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This article details a video released by Michael Bloomberg's (the Mayor of New York) office: the video compiles some data from a study on how to reduce New York's CO2 emissions by "The mayor's Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability." Those science nerds calculated that one tonne of CO2 would equate to a sphere with a 33-foot diameter, and knowing that New York as a city produces almost 2 tonnes of CO2 every second, the virtual simulation shows that over the course of one year, New York would produce more than 54 million metric tonnes of CO2; by those pre-determined facts, we would see that the entire island of Manhattan would be buried under a pile of those 33-foot diameter spheres. This relates to 'Environment' because as we progress in technology, our emissions of fossil fuel bi-products (especially CO2) increase rapidly. This relates to ICS20 because we often argue about the tech industry's impact on the environment, the most recent of debates being 'Cloud Computing' (which we all agree has a less minimal impact than a multitude of servers.) This video was released as an open forum to discuss the matters of New York's ecological impact, and since the video is quite self-explanatory, I recommend that you watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtqSIplGXOA.

hi minab

This article touches on a very important topic about whether technology is helping the economy and job markets more or if it is in fact hurting it. The answer is they do both. The New York Times among others write that tech companies have created relatively few jobs compared to industries such as GM. However TechCrunch argues that technology has created a lot more indirect jobs due to technology. There are in fact new jobs created such as social media marketers online. Most of these jobs are part-time because they are online and connect employers and workers with no hassle. Their conclusion is that there are millions of jobs created with a high demand but an unprepared workforce. The jobs that are needed now are more technology based than ever before and our economy is moving so fast in that direction that some skills that were needed in the past are no longer needed now. Therefore people are losing jobs not because there are not enough jobs produced but because our job market is drastically changing.  Some companies are allowing people to step into job positions with just a bit of online training or courses. Startups like General assembly are creating programs that are accessible to everyone and helps address the needs of the labor market. The final verdict is we need better training tools to quickly acquire high demanded skills and help workers adapt to the change that technology brings to the labour market. This article relates to economics and eLifestyle mostly because it has to do with how our economy is growing from the jobs created by technology but also how our workers have to respond to this change. This article deals with the changes that the labour market is going through now and how the increase in technology is now changing our lives. Some of our old jobs are being replaced by new jobs that not enough people are qualified for, so certain careers are feeling a job decline making it seem like technology is replacing workers. But in fact these new tools a

What if there a was a way to charge your smartphone and get a workout at the same time?  This project is currently being implemented in New York City. Bikes open to the public that are able to charge phones have been scattered all over New York City.  The Charge Cycle hopes to bring a network of outdoor neon-green stationary bikes that allows anyone to charge their phone for free by simply peddling.  It takes the same amount of time to charge as if you were to directly plug it into the wall. Although there are some concerns of theft, developers have chained the bikes and also put locks on the bikes, which makes it harder to move. Nowadays, we all rely on our smartphones, they are technically our everything.  Many people would be devastated if it were to die, and they will not be able to use it until they have their charger and an outlet.  The Charge Cycle offers a charging system for smartphone users while they get a workout as well, so it is a "win win" situation for these users.  This affects our lifestyle because instead of sitting around doing nothing while waiting for our phones to charge, we can get a workout out of it, and stay fit and healthy. I do think this a good idea because obesity rates today are increasing, which is dangerous.  In order to maintain a healthy diet, exercise is important.  This bike allows us to maintain said healthy diet, while charging our phones at the same time, which truly is a win win.

According to CNBC, Apple will reveal that the iPad 3 will be at an event next week in NEW YORK CITY. Sources like twitter says that the next-generation iPad 3 will be a quad-core iPad with 4G LTE! If you want more info go to CNBC's twitter. Some say this wont be happening and some say they can't wait. Apperantly they reached out to Apple to see if this event is still going, they have not commented back yet. 

With all that's been happening with the Super storm, Hurricane Sandy, social networking may seem far from our mind, but it turns out social network sites, like twitter has become a common source for breaking news about what's going on in different places. At times like these, people often join together and find courage and compassion in one another, while others simply seek to make the problem worse. That's what happened when someone had tweeted false news about the hurricane, like tweeting about the New York Stock Exchange building being flooded and under three feet of water. The rumor had spiralled and even been repeated on CNN and the Weather Channel before being found fake. Normally, false tweets are simply overlooked or scoffed at, but at times like this those kinds of tweets can create mass panic and worry. They are definitely immoral, but what has come into question is whether it should be considered illegal. Some think that this type of tweeting was done to increase fear and endanger, but should his behaviour be considered criminal? After all, he does have freedom of speech and the freedom to lie is included in that, except in "rare occasions". Personally, I think that, normally, silly, fake tweets can be overlooked and just scrolled past, but in times of emergency, tweets like this that can add more fear and panic to an already troubled situation should be considered a criminal action. In times of crisis, everybody should be uniting and helping each other, not creating more danger and trouble. Freedom to lie in the face of disaster like this, about that kind of information is not something that should be tolerated. No matter how big or small the aftermath and reaction to those tweets, they should not be overlooked and in no way should the law consider it okay.

This article is about a new Playstation controller, which is thought to be made for the next-gen console the PS4.  Sony is expected to release information about this new gaming console on February 20th, in New York.  The Playstation 4 is going to be the next console in the line of Playstations, following the PS3 which is currently outdated by many computers.  The PS4 will need to compete with the rumored XBox 720, as they are expected to be released around the same time this year, before Christmas.  Sony's ability to innovate and add touch screen technology to their controller will help make the playstation 4 ahead of the other gaming consoles, such as the XBox and computers.  This will also help Sony generate sales, as it will include new technology to older controller designs, and make it more appealing tp consumers.

This article (written by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai) is an interesting analysis of a general trend in the tech industry and demand for people with coding experience. The article states that now is the best time to dive in to coding because it has never been cheaper/easier to do so, with the introduction of Codeacademy - used in ICS20 - in early 2012. In less than 5 months, Codeacademy had stated that it reached over 1 million registered accounts, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Many web-based companies, even the titans that are Facebook and Google, are always looking for people with coding experience. Jobs in programming are also more lucrative than most jobs, even at entry level positions (15 of 21 San Fransisco Developer Bootcamp students were offered jobs in coding, with an average annual pay of $79 000.) The industry is severely lacking in female programmers as well, with only 1:10 ratio of women to men in the industry. This relates to Economics, eLifestyle and ultimately the ISC20 class because as the industry develops, there will be a higher demand for people with experience in coding; 2012 has been widely concerned as the best year for coding because many people who start coding now will most likely be secured for a positon right out of University, which can be very securing to young people who may not be sure of their future. Evidentally, the title says it all; if you are looking for a job, it would be wise to pick up coding because this a newly establihed market; most jobs in computers didn't exist twenty years ago so many people believe that coding will eventually become a societal necessary education, like math or grammar skills. This article shows how we are in a somewhat technological revolution, where we are creating new jobs where all the others are already full.

The Walking Dead season 3 has much more zombies than in season 1.  This mind blowing, butt kicking, entertaining tv show is back on amc every Sunday.  Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick Grimes, is back and better than ever.  At the New York Comic Con, Andrew Lincoln said "They said there are more zombie kills in this episode than in the whole of Season 1."  Rick's son, Carl, is played by Chandler Riggs and he now fights walkers with his father and is no longer the little boy who hides.  Another new addition to the tv show is Danai Gurira who plays Michonne and is the katana wielding hooded person who was shown in the season finale who left everyone wondering who she was.  This is the most anticipated tv show and it hasn't let anyone down yet.

It is well-known that Apple has access to almost any music that one can think of. However, according to the New York Post, Apple is low-balling record labels for the rights to use their music in a new music streaming service. The company is only offering labels 6 cents per 100 listens, where as Pandora offers 12 cents per 100 and traditional radio pays 22 cents per 100. One can say that Apple is trying to enter this business, but not willing to go through all the trouble and complications that other music streaming services has to go through. I personally do not think this is right because record labels go through a lot of work just to try to get a little profit from the music industry. With Apple offering such a low price to use their music, it is not fair to those who work hard for a result.

It's no secret that the countries such as North Korea (obviously), China, and Iran have filtered the internet via censorship to within a couple of breathes of its life. But now there is a new country passing censorship policies: Russia. According to the New York Times, the Russian government has

New iPhone app lets you read recommendations of where to eat by some of the best chefs. Chef's Feed shows you what the best chefs in your city. You can search by chef, search by dish and see what chefs in your city are tweeting. Currently Chef's Feed only supports New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.  

Onepager, the startup that allows any user or small business owner to quickly build a website (for free), is announcing today that it has raised $350K in seed financing from a host of New York City-based angel investors, like Daniel Eskapa and Mark Birch to continue development of new features (i.e. embedding feeds and videos) and support its marketing efforts.

This article talks about our famous #firstworld problems jokes on Twitter and other Social Networking sites. They may seem funny to you, but DDB New York sees them as creating an online atmosphere of neither sensitivity nor awareness to deal with real social and worldwide problems. So DDB decided to team up with the non-profit organization called WATERisLIFE. Together they traveled to Haiti to film locals reading aloud a series of these "problems" to show how ridiculous they are in comparison to real problems that people face in third-world countries like Haiti. In addition to the video they tweeted some of the original authors of the #firstworld problems saying things like "I'm sorry you were awoken by your cleaning lady. I hope today is better" as well as a call to action to donate money to WATERisLIFE which helps create water solutions and rebuilding communities.  This article relates to eLifestyle and how those posts may be funny to us they can also be insensitive to real problems world-wide even though we don't always intend to be hurtful. This also relates because it shows how the internet can be such a positive or negative thing worldwide. In this case out of an insensitive tweet people were inspired to create awareness for bigger issues and a way to help through a video and a few tweets online.  I think this shows a positive side of the internet where people can take something and turn it into a way of helping people world-wide and getting word out faster and to more people all with the power of the internet.

This article, by Somnini Sengupta on the New York Times, is an in-depth look on free speech on the internet, and drawing the line between free expression and hate speech. An anti-Islamic video recently posted on YouTube has brought up the debate over where internet companies decide to draw that line. After the killing of a US ambassador and three other Americans, Google has restricted access to the video in Egypt and Lybia. Google continued to restrict the video in five other countries where it violated local laws. The question about free speech proves to be a problem where it can lead to hate speech. There are continual debates over whether hate speech includes speech that can lead to violence, or demeans a group by race or religion. Politically unstable countries, such as Pakistan, have blocked YouTube altogether. Many internet companies such as Facebook and Twitter, receive the same problems on content as well. Social networks of communication and freedom of expression can also become outlets and channels of hateful and demeaning speech. However, it is also difficult to screen such large amounts of user uploaded content at a time. Although these social networking sites may not condone the views expressed by their users, they can do little to prevent the upload and viewing by hundreds of millions of daily active users. As represented by the anti-Islamic video, these views can affect events, actions, and the lives of people the world over. This can relate to us as students because we can see how widespread the internet is, and how much larger it will become. Everything we post online is recorded and forever preserved; once it's out there, it's out there. Whether what we post reach the desired recipient or a nation, words, coupled with the internet, have immense power, and should be treated with respect. This reflects on smaller scale issues such as cyber bullying, where what we post may intentionally or unintentionally harm our peers. Yes, I believe that free spee

This article is about jobs and salaries for tech jobs. The top 10 cities for tech jobs are Washington, D.C., Chicago,, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Detroit and Seattle. It also says 61% of people working in digital will relocate to find a better job. The salaries that are made by the top people were between $116,000 and $133,000.  This relates to our class because we talked about and did an assignment on jobs you can get with tech

This article is about Etsy sending 20 of their female engineers to a hacker school in New York City to learn more about coding. Etsy finds it very important that they send women because in the engineering field women are a minority. Etsy's VP, Marc Hedlund believes that we need to start introducing engineering to women sooner, like in elementary school. I found this very interesting because I think it would be great if the school systems started introducing engineering earlier. As well I found it interesting how so few women were in the engineering field. 

Recently apple released the iPhone 4s. With it, they released an app called find my friends, with that app, you can track someone (if they first agree) which can be helpful in finding someone at a crowded place. However, it's already wrecked the marriage of a new york couple when a husband was able to catch his wife cheating through this app. What does this say about the future of privacy? Everyday people have less and less of it. 

Robotic Staffed Casino! and amazing display of today's robotics technology. People are having doubts of how this will work especially with the whole cheating prevention problem. People are wondering how it would work because in the past dealers and staff at casino's have been trained to detect cheaters and con artists, how will the robots be able to detect these subtle signs? Questions will hopefully soon be answered.

On cell phones they have maps. They are creating a new one that shows the many stores that are in New York, and where they are specifically located. Another feature is by touching the stores name it show tweets from each store that promote their sales. They will be charging people to have these privileges. This relates to the course because it shows how technology is evolving.

This article is about NYC launching a better map app for tourist. The new app is going to be a big improvement so that tourist can find specific stores better. 

The article is an excerpt from "Instant: The Story of Polaroid" by Christopher Bonanos. The Polaroid is described as 'that thing that happened before Instagram happened' in the comment proceeding the excerpt. The excerpt tells the tale of how the first Polaroid camera was revealed to the public in 1947 at a scientific meeting of the Optical Society of America by Edwin Land. It is a story of innovation and breakthrough. Previously, cameras would produce negatives on film which would be sent to labs, or developed in home-made darkrooms. This process was difficult, time consuming, and could potentially fail. The Polaroid would change all that. Land took a picture of himself and set a 50 second timer for it to develop. He described how a thick chemical reagent was being reacted with the negative, the same stuff that normally went down a darkroom drain. This was one of Land's biggest breakthroughs. With the 50 seconds up, he peeled back the print, revealing a sepia (or as we described it: a browned-up-a-notch) portrait of himself. This was monumental. A process which normally took a week was done in under a minute. The story of the instant camera raced across America, landing Land in the New York Times and Life magazine. This article relates to the present, where cameras are generally smaller and predominantly digital. As a class, we recently watched a video on micro-technology. Over the years, scientists and engineers have been on the constant struggle to make things smaller, faster, and more efficient. The camera is no exception. Today's cameras contain microchips and processors of their own, in a compact space. Recent Polaroids can print in colour. In a world driven by invention and innovation, many new things may be introduced in our life time. Perhaps one will be as impactful as the Polaroid camera.