After receiving a hateful message on the social networking site Myspace.com from a Josh Evans, Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, Missouri hanged herself on Oct. 16, 2006. Josh sent messages to the young girl, saying she was “a bad person” and “everyone hates you.” The spitefulness and enormity of the messages led Megan to hang herself in her bedroom closet.

Weeks after this incident, her parents learnt that Josh was not even a real person. He was just a fabrication created by the parent of a former friend of Megan’s who lived down the street. The two teenagers had argued, and the girl’s mother wanted to find out whether Megan was saying negative things about her daughter. Excellent spying technique, must say.

Following the suicide of the 13-year-old girl, cyber-bullying has been declared illegal in a small Missouri city. “It is our hope that by supporting one of our own in Dardenne Prairie, we can do our part to ensure this type of harassing behavior never happens again, anywhere,” commented Mayor Pam Fogarty regarding the new rule. “After all, harassment is harassment regardless of the mechanism or tool.”

At least a third of all teenagers say that they have been victims of cyber-bullying at some point. But no legal action was taken if the victims of online harassment dint suffer any physical harm. So the next time you’re talking to your friends online and they say anything that you find insulting, you go and get them arrested, got that?

Hemant Sahi, a regular JAMMAG contributor, sent us this story. For more you can read the Guardian story here.

After receiving a hateful message on the social networking site Myspace.com from a Josh Evans, Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, Missouri hanged herself on Oct. 16, 2006. Josh sent messages to the young girl, saying she was “a bad person” and “everyone hates you.” The spitefulness and enormity of the messages led Megan to hang […]

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Kyle Sutton @ PC World has a quick look at Yahoo’s new Social Networking site Kickstart.

This time around Yahoo is launching Kickstart, a social network site for college students who may want something a bit more professional than Facebook and not as uptight as LinkedIn.

Do you think there is a lttle bit of an overload when it comes to social networking sites? Or is it all a matter of improving products and services? I still think its a pain to keep moving your friend’s circle from place to place.

So what is Kickstart about?

Yahoo Kickstart tries to be different than other social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook by appealing to students and college alumni who are looking for a "kickstart"

There are minor teething troubles of course:

While Kickstart is a bright idea, the current preview version of the service is in need of a few fixes. For one, if you add a current or prior job to your profile, you can only designate the time you worked there in years, not months. As any college kid can tell you, most internships only run for a few months at a time, and having to list it on Kickstart as lasting "2007 – 2007" isn’t exactly specific.

But will it work? Unsurprisingly it all finally comes down to a matter of your ability to build up a network. Which is really the problem with ANY social networking site. Kyle says:

All told, I think Kickstart has potential. The deciding factor of course is in how many people end up signing up, and even there Yahoo is already offering the incentive: a $25,000 donation to the college with the most alumni registered on Kickstart.

So I guess I am not holding my breath for this one. Expect a detailed JAM overview of Kickstart in the next issues. Interested in sending us your reviews? Drop a line in the comment and we will get back to you.

Back to Orkut now.

Kyle Sutton @ PC World has a quick look at Yahoo’s new Social Networking site Kickstart.
This time around Yahoo is launching Kickstart, a social network site for college students who may want something a bit more professional than Facebook and not as uptight as LinkedIn.

Do you think there is a lttle bit of an overload […]

Read more...

I’ve been listening to a series of audio lectures on the phone during the commute to work the last few days. And the 45 minutes from home to Prabhadevi amid turbulent traffic and terrible pollution is now merely a speck in the past.

For Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran opens up a world you never knew existed. His lectures and talks are simply spectacular.

Now don’t run away thinking that this is nerdy science stuff that you won’t understand. In fact making science accessible to anyone is Rama’s specialty.

Check out this link which further fans out to a bunch of information on the wise doctor and his many many wondrous ideas and research findings. There is a video and a link to several audio files. Rip them, transfer them to your Ipod and suddenly become the smartest guy in college.

Which works for some girls.

In fact I think I can squeeze one of his videos here:

I’ve been listening to a series of audio lectures on the phone during the commute to work the last few days. And the 45 minutes from home to Prabhadevi amid turbulent traffic and terrible pollution is now merely a speck in the past.
For Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran opens up a world you never knew existed. His […]

Read more...

Sounds like something that Nayan Mongia would scream from behind the stumps right?

Formula One fans will identify the brand from Alonso and Hamilton’s outfits.

aigo is a reasonably popular Chinese manufacturer of mp3 players and affiliated gizmos and gadgets. Tech2 tells us that the brand is making their launch in India.

This is good news for all those price conscious geeks who expect more than just shiny plastic and coolness from their MP3 players. From what Tech2 reveals the products look like good value!

aigo A208
Now we come to a flash-based MP3 player with a built-in USB connector. It also has a blue backlit LDC display, FM radio, voice recorder and five EQ presets. It runs on a single AAA battery and, according to the company, boasts up to 10 hours’ battery life. The 1GB model is available for Rs 3000.

Break free from the ipod conspiracy I say!

Sounds like something that Nayan Mongia would scream from behind the stumps right?
Formula One fans will identify the brand from Alonso and Hamilton’s outfits.
aigo is a reasonably popular Chinese manufacturer of mp3 players and affiliated gizmos and gadgets. Tech2 tells us that the brand is making their launch in India.
This is good news for all […]

Read more...

Brilliant article in Wired about the worst portrayal of scientists in the movies. Hilarious and highly forwardable to your friends:

Keanu Reeves, Chain Reaction (1996)
Reeves as a brainy hacker in The Matrix? Whoa. Reeves as a shaggy-haired bubble-fusion expert on the lam from the government? Woe.

More here - > The Best: Unlikely Movie Scientists. Denise Richards? Jessica Alba?

Any ideas on a similar list for hamara Bollywood?

Brilliant article in Wired about the worst portrayal of scientists in the movies. Hilarious and highly forwardable to your friends:
Keanu Reeves, Chain Reaction (1996)
Reeves as a brainy hacker in The Matrix? Whoa. Reeves as a shaggy-haired bubble-fusion expert on the lam from the government? Woe.
More here - > The Best: Unlikely Movie Scientists. Denise Richards? […]

Read more...

Remember Chequemail? It was popular way back when the first dotcom boom happened. I don’t remember the details really. But it was something about getting paid to read emails. Or something.

Well those guys, I guess, were ahead of their times.  Dotcoms crashed helter skelter and Chequemail disappeared too.

Look what we found in our inboxes a few days ago… something called Rupeemail. Sounds like the same thing to me.

Will it work? Leave comments and tell us.

More here -> RupeeMail :: Home - Start Receiving Rupee Mails And Earn Money

Remember Chequemail? It was popular way back when the first dotcom boom happened. I don’t remember the details really. But it was something about getting paid to read emails. Or something.
Well those guys, I guess, were ahead of their times.  Dotcoms crashed helter skelter and Chequemail disappeared too.
Look what we found in our inboxes a […]

Read more...