Via [crunchgear]

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Check out this bureaucratic bullshit. My wonderful school, NYU, now requires students surrender their cellphone number in order to register for Fall classes. It’s all in the name of safety, of course, as are most attacks on liberty. Think of the children, we’re only protecting you, etc. I’ve included the full text of the e-mail, […]

Check out this bureaucratic bullshit. My wonderful school, NYU, now requires students surrender their cellphone number in order to register for Fall classes. It’s all in the name of safety, of course, as are most attacks on liberty. Think of the kids, we’re only protecting you, etc.

I’ve included the full text of the e-mail, if you’re so inclined.

Here we go!

The office of the registrar is requiring you to do this before you registrar for classes.
You’ll not be granted to register for Fall classes if you don’t do this! Please go into ALBERT and add your cell phone and emergency contact info before your registration time.

for more info please refer to this link…
http://www.nyu.edu/registrar/registration/requirements.html?ref=ALOPHM

Cell Phone & Emergency Contact Requirements

Current tragic events that took place at other schools around the country have created the need for heightened awareness on campus. The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is a top priority for NYU. One of the most important tools in an emergency - whether an individual emergency or a large-scale condition which may have an impact on the whole campus - is swift communications.

It is for these reasons that NYU is now REQUIRING that all students provide both a cell phone number AND an emergency contact number (including an option for an international emergency phone number) BEFORE Fall registration begins on April 14th, 2008! During Fall registration on Albert, we will be checking to see if you have provided both numbers. If either is missing, you will not be allowed to register for the Fall term.

We urge you to take the time now to go online using Albert and record your cell phone number and emergency contact number. These numbers will be stored in the SIS database and used appropriately.

Is this a common practice around the country, requiring students to give up even more personal information for inclusion on some unknown database? Who has access to the numbers? Are there any security procedures in place to prevent them from getting in the wrong hands? I just asked the school for a comment, so once they send it, if they send it, I’ll add it.

Update: Lo! and there was a response, from some dude named Donald A. Starr:

The Office of the Registrar would be able to answer your question better than I have the ability to. I know that the university wants the number to create an emergency text message system. I also know that the number can’t be given out by any university employee or used to create an student directory. That information is protected by the FERPA act.

The Registrar is very serious about requiring cell phone numbers and contact info. If you do not provide the info, you WILL NOT be granted to register. The journalism department has not control over this. If you get blocked from registration because you refused to submit you info, we can’t override the block and you’ll have to call the registrar.

So while it looks like the guy I contacted was merely a middle man, the school is DEAD SERIOUS about not letting you register if you don’t give them your phone number. I’ll be jumping through the bureaucracy to get an answer, that’s for damn sure. I really want to know what happens if you tell them you don’t have a cellphone.

Via [crunchgear]

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Are your headphones “broken, crusty or damaged” or just plain suck? Swap ‘em for a pair of new Sennheisers. They’ll take your old set in pretty much any condition, and will give you $5 toward earbuds, $10 for classic, $15 for in-ear and 25 bucks for noise-canceling headphones in exchange. You’ve just gotta mail in the linked form before Aug. 31. It’s not a bad deal, I really liked their PX-100s for the price, and that was without an extra 10 bucks off. [Sennheiser (PDF) via Gearlog]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Here’s the latest CrunchGear-themed crossword puzzle. You can find the answers to the clues spread throughout this week’s posts. Enjoy! CrunchWord Puzzle for Friday, April 11th

Here’s the latest CrunchGear-themed crossword puzzle. You can find the answers to the clues spread throughout this week’s posts. Enjoy!

CrunchWord Puzzle for Friday, April 11th

Via [crunchgear]

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I periodically check a Blaine fan blog to see if he’s performed any magical madness lately. He hasn’t, but the blogger writes that Blaine is supporting Pangea Day. My first question is what the heck is Pangea Day? Second, how’s he gonna make the 300 million year old puzzle of a landmass fit together? I’ve […]

I periodically check a Blaine fan blog to see if he’s performed any magical madness lately. He hasn’t, but the blogger writes that Blaine is supporting Pangea Day. My first question is what the heck is Pangea Day? Second, how’s he gonna make the 300 million year old puzzle of a landmass fit together? I’ve seen the guy. He’s wiry.

For the magically uninclined, Pangea Day is a global day of films, music and speakers that’ll be held simultaneously in cities around the world on May 10, 2008. It’s award-winning documentary filmmaker, Jehane Noujaim of Control Room and Startup.com fame’s brainchild after winning the 2006 TED prize. The list of supporters reads like a who’s who of social, political, technical and entertainment types, but what I thought was interesting is Nokia. Remember, this is CrunchGear.

Nokia is inviting the globe to enter the 2008 Nokia Mobile Filmmaking Awards competition. You can shoot and upload your short videos to Share on Ovi to be considered for inclusion in the broadcast. Pretty cool. The winner receives a trip to LA for the event and “a mobile film making trip of a lifetime and a production budget to record the trip.” Isn’t that slightly subjective? I mean, what if my mobile film making trip of a lifetime involved midgets, goats and ninjas? Can David Blaine make that magic happen?

Via [crunchgear]

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No, coffee isn’t a gadget per se, but judging by Twitter and what I know about some of the many bloggers out there, a hell of a lot of you need the drink to make it through the day. Don’t see me before I’ve had my first cup ‘o joe, lol! Quite. Be that as it […]

No, coffee isn’t a gadget per se, but judging by Twitter and what I know about some of the many bloggers out there, a hell of a lot of you need the drink to make it through the day. Don’t see me before I’ve had my first cup ‘o joe, lol! Quite.

Be that as it might, would you be willing to pay 50 quid, or about $100, for a cup of coffee? Even if said cup of coffee was made from cat droppings? You would? Excellent!

A London store is selling coffee, espressos and lattes (oh my!) with the special ingredient, which comes from an Indonesian bean. No, I don’t know how that works, either. Since only 450lbs of the bean are harvested every year, you’ll have to pay though the nose to partake.

And to think I pay $2 every day for that Mud coffee that’s sold ’round here. Anyone in the audience willing to pay $100 for coffee, other than as a gift?

via Drudge Report

Via [crunchgear]

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Why fork over more money to Nintendo for a second Mario Kart Wii Wheel when you can just make one yourself? Sound difficult? It’s not, as long as you know how to tape a controller to a sauce pot lid. For some reason we didn’t spot a similar prototype among Nintendo’s 30 original designs. Which just goes to show you, multitudes of white plastic don’t always make something better. (But it sure helps to put a price tag on the thing.) [mod via kotaku]

Via [Gizmodo]

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