Weak economy threatens prepaid tuition program

By Stephen C. Fehr

Stateline.org

(MCT)

WASHINGTON — The future of a popular program in 18 states that allows parents to prepay college tuition at public schools is shaky because of recent stock market losses and a wave of tuition increases. The Wall Street collapse shrank the value of many investment funds, out of which the prepaid tuition plans disburse tuition and fees. At the same time, states are raising tuition to help balance their budgets in response to declining tax revenue caused by the recession.

"Just about all these programs are going through similar turmoil," said Joseph Hurley, founder of savingforcollege.com, a Web site devoted to financing a college education. "It's the same dynamic: investments are not keeping up with tuition increases. The irony is, it makes demand for these programs even stronger for families but that popularity translates into more financial stress for these programs."

The Obama administration has made college affordability a priority, through its Middle Class Task Force. Vice President Joe Biden went to St. Louis last Friday to draw attention to the problem.

"The challenges of paying for college in America is well understood," he said. "The growth of college tuition is far outpacing that of family income. No matter what else we do to get our economy moving, it all leads back to education."

Prepaid tuition plans vary, but most are set up so parents or grandparents pay today's prices for tuition and fees instead of the higher costs in the year their child goes to a state school. Those discounted costs are paid as a lump sum or over time through monthly payments that are deposited into a state-managed investment fund. When the child is ready to attend a state college, the tuition and fees are paid from the fund.

The states that have offered prepaid tuition plans, according to www.finaid.org, a student financial aid Web site, are: Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. None of the states has failed to pay tuition for plan participants in the current school year, but a few states are moving to bail out their programs.

Alabama's prepaid tuition fund has less than half of the money it needs to pay future tuition commitments and has suspended new enrollment as lawmakers try to save the program. West Virginia lawmakers are considering pumping $8 million into the prepaid tuition program to cover investment losses. The program is closed to new enrollees but still has 7,200 participants.

The instability of the programs comes as some states are reporting record participation by parents seeking a hedge against future tuition increases.

Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord, who has ordered a review of the state's prepaid tuition plan after its assets dropped more than 23 percent, says enrollment in the program rose 26 percent last year. Oregon lawmakers and Ohio education officials, reacting to the demand, are weighing creating new prepaid tuition programs but tying them less to the ups and downs of the stock market.

Another college savings program, available in 33 states, is not linked to future tuition costs. Under these plans, which like the prepaid programs are called 529 plans after the section of the federal tax code that created them, are simple savings plans that allow parents their choice of a variety of tax-advantaged stock and bond funds. Parents draw from their account when the student goes off to school.

Those savings plans also have been hit by the Wall Street meltdown. Between Sept. 30 and Feb. 28, the average loss was 21 percent for the 529 plan portfolios in Morningstar's database, an investment research firm.

The tension over these losses reached a point in Oregon where on April 13, state Treasurer Ben Westlund and Attorney General John Kroger filed a lawsuit against Oppenheimer Funds alleging Oregon parents lost at least $36.2 million in account value because of Oppenheimer's alleged negligence for investing in a hedge fund.

Attorneys general in Illinois, Maine, Texas and New Mexico have launched separate investigations into Oppenheimer, which has denied wrongdoing and has said it disclosed details about the fund's performance to Oregon officials throughout the financial crisis.

In St. Louis, Biden said he would ask the treasury and education officials to study ways of making 529 accounts "more effective and reliable. Their analysis will examine how people save in the 529s, whether they are taking appropriate approaches to risk, and try to identify options and best practices for helping these funds be there for families when they need them."

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

In most of the states with the prepaid tuition programs, officials say, the plans have enough money to cover their tuition obligations — for now. But in some states, the market losses were so severe that officials may have to consider dipping into state general funds, freezing enrollment or raising fees. Only Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia and Washington guarantee that the state will bail out the tuition program if there isn't enough money.

Florida and Alabama illustrate the challenges facing the programs. In Alabama, as in most states with the programs, the idea is that the state will manage the investments so earnings will grow faster than future tuition costs. That usually works well over time, but the severity of the 2008 Wall Street collapse hurt some state plans more than others. At the same time the funds' value is dwindling, the cost of tuition is rising.

Just two years ago, Alabama's prepaid plan had almost $900 million in assets, which would cover nearly all of its future tuition obligations to families. By Feb. 28, the assets fell to $431 million, less than half of what would be needed to pay future obligations to its 48,000 participants.

State Treasurer Kay Ivey has reassured anxious parents that the state can pay summer school tuition, but the fall semester is more uncertain. Lawmakers and Ivey are working on several ideas to prop up the plan, including limiting tuition increases and raising up to $30 million a year from other state funds.

With an open governor's race next year — incumbent Republican Bob Riley is term-limited — several announced and probable candidates are trying to capitalize on the trouble in the prepaid tuition program to win votes. Typical is U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, a Democratic candidate for governor, who said the losses in the tuition program are "an example of our state government's failing to manage our citizens' money wisely." Ivey, a Republican who also may run, accuses her critics of "petty politics."

Florida has a different problem. Its $9 billion tuition fund is relatively healthy because it is financed through bonds instead of stocks. But the state budget has a $6 billion gap that will require deep cuts to Florida's 11 colleges and universities. To improve its state college and university system, many of Florida's business, political and education leaders have been pushing increases of up to 15 percent in tuition, which is second-lowest in the country.

If that happens, monthly payments in the prepaid college tuition program could swell to $265 a month or more a child, up from $170 now. "The program will end," predicted Stanley Tate, founder of Florida's prepaid tuition program and a Miami real estate developer.

Tate has been fighting an often lonely battle against the tuition increases, waged with $500,000 for newspaper advertisements and a Web campaign. Lawmakers and others who support the tuition increases say Tate is concerned only about holding college costs down. The issue is quality, they say. "Florida has the worst student-faculty ratios in the country," says Republican Rep. Will Weatherford.

Prepaid tuition programs have been threatened before. Ohio suspended its program in 2003 as tuition was increasing. Pennsylvania imposed a temporary surcharge on its payment plan in 2003 because of a decline in the value of its investments. Texas, Colorado and West Virginia also suspended enrollment in its initial prepaid tuition programs.

But this time, there is more discussion in some states of whether the prepaid programs should be scrapped or retooled to avoid the fluctuations in the stock market. "I hope they do survive and find a model that works to keep them going because they do serve a great need," Hurley said.

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(c) 2009, Stateline.org

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Google's e-mail add-ons are fun

By Anne Krishnan

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

The fun folks at Google have been busy developing neat e-mail features within Gmail Labs, the company's experimental testing ground.

Three of the new additions can keep you from sending an e-mail you regret. The two more practical ones are the "Forgotten Attachment Detector," which scans your e-mail to determine when you probably forgot to include a file, and "Undo Send," which gives you up to a 10-second grace period to cancel a sent e-mail. A third, called "Mail Goggles," tries to prevent poorly conceived late-night e-mails by requiring the sender to solve a few math problems before the message sends.

Other features allow you to use Gmail offline, add a to-do list, show link previews within the body of e-mails and expand the flagging icons beyond the yellow star.

To see these and other options, log into your Gmail account. (You can set up one at gmail.com.) Go to "Settings" at the top right of the page, then choose the link for "Labs." You can also click on the little green test tube next to the settings link. Once you have enabled a feature, you also may be able to tweak it under the "General" settings tab.

Clif Dudley of Raleigh, N.C., was one of several readers who responded to the recent column about BIOS errors. His letter was so good, I wanted to reprint it here.

To Stump The Geeks,

The answer to the last question in today's article ... was partially correct, that Windows XP Service Pack 3 was indeed installed. But there are two indicators in the body of the question that point to a very basic solution to the underlying BIOS problem. A person admitting to using a dial-up connection implies a Mennonite type mindset to use a contraption far beyond its intended life cycle. Most of us, in our throw-away society, never enjoy what this resourceful miser has just experienced — a dead battery.

The clues to the problem are the repeated BIOS errors and 12:00 a.m. clock time upon start up. The main board battery can last beyond five years before giving up without warning or a sensible diagnostic error code such as "Battery Dead, Replace To Continue." Merely coincidence that a laborious download occurred at the same time a voltage back up gave up the last of its three volts.

So advising the questioner (who might currently be in the futile effort of updating the BIOS, which if done improperly or with the wrong load, can permanently corrupt the poor unsuspecting chip) to replace the silvery thin disk contained within a black plastic holder somewhere towards the left rear of the main board with a CR2025 battery found at most department stores as soon as possible would be the best option.

How do I know? I have no particular computer skills to note and am often software challenged. But I am one of those Mennonites who has difficulty in containing my glee and adrenaline release when I happen upon a residence with an unwanted computer on temporary display before the sanitation technician crew rolls by.

Regards,

Clifton Dudley

(Think you can stump the geeks? Send your high-tech question to stumpthegeeks@newsobserver.com. Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Individual replies are not given.)

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(c) 2009, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.).

Visit The News & Observer online at http://www.newsobserver.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Capture everything your computer sees and hears

By Craig Crossman

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

(MCT)

Something is playing on your computer yet you can't save it to disc so you can play it again anytime you like. It's a frustrating experience when you see something playing on your computer and yet you can't truly own it. When you have something saved to your hard drive, you don't have to worry about the streaming video becoming unavailable later on. The ability to capture media to disc insures you will always have it available to you. But unfortunately too many online resources that offer up streaming video and audio such as YouTube and Hulu offer no way to save their content to your hard drive. As long as these sites offer their content, you can watch it. But when they're gone, they're gone. It would really be nice to have the ability to save these media streams to disc and fortunately Applian Technologies offers a product that lets you do exactly that.

Replay Media Capture is a streaming video and audio downloader that lets you capture an exact digital copy of what you are seeing and hearing to your computer's hard disk drive. This is not to be confused with similar products that screen capture what is being displayed on your computer's monitor. In fact, Applian actually does offer a media screen capture product called Replay Video Capture that copies the digital information within your computer's video memory. But Replay Media Capture works in a totally different way.

When you watch a YouTube video for example, a server at the other end begins to deliver the digital information to your computer. According to Applian, their Replay Media Catcher is able to access those servers and intercept the live stream directly. This process allows you to make an exact digital copy of the streaming media unlike screen capture products that usually yield a capture result that's inferior in quality to the original stream.

According to Applian, Replay Media Capture supports more streaming protocols than any other media capture programs and they continue to expand the number of supported websites that deliver various types of streaming media. Applian's website maintains a listing of hundreds of currently supported media streaming website locations. Check it out to see if what you want to capture is on a supported website service.

Once captured, Replay Media Capture stores the media data as an FLV file that can be watched on the included media player. If you want to convert these files into other formats, Replay Media Capture offers conversion to most of the popular media formats such as WMV, MPEG, MP3, MP4 and 3GP. A special included converter lets you modify these files so that they can be played on an iPod and iPhone. If there's embedded naming information within the streaming data, Replay Media Capture will automatically name and tag the files for you.

Recording takes place in real time so plan to spend some time when using Replay Media Capture. If you know in advance what you wish to record, you can begin the viewing process and work on something else or just go away until the download is complete. Replay Media Capture has the ability to capture several media streams simultaneously making the unattended capture process even easier.

So if you've ever watched something on your computer and have it disappear from the website on which you viewed it, now you can capture what you see and hear to your hard disk to be played whenever you like, even without an Internet connection. Replay Media Capture sells for $39.95 and is available only for Windows.

www.applian.com

(Craig Crossman is a national newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. He also hosts the No. 1 daily national computer radio talk show, Computer America, heard on the Business TalkRadio Network and the Lifestyle TalkRadio Network — Monday through Friday, 10 p.m.-midnight ET. For more information, visit his web site at www.computeramerica.com.)

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(c) 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

How 2... Insert images in Gmail messages

By Etan Horowitz

The Orlando Sentinel

(MCT)

Instead of having to attach an image in a message for someone to open, you can now insert images directly into a Gmail message so they are visible in the body of the message.

1. Log into your account at Gmail.com. Click on "Settings" in the upper right corner of the page.

2. Click on the "Labs" tab under Settings. (If you don't see the "Labs" tab, make sure you have the latest version of your Web browser.) Scroll down and click on "Enable" next to "Inserting images." Click on "Save Changes."

3. Open up a new message and you should see a little picture icon in the toolbar. If you don't see it, make sure your e-mail message is not in plain text formatting.

4. Click on the picture icon to choose the image you want to upload. You can use an image from your computer, or an image that exists online by pasting in the URL where that photo is located. Click "Add image."

5. Your image should now appear in the body of your e-mail message. You can click one of the links below it to resize it before sending.

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(c) 2009, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For prom, think pretty not pricey

Prom fashion is all about choice this year, whether it is strapless, halter or one-shoulder style, long, short or in-between, black, white or bright. But for many girls this prom season, the big question is not about style. It's about cost. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/MCT)

By Jean Patteson
The Orlando Sentinel
(MCT)

Prom fashion is all about choice this year.

Strapless, halter or one-shoulder style? Long, short or in-between? Black, white or bright? Solid color or jazzy print? Plain or embellished with sequins, crystals, rhinestones?

And that's just the dress.

Shoes: heels or flats? Accessories: handbag or clutch? Necklace, bangles, earrings — or all three?

But for many girls this prom season, the big question is not about style. It's about cost.

In many households, budgets are tighter than they've been in years. There is no money for splurging on high-priced prom outfits. But that doesn't mean you have to step out on prom night looking less than lovely.

Here are ways to cut back on costs — but not glamour.

Shop around. Most stores, anticipating the economic downturn, stocked up on moderately priced prom dresses.

At the Forever 21 chain at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando, Fla., for example, dressy designs can be found for about $25. At Macy's and Dillard's, short prom dresses start at $79 — and some are already on sale for even less. Dillard's also is offering $45 worth of gift certificates with the purchase of a regularly priced prom dress on April 17-19.

Shop thrift and consignment stores. This is an especially good year to find prom bargains, says Cheryl Wood, owner of Classic Consignments in Altamonte Springs and Winter Park, Fla., where prices start at $19.99. "Lots of stores are closing, and we're getting their inventory," she says.

Shop at school. A number of high schools have collections of donated prom attire and accessories, which are free to students from all area high schools.

Shop online. But remember, there's no guarantee the dress will fit properly when it arrives, and shipment may be delayed — so allow time for dealing with such problems.

Shop short. Short dresses often cost less than long gowns and are very much in fashion this year. They're also more useful than long gowns after the prom is a mere memory.

Shop simple. Unadorned, clean-cut designs are generally less expensive than elaborate styles. Dress up plain dresses with glitzy accessories or sew on your own trimmings — beads, sequins, flowers, feathers, etc.

Beg, borrow or trade. Friends and relatives are sure to have jewelry, evening bags, even shoes you can use.

Buy flats. They often cost less than heels, are more comfortable for dancing and come in really cute styles. Besides, under a long dress, on a dark and crowded dance floor, shoes are virtually invisible.

Skip the fancy, high-priced hairdo. Keep your hair simple and natural (guys prefer it that way), but dress it up with a decorated headband. They cost just a few dollars, or are easy to make by gluing craft-store silk flowers onto drug-store headbands.

Get a cut-rate hairdo. Ask if your salon is offering special prom rates. Or check with hairstyling colleges, where the cost of services is far lower than at salons.

Skip the costly makeover. You can do your own nails and makeup. Just don't leave your nails to the last minute. And remember that practice makes perfect.

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(c) 2009, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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Cost of college, economic woes have high school seniors weighing options

From left, Alden Mitchell, 16, Rachel Brown, 17, and Sheri Park, 18, critique paintings during an advanced placement art class at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California, on April 15, 2009. Brown is a senior who is currently deciding on colleges for the next school year. This is the time of year that students and parents must finally commit to the school of their choice. (Gary Reyes/San Jose Mercury News/MCT)

By Dana Hull
San Jose Mercury News
(MCT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Mike Maietta was eating lunch when he got a text message from his mom.

"Notre Dame," it said. "Big envelope!"

Mike, a senior in high school, whooped for joy. The big envelope meant the storied Catholic university in South Bend, Ind., had offered him a coveted slot in its Class of 2013. But the $51,300 annual price tag is a formidable obstacle. So Mike and his parents are considering offers from several other colleges and calculating the costs _ tuition, housing, holiday trips home.

This year, money is the driving factor for a growing number of high school seniors, who are spreading out the acceptance letters and crunching the numbers to decide what colleges to attend this fall. Layoffs, plunging home values and decimated college savings accounts have vastly changed family finances.

"We're ecstatic that Mike got into so many great schools," said Michael Maietta, his father, an engineer at Microsoft. "But if you consider going to school out of state, you've got to think about all of the other costs: moving, flying back and forth for the holidays. You're looking at about $3,000 a year just for travel."

More than 7.6 million students have filled out the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a 19.9 percent increase over last year.

The federal Department of Education this month urged college financial aid officers to give more help to families suffering from the recession. And a record 30,428 students applied for 2,300 slots at Stanford, in part because the university boosted financial aid for families earning below $100,000.

Students have until May 1 to decide on a school, and many campuses require "matriculation deposits" up to $400 to secure their slots for the fall. As families weigh their options, some are going back to financial aid offices in hopes that packages can be boosted.

"The most heartbreaking appeals at this point are from families where parents are just being told about layoffs in the last few weeks," said Karen Cooper, director of financial aid at Stanford. "Even those who thought they had a plan in place are scrambling to come up with new options."

Mary Nucciarone, an assistant director of financial aid at Notre Dame, said several families of admitted students are asking the university to consider new information.

"Loss of bonus income, loss of home equity, decrease in assets, mortgages underwater," she said. "People are coming back to us and saying, 'Did you consider this?'"

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Santa Clara University, where tuition, room and board top $46,000 a year, is concerned accepted students may choose more affordable alternatives instead. So nearly 400 alumni volunteers are now telephoning every admitted student; the most highly valued prospective students receive calls from President Michael Engh or Provost Lucia Albino Gilbert.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

Mike Maietta got into eight colleges, and narrowed his top choices to a final five: Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga and the University of San Diego.

As the Maiettas turn the options over in their minds, numerous factors come into play. Loyola Marymount and Gonzaga offered Mike partial scholarships, but Notre Dame and Vanderbilt did not. Loyola, in Los Angeles, is within driving distance. But the cost of housing at Gonzaga, in Spokane, Wash., is slightly cheaper.

"Fifty thousand dollars a year is a lot of money," said Mike, who wants to study mechanical engineering. "I'd like to go to Notre Dame or Vanderbilt, but I can see myself at LMU."

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Rachel Brown was ecstatic when she got a thick envelope from New York University; she's always wanted to live in Manhattan. But given tuition and the cost of living in New York, she's seriously considering the University of California-San Diego.

"The tuition for NYU is like twice as much as UCSD," said Rachel, 17, who is struggling to decide. "My mom doesn't want me to have a big debt when I graduate, and I don't want that either. I'd have to take out a loan for like $15,000 ... I'm going to check and see if there's any way that NYU can offer me any financial aid."

Jonathan Kaslow got into nine colleges, including Occidental, George Washington University and Lewis & Clark. But he's pretty much decided on UCSD.

"The cost of the private schools just isn't worth it," said Jonathan, who plans to study political science. "My mom got laid off from Sun Microsystems and is completely flipping out about money. I can see myself at UCSD, and sometimes Southwest has $40 fares so it won't cost too much to fly home."

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© 2009, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).

Visit MercuryNews.com, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.mercurynews.com.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): COLLEGECOSTS

Hybrid showdown: 2010 Toyota Prius vs. 2010 Honda Insight

By Steven Cole Smith

The Orlando Sentinel

(MCT)

Hmm, Prius, Insight. Prius, Insight ...

Among the handful of people who might actually enjoy seeing gasoline return to $4 a gallon, let's include marketing managers for the 2010 Honda Insight and 2010 Toyota Prius, a pair of all-new hybrids set to do battle this spring.

They'll be successful with gas at $2 a gallon, but they'd likely be smash hits if gasoline prices go back up.

Though both names are familiar, these are two new cars. The Honda Insight introduced gasoline-electric hybrids to the U.S. market in 1999, but that car was a little hot dog-shaped two-seater that never sold in big volume.

Toyota was a little later to the hybrid party with the Prius, but it was a four-door with a usable rear seat, and it became a far bigger hit than the Insight. It still sells well _ the Prius accounts for more than half the hybrid cars sold in America.

For 2010, the Insight is back, but it's an entirely different car _ in fact, the resemblance to the Prius is undeniable. It's a four-door hatchback with room for five, powered by a 1.3-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine, aided by an electric motor.

The 2010 Prius is slightly larger than the 2009 model it replaces, and is classified as a midsize car, while the Insight is a compact. Really, the difference in interior space is not that noticeable. The Prius' 1.5-liter four-cylinder gas engine is now 1.8 liters, and while the basic hybrid battery pack is essentially the same as in 2009, the rest of the drive system is, Toyota says, 90 percent new.

Here are the dueling hybrids in a nutshell.

2010 HONDA INSIGHT

While Honda still makes the Civic Hybrid, the new Insight is the first hybrid-only Honda since that original two-seat Insight. It's a handsome car, with room for two adults in the rear, three in a squeeze.

The base-model Insight lists for just less than $20,000, but don't expect to see many at that price on dealer lots. The test Insight had the navigation system with voice activation, and listed for $23,770. Fuel mileage is EPA-rated at 40 mpg in the city, 43 mpg on the highway. I averaged just more than 43 mpg.

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS

Knowing in advance that the Insight was coming, Toyota stepped up the makeover for the 2010 Prius, and it's impressive: There will be a base model likely priced above the current starting price of around $22,000, but add options, and it seems certain the Prius can top $30,000.

Options include a sunroof with a solar panel that doesn't generate electricity for running the car, but for running fans inside the car that can keep the interior cooler while the Prius is parked in the sun. There's also a feature that can actually parallel-park the Prius on its own, with the driver's hands literally off the steering wheel.

Add those two features to leather upholstery and a navigation system, and the Prius becomes almost a luxury hybrid.

Toyota won't release prices of the new Prius for a month or so, closer to its arrival at dealers. But it has released mileage figures: It's EPA-rated at 51 mpg in the city, 48 mpg on the highway.

Why is the city mileage better than the highway mileage? Because the Prius can run on electric-only power at speeds up to 25 miles per hour, and depending on the charge level for the battery, for a distance of almost a mile, using no gasoline at all. I averaged 51.8 mpg in the Prius.

WHICH IS BETTER?

So the biggest question from customers cross-shopping the Insight and the Prius is likely to be this: If the Insight has a smaller gasoline engine, why does it get worse mileage than the Prius?

The answer is because the Prius is a "full" hybrid, meaning it can move along on electric power alone. The Insight is considered a "mild" hybrid, meaning the gasoline engine is always turning. With both cars, the gas engine stops at a red light. With the Insight, it restarts when you take your foot off the brake. With the Prius, it can accelerate _ slowly _ on electric power alone before the gas engine starts up.

Actually, though, it isn't quite that simple, due to Honda's new "integrated assist" feature: While all the internal components of the gas engine are always rotating as the car drives down the road, under certain, limited conditions _ rolling downhill, for instance _ the onboard computer can actually cut the gasoline supply to the engine, while the electric motor does the work.

In essence, the car is operating on battery power alone, but since the engine is always turning, you don't get the stealthy, silent-running experience you do in a Prius.

That said, for pure driving experience, I slightly prefer the Honda. The new Prius steers and handles much better than the current model, but the Honda has a sportier feel, and I'd submit that it's the better-looking car.

If I lived in a big city, though, and was constantly caught in heavy stop-and-go traffic, the Prius would be the better buy in the long run.

Both cars are aimed carefully at their target markets, and both score direct hits. One of these is likely to be the 2010 car of the year.

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2010 HONDA INSIGHT

Base price: $20,470

Engine size: 1.3-liter four-cylinder with 88 horsepower

EPA overall fuel mileage rating: 41 mpg

EPA classification: Compact car


2010 TOYOTA PRIUS

Base price: $22,750 (estimate)

Engine size: 1.8-liter four-cylinder with 98 horsepower

EPA overall fuel mileage rating: 50 mpg

EPA classification: Midsize car

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Steven Cole Smith is automotive editor of the Orlando Sentinel. He can be reached at scsmith@orlandosentinel.com.

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© 2009, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Radio offers 1,000 songs for $100, but it has limitations

By Eric Benderoff

Chicago Tribune

(MCT)

In a product category dominated by Apple Inc., the portable music players by memory card-maker SanDisk Corp. are often overlooked.

On Tuesday, SanDisk, which has delivered affordable and useful players under its Sansa brand, released a digital music player with a new twist: It does not need a computer to work. That means there will be no song downloads to worry about and no playlists to manage.

Called the Sansa slotRadio, the $100 gadget is easy to use and instantly likable.

SanDisk's approach will not appeal to everyone _ it has some obvious limitations. But for casual music fans or those who are not particular about the music they hear for a workout, it might be ideal.

Here's how the slotRadio will work: Sansa will ship the player with a "mix" card pre-loaded with 1,000 songs. The songs are culled from the Billboard music charts and include country, contemporary, alternative, hip hop and rock.

Additional cards will be available for $40 _ that's 4 cents a song _ including genre-specific playlists: alternative, '80s, classic rock, country, etc. It's unclear as of this writing what the selection will be at launch.

The first mix card offers familiar names, including Trace Adkins, Mary J. Blige, Kenny Chesney, Coldplay, Ne-Yo, No Doubt and U2.

Unfortunately, you can't navigate to a particular artist or song when you want. In fact, the slotRadio has no navigation controls other than volume keys and forward/back buttons. You can skip ahead, but you cannot scroll through a playlist to select songs.

There isn't even a pause button _ if you need to stop the music, you have to turn it off. The music will start where you stopped, however, a good feature.

This lack of control is similar to what Apple offers with its Shuffle line of iPods. That model constantly "shuffles" your music and you have little choice of what you will hear. Apple has added more control to navigate playlists in its newest Shuffle, however.

Another nice feature: The slotRadio includes an FM radio.

You can use a computer to download songs to the slotRadio. The music cards are microSDHC cards from SanDisk and they have some room on each card _ about an album's worth _ to download your music in the MP3 file format.

But with a fresh microSDHC card, you can download as much music as it will fit. I put hundreds of songs on a 16-gigabyte microSDHC card _ a sweet product in its own right _ and the slotRadio works fine. Again, I cannot control what songs will play besides being able to skip ahead and move back.

Will the slotRadio be a hit? I doubt it will shift much of the market share toward SanDisk, but it's a nice niche player for folks who want an easy solution to portable music.

The new player went on sale Tuesday at slotRadio.org and will be offered nationwide at Radio Shack stores closer to Father's Day.

(Eric Benderoff writes about technology for the Chicago Tribune. Contact him at ebenderoff@tribune.com or at the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. To read past reviews of other gadgets, go to chicagotribune.com/eric.)

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© 2009, Chicago Tribune.

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Malicious virus might spread mayhem, or laughs on April Fools' Day

By Aman Batheja

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

FORT WORTH, Texas _ April Fools' Day pranksters may find themselves outmatched this year.

A cunning computer infection that is believed to have infiltrated millions of computers is expected to receive a set of instructions from its creator on April 1.

"Everybody is a little bit nervous about it," said Mike Stute of Dallas-based Global DataGuard, a network security firm. "It could be nothing. It could be very dangerous."

Either way, the anonymous creator of the Conficker virus has caught the attention of computer security experts around the world, with Microsoft going so far as to issue a $250,000 bounty on those who created it.

The Conficker worm, a malicious software program also known as Downadup, has spread through a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. Windows users who automatically receive updates from Microsoft are probably safe. Likely, so too are those with updated antivirus software.

The Conficker worm is thought to have easily found millions of Windows users who haven't updated their operating systems or don't have the right protection.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a tool Monday to detect whether a computer is infected by the Conficker worm.

Yet other than reducing an infected computer's defenses, Conficker hasn't done much else to its victims, a departure from most computer infections that tend to do a lot of damage early on, according to computer security experts.

Instead, the most recent version of Conficker appears to be designed to wait until April 1 and then begin searching the Web for the next set of instructions from its creator.

"He could, say, delete the entire contents of the hard disk," said Mike Cotton, a researcher for San Antonio-based Digital Defense. "Or steal credit card info ... He could tell the machines to send massive spam attacks across the Internet."

Then there's the theory this is all an elaborate hoax, fittingly to be revealed on April Fools' Day.

Whether the goal is money or bragging rights, many experts are in awe of Conficker. Some call it the most sophisticated worm ever created.

"This is like these guys have learned four or five of the top techniques and put them all together in a worm that is elegantly written," Stute said.

Margaret Perez, who fights viruses on business computer networks as owner of Tech Support Mobile Services in Fort Worth, said the talk about Conficker has been unavoidable in recent weeks.

"It's like a hurricane coming when something like this happens," Perez said. "We've been seeing a barrage of these kinds of viruses for a year now. This one is probably the most serious of them all."

But for all the hype, Perez said there are an untold number of serious infections targeting PC users all the time, and after Conficker is beaten, likely something worse will come along to replace it.

"Maybe for like 15 days, it's actually going to be the Conficker worm," Perez said. "Then it's going to mutate to Conficker AB, or Conficker G Generic. It mutates just like a disease mutates."

Blissfully unaffected by worries about Conficker are computer users not on Windows.

The online design firm Alamofire in Southlake, Texas, runs only Apple's Mac OS and the freely distributed Linux operating systems on its computers, said company head Josh Williams.

The company's products include applications for Facebook and the iPhone. Security experts worry that social networking sites and mobile devices could be the next easy target for creators of malicious entities like Conficker.

Security is a priority for the company, Williams said, but in the end, users need to be careful about where they go online and who they allow to access their information.

"Ultimately common sense is a key ingredient to security," Williams wrote in an e-mail. "You can use all the security patches in the world, but if you hand your password out to a phisher or download an application you received in an e-mail, those patches aren't going to help you."

CHECKING YOUR COMPUTER

How to see whether your home computer is infected with Conficker:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a tool Monday to detect whether a computer is infected by the Conficker worm. You can access it at www.us-cert.gov.

How to remove Conficker from your home computer:

Tools to remove Conficker are available at several Web sites including

www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/worms/conficker.mspx

www.mcafee.com

www.windowsupdate.com

www.symantec.com

Conficker may block infected computers from accessing many security sites. If you cannot access one, San Antonio-based Digital Defense recommends finding an uninfected computer and copying the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool at http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx onto a CD and then loading it onto the infected one.

Source: Microsoft, Digital Defense, Global DataGuard

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© 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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FDA Alerts Consumers to Recall of Certain Pistachios

FDA and California Inspectors Identify Salmonella


The FDA and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) are investigating Salmonella contamination in pistachio products sold by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc, Calif. The company has stopped all distribution of processed pistachios and will issue a voluntary recall involving approximately 1 million pounds of its products. Because the pistachios were used as ingredients in a variety of foods, it is likely this recall will impact many products. In addition, the investigation at the company is ongoing and may lead to additional pistachio product recalls.

The contamination involves multiple strains of Salmonella. Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Thus far, several illnesses have been reported by consumers that may be associated with the pistachios. It is not yet known whether any of the Salmonella strains found in the pistachio products are linked to an outbreak. The FDA is conducting genetic testing of the samples to pursue all links.

FDA is working closely with the pistachio industry and recommends that consumers avoid eating pistachio products until further information is available about the scope of affected products.

FDA will provide a searchable database of affected products at www.fda.gov and will continue to update the public.

FDA first learned of the problem on March 24, when it was informed by Kraft Foods that its Back To Nature Trail Mix was found to be contaminated with Salmonella. Kraft had identified the source of the contamination to be pistachios from Setton and conducted a recall.

New apps change how you use mobile devices

By John Boudreau

San Jose Mercury News

(MCT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. _ They tell us where to eat, how to find friends, when to make a left turn.

Oh, and they can also make a phone call.

An explosive proliferation of software applications _ and easy ways to get them, most notably through Apple's App Store _ is changing our relationship with mobile phones. The always-connected era is dawning. The cell phone is becoming more a companion than merely a means of one-on-one conversation.

"I can't live without it," said James London, a 19-year-old De Anza College freshman, cradling his iPhone. "It's like water or food."

Though Apple was the first company to create an easy and orderly way for developers to sell smart phone software, the rest of the industry is trying to catch up.

Owners of all the major mobile phone operating systems _ Research In Motion, Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian and Google's Android _ are gearing up online application stores. Independent app sites are also popping up, offering unauthorized software for the iPhone.

Soon, nearly every imaginable function of the office and home entertainment center will be delivered to the computers that fit our palms.

"I'm a big believer that the mobile phone will become the remote control of our lives," said Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless industry analyst. "Anything that we touch and see and feel, and whomever we communicate with _ we will control that with our mobile phones."

Though the recession is slowing sales of so-called smart phones, futurists view app-packed mobile devices as the next tech tsunami to hit society and fundamentally change how people navigate life.

"It's a new category of activity," said veteran Silicon Valley forecaster Paul Saffo. "Voice (functions) are an afterthought."

Already people are using their smart phones to locate friends at nearby bars and restaurants or find a service station with cheap gas. They stream TV to their phones, update Facebook pages on the go and play sophisticated games.

The Shazam program allows people to instantly identify a song and artist by holding the iPhone up to, say, a radio. The Trapster program for iPhone and BlackBerry uses crowd-sourcing to avoid speeding tickets _ the phone signals a warning when entering ticket zones. The Android Cab4me app helps hail a cab.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

"It's my lifeline," said Grace Redmond, a 20-year-old San Jose State University student. "My iPhone was broken today. It ruined my day."

Redmond, who grew up in Virginia, relies on GPS-enabled programs to help her get around, and avoid getting lost in the Bay Area. She found the Urbanspoon app indispensable during a recent vacation to Seattle. "My phone told me where to eat," she said.

Giovanni Valasco, a 24-year-old Campbell, Calif., resident, treats his iPhone like a pocket Yellow Pages by using a business listings program. "I use it all the time."

De Anza College student London worries about an affliction common to BlackBerry users: sore neck. "I'm constantly looking down at my iPhone _ every 10 minutes."

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

Because their smart phone is with them everywhere they go, people develop far closer attachments to the devices than to their home PCs or laptops, said B.J. Fogg, a Stanford University researcher author of "Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do."

Sharma said people using smart phones spend 70 percent of their time doing things other than talking.

"They have become devices people use for productivity and leisure," he said. "They save time and they kill time."

Last year, some 34 million smart phones were sold in the United States, about 20 percent of the nation's overall mobile phone market of some 173 million units, according to research firm IDC. But by 2013, it predicts nearly half the mobile phones purchased in the United States will be smart phones.

"The sea change is starting to happen," said IDC analyst Sean Ryan.

But there are barriers to smart phone ubiquity. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the cost of data plans. Apple's U.S. iPhone partner, AT&T, for instance, offers a basic data and voice plan for about $80 a month with taxes. That's almost $1,000 a year, which can be a hard sell to the general population, particularly in tough economic times.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

"The prices of service plans are big impediments for many people," said Shaw Wu, analyst with Kaufman Brothers. "It's not cheap."

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

But service providers have a lot at stake _ analyst Sharma said they pulled in $34 billion last year in data charges _ and are likely to compete fiercely, which could push down costs and expand consumer options.

Hints of the future can be found at Apple's App Store, which now offers some 27,000 iPhone applications, according to 148Apps.com, a San Francisco Web site that reviews iPhone apps. Some of those are given away for free, while many are sold for less than $3. As of mid-January, Apple said there had been 500 million downloads from the App Store, which opened in July.

"It's like a concierge. When you have a problem, it can help solve it for you," said Stanford's Fogg. "Nothing is as close to us all the time _ not even your spouse or partner."

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© 2009, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).

Visit Mercury Center, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

E-cigarette sparks attention as FDA crackdown looms

By Ken Mclaughlin

San Jose Mercury News

(MCT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The young man in the tall swivel chair at the mall seems lost in nicotine nirvana as he takes a deep drag on a cigarette and blows smoke rings to the surprise of passing shoppers.

Sarah Kruberg, a 21-year-old college student from Portola Valley, Calif., does a double take but keeps walking.

"I knew it couldn't be someone smoking a cigarette," she said with a laugh. "But I didn't know what it was."

What Kruberg saw at Westfield Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara, Calif., was a kiosk salesman puffing away on an electronic cigarette, a new product that Jose Canseco, the steroid-tainted baseball slugger turned e-cigarette pitchman, predicts will "revolutionize the industry of smoking."

Health officials worldwide, however, are casting a wary eye.

Last summer a Florida company began aggressively marketing e-cigarettes _ which emit a nicotine vapor with the help of a computer chip _ but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration now seems poised to pull e-cigs from the market because the agency considers them "new drugs." That means they need approval from the FDA, which requires companies to back up their claims with scientific data.

"It is illegal to sell or market them, and the FDA is looking into this," said Rita Chappelle, an agency spokeswoman.

Asked if that meant the FDA would crack down on the dozens of mall kiosks nationwide where the product is being sold like perfume and cellphone covers, Chappelle said: "This is an open case. Beyond that I cannot comment."

Informed of the FDA's position, David Burke, general manager at Westfield Valley Fair, said Monday that the shopping center is looking into the legality of the product. "All our retailers are required to comply with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations," he said.

Invented in China several years ago, the e-cig not only "smokes" like a cigarette. It also looks like a cigarette, feels like a cigarette, glows like a cigarette and contains nicotine like a cigarette.

But it's not a cigarette. It's a slender stainless-steel tube.

When someone puffs on an e-cigarette, a computer-aided sensor activates a heating element that vaporizes a solution _ usually containing nicotine _ in the mouthpiece. The resulting mist _ which comes in flavors such as chocolate and cherry _ can be inhaled. A light-emitting diode on the tip of the e-cigarette simulates the glow of burning tobacco. The device is powered by a rechargable lithium battery.

Its boosters say it's the perfect way to quit smoking because the nicotine mist contains no tar or any of the host of cancer-causing agents of tobacco smoke _ yet has the touch and feel of smoking. That, they say, makes the e-cigarette superior to other nicotine-delivery systems such as patches, chewing gum, aerosol sprays and inhalers.

The levels of nicotine can be adjusted, from "high" to no nicotine at all. That, e-cig supporters say, allows smokers to wean themselves from nicotine, which most doctors say is highly addictive but not, as far as they know, a carcinogen.

The product's aficionados say that because it contains no tobacco, it can be used in bars, nightclubs, restaurants and other public places where states and localities have banned tobacco use.

But anti-smoking groups say that's exactly the problem. They fear that it will reintroduce a "smoking culture" into places where people no longer are used to seeing wisps of smoke and cigarettes hanging from people's mouths.

"I understand why people use the nicotine replacement aids," said Serena Chen, regional tobacco policy director of the American Lung Association in California. "But I don't understand why people want to pretend that they're smoking."

Chen believes that many ex-smokers will conclude that the e-cigarette is harmless and be lured back into the smoking trap.

"If you had a serial killer who liked to stab people, would you give him a rubber knife?" asked Chen. "This just boggles the mind."

Executives at Smoking Everywhere, the Sunrise, Fla., firm that is marketing the product on the Internet and in mall kiosks, say criticism of the e-cigarette is irrational.

"The mist is mostly water. It has to be better for you than smoking," said Eitan Peer, vice president of the company. "It's been approved by doctors. We've been on Fox News. We've been on the 'Howard Stern Show.' Our spokesmen are Jose Canseco and Danny Bonaduce."

Company officials say the other main ingredient in the e-cig is propylene glycol, which is used in everything from Hollywood smoke machines to food colorings to hydraulic fluids.

Peer said the suggested retail price of the Chinese-made e-cig is $149, but because the kiosk operators are independent vendors, the price varies.

The other day, Dan Conroy picked up his e-cigarette "starter kit" from one of the two Smoking Everywhere kiosks at Valley Fair for $140, plus tax.

"It's the first time I've seen the product," said Conroy, 37, a Sacramento, Calif., contractor. "But I'm interested in quitting, and this has to be healthier than tobacco."

He and several other smokers interviewed at the mall agreed that e-smoke isn't as satisfying or rich as tobacco smoke. But they all said they thought they could get used to it.

"It tastes pretty good," said Oliver De La Cruz, 29, of Daly City, Calif., whose wife, Kristine, was about to give birth to their first child. She encouraged him to try the e-cig, saying it would be a wonderful present to their newborn if Daddy would quit smoking.

But both De La Cruz and one nicotine-addicted friend, 23-year-old Marco Maneru of Daly City, said they wanted to do some research on the e-cigarette before they buy one.

"Who knows?" Maneru said. "There could be some chemicals in there that are really bad for you."

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© 2009, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).

Visit MercuryNews.com, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.mercurynews.com.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Scientists examine how social networks influence behavior

Michael Kearns, a computer scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, is using controlled voting experiments to show how a minority view can change an overwhelming majority. He is shown in Philadelphia, Pennsyvlania, on March 13, 2009. (Tom Gralish/Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT)

By Faye Flam

The Philadelphia Inquirer

(MCT)

PHILADELPHIA _ Conventional wisdom holds that it's not what you know, it's who you know. But now scientists studying networking are starting to realize that when it comes to much in life, it's also who the people you know know, and perhaps also who those people know.

Drawing from computer science, math, sociology and other disciplines, researchers are starting to figure out how those branching thickets of human social networks are shaping our tastes, our purchases, how we vote, and even our health and happiness.

At the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Kearns is using controlled voting experiments to show how a small minority view can win over an overwhelming majority.

Kearns, a computer scientist and expert on machine learning and game theory, examines the connections between networks and human behavior in settings as diverse as voting and the vulnerability of the Internet to terrorism.

His human experiments and others like it could overturn our notion of the way trends and influence spread through society, said Duncan Watts, a physicist and networking expert at Yahoo.

Watts said the marketing field and much of the public have embraced the idea that humanity is run by a minority of well-connected "influentials" who help ideas spread like infectious viruses.

It's an idea popularized by books such as Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point." But nobody knows if it really works this way, Watts said.

"For all this discussion about influentials and how they drive word-of-mouth, there's no empirical evidence _ no real theory." Penn's Kearns, he said, is starting to bring a more hard-science approach to bear on the issue.

For his most recently published experiment, Kearns created a network from a group of 36 subjects. He put each one at a work station linked to between two and 18 of the others.

They were asked to vote for red or blue. If everyone in the group could agree on the same color within one minute, everyone would get rewarded with money. If they failed to reach consensus, they would get nothing.

But he gave the subjects different preferences. Some were told they'd get paid $1.50 for each round that red won and only 50 cents if blue won. For others the incentive was reversed.

"There's this tension between all of them wanting to collectively agree but selfishly wanting everyone to agree on their preferred color," he said.

One real-world analogy would be the recent Democratic presidential primaries, he said. Many voters passionately backed Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, but worried that split opinion would cause the whole party to lose.

Behind the scenes, Kearns rigged the experiment in different ways, sometimes mixing up the incentives so that some students got only $1.25 for pushing their color on the group and 75 cents if they went the other way.

Despite the short deadline, he said, people came to some agreement in 55 out of 81 separate trials.

He found that sometimes a tiny minority could rule. In the most extreme cases, red won when only six subjects preferred it, the other 30 wanting blue. All the members of the minority needed was "influence" _ that is, more connections within the group than the people they competed against.

" 'Influential' people can determine the outcome to their liking," Kearns said, even if the majority has a strong incentive to go the other way. In this case having lots of connections made a subject influential.

Another surprise was that mixing different financial incentives helped the group to agree more often. "Having some fraction of extremists is actually helpful," he said. If all in the group are too wishy-washy, they will keep switching colors and never agree.

Being unique individuals, the subjects played with different strategies _ some easily swayed by neighbors, others stubbornly holding their preferred color until a win appeared impossible.

When it came to who left with the most money, Kearns found that the spoils went to those who were most stubborn _ but not completely intractable. Since the whole game is lost if there's no consensus, he said, "being too stubborn is fatal."

In real elections, networking is already becoming important, said Kearns. Last year, Obama used networking to rally support, but it had to do more with the use of e-mail and cell phones to recruit new volunteers than with exploiting existing social networks. Future candidates may find much more powerful tools.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Yahoo's Watts said that until recently, most networking experiments used computer models. Kearns, he said, helped pioneer techniques for testing real people.

The next step will be to scale everything up. In a group of 36 people, knowing 20 people might make you well-connected, he said, but what about in a group of 36 million people?

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

Watts, who studied nonlinear dynamics _ popularized as chaos and complexity theories _ has found that human networks are surprisingly unpredictable and quirky. Just as a butterfly flapping its wings eventually changes the global weather in unpredictable ways, so the whim of one listener can ripple outward to rearrange the pop charts.

In one recent experiment, Watts used the Web to recruit 14,000 people and had them rank a series of 48 new, unknown songs.

Not surprisingly, when the volunteers knew about choices other people made, they changed their preferences completely to conform to the group. But when he divided the recruits into eight groups, he got radically different results. A song deemed No. 1 by one group would fall to 42nd in the next.

"We assume things are popular because that's what people want," he said. "But this is showing that's wrong _ people have no idea what they want." Popularity seems to come in equal parts from random luck and merit.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Other researchers are also exploring the power of the Web for their experiments. Cornell University computer scientist Jon Kleinberg got a MacArthur "genius" grant in 2005 to study the way ideas and fads spread through the population.

"This is something we see all around us _ but it's been very hard to gather data on how this is happening and why, and what it looks like on a global level."

One way he's approached this is to track e-mail petitions and chain letters. To his surprise, he said, the letters didn't fan out as much as he'd anticipated, considering that we're all only six degrees of separation from everyone else on the planet.

Despite their limited reception, the messages and chain letter he tracked survived longer than expected, perpetuating themselves for months through a small segment of the population.

"The trajectories of these things go much deeper and narrower through the population than you'd expect."

Others are looking at how networks might influence health and happiness.

Using data from a wide-scale Framingham, Mass., health survey, sociologist Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School found that obesity, smoking habits and even self-reported happiness levels spread through social networks. That means your weight, health and happiness may be nudged not only by friends but by friends of friends you don't know.

Kearns said the networking site Facebook also offers potential for insight. He often assigns his students problems that involve sorting and analyzing their own Facebook networks.

But Facebook networks are not always what they appear to be. Most of Kearns' students have accounts with several hundred so-called friends, while a few are bristling with thousands of connections.

That doesn't necessarily mean those heavily friended are influential, however, holding the power to start a new footwear fad or catapult a new artist to stardom. "They may just be more promiscuous about who they include as a friend."

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© 2009, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Visit Philadelphia Online, the Inquirer's World Wide Web site, at http://www.philly.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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PHOTO (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): SOCIALINFLUENCE

Parents fret about students' spring break plans

By Mary Jo Layton

The Record (Hackensack N.J.)

(MCT)

HACKENSACK, N.J. _ Recent travel alerts warning U.S. citizens of increasing violence in Mexico are causing parents to question their children's trips to Cancun and other spring break meccas, several North Jersey travel agents said Thursday.

"It's scaring the parents for sure," said Karen Essafi, owner of E. Clarke Travel in Fort Lee.

Alex Fu, an NYU student, opted out of a trip to Mexico with friends, in part because his parents were worried.

"They heard of the violence and drug wars and they didn't want me to go," said Fu, a senior .

But few other college students are canceling after they are assured that resorts are safe _ and 2,000 miles from the Mexican border, where the violence is greatest.

"All the problems are in the border towns," Essafi said.

The death of a Montclair State University sophomore in a boating accident in the Dominican Republic this week is also causing parents to take a second look at international travel for spring break _ or at least to issue strong warnings to teens. The family of Kate Russell, 20, received word of her death Monday and is awaiting more information.

The news comes shortly after the U.S. Department of State issued warnings about travel to Mexico, where drug cartels are waging violent battles for control of narcotics trafficking routes along the U.S.-Mexico border. More than 1,800 people have been killed in one northern city. Although most of the violence is at the border, the alert said tourists traveling throughout Mexico "should exercise caution in unfamiliar areas."

Liberty Travel, which books a half-million visitors to Mexico each year, has experienced "minor cancellations, nothing major" said Colette Baruth, a vice president overseeing Mexico and Latin America for the company.

Baruth said the warnings have been misinterpreted. "People believe armed soldiers are protecting Cancun resorts. It's not true."

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

In 2008, 22.6 million international travelers visited Mexico, making it the 10th most popular tourist destination in the world, she said.

For college students, the allure of a cheap beach getaway continues to draw many travelers. "I've looked at Facebook and people are messaging from Cancun," said Krista Stacy, a Montclair State University senior. "It's not stopping anybody."

Karen Rivera, editor-in-chief of the Ramapo College newspaper, said some students are traveling despite parental concerns.

"A lot of them are going ahead," she said.

Fu's friends returned from a five-day trip to Cancun Thursday and reported "nothing bad happened," Fu said.

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© 2009, North Jersey Media Group Inc.

Visit The Record Online at http://www.northjersey.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Save money with your iPhone

By Etan Horowitz

The Orlando Sentinel

(MCT)

Yes, the iPhone is an expensive gadget, but if you already have one (or have an iPod touch), there are lots of applications you can download to help save money. Here are five of the best, which can all be found by visiting the iTunes store and searching for each one by name. Once you download the applications, you may be able to customize settings for each application.

1. Mint.com _ This free app is a godsend for managing your money. It's the companion to the Web version (Mint.com), which will automatically pull information from your online banking accounts and display graphs tracking how much you spend on different items each month. You can set a budget and quickly see if you are close to going over. It's a great way to quickly assess your financial situation when you're about to buy something. Create a free account at Mint.com before downloading the app.

2. Cheap Gas _ Free app that displays cheap gas nearby.

3. KidsEatFree _ A 99-cent app that tells you the closest restaurants where kids eat free. Restaurants are organized by distance, and when you tap on one, you are given the details of the special.

4. Amazon Mobile _ Free app that lets you quickly look up items on Amazon to see how much they cost, read reviews, etc. A great way to see if the price at Best Buy or Costco is a good deal. You can also order merchandise directly from the app.

5. Fring/Truphone _ These two free apps use the iPhone's Wi-Fi connection to allow you to make free and low-cost international calls. You have to create an account, and some setup time is required. The apps automatically display your iPhone contacts. If you have a Skype account, you can make Skype calls through Fring, and calls from one TruPhone member to another are free, regardless of where you are. TruPhone also allows low-cost international calls over the cellular network.

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(Etan Horowitz is the technology columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. He can be reached at ehorowitz@orlandosentinel.com.)

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© 2009, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

New iPod Shuffle a delight, despite flaw

By Eric Benderoff

Chicago Tribune

(MCT)

Apple solved one problem with its fun, new iPod Shuffle: With the push of a button on its headphone cord, it can tell you what song is playing.

But it created another problem if you want to use a different pair of headphones than those shipped with the Shuffle.

Otherwise, the $79 iPod Shuffle is a delight and the most interesting music player I've used in some time. It holds about 1,000 songs on a 4-gigabyte flash drive.

Strikingly small, the size of a thumb but much thinner, the gadget elicits wonder from those I've shown it to. It could pass for a USB thumb drive, and there's a chance you'll lose it one day.

Shrinking the Shuffle required controls to be built into the headphone cord. That means you can use only Apple headphones with this product, at least for now. And the controls take a little practice to learn.

In the past, if you had a decent amount of music on your Shuffle and a spotty memory, you often didn't know what was playing.

The magic with this version is that it can tell you what's playing. You press and briefly hold the center of the controls on the headphone and the song title and artist's name are spoken. The voice is clear and generally accurate. It can speak in 14 languages.

Sure, the voice makes mistakes. It struggles with Lupe Fiasco, for example, but the feature is far more useful than annoying.

Also, if you keep holding the center control button, it will scroll through your playlists.

At first, I found the playlist function frustrating. It reads the playlist names from the beginning, in alphabetical order, not from the last playlist you picked. I sort my playlists primarily by artists _ others do it differently. So if I stop at Lou Reed, listen to a few songs and then want to move on, I would like to start at the next playlist, which would be Luna. It doesn't work that way.

Frustrated, I went online to read the full Shuffle instructions at Apple.com _ the first time I've done this with an iPod _ and learned that if I hit the controls for volume up or down, I can quickly move through playlists.

Much better, but I still would prefer to start from where I stopped.

Having the controls on the headphone, as handy and as easy to use as they are, are also the Shuffle's biggest flaw.

The iPod headphones are adequate but there are many third-party products that sound better. Currently, they don't work well with this Shuffle.

That is being addressed, and at least a half-dozen third-party headphones are already in development, said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPod and iPhone Product Marketing.

Other headphones do work with the Shuffle, Joswiak said, but you can't control volume, hear song information or change playlists.

That criticism aside, this iPod is a remarkable little device, and Apple has once again raised the bar for how to create a fresh music player.

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(Eric Benderoff writes about technology for the Chicago Tribune. Contact him at ebenderoff@tribune.com or at the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611.)

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© 2009, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Facebook, Twitter and other social media are more used than e-mail, surveys suggest

By Scott Kleinberg

Chicago Tribune

(MCT)

Here's today's big news in fewer than 140 characters: Social networking is now more popular than e-mail.

That's the official word from a new round of Nielsen research, which shows "member communities" such as Twitter and Facebook have overtaken personal e-mail to become the fourth-most-popular way people spend time online (after search, portals and software applications).

While there are plenty of facts and figures to back up the claim, it seems a little like old news. As fast as e-mail is, it's just not immediate enough. Seeing a message pop into an inbox just doesn't compare to receiving a tweet on Twitter or even a comment on Facebook.

And social media is good for you. It forces you to get to the point. We don't read e-mail, we scan it. Why unleash a 1,000-word diatribe when you can sum it up in 140 characters?

And what would a Nigerian scam be without e-mail? "My father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast before he was poisoned to death ..." just wouldn't have the same impact posted on a Facebook wall.

E-mail is still king at the office, but we're all embracing social media and other forms of communication. Sometimes, we still actually talk to each other!

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© 2009, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.