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Leakage of Private Information from Popular Websites is Common, New Study Finds

Technology

*Co-Authored by WPI Computer Science Professor Craig Wills, Study Shows that Existing and Proposed Safeguards Against Leakage and Linking of Private Information are Inadequate*

A study of more than 100 popular websites used by tens of millions of people has found that three quarters directly leak either private information o r users’ unique identifiers to third-party tracking sites. The study, co-authored by Craig Wills, professor of computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), also demonstrated how the leakage of private information by many sites, including email addresses, physical addresses, and even the configuration of a user’s web browser—so-called browser fingerprints—could permit tracking sites to link many disparate pieces of information, including browsing histories contained in tracking cookies and the contents of searches on health and travel sites, to create detailed profiles of individuals. (more…)

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Geeky Gifts for Dads & Grads

Technology

Find great gift ideas for Father’s Day and graduating students, from the fun – Kinect, hot-selling games for Xbox 360 – to the functional: including the latest and lightest laptops and netbooks, Windows Phone devices and great deals on Microsoft Office 2010.

REDMOND, Wash. – What dad or grad wouldn’t be thrilled to unwrap an Xbox console with Kinect or the latest super-fast, lightweight laptop or netbook? Explore our wide range of gift ideas from hot hardware accessories and blockbuster games to free services such as Bing and Windows Live. (more…)

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Air Quality Worsened by Paved Surfaces

Environment

Widespread urban development alters weather patterns

New research focusing on the Houston area suggests that widespread urban development alters weather patterns in a way that can make it easier for pollutants to accumulate during warm summer weather instead of being blown out to sea. (more…)

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Made in IBM Labs: Researchers Unveil Nanotechnology Circuits for Wireless Devices

Technology

Scientists Build the First Wafer-Scale Graphene Integrated Circuit Smaller than a Pinhead

Yorktown Heights, NY – 10 Jun 2011: Today, IBM Research scientists announced that they have achieved a milestone in creating a building block for the future of wireless devices. In a paper published yesterday in the magazine Science, IBM researchers announced the first integrated circuit fabricated from wafer-size graphene, and demonstrated a broadband frequency mixer operating at frequencies up to 10 gigahertz (10 billion cycles/second). (more…)

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comScore Releases May 2011 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

Technology

RESTON, VA, June 10, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in May with 65.5 percent of search queries conducted.

The May 2011 qSearch data represents the second month of results including the impact of Yahoo! Search Direct, Yahoo!’s new feature that delivers search results in real-time while users type their query. (more…)

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Facebook Users in Argentina Spend 9 Hours a Month on Site, Second Only to Israel in User Engagement

Technology

*comScore to Host Complimentary Webinar “The State of the Internet in Argentina” on June 14*

Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 9, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study on Internet usage in Argentina from its online audience measurement and media planning solution comScore Media Metrix. The study found that Microsoft Sites led all web properties in audience size in April reaching more than 95 percent of the online population, while visitors averaged the most time on Facebook.com at 8.8 hours per visitor during the month. These findings and others will be presented via a live webinar, The State of the Internet in Argentina, on June 14. For more information and to register, please visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/698116824 (more…)

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