Blog Posts by Tori Floyd

(Windsor Star photo)In an effort to try and reduce the number of car accidents on the road, manufacturers are testing out a novel new idea: having cars talk to each other.

The city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, will have 2,800 vehicles enabled with wireless transmitters that will send signals between them, The Associated Press reports, which will warn the drivers of potential dangers on the road. Knowing that traffic is stopped up ahead or that a car has sped through a red light up ahead could mean the difference between life and death for drivers and passengers.

Nearly 500 vehicles on the roads of Ann Arbor are already equipped with the technology, which uses a device that communicates similar to the way Wi-Fi signals are transmitted. The device will warn drivers if they risk crashing into another vehicle when there is limited visibility, if another vehicle is changing lanes in the driver's blind spot, or if there is danger of a collision because the driver ahead brakes suddenly.

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REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/FilesIt's no secret that Canadians take their coffee very, very seriously. And when something like a limited-time drink is on the line, we Canadians are ready to leap into action to get it first.

Starbucks is rolling out their second annual North American competition to select the top U.S. and Canadian cities that will get the Pumpkin Spice Latte a week earlier than everyone else this year. Starting today, you can get on Facebook and join in the Pumpkin Spice Challenge.

[ More from The Right Click: 'Kenny the Clown' unknowingly ends up with Steve Jobs' stolen iPad ]

According to Mashable, fans can earn points for their city by sharing Starbucks on Facebook and Twitter, participating in daily challenges and entering some of the more creative contests, like pumpkin poetry or chalkboard art.

To participate, 'Like' Starbucks on Facebook and join in the competition to get the drink to your city first. The winner will be announced on August 24.

The lucky winners from last year's competition were

In a controversial move — but not a unique one — the city of Kelowna, B.C., is considering flying a pro-life flag outside its city hall during Protect Human Life Week.

The week has been an annual event for the past five years, taking place during the last week of September, but the flag would be a new addition to the week, CBC reports.

Marlon Bartram, executive director of the Kelowna Right to Life Society, says that their original design was rejected when the city council determined that the 'From conception to natural death' slogan along the bottom of the flag violated the council's policy of not advocating a particular point of view. But Bartram says that the new flag has more of a general statement.

"I think 'pro-life' is a very — I mean, it maybe has some history to it, for sure, but if you break it down, it's just we're for human life," Bartram told CBC. "There's nothing controversial, there's nothing particularly political or religious about that statement."

Pro-life flags have

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. AP Canada (Aug. 13)With the U.S. presidential election still a few months away, things are heating up between current President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney. And that heat is finding its way into the realm of social media, too.

The most recent flare-up in the world of social media has been over fake followers on Twitter, with both presumptive presidential candidates being accused of not having all their followers being living, breathing humans.

The controversy started (at least, this time around) when a report from Barracuda Labs found that about 15 per cent of Mitt Romney's Twitter followers are fake accounts. This investigation came on the heels of a landmark weekend for the @MittRomney Twitter account, as it amassed 116,922 followers in just 24 hours.

[ Related: Ex-staffer claims 80 per cent of Gingrich's Twitter followers are fake ]

"Based on the above distinguishable features, we believe most of these recent followers of Romney are not from a general Twitter population but most

While most of us using the Internet have clued in to 'phishing' attempts, the fake emails that ask for personal information, there's a new sub-section of that scam which could catch smartphone users off-guard.

Known as "smishing," short for "SMS phishing," users receive an SMS text message that informs them they've won some kind of prize from a legitimate company, accompanied by a link that look like it might lead to a page on the company's site. In reality, it's a means for spammers to collect your personal information in a relatively new way.

[ More from The Right Click: Majority of students use their smartphones to conduct research ]

The scam has been around for several years, as this article from Consumer Affairs highlight the issue back in 2006. But with an increasing number of smartphone users worldwide, and the devices themselves becoming more advanced, the need for users to better protect themselves against these scams is growing, too.

As CNET reports, security firm Cloudmark

It goes without saying that when customers go shopping, they prefer to avoid products made by child labour. But the biggest challenge consumers often face is knowing which products they shouldn't be buying.

As part of a campaign by Germany's Earthlink, there is now a plugin for web browsers that purports to do just that. The aVOID plugin blocks products in online stores that are likely to have been made in connection with child labour, based on the brand, reports Huffington Post.

Here's a video from Earthlink that explains it:

Currently, the plugin only works for certain online shops in the U.S., France, Germany and the U.K., but it could come in handy if you do browse in some of the shops where the plugin works. You can use it while shopping on Asos, Yoox, Amazon, Target, Macys, Zalando, Google Shopping, Frontlineshop and Otto.

The app selects which brands are likely to use child labour based on a list by Active Against Child Labour. When shopping, the app accesses the most

While there are still a few weeks left to enjoy summer, back-to-school season is almost upon us and the rush will soon be on to get the perfect gear for the return to the classroom.

And students aren't looking for the usual pens, paper and protractors, either: the classroom of 2012-2013 is one that benefits greatly from an assortment of gadgets. Depending on the grade you or your student is in, different technology will be in demand. Here's a look at some of the gear that will suit students from kindergarten up to college:

One of the classes awarded a Best in Class grant in 2011.Elementary School

Even though elementary school students might seem a tad young to be given gadgets, it turns out that technology is in high demand for these classrooms. The Best in Class Fund, which is a charity run by Best Buy, gets requests each year from teachers who want to boost the technology they can offer their students. According to Best Buy Communications Manager Danielle Jang, the top requested items for elementary schools are tablets.

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CBC photoApple has confirmed that it has suspended over-the-phone password resets for its Apple IDs following the identity theft of Wired reporter Mat Honan.

Wired reported on Tuesday that Apple would be stopping the service for at least 24 hours, and at the time of writing, it seems that the suspension is still in place.

Bloomberg reports that the suspension will remain in place until Apple has determined a new procedure for reseting passwords over the phone. Apple issued a statement this morning, asking customers to instead use their online system, iforgot.apple.com.

[ Related: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak sees trouble in the cloud ]

The move comes after the hacking of Wired reporter Mat Honan last weekend, which resulted in the erasure of all data on his iPhone, iPad and MacBook when the hackers managed to get access to his Apple ID. The hackers called Apple's customer support line and asked for the password to be reset, then went about remotely wiping all of his Apple devices.

Honan's