Privacy is Dead: How Corporations Learn All About You

This is a great information-packed edition of Rants and Raves…trust me. With so much happening in Japan after a 9.0 earthquake, the Internet is still running there. And there is a fabulous, but scary article from Time Magazine on how companies know all about you and me from info gleaned from the Internet. And be sure and check out the high resolution photos from Mars.  Absolutely amazing. - JRC

Surviving Disaster: Japan’s Internet

In the grand scheme of things, the fact that the Internet has, by and large, kept working in Japan despite earthquakes, tsunami, and potential nuclear reactor meltdowns, is very small. But perhaps it isn’t really that minor when you consider that for hundreds of millions of people wanting to know if friends and family are well, a simple e-mail, instant-message, or even a Facebook update can spell the difference between hours or days of worry and the relief of at least knowing their loved ones’ fate.

Data Mining: How Companies Know Your Personal Information

Three hours after I gave my name and e-mail address to Michael Fertik, the CEO of Reputation.com, he called me back and read my Social Security number to me. "We had it a couple of hours ago," he said. "I was just too busy to call." In the past few months, I have been told many more-interesting facts about myself than my Social Security number. I've gathered a bit of the vast amount of data that's being collected both online and off by companies in stealth — taken from the websites I look at, the stuff I buy, my Facebook photos, my warranty cards, my customer-reward cards, the songs I listen to online, surveys I was guilted into filling out and magazines I subscribe to.

Obama "IP czar" wants felony charges for illegal Web streaming

The Obama administration wants to make sure that the illegal streaming of music and movies over the Internet is a felony, and it also wants to give the federal government wiretap authority in copyright cases. Another case of the government doing the bidding of the entertainment industry.

Apple iPad 2: Who should buy and who should pass

Nobody in the technology business does a better job than Apple of convincing people that they need to buy the next shiny new thing. However, despite the product magnetism of Steve Jobs and company, not everyone who thinks they need or want the new iPad 2 should actually buy it.

Best Mars Images From Orbiter’s First 5 Years

Since settling into orbit around the Red Planet on March 10, 2006, MRO has transmitted more data to Earth - 131 trillion bits and more than 70,000 images so far -- than all other interplanetary missions combined. Here are some of the best ones. For more, check out the HiRise mission site from the University of Arizona.