Leaked documents suggest that American spies can decrypt much of the data they collect by tapping into Internet service providers and telecommunications cables.

A series of leaks this summer revealed that the National Security Agency uses novel interpretations of U.S. law to gather data in bulk from the world’s largest Internet companies. Now new reports on the NSA’s technical capabilities suggest that the agency can actually read most online communications without going directly to service providers at all.

The RDF Working Group has published two Last Call Working Drafts:

• N-Triples. N-Triples is a line-based, plain text format for encoding an RDF graph. Comments are welcome through 14 October.
• N-Quads. N-Quads is a line-based, plain text format for encoding an RDF dataset. Comments are welcome through 14 October.

Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.

In one form or another, public service announcements (or advertisements) have been with us for well over a hundred years. They have as their chief objective the goal of educating the general public in order to raise awareness on a multitude of social issues; from cancer and global warming to domestic violence and drug abuse. PSAs seek to cause action and change opinion.

It’s little wonder, then, that to capture society’s attention in an age of visual inundation, the creators of public service campaigns have had to step up. The likes of such major ad players as Ogilvy, Grey, and McCann-Erickson — along with the creative minds of boutique agencies — have risen to the occasion, producing a new generation of printed public interest ads. Some are edgy and envelope-pushing, using imagery that makes the viewer uneasy. Others go for power through simplicity, employing striking illustrations to move an audience.

One thing that all of these ads have in common is their striking visual impact: Photoshop work isn’t just effective, it’s epic; illustrations aren’t just employed, they’re integral.

Below is a collection of 25 standout public interest ads whose creativity, art direction, and emotion-evoking properties work together to deliver a poignant message. They are a good reminder that delicate subject matter is oftentimes most successfully delivered when the inclination for gentleness is abandoned and instead is confronted head on. These are ads that make a statement…quite literally.

WWF: Tree

Heart and Stroke Foundation: Future

Salvation Army: Politician

Surfrider Foundation: Plastic Invasion

World for All: Train

Dutch Heart Foundation: QR Bystanders

Amnesty International: Tsunami

Ecuadorian Red Cross: Life Inside Life

Department of State Health Services: Share Air

World for All: Building

WWF Desertification: Elephant

Amnesty International: Pencil

Operation Smile: Charlie Dot

Safe Kids: Football

OndAzul NGO: Sardine

Operation Smile: Sally Monkey

TAC: Confusion, Overpass

Samusocial: Stop the Nightmare

Fight for Peace: Favela

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression: Tara

Pedestrian Council of Australia: Man

Stivoro: Open Road

GirlHub: Amina

Global Warming

Utah Department of Highway Safety: Alcohol Cuffs

Greenpeace: Become David

So Acao Solidarity Movement: Much More than Trees

Which ads resonated most with you? What tactics do you think work best in public service ads? Let us know in the comments.

Ultimatum 2.5: The Ultimate WordPress Theme Builder – $35!

Wonder Idea Technology Limited, a Hong Kong based software developer announces the launch of Hi Slider, a free jQuery slideshow plugin creator.

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society. UMBC has an active ACM student chapter that is open to all UMBC undergraduate and graduate students of any major.

This year the chapter is planning to organize various events where faculty members, ACM distinguished speakers, and local tech companies will talk about various interesting topics. The first event of the year is the Welcome Back Picnic which be held from 11:30am to 1:30pm on September 18th in the Engineering Atrium. Other activities like Hi-Tea competitions, Code Craftsmanship, Reading groups and Peer mentorship are also in the works. Suggestions on speakers or other events are welcome and can be sent to Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address.

While you do not need to join ACM to be a part of the local chapter, the annual membership dues for students is only $19, heavily discounted from the non-student rate. See the ACM site for more information on student membership and its benefits.

Please stop by for these events for which we will send out detail as they get confirmed. Sign up for the UMBC ACM mailing list to become a part of the local chapter and receive updates and news of its activities and events. You can also follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook to keep track of chapter’s events.

Professor Marie desJardins has created a new my.umbc.edu group for Computer Science Education for UMBC students, faculty, and staff who are interested in any or all aspects of computer science education and computing education generally, including information systems, computer engineering, cybersecurity, bioinformatics, etc.

She especially encourage students who are planning to or considering a career in teaching at the K-12 level to join — but anyone who is interested in educational issues in computing (e.g., teaching pedagogies, curriculum, access to CS classes in K-12 schools, teacher certification and training, and gender/minority underrepresentation in CS classes) is welcome.

In addition to sharing ideas, events, and information about computing education, the group will be used to plan events, which could include social gatherings, seminars on topics of interest (e.g., teacher certification, pedagogical innovations, MOOCs, etc.), round table discussions, and visits by invited speakers. The group will hold some initial breakfast or lunchtime meetings to meet one another and talk about what people would like to get out of such a group.

Members of the UMBC community can join the group by visiting http://my.umbc.edu/groups/cs-ed/.

Full Support for New HDMI 2.0 Specification Provides Flickerless 4K x 2K Resolution for HDTVs