Friday News: Apple fights sale of Radio Shack data, news sharing and social media, 3-D printers in libraries, and boxing’s contributions to English
Apple asks court to block the sale of some RadioShack data – Part of the process for Radio Shack’s bankruptcy is the sale of the company’s assets, which include customer data. Remember when Barnes and Noble acquired all of the Borders customer lists? Well, Apple is now attempting to prevent the bankruptcy court from allowing the sale of customer information acquired during the sale of iPhones. It’s an interesting issue, because companies aren’t so much trying to protect consumers as they are trying to ensure that an economically valuable, and therefore exploitable, asset from being sold to a third party.
In its own objection to the resale of this information, Apple is saying that RadioShack’s database contains information gathered about Apple customers who bought iPhones and iPads through the retailer. Apple lawyers wrote that RadioShack had agreed to protect Apple customers’ data before being allowed to sell iPhones through its chain stores. “The Reseller Agreement between Apple and RadioShack protects information collected by RadioShack regarding purchasers of Apple products (the “Apple Customer Information”) and prohibits the proposed sale of such information,” Apple wrote.–Ars Technica
News audiences spread the word, but few get involved in local journalism – With all the talk of social media democratizing the news, and the rise of bloggers who undertake journalistic research into any number of problems and issues, Pew’s research confirms previous research that in the US, at least, more people share existing news stories than actually produce or initiate those items. Where public participation is very strong, however, is in circulating local news stories, which helps promote local journalists and news outlets.
The finding that sharing is more common than newsgathering is not an entirely unexpected or new development. A 2011 national survey on local news behaviors found that 25% of adults share links to existing local news stories or videos, while just 5% contribute original articles, opinion pieces, photos or videos about their local community online. It’s always been far easier to share than to produce original reporting. The question is whether advancements in mobile technology and live video streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat could make newsgathering and distribution easier for public participants. And, of course, bystanders have to be in a position to have information to contribute to the news. –Pew Research Center
3-D Printers: Understanding Copyright, Fair Use, and More – So the main focus of this article is on advising school librarians to support 3-D printers in their libraries as an essential educational tool, while at the same time being cognizant of IP issues. More specifically, 3-D printers implicate patents as well as copyright, which may be new to many librarians. Still, what I found most interesting about the piece are the examples of what students are making with these printers – some really creative and cool projects are taking shape thanks to this emerging technology.
3-D printers in school libraries are also being used to broaden students’ cultural horizons and teach practical problem-solving skills. In Iowa, fifth graders at the Van Meter Elementary School used their library’s 3-D printer to create their own Olympic symbols as part of a research project on the Olympic Games; and in Illinois, students at Glen Grove Elementary School used 3D printing technology in their library to design and build models of devices that could solve problems facing residents of an imaginary city—issues related to excessive noise, water pollution, and more.–School Library Journal
15 Common Phrases that Come from Boxing – Some of these will be no surprise, but a few of them were definitely new to me. My favorite:
5. GROGGY
The word we know as meaning sleepy or out of it originally meant “intoxicated,” and came from grog, an old-timey alcoholic beverage. Groggy meaning “dazed” is from the boxing ring, meaning weakened in a fight, hence staggering, shaky, and unsteady. –Mental Floss
Great post! Love the list of phrases from boxing. I had no idea there’d be so many.
@Ainsley Wynter: Yes, that was a fun list.
We have some 3D printers at work for concept testing (since we’re modeling everything in 3D anyhow) and while they’ve been great for that, they’ve been even better for making weird stuff to adorn desks everywhere. The copyrights and patents are definitely a huge issue, which extends to us and our own projects — the concept artists can get away with making wallpapers and distributing them internally, but the modelers are now printing out full models of characters and Legal is a mix of “We’re not sure this is okay” and “Make me one next!”.