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Don't forget the 'public' in public transportation--Jasmine's Tech Dos & Don'ts

According to some data, 80 percent of the population in the United States lives in urban areas. For those of you not counting (ahem...me), that's about 243 million people, give or take a million. These same people contributed to the 10.7 billion trips taken on public transportation in 2008 alone. In short: there are a lot of freakin' people who take municipal transit. If you are one of them, pay attention.

All too often, commuters forget one very important word in public transportation: public. There are innumerable ways in which this lack of consideration for one's fellow humans can become aggravating, offensive, or downright disturbing. I would take great pleasure in airing them all here*, but as this is CNET, I'll stick to tech-related grievances. What follows are some general guidelines for using your gadgets on transit (or in the general public, for that matter).

DON'T talk loudly on your cell phone when riding mass transit. In fact, if you can avoid it, don't talk on it at all. With the exception of some admittedly curious bystanders, most people don't want to be made privy to the ins and outs of your life...especially if the conversation is of a particularly private nature. No one wants to hear you berate your mom for calling too often (true story), and we certainly don't need to hear the words: "Yeah, so the doctor said you should probably get tested, too" (also a true story). OK, so maybe there's a bit of humor to that last one, but really, people? Have you no shame? Oh, and if it wasn't already clear from this, DON'T use your speakerphone, either.… Read more

Teen wins $100,000 Intel science award

Erika DeBenedictis' research to help spacecraft quickly and more easily travel to other planets has earned her a top student science award from Intel.

The 18-year-old from Albuquerque, N.M., took home the $100,000 first prize from Intel's 2010 Science Talent Search, an annual contest that challenges students to envision solutions to the scientific problems of today and tomorrow.

DeBenedictis' goal was to design a software navigation system that could help spacecraft more easily journey throughout the solar system. Her research discovered that gravity and the movement of the planets could create low-energy orbits to propel ships faster … Read more

Google launches tool for searching public data

Google is building on its partnership with the World Bank and other statistics gatherers to present an array of data in visual form within Google Labs.

Google Public Data Explorer went live Monday, accompanied by the requisite blog post. The site takes public data regarding schools, population, crime, and even names to construct charts and graphs that help illustrate trends.

Google is also releasing a list of the top search terms that can be answered with public data, based on the analysis of anonymized search data. School comparisons and unemployment topped the list of the most frequent queries, followed by … Read more

The 404 Podcast 524: Where you should avoid racist polar bears

On today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast, the guys share the mics with longtime friend Clayton Morris of "Fox and Friends" and co-host of the Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe.

Anyone who listens to our show on a regular basis knows that very little preparation goes into each episode, but we always have a great time with Clayton, and today we spend the first half of the show talking about Jeff's appearance on NPR's All Things Considered, where he spent some time speaking with host Robert Siegel about his concerns over racism in multiplayer video games. After Wilson spends some time drooling over Siegel's baritone radio voice, Clayton tell us about his humble beginnings in the broadcasting industry and even does a few spot-on impersonations of New York's local television anchors.

After the break, Clayton tells us about his brief but educational sojourn into the armpit of the Internet that is Chat Roulette. Acting as the illegitimate child of Omegle and Skype, the site uses your Webcam to pair you up in a video chat room with a stranger on the Internet.

Clayton and the three of us attempt to describe the most common shared experience on CR: what might seem like a completely innocent Web site used to create new friendships across the world quickly falls flat on its face as you're faced with the worst the Web has to offer. Racism, misogyny, nudity, and pornography are just a few of the scenes you'll witness, so enter at your own peril, and don't forget to breathe...it's just a Web site.

EPISODE 524 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Report: Deutsche Telekom considers IPO for T-Mobile USA

Deutsche Telekom is looking into an initial public offering that could lead to spinning off T-Mobile USA, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal Thursday afternoon.

The newspaper reported that the German phone company has held talks with banks about underwriting the IPO. Unnamed sources in the story said the proceeds from the offer could be used to spin off the wireless carrier or fund its expansion in the U.S. market. The company is expected to decide over the next couple of months if it will have an IPO and how it would spend the cash.

Deutsche … Read more

iPhone app streams 'This American Life' on demand

I'm a giant fan of public radio show "This American Life," and I'm not alone: it's long held the No. 1 spot on the iTunes podcast charts.

That being the case, you might wonder why there's now an app for that. Simple: This American Life, the app, lets you stream or download any episode of the show, not just the current week's as with the podcast.

Suppose, for example, you want to hear the much-ballyhooed episode about the subprime mortgage meltdown, or the classic about the "squirrel cops." The "TAL&… Read more

MobileMe: Public folder password not working?

When users set up their public folders on MobileMe, they have the option to password-protect it. Occasionally they find that the password they have set up is not working properly. The solution to this may be easier than you think, though it is not necessarily made obvious in Apple's support documentation.… Read more

Note to Silicon Valley: How not to manage privacy

Editors' note: This is a guest column. See Larry Downes' bio below.

It's been a bad week for those, like me, who feel the debate over data privacy too often casts information businesses as evil Halloween monsters, determined to terrorize and humiliate their customers just for the fun of it.

On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission held the first of three conferences on privacy and technology, at which a parade of consumer advocates and legal scholars warned of an imminent data apocalypse.

Recent events seemed, alas, to support that view. Sprint, for example, reported that over the last 13 … Read more

Pub fined $13k for Wi-Fi copyright infringement

A pub owner in the U.K. has been fined £8,000 (about $13,183) because someone unlawfully downloaded copyrighted material over its open Wi-Fi hotspot, according to the managing director of hotspot provider The Cloud.

Graham Cove told CNET sister site ZDNet UK on Friday he believes the case to be the first of its kind in the U.K. However, he would not identify the pub concerned, because its owner--a pub that is a client of The Cloud's--had not yet given their permission for the case to be publicized.

Cove would say only that the fine … Read more

Podcast: One-stop online shopping for public assistance

In this tough economic period, more people are relying on some type of public assistance. However, getting information about what programs are available can be daunting. And even if you can access the information online, it typically requires going to numerous sites and filling out multiple applications.

The Oakland, Calif.-based Center to Promote HealthCare Access is trying to make the process easier with its new OneEApp service. OneEApp, which stands for One Electronic Application, is designed to provide a one-stop service to help people discover and apply for multiple benefit programs.

The service, according to director Claudia Page, is … Read more