Finding the FEMA app

According to TechCrunch Federal Emergency Management Administration  (FEMA) has released an Android app just in time for for Hurricane Irene.You can install the app directly from the Android Market website.
Or, you can do as I did and search for the app from your phone. When you search, the Market app offers suggestions based on other people's searches. So, ...

I know what I was searching for and I found it. I suspect that the other folks who searched weren't as successful, online or off.

Mashable says old people don't like social media. Old people say, "Get off my Farmvville."

The Pew Internet Project reports that 65% of adults who use the Internet use social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or (yes, it's still around) MySpace.
That's what their headline said.

via 65% of online adults use social networking sites | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

But, when Mashable picked up the story, they reported

Only 50% of U.S. Adults Use Social Media

Mashable went on to say

But they’re less than ecstatic about it. In a word cloud that the study made to show responses to the question “What is one word that describes your experience using social networking sites?” The most common answer was a standard “good.”?

Pew, however, thought that adults were happier:

Overall, positive responses far outweighed the negative and neutral words that were associated with social networking sites (more than half of the respondents used positive terms). Users repeatedly described their experiences as “fun,” “great,” “interesting” and “convenient.” Less common were superlatives such as “astounding,” “necessity,” and “empowering.”

Hurricane Irene: French toast with cabbage

We've all heard about the French Toast alert level - the urgency with which people buy eggs, bread, and milk when a storm's coming. Added to the French Toast has been the advice to stock up on cabbage - cash, in the case that ATMs are down because of power or because so many people have taken out so much cash.
Usually, the French Toast system is used for winter storms, so an August alert is something new. We've had credible information for a week now, indicating that Irene is a serious storm. Not epic, but serious. The folks along U.S. 20 don't need any of this, those who are rebuilding after the June 1st tornado.
We're going about our business, removing loose objects from the back desk  With 5-10"  of rain the forecast,

some of our neighbors might want to make sure that their gutters are ready for the deluge.

Tech news headline or Pogo dialog?

This morning's GigaOM (one of the very best tech news sites) included a story with this headline:

Card swipe dongle or NFC? Erply chooses both

The headline appears to be in English, but we might need some help.
For those of you who care about such things, Erply, an Estonian software company, is offering products that will allow businesses to collect payments on iPads. The company offers a somewhat traditional attachment (aka dongle) that allows the merchant to read the magnetic strip on credit cards and charge the customer for the purchase.
NFC stands for near-field communications (not the National Football Conference), a newer and sexier feature available on some mobile phones, that allows the customer to pay for products by holding their phone close to a receiver. Payments by mobile phone are more common in Europe and Asia than in the U.S.
But, back to the headline. Here's how reporting was done in the days of Pogo.

click for full-size