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Smartwatches are like the gateway to the future. With Samsung's first version of "Gear", customers were able to wear an Android powered watch which is able to hook up to your phone and provide you various services like to take quick pictures, text or call a contact using the voice control software and even access your media through the features installed in it. This time however in the new release of "Gear 2", instead of using Android, Samsung has decided to power the smartwatch on Tizen servers, making a clear message of wanting to be more independent of Android and ultimately Google. As Samsung has previously always been linked with Android, switching to Tizen is like a big change. Even though customers with untrained eyes may never see the difference between Gear (Android) and Gear 2 (Tizen) - myself included, having Tizen as an alternative to Android might be good for the company because now they are more in control of their future actions. Whether or not the software is different, the Gear 2 seems like a very useful piece of technology for someone who is in a rush and needs to take or leave quick messages. It is also efficient and not easy to lose because you are wearing it. With just a flick of the wrist, Samsung's smartwatch allows one to do many activities in a small amount of time.

Google is a software giant that we all use, be it for email, Youtube, searching the web or for social networking with Google+. Honestly, that was kind of hard to say with a straight face, no one uses Google+, but apparently thats okay with Google. According to the NY Times, Google+ has been a ploy from the start, created to collect data from users and sell it to the highest bidder. This became evident when Google+ became the hub for all Google accounts, although it is neglected by users. By linking it to maps, gmail, youtube, Google now knows where you go, who you talk to, and what you find entertaining; valuable info for advertisers. This is especially useful, considering the fact that Google's main source of income, search advertising, is declining. This can be a huge concern for Google users who do not want to be tracked and monitored, I among them. While it was not this announcement specifically, similar news has persuaded me, and others undoubtedly, to abandon Google services. I have gone from using chrome, Google search, gmail and more to using free 3rd party software that is committed to maintaining user privacy. Realistically, however, I have not made a difference in Google's business plans, and they will continue along their path as long as it is profitable. Although many laughed at first at the Google+'s hefty price tag, Google is the only one laughing now.

This article focuses on degrees and careers involving computers and computer science, including the software and hardware parts. It explains examples of career paths that show how one can get involved in a career about computers. It gives people information about careers that include, designing and implementing software, and finding new ways to use computers. It also contains external links about different things related to the article such as, reasons to major in computing and what computing professional do. I believe that computer science is important in our world today because business rely on computers and the Internet to sell products and services, and companies need people to build the websites, and upkeep them. Therefore, the many jobs the involve computers and extremely important to a company. (This one is for the Careers subject of last week. Sorry for late post, I've had some problems posting.)

Online services such as cloud may be convenient, but there is always a risk of such services that your locally installed software won't. Unfortunately, what could happen is that your cloud service could abandon you at any moment. OfficeDrop users were facing just about the same scenario. After receiving a notice that last Friday that the online service of OfficeDrop stopped its service on May 5. This left collaboration and service no longer available to its users. Many people have come to depend on OfficeDrop to store and share your files in the cloud. Unfortunately, OfficeDrop is not longer able to offer OfficeDrop as a standalone service anymore and also discontinued it permanently as of May 5th, 2013. OfficeDrop as a company did not go away, just the service to its users. OfficeDrop signed an agreement to sell OfficeDrop to another Cloud Storage player. Also, the acquirer has decided to not continue offering the OfficeDrop service and instead will combine the product, technology and team with theirs and market it through their channels. According to the notice sent to OfficeDrop users, billing for OfficeDrop has stopped, and refunds are being issues when applicable. The notice urges all files be downloaded as soon as possible, because they will be securely and permanently deleted as of May 6th, 2013. This is a negative impact when you use the cloud.

One on the most popular social networking sites, Facebook, obtains Instagram. Instagram is a trending photo/camera app that many iPhone users are currently using. This will affect facebook users who like uploading and sharing their photos in a great way, because it will give them more options. I think Facebook will manage Instagram very well because they are very experienced in working with apps and software. The creators of Instagram also believe that Facebook will change and work with them in an efficient way.

There are many toy helicopters that you can buy, but what makes this toy different than the rest is that you can move the helicopter with your hand. You basically wear this glove with a joystick and you are able to make the helicopter move through the air just by waving your hands. This toy relates to this course because you have to be able to program this device to do all the movements that the glove is doing. As well, the software on this device is incredible and its a gaming device for all to have fun.  

When your friends get into your phone and know your password it can get quite annoying. Now Samsung has an app that allows you to open your phone with facial expressions. You can blink a certain amount of times and smile and then it will open. This amazing because there has never been something like this before. It relates to the course because you need the software and app to get this on your phone. I personally like this because it would be fun to unlock your phone with facial expressions. It makes a social impact because then it will be harder to hack your friends phone. Overall, I think this was a great idea Samsung brought up. 

This article explains how a program created by scientists from the University at Buffalo, can allow a computer to determine whether or not a person is telling the truth in a conversation, strictly by accessing the speaker's eye movements. I found this invention extremely interesting and as I kept reading, it turns out a computer with this program was able to correctly spot various lies with 82.5% accuracy, but a trained human interrogator only manages a success rate of about 65%. Somebody who dedicated their entire life to studying human psychology and has done years of hard work and training in this subject was outsmarted by a computer who can do the same effort and work but in a better performance. These scientists really put the time and effort into creating this software to work as efficiently and be most successful as possible so just by the computer looking at your eyes, more specifically the movement pattern and the rate of your blinking, it can identify if you are telling the truth or not. This is a prime example of how technology is evolving all around us and how we are using our knowledge to further programs and devices to help and assist us perform tasks, be successful, and happy living our everyday lives. 

This is the same device that actually managed to sell LESS than the 3DS when it launched. When you launch hardware you have to have good software or else it will bomb.

I agree they did not have good software for japan but I think they just need a monster hunter game and it will sell in japan just like the regular psp but the hardware for the vita is actually great i like the touch pad on the back and it is a great value it is the most powerful portable console out there. When it launches in North America i think it will do good because of all the great games like uncharted, wipeout and the like.

But the system also has many flaws, like an irreplaceable (and short-lasting) battery, expensive proprietary storage, it's too big, and it's also too expensive, which Nintendo learned the hard way after the 3DS price drop thing. Sony is going to have to at least drop the price to be able to compete. Although I do agree that it will eventually have good software, it doesn't yet, and that can really hurt the system.

Nike decided to come out with a new app that helps you exercise and get prepared for sports. This app connects with a pair of shoes they made and it is able to detect your speed, jump height etc. As well, this app has various techniques and warm ups you can do. This app is for i-phones and is available in the summer. I feel this new technology is good for everyone because it makes you want to become physically active and you can learn new techniques for sports that you never knew before. As well, this relates to the course because the app is a software and sensors in the shoes are the hardware. They had to program the app for it to work and sensor properly. 

These glasses are really good for everyone. They can be 3D and can have your prescription in them. They are good because you can watch t.v from these glasses and they are in full color. This glasses can benefit all because then you wont need to buy a T.V. These glasses will make the T.V appear farther and not right up to your eyes. As well, they can have a GPS and other things programmed into your glasses. This relates to the course because you need to program software onto the glasses and lens. The lens part of the device is the hardware.

This article describes the unfortunate unlikeliness of having iPad textbooks. It seems practical in this generation to have iPad textbooks, however there are still many aspects of this idea that need to be thought through. I think it will be more beneficial for students to carry one iPad as opposed to several textbooks, as well iPad would be more eco friendly because they would eliminate the need for printed textbooks. Nevertheless iPads can and often break and it would be much cheaper to replace a textbook as opposed to an iPad. Also,  I think that textbooks can easily out live an iPad especially if being used for long periods of time. I agree with this article that, at the moment, iPads would still be too expensive and impractical for today's use. However, I am certain that students in future generations will have the privilege to have iPad textbooks for educational use.

It's actually pretty cool that ipads would actually be entering the schools. But the problem is the cost of the textbooks, and installing the textbook work in the ipad. Which costs a lot for the school boards, but also for the parents. Schools will end costing much more, and schools will be needing an ipad hardware on top of the textbook software. But the cost can be lowered if Apple can think of a way to lower the prices. 

This article is about how blackberry phones could have a rhythmic touch to unlock them rather than a code or face unlock. I think this is really awesome because a lot of people are blackberry users and it would be fun to have. I have a blackberry so this would want me to have a touch blackberry just so I can have an unlock like they created. This tap unlock detects the location and magnitude of your touch. This relates to the course because the blackberry is the hardware and the actual program to detect the touch is the software. You need to program the actual app for the blackberry devices. 

Hackintosh gone? Back in 2008 Apple filed a suit against Psystar (makers of Hackintosh) for making 'mac clones'. Psystar was banned from copying, distributing, selling, offering Mac OS X. Even though you could install Mac OS X on a regular PC, stealing apples software without actually buying a mac. But now Psystar owes Apple 2.7 MILLION dollars. Psystar's business closed down because of this.

Some of humanities greatest achievements have been done during war, or in movies. This is both. The alphaDog is an AT-AT, AT-TE, AT-ST esque transport for military operations conducted in rugged locations like Afghanistan. Instead of wheels or tracks it has four legs to carry its heavy loads across intense terrain. The AlphaDog is still in development but it is well underway. The AlphaDog will be soon made available and will be coming to war near you...believe me, its coming.

this is one of the greatest advances in technology for the us army. they have created a prototype of a gear carrying dog. this happened because now, the warfare is turning to the mountains, and they need a hardware that can carry heavy loads, and also it has a easy to use software and it is voice activated

The launch of Sony's new handheld console Vita in Japan is just two months away (December 17), so it's about time big S made some official announcements regarding software prices. In a nut shell, the first batch of titles will not be sold for cheap.

It's no surprise Apple's servers are barely holding on to the mass of people coming home from work and school at around 3:00pm-4:00pm all trying to download the new iOS. This is the biggest software upgrade apple has ever done with at least 200+ new features. Well that is what they said on the Apple Website at least. People are concerned that if Apple can barely manage this wave of "Updaters" how will their servers do when all the iCloud subscribers will all be uploading their photos?

The new and improved OS for Blackberry, and its name? Blackberry BBX. BBX will be installed in Blackberry phones and tablets, with the possibility of systems in cars, next year. Apparently, it couples both "the best of QNX," which was the OS they bought out last year, and the current OS. BBX will have the capability to support all WebWorks and HTML5 apps that are currently being designed, with software for the Blackberry Playbook. Hopefully, this OS will be better than the current one, and on a side note, we can all pray that a certain company won't crash again for three days *ahem RIM cough cough*.

 IPhone 5 is a the new phone that everybody wants. However is it actually everything we expected? Many IPhone 5 users are talking about how they have been noticing their phones flickering. The first reports were as soon as the device was launched. The main thread for the issue is over 12 pages long with reports of flickering screens. When people began investigating they realized that this issues seems to most frequently occur when a user accesses the virtual keyboard in the App Store. Because the users don't see flickering each time they use it , it only affects the virtual keyboard which means it is a software issue. My personal opinion on this topic is that if Apple doesn't want to lose the rank they have they need to fix this!  

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/