Kansas Capital Adopts “Google” Name

The capital city of Kansas really, really wants Google to build it a high-speed broadband network.  Indeed, rather than stick to the standard email campaigns and Facebook groups, its efforts to catch the search giant's attention have extended to the mayor renaming Topeka "Google."  At least temporarily.

This is no joke or repaint-the-town-sign prank.  According to Tim Hrenchir, Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten consulted yesterday with all seven city council members and got their approval.  Then he "signed a proclamation . . . calling for Topeka to be known for the month of March as 'Google, Kansas - the capital city of fiber optics.'"

Considering that not a lot of other cities are likely to take this step (and now, they'll look like copycats even if they do), it's a good bet that this'll earn Topeka big points in Google's eyes.

As for the related Facebook group (because there is one of those, too), "Bring Google's Fiber Experiment to Topeka!" has 10,717 members at the moment, and that number represents about 8.74 percent of Topeka's population (according to 2007 census data).  Which is rather impressive.

Anyway, Google's supposed to keep collecting responses to its broadband network proposal until March 26th, and then the company should name its target communities later this year.

Sexting Most Common Among Older Teens

New research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that 4 percent of cell phone owners ages 12 to 17 have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images of themselves to someone else on a cell phone.

Pew found 15 percent of teens that age have received this kind of image of someone they know personally on their cell phone. Sexting was most common among older teens with 8 percent of 17-year-old cell-owners saying they have sent suggestive images of themselves by text while only 4 percent of 12-year-olds have.

Pew found that sexting occurs most often in one of three scenarios:

1.    Exchanges of images solely between two romantic partners
2.    Exchanges between partners that are then shared outside the relationship
3.    Exchanges between people who are not yet in a relationship, but where often one person hopes to be.

"Teens explained to us how sexually suggestive images have become a form of relationship currency," said Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist and author of the report.

"These images are shared as a part of or instead of sexual activity, or as a way of starting or maintaining a relationship with a significant other. And they are also passed along to friends for their entertainment value, as a joke or for fun."

The report also found that teens who are more active users of cell phones are more likely to receive sexually suggestive images. Teens with unlimited text messaging plans, 75 percent of cell phone owning teens, are more likely to receive texts containing images of people they know.

Among this group, 18 percent reported receiving these images, compared with 8 percent of teens on limited plans and 3 percent of teens who pay per message. In addition, teens who keep their phones on almost all the time are more likely than others to receive texts with suggestive images.

"The desire for risk-taking and sexual exploration during the teenage years combined with a constant connection via mobile devices creates a 'perfect storm' for sexting," said Lenhart.

"Teenagers have always grappled with issues around sex and relationships, but their coming-of-age mistakes and transgressions have never been so easily transmitted and archived for others to see."
 

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Facebook Poke Leads To An Actual Arrest

Let this be a lesson to us all: be careful who you poke on Facebook. The click of that button can get you arrested.

For most of us, the note that we’ve been poked only elicits an eye-roll. But when Shannon D. Jackson of Tennessee poked one of her Facebook contacts, she actually broke the law—a restraining order. The order prohibited “telephoning, contacting or otherwise communicating with the petitioner.” Somehow methinks poking qualifies as “communicating” or “contacting.” After all, once you poke someone on Facebook, they are automatically notified:

Violating a restraining order is a class A misdemeanor in Tennessee, punishable with up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and a fine of up to $2500.

I’m guessing that her actual punishment will depend on her legal argument: whether she claims she didn’t know poking would count as contact or communication. Judging from these limited facts, I would have to say she was trying to subvert the court order and thought she wouldn’t get caught.

As far as Facebook’s liability goes, it’s probably negligible. But it’s a good thing LivePoke was just a joke.

This does leave one big question on the table, however—if the plaintiff here felt so threatened by the defendant, why didn’t she block (a little-known option in the privacy settings) or at least de-friend her on Facebook? From what I can see, you can only poke friends (or possibly people on your network with public profiles). Yes, the accused is responsible and shouldn’t have poked her, but shouldn’t the plaintiff have taken steps to avoid contact if she was distressed enough by their interactions to get a restraining order?

What do you think? Should the perp here have known her poke counted as contact? Was she naive or hoping to subvert the court order?

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Watch: Newark Mayor Beefs with Conan O’Brien Via YouTube

Conan O'Brien, the host of NBC's The Tonight Show has been engaging in something of a feud with the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Conan made a joke about Newark, and Mayor Cory Booker retaliated via YouTube.

While Conan has the power of national television behind him, Booker has managed to get a considerable audience for his side of the message as well. He has managed to get over 100,000 views on his YouTube video pages alone. Of course, Conan played clips of his videos on the Tonight Show as well.

Here are a few clips that explain the plot:

>

It ends with Booker both banning Conan from the entire state of New Jersey, and inviting him at the same time, as well as banning him from Newark's "sister cities" around the world. Conan has already invited Booker on the show. I'd be very surprised if he did not turn up there.

This feels a bit like a set up on the Tonight Show's part, but even so, it's not a bad way to market a show who's ratings were a bit disappointing (for some reason) after Leno left.

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