Hasta La Gadget!

Most of the so-called “young folks” would argue that Facebook lost its innocence the day that parents were invited to play along, but there’s no question that politicians would disagree vehemently. A recent study published by the number crunchers at Pew Internet found that over half (54 percent, if we’re being precise) of adults “used the internet for political purposes in the last cycle, far surpassing the 2006 midterm contest.” A total of 58 percent hopped online for political news, while one in five (22 percent) used Twitter or a social networking site for “political purposes” in 2010. Taken as a whole, a staggering 73 percent of online adults took part in at least one of these activities in 2010, and judging by the power of these networks in the recent Middle Eastern / African uprisings, we get the impression that figures will only be rising in elections to come. Too bad you can’t “Like” a politician to give them your vote — haven’t these polling places realized what century we’re in?

Continue reading Blame the 2010 elections for your parents being on Facebook, Twitter

Blame the 2010 elections for your parents being on Facebook, Twitter originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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British politician and former Mayor of Caerphilly, Wales, Colin Elsbury, has been ordered to pay a fine for the charge of libel against an opponent. The lawsuit was filed by Eddie Talbot, an independent challenging Elsbury, after Talbot claimed that Elsbury had Tweeted that Talbot had been forcibly removed from a polling place by police. Well, Elsbury definitely Tweeted that, but, unfortunately for him, the person was not Eddie Talbot. Although Elsbury quickly and publicly corrected himself, Talbot took him to court, and in Cardiff on Friday that Elsbury will have to pay a £3,000 fine plus costs of around £50,000. A cursory glance over Elsbury’s recent Tweets indicates that he still may not have the hand of the medium, but we’ll keep our eyes on his stream for any new instances of #twibel.

First fine for libel via Twitter issued against politician by British court originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The year 2050 is what the year 2000 was to futuristic thinkers like Walt Disney and Arthur C. Clarke. It’s the new year that everything will change: robots will outperform us on the field of play, computers will outwit us in matters of reason, and nerds will never be lonely again. It’s also the year that 100 percent green energy will be possible according to a bunch of neo-maxi zoomdweebies from Stanford and the University of California-Davis. That’s right, in 40 years we could be saying goodbye to fossil fuels in favor of renewables like solar and wind power. The biggest challenge to achieving the goal, say researchers, isn’t related to the underlying technologies or the economics required to fuel the change, rather, it’s whether we earthlings have the collective will and political gumption to make it happen. Interesting… we’ll look into that claim just as soon as we’re done with our Nero fiddling and telling all our friends about this amaaazing story we just read in the National Enquirer.

Green Energy will replace fossil fuels by 2050 if you really really want to originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 08:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to Reuters, U.S. border patrol recently picked up two illegal immigrants who used dive scooters to cross from Mexico to California. This has to be the most thrilling personal sea scooter episode since that fight in Thunderball. More »