In today’s Quick Hits, two men are fired for Facebook, Google gets stuck in a territorial dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and Germans are still suffering over Street View problems.

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Location Services Fail to Find Mainstream Audience

The hype over location check-in services like Foursquare and Gowalla may have come too soon. According to a Pew Research Center report, only “4 percent of Internet users are even using location based services.” What’s more, “on a given day, the percentage of Web users checking in via their mobile devices falls to just 1 percent, per Pew’s research.” These numbers might change once more people begin to use Facebook’s new location-based service, but the low numbers suggest that regular people are disinterested in these products, or wary of the security risks associated with using them.

Two Workers Fired for Insulting Their Boss on Facebook

Two Canadian workers were fired from their jobs after making aggressive statements and homophobic slurs about their boss on Facebook. The pair attempted to argue that their dismissal stemmed from their successful efforts to unionize workers, but those arguments were rejected. While this story itself is not necessarily shocking, the fact that the workers were friends with their boss online and continued to make derogatory remarks toward him is. It shows how some social media users don’t consider the ramifications of their actions before sharing content online.

Woman Removed from Jury Pool Over Attempt to “Friend” Defendant

Facebook and juries simply don’t mix. In a political corruption trial in Atlantic City, a woman was dismissed from the jury for allegedly sending a friend request to one of the defendants. The judge dismissed the woman, but advised her not to make comment without first consulting an attorney. It remains to be seen whether she will face criminal charges for ignoring the judge’s order to avoid Facebook contact with the defendants.

Google Maps in the Middle of South American Border Dispute

Demonstrating Google’s widespread reach, the company is currently embroiled in an international border dispute over its Google Maps feature. According to a Wall Street Journal report, “The Internet is abuzz with claims that a Nicaraguan commander justified a raid into neighboring Costa Rica after using Google Maps.” Costa Rica has petitioned Google to change Maps to reflect that the disputed territory is theirs, while Nicaragua has requested Google ignore the request and keep the map the way it is. It’s hard to believe that this all started with a search engine.

Errors Undo Street View Blurring in Germany

Several bugs have been uncovered in Google Street View that allow individuals to see German homes and businesses that were supposed to be blurred out. Google agreed to black out the images, but the German Data Protection Agency is arguing that Google needs to delete the data from the company databases completely, as it agreed to do prior to rolling out Street View in the country.

In today’s Quick Hits, Bing launches social search, Facebook predicts the election results, and a hacker steals explicit images of women and posts them online.

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Bing Goes Live with Facebook Social Search

Microsoft has officially gone live with the Bing-Facebook Social Search integration. A CNET report describes how the new feature works: “If you opt to link your Facebook account with your Bing log-in, searching for the name of one of your Facebook friends in Bing brings up a link to that person’s entire profile in your results. This is true even if that person has elected not to share their Facebook profile with any search engines, since only you can see those results. So if you have a Facebook friend named Jerry Seinfeld, a link to his profile will appear alongside results for the famed comedian.”

Hacker Steals X-Rated Photos and Posts Them on Facebook

A 23-year-old California man was arrested for hacking into the e-mail accounts of more than 3,000 women and then posting explicit images he found on Facebook. According to the report, “Police believe that Bronk broke into about 3,200 Web mail accounts by guessing the answers to password reset questions used by services such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Microsoft’s Hotmail.” The man used Facebook profiles to get detailed information about the women to help answer the security questions. So far, police have identified 20 victims, but they expect to find more. Police speculate that the man “posted images to between 170 and 176 Facebook pages, and also e-mailed them to the victim’s friends.”

UK Says Google Broke Law with Street View Wi-Fi Snooping, but Won’t File Charges

Following in the footsteps of the United States, Britain’s Information Commissioner Christopher Graham has decided not to fine Google for accidentally collecting WiFi data, e-mail information, and passwords, despite calling the incident a “significant breach” of UK law. According to an Ars Technica report, Graham said “he would rather be content with a written promise from Google that such a thing wouldn’t happen again” than pursuing further legal action.

Google Trends Over 24 Hours

CNET’s Tom Krazit has an interesting article examining how Google Trends, the company’s barometer of what people are searching for, changed over the course of one whole day. The results show how Google provides an accurate pulse of what the nation is discussing, and also how the company scrubs the list to make sure no inappropriate content comes up.

Facebook Accurately Predicted Election Results

Clearly, a politician’s social media presence is important in getting their message out, but until now nobody knew for sure if having more “friends” meant getting more votes. According to Facebook’s political team, however, Facebook friends really do add up to votes. A Fast Company article this morning discusses how politicians with more Facebook fans than their opponents “won 74% of House races and 81% of Senate races.” It wasn’t a guarantee though, as Facebook friends were inaccurate in predicting victories for Christine O’Donnell, Meg Whitman, and Sharron Angle.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Faceook and Microsoft’s intriguing partnership, why you shouldn’t post videos of yourself speeding on Facebook, and how the DHS uses social media to uncover fraud.

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Microsoft and Facebook Team Up to Target Google

Microsoft and Facebook deepened their partnership yesterday with the announcement of a Facebook-powered search option for Bing. The feature, which would incorporate Facebook’s social functionality into Bing search results for a personalized user experience, is widely seen as an attempt by both companies to compete with Google for search traffic.

Homeland Security Document Reveals How Government Uses Social Media for Spying

The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently uncovered a Department of Homeland Security briefing on how government agents use social networking websites, and the narcissism of social media users, to monitor individuals online. According to the DHS document, “Narcissistic tendencies in many people fuels a need to have a large group of ‘friends’ link to their pages and many of these people accept cyber-friends that they don’t even know. This provides an excellent vantage point for FDNS to observe the daily life of beneficiaries and petitioners who are suspected of fraudulent activities.”

Police Charge Driver After Finding Reckless Driving Video on Facebook

An Israeli man was charged for excessive speeding and reckless endangerment after police discovered a video on Facebook showing him driving 162 mph on the freeway. The video, which was passed on to the media by one of the man’s friends, also showed the driver momentarily taking his hands off the wheel while he was speeding.

Facebook Offers One-Time Use Password

To help protect users from malicious software like keystroke loggers and other identity theft programs, Facebook recently announced the ability to request a one-time use password if they are using public computers. To get the one-time password, a user must text “otp” to “32665″ from a Facebook-verified phone.

New Study Shows 64% of CEOs Avoid Social Media

A new study from PR firm Weber Shandwick revealed an interesting statistic about CEO social media use. According to the report, 64% of CEOs do not actively use social media websites on behalf of their companies. In part, CEOs avoid social media because of the reputation risk associated with being online, but interestingly, there is also a reputation risk to not being proactive online. In the study, the CEOs who used social media were rated as more admired than those who didn’t.

In today’s Quick Hits, a major university shuts down social media, an Internet expert thinks Google is making us dumb, and some info on why searching for “free” online isn’t the best idea.

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Harrisburg University Bans Social Media for a Week

Harrisburg University in Pennsylvania has decided to temporarily block access to all social media sites from university computers for a week. The decision to ban social media access came from Provost Eric Darr, who told NPR that he wants students to think about how and why they use technology in their daily lives. Given the prevalence of smartphones on campus, however, the ban may not even affect student access to social media websites.

Does Google Make Us Dumb?

Nicholas Carr believes that the Internet is making people dumber, or at least less capable of solving problems on their own. The author of the book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains recently talked with the BBC about Google and how the company has “an industrial view that everything’s about how efficiently you can find that particular bit of information you need – and then move on to the next.” Carr argues that while Google’s philosophy has allowed the company to make innovative products, it runs the risk of making it impossible for users to concentrate on complex tasks.

Kids Don’t Use Internet Search

A new study from human-computer interaction researcher Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group reveals that young Internet users do not frequently use search when they are surfing the Internet, but rely rather on “bookmarks, remembering their favorite sites, and accessing paid subscription content and games.” This tapers off as kids get older (11-12) when they begin adopting search mentalities similar to adults.

McAfee Warns Against Searching for Free Stuff Online

A new study from McAfee reveals the danger of searching for free content online. According to a CNET report, McAfee’s findings revealed that “adding the word ‘free’ when looking for entertainment content in search engines greatly increases the chances of landing on a site hosting malware.” As an example, “searching for free music ringtones increases the chances of hitting a malicious site by 300 percent.”

Bing Surpasses Yahoo

According to a Nielsen report, Microsoft’s Bing search engine has eclipsed Yahoo to become the number two most-used search engine in the world. Google still holds the top spot with over 65% market share, but Bing’s growth to 13.9% is an impressive climb. Yahoo entered a search agreement with Microsoft last year that allows the company to use Bing’s search technology to power Yahoo search. The full integration of Bing into Yahoo search will be completed by 2012.

In today’s Quick Hits, a woman’s Facebook photos earn her a ticket for illegal deer hunting, a professional skip-tracer explains how to disappear online, and Google gives us hints about new search features.

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Couple Cited for Illegal Hunting Thanks to Facebook Photos

A man and woman in Inverness, Florida, were given a “citation for possession of wildlife taken illegally” after an Internet crimes unit found pictures of the woman skinning a deer on Facebook. This is not the first time that Facebook has helped law enforcement officials investigate a crime, but it is certainly one of the more unusual cases and clearly demonstrates how important Facebook and other social networking websites have become in our everyday lives.

Facebook Testing New Feature That Could Make Stalking Easy

Facebook is reportedly testing a new feature that would allow users to “subscribe to” other user’s updates. Some in the media have speculated that this feature would make Facebook stalking easy, but it’s unclear yet whether you will be able to subscribe to anyone’s profile, or if the feature will be limited to your friends. Given Facebook’s previous problems with safety, it would be a surprise if the company rolled out this product as an “opt-in” feature.

“Stop Those Boneheaded Facebook Comments”

In their latest netiquette column for CNN, Brenna Ehrlich and Andrea Bartz discuss the fine art of Facebook commenting and offer advice on how to avoid leaving “boneheaded” comments on your friend’s wall. Ehrlich and Bartz offer three amusing, but all too true, scenarios.

Professional Skip-Tracer Releases New Book on Privacy

Throughout his career, professional skip-tracer Frank Ahearn has helped track people and put them into hiding. Now, he’s taken his years of experience and put out a book to help regular people “vanish without a trace.” This USA Today interview features a short interview with Ahearn where he discusses the subject of social media and digital privacy.

New Google Logo Hints at Streaming Search Results

Yesterday, Google’s interactive logo set the Internet on fire, even becoming a trending topic on Twitter. Today, Google has put out another interactive logo that many feel may be a hint that the company will announce the rollout of streaming search results during a press conference today. Some users are already seeing streaming search on Google.