Group items tagged

Seagate after selling its 1 millionth hard drive has come up with even better and faster versions of its current hard drive, all models of hard drives 250gp to TB have now the performance of 7200 rpm.Using 40mm fabrication technology and dual core.

Singaporean scientists have discovered that salt can arrange the magnetic grains in your normal hard drive in a more orderly fashion. Letting you have instead of a 1tb hard drive have a 6tb hard drive, The best part is that the upgrade means it is not expensive seeing how its just salt.

Basically it's about search engines and how they have a long memory and how we don't think before we post. Our immoral and illegal act online, such as the negative tweets towards Obama. Basically saying that whatever you post is hard to take back even if it was something you once did years ago. (Which you probably even know) "The past is hard to escape" I agree. No matter what bad things you do, if you put something out there, someone will remember for long periods. Just like remembering those embarrassing moments in elementary. Although it's a good thing to make it hard to escape. Most youths and victims will eventually find it a huge mistake/regret.

This article gives the reader helpful information and the benefits to backing up your computer/hard drive. Without doing so, in the state of some kind of malfunction on your computer, you could be in a situation where all your files have been deleted and there is no way to get them back because there was no back up. This article appealed to me because I learned the hard way from a while back when my laptop had been infected with a virus which deleted every single program I had (even iTunes). 

This post is about Online Universities and why they don't compare to the real thing. Products like Saba LMS, Moodle, and iTunes U have made e-learning mainstream, and most universities offer and allow some or most of their coursework to be completed online. First off, the concern with many online universities and colleges is post-graduation employment statistics. Most have very low graduation rates. A government recruited states that "it's not ideal. It doesn't set a baseline expectation, for me or for the people he or she will meet in the field. If I just need to check off a 'degree' box on a requirements form, online will do, but if two candidates are similar, I'm going with the one from Stanford or UVA." Moreover, the differences come down to two things: brand and social interaction. Traditional schools can clearly understand reputations, strengths and weaknesses. Without historical data and a history of success or failure, the online schools' GPAs, class standing and other performance metrics are just numbers and statistics. The author of this article also states that "Giant online schools that accept pretty much everyone may be democratizing education, but they're not helping employers or anyone else separate out the best and the brightest." This can hurt the prestige, and ultimately the graduates of the school. This issue relates to the "eLifestyle" tag because in the end it will definitely affect not only the students, but the regular citizens of a country. The graduates of universities, online of traditional,  will be the leaders of the future, and I believe that traditional universities and colleges are better because professors can get to know and understand students at a different level. It is hard to judge or mark a student based only on online text. For instance, you will never be able to distinguish a student that truly tries and works hard but cannot understand the information properly to a student that understands it but is lazy and slacks off.

For a service that had such an artificially high demand, the tech industry has not really capitalized on Video Chat. When Apple unveiled their video chat service 'FaceTime' in June of 2010, many thought that this would become the primary standardized service used by all. In practice, FaceTime is a clunky system that is evidently less productive and convenient than just vocal or text communication. So why hasn't video conferencing taken off as the industry had hoped? The answer is most likely because there is no standardized system and the market is too saturated; Polycom Inc. hopes to adress this issue by introducing a Universal Video Chat in early 2013. The product (called RealPresence CloudAxis) monetizes all of your contacts from Skype, Facebook, Google Talk and other apps into one place - all hosted on a web browser. This is a very ambitious task and if it delivers on what Polycom says (with the "same security and reliability as enterprise systems"), then there may be some validity to the video conference service. This relates to Privacy and Security because when monetizing a group of services, there is a chance for data leak and possible identity theft; Polycom promises to adress all security issues in order to make a safe and immersive experience for its users. This relates to eLifestyle because companies and their consumers have been trying for the past years to create a universal video chat service that actually worked in order to establish a multi-faceted social network: it might be too early to tell if Polycom has something that will fulfill the needs of consumers. This relates to ICS20 because as a class, we are no stranger to multiple accounts that often times serve the same purpose. As consumers, we hope for a streamlined service that can connect all of our multiple accounts into one place, preferably on a browser. It will be hard for Polycom, both legally and economically, to convince all of these pre-existing video chat developers to allow Polycom to

As you all probably know, the new Apple maps available on iOS 6 is failing to live up to many expectations and requirements. Since coming out, it has had a lot of criticism and many apple customers were disappointed. There has even been a public apology from Apple CEO Tim Cook, who promised that Apple were hard  at work improving Apple Maps. In my opinion, it is embarrassing when such a prestigious company such as Apple develops something that receives this much criticism. I also think that this can hurt Apple's reputation, and even cause users to switch over to rival companies such as Samsung for phones. The big question, however, is whether or not Apple can match or even improve on the previously incorporated with Apple products, "Google Maps." Some say this is unlikely, as Google has much more experience in make map apps, and as Apple still has a long way to go until they can improve Apple Maps to a level where it could be considered decent.

With the popularity of social media growing rapidly everyday, so are the number of ways people are trying to steal your information. One such case is the Dorkbot or Ransomware worm that has previously attacked Facebook and Twitter has now began spreading through Skype. Criminals using Dorkbot infect it into computers through sending innocent-looking links to victims. Once a victim clicks the link, the worm blocks all files on the victim's computer from use  and uses these files as ransom for a set amount of money. Should the victim refuse to pay the ransom, all the files will be deleted.  This article shows that as easy as it is for our computer to collect data, it can just as easily have this data stolen, all it takes is a single opened link. It is always stressed to never open links that seem suspicious, yet many people will open links without any regard for their data. I think it's very low how online criminals will stop at nothing to find sneaky ways to steal other people's information and their money. Are they so lazy to make money on their own that they will just leach off of people who worked hard to make money to support themselves? People who don't take precautions while browsing the Internet are just as at fault as the criminals who plague the web. Since people are caring less about the safety of their data as the number of cyber criminals increases, it will be inevitable that web browsers will have to increase security or the government will have to make an effort to track down cyber criminals and set laws to punish cyber criminals more harshly.

Social media has exploded over the years and become a huge part of all of our lives. From facebook to twitter, from instagram to tumblr, everywhere we look there's some kind of social media being thrust in front of us. It has appeared so often that we have grown used to it. It's not unusual when someone stops to update their twitter or upload a picture of their lunch to instagram. There's that sense of excitement when your phone buzzes to tell you that you've been retweeted or your post has been liked. Social media has become part of our lifestyle and it's a great benefit to have. It allows you to keep in contact with relatives and friends and stay updated on the lives of those around you, but have we started to become too reliant on this advantage. This article had provided a look at various social media addicts, like 'the liker' and 'the constant checker' and despite the humorous aspect to it, you can still see a slightly more serious question behind it. This article brings to light an issue that we all knew existed, but never really paid much attention to. It had referred to the different types of reliance's on social media as addictions. It's a strong word to describe what most might usually think of as just small habits or pastimes, but maybe addiction is the right word to use. This post not only highlights the different types of social media addicts, but it also tells us the 'symptoms' and downfalls that can come out of each one and it raises some fair points. It draws attention to the fact that the addiction to social media can not only annoy those around us, but also hurt yourself and waste your valuable time. I mean, it becomes very hard to concentrate on the work at hand as soon as your phone or computer buzzes to tell you that someone has mentioned you in their tweet. Social media makes procrastinating so much easier, not that we wouldn't find our ways to without it. This article is just proof that the world around usis growing, especially the cyber world

We all know that voice recognition software exists having been created by companies like Apple, some of us thought that advanced technology would end at a computer recognizing words and responding to questions. However that is not the case. A company called Kimera Systems is developing a system that figuratively reads your mind. This isn't a software that literally reads what you are thinking and performs an action based on your thought since that would require an implant into your body. Rather, Kimera's system consisting of the Salience Engine and DigitalMe (or DMe) Smart Agents. The Salience Engine collects information from its users and uses this to understand human action better while the Smart Agents perform actions based on the user's preferences and the user's previous actions. For example, if a user sent out party invitations to friends and then went out to buy groceries, Kimera's system would automatically download a shopping app for the user because the system understands the user is going to the grocery store to buy select food items. This system, should it be implemented into future phones and devices could very well change society for the better and for worse. This system could make people's lives better by allowing decisions to be made by the system for the user so they can worry about other things while knowing Kimera's system will take care of tasks for them. This could negatively impact society though because since the system automatically makes decisions for the user, if they begin to rely on this system and lose their sense of judgement rendering them unable to decide without this system. Though automated technology is the dream of many, is an automated life really what we want? From this new technology Kimera is creating, other more advanced automated technologies could arise and eventually we could end up losing our humanity since everything we need to do is done for us by a computer. We would end up like the humans in the movie Wall-E who were

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.

This post is about making videos viral. Currently, people have to work hard, be creative or create something different in order for it to be noticed on the internet. This parody predicts that it will no longer be the case in the future. The video promotes the company "Buyral" that can ensure that your video has a huge amount of views, (goes viral) without you even trying to make a good video. It seems ridiculous, but as Brian Barrett points out: like all good satire, it is perilously close to becoming a reality. Many times, a viral video goes viral because it is a great video. Can you imagine if anyone could just as easily give up a few bucks and have an internet smash? Some companies are already promoting videos on Youtube and other websites, buy you can clearly read the caption that says "Promoted." If this parody were a reality, you would have no way of knowing if it truly earned those views, or if somebody with no imagination paid a website to get his or her video views. I believe that this defeats the whole purpose of a video becoming viral, and it relates to eLifestyle because it would definately influence our daily lives. When people go on youtube and click on the "most viewed" section, they are expecting to find something that is worth their time. Furthermore, if someone is searching for a video, for instance, on making apple pie, the first video that will come up is the one with the most views. Instead of getting a video that earned the views, people will likely get an advertisement from a company that makes apple pies or such, that paid an amount of money to obtain those views.

It is well-known that Apple has access to almost any music that one can think of. However, according to the New York Post, Apple is low-balling record labels for the rights to use their music in a new music streaming service. The company is only offering labels 6 cents per 100 listens, where as Pandora offers 12 cents per 100 and traditional radio pays 22 cents per 100. One can say that Apple is trying to enter this business, but not willing to go through all the trouble and complications that other music streaming services has to go through. I personally do not think this is right because record labels go through a lot of work just to try to get a little profit from the music industry. With Apple offering such a low price to use their music, it is not fair to those who work hard for a result.

Early in the afternoon today, a clever developer managed to sneak a Game Boy Advance emulator into an innocent looking app named "Awesome Baby Names". The secret emulator is activated by a series of taps on the touchscreen inside of the app. Once it is activated you can play your classic gba games just like you did in 2005. Apple was quick to catch this security breach as it was only in the App Store for twenty something minutes, but in that time many people including myself managed to download the app. This kind of sneaky activity from developers happens very seldom, but when something is smuggled into the App Store, it is usually very important. As stated in the article, it is a very easy process to unlock the emulator from the app, but getting the games and the BIOS onto the iPhone is the hard part. You must first download a program that lets you access the phone's file directory, then you must find the app's directory and drop the relevant BIOS and game files there. I chose the portable computing tag for this article because it deals with mobile technology and exploiting it to run handheld gaming software. This idea is not knew and has been around for a long time, but the idea of hiding the identity of apps and smuggling them into the App Store is a new idea. Apple is updating their security daily, but clearly couldn't spot this "child naming app" and make it out for the emulator that it was. I chose the privacy and security tag because Apple has a high priority for the security of their ecosystem and operating system, but clever people can still find ways to bypass this and get unidentified files into the operating system. I believe that Apple must keep a close eye on how they approve future apps into the app store because one day we may see cydia disguised as a senseless app make its way into the app store. If this happens, Apple with really have some explaining to do!    

Evan Atherton created a pair of speakers that provide a customized light show for the music that is being played out of them. The interesting part about these speakers is that they were made using a 3-D printer. He created each individual cube with a hard plastic and a flexible rubber. He also added an addressable RGB LED strip that is operated by a microcontroller from the company Lumigeek. The speakers will not be for sale since it costs around $2000 and over 60 hours to make. 

This article is about a new spy plane that costs $195,000 and fits in the palm of your hand. Now the British soldiers will be a bit safer thanks to this little plane and it flies nearly silently. Prox Dynamics of Norway designed this little plane and it is only 4 inches long and 1 inch tall. This plane can provide videos to the soldiers hand from up to 1000 meters away. It has been used in Afghanistan since August of 2012 and has impressed so far. It is also very hard so see or hear. This article relates to the selected tag because it impacts the lives of both the locals and the military. It affects the locals because they do not have much privacy and security anymore due to this new spy plane. This is unethical and illegal because people want their privacy and if people are spying on them daily they are not secure. Even though it is unethical to do this I think that it would be much safer for most people to use this new plane. The only thing I do not understand is why the plane costs so much and if they will be able to reduce the price.  

There was a lot of hype around the jailbreak community when the evasi0n iOS 6.1 jailbreak was released on Monday. It saw 1.7 million downloads on the first day alone. This jailbreak works by exploiting "bugs" in Apple's iOS code to allow users to write data to the kernel. This article relates to the legal tag because over the past decade, jailbreaking has become a very controversial topic and some people consider jailbreaking unethical or illegal. This article also relates to the economics tag because jailbreakers are pirating App Store apps which digs into Apple's and app developers' profits. I was once a jailbreaker myself, but have recently learned that developers work hard to make their apps and they deserve the credit and money for them. Overall, this article shows that the jailbreak community is still going strong and there are still those people who like pirating apps and taking profit away from developers 

This article talks about the problems Facebook could have if it were to be breached by a hacker. Facebook is one of the biggest social networking websites to date and is the biggest holder of personal information, and yet they have been able to keep this information safe from hackers. Comparing to Twitter who had 250,000 accounts accessed by hackers, Facebook has done a remarkable job to keep our information safe, and although they have been able to do so for now, eventually they will have to face the problems of hackers. When you look at Facebook over other social networking sites like Twitter and Tumblr, there is a big difference when it comes to privacy and security. Twitter, for instance, is a more public social networking site with the odd soul that locks their account from the public. Facebook has privacy by default, which means Facebook has a lot more to lose if they were to get hacked. The physical damage that would pertain to us would include some of our photos and messages might be stolen, and the worst that could happen would pertain to credit card information, but Facebook would jump on and respond to these problems with password changes and other stuff. The real damage that would hit Facebook hard would be the psychological damage, and it would nearly destroy them. When something big happens in our society, the media jumps on this and will twist the truth in the story to give us, the viewers, the best story that will manipulate us into thinking an entire wrong. Facebook would be all over the media, whether it be on the radio, on the internet, on the news or in newsprint. The world would know about what happened, and fear would sweep across the globe.  People would start asking questions about what is safe on Facebook and if it is safe at all. Facebook already has a problem with people not being sure if everything is safe on Facebook, and this would just ruin everything for Facebook. No matter how much Facebook tries to keep its network safe, i

TL;DR

TL;DR

The article i chose is about why Smartphone, Laptop, and Airplane batteries can explode. These batteries are lithium-ion batteries and are less expensive and more energy dense than than regular batteries which is why many people use them. These batteries don't just short circuit, they explode into flames and the batteries explosive tendencies are the result of a process known as thermal runaway. This means that the increasing temp. causes the system to get hotter which increases the temp. and so on. The causes of this are short circuits, temperatures exceeding 60 degrees C, repeated overcharging, or unauthorized modifications to the case. This occurs very rarely but just to be on the safe side all you have to do is make sure you don't repeatably overcharge, and replace the batteries every 36 months or so to avoid pushing a worn cell to hard.  This relates to the selected tag economics because some companies such as apple took out 1.8 million iBook and PowerBook battery packs after just nine reports of overheating. It also relates to Portable Computing because your computer can overheat and be damaged forever.