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This article identifies a potential setback for various iPhone users. With all the hype of Apple's iPhone 5, some 4S iPhone owners may be out of luck in terms of upgrades from cellphone carriers. Rumors have said that the iPhone 5 will be seeing a summer or fall 2012 launch but the story here is owners with the iPhone 4S may not be eligible for an upgrade when Apple releases it's newest phone, this means essentially users that rely on contract upgrades are put at a disadvantage. In addition, Verizon customers are affected by the upgrade issue the most, and it will cost these users more if they choose to upgrade to a iPhone 5. This is huge news to anyone who owns a iPhone 4S, especially if they are a Verizon customer, and they plan to buy a iPhone 5. The additional cost may be too much for buyers and they may just stick with what they have until a hopefully near price drop. Apple on the other hand could also suffer because the more people who buy the 4S can reflect to less people who will be able to afford the iPhone 5. The Apple company as well as many other Apple users highly anticipate the iPhone 5, and it could be something like this little dilemma that can angry consumers and could also lead users to leave the upgrade and essentially pass on Apple's phone this time around.

Windows 8, released as a Consumer Preview last month, is designed for touch-enabled devices such as tablets and will also be touch-enabled on desktops and laptops

Microsoft's Window 8 Consumer Preview now gives everyone a chance to experience the company's most biggest change in user interference since Windows 95. It is now a mouse-centric desktop to a touch-friendly, high visual Metro style UI. There are also many more great changes. Window's challenge is the iPad. They share a few similarities. Many people don't like iPad because it doesn't have flash or LTE. Though others like sir love the iPad and will forever.

Phones are a very big thing in today's society.  A phone is almost similar to a computer, except that it fits into your pockets.  Phones can almost do anything, from calling, to social networking, to playing games, and watching movies.   Every phone user knows how precious their phone is to them, especially when it's the highly priced iPhone 5.  There are some negatives to phones however.  Of course, phones will need to be repaired every once in a while.  Unfortunately, the front glass, digitizer and LCD are all one component, which makes repair more expensive and harder.  However, there are some upsides!  A shattered screen is a very common problem for all Apple users, which is a really big positive.   This article proves that an iPhone 5 can be really financially beneficial for many consumers, because since it's easy to repair the screen, it makes it easier,  At the same time, it can be pretty costly, since everything else other (such as the LCD) than screen is still just as hard to replace.

"Mobile World Congress on Monday, Zuckerberg delineated some of his plans for moving forward with Internet.org, the initiative led by Facebook to bring Internet connectivity to poor countries around the world.  While Zuckerberg touted the altruistic vision of his company's goal to connect the next one billion people, it's important to note that the project isn't just for the sake of bringing basic services to those that don't have it, but rather bringing millions of additional eyeballs to Facebook and its advertisers.  See Also: Hey Facebook! Connecting The World To The Web Isn't Enough "[We are] making it so that we can increase the amount of up-sells to subscriptions when they're using these basic services," Zuckerberg said in his keynote. "They will come to a link that isn't included in the basic services package; a popup that says, ok if you want to consume this, you have to buy this data plan." Facebook is making a long-term promise to both data carriers and advertisers-Zuckerberg said the next one billion people to attain Internet access will not be as affluent as those already on Facebook, thus making it harder to monetize the company's services. Zuckerberg said the social network will subsidize Facebook, Messenger, and other services like weather or basic news and information, and then provide up-sells in applications to deliver the whole package-like a gateway drug. Those up-sells are where carriers and Facebook make money. "The reason why they're not on [the Internet] is they don't know why they would want to get access to it," Zuckerberg said. "[We will show] people why it's rational and good for them to spend the limited money that they have on the Internet." How WhatsApp Fits Into Internet.org Facebook recently spent $19 billion to acquire the mobile messaging application WhatsApp, an application Zuckerberg claims will be one of the few services to amass a billion users in the future. He claimed that, by it

Many hardware development companies have been popping up all around the world even obscure places like Kazan Russia. This article is specific to Navigator Campus which will try to make itself into a larger company. Their focus currently is into consumer goods and products like robotics, 3D-printing, and wearable technologies. I think it's really good that many hardware producers are being formed because a lot more people will be given the chance to try out their ideas and develop new technologies. Also when you have more people working on the same things like 3D printers the technology will evolve that much faster. Finally, I like that smaller companies are trying to come into the market and try to grow and compete with the larger corporations.

The Bitcoin and "Coin" are two different virtual currencies with no intrinsic value, but still give the capability to purchase whatever you want as a consumer. Bitcoin is a digital crypto-currency that is ran over the internet. It runs off of bitcoin miners and traders. The currency "coin" however, still uses your countries own currency. It is a beta-project of a credit card, that can hold all of your cards into one. You can have your debit, visa, and mastercard all on the coin. This simplifies purchasing goods because you only need one card that can do many specific things. This article compares the two types of future currency. After reading this article I believe the "Coin" is a safer and more reliable option. It allows us to use actual tangible money, and this money is non-volatile and regulated by the government unlike Bitcoin which goes through many spikes in prices.

As technology constantly evolves, we replace our old electronics with brand new ones. on average, Canadian households have 24 electronic devices. When our old electronics go past their useful life, they become e-waste. In Canada, e-waste is a big issue. Environent Canada estimates that 140,000 tonnes and counting of e-waste is dumped in landfills every year. These electronics include harmful materials such as arsenic, mercury, and lead. Many of the electronics we buy were developed with planned obsolescence, which is planning to design a product with a life span. This is good for manufacturers, because it encourages consumers to buy their new products sooner, as these companies use cheaper components. Instead of old electronics dumped in the landfill, they can be recycled and used for new products. When planning to buy a new product, it is best to read reviews of the product and check if it lasts for a long time, or uses recyclable materials. Also, the cheapest model might not always be the best, and quality may come at increasing costs. in my opinion, if electronic companies plan for sooner obsolescence for their products, they should try to use more recyclable materials, and try to use less of materials that are harmful to the environment.

Ebay, a service beloved by all, is an online market place for the buying and selling of goods. This week, Ebay has been at the forefront of innovation yet again. The tech giants are now allowing sales to be made in crypto-currency (aka virtual currency; think Bitcoin or Dogecoin). This is a very interesting move considering the companies usual apprehension over the digital world; having a long-standing policy against digitally downloaded items. Ebay is widely renowned and is used by people everywhere, and making virtual currency a payable option shows how far the idea has come. Bitcoin started out as a crypto-currency reserved exclusively for less than savoury characters on the dark web. However, the currency has been since thrust into the light and has become wildly popular; going for $600 a bitcoin. This is ultimately a win for Ebay and for us the consumers. Another way to pay can make new transactions much easier and efficient, no need to bring a third party in (PayPal). All in all, this new move by Ebay is another step in legitimizing online currency and making it available to the masses.

Unlocking an iPhone is now illegal. Any smartphone bought after January 26, 2013 can not be unlocked as it is illegal in the USA at least. Although unlocking an iPhone is illegal jailbreaking is not. At least it is legal to jailbreak an iPhone or iPod Touch but to jailbreak an iPad is illegal. With all this in mind the real winner is the carrier/provider as the consumer cannot jump from company to company with the carriers phone. Only in the states can one go to jail for unlocking a phone but can own an assault rifle!

Today employers face multiple challenges with traditional online hiring portals such as:

ü  Escalating cost of accessing candidates database which is largely unused

ü  Time-consuming candidate search and review process

ü  Hard to zero-in on the right resource

ü  Limited branding options

Needless to say, all the above factors slow hiring online which delays bringing candidates on-board. To help employers tackle these online recruitment problems, Pinhopes - a new-age online hiring destination, has introduced innovative profile filtering features, video based online hiring process, multiple branding avenues combined with cost-effective payment option. Here are the key differentiators which help employers hire 3x faster:

Get relevant applications from interested candidates - Every time

Unlike existing online recruitment portals Pinhopes doesn't deal in database business which means employers are not required to search for right candidates, in a database which is largely unused. Instead employers get relevant applications directly from active job seekers for a job opening, without putting much effort.

No tedious candidate search process - Advanced built-in search bubbles best ta

Apple announced today that over the weekend the iPhone 4s sold roughly 4 million copies, doubling the iPhone 4's sales. This is relevant because now i get the feeling that apple can put out pretty much anything, and it will sale really well.

Apple just announced that it sold four million iPhone 4S handsets over the last weekend. The phone hit stores on October 14th and it took just three days to move the massive lot. Incredible.

The iPhone 4s was in stores on October 14th and sold 4 million copies, doubling the iPhone 4's sales. This surprised me because when I first heard of the iPhone 4s, it seemed rushed. I thought the 4s was just something to put in the market while Apple was trying to make adjustments for the iPhone 5. I'm starting to think that whatever Apple puts releases into the market, consumers will just buy buy buy.

Do you love Starbucks coffee and want to learn more about your cup-a-joe? Then you're in luck. Starbucks is launching a QR code program which will let consumers learn more about their coffee. These codes can also provide additional information, most likely in the form of a video, about coffee sold at the stores. Some may provide a sample of music that people listen to in the region where the coffee was picked and found, or a description of just how great the coffee is, done by coffee experts. Whoa. Starbucks is working with Scanbuy on this initiative, who have previously worked with The Home Depot and Taco Bell. So, you get a background check on your coffee. That's useful, right?

When people decide they have no use for old technology and do not think twice before throwing it out, they probably do not realize that their outdated piece of hardware finds its grave half way across the world. Possibly even in Guiyu, China where the largest electronic waste or "E-waste" dump site exists. People are oblivious to the fact that this is a recurring problem, not just a small matter of sorting and recycling through a few pieces of plastic, metal and wires. This black hole of scrapped computers, television sets, air conditioners and even refrigerators is toxic towards the environment, and is contaminating the growth of crops all around the area, such as rice, from the gases of the poisonous elements contained within the gadgets to make them work. The consuming pile of E-waste is not just environmentally deadly but also causes health hazards, along with the expensive and dangerous recycling operations that are needed. If people continue to neglect this issue, E-waste will continue to grow, swallow the earth with a blanket of harmful bi-products and affect everyone's lives, which is something we do not want. E-waste is hazardous and will eventually kill the planet with the path that it seems to be following without any real rise against the issue. This is such a nice way to give back to the environment don't you think? Polluting the earth and by proxy ourselves with technological garbage is obviously a smart thing to do, as if we aren't destroying the world enough already.

We should all probably know that when technology starts upgrading as time goes by, we always want to get the new products. Our generation is getting more and more into technology and in this article, it explains a study of how we are digitally getting distracted in our academics. This study shows that 47% of teachers should make courses and content in digital literacy into a school's curriculum. I agree with this because as our generation spends our days mainly on our phones or on computers, we wouldn't be distracted on the technology if we have our work finished with it. The only back draw to this is that many students would just go on Google or Wikipedia for their answers as the Internet has a huge amount of information displayed for us to use. This article relates to portable computing because it's starting to affect how we do in our education. In addition, it relates to eLifestyle because we're using this technology as a daily part of our lives and if we start to use it as a method of education, we can use it as a form of gaining new information.

The article, by Neha Prakash, is about a study on the effects of technology on the current generation of students. The study concluded with 87% of teachers saying students were easily distracted and had short attention spans. This is most likely due to the internet providing such quick and easy access within a keystroke in search engines such as Wikipedia and Google. Students are used to having things accomplished and out of the way so quickly that they no longer have the attention span to complete more complicated and time consuming tasks. Due to this, students lack time management and also do not check if their sources are reputable. A solution to this problem could be to incorporate digital literacy and technology into schools' curriculum. With this additional knowledge, methods of education can be improved in today's technological environment. This relates to elifestyle in that we use technology so much that we can take it for granted. Normally, we do not acknowledge the consequences of repetitive and prolonged use of social media, search engines, cell phones, and so on. As the class of ICS2O, we learn to use technology in a healthy balance in our lives. We are at the forefront of electronic education, using sites such as diigo, Google Drive, and Google Reader to complete assignments and engage in the events of the outside world. While there are negative impacts to the overuse of technology, like most other things, technology, used in balance with other aspects of life, can be beneficial.

This article states that a new study has shown that more and more kids/teenagers are distracted by technologies which affect their learning.  87% of the teachers in this study have said that "technology is creating an easily distracted generation with short attention spans."  Other teachers also claim that "technologies do more to distract students than to help them academically."  Teachers, though, remained somewhat optimistic about digital impact, with 77% saying Internet search tools have had a "mostly positive" impact on their students' work. I think that technologies help out a lot in kids learning however it could still distract them. A lot of kids use the internet with homework and study help which could in some cases is a very beneficial thing. They would learn and find out more about the subject they are studying. Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project, says that maybe it is not the problem with tech, but the lack of digital literacy training in students that creates the problem. I agree with this also. 

In this article, Apple's current CEO, Tim Cook expresses his opinion on the suing of South Korean company, Samsung. Although, Steve Jobs was very clear with his intentions to take out Samsung as a major source of competition, Tim Cook was opposed to suing Samsung because the company was a major supplier of parts for Apple. However, Jobs suspected Samsung was abusing the supplier relationship to shield it from any legal claims and his fears were confirmed with the early release of the Galaxy Tab which was very much like the iPad. Apple's dependency on Samsung is displayed by the nearly $8 billion dollars worth of components bought from Samsung last year. For this reason, Tim Cook has made several moves to wean Apple's dependence on Samsung products, including hiring away a top chip designer formerly working for Samsung. This and the $1.17 billion dollars apple was given from the jurisdiction between the two rivals was a big win for them. This article fits under the legal category because it touches upon the legal issues between the two rivaling companies, and the opinions of stakeholders such as Jobs and Cook. Also, this article is related to economics because it predicts the future of major companies like Samsung and Apple. With these two companies at the top, changes in consumer behaviour can easily result if one of the companies falls behind.

The article is an excerpt from "Instant: The Story of Polaroid" by Christopher Bonanos. The Polaroid is described as 'that thing that happened before Instagram happened' in the comment proceeding the excerpt. The excerpt tells the tale of how the first Polaroid camera was revealed to the public in 1947 at a scientific meeting of the Optical Society of America by Edwin Land. It is a story of innovation and breakthrough. Previously, cameras would produce negatives on film which would be sent to labs, or developed in home-made darkrooms. This process was difficult, time consuming, and could potentially fail. The Polaroid would change all that. Land took a picture of himself and set a 50 second timer for it to develop. He described how a thick chemical reagent was being reacted with the negative, the same stuff that normally went down a darkroom drain. This was one of Land's biggest breakthroughs. With the 50 seconds up, he peeled back the print, revealing a sepia (or as we described it: a browned-up-a-notch) portrait of himself. This was monumental. A process which normally took a week was done in under a minute. The story of the instant camera raced across America, landing Land in the New York Times and Life magazine. This article relates to the present, where cameras are generally smaller and predominantly digital. As a class, we recently watched a video on micro-technology. Over the years, scientists and engineers have been on the constant struggle to make things smaller, faster, and more efficient. The camera is no exception. Today's cameras contain microchips and processors of their own, in a compact space. Recent Polaroids can print in colour. In a world driven by invention and innovation, many new things may be introduced in our life time. Perhaps one will be as impactful as the Polaroid camera.

This is an article that explains and acknowledges that evolution of the iPod. From the original iPod models, to the iPod shuffle, and now to the iPod touch, this Apple invention took everyone by surprise and through they years, it has made a historic mark in the world of technology. This evolution is impactful to our world because everyone at some time or another has owned or used some form of an iPod and despite its high price tag, this is nothing that stopped consumers to contribute to more than 220 million iPods sold, comprising over 70% of the market for all portable audio players. It is astonishing to see how far this one creation has come with each generation improving in memory, megapixels, features, ports, size, weight, and much more. The iPod is certainly a revolutionary piece of technology and hardware and as much contributions and success this device has made to the lives of many, it can only be assumed that another one is on it's way. The improvements and advancements to the external and internal design will present itself in various ways, that is sure to catch the eyes of millions of people worldwide, making another mark to the impact of the iPod. 

The Evolution of the iPod. This article talks about the numerous iPods sold throughout the past several  years. More than 220 million Ipods have been sold as of 2009. These iPods are always improving and changing size that seems to best suit people in many ways. Technology always has a huge impact on people and the way they  use things. These iPods have a social impact throughout and will continue to do so. Some people want an iPod that is strictly for music, and there are iPods for that. Whereas others would like more of a variety within, that's where the iPod touch is necessary. It contains a browser, email, camera, and Apps to play games on. 

Wow, that was fast! Someone got to making a Windows 8 app that brings back the functions of the start menu. This would actually make me much more likely to upgrade to the OS, because the main problem I have with it is that the start menu is gone and instead replaced with a metro interface that does not transition well from the desktop. It's nice that there are people out there that actually take the time to tweak Windows to make it perform the way people prefer. Now if only Apple allowed for that kind of tweaking officially on OS X and iOS...