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This may be one of the weirdest articles you may ever see about computers.  But many of you may be wondering, how do you get bacon to be as crunchy like in fast food restaurants. All those who cook bacon in the morning should may know that baking bacon is a great way to cook it quickly and evenly.  But for a little more flavor, you can season your bacon and twist it into spirals before baking.  You may ask yourself while reading this, but how does this involves computers?  Well to answer your question, if it wasn't for the internet, you wouldn't be able to know this "trick" existed and you are able to enjoy your bacon with a neat trick. 

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. 

This article says how much speech recognition software has already grown. Ask someone 10 years ago if they thought it would be possible to ask your phone to call some or to remind you to do something at 2pm and they would say you were dreaming. A new company has come out for android called Dragon software which is going ti be used to compete with siri. There are rumors that apple was planning to build a tv with voice software and that so is Dragon software. How convenient would that be; just to ask your tv to pull up the walking dead . 

Video gaming is pretty big in our society.  It may seem like it's just fun and games to most people, but to others it could be serious.  Is it possible that video gaming could be bigger than sports?  Possibly.  The amount of spectators spectating individual gaming events are immense.  Not only do people spectate it live, but they could also spectate from the comfort of their own computer.  The Major League Gaming Spring Championship in June attracted 4.7 million online viewers.    This affects our everyday life because instead of training for a physically active competition, people could "train" and hone their skills to play video games.  People from all around the world could connect with each other and compete with each other through video games.    Whether I agree or disagree with regards to making video gaming a real sport or not is still in between the borderline.  You can practice your skills while playing a sport, but you can also hone your skills by playing video games.  Nonetheless, if video gaming does become an official sport, then we could say goodbye to society as we know it today.

Texting is one of the most popular ways of communicating with other people. However, do we really benefit from it? One could argue that it is convenient, but others believe that the language people, especially the youth, use in texts affect their grammar. Some might even say that sometimes they include abbreviations and slang such as b/c, r, and u, in their English assignment without even noticing the problem, I know I have.  In 2011, an estimate of eight trillion text messages were sent, and those between the ages of 18 and 29 make up 95% of the texting population. Many are concerned about the future of the English language since so many people are fond of texting. There was even a National Texting Championship in 2012 that was won by 17-year-old Austin Wierschke who was able to text 149 words in 39 seconds. It seems that texting have become an important part of many lives. Some abbreviations have become so popular that even the Oxford English Dictionary has including them into their dictionaries making abbreviations such as LOL, OMG, FYI, TMI, and BFF, official to the English language. In my opinion, texting is not a crime. It is a convenient and effective way of communicating with other people. I believe that there is nothing wrong with using abbreviations in texts as long as it does not affect the way I write. 

Many of use know about pirating, and some even do it. So far we thought that it was an easy way to get things with little ways of getting caught; this however is going to change. A knew security system is in development and bound to be out within the next 2 months that will catch those who pirate, and if numerous warnings are ignored; they will be prosecuted. This program watches popular sites such as bittorent and tracks the ip address of those who download illegal content. Then it sends warnings and if those are ignored, you will be tracked and investigated. Overall I believe this software will help stop pirating, but it will be met with huge opposition because most people wont be willing to give up their access to free movies, music, software, etc. Also this raises a privacy issue, but as this security system only tracks your IP, its not much of a problem compared to other tracking systems out there. To conclude, I believe the future of this system is filled with huge debates and maybe even battles.

Homophobic words have become increasingly integrated into casual speech, more than one would like to admit. This problem has been amplified substantially with the use of social networking sites, in particular, Twitter. The University of Alberta's Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services launched the website www.nohomophobes.com on September 26, 2012, and has been tracking tweets containing the words 'faggot,' 'so gay,' 'no homo,' and 'dyke' since July. The site displays the numbers in current, weekly, and all-time charts, and updates in real time. A live feed lists the tweets containing the phrases as well.  As of 1:23pm on October 22, 2012, the number of tweets with the word 'faggot' broke 10,000. It is disheartening to see how such a hurtful word could be used so nonchalantly during the day. Since July 5, 2012, there have been about 3.27 million 'faggot' tweets, 1.16 million 'so gay' and 'no homo' tweets, and over 450,000 'dyke' tweets. As the site header reads, "Homophobic language isn't always meant to be hurtful, but how often do we use it without thinking?" This article is tagged under eLifestyle because our generation uses social networking sites daily. Although people may use these phrases without harmful intentions, they are still there for everyone to see on the internet. It is a real eye-opener to watch the numbers rise so quickly, from just one social network. As students and future leaders, we must give extra thought to what we post, and who it might harm when we use these social networks.

In the movie Iron Man 3, Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., loses his entire life to a man named Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley.  Iron Man loses all his suits and his entire private life and starts hunting for who was responsible for doing all this to him.  When he goes on this quest he needs everything at his disposal to help him and keep him from losing his cool.  This movie is going to continue where the Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 2 Movies left off.  Mandarin is a classic Iron Man enemy so to have him in Iron Man 3 is just mind blowing.  Iron Man 3 comes out May 3, 2013.

Many of us people keep social networking as a daily part in our lives. Apparently, we can end up putting a social media footprint. This article shows us three habits to manage this footprint; to make sure that we don't put our too much of our thoughts and private lives out to the world. We know that a huge social media footprint can end up getting us judged by others. This has to do with privacy and security because we can go off on what we post on facebook and twitter and share many private things, but we need to remember that the internet has a lot of memory and can keep those posts and private things for a long time. This also relates with eLifestyle because as we have access to these different social networks we share a lot of thoughts and other things out on the internet and it can have a negative or positive effect on us.

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

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.

Many of us think of Apple as this giant in electronics. Over the past decade, Apple set the market for smartphones, ultrabooks, and tablets. However, in the past couple of years, Apple has begun to fall off. Rather than being the huge 'juggernaut,' Apple has become a follower, forced to play catch up to other companies including Google and Amazon. Evidence of this are tied to the recent releases of the Kindle Fire and the Nexus 7. Apple's response was the iPad Mini, when they realized consumers enjoyed smaller tablets. Before that was the iPhone 5, in response to people wanting larger phone displays. Apple Maps is a blunder that both iOS 6 users and Apple pays for. Apple was slow on the draw to join in on changes to the market specifications. Having controlled the market for the past decade with the popularization of smartphones, tablets, and retina display, Apple was simply unprepared to react to these changes. Apple still has their innovation and secrets hidden in R&D, but the fact of the matter is their most recent releases contain ideas from other companies' progress. This relates to elifestyle because our generation uses these products in our daily lives. Most of us do not remember a time when electronics did not make up a substantial part of our lives; when Apple was not a prominent consumer electronics company. This reminds us that power does not last indefinitely; innovators become followers, and companies fall. The next big thing in electronics may not even exist yet. 

This article is of interest to me because it explains what the best processor is for gaming. I have always loved playing video games and I am constantly on the computer but now I can do both. Learning about which processor is best for gaming is important and significant for someone who wants to play video games on the computer. Choosing the right processor is key to have the best gaming experience possible. This starts from choosing a processor that is in your price range, has powerful graphic features, but can also fulfill your needs of playing fast, at a high performance, and without it taking too much space on your hard drive. Overall, I have a better understanding about gaming on the computer and I hope to use this information to start to game on the computer in the most efficient and fastest way to play.

This article explains how it is practical that Facebook bought out Instagram. Facebook is very popular when it comes to sharing photos and Instagram brings the latest and most innovative ways to take photos. So, it is only right that Facebook and Instagram team up. I agree that the partnership between Facebook and Instagram will be beneficial for the both of them. Separately Facebook and Instagram are quite popular but by partnering together it will definitely boost both their popularities. Also, I think it's good to see that Facebook is doing something more than just changing their layout every couple of months.

This lifehacker article explains how to save money in terms of finding and purchasing the best deals on mobile apps. If you are someone who is either tired or annoyed by paying full price on an app that never really lived up to your expectations or your someone who just wants to find a good deal, then your in luck, because the best sales or price drops to find for apps is not that hard, it just requires a little patience. If you are a iPhone or Android user, the best way to track price drops easily and efficiently is to create a list so you can easily check on the price of an app to see if it's gone on sale or not. A particular nifty tool on the iPhone is when you add a interested app to your account of a created wish list, the App Shopper app will either send you an email or a push notification when an app you're keeping your eyes on drops in price. Another method in saving money while wanting to purchase apps for your mobile device is to hold out for common sale times. Both the iTunes App Store and Google Play love having sales around the holidays. Also, apps tend to go on sale after they hit the top of the charts to celebrate their success or after an anniversary of some kind. A third strategy is to look at the sale history or possibly a one-year anniversary to see if a possible sale is sure to come around soon enough. Overall, holding out for a good sale and knowing when those sales happen is a good way to keep your app purchasing budget in check. It's important to not waste your money on pointless apps or on ones that end up dropping in price the next day. Wait the extra day or two and save an extra couple dollars because in the long run, this will pay off both economically as well as feeling satisfied with how you shopped to make your mobile device experience that much better.

Here are some steps into getting some of the best deals on Mobile apps. Most apps are $1.29 to 99 cents and sometimes you think they're too overpriced and you just want a good deal! They're are two things about buying apps, you're always looking for the best deal on apps and hate paying full price, or you buy the app, and then find out the next day that the app goes on sale. Here are some easy ways to find out about cheap apps. 1. Set up price drop alerts and create a list of apps YOU want. This is great so you can track the prices of apps you want. 2. Set up notifs of price drops, for iPhone, there is an app called App Shopper where you can search for any app, and add it to your wish list, and when the price of that app drops in sale, you'd get a e-mail telling you the price dropped. You can do the same thing with Android, and those apps are called AppBrain and AppsFire. 3. Hold out for common sale times. Apps tend to go on sale during holidays like Christmas or Easter. Also, they go on sale after they hit the top of the charts to celebrate their success or after an anniversary of some kind. Many think apps aren't that big of a deal about prices, but when you buy a lot, the bill adds up. These steps great tips on how to get a great deal on apps! SO THIS BOOKMARK BETTER BEAT JASON'S BOOKMARK....but it looks like it didn't :'(

This article is about a group called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) who donated two million five hundred thousand laptops to schools in Africa. They found out that laptops does not help improve test results in math and english for these children. Even though the laptops were stored with two-hundred books and reading/writing lessons, the kids did not score more then others on tests. this relates to our class because we use laptops for our classes.

This is extremely interesting to me because it shows that although technology is a great thing, it does not do the work for you.  it shows that 2.5million computers where given to people in Africa and their test scores did not improve that drastically.  this shows that if people want to learn they will, if they dont, they will not.  this relates to our class because we use computers daily

This website, life hacker is used as a cool way to find easier and simpler ways to do life little challenges. this particuler artilce focuses on cool ways to get the very best out of your ipad through its many awesome uses and features that many people dont know about or know how to take full advantage of.

This article talks about google and its effect on our society. Google+ now has 170 million users abd is becoming a NO.3 Social network. However if you go by active monthly users in the U.S., Google+ would rank 6. This relates to our course because we too use google and many people starts to use a lot of social networking programs as part of their daily lives. All of my friends has signed up for st least 2 social networking and it;s becoming a big part of our lives. Google used to be popular for searching things but now it's taking over social networking as well and becoming most popular and well known network. 

Google+ is said to be rated the third most popular social networking site. However, numbers of users are always changing. Google+ has recently changed their look of their website, which may or may not attract more users. Many people are reliant on social networking sites because they find it is a better way to keep in touch with those you do not see anymore. Google+ is still far behind facebook, with 850 millions users, while Google+ still sitting at a 170 million users. Technology is what everyone in this generation is doing, so the numbers will increase once more people start talking more about Google+ and less about Facebook. 

Google+ announced  that Google plus has 170 million users. With this number of users Google+ is #3 on the top social networks ahead of Google+ is twitter and facebook

Instagram has been sold to Facebook for a billion dollars. Instagram has been out-doing both Facebook and Google. There had been much money tossed around to buy Instagram, fortunately for Facebook, they bought them out. Instagram is an App that adds effects to any picture you have taken. It allows you to change the way the picture looks with a quick edit and doesn't take long at all. Also, you are able to upload this picture to the server and various amounts of people can view it, if you wish. In addition, you may also follow people too to see what they post. This is relevant to the things learned so far because the creators of this app have are now millionaires due to their extensive knowledge of building App programs and knowing how they work. The app is quick and easy, it is a free download and because of the many free downloads around the world, the developers are now rewarded.

This article is about the Pebble e-paper watch, it is the newer version of the inPulse Smartwatch. The price of the watch  is $149 but it isn't out yet to buy. This watch can receive emails, calls, and other devices from Bluetooth. The watch is 1.26 inches and comes in three different colours: white, black, and red. I can last for more than seven days without charging it. You can play music on it as well and use it when you're doing various activities.