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The law on hate speech being used on the internet does not interfere with freedom of expression, according to the courts. The penalty you get for doing this action clearly is a violation, but courts have not taken that into account. This happens to be section 13, a currently defunct law. A penalty for hate speech on the internet can result in up to a $10000 fine! This penalty is what gives people the reason to argue. Wouldn't fining someone for stating an opinion on something (no matter how bad it is) still be a violation of someone's freedom of expression? Unless you were under employment and did something of that nature within your job, you should be fired. But, the internet seems to be much different than real life. When something is written it must have more power, because saying your opinion in real life out loud, will not result in any fines. The problem is that section 13 violating free speech is right politically, but wrong legally. Section 13 is being removed in June of 2104, and for good reason. No internet hate speeches are being made in which a victim should recieve $10000 in compensation. Personally, I would never say anything to offend a large group of people to such a degree, but I still think section 13 should be removed, if it goes against a constitutional right under reasonable grounds.

Over the past few years, Facebook has grown to become one of the largest social networking sites in the world. People everywhere, young or old, have leapt at this opportunity to connect with friends or family from all over. This article brings up the possibility of creating a Facebook option that is available specifically for under 13 users as the current Facebook is only supposed to be available to users over 13. This new option would allow parents to create a link to their child's website and edit the Facebook Timeline options to whatever they think is appropriate. However, this possibility is met with a lot of opposition. People believe that allowing kids younger than 13 onto this site could be risky as they would be more susceptible to the dangers of cyber bullying and abuse. They believe that kids would simply be too young to understand the dangers of the internet and as a result would not know how to stay safe. Letting kids go on social networking sites like Facebook at such a young age is a huge decision. How do you know what is the right one? Despite the over 13 rules on Facebook, there are still thousands of young kids on this site that had simply lied about their age. It isn't hard to get onto this site. No matter what we do, with or without this new Facebook option, there will undoubtedly be young kids on Facebook. This fact is unavoidable. That is why I think that this alternate Facebook for children is not necessarily a bad idea. If we can't keep kids off of Facebook then we might as well work to make a safer version of it for them. Although, I don't condone young kids using this site, I am aware of the fact that we can never keep them all away from it and if that's the case then we might as well do all we can to protect them while on it. The growing world of technology is going to reach the younger children at some point and instead of trying to shield them from this other world and forcing them to explore it behind our backs, I thin

k we should find safer ways for them to discover this cyber world and educate them on its dangers. This article highlights people's concerns about rapidly growing social networks in the cyber world and its expansion to target younger children. It simply gives us a look at how much Facebook has really grown and what they are willing to do to keep it growing. It has grown so quickly and so has its number of users. It is only natural that young kids want to see and learn about what has fascinated so many of older people.

This article talks about 13 gadgets that will help make your life a lot easier during a natural disaster like a hurricane. Some of the artifacts mentioned are a  wind-up  radio, which would help if you don't have batteries. Solar powered water purifiers and chargers, which would be good in almost every situation. These articles will help you survive. I chose this article because of hurricane Sandy and it is possible that we might get hit by a natural disaster that bad. If we do , you should know what to have that will help you survive.

It's surprising that apple would actually quit selling the white MacBook when it's pretty popular, but now they decided to refresh and start with the MacBook Air. Now Apple is offering the 11 and 13 inch Macbook Air. This MacBook can be brought everywhere since it's really thin, it makes life easier for students. 

This article is about meteors and how often they land on Earth. On Thursday Feb. 14/13 a meteorite fell to Earth in Russia overnight and so far 500 people have been injured. space rocks enter Earth's atmosphere all the time but most burn up before it can reach Earth's surface. A mineralogist at the University of Muenster in Germany, said that there are typically five to ten meteorite strikes around Earth per year but most we do not hear about or see because the Earth is about 70% water and most land there. This article relates to the Environment tag because even though it is very rare to see a meteorite hit Earth they can change the landscape and even the sometimes life. An example of this is with the dinosaurs or creating a crater hole which can later turn into a lake.

This article talks about a new tablet line from Microsoft called "Surface". It is supposed to go with the new Windows 8 operating system which is supposed to be a more touch and mobile friendly system. At an event in LA Steve Ballmer showed 2 versions of Surface.  One is running Windows 8 Pro the other Windows RT. Each tablet comes with a stand and magnetically attachable covers to allow the tablet to be like a laptop. The type cover has a keyboard and trackpad, while the touch cover is a thinner keyboard cover that comes in many colours and has an accelerometer to let the system know when it's folded to deactivate the keyboard. Both have a 10.6-inch display. The RT version is 9.3mm thick and weights 673g while the Windows 8 Pro is 13.55mm thick and weighs 903g. Only the RT comes with productivity software like Office Home and Student pre-loaded. This release ties in with portable computing because it is an all new portable tablet that is from Microsoft. It also ties in with their new operating system that goes hand in hand with this tablet. It is something with a new innovative style and can be used in various ways as a laptop or tablet. It also ties in with economics and the whole Apple vs. Microsoft competition. Microsoft has created an "even better" version of the iPad. Now instead of going for the iPad people that like PC's and working with them can make the choice to use the Surface tablet which once again puts Microsoft and Apple in competition with one another for sales. All in all this is a great new tablet and I think it is great for all those Windows users that can get their hands on a new tablet from Microsoft.  It will be interesting to see if this new technology will blow up compared to the iPad and now the iPad Mini.

This article (by Emily Price) details a few interesting facts surrounding the social media giant 'Facebook', particularly around gaming. We are all familiar with social games, such as Mafia Wars and Farmville, and Facebook has been recently seeing most of their income from in-game advertisements and in-app purchases. Facebook has seen a 13% growth in gaming users since September 2011 (226 million - 251 million.) Facebook now has over 900 million users, and over 500 million users are utilizing Facebook via a mobile platform. Facebook says that games grow on the network in five different ways: App Center, Notifications, News Feed, Timeline, and games users have Bookmarked. 8 out of the 10 top iOS games have Facebook integrated, and the top two categories of games users play on Facebook are 'Simulation' and 'Games and Puzzles.' This relates to Portable Computing because Facebook has recently taken large steps to improve the user's mobile experience, understanding that most of their core audience is on smart devices. This relates to eLifestyle because we see these social networks like Facebook integrating gaming into the user's social feed, allowing them to spend more time on the site. This relates to Economics because as games become cheaper and more accesible, we see that most of the gaming market is taken by mobile games; no longer do we have to go to an electronics boutique to purchase a $60 triple-A game, when we can buy the $0.99 version of said game or another digitally. Mobile games are the consumer conscious choice because you get the most "bang for your buck." This relates to ICS20 because although most of us say that our time on Facebook is deteriorating, we still are entrenched in the social gaming environment; this is demonstrated by Facebook's 65 million user growth in 2012 alone.

This article is about how 38% of children on Facebook are younger than 12 years old. I found this to be really shocking! Even though there are privacy settings for Facebook, you still have to be careful with the people you talk to. Another thing i found surprising was that 74% of parents are worried about their children's safety, yet they still let their children on Facebook. There are many things that parents have to look out for when their children are on Facebook. Including sexual predators and cyber bullying. Even though parents say they are concerned it doesn't show in the stats when there are 6 year olds on Facebook.  

This article talks about how 38% of children on Facebook are younger than 12! There is an age restriction on Facebook, you must be at least over 13 to have an account. This shows how the generations have really evolved. Children under the age of 6 already have Facebook accounts! All parents are concerned about their children's safety but by allowing them to be on Facebook at an early age might be in more risk. Children can have sexual predators, expose too much information, talk to strangers and many more. I think that parents shouldn't be exposing their children to networking site at such an early age.

This is all about the followup release of PS Vita's v1.65 firmware update. This new Version 1.66 brings with it a few UI tweaks, including tidbits such as the addition of a progress bar during app installs, notification alerts now only popping up for three seconds, plus the option to tap Retry / Cancel when running into troubles during location search. Games like Unit 13 and Gravity daze will also see "functional improvements", while the near apps is getting a direct link to the  PlayStation Store to make it easier and faster to update or to download.

These hackers have stolen a lot from NASA such as access codes to over 150 NASA employees and causing significant disruption to mission operations. This just goes to show that big important companies like NASA aren't as secure with their stuff if people are able to hack into their computers.  These intrusions were discovered to be hackers working through China-based IP addresses. This worries me as to how easily people are able to hack because if they are able to bypass even NASA's computers then they could also hack into other places just as easily.

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.

On March 13 Target experienced a massive breach that compromised 40 million credit and debit cards as well as personal information about approximately 70 million customers. There has arrose allegations of the Target security team dismissing the warnings as nothing and allowing it to happen. Although Target has come back saying that like any large company there are many technical events that come to the attention of the team. The team noticed the criminal had entered their system but the situation was evaluated and acted upon although at Target they are investigating whether if different judgements had been made there would have been a different outcome and the entire situation would have been avoided.

Finally the release date of Apple's iPhone 5 has been announced. The iPhone 5 is expected to be in stores on Thursday, Oct. 13. But most likely we might be able to see it in stores earlier.

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.

In July EPEAT a environment organization that allow computers to be sold only if they can be recycled properly has stop Apple from selling the MacBooks because to make a longer battery life Apple glued the battery cell to the aluminum shell which makes it impossible to take it apart according to iFixit. IFixit said he couldn't take the battery cell out with spill any of the battery acid. A few days later Apple fixed the problem. Now EPEAT has now given Apple the certificate for the MacBook Air and there other laptops are still being tested and also fixed other of its devices. If EPEAT didn't test Apple laptops they could of caused many environmental problems. Also EPEAT is also testing other companies' laptops, tablets, etc. Apple should have tested if this would have happened and should have fixed it instead of selling their products with this problem.  

15 year old Amanda Todd was found dead in her home on October 2012. This event was due to cyber, physical, and verbal bullying. He committed suicide in her house. She had no one to support her in this process. She tried forgetting so she decided to move to different schools. The people in her school followed her and made things worse. She was alone. Imagine how she felt. Bullying is horrible and it should stop today. But, no one is making a change and stopping these people. In this video, Amanda Todd stated "I didn't press any charges, i just wanted to move on". In my opinion, she should of told her parents or the police that she was being bullied because this would made a huge difference. She wouldn't be depressed for her whole entire life. This girl is my age, and if I was being bullied.. I would of told at least a teacher or my parents. Bullying is bad, and it should stop.

Bullying, a serious problem that is drawing not only around schools, but also in social networks, which is known as cyber bullying. This article explains how a girl who made a single mistake lead her to a depression, getting bullied in school and online, then to cause suicide. Our generations should be bullies but rather, support those who are in depression. One devastating mistake can lead to many horrible things such as cutting or even depressants. Unfortunately, this happened to the girl, and she couldn't bear the pain of being bullied even when she moved to a different school and the bullying continued. We need to take a stand and stop bullying not just to stop pain but to prevent a heavier loss, suicide. This connect to the environment because through the internet, it uses were to verbally bully someone through social networking.

I know that a lot of people were talking about Amanda Todd. Fifteen-year-old Amanda Todd posted a YouTube video last month that detailed her brushes with online and offline bullying, and this week she was found dead in her home in Canada as a result of a suspected suicide. She first attempted to kill herself by drinking bleach but then went to the hospital and survived. After people heard about that they began posting pics of bleach, Clorox. So then she hung herself. They said, 'She should try a different bleach. I hope she dies this time and isn't so stupid.' They said, 'I hope she sees this and kills herself.'" I think it is so wrong when people make others feel bad that there willing to kill themselves. This is an outrage and I can't believe she didn't find help before she decided to kill herself. 

The article, by Anita Li, is an infographic on the evolution of Windows Operating Systems from 1985 and Windows users, as well as popular technology and software at the time of each release. The 1985 description depicts a generic male figure hunching over the machine-block Windows 1.0, with the subtext "Won't it explode if I press this button?" This highlights what a large impact the first computers and operating systems might have had - people possibly were afraid of pressing any buttons in fear that the the hulking brick might explode. But as we know, technology advances, and people adapt. The infographic shows the housings becoming smaller as hardware becomes more compact, and OSs become more advanced. It also illustrates the "first Internet experience" along with Windows 98, Google with Windows 2000, Skype and Solitaire with Windows XP, Facebook and the XBox for Windows Vista, and Twitter for Windows 7. The users also change, where Windows was generally used by adults in offices, it is presently used by a younger age group of teenagers for social networking and the like. As it was made out to be, I find this infographic very interesting. It shows a stark contrast between the first computers and computers today. Not only does it show the evolution of Windows OSs and its  users, it also illustrates the evolution of technology and how society has developed around it. Computers have become much more portable with the laptop, and their versatility is unmatched. Ultimately this infographic is an advertisement for the 2012 release of Windows 8 (dubbed "Thinner. Lighter. Faster."), but it does generate some thought, letting the mind ponder about past, present, and future technologies, and how society has and will adapt to the constant change. 

In a sort of infographic craze.. : http://visual.ly/

My article is on Google's recent announcement that they will discontinue Google Reader, among other services. There was a strong response to this because there are many people who use it on a daily basis.  Google Reader is a RSS feed, or Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. Basically it is a technology that tracks websites for updates. Imagine you love to get your news from the Internet, and you like to go on The Verge, Wired, Lifehacker and Gawker. You visit all of those sites daily to get the news. But when you frequent a lot of websites, going to them all separately may start to take a lot of time. So here comes Google Reader, where you subscribe to all the various sites and get direct updates sent to just this one place, making it easier to absorb information. There are several different RSS feeds, but Google Reader is one of the more popular ones, and thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people use this service daily. Google stated that over the years Google Reader's usage has declined, but that still means there are many people who rely on it go get all their information.  When Google announced its plan to discontinue the service, many people were lost as to why they would stop such a seemingly successful service and this has now lost the trust of Google by many people.  Regardless, it is clear that many people will have to find a new RSS feed or go back to visiting every website manually.

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.