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Twitter could potentially change our politics in multiple countries for better or for worse. This article describes how twitter has changed the landscape of voting for a president, party, or prime minister. Many countries have adopted twitter as a means of reaching and interacting with their voters. Some examples could be Barack Obama, who has a group of 100 people working on social media for his campaign. Mr. Pinera, the president of Chile has also made it mandatory for all of his cabinet members to get twitter so everyone can interact. Politicians though, have also abused this system by making either very rude tweets to anti-party members or making bland tweets to not offend anyone (causing less followers towards the party.) I would like to call this e-politics, and I believe it is change towards the better. Expanding into the internet for new voters is a genius idea that all parties should add to their campaign.

This article is about iOS exposing the private data on your phone to third party apps. These include your photos, contact numbers and even your present geographical location. And a week later, Android was also discovered having the same security flaw. Both companies promised that they are working on fixing it. They should do it fast because soon, we are going to run out of personal data to expose. 

Think you're privacy settings in your social network accounts work? Think again. hundreds of third party applications may have gained access to your Facebook account, some of them are ones you never knew you installed.. This is what Leslie Canteris was shocked about when Sisler high school in Winnipeg had an exercise about online privacy. These third party apps can take anything from your Facebook account. Many Canadian students don't understand how to protect their privacy. They don't want to be tracked, but have no clue to avoid it. in fact, kids spend more time changing their privacy settings on their social networks more than adults. People should not use their real names when playing online games, and come up with tough passwords that are hard for outsiders to crack. I applaud Sisler high school for teaching their students about social media privacy. I think that more high schools should talk to its students about this issue since social media is a huge part of many peoples daily lives.

This article mentions the fact that Twitter now plans to update its mobile applications to introduce filters for photos allowing people to share altered images without having to use another source such as Instagram. Since most phones come with high-resolution cameras and many of the Twitter users use their phones this will be an easy way for people to edit and upload their photos. Especially with people or famous celebrities that use Instagram then share them on Twitter where more people follow them it will be easier and faster to just use Twitter for it all. This new idea has been hastened when Facebook bought Instagram. Twitter was thinking of buying a different photo service or application but when weighing out the cost they decided to just build their own filters. Twitter is also exploring the ability to upload and edit videos without using a third-party application like YouTube. This article has a lot to do with economics and the battle between two companies trying to get people to use their site and apps and not the other. In this case Twitter is really trying to become the most popular and important social networking site where people will be able to do anything on and it will be instant. They are changing what they once were to try to morph into Facebook because of the increasing popularity of Instagram and the fact that Facebook bought it.  I think personally that Twitter is making a good decision about the filter but i don't think twitter should add their own video player because it would change twitter and its purpose of being instant statements and pictures. YouTube is good at what they do and twitter should stay out of it. However with the whole idea of adding filters to Twitter you get the benefits of Instagram with the benefits of Twitter which might just keep them on top of Instagram.

Following Facebook's purchase of Instagram for almost $1 Billion in April 2012, it seems appropriate that Twitter would integrate something similar into their users' experience. 'Inside sources' say that Twitter is working on a photo-filter system that will be integrated directly in the site and mobile apps that hopes to bypass third-party services (such as Instagram.) While Instagram is a social network that focuses on social images with limited text, Twitter is renowned for its 140 character text-based updates with occasional images. An advantage of Twitter's supposed photo filtering system would be that there would most likely be a website equivalent to the mobile app, a problem that has plagued Instagram users who want a PC experience. As of now, there have been no official confirmations by Twitter, but the idea of a Twitter-exclusive photo sharing system seems interesting; although the market is currently saturated by Instagram, which can export images to other social networks, including Twitter. Legally, Facebook and Instagram may be able to take action against Twitter, depending on how similar their filtering system will be. This relates to eLifestyle and ICS20 because as social network users, we are always searching for ways to monetize our networks to one cohesive experience; another photo-sharing application seems arbitrary when there is already a capable system (Instagram.)

Many people have a smartphone, and we all know how dangerous carrying one can be. It's kind of like carrying glass - it can break at any time. Original equipment warranties DO NOT usually cover phone repairs if it is broken, or has water damage. So, some look to third-party device warranty companies. SquareTrade is a company like such, and it gives insurance for what Apple and other OEMs don't cover. Thought it might feel like a scam to you, it's probably worth the money, to protect your phone. phone companies are great for giving you phones, just not for fixing them. So, what other option do we have?

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

The above article (by Cyrus Favriar) details various interesting facts about the concentration of cellphone subscriptions on the planet - over 6 billion. At first the idea of 85% of the global population having access to a mobile phone seems outrageous, but 6 billion subscriptions does not necessarily mean 6 billion individual mobile phone owners. Many people living in third world countries will have multiple phones in order to take advantage of cheap calls within the carrier to and from a specific other party. Another interesting fact detailed in the article is that over 1/3 of the world's cellphone subscriptions is attributed to China and India, with over 2 billion subscriptions combined. A study from Gartner predicts that 1 billion smartphones will ship worldwide in 2014, and data from Canalys showed that more smartphones were sold in 2011 than personal computers. Between July 2011 and June 2012, Americans used 1.1 billion GB (> 10 000 TB) of mobile data, and over the last year Americans collectively spent 2.321 trillion minutes on the phone and have sent 2.273 trillion text messages. So, why should we be interested in all of these arbitrary facts? We understand that as smartphone prices become exponentially less expensive and other parts of the world gain access to data services, mobile broadband continues to grow at a rapid pace. There is a global trend from fixed-broadband to mobile-broadband subscriptions, simply because it is more cost-effective. As global bandwidth increases we can supposedly pump an infinite amount of data to billions of customers around the world. This relates to eLifestyle because it shows that although we talk about poverty and oppression around the world, one thing unites us: technology. This relates to Economics because of the decreasing cost of smartphones and the accessibility of cheap subscriptions becoming more prominent. This relates to the ICS20 class because as most of us own mobile phones and have mobile plans with various car

This article is about internet users in China that are having trouble and difficulties using Google last Friday. Most of them tried to use Google Search and Gmail, but got declined from using them. However, they switched to alternative services, such as Hotmail and Yahoo.  This whole problem about the connection were affecting a week-long meeting of the Chinese Communist Party. China has been known to block internet access for its citizens during politically sensitive times. One example was the protests at Tiananmen Square.

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

In the recent weeks, it seems to be the societal trend to chastise Apple Inc. for their mistakes, the most recent of them being their native iOS 6 'Maps' application. Earlier in the week, CEO Tim Cook published a letter on the Apple website apologizing for the poor quality of the app, saying that "At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment." However, this is not a first for Apple admitting their mistakes and apologizing; one example is in June of 2012, Bob Mansfield (SVP) expressed remorse for Apple's withdrawal of the EPEAT rating system, which ensured the company met an eco-friendly standard. They later recanted their actions and went back on to the rating system. Many people attribute Apple's recent downfall to the shift of power from Steve Jobs to Tim Cook. Apple has also come to fire for their general decreasing of employees per Apple store to increase profitability, their standalone podcast app and ultimately the widely regarded inadequate 'Siri', supposedly improved in iOS6. This relates to the tag 'eLifestyle' because when Apple limits the users experience by introducing faulty software and refuses to adress things because of pride, evidently the customers suffer. This relates to 'Environment' because of Apple's debacle with the EPEAT, and society's increasing desire for products that are eco-friendly, and Apple's supposed "higher environmental standards" that they operate under. Legally, Apple has actively been taking and giving lawsuits over the past years, including Samsung and Adobe (a lawsuit directly following Steve Jobs' choice to abandon flash on iOS devices.) From an economics standpoint, Apple seems to be making all the wrong choices, being that they abandon things that work (e.g. Google Maps, third-party podcast apps, EPEAT) and tries to 'reinvent the wheel' and many people argue that without the direction o

The future is now, and that future is wearable tech. Yet another big player has announced its release date of its 'smart watch', and this time its time for the gaming crowd to be excited. Sony has just announced the release time of their new wearable tech, the SmartBand SWR10, and (in a rare instance), both athletes and smartphone geeks have something to look forward to. The SmartBand is a sleek wrist bracelet that offers features for athletes, Xperia users, and pretty much everyone else with its three major features. The band acts as notifier for phone activity, as well as having non-tech applications, namely various kinds of health monitoring, and something called Lifelog (basically just a facebook feed of your phone... which you can already do with facebook) .While it is good to see a new player enter the smartwatch arena, nothing in this release is new, I would argue the main selling point may be its selling point; price that is. All of the bands features have been done before or can be accomplished by separate 3rd party applications, and you gain nothing by collapsing them to one item. Save its rumoured cheap price of $150, the SmartBand is nothing special, nothing new.

Google is a software giant that we all use, be it for email, Youtube, searching the web or for social networking with Google+. Honestly, that was kind of hard to say with a straight face, no one uses Google+, but apparently thats okay with Google. According to the NY Times, Google+ has been a ploy from the start, created to collect data from users and sell it to the highest bidder. This became evident when Google+ became the hub for all Google accounts, although it is neglected by users. By linking it to maps, gmail, youtube, Google now knows where you go, who you talk to, and what you find entertaining; valuable info for advertisers. This is especially useful, considering the fact that Google's main source of income, search advertising, is declining. This can be a huge concern for Google users who do not want to be tracked and monitored, I among them. While it was not this announcement specifically, similar news has persuaded me, and others undoubtedly, to abandon Google services. I have gone from using chrome, Google search, gmail and more to using free 3rd party software that is committed to maintaining user privacy. Realistically, however, I have not made a difference in Google's business plans, and they will continue along their path as long as it is profitable. Although many laughed at first at the Google+'s hefty price tag, Google is the only one laughing now.

This article talks about how in recent years, politicians have been reaching out to young voters through social media. In recent years, social media has become a major part of many young peoples lives, and the fact that politicians have caught on and have started to campaign online is a smart move in my opinion. With politicians on popular social media sites, young voters will be exposed to politics a lot more. Not only will this idea motivate a lot of young people to vote, this will also make them feel more connected to their politicians on a personal level. This article also says that in 2011 Barack Obama used Facebook to his advantage as one example of how much social media can effect modern day elections. this just goes to show how much one can do with the help of social media.

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

QR codes are a picture that when scanned, either brings a website or information up on your phone. The technology has great potential, but the only place where people are actually using it to its advantage is in Japan. In North America, all it's doing is bringing people to third-party websites that either give your phone a virus or send so many texts that your bill is ridiculously high. So why are we using this amazing technology for such bad uses?

HP has recently come out with their new Music Influencer program. they have started a new talk show where celebrities go on to talk about their music and answer questions. with this new program think this will help bring up HP's popularity. this new Music Influencer sounds pretty cool and i think it would help HP a lot.