Carrie Schmelkin : Gossip from the Hallways
Carrie Schmelkin
Web Editor, TMC

Steve Wozniak to Keynote ITEXPO Las Vegas

We are extremely proud to announce Steve Wozniak is a keynoter at ITEXPO in Las Vegas, Thursday, August 29 at 10am....

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Attend the WebRTC Webinar and Learn More about the Disruption

Tomorrow, February, 20th, Dialogic will be hosting a WebRTC webinar and we’re pleased to have with us respected analyst Dean Bubley from...

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Thank You Amazon, Retailers May Now Merge at Will

When reports surfaced regarding Office Depot merging with OfficeMax, the first thing which may have occurred to many, is regulators wouldn’t let...

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Scam Users, Accumulate Facebook Likes, Buy a Ferrari

Bitdefender Labs recently reported that a site showing kittens and unicorns suggested users download a “business flash” plugin in order to see...

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Windows 8 Sync Settings - Security Hole

Windows 8 has a cool new feature that lets you login with your cloud-based Microsoft account (@hotmail.com, @live.com, @outlook.com) and it will...

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Is Apple Too Sexy for MWC?

In deciding not to exhibit at the Macworld events, CES and MWC, Apple has shown the world that it doesn’t need...

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Video of Senior Citizen Being Relentlessly Bullied Goes Viral

June 21, 2012

I’ve spent a lot of time on my blog discussing the epidemic that is cyberbullying and the exponential rise in childhood cruelty, but I have seldom explored how bullying is affecting adults as well – mostly because we don’t come across these headlines nearly as much.

But this morning, something jarring stood out to me when I was searching Google News. The headline read “School bus monitor bullied by students” and the text of the story was painfully hard to digest.

On Tuesday, a 10-minute video hit YouTube depicting some of the most inhumane verbal treatment of an individual that I have ever seen or heard. For 10 minutes, a group of middle school students from Athena Middle School in upstate New York disparage, ridicule and torment Karen Huff Klein, a 68-year-old woman who has worked as a school bus monitor for over 20 years.  

Media Mogul Funds Anonymous Texting Program to Report Bullies

June 19, 2012

Whether it is bringing a teacher’s attention to a cheater, ratting out your best friend to her parents when you find out she is developing an eating disorder or tattling on a classmate to the principal when the kid threatens you, the process of calling someone out is daunting and never easy.

But one 89-year-old media mogul is setting out to change that.

This fall, an anti-bullying initiative will be introduced to Los Angeles, Calif. students that will allow the teens to anonymously report threats of violence to school officials through text messages.

The Real Commencement Speech - Tech Style

June 7, 2012

If you are a recent college graduate, I am going to guess you have heard it all from Mom, Dad, Grandma, the class Valedictorian and maybe even that long lost cousin already: pull out all stops necessary to secure a good job, realize (even if you have only been out of school for a few weeks) that sleeping in your old twin bed at Mom and Dad’s will only be allowed for a finite period of time, and accept the fact that you have to trade in the beer for bills sooner or later.

But what if I told you there were a few more secret tips that might make acclimating to the post-college life a tad easier… oh, and also get you off that couch and into a real office with cubicles sooner.

This week, I wrote an article that included four tips that all college commencement speakers should have touched upon during their pontificating about how to really make it in the “Real World.” Yes, I am talking to you President Obama. Sure it’s all about knowing the right people, determining which path to take when you come at a crossroads, and realizing that “everything happens for a reason.” And, yes it’s also important to gloss over the front page of the “New York Times” so that you can fully understand the debt crisis and gay rights marriage contention and, of course, for some inexplicable reason you should have to listen to at least one hotshot who made his dreams come true off of nothing but determination and passion.

Don't Kill Your GPA: Enroll in Online Summer Classes

June 5, 2012

True story: I got a “C” in college once. I should probably preface this by explaining that for a perfectionist to admit this is like a diehard vegetarian admitting that he/she had a bit too much Tequila last weekend and found him/herself eating a hamburger. It’s disappointing, embarrassing and inherently makes you question how you could have slipped.

Okay, okay so I am being a bit dramatic because I am sure we have all been there and yet most of us probably still managed to get employed despite that ugly “C.” My story, however, is a bit more harrowing as I got a “C” in a class that I didn’t even have to be taking; I am going to chalk this up to college freshman naiveté.

Cyberbullying: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

June 1, 2012

While some 20-year-olds spent yesterday sunbathing at the pool, frantically applying to summer internships and planning their next big trip during summer break, for 20-year-old Dharun Ravi the day was a bit less sunny as he reported to the Middlesex County Sherriff’s office to start his 30-day jail sentence after being convicted in a cyberbullying incident.

Ravi, the college student accused of reportedly using a Web cam to spy on his roommate and then stream footage online, has been sentenced to 30 days in jail, 300 hours of community service and counseling, and restitution in the form of a $10,000 fine.

For those who need a refresher, in 2010, the world was taken aback when 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, jumped to his death after being the victim of online bullying. It all came to a head when an intimate moment between Clementi and another male was surreptitiously taped by Ravi and streamed over the Internet.

NCAA Football Coaches Red Flag Athletic Prospects' Use of Social Media

May 29, 2012

We have heard about employers perusing Facebook, Twitter and any social media sites available to see if their seemingly perfect new employee really does not have any skeletons hidden in his/her closet and we have certainly heard college admissions experts warn high school juniors that colleges might frequent these sites as well to see what a “soon-to-be-admitted” college freshman does in his/her free time.

But little has been brought up about potential college athletes being watched and monitored over social media sites – until now. So, for all the Jeremy Lin and Stephen Strasburg wannabes out there, just know that in addition to coaches scouting you and following your every free throw and home run, they are also checking out your social media plays – particularly for you football players.

In fact, social media has quickly become the new way for coaches to communicate with potential recruits and almost every elite recruiter has a Facebook or Twitter account, or both, according to a recent blog post on AJC.

Teens Expelled for Twitter Posts That Reportedly Threatened Harm

May 23, 2012

I’ll never forget one of the scariest moments as a seventh grader. Word spread like wild fire about a graffiti message scrawled on a student’s desk that announced the next day all kids and teachers in the school would die. For a building that housed both middle and high school students – and perhaps no more than 500 kids total – you can imagine how quickly word spread. And what was perhaps so shocking was that in a school in which everyone knew each other’s first, last and middle names, how could one want to hurt kids he/she had know since he/she was born?

Ravi Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail for Alleged Cyberbullying

May 21, 2012

The defense and prosecution have given their statements, the evidence has been examined, the jury has made its conviction and now, the judge has laid his sentence: Dharun Ravi, the college student accused of reportedly using a web cam to spy on his roommate and then stream footage online, has been sentenced to 30 days in jail, 300 hours of community service and counseling, and restitution in the form of a $10,000 fine. He begins his sentence on May 31.

For those who have not been paying close attention to the trial of Ravi, here is a brief recap. In 2010, the world stood aghast as 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, jumped to his death after being the victim of online bullying.

Just How Valuable is that College Diploma?

May 17, 2012

While this might come as a surprise, more than one quarter of the Top 20 “great jobs” you can nail without a college degree are in the tech sector; so why, then, are computer engineers, programmers and journalists slaving away in college labs and incurring astronomical debt?

In a new report produced by CarrerCast.com, positions ranging from a dental hygienist to an online advertising manager to a Web developer to an industrial machine repairer made the list of top 20 jobs you can nab sans diploma. And if it’s really true that you can earn $87,000 on average as an online advertising manger – without having to sit through stuffy college lectures about branding and keyword ad placement – then why fork over the almost $120,000 it costs to earn that advertising marketing degree when research is showing you have a great chance of landing that job anyways?

Because unless you are the Steve Jobs’s or Mark Zuckerberg’s of the world, you may have a hard time proving your worth with no education to back it.

Calling All College Students - Want a Tech Internship at TMC?

May 15, 2012

For some of you, the sorrow has already sunk in. You are officially done with second semester at college; keg parties will be replaced with beach parties; and you can kiss goodbye your sweet four-bedroom, off campus apartment (with a full bed) for your childhood room at your parents house with, yes, that twin bed still full of stuffed animals.  Then, the sorrow passes and anxiety and mild panic attacks begin as you are forced to come to terms with the fact that you were negligent in securing that summer internship or – even worse – applying to jobs. Hey, senior week is important!

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