online

Online transfer with one number wrong costs woman $40,000

If an unexpected $1,500 kept arriving in your bank account every month, would you tell anyone?

Or would you think of it as blissful found money and spend it on blissful things you found in online stores?

What if these mysterious payments kept arriving for two years? Would your guilt increase or decrease? Or would you think that Warren Buffett had suddenly taken kindly to your personality?

These might sound like hypothetical questions.

Yet they describe the moral dilemma that may (or may not) have crossed the mind of one very interesting person who kept receiving an online transfer … Read more

Online dating boost because men don't like to spend money?

It's that time of year when you look your lover in the eyes, feel that stirring in your stomach, and hear you inner voice ask: "Is this the best I can do?"

Please, I don't mean to sound, well, mean.

It's just that in these days that champion immediacy and disposability, somehow interpersonal relations have become just another commodity.

Having mused on these thoughts in the shower, my inbox was kissed with an e-mail that told me 1 in 10 relationships among 35- to 55-year-olds will end on or before Valentine's Day.

It seems … Read more

Canada nixes online spying bill designed to stop child predators

It looks like Canadian privacy advocates won a battle over an Internet bill that was intended to stop online predators. The Canadian government announced today that it was not passing the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, or Bill-C30, according to the Register.

The purpose of the bill was supposedly to make sure children weren't stalked on the Internet by criminals or sex offenders. However, it also enabled warrantless wiretapping. The law said that carriers and ISP providers would be required to give police information about their customers.

The bill (PDF) says that if passed it would "require … Read more

CNET's Live Show 'Computer Love': Where technology and love intersect

The Internet has changed how we interact with each other through social networks, text messaging, and online dating. Because of this, the rules of finding love, keeping relationships alive, or sparking new ones have been completely rewritten.

On Valentine's Day, I'll be hosting a special live show called "Computer Love" at 11 a.m. PT. We'll talk about a host of topics, ranging from long-distance love to sexting. I'll talk with special guests about our personal experiences and yes, even "catfishing."

This show is what you make it. We'll be taking … Read more

Let's Date offers a sexy, new way to find love from your iPhone

I'm single, I live on my iPhone, and I'm cautiously optimistic about online dating. Those qualities make me the perfect match for Let's Date, an iOS-only application for finding love, or whatever it is you're looking for, in an unconventional fashion.

Let's Date, first released in San Francisco in early November, today launches more widely to offer people in all major U.S. markets, Canada, London, Sydney, and Melbourne a funky new way to find dates.

The application is one of the many pet projects of Science, a buzzy Los Angeles technology studio that creates, … Read more

U.S. just getting on board Safer Internet Day (podcast)

In 2004 the European Commission created Safer Internet Day to be celebrated on the second day of the second week of the second month -- which this year is tomorrow.

On this day, organizations in various countries conduct public events, tweet-ins, press conferences, and otherwise spread the word about how young people can use the Internet safely and securely. This year's theme is "online rights and responsibilities" with the slogan, "Connect with Respect." The event is coordinated by Insafe, a European network of "Awareness Centres," that promote "safe, responsible use of the … Read more

Udacity, San Jose State University offer online classes for credit

So you've graduated from high school and been accepted at a four-year college. But when you arrive on campus you find out that you can't pass college entry-level courses, so it's back to remedial classes. That's the fate of half of all freshman at San Jose State University, according to Provost Ellen Junn. Add to those woes decreases in funding for higher education across California, higher tuition fees, and greater competition for college admission.

Those are just some of the reasons the university has partnered with Silicon Valley startup Udacity to offer San Jose State Plus, … Read more

49-ers fans buy Super Bowl tickets on Craigslist, get 'Go Ravens' note instead

Here is today's Super Bowl prediction: Craigslist is not StubHub.

Whenever there is a big game, nefarious beings will creep around the Web trying to find the passionate and the gullible, from whose emotions they can steal a little money.

Some people's desperation to secure tickets will exceed their ability to turn on their skepticism controls.

The Osgood family, from Hayward, Calif., were so keen to fly to New Orleans for Sunday's Super Bowl that they found an ad on Craigslist that offered tickets.

Cheap, they were not. But the four tickets were advertised at $5,900, … Read more

Google Map of handgun owners posted online isn't exactly accurate

Is there anything more difficult than an emotional reaction on an emotive topic?

So many marriages have dissipated in such circumstances. Facts become cudgels and recollections have all the accuracy of a plasticine Lugar.

When the Journal News, a local New York newspaper, thought it might be a good idea to post a Google map depicting all the local handgun owners and their addresses, voices and arms were raised.

One imagines that the editors of the Journal News had both good intentions -- it was very soon after the Newtown massacre -- and some inkling that this posting might raise … Read more