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The iCade controller for iPhone and iPad so far was a big hit and now they came up with a new invention called iCad 8-Bitty, a Nintendo-style gamepad controller with 8 buttons. The 8-Bitty connects to your iPhone etc. through Bluetooth. This device is only $25. A pretty decent price I say. This device is awesome for those who like to play the greatest game ever invented, Super Mario 64. 

This article notifies the world that the CIA wants to spy on you through your TV and has the means just to do so. Anytime you download a movie from Netflix to your television or turn on a Internet-based radio, you could be alerting people who you don't want or need watching you. The CIA organization will not need to plant bugs in homes or other places to spy on individuals because of coming advances in computer and Internet technology. Just by people purchasing and using new apps and various "connected" devices, people will essentially be bugging their own homes. The CIA agency and others will be able to "read" these and other gadgets from outside places to monitor via the Internet and perhaps even with radio waves outside your home. This is astonishing information and what makes it even more surprising is it can get worse, it the sense that everything, not just electronics, will be controlled by an app or chip, and will ultimately be viewed and seen by outside sources. This is a scary idea that can be put to action and that fact that we won't even be secure and safe in our homes because there may always be someone watching us and viewing what we are doing. I understand technology is helping us in our everyday lives, but I feel this is too far and the government is now using there means of advancing technology against society. They have the power and resources to possibly monitor and maybe to control what we go on the Internet or what we watch on TV and this will alter our once safe and comfortable environment to have the freedom to use technology how we like in our home.

This article explains that Apple's newest piece of technology, the iPad 3, has caught their attention, but not for the right or wanted reasons. Apple's iPad 3 has had WiFi issues with plenty of complaints from a number of consumers bringing their thoughts to the company's attention. Weak Wi-Fi seems to almost be a standard part of an iPad launch. Both previous generations had difficulty with WiFi just out of the gate, with users complaining of weak reception and problems connecting to a network. The fact that this is not new for Apple is reassuring and some what comfortable for them because they have been in this situation before and they know the solution to their problem. Although Apple may know what to do and they aren't too concerned, this has to be a issue that Apple has to bring up and deal with in the future to avoid any complaining or angry impressed consumers about the issues that people are facing with newly developed Apple products. 

Angry Birds has become one of the most popular games for people of all ages to play while on the go, but if your someone who is a veteran player, and may be getting a bit tired of the same old basic mechanics, fear not, because there is a solution that requires a new skill for playing the game. This new creative and innovative answer to gamer's problems is a real slingshot that interfaces with the game over a USB connection. The slingshot is recognized by a PC as a mouse and the angle of the shot depends on how the player is holding the slingshot.  Also, the company has designed this USB compatible slingshot so the skills and tools are available to everyday people to go and build one themselves. All the components are widely available and relatively cheap to buy. In addition, mbed have released instructions and code for creating their prototype. I believe this is a interesting and intelligent way to attract more people to play Angry Birds and also an exciting creation to sustain the present gamers. This advancement enhances the overall experience of playing Angry Birds and this demonstrates how successful this game has become over the years and the attention it receives to maintain and increase it's high praise and recognition as a worldwide well-known computer game.

This new Ford has the latest version of its infontainment system "SYNC with MyFord Touch." SYNC is voice-activated technology which connects your smartphone and MP3 player to your car's dashboard and steering wheel. It launched in 2007 and now there are 4 million Ford cars in North America with SYNC. The latest evolution is called MyFord Touch, a fully integrated "cabin tech" system. Ford has not only been a leader in car infotainment systems, it has also adopted the software paradigm of iterative upgrades. At the end of last year it announced free upgrades for MyFord. This relates to the course because it shows how technology is getting better and better.

Tired from listening to complaints from costumers, Apple finally decided to do something about the battery length on the iPhone 4S. Apple released 5 iPhone battery cases that will extend the length of your battery. Although the cases aren't exactly pretty I guess we'll just have to manage with those for now.

this is where your 100 word descriiption.  This is great!!!

I find this article interesting, it shows how we could put music to your secondary media player. It's amazing how it can become your best way to back up and access your music from where ever. It's pretty cool that Google is trying their best to improve their site, and Google is taking time to improve their site. Since it's one of the best music web apps, i can get to sync my music library and it can connect to my mobile, and also it's for free.

Google Music is states only for now, though. But an easy way to get around it is to either use a web proxy (hidemyass.com) or something like hotspot shield, sign into your google account and go to music.google.com. Turns out you only need to sign into Google Music once with a US IP address to be let in forever. So once you do that you can close the proxy and you'll be able to use it normally.

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. 

This skateboard is all controlled by your brain waves. When you picture where you want to go, the skateboard moves in that direction. This isn't very safe, but i'm sure many people would buy it if it were for sale. The head set that you have to wear measures your brain waves and sends it to the tablet that is connected to the skate board. I don't know about you but I would rather drive this than a car. 

The iPad3 will be releasing in March 7. There are lots of rumors about the new iPad is going to be a smaller version that the iPad2. The iPad3 might be going to be 8 inches or 10 inches plus running at a 4G speed. It will be a better graphic, better processor and better battery life. The iPad3 will be running in A6 processor. More likely around 1 GB or ram

This article is for many of the Apple users who have both the iPad and the iPhone. There is an app called Touch DJ where you can use your iPad and iPhone. This app requires you to connect the both of them and can play the "Futulele" which is a virtual ukulele that you can play on your iPhone and iPad. The iPhone would be the frets of the ukulele and the iPad would be the body.

This article is a timeline of cell phones through the ages.  Although it is intended to be a humorous post, it is worth noting how far we've come in the design of cell phones. There are various types of phones depicted here ... [here is my connection goes ... about how the design of devices evolve to improve our usage and relationship to technology ...] [here is where you put your opinion - I've only been around since the mid-90s so I am more familiar with the smaller devices, much smaller than the one here.  Still, the trend continues, as the form of portable devices continue to change ... i.e the iphone 5 which is thinner than any other phone ever.]

Because of social media and texting 24/7, our minds have become accustomed to emoticons and what they represent. For example, our brains now register the colon - dash - close - bracket as a real smiling face. This phenomenon has been studied by scientists and this break through is not only interesting but also dawns upon the fact of how people right now are beginning to be taken over by technology. If just seeing a few markings of type makes one remember a face, then what more weird things will we be able to connect with text to in the future? It's not just smiley faced emoticons people register as well - there are thousands of emoticons that people now understand are pictures that are smaller versions of a bigger idea such as, OTL representing a person kneeling in failure and even, (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻, to represent the action of flipping a table.

Google has been keeping quiet about their latest tech, but a leak has hinted toward a google smart watch with certain features that will compel you to purchase the new wave of wearable tech. The google watch will allow you to get ambient notifications between your phone and watch through Blue tooth LE. This connectivity will allow you to awnser calls, and see who is texting you. The watch will take a "Pebble" like design, but it will have a less masculine plastic wristband instead. The watch though, will either be released with less features or fully released at a later date due to time constraints. In my opinion, wearable tech is interesting but I believe its still in a beta-phase due to the fact of limited battery life and actual applicable features in real life.

The British company behind the personal assistant app Indigo for Android and iOS is looking into creating a more sophisticated voice-controlled personal assistant like Siri. The company's inspiration was the movie Her. A story about a lonely writer who falls in love with Samantha an extremely refined Siri. The new technology connects various systems within you home. You can search for a route to your friends house on your computer and get in you car and your phone will direct you there. Another thing is rather than filling out forms with your information you can just tell the voice controlled personal assistant your address and other information and it will put it into its memory. The new Siri will learn more about you as you search thing through it . If you look for restaurants in your area and you look at different sushi restaurants it will register that you like sushi restaurants. To tell you the truth i am very excited to see how this ends up and I will be happy to see its release.

Samsung has put out the Galaxy Gear "smart watch" with what is said to be 3 days of battery life. The new mobile operating system, Tizen OS is used in this. Along with the Tizen OS there is a 1.63-inch touchscreen, 1 GHz processor and up 4 GB of storage, and it is compatible with Samsung smartphones. The Tizen is hoped to be used in multiple other devizes, from cars to TV's. The article relates to hardware because this may be the future of our equipment, possibly all connected and controlled with maybe one or a few things. It can be said that this is what everything will be like, from our tools to our everyday items. My idea of this is that these new things that are popping up that will make our lives "easier" will bring everyone to become more and more lazy. Before electronics people actually went out to have fun, but now everything we do, or at least almost everything, is in the "comfort of our home".

Social media has been playing a huge role in our everyday live so its no surprise that it also plays a big part in campaigning. I read this article about the importance of social media in political campaigns I now understand the impact. In the article Patricia Misutka was saying that it is very difficult to win a campaign without social media. The social media tool is very important because it allows you to reach out to the people and get immediate responses. Now rather than going from house to house and calling and polling people you can see responses to things like platform and policy ideas much quicker and with more accuracy. Another very important reason for campaigning with social media is important for reaching younger people who may not watch the news or read newspapers. Social media is a necessary tool in campaigning but it is not sufficient and will never replace face-to-face interactions with voters.

This article is about how social media has become a very big part of our lives and how it is important for government candidates to have social media because so many people are already on it. The article uses Edmonton as example. The most famous candidates in Edmonton has social media accounts but the least famous ones don't. The article talks about how candidates need social media accounts and you need to be constantly updating since so many people have it. Having social media even when you are in politics are very important. Many people can connect with you if you are on social media. They would know you better and become more well know if you are on social media. Election campaigns are more effective if you have a social media account because people who followed you would constantly get campaign updates and would re-tweet it. That means more people would know you and you would have a higher chance of winning the election.

Google is improving the security of their email application. Gmail is switching to https, and is looking at a more private future for its users. Sending messages over a secure https connection ensures no one can come in contact with a message. This now has become the default in all gmail practices. It is no longer an option like in 2010. In addition, emails sent will be encrypted, along with communication. This is the news that I actually liked hearing from google, most of the time it's them trying to steal our identities through google search and targeting ads towards us w/out permission.

The typical computer workspace setting looks a little darker, and more secluded than these designers wanted. They chose an open concept workspace instead, which includes flowers, plants. etc. The two people credited for this idea are Julia and Yuriy. This is a design for a home office. They think, that if you are into spending time with your significant other, and are willing to share a desk this can be a fabulous idea, since you are connected and have to work together. This could be an interesting concept. This website actually takes other people's ideas and puts them up for display, so this does not happen to be proven or tested to work better, or something along those lines. Still, I think this could work for me. I like the atmosphere this gives off, and you could probably get a lot of things done quicker if you are comfortable.

This article talks about a "selfie" (self-taken photo) taken by MLB Red Sox' player David Ortiz with the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. The picture was used by Samsung for an ad which raised many questions for the White House. Obama did not know that "Big Papi" (David Ortiz) had connections with Samsung and did not know about the financial benefits. David Ortiz is being payed by Samsung for this photo which he also posted on twitter. Officials are saying that they are not going to take any action to take down the photo but also say that they have not approved of this photo.