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This article explains that Microsoft's ever popular successful software application, Skype, is to hire 400 people in staff, to be able to expand it's presence in the UK and Europe. Skype has between 600-700 million users around the world, which comes close to Facebook's 850 million, and this video chat sensation is increasingly becoming more popular and interested by people of all ages using this newest form of technology for a variety of reasons. Skype has become a world wide hit and people of all ages are using in all places for various reasons from anywhere for travel or for just plain fun while communicating with friends. The fact that Skype is hiring more workers and staff members to expand their company just demonstrates how well and successful this software is doing, how far Microsoft's peer-to-peer network has become, and what Skype has for instore for us but also it's global effect on our world in the future. 

This article explains how the co founder of twitter believes spending too much time on the site will is "unhealthy." I agree that spending unreasonable amounts of time on the computer is unhealthy in general. I think the purpose of twitter is too update people on issues that interest them or express random ideas or thoughts on their mind. however, it is important that we limit the time we spend on twitter and other social networks in order to keep up with real life social activites. 

Pidgin is a open source messaging program that allows your to use many messenger services at once just with this one program. The program is free and all your have to do it download it. it supports 17 networks with favourites such as AOL MSN and many more.  Other chat clients such as skype and facebook can be used if you have the plugin.

Google has created its own social networking site called Google+. Google+ is like a combination of facebook and Skype. It is like facebook because you can update your status and post pictures with your friends. It is like Skype because you can call people and video chat, however in Google+, you are able to video chat with up to 10 people on the same conference.

Sony is suffering from yet another hack attempt on its networks. But this time, the company seems to be better prepared, and apparently all credit card information is safe. Philip Reitinger, Sony's Chief Information Security Officer, has posted an article on the official PlayStation blog explaining the incident.

brandon copied me

DON'T LISTEN TO CODRIN HE COPIED ME!

Ah, Facebook. It changes so much.  don't even have Facebook and I hear about this. Needless to say, many people have been left angry and disgruntled by the world's leading social networking site, and some say the Facebook iPad app came "too little, too late." It left them "cold," says Mashable.  But how bad? Check out the Facebook wall of shame.

Wemo Media has partnered with top animators from Avatar and Tron, the director of MIT's Media Lab and other high profile activists for an ambitious, underwater animation project called theBlu. TheBlu is a project to replicate the entire ocean system, from North America to Asia. It is part social network, part educational tool and part art project. The program will also have a feature where newly designed aquatic creatures can be bought and sold at theBlu's marketplace, which will feature common fish, user creations and exotic or rare animals tied to "philanthropic missions." Currently theBlu is in a closed beta.

Why is it that President Barack Obama needs social media if he hopes to be re-elected next year? In 2008, 66% of his voters were 29 and younger, who are so invested in their social networking. So why not try it again? Without their support, he can pretty much kiss his presidency goodbye. Without them, he has no second term, so it is in his best interest to get online.

Aren't you always annoyed by your parents because they ask you when to come home from the mall, or tell you the specific time when you have to go home? Well, to me that's annoying. Luckily, there's an app called "ImOK." This app works when parents sign up for an account and send a code to other members of the family. After this the other member of the family then signs up into the network of their phones. Teens check-in to the app for points, which plot their location on the map. While the adolescents check-in and add more information every time, they receive in return for their points is up to the parents. teens have a wishlist which they can suggest rewards in return of their points. Parents can either accept their ideas or add their own which both members can agree on. I believe that this app is a benefit on parents and their children because they both get something in return. The parents get their teen's trust, loyalty, and less stress, while the teen earns allowance. 

To any X Factor fans out there: Twitter is now allowing viewers to vote for performers by direct messages. Starting November 2, X Factor will be the first reality competition to do this. You must be following @TheXFactorUSA and DM your votes to them. Note that regular tweets with @TheXFactorUSA mentioned will not count - they must be DMs. A limit of 50 has been set for voting on Twitter, though, whereas the classic forms of calling, SMS, and SMS in-app are still unlimited. This stretches the boundaries of TV and social networking, and makes it easier for people to vote and connect with others.

Christopher "moot" Poole, creator of 4chan and Canvas, talks at the web 2.0 summit on identity and the average person's persona on the web. According to him, social networking sites like Facebook think problems with security lie in who we share with, but Poole says that it's really our jobs to monitor the person we portray ourselves to be online. He says Facebook misrepresents people, making us think that a person's personality can be generally summed up in a name along side a photo. Poole praises Twitter for doing the exact opposite. We can't just blame companies like Google and Facebook for skewing our online image, because we are the ones who are abusing it by posting too much information anyways. But in the end, it's up to us to be careful what we post online.

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

Our generation is filled with tons and tons of people who use the huge social network, facebook. Some of us realize that our parents are trying to jump into our social lives by creating their own facebook account. Some of us are really embarrassed if our parents add us as a friends and peek into out social feed. It's a good way for parents to try and dig deep into their children's lives but it can also cause a bit of trouble in children's lives because it can embarrass them if their parents peek into everything they do with their friends. This is related to privacy and security because basically this article is explaining how the parents are using facebook to dig their way into their children's social lives. this relates to eLifestyle since this can show how parents are accessing through facebook to get a closer relationship with us while invading our llives.

A 16 year old teenage girl attracts the attention of her followers after her tweet claiming that there was someone in her house. The girl was supposedly kidnapped by the stranger in the house when she disappeared; however, after the investigation, the police confirmed that she left voluntarily. Within two days of searching for the lost teen, the police found her walking at the side of a highway. The police finalized that the teen faked her kidnapping.  After the teenage girl tweeted that there was someone in her house, more than 30,000 people retweeted and the local police department received over 6,000 calls about her frightening situation. This event shows how fast news travels through social networking sites and how messy the issue could become if what you post is untrue. The teen that was once known as the young lady who was kidnapped by an intruder, is now someone who has made poor choices and worried many people for reasons unknown.  

This article talks about our famous #firstworld problems jokes on Twitter and other Social Networking sites. They may seem funny to you, but DDB New York sees them as creating an online atmosphere of neither sensitivity nor awareness to deal with real social and worldwide problems. So DDB decided to team up with the non-profit organization called WATERisLIFE. Together they traveled to Haiti to film locals reading aloud a series of these "problems" to show how ridiculous they are in comparison to real problems that people face in third-world countries like Haiti. In addition to the video they tweeted some of the original authors of the #firstworld problems saying things like "I'm sorry you were awoken by your cleaning lady. I hope today is better" as well as a call to action to donate money to WATERisLIFE which helps create water solutions and rebuilding communities.  This article relates to eLifestyle and how those posts may be funny to us they can also be insensitive to real problems world-wide even though we don't always intend to be hurtful. This also relates because it shows how the internet can be such a positive or negative thing worldwide. In this case out of an insensitive tweet people were inspired to create awareness for bigger issues and a way to help through a video and a few tweets online.  I think this shows a positive side of the internet where people can take something and turn it into a way of helping people world-wide and getting word out faster and to more people all with the power of the internet.

This article is about an emergency communication system which can be used during disasters with users spreading information and looking for on-the-ground updates. Twitter hopes to start this in Japan. This tool lets users search Twitter for a postal code and see accounts of people tweeting about any disasters in that area. Eventually Twitter says it could be expanded to other countries. Twitter although, isn't the first network to set up disaster services-earlier this year, facebook introduced a ''Disaster Message Board'' that lets users mark themselves safe during an emergency. I think that this is a good idea because most people around the world are now on twitter, so if there are any disasters occurring in that country, everyone can find out about it before it comes to their area.

15 year old Amanda Todd was found dead in her home on October 2012. This event was due to cyber, physical, and verbal bullying. He committed suicide in her house. She had no one to support her in this process. She tried forgetting so she decided to move to different schools. The people in her school followed her and made things worse. She was alone. Imagine how she felt. Bullying is horrible and it should stop today. But, no one is making a change and stopping these people. In this video, Amanda Todd stated "I didn't press any charges, i just wanted to move on". In my opinion, she should of told her parents or the police that she was being bullied because this would made a huge difference. She wouldn't be depressed for her whole entire life. This girl is my age, and if I was being bullied.. I would of told at least a teacher or my parents. Bullying is bad, and it should stop.

Bullying, a serious problem that is drawing not only around schools, but also in social networks, which is known as cyber bullying. This article explains how a girl who made a single mistake lead her to a depression, getting bullied in school and online, then to cause suicide. Our generations should be bullies but rather, support those who are in depression. One devastating mistake can lead to many horrible things such as cutting or even depressants. Unfortunately, this happened to the girl, and she couldn't bear the pain of being bullied even when she moved to a different school and the bullying continued. We need to take a stand and stop bullying not just to stop pain but to prevent a heavier loss, suicide. This connect to the environment because through the internet, it uses were to verbally bully someone through social networking.

I know that a lot of people were talking about Amanda Todd. Fifteen-year-old Amanda Todd posted a YouTube video last month that detailed her brushes with online and offline bullying, and this week she was found dead in her home in Canada as a result of a suspected suicide. She first attempted to kill herself by drinking bleach but then went to the hospital and survived. After people heard about that they began posting pics of bleach, Clorox. So then she hung herself. They said, 'She should try a different bleach. I hope she dies this time and isn't so stupid.' They said, 'I hope she sees this and kills herself.'" I think it is so wrong when people make others feel bad that there willing to kill themselves. This is an outrage and I can't believe she didn't find help before she decided to kill herself. 

The article, by Anita Li, is an infographic on the evolution of Windows Operating Systems from 1985 and Windows users, as well as popular technology and software at the time of each release. The 1985 description depicts a generic male figure hunching over the machine-block Windows 1.0, with the subtext "Won't it explode if I press this button?" This highlights what a large impact the first computers and operating systems might have had - people possibly were afraid of pressing any buttons in fear that the the hulking brick might explode. But as we know, technology advances, and people adapt. The infographic shows the housings becoming smaller as hardware becomes more compact, and OSs become more advanced. It also illustrates the "first Internet experience" along with Windows 98, Google with Windows 2000, Skype and Solitaire with Windows XP, Facebook and the XBox for Windows Vista, and Twitter for Windows 7. The users also change, where Windows was generally used by adults in offices, it is presently used by a younger age group of teenagers for social networking and the like. As it was made out to be, I find this infographic very interesting. It shows a stark contrast between the first computers and computers today. Not only does it show the evolution of Windows OSs and its  users, it also illustrates the evolution of technology and how society has developed around it. Computers have become much more portable with the laptop, and their versatility is unmatched. Ultimately this infographic is an advertisement for the 2012 release of Windows 8 (dubbed "Thinner. Lighter. Faster."), but it does generate some thought, letting the mind ponder about past, present, and future technologies, and how society has and will adapt to the constant change. 

In a sort of infographic craze.. : http://visual.ly/

What if there a was a way to charge your smartphone and get a workout at the same time?  This project is currently being implemented in New York City. Bikes open to the public that are able to charge phones have been scattered all over New York City.  The Charge Cycle hopes to bring a network of outdoor neon-green stationary bikes that allows anyone to charge their phone for free by simply peddling.  It takes the same amount of time to charge as if you were to directly plug it into the wall. Although there are some concerns of theft, developers have chained the bikes and also put locks on the bikes, which makes it harder to move. Nowadays, we all rely on our smartphones, they are technically our everything.  Many people would be devastated if it were to die, and they will not be able to use it until they have their charger and an outlet.  The Charge Cycle offers a charging system for smartphone users while they get a workout as well, so it is a "win win" situation for these users.  This affects our lifestyle because instead of sitting around doing nothing while waiting for our phones to charge, we can get a workout out of it, and stay fit and healthy. I do think this a good idea because obesity rates today are increasing, which is dangerous.  In order to maintain a healthy diet, exercise is important.  This bike allows us to maintain said healthy diet, while charging our phones at the same time, which truly is a win win.

What started out as a minor distraction is now an issue that parents are beginning to take notice of. Popular electronics are becoming more than just a form of entertainment, it is also believed to negatively affect a child's mental development. Since kids these days are relatively less active due to technology, this problem also affects the kids social skills, education, and physical health. Social networking sites such as Facebook are also a problem because parents worry that their kids may be too young to have an account on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and therefore, post inappropriate pictures or see posts that others post that is not suitable for kids.  Jim Steyer, the Common Sense Media founder, help parents better understand the new media by providing a review of video games, movies etc. This way, parents can gain insight  on the newest and popular video games, movies etc. The Common Sense Media website also provides suggestions on how to deal with children and teenagers when it comes to being too addicted to mobile technology. There is another popular method that is simple: ban you kid from using Facebook.