Group items tagged

This post is about the windows phone market increasing in number of apps. In june 2012, the Windows Phone market was home to only 100 000 apps, and is now at 120 000 apps. This shows that although it is a small amount compared to Apple's 650 000 apps in June 2012, it is very rapidly growing and becoming a more recognized competitor. When people are asked what they do not like about windows phones in general, most say that the are too few apps on the market. This is quickly becoming less and less of an issue. This relates to portable computing because these days people use apps for everything. A larger selection of apps can be the deal breaker on choosing between an iPhone and a Windows Phone. By having a large amount of apps available to customers, you can make their lives easier by meeting more of their daily needs through phone applications. 

Ever wondered how much tech employee's make? Google has set up a new website showing how much each company pays each of it's employee's. With twitter employee's making an average of $120 000. Apple pays $113 000 on average and google $104 000 on average. For more information visit the site. http://www.techcompanypay.com/

This article is about a new 3D scanner. So far this scanner has created high levels of interest and is only selling for $450 Canadian compared to the NextEngine scanner that currently sells for $3000. There were two people that created this scanner and hoped to raise $81 000 but so far have already raised $228 000. The pair said that they built this scanner in mind for anyone who had a 3D printer. They said that is less complicated machinery and  doesn't have the same amount of moving parts that a 3D printer has. This scanner can scan objects up to a 5-inch diameter and a 9.75-inch height. On average it takes 3 minutes to scan an object.  This is an affordable way to get a 3D scanner aimed at the hobbyist and the consumer market. I think that this is a cool new product that many people will use and enjoy.

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 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

It's been less than 200 years since the birth of photography and in those years it has evolved a lot from the first camera to the smart phones that we so often use to take pictures today. This article maps out the evolution of photography throughout the years, and what it has come to be today. Cameras and photos have come a long way from what they first were. Even the digital camera, has become a smaller part of our lives as the phones with built in cameras had been introduced to our society. In fact, about 741 million mobile phones worldwide now have some photo capability. We no longer look to digital cameras or computers to edit and share our photos. All of those capabilities have been added to our smart phones. It has now become very easy to simply snap a photo and share it on a social networking site like instagram or facebook. In fact, Facebook has 10, 000 times more photos than the Library of Congress. Many of us have lost the need for digital cameras. Mobile photography is the latest evolution and many are experiencing the shift. Our phones are always with us and it provides us with the perfect camera when a picture perfect opportunity is right in front of us. 91% of smartphone owners take a picture at least once a month while only 73% of digital camera owners do the same. Personally, I've also experienced this shift. I used to have a digital camera and would bring it with me on field trips and special occasions. It was great to have, but now that I think about it before I had my smartphone and only used the camera I missed out on all the photo opportunities that I had in my day to day life. I only captured the big events and even when I took those photos, I always got a little lazy when it came to transferring them to my computer and sharing them with friends and family. It usually sat on my camera for a while before I finally got around to doing it. With my smart phone, I am simply able to snap a photo and share it without losing a mome

nt. I find it very convenient. Our lifestyle with technology has made our day to day life easier for us and now it is making it possible to capture our day to day life, wherever we are. To me, this move to mobile photography hasn't killed photography, but transformed it.

This article is about Freescale launching the world's smallest arm chip. It is made of silicon and is only 2 x 2 x 0.5mm. It can hold 48 HMz ARMM Cortex-M0+ processor, 32KB flash memory, and 4KB of RAM. This, however, is not designed to run desktop software, but is instead intended to be used for products that can be swallowed. I think this is an improvement on "Portable Computing", as this technology can be used in the medical field. This also follows the trend of minimization, as we can now see the potential and advantages of having smaller chips, for example, inserting them into pills that can be swallowed. Freescale is pricing this product at 75 cents apiece, if purchased in 100 000 unit loads. However, I am certain that the cost will go up dramatically if launched successfully, causing the a shift in the electronic market and economy.

This article is about a channel on a game streaming site that allows users to 'join in'. The channel's creator, Polygon, has formulated a way in translating chat comments into control inputs. Over the past few days this Pokemon game has received over 35 000 players typing in commands all at the same time, causing lag and a lack of cooperation. However, despite the slow progress in leading the hero around the playing field, players are still determined to defeat the game's eight gym leaders. What is really amazing about this is that Pokemon even after all this time is very popular and people are still finding different ways to program and play this game. It also shows that you don't have to create a new advanced system or another pacemaker to be successful in computers.

I'm not entirely clear what the connection is to careers in computing. Please clarify

This article talks about the possible return of the game flappy bird. This article says that the creator is considering bringing back the game to the app store. When Dong first removed it, the reason was that it had become an addictive product. The reason that he might bring back the app is because he wanted to take a break. I think that he might bring back the app so that he can make money. Originally, he was making 50 000 dollars off ad revenue daily. If I was him, i would have never taken down the app in the first place. It clearly made him a lot of money.

A giant, spinning 3D helix of a bookcase, by Google. How cool. A digital bookcase for your digital books is what Google Books thinks is best. Over 10, 000 books can be held at any one time, so you'll probably never reach the limit. Navigation is done by spinning it around or swiping it up and down. It's kind of like browsing through a REAL bookstore. This is very practical for any and all avid readers, and can apply to almost anyone - you don't have to fill up the thousands of spaces immediately to love it.

Once again, Japan has done it. They've created a robot at Nagoya Institute of Technology. This passive robot can walk on its own. It doesn't need motors, sensors, or even electricity. All it needs in a light push. This robot took 100 000 steps in a row during a 13 hour test and was able to carry 10-20kg. A purpose of this amazing thing is for people who have trouble walking, ie putting the robot on each leg. Its 90cm high and walks at 3.3km/h.

The "Bitcoin rush" is very similar to what the gold rush was in the 1800s. Only a virtual version. BitCoins are a form of digital currency that  Driven by the Bitcoins value of around 256.00 USD, people have set up rooms with high-tech PC's dedicated to mining BitCoin.

LG made the first 55-inch OLED TV which , and it will cost $8,000. The timing jibes with what we heard at CES, but it's the first solid word we've heard as to what the future of beautiful television is going to cost us. Eight thousand. That's a lot of money-more money than most people have to spend on a TV, by a longshot. But it could've been a lot worse! Samsung's current top of the line 55-inch LCD TV runs around half that-and it's using old, old technology. OLED will be out of reach for almost everyone, but, like everything else, it'll slide cheaper, and cheaper in a (relative) hurry. Especially when LG, Samsung, and the rest realize nobody can afford this. It realtes to the course because its technology.

A 26 year old software development student named Glenn Mangham had hacked into a facebook employees account. He claimed he was helping facebook to increase security. He is now going to jail for 8 months,  and facebook had to pay $200, 000 to deal with the hack. This has to do with the class because it deals with computers and using programs to hack into other websites.

this article is about a twenty six year old man named Glenn Mangham who hacked facebook and said it was to help them with their security issues. He was sent to jail for eight months and Facebook spent $200,000 dealing with this hacker. i thought this was interesting because it seemed pretty unbelievable one guy hacked into the biggest social networking site.