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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.)

The new OS; Windows 8, is bringing on a lot of excitement, but many people are not too happy with the changes made, myself included. Many people miss the desktop screen, and dislike the new start screen. Others don't like the tiled look and are more used to that of windows 7. There are many other problems and this article describes how to fix all of them. First of all, There is the desktop screen problem. Many of us used to place all our most used programs on our desktop screen so that when you log on, you will have quick access to all you needs, but now all of that is gone and replaced by the start screen. Fortunately, you can bring them back with Start8 (which is easier to use but costs $5) or Classic Shell (which is harder to use but is more customizable and is free). The cool thing about Classic Shell is that it can fix many other things, such as turning your windows explorer from a ribon-ified mess into a usable file browser. you can also fix this problem with Xplorer2. Another problem is that you cant view your videos without buying an attachment to windows media player, but you can fix this with free programs such as VLC There are many other peeves i n widnows 8 that this article helps solve. In conclusion, I feel that knowing that these problems can be fixed will lean alot more people towards windows 8

This article discusses the speculation that facebook may be already working on its own phone. They are hoping to release a facebook smart phone already by next year. The article states that Facebook has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple engineers who worked on the iPhone to help them create this phone. A Facebook-built smartphone would allow users to more seamlessly send messages, post updates and share photos or article links. Although it makes apps for iPhones and iPads, Facebook is still not integrated into Apple's mobile operating system. They are working on this because, more and more people are now using smartphones, tablets, etc. over computers and laptops. This would allow easy access to facebook anywhere they go without paying for data on your phone. In my opinion, this would be a good thing for frequent facebook users that maybe need it for jobs, just to stay connected, or simply they need to make a status about everything that they do. It would make it much easier to use facebook if they were to make such a phone. I am not a very frequent facebook user. I can wait to get home in order to use so if this phone would come out, I personally do not see a need for me to purchase it.

As a social generation, we use various online 'social networks' to connect with others and share information (e.g. photos, text, videos.) But has anyone ever considered integrating one of these networks into a scholastic environment? This is exactly what Assistant professor of education at Michigan State University, Christina Greenhow has found in a recent study. While most say that social networks like Twitter are poisoning the minds of our youth, destroying their grammar and face-to-face skills, Greenhow finds that using Twitter in her class has allowed for more engaged students proven to attain higher grades. By integrating Twitter into some of the class' exercises, Greenhow was able to contextualize the material into something the students could relate to, "The students get more engaged because they feel it is connected to something real, that it's not just learning for the sake of learning." Twitter; something bored students would initially hide from teachers in class is now seeing some valid and practical applications in the classroom. This article relates to the tag "eLifestyle" because teachers are constantly trying to integrate web-based teaching into their classrooms in this constantly evolving technological age. This relates to ICS20 because we are one of the classes in the school on the forefront of technology, integrating web services such as Codeacademy, Diigo and even Twitter to enhance our learning experience. This article is not meant to give students excuses to wander off to Twitter during class, but to show teachers the validity in using a web-based social network to improve their teaching methods in the classroom.

Love this post. I've been thinking about this stuff for a while, as in - how do I work twitter into class activity? Any ideas?

This post is on cracking Wi-Fi WPA passwords with "Reaver." Many people know that cracking a WEP password is fairly easy, so they use the more bulletproof WPA security protocol. Reaver is a program that exploits a security hole in wireless routers and can crack most routers' passwords with relative ease. First off, you will need the BackTrack 5 Live DVD. Download the Live DVD from BackTrack's download page and burn it to a DVD. Next, you need a computer with Wi-Fi and a DVD drive. Lastly, you need a nearby WPA-secured Wi-Fi Network. Using four steps you can hack into a WPA Wi-Fi Network. Step 1: Boot into BackTrack, Step 2: Install Reaver, Step 3: Gather the Router's information, and Step 4: Crack the WPA password to the Wi-Fi Network. Now I will explain how you can protect against Reaver attacks. Since the vulnerability lies in the implementation of WPS, your network should be safe if you can simply turn off WPS (or, even better, if your router doesn't support it in the first place), however Reaver may still be able to crack your password, even with WPS manually turned off. You could also set up MAC address filtering on your router (which only allows specifically whitelisted devices to connect to your network), but a sufficiently savvy hacker could detect the MAC address of a whitelisted device and use MAC address spoofing to imitate that computer. The good news is that there is a way to surely protect against Reaver. You can get the open-source router firmware DD-WRT installed on your router. Reaver has been tested on routers with this firmware and it was not able to crack the password. As it turns out, DD-WRT does not support WPS, so there's yet another reason to love the free router-booster.

Facebook is finally going back to its roots. They have now decided to enable students to have groups on facebook with their school. According to the article, when facebook was only for college students, it used to have this feature and it was very useful for students. They were able to see who was in their classes and communicate with their teacher. It is very hard to believe that this actually used to happen. Now facebook is used to mainly post pictures and chat with your friends. Many people have begun to lose interest in facbeook because they don't see it as something that is useful for them anymore. With this new feature, i'm sure facebook expects to bring back their old users and also make facebook more useful and purposeful for their users. I can't wait to see what it will look like!

Facebook launches groups for schools page, this page is for students and faculty members to share and exchange files, create events, and message each other.I believe that this new feature will make it easier for students to communicate. 

This article talks about the revamp of google navigation bar.  Google changed the navigation bar because it is a huge pain for users to use. These revamp will be helpful for users because of the set of links across the top,which will send them to their favorite Google apps easier and faster. This also can help us in our course because we can go to google apps that we are using in our activities easily and faster.

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. 

This is article tells us how engineers have been able to create Wifi chips for phones to get Wifi easier. I think that this would be helpful because, as the article says, "Ultimately it would reduce the chip count on the cell phone, which would reduce the cost and the complexity of manufacturing of the phone and improve battery life." This is particularly good because since many of us use our phones regularly, improved battery life will be so much more helpful without having to worry about our phones dying.

This is something everyone can use. You could use this to turn off your computer when you're on the go, access files and much more. This could come in handy for students. If they were to forget to email a file from their computer to their laptop they could access and print the files from their desktop. You would also be able to stream media to your devices from your phone. I know I would be using this frequently. 

this amazing app allows you to actual do a google search with a picture!  This can be used in dozens of situations of the top of my head, such as at a museum a tour or even just something cool you saw on the ride to school.  This allows us to see the world in a different way allowing us to appreciate the history and culture behind things we would ignore on a daily basis

This article explains how a program created by scientists from the University at Buffalo, can allow a computer to determine whether or not a person is telling the truth in a conversation, strictly by accessing the speaker's eye movements. I found this invention extremely interesting and as I kept reading, it turns out a computer with this program was able to correctly spot various lies with 82.5% accuracy, but a trained human interrogator only manages a success rate of about 65%. Somebody who dedicated their entire life to studying human psychology and has done years of hard work and training in this subject was outsmarted by a computer who can do the same effort and work but in a better performance. These scientists really put the time and effort into creating this software to work as efficiently and be most successful as possible so just by the computer looking at your eyes, more specifically the movement pattern and the rate of your blinking, it can identify if you are telling the truth or not. This is a prime example of how technology is evolving all around us and how we are using our knowledge to further programs and devices to help and assist us perform tasks, be successful, and happy living our everyday lives. 

When it's built, the Square Kilometer Array will be the world's largest radio telescope. Then, when it goes online, it will spit out 1,000,000 terabytes of data each day-and IBM is trying to make a computer which can handle it. The Squarer Kilometer Array-which will be made up of 15,000 small antennas and 77 larger stations-will collect a heap of data that scientists hope will shed light on the origins of the Big Bang. The sheer weight of numbers means it will generate a staggering amount of information. To give some context, it will generate 1,000,000 terabyte a day. That's twice as much information as there is traffic on the internet in the same period. It's an insane amount of data. This relates to the course because we learn about the amount of bytes computers use, and this satellites allows us to use 1,000,000 terrabytes a day.

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. 

In this article we learn about a new site where it will destruct your email once the recipient has read it. This is used for safety purposes. However I would not use this. I find it isn't very useful when you have to refer back to the email for information. This is a good idea for people who are concerned about others reading their private emails and might not have enough space in their inboxes.  

This article represents a tool called the AutoHotkey. This is a downloadable program that will help you create shortcuts for system tasks in Windows. This tool can assign hotkeys such as shutting down or restarting your computer, adjusting volume, and opening/closing the CD drive, etc. I find this very convenient for people who use their computers everyday because it arranges a more faster and easier use for system task. It is also very useful for people who are lazy and don't want press buttons on certain areas of the computer or monitor.

This article is interesting to me because it tells how scientists have discovered a way to decode DNA chips using biological computers. The DNA chips contain images/info that are "hidden" in the chips, so to say, and are not able to be seen unless they are decoded by these computers. I think that this would be helpful for many people (not only scientists) because it can be useful for keeping important information stored for personal use granted that they have the right equipment to decrypt the chips first.

This article explains how your PC can be referred to as an office, in the way that you have to maintain it's speed and efficiency by continuously looking at it's organization and availability with all the files, machines, and decorations that take up space. This is relatable to my life because when my computer works slow or doesn't perform as fast as it should, I always wonder why or what I should do to improve it's speed. This article informs everyone that by removing unnecessary files, deleting unwanted history and by removing programs that aren't used, these are all ways to improve your computer's efficiency. Also, by organizing your files and programs in a system and method that is effective to your use, is also important so you know where your most valuable information is stored on your computer and you can access this data in a orderly fashion whenever you choose. All in all, the amount of space you have and how you choose to use it, is significant and can reflect how fast, helpful, and efficient your computer performs. This is all based on how clean and organized your computer's internal hardware is while all reflecting back to how you choose to take care of your computer.  

This article talks about a new development in computing technology. So far we have relied on the basic computer who's most basic functions are base on binary logic in the in state of "on" and "off". This new development is referred to as "quantum computing". In quantum computing instead of using "on" and "off" states ; qubits are used. Qubits are a form of matter/energy which is part of quantum physics. The trick here is that qubits can represent multiple states at once and therefore far less of them are needed, and many new types of problems can be solved. There is a drawback however, and it is that qubits can only stay in their form for a set period of time, and they must also be at a temperature of 0 degrees Celsius or lower. Overall quantum computing is a great idea as it allows for things such as modeling atoms, and seeing how they will react. It will be a huge breakthrough in science, and will allow the modeling and creation of new atoms, chemical reactions, and even living beings, but it is not something you will be using day to day, such as your computer. To conclude, I think that this is an amazing development but i believe that it is more science centered rather than day-to-day life.

Smartwatches are like the gateway to the future. With Samsung's first version of "Gear", customers were able to wear an Android powered watch which is able to hook up to your phone and provide you various services like to take quick pictures, text or call a contact using the voice control software and even access your media through the features installed in it. This time however in the new release of "Gear 2", instead of using Android, Samsung has decided to power the smartwatch on Tizen servers, making a clear message of wanting to be more independent of Android and ultimately Google. As Samsung has previously always been linked with Android, switching to Tizen is like a big change. Even though customers with untrained eyes may never see the difference between Gear (Android) and Gear 2 (Tizen) - myself included, having Tizen as an alternative to Android might be good for the company because now they are more in control of their future actions. Whether or not the software is different, the Gear 2 seems like a very useful piece of technology for someone who is in a rush and needs to take or leave quick messages. It is also efficient and not easy to lose because you are wearing it. With just a flick of the wrist, Samsung's smartwatch allows one to do many activities in a small amount of time.