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This post is about the price Americans paid over the past 5 years to fix their broken iPhones. With such a thin, glass design, the iphone has not been a very durable phone so far. Many Americans found this out the hard way by dropping it from their hand, plunging it into a body of water such as a toilet or a tub, or dropping it from their laps. The cost of all these accidents adds up to a whopping 5.9 billion dollars over the past five years in the United States. This issue relates back to the "Portable Computing" tag, because no matter how advanced the iPhone is or how it can improve you daily life in hundreds of different ways, it is not able to accomplish anything if it is broken. Reliability when it comes to withstanding drops is a major factor required in order to positively affect our lives. In my opinion, this is disappointing coming from such a prestigious company such as Apple. I think that for iPhone 5, they should build a more robust phone, without sacrificing its slim, thin design that everybody loves so much. You should not have to buy an expensive case in order to keep your phone protected, especially with a price like the iPhone's.

A not so shocking discovery that apple and all apple products are produced in china and other places out side of America.  Americans take pride in the facts that they are on top of one of the largest industries in the world. Although, if most of the products are being made out side of the states can Americans really take pride in Apple and be proud to call it their own when they are supplying jobs out of the country when America could use them most.

A not so shocking discovery that apple and all apple products are produced in china and other places out side of America.  Americans take pride in the facts that they are on top of one of the largest industries in the world. Although, if most of the products are being made out side of the states can Americans really take pride in Apple and be proud to call it their own when they are supplying jobs out of the country when America could use them most.

"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.  

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

EA has once again made the Worst Company in American History. Although many think the constant hate towards EA is a circlejerking karma train their problems and mistakes are very much real. This article outlines 3 of their main failures: -not providing a product their costumer will want -not selling a product at a reasonable price -not supporting the products they sell Despite selling games that millions of people buy most are rushed, including features that nobody wants, and not fixing previous mistakes. They also try to squeeze as much money out of their consumers as possible. They make people pay for money in-game products that should already be in the original copy and the make many of their games pay-to-win. The last big point that makes EA the Worst Company in American History was the fact that they have a habit of not supporting the products they sell. For example when

China's unfaltering economy continues to feed national hunger for science. Unlike the Americans whom only seem to be satisfied with tea. China's purpose in space is unknown but if the Americans refuse to progress scientifically, then I guess we have to look to the new guy. However even china may not understand the true cost of space travel,maybe then they will look to their western friends. China's first module has been launched and completion of the heavenly palace is expected in 2020 with a manned moon mission sometime after.

You just received a detention from your homeroom teacher because you did not finish your homework. The reason? FACEBOOK. Americans are spending too much time on social networks(23%). Allowing us to download the networks onto our phones(smartphones) is part of the reason why it is raising our numbers. But what's sad is that this information is no longer surprising to us. Take a look at what the world is turning into. 

I'd read the rest of this article, but I have to check to see what's up on Facebook

God bless America for the most technologically advanced trigger happy group of soldiers in the world. America is constantly trying to better their view of the battlefield so today BAE systems unveiled a GPS unit that can track, and see what the soldiers see's at all times. This is to be transmitted from an extra light garment like antenna to a command center where generals can have a better view of the battlefield. Bless America and its continuing fight against the fascist, the communist, the terrorist and the intellectual community. USA USA USA USA USA -Certified American Badass

The intellectual community?

Sarcasm, republican primaries have left me with some resentment. I feel if they get in charge we can say goodbye to american scientific innovation for the next little while.

Cellphones play a huge factor in our everyday life.  Everybody uses cellphones nowadays.  However, the real question is, when should a child receive a cellphone?  Rather, when should a parent give their a child a cellphone?  Everybody is different, so they have their own opinion as to when they are ready to receive a cellphone/give a cellphone.  A recent report shows that nearly half of the teens surveyed say they can't live longer than a week without their phones, and 36% said they check their phones at least every 10 minutes.  Of course, these habits don't develop within a day of course.  An American research market company polled parents on what they thought the most appropriate age for a child to receive their first cellphone.  Twenty-two percent of parents polled said they thought 10 was the right age, while 43% of the parents fell within the 10 to 12 age range.  I find this ridiculous, because not even I have my own cell phone, nor will I be receiving one in the near future.   In today's society, a phone is like a miniature computer that you can take anywhere with you.  Phones were originally used for making phone calls and giving parents feel a sense of security knowing they can contact their kids whenever and wherever.  However phones can also be a whole set of challenges to a parent.  It is an Internet-enabled device with few parental controls, which could be one challenge.  It might also give a child access to inappropriate apps, the less-than-wholesome intentions of other people, from bullying to worse.   As a child's age increases, there comes many other challenges such as sexting or texting while driving. Personally, I feel the only time one can be ready for a phone, is when they prove that they are mature enough to handle such responsibility.  But that's just my side of the story.

This article, by Somnini Sengupta on the New York Times, is an in-depth look on free speech on the internet, and drawing the line between free expression and hate speech. An anti-Islamic video recently posted on YouTube has brought up the debate over where internet companies decide to draw that line. After the killing of a US ambassador and three other Americans, Google has restricted access to the video in Egypt and Lybia. Google continued to restrict the video in five other countries where it violated local laws. The question about free speech proves to be a problem where it can lead to hate speech. There are continual debates over whether hate speech includes speech that can lead to violence, or demeans a group by race or religion. Politically unstable countries, such as Pakistan, have blocked YouTube altogether. Many internet companies such as Facebook and Twitter, receive the same problems on content as well. Social networks of communication and freedom of expression can also become outlets and channels of hateful and demeaning speech. However, it is also difficult to screen such large amounts of user uploaded content at a time. Although these social networking sites may not condone the views expressed by their users, they can do little to prevent the upload and viewing by hundreds of millions of daily active users. As represented by the anti-Islamic video, these views can affect events, actions, and the lives of people the world over. This can relate to us as students because we can see how widespread the internet is, and how much larger it will become. Everything we post online is recorded and forever preserved; once it's out there, it's out there. Whether what we post reach the desired recipient or a nation, words, coupled with the internet, have immense power, and should be treated with respect. This reflects on smaller scale issues such as cyber bullying, where what we post may intentionally or unintentionally harm our peers. Yes, I believe that free spee

This article talks about some businesses that now only hire non-smokers. This article states that this is the new trend among North American employees. This new hiring practice has slashed in half the cost of employee health benefits compared to five or six years ago which means that businesses will save a lot of money. Smokers cost more money, miss more workdays and have more health problems which is why businesses don't like to hire them. Some people think that they shouldn't be excluded as long as they do their job and isn't going to help them end their addiction. This article relates to the tag economics because it doesn't allow non-smokers to work therefore limiting the amount of people that would apply for a job. This is a downside because if not many people apply for a job and if some of those applicants were smokers, less people would be able to take up that occupation.

       Last year american congress introduced CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act). Although this act  speaks of protection it does quite the opposite. With this act almost all privacy on the internet will disappear. Despite many people opposing this bill last year a new version of this bill has been released this year. This CISPA 2.0 would grant immunity to private companies who can share your data with other companies, private agencies, and the government. This means that your private information and cybersecurity is virtually non-existent and can be shared with anyone. At the end of the article it tells people how they can fight against this bill. Although this bill is for the united states, Canada has attempted to pass a bill like it in the past and I personally do not want any bills of this sort to pass legislature.

With people becoming more tech savvy, the security and firewalls of major websites and servers are becoming just obstacles to hackers looking for valuable information these websites contain.  Michael Tchong suggests that we need a new internet, one built from the ground up. He says that China is far more advanced with technology and internet security than that of the United States and Canada. Some suggestions that Michael Tchong has made for this new internet is making the internet so secure that to hack it, you will need to be a genius with alot of time on your hands. He proposes that there should be a next-generation eye-recognition technology using a computer or mobile camera. This will help sites like Facebook and LinkedIn in their endless battle against identity fraud. Also he thinks that it should only be accessed by Americans for obvious reasons that the Chinese and other known hacking countries would try and destroy the new internet.  

This article is about the evolution of the normal cell phone vs the smartphone. The Pew internet and the american life projects  reported that smartphone users have now surpassed(Be better than) basic phone users. It also talks about how the mobile phones will over take PCs.

This is an extremely important matter as it is the first large step within the american government to censor the internet. Mega upload is not just a website, it is a symbol of expression. The government censoring things such as large websites and social networks is a scaring thing as it marks the first step in global censorship. It causes people to fear the government.

Over the past few years, the iphone has become much more popular.  It's thin, light and efficient design has attracted many users. However, despite the improvements made to the phone over the years it still remains rather fragile.  Our society has become so reliant on technology, yet our day to day life is very hazardous to these delicate electronics.  Every day, people drop, kick, and spill on their iphones and end up with a broken phone.  You'd think because of this constant issue iPhones would be made sturdier so that it can make it through the day, however, in the last year 30% of iphone users have damaged their phone.  Iphones come at such high prices.  We expect that when we buy one, we have not only bought a phone that can meet our daily expectations, but one that can also last through the day.  Hopefully, this is an improvement that we will see on the new iPhone5.   I think that as great as the new iPhone features are, they should also be focusing on making it last, because if the phone breaks what good are the new features?  My sister had dropped her iphone a couple of times and part of the screen had cracked.  However, despite the damage she had still had to use and rely on this old, cracked phone for a few more months until she could get it replaced, due to the costs of getting it repaired. It had caused her some problems and I'm sure many other iphone users have encountered this issue.  I don't think the goal is to make it easier or cheaper to repair iphones, but rather make it so that less people need repairs.

December 10th was the day to remember the late Nelson Mandela. It was a day to commemorate the life of a great man who fought oppression and racism. Unfortunately a few world leaders had seen the memorial as some kind of a joke. The Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Barack Obama the American president and the British Prime Minister David Cameron took a selfie during the ceremony. I find this behavior to be really disrespectful and rude. There kind of actions should not be done by anyone in any circumstance especially world leaders. I think that all three of these people bring their countries shame by showing the manners of the 2nd grader. I hope that these people clean up their act and properly represent their countries.

FreedomPop has come out with a new phone that will protect your phone calls and data from hackers. The phone is nicknamed the "Snowden phone" but is actually a Samsung Galaxy S2 that FreedomPop remodeled. The phone is selling now for $189 and comes with unlimited voice and texting. They also throw in 50MB of monthly data access for the first three months and then charges the users $10 a month. FreedomPop's Chief Operating Officer Steven Sesar says: "In light of recent violations in consumer's privacy across social networks and mobile devices, privacy is becoming increasingly important to many Americans and we all have a right to communicate anonymously. Large carriers don't have the flexibility, desire, or creativity to invest in privacy." I think this is a great idea because today, so many people don't know if their information is safe. This will help people feel more secure and safe with their information and not have to worry about who could have their phone calls or text messages.

Apparently, SNCF, a french railway company who shipped a lot of Jews to concentration camps and by proxy their imminent deaths, is being demanded to pay reparations to many Holocaust survivors in the US who are also trying to pass a bill that makes sure no taxes will go towards that company until they take full responsibility for their actions and that partnerships with American businesses will be blocked. SNCF has already made an apology but goes with the excuse of saying that they were coerced by the Nazis, much to the disbelief of the survivors who think and have evidence that what happened was concretely a business deal. This controversy is a very big deal as it brings up past wrongs that still need to be fixed even to this day. Those Holocaust survivors have been through hell and surely they should receive all of the compensation and more because of the terrors they have experienced which no one in their entire life should. Until this situation turns out, I hope that justice gets served.

Just when you thought that the authoritative figures of North America could not have been more messed up, the American government turns up and pulls something like this: Palcohol, take your Pal wherever you go! This is a powdered form of alcohol (in packets that you rip and mix the contents in water to receive hard liquor - or maybe even cocktails from pre-mixed powders) that the government has apparently legalized the production of, ignorantly raising the potential of underage drinking when they should be doing everything in their power to discourage it. This Palcohol concerns me greatly as it also makes the hiding and later consumption of alcohol to be a hell of a lot easier now, providing a gargantuan amount of opportunities for teen stupidity. Why, America, why must you do this to yourself? And you can't even blame another country for your problems of increased drinking and driving rates in youth, because this is solely your own fault.