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On Facebook, don't panic!

In 2008, the Loaded crew took a road trip to interview Janis Wolak at the University of New Hampshire's Crimes against Children Research Center. Wolak, a UNH professor, co-authored a study about "Internet predators," which showed that they do not fit the stereotype of thuggish basement-dweller using force, abduction, or deception to lure young teens into sexual relationships.

On the contrary, research shows that Internet sex offenders coax teens into relationships slowly, gaining their trust over time. Once the relationships become obviously inappropriate, teens feel that they have been complicit and are therefore less likely to report … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1260: Flying car-maggeddon (podcast)

I think we can all agree on one thing: flying cars may be cool, but it's going to be a slaughter in the skies--at least at first. Also, the Verizon iPhone is here again! Yay! We'll believe it when we see it, just like we'll believe that Google Me is real and a real competitor to Facebook when we see it and when Google manages to understand actual humans and what they want in a social network. But hey, fingers crossed! Special guest, Darren Kitchen of Hak5!

Subscribe:  iTunes (MP3) |  iTunes (320x180) |  iTunes (640x360) |  RSS (MP3) |  RSS (320x180) |  RSS (640x360)… Read more

Sony to recall half-million laptops on heat risk

Sony announced Wednesday that it plans to recall around 535,000 Vaio laptops due to overheating problems.

The company said that a flaw in the temperature control can create an excessive buildup of heat that distorts the shape of the unit. Though Sony hasn't heard of any problems with the Vaio in Japan, it said it received 39 complaints of overheating and distortion from customers abroad.

The company also noted the possibility that the heat buildup could create skin burns but hasn't received any report of this, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

The recall would … Read more

Sony Vaio Z, Y laptops double as 5-connection hot spots

It seems like the latest trend is to flaunt multidevice hot spot connectivity on your portable device. First came the Evo, and now Sony's new Vaio Z and Y series laptops will offer a feature called Share My Connection, an out-of-the-box instant solution for allowing others to hop onto a Wi-Fi connection. Even better, it can connect up to five other Wi-Fi devices (like, say, an iPad) at once.

There's nothing really new about configuring your laptop to share its connection with other Wi-Fi devices, but most people don't know how to do it. Now, you may … Read more

Sony Vaio E series expands, adds Intel Wireless Display

Remember the Sony Vaio E? When we reviewed it earlier this year, we were quite excited about Sony's more budget-priced multimedia Vaio, both because it had a Core i3 processor and optional Blu-ray. We'll admit it. We were also a little intrigued by the Vaio E's optional neon colors and funky neon keyboard skins.

The only problem? The E was limited to a 15-inch screen size. That's been remedied with new Vaio EA and EC models, in 14 and 17.3 inches, respectively.

The Vaio EA starts at $769 with a Core i3-350M CPU and built-in … Read more

Sony's Vaio P reappears with a slick new look

Originally dubbed a "Lifestyle PC," Sony's Vaio P was an odd hybrid of Netbook and UMPC. Sony went out of its way to not call the original version a "Netbook," but its Intel Atom processor and small size made it hard to consider it anything but that. We ended up admiring the design and ingenuity that went into creating this envelope-size machine, but balked at its anemic performance and awkward input tools. At the time, we said, "Sony's upscale Atom-powered Lifestyle PC has the components of a cheaper machine but the design of … Read more