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The 404 766: Where no milk will ever be our milk (podcast)

Today's show title comes from this scene in Billy Madison, but unfortunately Adam Sandler got no recognition at last night's Academy Awards.

We thought James Franco and Anne Hathaway made a cute couple of hosts, and we appreciated James's #oscarsrealtime updates but we also agree with Roger Ebert and the LA Times, who gave critical reviews of the remarkably tame ceremony.

As usual, the Oscar food puns for each nominee were borderline more entertaining than the show itself.

Last week we talked about a Facebook app called Breakup Notifier that would send you a message when your crush changed his or her relationship status to "single."

Well, an "accidental" change in the Facebook developer's code permanently disabled access to such notifications, so creator Dan Loewenherz clever shifted his focus to a new project called the Crush Notifier.

The Facebook Crush Notifier lets you purchase Facebook credits that allow you to select crushes in your friend list. Those individuals are notified in an anonymous e-mail, and have the option to rate you back.

If you're selected as well, you'll receive a similar message- unfortunately… Read more

Recyclable school building makes the grade

Could prefab structures be a quick and cost-saving way to get U.S. students out of dilapidated and energy-sucking schools?

A recent award to a Gen7 school building, made by American Modular Systems, seems to signal that modular classrooms have moved beyond being ad hoc building solutions for developing nations.

For the first time in California, a prefab building has been awarded national Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) certification for new school construction. CHPS certification is awarded to those schools that meet specific health, comfort, maintenance, and environmental sustainability standards.

"The Gen7 classroom proves that a prefab structure … Read more

Microsoft details Office 365 for education plans

Microsoft today unveiled five new plans for its Office 365 suite aimed at giving educational institutions access to hosted Office services, as well as a licensed version of the Office software.

The educational version of Microsoft's Office 365 service, which Microsoft says will be available to K-12 institutions later this year, runs from a free plan that brings things like Web e-mail and antivirus protection, all the way to a $17-per-month plan that includes VoIP and a license to MS Office Professional Plus for faculty and staff. This top-end plan can be had by students for $5 a month: … Read more

EPA warns of PCB-laden school lights

The Environmental Protection Agency issued an official guidance document yesterday recommending that all U.S. schools remove fluorescent lighting made before 1979 from their buildings.

It's been determined that florescent light fixtures made before 1979 contain polychlorinated biphenyl insulation in their ballasts, and that as the insulation breaks down, it releases PCBs into the air of a building.

Until the late 1970s polychlorinated biphenyls were among the chemicals frequently used in electronics and construction materials. PCBs are now known to be cancer-causing as well as irritating to the immune, reproductive, nervous, and endocrine systems in humans who are exposed … Read more

Study: NASA, White House are social-media savvy

NASA and the White House are tops at using social media and the Web compared with a wide range of other public sector groups in the U.S., according to a study out today from the George Washington University School of Business and digital think tank L2.

Authored by George Washington University School of Business dean Doug Guthrie, New York University professor and L2 founder Scott Galloway, and experts from L2, the first annual Digital IQ Index for the Public Sector (PDF) measured the effectiveness of Web sites, digital marketing, social media, and mobile platform support among 100 different public … Read more

Mustang Boss 302 gets a split personality with Ford TracKey

Owners of Ford's upcoming 2012 Mustang Boss 302 will soon be offered a deceptively simple way to boost their vehicle's performance and make the mighty 302 even more bad-ass. The TracKey doesn't just unlock the doors and fire up the engine, it also transforms the production Boss 302 into a competition-ready track car with a turn of a key.

The TracKey package consists of a second key for the Boss Mustang--the TracKey itself--that features a red Boss logo. This key isn't just for show; starting the Mustang using this key unlocks the second part of the … Read more

Broadband quality increasing worldwide

The quality and availability of broadband around the world have improved dramatically in recent years, according to an Oxford University study out today.

Sponsored by Cisco Systems, the third annual study from the Oxford's Said Business School examined broadband access across 72 countries and 239 cities. Due to investments around the world, the quality of broadband has improved by 50 percent in just the last three years, the study found, while 49 percent of the countries in the study now have broadband access, compared with 40 percent in 2008.

The average global download speed has shot up from 3.… Read more

The best 'NSFW' URL ever

I am sure that, when creating Web sites, people still think long, hard, and late into the night about the URL behind which they will stand.

In the case of one organization, perhaps it thought too long, too hard, and far too late into the night.

The National Schools Film Week is the "world's largest festival for cinema and young people." Its home page has a very interesting picture of many children wearing dark glasses. Perhaps they are 3D. Perhaps it's because the URL of the National Schools Film Week is, you got there, didn't … Read more

School district settles Webcam privacy case

The Philadelphia-area school district sued for remotely and secretly taking pictures of students at home via laptop Webcams has agreed to pay $610,000 to settle the lawsuits.

The Lower Merion School District's board of directors said in a statement today that it will pay $175,000 to plaintiff Blake Robbins and $10,000 to plaintiff Jalil Hassan. An additional $425,000 will be paid out to cover the plaintiffs' legal fees.

"We recognize that in this case, a lengthy, costly trial would benefit no one," the district said. "It would have been an unfair distraction … Read more