Twerk, selfie, emoji and others have been added to the Oxford Dictionary.

Oh what a glorious day...The Oxford Dictionaries Online is adding a slew of words, from bitcoin to twerk.

Before you completely lose it like I did, the Oxford Dictionaries Online is separate from the Oxford English Dictionary, though both are published by the Oxford University Press. The ODO changes much more frequently, and has added text-speak acronyms like OMG and LOL in recent years. The OED adds words much less frequently and never removes a word once it has been added.

The new words are an odd mix of techie and tween-y. Here are some of the words that are being added:

Tech Division

bitcoin, n.: a digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank.
BYOD, n.: abbreviation of ‘bring your own device’: the practice of allowing the employees of an organization to use their own computers, smartphones, or other devices for work purposes.

digital detox, n.: a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world.

geek chic, n.: the dress, appearance, and culture associated with computing and technology enthusiasts, regarded as stylish or fashionable.

Internet of things, n.: a proposed development of the Internet in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data.
MOOC, n.: a course of study made available over the Internet without charge to a very large number of people.
phablet, n.: a smartphone having a screen which is intermediate in size between that of a typical smartphone and a tablet computer.

unlike, v.: withdraw one’s liking or approval of (a web page or posting on a social media website that one has previously liked).
These ones are pretty straightforward, covering a nice, broad range of words that people make up in the tech world.

Middle School Division

dappy, adj. (informal): silly, disorganized, or lacking concentration.
derp, exclam. & n. (informal): (used as a substitute for) speech regarded as meaningless or stupid, or to comment on a foolish or stupid action.
squee, exclam. & v. & n. (informal): (used to express) great delight or excitement.
twerk, v.: dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.

The Glorious Overlap

Here’s where it really gets fun–slang that you’d think no self-respecting adult would use, but is actually commonplace in Silicon Valley.
emoji, n: a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion in electronic communication.
Ah, to use emojis or stickers in your social network or messaging service?? An age old business question that harkens back to the Rockefellers and Carnegies.
FOMO, n.: fear of missing out: anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.
I know what you’re thinking–really, Billy? You’re putting FOMO in both sections? But don’t sit there and honestly say you haven’t heard numerous VCs say said they had FOMO about a round.
selfie, n. (informal): a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.

Source: Tech Crunch

Newest Kickstarter project plans to bring wearable LED panels to market.

It can be hard to stand out in a crowd, but a bright, animated wearable LED panel should help you get noticed. The Fos on  is a fabric panel with Velcro strips. It weighs less than a golf ball and can be attached to clothing, backpacks, or just about anything else you can think to stick it on.

The Fos receives its animated display instructions wirelessly from your smartphone. It is geared for active people. Runners can display their heart rate. Bicyclists can display their speeds. Imagine seeing all the riders in the Tour de France kitted out with these.

Each Fos panel consists of white or blue LEDs, a microprocessor, flash memory, and a power supply. The panel is attached to a sheet of fabric and is extremely thin.

An 11x3-inch Fos patch is going for a $149 pledge. The overall project goal is to raise $200,000. A chunk of that is scheduled to go toward developing applications for the Fos, so it can be used right out of the box.

One of the neater ideas for Fos is to tie it in with GPS and biking. Enter your route into an app and wear the patch on your back. The LEDs will display large animated indicators showing which direction you're turning as your phone tracks you on GPS. It would give traffic around you a very bright heads-up about your movements.

Fos looks like fun for anyone into wearable tech, but the urban athlete audience will likely find it especially interesting, as anything that improves your ability to be seen is a good idea when you're sweating away on the streets. Also, the Fos may well end up being a motivational tool for lazy people. Once you've seen three or four of these running by advertising amazing workout feats, you just might be inspired to get your butt into shape.

Source: Kickstarter, CNET

Pull the plug on all those pesky accounts using this simple website.

Everyday you log into services tailor-made for shopping, searching, sharing, watching, chatting, curating, reading, bragging — that’s a lot of places to keep your personal information, and no one could blame you if you wanted to try to pare down on those extraneous connections. Hell, I’d like nothing better myself sometimes.

A U.K. based duo consisting of developer Robb Lewis and designer Ed Poole seem to understand that desire awfully well, and they teamed up to create what may be a truly indispensable resource. It’s called JustDelete.me, and as the name sort of implies, it’s a directory of links to pages where you can lay waste to your myriad online accounts.

It’s a deceptively simple resource. You’re greeted with a sizable grid that points you to a slew of popular web services that you probably use. More specifically, those links point you straight at the pages where you can deactivate all those pesky accounts…or at least where you can try. Thankfully, Lewis has done the due diligence to figure out which services can be disconnected from painlessly and which ones require you to (ugh) actually communicate with someone to get the job done.

A disconcerting number of sites and services fall into that latter category. Of the ones that Lewis has added, 10 won’t let you kill your account without first talking to a customer service rep, and 4 (Netflix, Steam, Starbucks, and WordPress) don’t seem to let you delete your accounts at all. Of course, it’s in these companies’ best interests to keep the account deletion process as obtuse (one might say dark) as possible. The less progress you make on that front, the more likely you are to say “screw it” and remain in their clutches.

As useful as the site can be for people looking to disconnect sans headaches, it’s far from being a complete compendium. Lewis notes on his blog that Justdelete.me is very much a work-in-progress — he’ll gladly accept suggestions for services that people think should be on the list, and here’s hoping this thing continues to pick up steam.

Source: Tech Crunch

This bar owner wants to be your Facebook friend. Don't want any more friends? Then don't expect to get in.

Tony Mannor, the owner of Finnegan's Irish Pub & Restaurant in Stockton, California insists that if you want to get into his bar after 9 p.m., you have to be one of the bar's Facebook friends.

CBS Sacramento reports that as Finnegan's became more popular, the wrong crowd muscled its way in.

So Mannor tried to think of a way to maintain the bar's inner decorum without having its inner decor destroyed by undesirables.

He liked the idea of people becoming the pub's Facebook friends. Then, he personally screened all the profiles.

Now, customer (and Facebook friend) Debbie Walters told CBS Sacramento: "The bouncer actually stands at the front door with a computer to make sure you're a guest." Yes, there really is no greater intimidation than a large man clutching an iPad.

The bar's Facebook page currently enjoys 3,712 Facebook "likes" and around 10,000 friends. What a party that would be if they all came at once.

Mannor claims that since he instituted his Facebook bouncer system, almost all the trouble has been eliminated.

I am, though, extremely concerned about Friday night.

For the bar's Facebook page promises: "The SEX ON FIRE Burlesque Show! This is 'Night 2' of the bartender battle! Team Outlaws are bringing THE HEAT with Singer Bo Vixxen and celebrity burlesque performer Minxie! Dont miss out! The show starts at 9pm!"

I fear that Facebook's legendary insistence on ensuring everyone has an honest and genuine profile will be put to a rigorous test for this one night.

Source: CNET

Paying with a credit card is so 2012. Welcome to 2013, where you can pay with your face!

You don't need your wallet if you shop at certain stores testing a new PayPal app that's prompting buzz. You instead can pay with your face and your phone.

Basically, it works this way: You download the PayPal app, which shows a list of participating stores. Upon entering a store, just check in on your phone by using a four-digit PIN. Done shopping? A clerk will see your photo and first name on his or her phone or tablet and click on your picture to charge your PayPal account.

"We very much see this as the future of money. By 2016, you'll be able to leave your wallet at home," Rob Harper, PayPal's London-based head of retail services, told The Telegraph in a video report. It's backed by the same security that PayPal has for online purchases, Harper told the BBC, so if the company thinks something looks suspicious, it will take steps.

It's getting buzz for being tested at a dozen merchants on the outskirts of London, such as Noble Jones fashion clothing store, where owner George Absi finds the system "quite useful. You can make payment anywhere in the store. You don't have to bring the customer the bill," he said in a promotional video.

A UK-based PayPal spokesperson told MSN News "it is already available in the US," but we're unclear where, so we're trying to get details. (From what we can tell so far, it looks like a different PayPal mobile-payment system in the U.S. is offered at two dozen chains and typically works as it does at The Home Depot — you pay with PayPal at the cash register by typing in a mobile number and PIN or by swiping a PayPal payment card and entering a PIN, according to PayPal's website.)

Could this cashless, credit-cardless advancement tested in Britain one day improve your life? Depends on how much hassle you consider cash and credit cards to be. Ubergizmo puts it in a snarky way:

"If you’re lucky enough to have your popular retailer accept PayPal while you’re checking out in the store, then you know what a slight hassle it can be to have to input your password or passcode, which can add seconds to your entire transaction, and as a result, can turn your life completely upside down. That’s why PayPal is testing out a new method of verifying its users by using a photo of them as verification."

Source: MSN

This is why IES recommends Firefox or Chrome vs Internet Explorer...

Sauce Labs, an Internet software testing and development company, specializes in automated testing for mobile and Web applications by delivering a test environment that accommodates over 150 browsers, operating systems, and device platforms. In the course of all that testing they've gotten to know which ones break the most and which ones break the least. Now, for the second time, Sauce is revealing which browsers can stand the test of the Web and which ones buckle under the strain.

For the purposes of the report Sauce only analyzed browser versions for which the company had at least 1,000 jobs in the last two years. This means that the most recent versions of some browsers aren't represented in the report.

Taken all-in-all, the bottom of the barrel Web browser family was Internet Explorer (IE). But, that's not the entire story.

True, with a 0.25 percent error rate, IE was the worst Web browser, but each browser has many different versions and a close look reveals that Microsoft's Web browsers have greatly improved since IE 7 first appeared in 2006. As for IE 6, let's not even talk about it!

While IE 7 has an error rate of .29 percent, the latest version, IE 10, has "an impressive 0.05 percent error rate." Sauce has found that Microsoft has gotten much better at "squashing their historically error rates."

So, if IE has been significantly improved, which browser has the "honor" of being the poorest program? That regrettable position, of currently deployed and supported Web browsers, goes to Apple's Safari 6.

The best browser, in terms of the fewest number of defects, is Firefox 22—followed by Chrome 27, IE10, Opera 12, and Safari 6. According to Sauce, "Most versions of Chrome have error rates low enough that they didn't show up on the graph. Neither do later versions of Firefox. That means that Chrome and Firefox are solid in terms of performance. For the tech savvy that isn't too surprisingly."

All-in-all, compared to the last Sauce evaluation of browsers in 2011, the company found that "Half of the browser versions we analyzed had error rates lower than 0.07-percent. That's pretty low, and suggests that browsers are getting more reliable as more versions come out."

Source: ZDNet

How's this for irony? Mark Zuckerberg's wall got hacked....warning him of a security problem.

A Palestinian IT expert who claimed to have discovered a Facebook vulnerability said he took his bug report to Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook page after being ignored by the social network's security team.

The vulnerability allows anyone to post anything to anyone else's page, regardless of whether they are a Facebook friend of that person, Khalil Shreateh wrote in a blog post Saturday. Shreateh initially reported the vulnerability through Facebook's "white hat" security disclosure service, which offers a minimum bounty of $500 for legitimate bugs.

However, despite including a demonstration of the bug executed on the Facebook page of Zuckerberg pal Sarah Goodwin, Shreateh was told by a Facebook security engineer in a terse note that "sorry this is not a bug."

Undaunted, Shreateh decided to share his experience with Zuckerberg by posting a note to the Facebook founder's page that apologized for the post but said he had "no other choice."

"[A] couple of days ago I discovered a serious Facebook exploit that allows users to post to other Facebook users timeline while they are not in friend list," Shreateh wrote in his post to Zuckerberg's timeline. "I appreciate your time reading this and getting some one from your company team to contact me."

Within minutes, Shreateh was contacted by a Facebook security seeking details of the exploit, Shreateh said, adding that his own Facebook account was quickly disabled. A security engineer told Shreateh his account had been disabled as a "precaution."

"When we discovered your activity we did not fully know what was happening," an engineer who identified himself as "Joshua" told Shreateh. "Unfortunately your report to our Whitehat system did not have enough technical information for us to take action on it. We cannot respond to reports which do not contain enough detail to allow us to reproduce an issue."

Joshua also informed Shreateh that he would not be receiving a bug reward for reporting the exploit because he violated the site's terms of service. "We do hope, however, that you continue to work with us to find vulnerabilities in the site," he wrote.

A Facebook security engineer responded Saturday in a Hacker News post that the vulnerability was fixed Thursday and conceded that Shreateh should have been asked for more details on the issue after his initial report. Along with offering inadequate information about the bug, Shreateh's post to Zuckerberg's timeline violated the social network's responsible disclosure policy, the security engineer wrote.

"Exploiting bugs to impact real users is not acceptable behavior for a white hat," the engineer wrote, adding that researchers are allowed to create test accounts to aid their research.

(click for larger screen shot)
Source: CNET