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Facebook Co-Founder Launches Jumo, a Social Tool for Non-Profits

one minute ago |Switched

Chris Hughes has a rather impressive resume. While at Harvard, he helped found Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz. After serving as the spokesperson for what become one of the most popular social networks on the Web, Hughes was hired by the Obama campaign to help coordinate its online efforts, resulting in My.BarackObama.com (MyBO). Now Hughes is taking his knack for building top-notch social networking tools and political connections to build Jumo, a Web site for philanthropic and charitable organizations to connect with donors and volunteers.

Many non-profits lack the funds to hire outside consultants to manage their new media presence and instead rely on fairly rudimentary tools like the 'Causes' app on Facebook. Jumo, which means "together in concert" in the West African language Yoruba, aims to offer a deeper interaction beyond placing a badge on a page or donating $10 with a debit card. Details are still fairly limited, but it's safe to expect Jumo will have a strong focus on information dispersal and organizing volunteers, similar to MyBO.

'Killing Indiscriminately' Facebook Vent Gets Illinois Man Arrested

51 minutes ago |Switched

The old "yelling, 'Fire!' in a crowded theater" axiom serves as one of the first, elementary lessons when discussing the constitutional right to free speech. That old standby may need a 21st century update, though, to specifically include "threats on Facebook."

In January, four New Jersey high school students were arrested and charged with creating a false public alarm, making terrorist threats, and conspiracy -- after they openly "joked" about blowing up their school on the social networking site. Proving that ignorance and naivety aren't limited to defiant teens, NBC Bay Area is reporting that a 38-year-old single father has also been arrested over a threatening status update.

'SkiFree' Comes to the iPhone, TiVo Remote Combo Lets You Skip Ads

14 hours 21 minutes ago |Switched

There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.
Relive your elementary school days on your iPhone with a new mobile version of Microsoft's classic, vertical sports-scroller 'SkiFree.' [From: Gizmodo] While it's not widely advertised, you can skip forward 30 seconds (the length of a commercial) on TiVo with a quick 'select-play-select-3-0-select' tap on your remote. [From: Make] In case the enormous NCAA Vault of March Madness videos didn't grind office productivity to a halt, you can ensure that nothing gets done with Business Insider's guide to the top 10 March Madness iPhone apps. [From: Business Insider] 'Futurama,' an office favorite, returns this summer. Don't miss Comedy Central's 30-second teaser. [From: Geekosystem]Got a tip? Want to talk to us? In need of more choice links like these? Drop us a line on Twitter and check out our Tumblr blog.

Adult LEGO Fans Exposed in New 'Blocumentary'

15 hours 26 minutes ago |Switched

The LEGO phenomenon encroaches on all aspects of daily life. As is the case with the unofficial 'Simpsons Already Did It' law, when considering possible LEGO designs, you'll inevitably find that someone has already built it. Plastic bricklayers have engineered robots, gadgets, fashion accessories, vehicles, and even full-scale homes out of the classic toy pieces. An entire line of LEGO-based video games has even sold over 50 million units worldwide.

While the ubiquitous toys have become a universally recognized aspect of humanity, some people may still express confusion over their intense appeal to "normal" adults. To investigate the so-called Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOL) movement, filmmaker Jess Gibson has wittily crafted a revealing 'Blocumentary.' The film consults numerous everyday people (some of whom claim to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the blocks), who variously attribute the ageless LEGO allure to nostalgia, investment possibilities, entertainment, and spiritual escape.

Court Rules That Sexting Teens Aren't Felons

16 hours 21 minutes ago |Switched

After a teenage girl from Pennsylvania was caught sending topless photos of herself to her fellow classmates, then-District Attorney George Skumanick offered her the chance to avoid court time by taking a class on sexual harassment. When the 16-year old called his bluff, Skumanick threatened her with felony charges. The student, in turn, filed her own lawsuit against the D.A.'s office, eventually becoming the first-ever sexting criminal case to make its way all the way up to a federal appeals court. On Wednesday, the Third U.S. District Court of Appeals finally ruled in her favor, deciding that teenagers involved in sexting criminal cases cannot be charged as felons.

According to the court, the D.A.'s attempt to force the student to take a class and write an essay on the social ills of sexting directly violated her constitutional right to be free from compelled speech, and unnecessarily infringed on her parents' rights to direct their child's upbringing. The court also interpreted Skumanick's felony threats as "retaliation" against the girl for refusing to participate in the course. Witold Walczack, the legal director of the Pennsylvania ACLU, was understandably satisfied with the decision, calling it an "important message for prosecutors... that there are constitutional limits on their ability to bring criminal charges against kids involved in sexting." Current Wyoming County D.A. Jeff Mitchell, on the other hand, was a bit more disappointed, saying, "[The] decision appears to limit the discretion a district attorney has when faced with a criminal case, or a juvenile case.''

Lunchwalla Brings Social Networking to Office Dining

17 hours 11 minutes ago |Switched

Planning lunch or meals with friends can be a royal pain. Nobody can agree on when or where, and, without fail, someone is always forgotten in the shuffle of invite e-mails and text messages. That's where Lunchwalla comes in. The pitch is simple: choose who to invite, select some restaurant options (easier said than done), set the time and day, and hit send.

The people you've invited will then be able to check out reviews from Yelp, and vote on where to eat. Lunchwalla even integrates with OpenTable for making reservations, if necessary. The site is, more or less, a brilliant mashup of Evite, Yelp, and OpenTable. There isn't much tweaking to do once you've selected your contacts and restaurant options, but the opportunities to keep an event private and to let participants know it's your treat are both nice touches.

Italian Police Use Facebook to Nab Mafia Suspect

18 hours 1 minute ago |Switched

What happens when a centuries-old crime network meets a transparent 21st-century social network? Bosses get nabbed, and 'Mafia Wars' gets real.

Pasquale Manfredi, one of Italy's most wanted fugitives at 33-years old, was arrested this week after police used his network of Facebook contacts to track him down. Manfredi, who, according to the BBC, also goes by the nickname 'Scarface,' is believed to be a bigwig in the 'Ndrangheta mafia. Police claim he's also responsible for the 2004 killing of a rival mob member, who was murdered with a rocket launcher(!). Thanks to Facebook, though, Manfredi is now in the trusty hands of the Italian police force, which has charged him with murder, mafia association, drug trafficking, and possession of illegal firearms.

Google Nexus One Available on All Four Major U.S. Carriers Soon

18 hours 51 minutes ago |Switched

Back in January, T-Mobile became the first carrier to have the honor of supporting Google's Nexus One. Verizon customers were promised that the Nexus One would be available to them by the end of 2010, but Android-loving customers at AT&T and Sprint were left with a bad case of Google envy. That changed this week, though, and, now, everyone (at least everyone in the U.S.) will be able to get in on the party.
First, on Monday, the rest of the world met a version of the high-end Android handset compatible with both AT&T and the Canadian provider Rogers. Then, just 24 hours later, Sprint announced that it too would be getting the Google-branded smartphone "soon." That means the unlocked Nexus One will soon be available, open software platform in tow, for all four of the major U.S. cellular carriers.

8 Essential Kitchen Gadgets

19 hours 41 minutes ago |Switched

ShareSeveral of us Switched writers live in New York, where kitchen space is a precious resource. But despite the fact that we cook in spaces the size of coat closets, we like to prepare dishes that make our friends jealous and our significant others fearful of losing us. [Ed. note: Matt is speaking for himself. We rely on him to feed us. Seriously.] And, while no kitchen appliance will ever magically transform you from Sandra Lee to Escoffier, a little know-how and ingenuity with the aid of some essential gadgets can help bring your cooking to a sophisticated level some may call dinner-party-worthy.

Read on to learn how to make yogurt with a heating pad, and how to tell the difference between hard-crack and soft-ball sugar. Impress fellow geeks with your knowledge of dangerous food-borne pathogens, while serving up some bibimbap from your waffle iron. Wield coffee grinders and infrared thermometers like the great Alton Brown, and harness these basic gadgets' multiple functions for the ultimate amateur kitchen.Next >>

Google TV Aims for Living Room, YouTubers Upload a Day of Video Every Minute

20 hours 31 minutes ago |Switched

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....
Over a decade ago, Web TV seemed to represent the future of television and Web browsing, but the technology never truly fulfilled its promise. According to the New York Times, some heavy hitters are currently investigating a similar system; Google, Sony and Intel are reportedly developing an Android-based 'Google TV' Internet platform for televisions and set-top boxes. [From: Engadget] Even though users were uploading 20 hours of content to YouTube every single minute, the site challenged its members last year to add even more useless footage. Those pleas for more material have somehow produced their intended results, as people now upload a staggering 24 hours of video to the site every minute. [From: YouTube] It seems that being incredibly patronizing and disdainful may actually be a prerequisite for working for a major tech company. When discussing the iPad, Apple's Steve Jobs recently claimed that people aren't "going to read for 10 hours." Now, a Microsoft spokesperson has told Engadget that the new Windows Phone 7 Series won't allow for copy and paste because people "don't actually use it" very often. Hmm. The customer is always . . . ah, who cares, right? [From: Engadget] One of the few drawbacks of Twitter's micro-blogging system is the dubious security of shortened URL's, and the ability of scammers to hide malicious links in them. The site is now directly combating this epidemic with the development of its own shortener, twt.tl, which it hopes will heighten security and increase user comfort. [From: Download Squad] Facebook attracts the majority of the public's attention over privacy issues, but MySpace is also firmly establishing itself at the forefront of the troubling debate. The site is apparently allowing Infochimps, a data collection service, to sell user information to third-party developers as part of a revenue-sharing agreement. [From: PC World] Upon its release, Google Buzz immediately inspired a heated debate over privacy issues. Although Google has actively addressed the specific issues, the service is still drawing significant criticism. Pamela Jones Harbour, the outgoing Federal Trade Commissioner, told a roundtable gathering that "protecting consumer privacy is of upmost importance," and that Google's Buzz launch represented "irresponsible conduct." [From: The Wall Street Journal]

Laid Off Worker Remotely Disables Over 100 Cars

21 hours 21 minutes ago |Switched

When Omar Ramos-Lopez was laid off from his job at Texas Auto Center last month, he decided to send his former employer a message... about 100 times. It turns out that Ramos-Lopez not only had an intimate knowledge of cars, but knew his way around computers, as well -- and, in particular, around his company's online vehicle-immobilization system.

With the help of a former colleague's log-in information, the newly unemployed Ramos-Lopez logged on to Webtech Plus, a network that allows the Austin based Texas Auto Center employees to remotely disable (or set off horns on) cars that haven't been paid for. Once he gained access to the system, Ramos-Lopez began running down the entire database of clients, in alphabetical order, routinely disabling their cars, setting off their horns, and vandalizing their stored records. After customers began pouring into Texas Auto Center with complaints, managers got suspicious, and decided to change the passwords for all employees. The rash of mysterious breakdowns subsided, and police soon traced the hacker's IP address to Ramos-Lopez, who was slapped with computer intrusion charges on Tuesday.

AT&T ZERO Charger Targets Vampire Cell Phone Plugs

22 hours 10 minutes ago |Switched

We've lectured you before about unplugging chargers to conserve electricity. It's pretty much common knowledge at this point that, even when turned off, our gadgets consume energy. Design student Conor Klein's solution was the Outlet Regulator, which detects when a cell phone is fully charged and then physically jettisons it from the power source.

AT&T has a less perfect, but slightly more practical fix: simply shut down the charger when nothing is connected to it. The ZERO Charger can tell when a gadget is connected to its USB port, and simply disconnects from the power source if nothing is plugged into it. It can't tell when your iPhone is completely charged and then turn itself off, but, if you're the type who can't be bothered to remember to unplug your charger when you leave the house, the ZERO charger could end up saving you a few bucks on your electricity bills. [From: GeekSugar]