Virtual reality world Second Life loses a news bureau.

A new startup Web site, Unigo.com, aims to be an impartial clearinghouse for real-life information on colleges and universities written and photographed by the students who attend them.

Every year companies spend billions of dollars on market research trying to determine what makes you tick. Now, a new startup says you don't need a focus group to find out what's in -- all you need is a computer and a good pitch.

What if people living in conflict zones could predict where violence was going to break out? A small group of Kenyans created an early-warning tool that aims to do just this. The project is called Ushahidi, which means "testimony" in Swahili. Started in the aftermath of the violence that followed the Kenyan elections, the developers are about to launch a new version of the software that will help communities around the world map and predict violence.

College kids heading to school are also heading for sticker-shock when they discover the costs of this semester's textbooks. But Rich Baraniuk believes he has a solution: free, collaborative textbooks.

Hero Reports, a new Web site by MIT doctoral candidate Alyssa Wright, is tracking stories of everyday acts of courage, mapping goodwill in the same way others map home values and crime rates. It was inspired by the New York subway's "See Something, Say Something" campaign, but seeks not to uncover acts of terrorism, but to tap a zeitgeist of good, promote a civic culture and reflect the communities we live in.

Read Hero Reports from New York City here. Or, if you've witnessed an everyday act of courage anywhere in the country, share your Hero Report with us here.

Wednesday June 25, 2008
» The Takeaway talks with Alyssa Wright, creator of Hero Reports, and the stories of hero reporters.
» John, joining the ranks of the hero reporters, tells the subway bag story

Wednesday July 3, 2008
» Faith unites Jews, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists in Iowa flood aftermath
» Your Hero Reports

Wednesday July 23, 2008
» A Hero Report on YouTube: The Hugging Saint

Thursday September 4, 2008
» Famed psychologist Dr. Philip Zimbardo looks at how heroism can be "democratized"

Monday September 15, 2008
» Ushahidi hopes to save lives by "crowdsourcing" crisis information

Are you still ambivalent about the presidential candidates? A new study says that, subconsciously, you’re much less torn than you think you are. Test your ambivalence with the U.S. Election 2008 Implicit Association Test.

Guest: Bill Woodcock, research director for Packet Clearing House, a non-profit group that advises Internet companies and governments about cyber attacks.

Texting while driving is dangerous. That's clear. But it turns out that texting while walking comes with its own risks. More and more pedestrians are turning up in emergency rooms with injuries sustained while typing out missives on those mini keyboards.

Yet another search engine, Cuil (Gaelic for "knowledge"), is taking aim at Google. In true Freudian fashion, the upstart is the brainchild of former Google engineers who claim that Cuil will offer broader, faster searches, without recording information about what you search and when.

The Blogging While Brown conference is on until Sunday, where, for the first time, bloggers of color from around the world have united in Atlanta to discuss their influence on the media and elections.

A generation from now, America will be electing its first president from the Facebook and MySpace age — and, oh, what fun that’ll be. Didn’t inhale? Well, Bill Clinton’s Facebook page may have told a different tale, as it will for the nation’s youngest politicians. Wait, it already has.

Is there such a thing as recession-proof stuff? If we’re all being tight with our wallets, then why, in this time of economic turmoil, are certain industries thriving? The Takeaway turns to Columbia business professor Cheryl Einhorn then goes to Stockton, Calif., (dubbed “the foreclosure capital” by 60 Minutes), where sometimes a bad turn can mean good business — for pawn shops.

Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Seth MacFarlane ("Family Guy"), two of television's most powerful showrunners, are taking their brands online. Whedon's "Dr. Horrible" will be an on-the-cheap supervillain musical. MacFarlane's "Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy" will be distributed by the advertising juggernaut Google, who just might be reinventing TV...

A decision expected later today could radically expand the number of top-level domain names available on the Web. Many governments anticipate a more global World Wide Web experience sensitive to cultural identity while many others fear the potential for confusion and online fraud.

The times they are a-changin'. It’s a quick-hit, fast-paced world and getting information isn’t what it used to be. For a professor in Atlanta, this historic election cycle has been a chance to watch how new and first-time voters have become engaged with the democratic process—and the tools they are using to stay informed.

Watch a collection of video and images on Andy Brudtkuhl's iowaflood.com and view a slideshow of Iowa flooding photos on Flickr.