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"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

Google is looking to expand its high-speed internet service, Google Fiber, into the city of Austin in Texas. Google Fiber is an internet service that offers ultra-fast Gigabit internet speeds with no bandwidth caps that no other provider in Canada and the United States offer for a price under $120.  This is because there are major internet service providers who create a monopoly over the entire industry keeping all their prices the same so they maximize their profits and offer sub-par internet connection.  With Google Fiber, these companies will have to provide better internet or they won't be able to compete, so many people want Google Fiber to expand as fast as possible over North America so that the monopoly is broken and people are given better internet.   This plays into eLifestyle because Gigabit internet connections with unlimited bandwidth will allow most people who pay for internet to pay less, have a more reliable connection and have faster speeds. This also plays into economics because Google Fiber will allow small businesses to use the internet without fear of high costs.

thoughts/opinions?

Many of us remember the PSN outage of April 2011. Sony blamed 'Anonymous,' a collective hacktivist group formed in 2003 on 4chan, after they found the Anonymous calling card 'We Are Legion' in their system. Anonymous is composed of individuals with the ideals of: 1. Freedom of Information 2. Freedom of Speech 3. Unregulated Internet Anonymous will only attack databases and websites only if provoked, and will not do so for monetary gain. The group has recently engaged in multiple attacks on international government databases. The article, by Casey Chan, is about the Anonymous digital attack on Israel, in retaliation after the Israeli government threatened to shut down Internet access and other telecommunications to the Palestinian people in the Gaza and "Occupied Territories. " The group attacked the Israel Foreign Affairs database and Bank of Jerusalem database, as well as DDos attacks on over 600 sites and theft of over 2000 email addresses and passwords. This attack has generated some controversy. Since the beginning of November, Israel has also received over 150 missile attacks from the Palestinians as well. Anonymous aids the Palestinians by sharing a 'Care Package,' instructions on what to do in the event Israel does sever the Internet connection. Anonymous has become quite influential on the Internet. This illustrates how important the Internet has become. The internet is not only a commodity, but a right to have. It has replaced forms of communication, entertainment, transactions, and more. A group of 'anonymous' users has been formed for the sole purpose of protecting it, with the will and capabilities to punish any party that wishes to disrupt it. As with every conflict, there are sides. Anonymous, in protection of Internet freedoms; and the Israeli government, that has been fighting a war for as long as anyone can remember. Who's side are you on?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDeOMq4RPxY&feature=relmfu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group) *More information on Anonymous

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

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.  

Who is the internet run by? The answer to that would be 193 U.N. members. Surprisingly, countries are sort of blocked off when it deals with internet affairs. To gain more power, certain countries like China and Russia have lobbied an agency called the ITU (International Telecommunications Union). The ITU's goal right now is internet censorship. They feel they need to have more control, and are threatening it's open, 'free to do whatever you want', nature. Next week, the ITU holds a negotiating conference in Dubai. They have already a proposed a 200 page treaty which makes some internet users worrisome. The ITU is trying to propose a tax on visiting popular websites like google, facebook, etc.. Google is against the idea already, and putting up petitions that show the need for net neutrality. Online users are counting on their own countries governments that they will not control the internet at the users will

thoughts/opinions?

This article is about Google Fiber which is a new type of internet that uses an optic fiber cable to deliver Internet at the incredible speeds of a gigabit. The Internet that is available now in Canada is only up to about 500 megabit speed, and Google Fiber is about double the speed, at a lower cost, in comparison to Rogers or Bell. The article explains how the Fiber Internet is spreading to cities of the United States, such as Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah. There is a lot to be done on installing this Internet in the cities, and it will take a lot of time, but in the end it will be worth it, as it increases the poor quality Internet Services that are available now in North America. In my opinion, Google Fiber should start making its way into the new developing cities of Canada, such as Vaughan, or Richmond Hill because it will be easier to install since the infrastructure is not finalized.

This article talks about Internet Explorers recent up-rise in the market. Over the past several years, Internet Explorer faced a massive decline in their marketing, because of safari, chrome and firefox. Now Internet Explorer, once again is increasing. This is relevant because it tells users that Internet Explorer may be reliable and it as  at easy access due to it already being installed on your computer. 

The law on hate speech being used on the internet does not interfere with freedom of expression, according to the courts. The penalty you get for doing this action clearly is a violation, but courts have not taken that into account. This happens to be section 13, a currently defunct law. A penalty for hate speech on the internet can result in up to a $10000 fine! This penalty is what gives people the reason to argue. Wouldn't fining someone for stating an opinion on something (no matter how bad it is) still be a violation of someone's freedom of expression? Unless you were under employment and did something of that nature within your job, you should be fired. But, the internet seems to be much different than real life. When something is written it must have more power, because saying your opinion in real life out loud, will not result in any fines. The problem is that section 13 violating free speech is right politically, but wrong legally. Section 13 is being removed in June of 2104, and for good reason. No internet hate speeches are being made in which a victim should recieve $10000 in compensation. Personally, I would never say anything to offend a large group of people to such a degree, but I still think section 13 should be removed, if it goes against a constitutional right under reasonable grounds.

This post is about a new app made by McAfee which is meant to be an extra security for people's photos on Facebook. We know that even if we put our privacy settings on "only friends" there are ways through comments, likes and mutual friends that people you do not know can come across your pictures and download, print or upload them on a different site. This app helps protect by asking users to list who will get to view their photos. Only those people on the list will get to see the photo no matter who is friends with who, or who likes or comments on it. People not on the exact list will only see the photo blurry and barely visible. In addition to that nobody will be able to grab, print or download the photos even if they are on the list of people who can see the photos. This app is only in its development or "beta" phase, but it is already free to download and use on Internet Explorer and Firefox. The company is still working on versions for Chrome and mobile devices. Before concluding they did mention that there are still ways to photograph the photo with your phone, if you have a clear picture. I believe this app is a big step to having online security. This app can help stop the spread of your photos before it starts. People may not think about their internet security very often but it is important to know that once it's on the internet it's on there forever. With internet popularity growing and growing we must also know the dangers of posting photos and protect ourselves. Facebook allows so much public information to be revealed this app can ensure you have a more private account. In my opinion this is a great app and considering that it is free while it is being developed I think people should try it out. Although it's only available on Firefox and Internet Explorer it is already a leap in the right direction. However, as it was mentioned earlier you can still have people take photos from their phones. Nevertheless, if you chose the correct people on your list

This article talks about zombie apocalypse in an empty mall in Readings, U.K. The mall got an idea from the movie called Walking Dead. This mall has brought internet game into real life where people can fight against zombies for 4 hours for $189. this relates to our course because this shows the internet impact on culture that they are making internet game into real life game. Before, they didn't even care about games and they just played at home on their computer but now internet game became part of our culture. This relates to one of our lessons in our courses that talks about internet impact on culture. 

This article explains how Microsoft is attempting to attract users to the browser IE9 (internet explorer 9) by mocking the previous versions of IE. I think that if they must promote any of the browsers they might as well promote the latest and most updated version of it. Since internet explorer has another browser that has more features and is more useful than IE9 they should focus on attracting users to that browser. Also, IE10 has features that can compete with google chrome, firefox, and safari, whereas IE9 does not. In my opinion I find this is a very poor marketing strategy on Microsoft's part and it will not get them any further in terms of higher user rates for internet explorer.

Some people today, act in one way in the real world but once they go on the internet and social networks, it's like they're a whole different person. This article explains how we communicate in different ways through social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. When you're feeling down or not in the mood it doesn't hurt to just vent to someone on the internet rather than freaking out and acting crazy. If you can socially act online in a positive way, it gives a reciprocal, so maybe you can receive some back that's positive. The internet should be a reason for use to jump out of reality because it gives a certain impact on ourselves. this article relates to Portable Computing because through out phones we can also access social networks which goes back to jumping out of reality and acting like were some bad person but as this article says, that's not a good excuse.

Over the years, the internet has become faster and faster and as this has happened our patience has decreased. We have come to expect fast speeds and short loading times on the internet and anything slower is considered unacceptable. However, before reading this article I didn't realize how impatient we had really become when it comes to the internet. This article talks about the results of a study that showed that users were likely to give up on a video after only two seconds of loading! This had come as a surprise to me. To me, two seconds seems like only an instant, but I have to admit that I still am not willing to wait much longer than that for a video especially if the video is only 10 minutes or less. However, I find it interesting how two seconds of loading has become an issue, while we are still waiting through 30 seconds or more of advertisements before we are able to view our video. If we have already spent so much time watching an ad a couple more seconds shouldn't seem like a big deal. This article shows how our expectation of high speeds has affected us and our lifestyle. We have come to expect our video to load almost immediately and if it doesn't do this then it isn't worth the time. Our ability to wait is being altered. We're no longer used to having to wait for things that we want to watch, see or listen to on the internet. We've changed into thinking that if it doesn't load instantly, then it isn't worth watching. Of course, our patience should have limits. If it really is taking longer than the length of the video itself to load then perhaps it is time to abandon the video, but I feel that waiting only two seconds before moving on shows how impatient we have become with technology.

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. 

        It is being reported that the newest Xbox console will have online DRM (Digital Restrictions Management). DRM is technology that puts restrictions on media such as software, games, music, etc. that limits how the buyer is able to use and share the media that he or she bought. This means that the Xbox will always need to have an active internet connection to be able to use the games that you buy, even if the game itself does not require internet connection. The point of this is to prevent to prevent the resale of used games. However, this will mean that people can not share games with eachother, play if the internet goes out or they they do not have the internet at all. This will increase the sale of new games giving the companies more profits. However, this may backfire on Microsoft, as many gamers may not purchase the new console as a form of boycott, reducing Microsoft's profit until the DRM is removed. 

This is a very great report, keep up the great work Spider Man

Uncle Ben would be proud

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.

For the longest time we have all felt very safe while on the internet. Even with feeling this security, we should be more cautious with what we put out on the internet because there has been a bug lurking around in the most important security measures for years. Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) has been keeping your browing page secure and safe for numerous years and is a huge part of the internet and thankfully it is still working as it should. The problem that we have been experiencing is a software library called OpenSSL has a hole in it that has been there for years called "HeartBleed". OpenSSL allows people to get the protection from TLS/SSL easy and fast and has worked fine just like TLS/SSL but because there has been a minor coding error, malicious people can abuse different versions of OpenSSL and grab information that should originally be secured by TLS/SSL. The main problem that everyone can understand is that all of your personal information is being opened up and placed into the hands of someone who should not have the information. The other problem that this "HeartBleed" has is that the attackers will also get to see how the site that is taking your data indentifies. Not only can they see recent transactions but they can look back at old transactions that have already happened. The worst part about all of this is that none of the attackers leave a trace.Since they leave no trace, it is hard to tell how many websites and people have already been effected by the "HeartBleed". While sites try to fix up the problems it is recommended to change all of your passwords and to keep a close eye on your credit card statement. This bug is a huge problem for our society because absolutely no one is safe because there is no way to know if you've been attacked. The article says that Google, Amazon, and Microsoft hasn't been infected yet so that is at least good. I think that everyone should always be careful with their personal information

Most would think that, what with all the new laptops and computers coming out these days being so thin and portable, the desktop era would be finished, right? Wrong. The desktop is part of Internet Culture, that is to say, it's been around for as long as the Internet has, and it will stay. Just because the Internet will eventually make newspapers, TV, and radio obsolete, the desktop will never disappear, because it is based on the same process as other computers. It provides everything it always had (QWERTY keyboard, everything else that made it so huge in the first place). Therefore, the day the desktop dies will be the same as that when the Internet does.