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NEWS ABOUT: communication

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Rejoice, Introverts: This Is Your Age

Technology makes it easy to disengage: Philip Bump

(Newser) - Philip Bump has a happy message for his fellow introverts in the Atlantic : Technology has made this a "Golden Age" for you. Sure, email, texts, social networks, etc., might seemingly make it impossible to disengage, but it actually "has become easier than ever to carve out time for... More »

Cell Phones Can Be Saviors for World's Poor: UN

Report shows gadgets can lead to better livelihoods

(Newser) - For the financially comfortable, cell phones may make life a little easier—but for those in less-developed countries, the gadgets can be the difference between a life of poverty one of relative comfort, a UN report finds. “Mobiles have spawned a wealth of micro-enterprises, offering work to people with... More »

Skype Partners With Facebook

You can now call 'friends' via Skype, video chat in groups

(Newser) - Skype just got a lot more social. The voice and video calling service has announced a new partnership with Facebook, reports CNN . The new service will allow you to see your Facebook "news feed" while you Skype, and give users the ability to call 'friends' who use "Facebook... More »

Let's Stamp Out Hyperlinks

They're a little too distracting

(Newser) - Tech writer Nicholas Carr is rethinking the usefulness (or at least the placement) of one of the Internet's classic tools: the hyperlink. They're too distracting, the author of the Shallows writes on his blog . You might start out reading about the Israeli ship mess but a few clicks later find... More »

Let's Rethink How We Teach English

Kids can't write, and it's getting worse

(Newser) - Take it from a first-year college instructor: The writing skills of young adults are a joke. "They have either forgotten the rules of writing, or they never learned them in the first place," writes Kara Miller of Babson College. And while the media focuses on the need for... More »

Cell Phones May Raise Risk of Tumors: WHO Study

Lead researcher says kids' use should be restricted

(Newser) - One of the most thorough reviews yet of the health risks of cell phones suggests that longtime users face a higher risk of brain tumors. The World Health Organization study is not definitive, but it bolsters the case that precautions make sense. The lead researcher tells the Telegraph she thinks... More »

Facebook Refuseniks Still Sorta Use It

They object in principle but end up using it by proxy

(Newser) - The Washington Post today profiles an increasingly rare breed: people in their 20s and 30s who don't use Facebook or other such sites. And though the “refuseniks” interviewed have different rationales—privacy, “morals and beliefs,” being “old-school in the personal touch way,” many share something... More »

Google Gives Select Few a Taste of Wave

New communication tool isn't 'ready for primetime' yet

(Newser) - A hundred thousand lucky beta testers today got their hands on the much-hyped “Google Wave,” a communication app that Google’s calling “what email would look like if it were designed today.” Wave operates a little like a cross between email, instant messaging, and collaborative wikis,... More »

Happy 40th, Internet (Maybe)

(Newser) - Forty years ago, two UCLA scientists exchanged data via computers, arguably making today the 40th anniversary of the birth of the Internet. "It would be more accurate to say some important seeds of the Internet sprouted with that data transfer," writes Stephen Shankland on CNET, but no matter.... More »

Woman Gets PhD in Texting

Philosophy thesis is first on text message communication

(Newser) - A British graduate student has earned a PhD in texting—an academic first, Discover magazine reports. Caroline Tagg’s doctorate, more specifically, is in the philosophy of texting communication. Tagg studied 11,000 texts from 235 people over four years. Among the findings: The average text is 17.5 words,... More »

Emailers Search for the Right Sign-Off

Regards? Best? XOXO? That's me, yo?

(Newser) - Saying goodbye at the end of an email, especially a business one, is a puzzling minefield of etiquette with no clear rules, Ruth McCann writes at the Washington Post. "Best" is becoming more popular, McCann observes, but many swear by the slightly stiff "Sincerely," while others still... More »

Communication Is What Ails Obama on Health Reform

(Newser) - President Obama’s failure to get health-care reform on a faster track, despite early legislative victories, is a personal one, Sam Youngman writes in the Hill. “While it is shocking to consider that Obama is anything less than one of the best communicators in modern political history,” Youngman... More »

Cyborg Bugs Could Warn of Fires, Chemical Attacks

(Newser) - Cyborg bugs may sound like creatures in a Michael Bay movie, but they could save your life, New Scientist reports. The Pentagon is trying to implant electrodes in crickets and cicadas—which communicate via wingbeats—and program them to “speak” differently around certain chemicals. “The insect itself might... More »

Why One Mom Drew the Line at Skype

Technology that brings us together can pull us apart, she writes

(Newser) - Today’s world of cellphones, tweets, and texts makes it possible to stay constantly in touch—but where do we draw the line between contact and privacy, connection and independence? When it comes to family intimacy over distance, that question comes into sharp relief, Peggy Orenstein reflects in the New ... More »

Plants Warn Each Other: Study

(Newser) - They can't quite Twitter, but plants have sophisticated means of communication nonetheless, reports the Telegraph. A new study suggests they use complex chemical signals to discuss both predators and pollinators. In one test, sagebrush shrubs whose neighbors had their leaves clipped, as if by grasshoppers, appeared to grow more resilient,... More »

Int'l Pirate Patrols Spar With Language Barriers

Diverse crews learn to communicate

(Newser) - The international fleet patrolling for pirates off the coast of Somalia is on guard against an oceanic traffic jam, too, the Military Times reports. One US admiral likened the problem to young soccer players swarming the ball, saying communications were necessary for an efficient response. There are three separate international... More »

Skype Plans Voicemail-to-Text Service

Users will fork over 25 cents per message

(Newser) - Internet-telephone firm Skype will offer a service that converts voice messages into texts in any one of four languages, the company plans to announce today. But at 25 cents per text message—and with long voicemails running up to three texts—users’ costs could add up. And if a poor... More »

Free Market Rings Up 4B Cell Phones Worldwide

6 in 10 connected, thanks to private biz

(Newser) - The global explosion in cell phone use is a timely reminder of what free markets can achieve, David A. Gross writes in the Christian Science Monitor. There are now more than 4 billion mobile connections worldwide, two-thirds of them in developing countries, according to a new UN report. This leap... More »

Let's Stop Talking In Slogans

Using language to communicate hampered by psychology of advertising

(Newser) - We live in a world of snappy slogans, but that may not be the best way to communicate, write Dan Heath and Chip Heath in Fast Company. "People need a reason to prefer Crest over Colgate," but those same people—that's us—shouldn't talk like toothpaste salesmen. "... More »

Change He Can Believe: No More BlackBerry

High sensitivity makes presidential e-mailing unlikely

(Newser) - As president, Barack Obama will likely have to make the ultimate sacrifice: giving up his beloved BlackBerry. Obama and the device were literally attached at the hip during the campaign, and email was his main link to everything from political memos to White Sox updates, the New York Times reports.... More »

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