Do teenage entrepreneurs even need to go to college?

The democratization of technology wrought by the mobile Web and a proliferation of app stores has made it easier than ever to succeed as an entrepreneur—and at an earlier age than ever before, ReadWriteWeb reports. Which poses a tough question for some high-school students who’ve managed to strike it rich with a hit app: Do they really need to go to college at all? That’s the conundrum facing Ryan Orbuch and Michael Hansen—self-described “techie kids” who built a task management app called Finish when they wanted a way to organize their studies for high school final exams. Finish sells for 99 cents in Apple’s App Store. To date, users have downloaded it nearly 40,000 times. That’s not a bad haul for a couple of kids who just wanted a way to fight procrastination when it came to their coursework. (Yes, so they then went on to build an app instead of hitting the books.) Orbuch has also started an umbrella company called Basil for other projects he is working on…

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Why you might want to wait before upgrading to iOS 7

Apple has finally released the official version of iOS 7, its major upgrade to the software that runs iPhones and iPads, ReadWriteWeb reports. The temptation to snag the software update immediately may be tough to resist. But there are a few good reasons to hold off. See if any of these apply to you…

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U.S. leads the way in requests for Facebook user data

The U.S. leads the world—by far—in requests for Facebook user data, the social network reported in its first Government Requests Report, which covers the first six months of 2013. ReadWriteWeb reports that in the U.S., Facebook fielded between 11,000 and 12,000 requests for data on 20,000 to 21,000 users—almost as many requests as it received in the rest of the world combined (14,607 total non-U.S. requests). Facebook complied with 79% of the data requests it received in the U.S.

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Hey, boss? I’ll be working from the, uh, park today

Google will cover the $600,000 cost of providing public wireless Internet to 31 San Francisco parks, plazas, and recreation centers, ReadWriteWeb reports. The tech giant’s gift will cover equipment, installation and maintenance for two years. Installation should begin this November, with service scheduled to be up and running by next April…

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Robots ride to the rescue in DARPA’s Virtual Robotics Challenge

Let’s face it, our human bodies could use a hardware upgrade, ReadWriteWeb reports. Our flesh is easily torn by sharp objects, and we’re pretty vulnerable to stuff like fire and explosions. So when disasters like nuclear meltdowns or earthquakes affect our world, there’s not much we can do. With Human 2.0 nowhere in sight, our best chance of increasing our survival in disaster situations is to build robots that can become our first responders. Right now, DARPA’s Virtual Robotics Challenge is underway, a contest that could have groundbreaking implications for disaster preparedness around the entire world. It’s the first of three events that make up the DARPA Robotics Challenge…

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Think mobile is big now? Here’s proof that it’s just getting started

So, you think that the Mobile Revolution is complete and the battle between smartphones and PCs is all but won? Think again, ReadWriteWeb reports. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers analyst Mary Meeker’s infamous Internet Trends report dropped today at the AllThingsD D11 conference in Los Angeles. Guess what? Mobile traffic still only makes up 15% of all worldwide Internet traffic. That is less than one-sixth of all time spent on the internet…

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The numbers are clear: Mobile is taking over the world

Take a moment to think about it, ReadWriteWeb reports. The mobile market – hardware, software, apps, services, infrastructure – is expanding to just about every corner of the wold. And as mobile connects the entire planet – linking billions of people in real-time from almost any place you can imagine – it is re-constructing how people everywhere engage in shopping, banking, entertainment, work, healthcare and learning…

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Amazon shuts down eBook loans via Lendle

Since Amazon gave Kindle users the ability to loan their eBooks in December, we’ve seen a number of startups launch in the eBook lending space, creating networks to help readers find someone who is willing to let them borrow an eBook title, says ReadWriteWeb. There haven’t been any moves to crack down on these exchanges (other than the requirement that the Kindle Lending Club rebrand). But now it appears that Amazon has shut down one such site, Lendle. The company’s website went down briefly today, and Lendle tweeted that Amazon has revoked its access to the API…

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LinkedIn launches social news site for professionals

LinkedIn has been rolling out new features fairly regularly lately, as it strives to make the professional social network (and all its data) relevant and useful. Today, the company is unveiling another piece of its strategy to make LinkedIn a destination site for more than just job-seekers, with the launch of LinkedIn Today, reports ReadWriteWeb. LinkedIn Today is an industry newspaper, of sorts, available online and via LinkedIn’s iPhone app. It offers headlines and links to the popular stories within certain industries and within your LinkedIn network. You’ll be able to see what others in your profession are reading, as well as “save” articles to read later…

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Facebook now powers comments all around the web

Facebook released its much-feared commenting solution, reports ReadWriteWeb. The idea made big news earlier this year, despite the fact that Facebook has already offered a commenting solution for more than a year, but today the company has announced the feature officially. So what’s new? There are a number of features for both publishers and users, although some of the most exciting features we’ve seen displayed on Facebook late last year don’t appear to be a part of the release. Is Facebook’s massive social graph enough to push it into the default slot for comments, where it already resides for things like social sharing and third-party login?

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Google versus Microsoft: The battle for the K-12 cloud contract

North versus South. Rural versus urban. Add to those delineations now, as schools and government agencies across the U.S. move to the cloud, Google versus Microsoft, reports ReadWriteWeb. On the surface, at least, it’s a public relations battle. Google announces one state or school district has adopted its cloud offerings; and then it’s Microsoft’s turn to respond with a new list of cloud clients. Google touts 10 million Apps for Education users. Microsoft touts 15 million for its Live@edu

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Parents protest in-app purchases for kids’ iPhone and iPad games

A story in yesterday’s Washington Post follows a pretty common narrative of parents, kids turned loose with technology, and sticker shock when a bill for that comes in. News of outrageous phone bills from texting charges have been commonplace. But the latest furor is over in-app purchases, virtual goods that kids are buying from within iPhone, iPod, and iPad games, reports ReadWriteWeb. The opening anecdote: 8-year-old Madison who spent $1,400 to decorate her mushroom home in the iPhone game Smurf’s Village. She didn’t realize the Smurfberries she was buying were real purchases. “After all,” writes reporter Cecilia Kang, “lots of children’s games require virtual payments of pretend coins, treasure chests and gold to advance to levels.”

Madison’s mother says she thinks “the app preyed on children,” pointing out that the Smurf game says it’s for those age 4 and up. Madison’s story isn’t the first, and her family’s problems aren’t unique. Indeed, these sorts of purchases have made kids’ games like Smurfs’ Village incredibly popular – and profitable. But parents (anyone, really, Smurf fans or not) balk at the $99 charge for a wagon of Smurfberries…

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