Group items tagged

This article talks chiefly about Google Glass, a new type of device that Google aims at putting out on the consumer market by the end of this year. First, it discusses how even though our technology satisfies all our wants and needs, we are often severely distracted by it. We are looking at everything through a screen that we hold in a way that acts as a barrier between us and the world. What Google is trying to do with Glass is make doing simple things like using GPS and replying to texts a lot more easier. With Glass, you don't have to walk around looking down on your phone oblivious to all that goes around you to find your way to the place you need to get to. Some problems with Glass are that it needs data through Wi-Fi on its own and that if it has no connection it's functionality is greatly limited. Since Glass can record video and it's almost unnoticeable, there is a privacy concern because many people may get filmed on video without them knowing. Also, because most of the interaction is through voice commands, it may become hectic to use the device if it does not understand you when you speak. Right now Google Glass may seem like a gimmick but the longer people are exposed to it the more they will understand its value and potential uses. Basically the question is not if people will use Google Glass, but when.

This article is about how Apple was hacked on Tuesday February the 19th, 2013. Basically, unknown hackers infected some Apple workers computers when they visited a website for software developers This website had been infected with malicious software that was designed to target Mac computers. Some people are saying that the malware could have originated from China, but there is no proof. Some of the malware was distributed through a site aimed at iPhone developers. It might still be infecting visitors who haven't disabled Java in their browser. F-Secure a security firm wrote that the hackers might have been trying to get access to codes for apps on smartphones which would allow them to infect millions of app users. Hackers recently found out a sophisticated way to attack Macs by exploiting a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc's Flash software. What I find very interesting is that the breaches described by Apple mark the highest-profile cyber-attacks to date on businesses running Mac computers. This shows that we should make an effort to protect our information especially since one of the largest technology companies has been breached. With cyber security attacks on the rise, we should all be aware and careful of the sites that we are visiting. Apple workers simply visited a website for software developers and became infected with the virus. The hackers are breaking many laws by hacking Apple, Apple intents to find the hackers with the help of the police.

This article is about the Playstation 4.  It Lists the new technology added to the Playstation 4, such as its new graphics card, the new RAM, and  the new GPU.  It also talks about some of the new features such as the new "suspend mode", in which you basically put the gaming console into a "sleep-mode", in which it cuts out the start up sequences, and takes you directly to the game. Also, you now have the option to connect your PSN to your facebook.  Playstation has changed and updated their console very much from the previous installments, and because of this, Sony will have a distinct advantage in the upcoming console race that will come later this year.

Interesting. Very interesting. Not.

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

Over the past few years, Facebook has grown to become one of the largest social networking sites in the world. People everywhere, young or old, have leapt at this opportunity to connect with friends or family from all over. This article brings up the possibility of creating a Facebook option that is available specifically for under 13 users as the current Facebook is only supposed to be available to users over 13. This new option would allow parents to create a link to their child's website and edit the Facebook Timeline options to whatever they think is appropriate. However, this possibility is met with a lot of opposition. People believe that allowing kids younger than 13 onto this site could be risky as they would be more susceptible to the dangers of cyber bullying and abuse. They believe that kids would simply be too young to understand the dangers of the internet and as a result would not know how to stay safe. Letting kids go on social networking sites like Facebook at such a young age is a huge decision. How do you know what is the right one? Despite the over 13 rules on Facebook, there are still thousands of young kids on this site that had simply lied about their age. It isn't hard to get onto this site. No matter what we do, with or without this new Facebook option, there will undoubtedly be young kids on Facebook. This fact is unavoidable. That is why I think that this alternate Facebook for children is not necessarily a bad idea. If we can't keep kids off of Facebook then we might as well work to make a safer version of it for them. Although, I don't condone young kids using this site, I am aware of the fact that we can never keep them all away from it and if that's the case then we might as well do all we can to protect them while on it. The growing world of technology is going to reach the younger children at some point and instead of trying to shield them from this other world and forcing them to explore it behind our backs, I thin

k we should find safer ways for them to discover this cyber world and educate them on its dangers. This article highlights people's concerns about rapidly growing social networks in the cyber world and its expansion to target younger children. It simply gives us a look at how much Facebook has really grown and what they are willing to do to keep it growing. It has grown so quickly and so has its number of users. It is only natural that young kids want to see and learn about what has fascinated so many of older people.

This article talks about a new tablet line from Microsoft called "Surface". It is supposed to go with the new Windows 8 operating system which is supposed to be a more touch and mobile friendly system. At an event in LA Steve Ballmer showed 2 versions of Surface.  One is running Windows 8 Pro the other Windows RT. Each tablet comes with a stand and magnetically attachable covers to allow the tablet to be like a laptop. The type cover has a keyboard and trackpad, while the touch cover is a thinner keyboard cover that comes in many colours and has an accelerometer to let the system know when it's folded to deactivate the keyboard. Both have a 10.6-inch display. The RT version is 9.3mm thick and weights 673g while the Windows 8 Pro is 13.55mm thick and weighs 903g. Only the RT comes with productivity software like Office Home and Student pre-loaded. This release ties in with portable computing because it is an all new portable tablet that is from Microsoft. It also ties in with their new operating system that goes hand in hand with this tablet. It is something with a new innovative style and can be used in various ways as a laptop or tablet. It also ties in with economics and the whole Apple vs. Microsoft competition. Microsoft has created an "even better" version of the iPad. Now instead of going for the iPad people that like PC's and working with them can make the choice to use the Surface tablet which once again puts Microsoft and Apple in competition with one another for sales. All in all this is a great new tablet and I think it is great for all those Windows users that can get their hands on a new tablet from Microsoft.  It will be interesting to see if this new technology will blow up compared to the iPad and now the iPad Mini.

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 about South Carolina which had a hacker break into the state's computer system. It was said that a hacker from another country staged several attacks on the State Department of Revenue since August. This exposed 3.6 million social security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers and all but 16,000 of the credit card numbers are protected by encryption, but hackers can decrypt them. People that filed tax returns since 1998 are to contact state law enforcement officials to prevent identity theft. They still haven't found the hacker. This article relates to Privacy and Security as well as legal issues because it deals with hacking important information profiles of people such as their credit card numbers and social security numbers. As well as creating a possibility for identity theft.  This could create lots of problems for people and the government because of a hacker. It is times like these where we think how we can tighten security for these things stored on the computer? We also think is it just best to stay away from technology for these matters, because of moments like these where mass information that was stored is now exposed.

This article talks about how they are thinking of making ATM machines that can read your palm. It can access your account just by scanning your hand. Then you can easily take out money without scrambling for your credit card. Now you don't need to worry about losing your credit card or even forgetting your pin number. I believe this is a good idea because it can make it easier for everyone to just scan their hands and get the proper amount of money out. I personally like this method better than using credit cards. This relates to the course because it takes a lot of programming to get these ATM machines to work, and also the actual ATM machine is a hardware.

Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank in Japan has revealed that it will introduce the nation's first ATM that lets you withdraw money just by scanning your palm. You wouldn't even need your credit card to verify that you can withdraw money from your account. I think this is a great idea. In Canada, we already have the device where it scans your chip, but it doesn't always work. For example, my dad had to send back his credit card 3 times before he finally got the chip to work. This is also very safe because every person has a different hand shape and "design" on their palms, no one would be able to imitate it. I hope that they come out with this machine in Canada soon, i'm sure it would be less stressful for many people.

This article talks about how in Japan they will soon have ATMs that let you withdraw money just by scanning your palm. This will come in handy when you have lost your card. Customers would first have to show identification for verification then they would scan your palm and can easily withdraw money from the bank. This new type of technology can be convenient because there would be less people stealing credit cards from other, and can withdraw anytime even when you forget your card.

This article is about a group called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) who donated two million five hundred thousand laptops to schools in Africa. They found out that laptops does not help improve test results in math and english for these children. Even though the laptops were stored with two-hundred books and reading/writing lessons, the kids did not score more then others on tests. this relates to our class because we use laptops for our classes.

This is extremely interesting to me because it shows that although technology is a great thing, it does not do the work for you.  it shows that 2.5million computers where given to people in Africa and their test scores did not improve that drastically.  this shows that if people want to learn they will, if they dont, they will not.  this relates to our class because we use computers daily

This article is about the ten fastest computers in the world. they tell us about the speed of the computer, where they are, how pricey they are and other interesting facts about them. This is related to our class because we have been using computers during these classes, and this would be cool because we would see how advanced technology is now. 

this article is about a company called The Defense Advanced Research Priojects Agency who is asking anyone who can help them help make their already impressive robots even better. They've made robots that can walk, crouch, climb up stairs, and even robots that can do push ups. i found this very interesting and it relates to this class because we need to learn more about how we can use our computers to make advanced technology and make our lives just a bit easier.  

This article is about how Samsung is not coming out with a 3D smartphone any time soon. Samsung told Engadget that they have no immediate plans to include displays featuring 3D technology in their upcoming smartphones. I found this interesting because I wonder how many people would enjoy a 3D phone. I think that for movies and games on your phone it would look really good. I also found this interesting because I wonder why Samsung is not coming out with smartphones that have 3D features. 

This article talks about how our technology has become more advanced over the last 30 years. Before computers, people used typewriters to type, but then PC's were made and it made life easier for everyone. Many people say that we are now in the post-PC era because we are developing things like the iPad or the Amazon Kindle Fire where you don't need a keyboard or huge desktop to surf the net or send out an email. But some say there is no "post- PC" era because PC's were just the beginning of a much bigger computing era. Either way, PC's were the first of something that would and already has drastically changed our lives.

This article is about a new device that could help avoid the usual visits to the doctor for injected medicines. It is done by implanting a microchip inside the patient's abdominal. Then the physician administers the drug by remotely pumping the meds into their system. So basically, the microchip delivers you the meds at the doctor's command. I think this is a good breakthrough in technology and medicine. I mean imagine getting the same medicine that is usually injected to you without the hassle of arranging appointments to the doctor and having to go through the pain of the needle. There is one concern though. What if someone sits on the button by accident or forgets to push the button? But nonethless, I find these device a very great thing to have in the future. 

This article, "10 Apps for Finding Apps" may be appealing to one because it is convenient for someone who has difficulty finding a specific app. When I am trying to find an app for my phone it's usually difficult for me to come up with a certain name that that one app might be under. This new technology allows you to find apps that are relevant to you, which makes it easier for one to find. This is also helpful because you will not waste any time having to search to find the app that fits your need at that moment. 

This article talks about apps people can download to their computer and cell  phones. This is very helpful because in our society, there are many technology which deals with apps such as i pods, i phones, Google phones, smartphone and etc. In the beginning people have difficult time finding which apps are useful since not all apps are free to download. This article could solve their problem because it talks about 10 apps that can help you to find other apps that are useful. I like this because i too have problem deciding which apps to download and now i know that these 10 apps can help me to solve my problem and help me download useful apps without wasting my time. 

I guess in the future, wars won't be called "bloody" anymore because these guys, namely DARPA, are creating robots that would take the place of human soldiers. With the use of complicated interfaces and algorithms, they are aiming to enable these robotic avatars to effectively partner with their respective human soldiers. Amazing but at the same time scary because the more technological advances in weaponry means the more destructive the war will be. Another thing is they are trying to make these soldiers indestructible as possible. What if those robots start a rebellion or something? Just saying.

this article highlights 6 apps people should download to their cell phones, i pod touch, or other things. These apps includes angry bird-space, blurtt, karma, Roamz, etc. This an help people who were looking for apps to download for unique purposes. This related to our course because this shows the internet culture and it impact on us. Now they are making article about apps which didn't happen before. this relates to unit in our course which will talk about impact of internet and technology on  our culture and individual. 

Xbox 360 has added several new apps to its gaming consoles Xbox Live package as part of an effort to make it an all-in-one entertainment system. It added various cable networks such as Comcast, HBO Go, and MLB TV. This relates to the course because it shows how technology is evolving.