April 29-30, 2010, Lawrence KS: Social media is much more than a fad – it’s changing the way the world communicates. The communities in northeast Kansas are at the forefront of this movement and have made the region a hub for innovative technologies and social media use. Because of this, The World Company of Lawrence KS, is hosting a brand new social media event: The Free State Social. The Free State Social will highlight the best in social media from our area and put local innovations and ideas on a national – even global – stage. Our purpose is to educate attendees about the current state of social media, present opportunities for its use and talk about where the industry is headed. The Free State Social will be held on April 29-30, 2010 at the new Oread hotel in Lawrence, Kan. Keynote speakers include Jeremiah Owyang, Ellyn Angellotti, Shawna Coronado, Sarah Evans, GowallaGowalla co-founder Scott Raymond, and Chris Brogan, co-author of the New York Times best-seller Trust Agents. Enter MASHABLE when checking out for a $20 discount on each ticket.

A month ago, Jason Calacanis went on a rant about why everyone should boycott comScore. He felt they were using sketchy tactics to bully people into their pay-to-play model for measuring web analytics. He also noted that their free competitors like Quantcast, Google, and Compete would soon eat their lunch. Both Quantcast and Google (Analytics) offer direct counting of pageviews (but even these methods can be abused). But you may wonder how exactly Compete gets its numbers? It appears, that some sketchy tactics are (or at least were) employed, as well.

We were recently pointed to this post from last month by Ben Edelman, a Harvard privacy advocate. In it, he details the data the Upromise toolbar collects and sends out. This toolbar is used by college students looking for savings on various items across the web, and can be quite useful. But until a few weeks ago, it appears they were also sending web browsing (and more personal) data to Compete without anyone’s knowledge. Writes Edelman:

As shown in the “host:” header of each of the preceding communications, transmissions flow to the consumerinput.com domain. Whois reports that this domain is registered to Boston, MA traffic-monitoring service Compete, Inc. Compete’s site promises clients access to “detailed behavioral data,” and Compete says more than 2 million U.S. Internet users “have given permission to analyze the web pages they visit.”

He continues:

Upromise’s installation sequence does not obtain users’ permission for this detailed and intrusive tracking. Quite the contrary: Numerous Upromise screens discuss privacy, and they all fail to mention the detailed information Upromise actually transmits.

The Upromise toolbar installation page touts the toolbar’s purported benefits at length, but mentions no privacy implications whatsoever.

If a user clicks the prominent button to begin the toolbar installation, the next screen presents a 1,354-word license agreement that fills 22 on-screen pages and offers no mechanism to enlarge, maximize, print, save, or search the lengthy text. But even if a user did read the license, the user would receive no notice of detailed tracking. Meanwhile, the lower on-screen box describes a “Personalized Offers” feature, which is labeled as causing “information about [a user's] online activity [to be] collected and used to provide college savings opportunities” But that screen nowhere admits collecting users’ email addresses or credit card numbers. Nor would a user rightly expect that “information about … online activity” means a full log of every search and every page-view across the entire web.

Shortly after Edelman’s post (and a follow-up PCMag.com post), Upromise changed their privacy policy to alert their users that this data is being sent out. But the company declined to state how long the issue had been going on.

Privacy implications aside, it’s interesting that this is one of the ways Compete was gathering data. And it would be good to know where else they get it from. On their site, they only vaguely note that they have “developed a unique methodology created by experts in the fields of mathematics, statistics and the data sciences to aggregate, transform, enhance and normalize data in order to estimate U.S. Internet traffic.” They also claim to have over two million members — but apparently, at least some of them (such as the Upromise toolbar users), don’t know they’re members.

I’ve sent a message to Compete asking them what other means (other toolbars, etc) they use to gather their data. In light of this Upromise fiasco, it seems wise that they should disclose that kind of information. I’ll update if and when I hear back.

By now, most of us have see the Titan Peeler on the TV infomercial. I recently acquired one of the intriguing little gadgets at the local “As Seen on TV” store. The Titan Peeler comes with the Titan Peeler, julienne blade, slicing board, and garnishing book for around $14.99. The Titan Peeler is made of dishwasher safe stainless steel. The peeler is unique in that it has a double side blade that peels in the normal downward motion, but also peels in the upward motion. I have used this product for about a month and here is what I have learned.

To begin with, the blades on the Titan Peeler are super sharp. You have to be very careful not to slice open your fingers when using it. The up and down peeling motion is a little awkward at first. After you get the hang of it, it makes peeling a breeze. It is because of this up and down peeling that the manufacturer claims the peeling time is cut in half. This billing lives up to its name. As a father of four we go through potatoes by the bags full. Peeling the potatoes is a breeze with the Titan Peeler. I have also used it to peel carrots, radishes, and tomatoes. Amazingly, the peeler takes the skin right off the tomatoes just like the commercial states.

The Titan Julienne Blade cuts carrots, potatoes, and other veggies into julienne cuts. This blade works very well and puts a new twist on the every salad. Slice up some potatoes and make some julienne fries. My kids like the carrots being sliced into the julienne slices.

Attach the slicing board to the Titan Peeler and you've got a mini slicing board. The slicing board slices small items such as carrots, radishes, small potatoes, cheese, and other small veggies. The slicing board works well, but I do wish it was a little sturdier. It does tend to move around a lot while slicing which can be frustrating.

The garnish book shows you how to make different designs using the Titan Peeler and Titan Julienne Blade. On the ends of the peeler and julienne blades are different sized loops. These loops are use to make the designs on the garnishments. To be honest, I personally have not used this feature. If I was hosting large dinner parties I would probably see the benefit of this, but for everyday use it is just not that useful.

Over all the Titan Peeler is a good product that you will use for many years, maybe a lifetime. The price is just right, and peeler is designed with good craftsmanship. I would recommend you try this product. I am confident you will come to love the peeler.

If you are shopping for a great Web hosting provider then that is exactly what you have to do, shop! Anyone who is over three years old knows that all advertisements and commercials are the same. Everybody is the best and nobody is cheaper. Web hosting providers are the same way. To find great Web hosting use the guide lines.

First, look for a site that is not actually a web hosting provider. A Web hosting review or a Web hosting comparison website is the best. These websites give the consumer (you) only straight up news, charts, facts and figures, not the fluff and smiling faces that a Web hosting company will throw at you.

Second, visit the web hosting company that you are considering and read their Terms of Service (TOS.) Find out exactly what they mean by 'unlimited hosting' because I assure you, it's not. Find out how much bandwidth and disk space that you really get and how much they're going to charge you for going over. An Internet business, especially a big one, will put quite a burden on the Web hosting servers. There are many more resources that a business will use than a personal website will. E-commerce, RSS feeds, scripts of any type, constantly accessing databases, and sheer traffic will kill a shared hosting server. Soon you will get an e-mail saying that you are taking all the server's power and that you will have to upgrade your hosting. And, of course, that means more money for a dedicated server. When choosing a web hosting plan always go with the cheapest one that you think you can get away with, but, get enough hosting so that you won't have to upgrade your website hosting anytime soon.

Third, make sure that the Web hosting provider has at least a 99.9% up-time guarantee. A lot of web hosts use redundant servers and backup generators to achieve 100%. If your website is down when a customer wants you, then they'll just go to the next one. There is no loyalty when a person wants to buy something right now! Even worse than that is when the search engines come through and can't index your site, you won't even be listed. So 99.9% uptime is not too much to ask.

Fourth, e-mail your potential Web hosting company with a simple question. A question like 'how many websites can I have on one hosting plan?' If they are a good and fully staffed web hosting provider then you'll get an answer within about 10 hours. If they don't reply soon then avoid them. It's probably just one guy reselling Web hosting accounts part time. Just imagine if you couldn't get your website published at all and it was Monday morning, a business rush hour.

Fifth, look at the Web hosting company's money back guarantee. If you do not have at least 30 days to cancel the hosting plan for a full refund, then avoid them too. A web hosting company is not going to show you every single detail of a hosting plan because they won't fit on their one splash page. Another thing is that a particular detail may only pertain to one person in a thousand, so they don't show it. Unfortunately, you will be that one. So make sure that you can get out of that web hosting plan if it's not everything that you thought it would be. Of course, give that web hosting provider a try for a little while but, don't be afraid to cancel their web hosting butt!