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A recent study indicates that more people in the world have cell phones than toilets. According to a national report, 6 out of 7 billion people on the Earth have cell phones, compared to the 4.5 billion who have access to a functional toilet. Cell phones are in no way a bad thing, the major concern here is the shockingly low number of toilets. The study shows that those in countries without proper sanitation lose about 4500 children a day, just because they lack proper cleanliness. The shortage of latrines makes disease spread quite easily, and it is shown that the countries with the most poverty have a direct correlation to the countries which lack proper bathrooms. Bill Gates and the UN have been working to make a toilet that can easily be installed and maintaining in a developing country, and hopefully these findings will decrease the amount of death and poverty in these third world countries. Although the article compares two completely different things (cell phones and toilets), it does well at shining a light on things we take for granted in our lives. It's great that cell phones are everywhere, it allows anyone anywhere to have access to information from around the world. However, the priorities need to be straitened out; toilets are way more important than iPhones.

I was going to do that article D:

Matthew doesn't have toilets in his house.

This article is a timeline of cell phones through the ages.  Although it is intended to be a humorous post, it is worth noting how far we've come in the design of cell phones. There are various types of phones depicted here ... [here is my connection goes ... about how the design of devices evolve to improve our usage and relationship to technology ...] [here is where you put your opinion - I've only been around since the mid-90s so I am more familiar with the smaller devices, much smaller than the one here.  Still, the trend continues, as the form of portable devices continue to change ... i.e the iphone 5 which is thinner than any other phone ever.]

Cellphones play a huge factor in our everyday life.  Everybody uses cellphones nowadays.  However, the real question is, when should a child receive a cellphone?  Rather, when should a parent give their a child a cellphone?  Everybody is different, so they have their own opinion as to when they are ready to receive a cellphone/give a cellphone.  A recent report shows that nearly half of the teens surveyed say they can't live longer than a week without their phones, and 36% said they check their phones at least every 10 minutes.  Of course, these habits don't develop within a day of course.  An American research market company polled parents on what they thought the most appropriate age for a child to receive their first cellphone.  Twenty-two percent of parents polled said they thought 10 was the right age, while 43% of the parents fell within the 10 to 12 age range.  I find this ridiculous, because not even I have my own cell phone, nor will I be receiving one in the near future.   In today's society, a phone is like a miniature computer that you can take anywhere with you.  Phones were originally used for making phone calls and giving parents feel a sense of security knowing they can contact their kids whenever and wherever.  However phones can also be a whole set of challenges to a parent.  It is an Internet-enabled device with few parental controls, which could be one challenge.  It might also give a child access to inappropriate apps, the less-than-wholesome intentions of other people, from bullying to worse.   As a child's age increases, there comes many other challenges such as sexting or texting while driving. Personally, I feel the only time one can be ready for a phone, is when they prove that they are mature enough to handle such responsibility.  But that's just my side of the story.

Yota Devices is a smart phone phone company, based in Russia that is making waves in the cell phone community with their innovations in smart phone hardware. The yotaphone was released last year in asia and europe and quickly made a name for itself by offering not only staple specs we have come to expect, but also innovation for the screen. Its front screen operates as anyone would guess, so the real area the phone stands out in is shown when flipped over. The back screen is a low-power e-ink display that in the phones first incarnation was mainly used for display and lacked touchscreen capabilities. Now, however, in the yotaphones upcoming successor: the screen has made the jump to a full touch panel, allowing it be used to answer calls, receive and dismiss notifications and be used to play games that don't require the flashy capabilities of the front screen. This kind of innovation in cellphone technology is of paramount importance and the biggest step forward since the original iphone. The potential is amazing, allowing for new software to utilize the second screen, and making cellphones even more accessible and useful to the smartphone community.

This is article tells us how engineers have been able to create Wifi chips for phones to get Wifi easier. I think that this would be helpful because, as the article says, "Ultimately it would reduce the chip count on the cell phone, which would reduce the cost and the complexity of manufacturing of the phone and improve battery life." This is particularly good because since many of us use our phones regularly, improved battery life will be so much more helpful without having to worry about our phones dying.

The above article (by Cyrus Favriar) details various interesting facts about the concentration of cellphone subscriptions on the planet - over 6 billion. At first the idea of 85% of the global population having access to a mobile phone seems outrageous, but 6 billion subscriptions does not necessarily mean 6 billion individual mobile phone owners. Many people living in third world countries will have multiple phones in order to take advantage of cheap calls within the carrier to and from a specific other party. Another interesting fact detailed in the article is that over 1/3 of the world's cellphone subscriptions is attributed to China and India, with over 2 billion subscriptions combined. A study from Gartner predicts that 1 billion smartphones will ship worldwide in 2014, and data from Canalys showed that more smartphones were sold in 2011 than personal computers. Between July 2011 and June 2012, Americans used 1.1 billion GB (> 10 000 TB) of mobile data, and over the last year Americans collectively spent 2.321 trillion minutes on the phone and have sent 2.273 trillion text messages. So, why should we be interested in all of these arbitrary facts? We understand that as smartphone prices become exponentially less expensive and other parts of the world gain access to data services, mobile broadband continues to grow at a rapid pace. There is a global trend from fixed-broadband to mobile-broadband subscriptions, simply because it is more cost-effective. As global bandwidth increases we can supposedly pump an infinite amount of data to billions of customers around the world. This relates to eLifestyle because it shows that although we talk about poverty and oppression around the world, one thing unites us: technology. This relates to Economics because of the decreasing cost of smartphones and the accessibility of cheap subscriptions becoming more prominent. This relates to the ICS20 class because as most of us own mobile phones and have mobile plans with various car

As the title reads, this article announces scientists discovery to recharge laptops and cell phones with soda pop and vegetable oil. Scientists created the first fuel cell that produces electricity with technology borrowed from natural biological powerhouses. Researchers believe, these innovative biofuel cells can transform sugar and fats into energy for running a variety of machines and devices. When further developed, these devices have the potential for replacing disposable and rechargeable batteries in a wide variety of consumer electronics and other products.This can be a revolutionary discovery if we actually start to use soda pop and vegetable oil as our energy source to run our electronic devices rather than batteries. This has an impact on everybody's life and ultimately the entire world because with so much of our lives consisting of using and working with various technology based devices, it will be significant in the way we save money and resources in helping our environment and lives but also being just as efficient and successful with our products as before. 

Anglophone= English speaking person Francophone= French speaking person Technology has become a large part of our everyday lives. This article talks about how Canadians are purchasing more and more electronics. (Cell phones, iPads, tablets) The article also talks about how Canadians are also signing up for Netflix, a service that allows users to watch movies in the comfort of their own home. The Media Technology Monitor states that 28 % of English speaking Canadians owned a tablet at the time of the survey which was 7 times the amount in 2010. I think this this is a result of society and the services that businesses now offer that they hadn't previously. EX: Now, we can watch movies on our tablets, but let's say 10 years ago, we would have to go to a movie theater. I believe that portable devices have positively affected our lives. These devices make everything we do more convenient, for example, cell phones allow me to contact my friends anywhere in the world and they also provide me with help in an emergency. I strongly believe that portable devices have positive effects in our lives, and judging from the increasing amount of technology users, many others think so as well.

6/10 would read again

Don't be fooled by this imposter, I am the real spider man.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was passed to help protect digital rights, but allowed the Librarian of Congress to make exceptions to the act that would otherwise not follow the act. Today (October 28), four new exemptions to the DMCA were put into effect most notably the legalizing of jailbreaking on iPhones but not iPads. The other exemptions to the DMCA are the requirement of disabled people to own multiple devices in order to access e-books, the illegalizing of unlocking a cell phone purchased after January 2013 at a new carrier without permission from your old carrier, and the legalizing of ripping some content of a DVD only for specific purposes. The new exemptions put into effect could have a serious impact on the technology market. The number of e-book reader sold to disabled customers will decrease drastically since they will have to buy other devices so they can legally read e-books. Apple and app developers would also lose a lot of revenue from the App Store since more users will be motivated to jailbreak their iPhones and get pirated apps instead of actually buying apps since they can do so legally. The new exemptions could cause some providers to lose some money though not a significant amount should the provider refuse to unlock cell phones when consumers go to other countries since in the foreign country, consumers will be paying and using service from a local provider instead of their original provider causing them to miss out on some money. Finally, the DMCA exemptions could cause a decrease in DVD sales not just because they are losing popularity already but also because if someone wants to rip a part of a DVD, they can just borrow it from someone else instead of buying and ripping the needed content. I think these new exemptions are very silly and could end up being more harmful than useful. Making disabled customers buy multiple devices just to access e-books is very discouraging to potential e-book reader customers. I also wonder th

Many things are replaced by electronics and machinery for our convenience. However, in 2012, why is the majority of people still using the traditional form of payment-cash. In the past few years, there were a few developers, who were interested in this topic, began to explore and brainstorm a variety of creative ideas of payment for the convenience everyday consumers. These determined developers may not have created new methods, but they have provided us with options that we may consider depending on our positions: people buying or selling products, or exchanging funds. For each category, mobile apps and online websites were recommended. Since we have easy access to our cell phones, it is not difficult to complete our payment tax with ease. As a result, it is not necessary to carry around cash or credit cards too often when going out to.    For example, Google Wallet is relatively efficient since it supports most or all major credit cards and can be used to pay for restaurant or shop purchases. Microsoft Wallet (similar to Google Wallet) is also another option for those who do have Android phones since Google Wallet is available to only a few Android phones.     

This article is about a location-aware Field Trip tour guide app for iOS. You can now download it from the apple app store. Previously, the app was only available for Android, arriving back in September 2012. Field Trip runs in the background on your phone, triangulating position via cell phone towers, and only notifies you when "get close to something interesting." This can include anything local businesses, historical facts, landmarks, art, or culture.You select the local feeds you like and the information pops up on your phone automatically as you move about. You can discover thousands of interesting places/experiences that fall under the following categories: Architecture, Historic Places & Events, Lifestyle, Offers & Deals, Food Drinks & Fun, Movie Locations, Outdoor Art and Obscure Places of Interest around you. Field Trip can detect when you're driving and automatically "talk" about interesting places and experience around you. I think that this is a cool app and should be used while you go on trips so that you can see all the places around you and choose where you want to go. 

This article talks about apps people can download to their computer and cell  phones. This is very helpful because in our society, there are many technology which deals with apps such as i pods, i phones, Google phones, smartphone and etc. In the beginning people have difficult time finding which apps are useful since not all apps are free to download. This article could solve their problem because it talks about 10 apps that can help you to find other apps that are useful. I like this because i too have problem deciding which apps to download and now i know that these 10 apps can help me to solve my problem and help me download useful apps without wasting my time. 

This article is about the evolution of the normal cell phone vs the smartphone. The Pew internet and the american life projects  reported that smartphone users have now surpassed(Be better than) basic phone users. It also talks about how the mobile phones will over take PCs.

This article explains how Dell, one of the largest and most successful PC makers in the world, has given up on a possible creation of their own smartphone. Dell expressed that they tried multiple times to produce a product that would be successful in the US smartphone market, but with a number of devices facing some serious bugs as well as a problem with slow speed, the company did not see positive results and they decided to trash the idea and process once and for all to focus on other opportunities. Dell is not getting out of the mobile device business altogether thanks to sales and success with devices sold in Asia and Japan, and the company will continue making low-cost phones and tablets for sale in emerging markets. With smartphones becoming a very successful and poplar device that many customers are increasingly taking an interest to, this setback has to worry or concern Dell because they are not able to compete will other huge named brands and companies in the mobile device bushiness. Dell has had it's highs and has had success over the years with products and devices, but maybe this is a wake up call that they don't have the money, resources, and high praise that more well-known companies do and this could be a huge factor to why the amount of success, more specifically in the phone industry, hasn't been enough to be a top contender in the mobile business altogether.

When most thieves commit a crime they try to get away from police. However looks like karma got back at a man who stole a woman's cell phone. He tried uploading a picture onto facebook through her phone but the phone was set to automatically post it to her wall. This gives police pretty much all they need to catch him.

Cedars-Sinai hospital in LA provides a service called "Baby Time". This allows mothers who have had difficult births to stay connected to their new born child. This is possible because an iPad is linked to another iPad which is placed by the baby's incubator. The hospital allows mothers to use "Baby Time" twice a day. The iPad's foreshadow the video monitors and plan to be accessible by cell phone .

this article highlights 6 apps people should download to their cell phones, i pod touch, or other things. These apps includes angry bird-space, blurtt, karma, Roamz, etc. This an help people who were looking for apps to download for unique purposes. This related to our course because this shows the internet culture and it impact on us. Now they are making article about apps which didn't happen before. this relates to unit in our course which will talk about impact of internet and technology on  our culture and individual. 

Now who loves the color pink? many girls love the color pink and especially if they can find a pink cell phone, they'll love it! Now the Samsung Galaxy Note is coming soon! This new Galaxy is just like all the other Galaxies that come in the colour black and blue. Keep an eye out for the new Note in a store near you, for now, it is expected to land in Germany soon. This smartphone is an Android,the screen is 5.3 inches and had internal memory of 16 GB. That's amazing!

We all know about those little cameras on our cell phones or iPods, but have you ever considered a mini camera in your smoke detector or maybe even a rock? Well, maybe you should start. This article shows us various, unexpected places where small cameras can be hidden. It provides a glimpse at just how much technology has evolved throughout the years and forces us to face the reality that we're living in 2012. Technology is everywhere, even in places that we would never have expected. This article shows not only how advanced technology has become, but also how creative and discreet. I mean, I never would have thought twice about that rock sitting by the tree on my way to school, but now I'm starting to think that I should have. Every day, we encounter countless items that have become so normal for us. A ring, a tissue box, a car remote; we wouldn't even think about the possibility of a hidden camera in these commonplace items. Now, the question remains, is this kind of more advanced technology always better? Sure, these hidden cameras can be used by law enforcement and such to do surveillance, but what about the possibility of this falling into the wrong hands. In our world, we know that it's not difficult at all to get a hold of this kind of technology and to be perfectly honest, that makes me a little nervous. Despite the fact that this post was meant to be light-hearted and interesting, it also raises awareness about the risks of such technology. Before reading this article I never would have thought that the wallet that lady at the mall was holding could really have been a camera recording my every move, but now I've realized that things aren't always what they look like, especially in this day and age. After reading this post, I think I'm going to be a little more vigilant and probably also more paranoid, because we can never know if or where there is a hidden camera.

We should all probably know that when technology starts upgrading as time goes by, we always want to get the new products. Our generation is getting more and more into technology and in this article, it explains a study of how we are digitally getting distracted in our academics. This study shows that 47% of teachers should make courses and content in digital literacy into a school's curriculum. I agree with this because as our generation spends our days mainly on our phones or on computers, we wouldn't be distracted on the technology if we have our work finished with it. The only back draw to this is that many students would just go on Google or Wikipedia for their answers as the Internet has a huge amount of information displayed for us to use. This article relates to portable computing because it's starting to affect how we do in our education. In addition, it relates to eLifestyle because we're using this technology as a daily part of our lives and if we start to use it as a method of education, we can use it as a form of gaining new information.

The article, by Neha Prakash, is about a study on the effects of technology on the current generation of students. The study concluded with 87% of teachers saying students were easily distracted and had short attention spans. This is most likely due to the internet providing such quick and easy access within a keystroke in search engines such as Wikipedia and Google. Students are used to having things accomplished and out of the way so quickly that they no longer have the attention span to complete more complicated and time consuming tasks. Due to this, students lack time management and also do not check if their sources are reputable. A solution to this problem could be to incorporate digital literacy and technology into schools' curriculum. With this additional knowledge, methods of education can be improved in today's technological environment. This relates to elifestyle in that we use technology so much that we can take it for granted. Normally, we do not acknowledge the consequences of repetitive and prolonged use of social media, search engines, cell phones, and so on. As the class of ICS2O, we learn to use technology in a healthy balance in our lives. We are at the forefront of electronic education, using sites such as diigo, Google Drive, and Google Reader to complete assignments and engage in the events of the outside world. While there are negative impacts to the overuse of technology, like most other things, technology, used in balance with other aspects of life, can be beneficial.

This article states that a new study has shown that more and more kids/teenagers are distracted by technologies which affect their learning.  87% of the teachers in this study have said that "technology is creating an easily distracted generation with short attention spans."  Other teachers also claim that "technologies do more to distract students than to help them academically."  Teachers, though, remained somewhat optimistic about digital impact, with 77% saying Internet search tools have had a "mostly positive" impact on their students' work. I think that technologies help out a lot in kids learning however it could still distract them. A lot of kids use the internet with homework and study help which could in some cases is a very beneficial thing. They would learn and find out more about the subject they are studying. Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project, says that maybe it is not the problem with tech, but the lack of digital literacy training in students that creates the problem. I agree with this also.