourse to be sex," as the press material indicates. I'd personally consider any number greater than zero to be surprising, but apparently at least 25 Indiana residents fell into that category.
If you're going to drink, avoid traumatic experiences: Alternately, get thoroughly sloshed. According to the authors of a recent paper, events trigger the formation of two types of memories: those with imagery-focused scenes, and those with full contextual information. Any sort of alcohol intake can interfere with retaining the full context, but it takes heavy drinking to block the retention of the imagery. As a result, if you drink moderately, you get context-free imagery—more commonly known as a flashback. Bonus Weird Science points for the experimental methodology, which involved a combination of free drinks and trauma videos.
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