Group items tagged

This post is about a new app made by McAfee which is meant to be an extra security for people's photos on Facebook. We know that even if we put our privacy settings on "only friends" there are ways through comments, likes and mutual friends that people you do not know can come across your pictures and download, print or upload them on a different site. This app helps protect by asking users to list who will get to view their photos. Only those people on the list will get to see the photo no matter who is friends with who, or who likes or comments on it. People not on the exact list will only see the photo blurry and barely visible. In addition to that nobody will be able to grab, print or download the photos even if they are on the list of people who can see the photos. This app is only in its development or "beta" phase, but it is already free to download and use on Internet Explorer and Firefox. The company is still working on versions for Chrome and mobile devices. Before concluding they did mention that there are still ways to photograph the photo with your phone, if you have a clear picture. I believe this app is a big step to having online security. This app can help stop the spread of your photos before it starts. People may not think about their internet security very often but it is important to know that once it's on the internet it's on there forever. With internet popularity growing and growing we must also know the dangers of posting photos and protect ourselves. Facebook allows so much public information to be revealed this app can ensure you have a more private account. In my opinion this is a great app and considering that it is free while it is being developed I think people should try it out. Although it's only available on Firefox and Internet Explorer it is already a leap in the right direction. However, as it was mentioned earlier you can still have people take photos from their phones. Nevertheless, if you chose the correct people on your list

This article is about the comparison of the old apple earphones and the new EarPods. Apple claims that the new EarPods sound as powerful as the expensive earphones invented in the world (example: Beats by Drake.. if that's what they're called). These new EarPods are as powerful as a expensive pair of earphone, but cost only 29$ and if you purchase any apple device (iPhone, iPod touch, etc.) these earbuds are free.  I have watched the video below, and some people say they can't tell a difference from the old earphone, while other people say it's a big difference. I have never used the EarPods before, but in my opinion I do think it would make a difference because technology is improving and becoming more successful. One little piece of technology can make a big difference in the world. Also, the customers have commented that these EarPods are more comfortable to fit into your ears. These EarPods are not a great device to repair. However, they are a low price so once your EarPods break, you could buy a new pair.

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/

In the previous six months, Instagram use has septupled easily surpassing twitter.  The app use went from nine hundred thousand people per day to well over seven million.  Instagram is based around a mobile app and has no website.  Before the evidence of Instagram's epic 6 month growth, Silicon valley were obsessing over mobile-first development.  Twitter, who started mobile and then became a website is being shadowed by Instagram.  Many other mobile apps have expanded and surged like Instagram but they all died out.  Instagram has not died out yet however, because people seem to really enjoy looking at pictures and sending up their own.  Instagram users spend an average of four hours on it beating Twitter's average of three.  Many people think Instagram is a bad thing and is for "attention seekers" but I think it's a good thing.  People can express their emotions and feeling through pictures and it's not Facebook so that's a win-win situation.  However I don't use it.

Some people today, act in one way in the real world but once they go on the internet and social networks, it's like they're a whole different person. This article explains how we communicate in different ways through social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. When you're feeling down or not in the mood it doesn't hurt to just vent to someone on the internet rather than freaking out and acting crazy. If you can socially act online in a positive way, it gives a reciprocal, so maybe you can receive some back that's positive. The internet should be a reason for use to jump out of reality because it gives a certain impact on ourselves. this article relates to Portable Computing because through out phones we can also access social networks which goes back to jumping out of reality and acting like were some bad person but as this article says, that's not a good excuse.

Over the years, the internet has become faster and faster and as this has happened our patience has decreased. We have come to expect fast speeds and short loading times on the internet and anything slower is considered unacceptable. However, before reading this article I didn't realize how impatient we had really become when it comes to the internet. This article talks about the results of a study that showed that users were likely to give up on a video after only two seconds of loading! This had come as a surprise to me. To me, two seconds seems like only an instant, but I have to admit that I still am not willing to wait much longer than that for a video especially if the video is only 10 minutes or less. However, I find it interesting how two seconds of loading has become an issue, while we are still waiting through 30 seconds or more of advertisements before we are able to view our video. If we have already spent so much time watching an ad a couple more seconds shouldn't seem like a big deal. This article shows how our expectation of high speeds has affected us and our lifestyle. We have come to expect our video to load almost immediately and if it doesn't do this then it isn't worth the time. Our ability to wait is being altered. We're no longer used to having to wait for things that we want to watch, see or listen to on the internet. We've changed into thinking that if it doesn't load instantly, then it isn't worth watching. Of course, our patience should have limits. If it really is taking longer than the length of the video itself to load then perhaps it is time to abandon the video, but I feel that waiting only two seconds before moving on shows how impatient we have become with technology.

"Back in the day, we had to use this thing called paper".  This statement could potential be used in the future.  During the American Music Awards on November 18, 2012, presenters used the Galaxy Note II to announce winners, instead of using the traditional paper and envelope. This is could change the future because in the future, there is a chance that we will not use paper any more, but we will use technology for literally everything, such as schoolwork, writing a letter (email), etc.    Instead of people carrying a book everywhere, they will be bringing around e-readers, and all sorts of mobile devices.  Paper could potentially become useless to us since we have technology which stores and organizes many different files in one machine, whereas papers could be organized, or it could be all over the place, depending on who you are.  So in short, technology is good, in a sense that is a great organizational tool. This is environmentally important because instead of destroying trees (which provide us oxygen, food, etc) for paper, we could spare the trees, and just use technology instead.  Sure, we would need to clear land to build manufacturing companies to create these devices, but it takes up less space and kills less trees, then producing paper, because using paper means that we have to take down the tree, ans well as clear land to build manufacturing companies, and writing utensils as well.  This relates to our class because we are a computers class, and we rely on technology for almost 100% of our work.  In the future, when technology does take over and paper becomes useless, we will have the upper hand because we know how most of these technologies work.  

Since 3D printing is becoming more popular, workers can assemble anything by using it. In this article, this product could be the world's first 3D printed car called "Urbee 2". It is a three-wheeled hybrid assembled with pieces that is printed out from 3D printers. With this model, Urbee looking forward to changing the way we build cars today and in the future. Urbee is the invention of Jim kor and his group(Kor Ecologic) that is dedicated to future 3D vehicle manufacturing. Their goal is to make vehicles energy-efficient and is easy to assemble. The location where this first 3D car is being processed is at RedEye, where the first worlds 3D printed motorcycle was assembled. 3D printing is very helpful to workers that are making anything because instead of producing parts that would be assembled later, the 3D printer can print out a single part that makes manufacturing a lot simpler. Urbee is called for being a race car safety. 3D printing offers many possibilites but it is really expensive. But with it you can manufacture lots of things with it a lot easier and more efficient.

This article is about the new Google Glass and how you now may be able to take a picture just by winking. The code for this function was dug up by Redditor Fodawim who found some variables with variations on the name EYE_GESTURE_WINK. The wink function can be turned off but if if is not than the user can take a picture just by winking. Google Glass already has a sensor on the inside but can possibly be used to watch your eye. The only other problem is that the sensor will be able to tell the difference from a blink and a wink. This new function on Google Glass will violate a lot of peoples privacy since the user can take a picture of anyone at anytime without that person even knowing.  I think that  this possible function on Google Glass is very creative.

Photoshop is a software that is used by  It is used by  millions of graphic artists, print designers, visual communicators, and regular people like you. It's likely that nearly every picture you've seen ,such as posters, book covers, magazine pictures, and brochures has either been created or edited by Photoshop. they use Photoshop, because of imperfections in your face to make it more cleaner and your body to make you more skinnier or editing your picture to make illusion. But in this report a Greek police did a photoshop to hide an evidence to brutality. this Greek police will soon be in under investigation for attempting to airbrush out evidence of police abuse in the mugshots for four young men.  These men were arrested for an attempted for armed robbery, but the photos that were taken in the scene clearly shows that they were bleeding and bruised and several days after these mug shots however, shows that their in a better shape. The police defense, he did not admit that he changed the photo. This police has been accused treating immigrants and other prisoners like an animal. 

It is about a group of people researching and creating a prototype of a refined hairline grooves of a peacock. The product was pretty much reflected with sunlight and was unaffected by viewing angles. It is used for people that use e-readers. They only have static images currently, but they are thinking about putting moving images on it. This is also made as a reflective display for e-reader users. Having an e-reader isnt really bad. It is portable meaning that you can take it outside with you and be able to use it, but also this article will help all the e-reader users because it will give them static images, and soon moving images. I dont see any negative things about having this device. In my opinion this might help e-reader users because it will give them the entertainment to see static images, and soon moving images, rather than just thousands of words.

 Well basically this article is about having the sexual talk with your children. Many parents may be afraid to talk their kids about sex but hey you know you got to do it after a while eh? Anyways  the article also tells you to listen to a woman to help you talk to your children, I think you shouldn't really listen to this woman just do what feels right. If you read what this woman says its basically giving you some tips on what to say if you really don't know how to approach this situation. As a child i was thought about this subject in school and when it came to the talk it wasn't really that weird it was ok. This is important to know because children of our age will have to have this talk with there children (If they have children). Yes it may be awkward but you have to do what you have to do.

Sorry this is in German no Spanish translation will be provided. Have good day sinor

This article is about Google Chrome blocking major websites, such as YouTube, for having malware. This could have been a problem with Google Chrome, but this brings up something that we take for granted. We go on to websites not knowing what kind of virus' and malware could be on it. Even the biggest websites could have malware, and they could be found on the ads you find on all big websites. To prevent yourself from get malware on your computer, you could download Ad Block on Google Chrome so no ads are shown on webpages. Privacy and Security is something to be concerned about because anyone can access your computer with virus', and you want to protect not only yourself, but everyone in your household.

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.

A Taiwanese company, Polytron Technologies, has developed a new smart phone that is completely transparent. Although this device is a mere prototype, it is a promising look into the future of smartphone technology. It consists of all the features of current smartphones, such as SD card support, speakers, a microphone and battery, but the clear display is what has many people in awe. Polytron calls this new technology Switchable Glass technology which allows the phone to look completely opaque when not in use and transparent when powered on. This technology functions based on the behaviour and properties of liquid crystal molecules in certain conditions. In the coming years we will most likely see this technology being introduced into smart devices if it proves to be a success. No longer will smartphones be thin, black or white rectangles, but rather they will be transparent works of art. In the coming future we may be thanking Polytron Technologies for their brilliant advancement in smartphone technology.  

This article i found is very interesting. It explains to us how people will begin to see many jobs being taken by machines and robots. An example of this given in the article is that Google is making self driven cars which may seem good but many jobs need people driving the cars themselves, like truck drivers and taxis. If vehicles could drive themselves many if not all of the people that drive vehicles will be out of work. Another example is the car insurance companies will charge more for vehicles that are driven manually which will make other companies either have this new technology on there cars or risk going out of business. The article also states that Moore's Law is now going faster and we can see these changes happening sooner. This new change will be great for many computer programmers or similar jobs but other people will have trouble finding a jobs

This article is basically about physcist developing a system in witch they use the suns energy to destroy or redirect asteroids from space. The earth at this period of time can easily be destroyed but a random asteroid from outer space. Asteroids are roughly the size of five football flieds long. The earth has recently dodged two asteroid threats on its own but may not be so lucky in the future. This is why Physicists Philip Lubin of University of California, Santa Barbara and Gary Hughes of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo started working on the DE-STAR proposal a year ago. Directed Energy Solar Targeting of Asteroids, an exploRation (DE-STAR). This system will use the suns solar energy to power a laser beam that can be used to shoot to destroy or redirect future asteroids that have been predicted to come and are a threat to human survival. For example asteroid 2012 DA14-a medium sized, 150 ft (50 m) rock weighing 143,000 tons-was closing in on us. They knew that it would miss us too, by 17,200 miles (27,700 km

The "Green Brain Project" aims to create an insectobot (a robotic insect) with the brain of a honey bee. It's not as crazy or difficult as it sounds though, the researchers working on this project are not directly copying a bees brain but trying to recreate it. More specifically they are recreating bees two most important senses- sight and smell. They will then upload this fake brain into a small insect like robot so it can act somewhat like a real honey bee. This is important, as it would be a huge step forward in robotics and also because scientists say they could use robotic bees to artificially pollinate. This could help  with the reduced number of honeybees. Bees are very important to the whole environment so this project could possibly be revolutionary. I chose the tag "environment" because scientist are trying to recreate a natural animal that not only comes from Earth but greatly impacts it. Plants need bees pollination to grow, and animals need plants to eat so with a lack of bees, the whole food web would take a major hit. This project aims to try to fix this. To me, it seems like it would be extremely expensive and difficult to create as many bees as the earth would need. Maybe in the distant future though, this may be realized.

Social networking is a very big thing in today's society.  there are many social networking sites on the Internet, but none as big as Facebook.  With approximately 1 billion users, it is no wonder why it is so successful.  But with everything comes a consequence.  There are many downfalls to using Facebook.   One reason why Facebook is a problem to today's society is because since we are so addicted to Facebook, it can damage our minds. Receiving and answering a notification results in a hit of dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter associated with the motivation and rewards response in the human brain.  Dopamine is also released when we consume drugs, etc.   This seems foolish right?  well In China, Taiwan, and South Korea, "Internet Addiction Disorder" is already accepted as a psychological diagnosis.  Facebook and other social networking sites can have damaging effects, such as a decrease in our attention span.  Since 2000, our collective attention span has increased by 40% It effects our lives because since almost everyone is on Facebook, or any other social networking site, almost everyday, we start to become distracted, less focused, and have a shorter attention span, which could potentially mess up future generations.  For one, we become distracted in class, and instead of listening to the teachers, we're always on our phones (or any other devices) checking our notifications. Now that we have learned what Facebook and other social networking sites can do to us, is there really a way to resolve this issue?

This article mentions the fact that Twitter now plans to update its mobile applications to introduce filters for photos allowing people to share altered images without having to use another source such as Instagram. Since most phones come with high-resolution cameras and many of the Twitter users use their phones this will be an easy way for people to edit and upload their photos. Especially with people or famous celebrities that use Instagram then share them on Twitter where more people follow them it will be easier and faster to just use Twitter for it all. This new idea has been hastened when Facebook bought Instagram. Twitter was thinking of buying a different photo service or application but when weighing out the cost they decided to just build their own filters. Twitter is also exploring the ability to upload and edit videos without using a third-party application like YouTube. This article has a lot to do with economics and the battle between two companies trying to get people to use their site and apps and not the other. In this case Twitter is really trying to become the most popular and important social networking site where people will be able to do anything on and it will be instant. They are changing what they once were to try to morph into Facebook because of the increasing popularity of Instagram and the fact that Facebook bought it.  I think personally that Twitter is making a good decision about the filter but i don't think twitter should add their own video player because it would change twitter and its purpose of being instant statements and pictures. YouTube is good at what they do and twitter should stay out of it. However with the whole idea of adding filters to Twitter you get the benefits of Instagram with the benefits of Twitter which might just keep them on top of Instagram.

Following Facebook's purchase of Instagram for almost $1 Billion in April 2012, it seems appropriate that Twitter would integrate something similar into their users' experience. 'Inside sources' say that Twitter is working on a photo-filter system that will be integrated directly in the site and mobile apps that hopes to bypass third-party services (such as Instagram.) While Instagram is a social network that focuses on social images with limited text, Twitter is renowned for its 140 character text-based updates with occasional images. An advantage of Twitter's supposed photo filtering system would be that there would most likely be a website equivalent to the mobile app, a problem that has plagued Instagram users who want a PC experience. As of now, there have been no official confirmations by Twitter, but the idea of a Twitter-exclusive photo sharing system seems interesting; although the market is currently saturated by Instagram, which can export images to other social networks, including Twitter. Legally, Facebook and Instagram may be able to take action against Twitter, depending on how similar their filtering system will be. This relates to eLifestyle and ICS20 because as social network users, we are always searching for ways to monetize our networks to one cohesive experience; another photo-sharing application seems arbitrary when there is already a capable system (Instagram.)