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The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was passed to help protect digital rights, but allowed the Librarian of Congress to make exceptions to the act that would otherwise not follow the act. Today (October 28), four new exemptions to the DMCA were put into effect most notably the legalizing of jailbreaking on iPhones but not iPads. The other exemptions to the DMCA are the requirement of disabled people to own multiple devices in order to access e-books, the illegalizing of unlocking a cell phone purchased after January 2013 at a new carrier without permission from your old carrier, and the legalizing of ripping some content of a DVD only for specific purposes. The new exemptions put into effect could have a serious impact on the technology market. The number of e-book reader sold to disabled customers will decrease drastically since they will have to buy other devices so they can legally read e-books. Apple and app developers would also lose a lot of revenue from the App Store since more users will be motivated to jailbreak their iPhones and get pirated apps instead of actually buying apps since they can do so legally. The new exemptions could cause some providers to lose some money though not a significant amount should the provider refuse to unlock cell phones when consumers go to other countries since in the foreign country, consumers will be paying and using service from a local provider instead of their original provider causing them to miss out on some money. Finally, the DMCA exemptions could cause a decrease in DVD sales not just because they are losing popularity already but also because if someone wants to rip a part of a DVD, they can just borrow it from someone else instead of buying and ripping the needed content. I think these new exemptions are very silly and could end up being more harmful than useful. Making disabled customers buy multiple devices just to access e-books is very discouraging to potential e-book reader customers. I also wonder th

This article is all about Nintendo 3DS outselling four Sony devices in Japan, now has 65 percent of the market. Japan's Media Create are showing that last year's trend has been fully reversed. Now consumers are hungry for 3DS because 3DS has more games compare to PS Vita. 3DS has a lot of good games, right now Kingdom of Hearts is the best selling game for the 3DS but sony can't compete with it because their PS Vita doesn't have good games to compete with it. A marked turnaround from when the console's future looked gloomy. 

It just seemed like yesterday that the iPad 2 was released but now it's been confirmed that the iPad 3, the newest edition of the iPad in technology, is in the process of creation and has officially released onto the market. The iPad 3 officially made it's first appearance on March 7th, when Apple introduced it's newest creation to the world at a media event in San Francisco. This notable information is relatable not only to our course, but also to society, and our world because it truly demonstrates how our world is constantly evolving and developing with new gadgets and technology being produced and used at our every use everyday. As consumers, we should also be aware that once the iPad 3 makes its way onto the market, the value our iPads and iPad 2s will significally drop, so it is advised that if you are interested in making a purchase and investment towards the iPad 3, to make a extra couple hundred dollars, try selling your older iPads while they are still valuable and worth an acceptable amount of money. Overall, tablets and iPads have definitely taken our world by storm as they have made a huge impact both economically and socially and Apple hopes to continue to make more and more designs and productions to further the success and effectiveness of their products. 

This article explains how Dell, one of the largest and most successful PC makers in the world, has given up on a possible creation of their own smartphone. Dell expressed that they tried multiple times to produce a product that would be successful in the US smartphone market, but with a number of devices facing some serious bugs as well as a problem with slow speed, the company did not see positive results and they decided to trash the idea and process once and for all to focus on other opportunities. Dell is not getting out of the mobile device business altogether thanks to sales and success with devices sold in Asia and Japan, and the company will continue making low-cost phones and tablets for sale in emerging markets. With smartphones becoming a very successful and poplar device that many customers are increasingly taking an interest to, this setback has to worry or concern Dell because they are not able to compete will other huge named brands and companies in the mobile device bushiness. Dell has had it's highs and has had success over the years with products and devices, but maybe this is a wake up call that they don't have the money, resources, and high praise that more well-known companies do and this could be a huge factor to why the amount of success, more specifically in the phone industry, hasn't been enough to be a top contender in the mobile business altogether.

This article explains how the successful and profitable Samsung company has decided to open various electronic retail stores in Canada to compete with well-known rivals Sony Corp. and Apple Inc. For Samsung, the retail push is the company's latest move to establish itself as a premium electronics brand, an evolution due to Samsung's success in the smartphone and tablet markets. Another reason for Samsung to have an interest in opening stores, is part of a global movement by the company to expand it's presence with consumers. Samsung, being a major technology company, believes these retail outlets will help showcase their products in a way so  consumers can experience the brand and everything Samsung has to offer like never before. This is a smart strategy for Samsung to take part in because this opens up opportunities for consumers to purchase and learn about new and popular Samsung products in a way that was never offered or accessible to them before. A variety of Samsung stores will give this company a huge advantage on the market and this will ultimately set themselves up for bigger and better success in the years to come. 

"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

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.

The US has a skilled developer shortage and it's one of its own making.While Silicon Valley wrings its hands over H1B visa caps onto skilled foreign workers, the bigger issues remains in the US because they are unable to educate its own citizens. While they try to educate a surplus of Science,Technology, Engineering and Math students for STEM roles we seems to fail to entice enough of them to get into technology. since 1980, STEM grads increased 60%.

Mozilla will begin selling smartphones running the Firefox operating system that will be priced at $25. $25 for a smartphone is an extremely low price, but it will not perform as well as our smartphones today. While it can be purchased in North America, it will also be sold in less developed countries like; Panama, Nicaragua, Argentina, and more. I think this is a great way for Mozilla to earn money because they are not directly competing with Microsoft, Apple, and Google. In such countries, just having a smartphone is a big deal; even if it cannot perform as many things that the modern smartphone can. This will allow people who would have never had the chance of owning a smartphone to actually own one. I think Mozilla has really thought outside the box here and while some may criticize while thinking it is a cheap and terrible phone, it may be something amazing to someone in another country.

The article that I have chosen to share for week 4 is about IBM and their new services to help eliminate fraud and financial crime. The article interested be because around 3.5 trillion dollars are lost per year to financial crime and fraud through technology. While the software is being marketed to big companies it also directly involves us, the consumers. For example when Sony's PSN was down thousands of peoples accounts were hacked and had money taken from their accounts. This new software interested me because now people can feel a little more secure using online programs knowing that their information can be safer. It is a new time where many things are bought through the internet and with better security people won't feel as worried about their security

The article that I have chosen to share for week 4 is about IBM and their new services to help eliminate fraud and financial crime. The article interested be because around 3.5 trillion dollars are lost per year to financial crime and fraud through technology. While the software is being marketed to big companies it also directly involves us, the consumers. For example when Sony's PSN was down thousands of peoples accounts were hacked and had money taken from their accounts. This new software interested me because now people can feel a little more secure using online programs knowing that their information can be safer. It is a new time where many things are bought through the internet and with better security people won't feel as worried about their security

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.

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

This article (written by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai) is an interesting analysis of a general trend in the tech industry and demand for people with coding experience. The article states that now is the best time to dive in to coding because it has never been cheaper/easier to do so, with the introduction of Codeacademy - used in ICS20 - in early 2012. In less than 5 months, Codeacademy had stated that it reached over 1 million registered accounts, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Many web-based companies, even the titans that are Facebook and Google, are always looking for people with coding experience. Jobs in programming are also more lucrative than most jobs, even at entry level positions (15 of 21 San Fransisco Developer Bootcamp students were offered jobs in coding, with an average annual pay of $79 000.) The industry is severely lacking in female programmers as well, with only 1:10 ratio of women to men in the industry. This relates to Economics, eLifestyle and ultimately the ISC20 class because as the industry develops, there will be a higher demand for people with experience in coding; 2012 has been widely concerned as the best year for coding because many people who start coding now will most likely be secured for a positon right out of University, which can be very securing to young people who may not be sure of their future. Evidentally, the title says it all; if you are looking for a job, it would be wise to pick up coding because this a newly establihed market; most jobs in computers didn't exist twenty years ago so many people believe that coding will eventually become a societal necessary education, like math or grammar skills. This article shows how we are in a somewhat technological revolution, where we are creating new jobs where all the others are already full.

Most of us know the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" which is about a young boy who finds a golden ticket in his chocolate bar and wins a trip to the chocolate factory. Now Nestle is doing the same with their candy.  In the UK, some Nestle chocolate bars have GPS trackers on them but you will not know until a Nestle representative track you down to award you with a prize. The trackers in the selected candy bars cannot be seen and many wonder if it is embedded in the chocolate itself and the effects it will have on the body when consumed.  Others find this "Willy Wonka-style promotion" to be creepy knowing that someone is tracking you down if you purchased and opened a candy bar with a GPS tracker in it. Despite having the feeling that you are being watched, wouldn't it be a pleasant surprise when you are presented with an award for purchasing a Nestle chocolate bar?

This article is about how just recently, companies Apple and HTC have signed a 10-year licensing deal meaning that every single one of Apple's and HTC's lawsuits filed against each other has now been settled. Both have been sued by each other for infringing on each other's patents. This new licencing deal means that the companies can use each other's patents to a certain extent- giving their phones an edge over the rest of the smartphone market. HTC says they signed the deal to focus on making better products instead of spending so much time dealing with court. Some analysts say that Apple settled the lawsuits quickly to deal with Samsung and their lawsuits towards them. Apple has signed agreements previously with Nokia and Microsoft allowing them to use certain patents. I chose the tag of portable computing because both Apple and HTC produce many successful smartphone portable computing. Hopefully this deal will help improve both of their smartphone operations benefiting us consumers. In my opinion I think that this whole suing fest (lack of a better word) that has been going on recently is pretty silly as many cases don't seem as if they are worthy to be being sued about. I am glad to see that Apple has settled their disputes with HTC to cut down on this smartphone lawsuit drama.

It has been over a year now since we heard about RIM's plans to release a 3G Playbook. We final get to see the Playbook.Much like its LTE sibling, it comes with 32GB of memory, and gets the same faster 1.5GHz processor too. (The original was 1.0GHz.) People say that they can't even compare it to the IPhone. Everyone knows how bad RIM has been doing and they feel like the Playbook will boost their earnings. However, statistics show that what RIM is hooping for is probably not going to happen. People are paying more attention to Apple's products more than RIM. Unless they come up with a better marketing idea. RIM will come to an end.

This article is about the transition from HD to 4K, which is know as Ultra High Definition (UHD). It talks about how a decade ago, we were introduced to HD TV, which is now a standard in the TV and technology community, and how the consumers reacted to it and how it transitioned compared to how we were transitioned into 3DTV. At the time, HD TV was expensive, but when the price came to an affordable price, it was a big hit and made a lot of money over the years. Now we are being introduced to UHD and the question people are asking is how will the consumers react to this. When 3D TV was introduced, it sounded like it was an amazing thing to have, but it did not sell well, as it was marketed to children and the only real 3D programming were sports and some action films. 4K is a huge improvement in technology from HD, but not many people think it will bloom just as HD did. We will have to wait for an answer when the public is able to purchase these TV's, but for now, the road that 4K is looking like it will take is right down the middle.

Yes

your mother was right- Posture is important! In this article, a new innovating chair has been introduced to the market, Gesture chair. Ever since the progression of technology in the last decade, tablets, smartphones and computers are everywhere- including the office. These new technologies, and their frequent use have uncovered nine new postures that have never been seen before. And with these new postures, a new chair is needed for the proper support. Many overlook the importance of posture in you health but good posture is as imperative as eating right, exercising and so on. For example, when we are sitting at a computer much like you are now reading this, you are most likely hunched over with you head and neck tilted forward.This hunched over position creates an imbalance between your head and your spinal column forcing the human body to stretch certain spinal ligaments to support your head. This can eventually cause fatigue and pain. However, this is where Gesture comes in; this chair has the ability to support you body's many postures and movements through out the day. Its features include movable arm rests, fluidity in the back that cradles your back and more. This chair encourages movement rather than restricting the body to a certain position. Overall, it is something that can positively affect your health, and shares new ideas regarding the chair and how we can use technology and kinesiology to improve our lives.

In Thailand, e-book has been spreading according to local books and magazines "Ookbee". It is Thailand's biggest e-bookstore with a claimed 88% market share. It has 3 million users so far and is adding new subscribers at a rate of 6,000 each day. Last year, delivered about 8 million books free and paid and ranked in revenues of about "several million dollars" in the year.

This article is about Freescale launching the world's smallest arm chip. It is made of silicon and is only 2 x 2 x 0.5mm. It can hold 48 HMz ARMM Cortex-M0+ processor, 32KB flash memory, and 4KB of RAM. This, however, is not designed to run desktop software, but is instead intended to be used for products that can be swallowed. I think this is an improvement on "Portable Computing", as this technology can be used in the medical field. This also follows the trend of minimization, as we can now see the potential and advantages of having smaller chips, for example, inserting them into pills that can be swallowed. Freescale is pricing this product at 75 cents apiece, if purchased in 100 000 unit loads. However, I am certain that the cost will go up dramatically if launched successfully, causing the a shift in the electronic market and economy.