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This article is about whether or not you could last 2 weeks without social media. In our society today social media has become a major part of our lives. I think that many people would have trouble going 2 weeks without their favorite sites. Now mashable has a challenge for anyone who wants to join to see if they can last 2 weeks without social media. 

CISPA (cyber intelligence sharing and protection act) is back into congress and threatens to internet privacy if passed. The bill allows the government, private security agencies, and private companies to access about a "cyber threat". These cyber threats are defined by any attack on government systems and networks, and the "Theft or misappropriation of private or government information, intellectual property, or personally identifiable information." This can mean things such as music, programs, games, etc. With this bill, the government and companies can anonymously take your information without any legal consequences. Your information can then be shared or sold. This is a direct violation of the 4th amendment, as it is similar to a search without a warrant. In summary, this bill grants the government and companies access to your information without any cost or legal risk.

This article mentions a new invention by West Health Institute in San Diego.  This new invention is called the Reflexion Rehabilitation Measurement Tool (RMT). It uses your Windows 7 computer and Microsoft Kinect to help patients suffering from musculoskeletal disease to get their daily physical therapy and help patients stay on track. It also helps keep the patients involved with interactive feedback so that their doctors can see their progress and help the patients constantly improve in a fun way. This new technology will also help bring down the cost of healthcare as well as the number of doctor visits a patient has to make without compromising quality.  This article is all about eLifestyle and how technology can help improve our daily lives and in this case health. With this technology we can improve health care and bring down the cost that comes with the therapy. This tool can help patients stay connected with their doctors and constantly work and learn new physical therapy routines for the patients needs without long doctor visits. I think this is a brilliant idea that will help save time and money opening up room to help treat more people with musculoskeletal disease.

Facebook is now offering the option to disallow all applications from sharing and/or accessing your information. Currently, there is a lot of talk about privacy on the internet and how a lot of people don't like having advertisements and notifications shoved into their face every time they use social networking sites or play games.  Nowadays a lot of games have 'share' options built into them that allows you to share useless achievements such as how many cows you bought or how much wheat you need to feed them. This annoys many people who use social networking sites to just talk with friends and get up-to-date information from pages they liked.  The 'nuclear' option will allow people who do not want to be bothered by friends' status updates on games and also people who don't want applications to share what they are doing to others without them knowing or without their consent. This may cause many game developers to change tactics on how they want to attract users from sites such as Facebook because they don't want to risk getting blocked by everyone. 

With the advancement in technology, the human race is slowly headed in the opposite direction. With internet access on almost every electronic device, it has become our main source of communication. This advancement in communication are making people less dependent on social interaction. With the ability to order food online we are allowed to order necessities without leaving the comfort of our homes. This is crucial because without the need to leave your home, many people would take advantage of this and not be active both socially and physically. This can lead to many medical problems as people wont have the need to get off their couch and workout. Some positive aspects of being able to order food and other necessities online is the fact that is efficient and easy to do. Another bonus is the fact that the order will be sent immediately and I find that there is less room for error when you are able to type what ever it is you want and not have a language barrier with the people on the other side of the order. 

This article is about a music streaming service that Google might release for their Andriod Operating system. A few months ago, Apple was supposedly working on a music streaming service for their iOS and now Google is joining in, increasing the rivalry between them. Because of the on going rivalry between Andriod and Apple, both companies are trying to take all the necessary steps towards buying over their fans. The music streaming service would enable the customer to play music without actually having to download it. You would stream the music from the application with your internet connection, and since Google and Apple are developing these services, all the audio files that will be streamed will be playable on the device in use. This is a good way to get people to listen to music without actually having to download the song illegally and listen to the song they want to buy before purchasing it. This service could boost hardware sales, but they would not make a lot of money from the actual service itself, since its hard to make money with an ad-supported music streaming service.

New "surveillance--proof" app, Silent Circle has been released providing an easy way for people to text and call people without anyone else ever knowing what has been said, including ISPs and governments. This app makes sure no one can eave drop on your personal business by using what's called encryption. Encryption is the process of changing data into a secret code, the secret code can then only be read by the device you are trying to communicate with. The encryption codes are randomly generated each time the app is used so it is almost impossible to crack the code. This app is can be used on iOS and is currently in development for other devices and platforms as well. Some feel that free communication should be a right, but governments must be feeling a little bit nervous about this app. I chose the tag "privacy and security" because this article is about how Silent Circle has given people an easy way to speak in a secure and private environment without any intervention from anyone else other than the communicators. In my opinion I feel that free communication is important, but people will abuse this through using this app to possibly deal drugs, plan terrorist attacks, or other illegal activities. Who knows, maybe even the government controls this network to monitor people who use it, but that is just a theory.

Homophobic words have become increasingly integrated into casual speech, more than one would like to admit. This problem has been amplified substantially with the use of social networking sites, in particular, Twitter. The University of Alberta's Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services launched the website www.nohomophobes.com on September 26, 2012, and has been tracking tweets containing the words 'faggot,' 'so gay,' 'no homo,' and 'dyke' since July. The site displays the numbers in current, weekly, and all-time charts, and updates in real time. A live feed lists the tweets containing the phrases as well.  As of 1:23pm on October 22, 2012, the number of tweets with the word 'faggot' broke 10,000. It is disheartening to see how such a hurtful word could be used so nonchalantly during the day. Since July 5, 2012, there have been about 3.27 million 'faggot' tweets, 1.16 million 'so gay' and 'no homo' tweets, and over 450,000 'dyke' tweets. As the site header reads, "Homophobic language isn't always meant to be hurtful, but how often do we use it without thinking?" This article is tagged under eLifestyle because our generation uses social networking sites daily. Although people may use these phrases without harmful intentions, they are still there for everyone to see on the internet. It is a real eye-opener to watch the numbers rise so quickly, from just one social network. As students and future leaders, we must give extra thought to what we post, and who it might harm when we use these social networks.

"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

I can not count how many times already that I have had something spoiled for me, be it a television series I have yet to watch, a book I have yet to buy and read, a movie still left to watch, or even a new music video for a certain Korean boy band that I follow and cry over. And all of these disgusting spoilers, that ruin my entertainment, come from the single source that is the Internet. I can't even innocently scroll through my dashboard on Tumblr to update my blog anymore without discovering five plot twists in which I have not yet been pleasantly surprised in, a death scene I least expected before it was my time to watch it, and maybe even a leaked practice video to a supposedly secret EXO comeback. Not only does this infuriate me to no end, but it also fuels the fires of my happiness in that someone created the "Spoiler Shield" app - a way to specifically block all of the spoilers you will find while going through your social media sites. Just simply input the subject you would not like to previously see before you invest the time to actually watch it, and the app will block all spoilers relating to it in real time so that going on your social media daily will never be a problem again. At last, I have found an app that will keep my eyes innocent to .gifs from Game of Thrones Season 4 so that I can now watch the show without it being ruined. The idea that this app will prevent me from stumbling over random spoilers greatly pleases me.

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.

AllSee, a new piece of technology that will probably cause a lot of problems. This product is very similar to the XBOX Kinect, but it does not use the camera that kinect does. Personally, i have not used the Kinect myself, but many people say that it does not respond to movement very well. AllSee, on the other hand will match what Kinect does but without the camera. In my opinion, i think that this product will be very effective. It will probably do better that the Kinect did. This will probably change the way the gesture control is used.

This article displays a new possibility for people who have trouble walking or are paralyzed all together to have a chance to walk again thanks to this amazing robot. This robot walked a total of 100,000 steps over 13 hours without using electricity or a motor. this is incredible because; if developed properly it could become the future in walking assistance technology.

this is a problem because people are demanding more computers and phones now because life without them is hard, now you can only apply for jobs on computers or do homework on computers now, so more people need them. This is affecting the environment because to make all these devices are harming the environment, for example the pollution from the factory making the products and the precious metals and supply's we are using to make the devices are non-renewable. So we should find a way to make computers and phones without effecting the environment as much as we are now. this is how computers and phones are affecting the environment, and the demand on computers are just gonna get higher and higher, so we should find a way to build the computer without effecting the environment as much fast.

This is an article about how computers affect our environment, how we can help, and what computers can do to actually benefit us in the world. Some examples of computers ruining the environment could be usage of valuable resources and pollution due to computer waste. Some examples of how we can help would be sanitizing our hard drive, donating our mobile device, raising funds from techno trash, and re-using ink cartridges. Technology can help the environment by helping us develop and produce sustainable practices in the environment. It also allows for paperless communication which limits the taking down of trees. In my opinion I completely agree with what this article has to say. It expands on computers issues but also its strengths.

Many people do not know that just throwing away your old electronics can build up and create a lot of air and water pollution, as well as heat and noise pollution. In our electronics there are many different types of non-renewable resources, also many precious metals are used such as gold, and silver. All electronics contain hazardous  materials that can have a negative impact on our environment, this materials have to be disposed using special methods. You can help the environment by buying more energy efficient products, as well and products that have less hazardous materials inside of them. Also you can dispose your electronics properly and safely. But on the other side using computers can help the environment, because less trees will be cut down for paper. When disposing of electronics improperly can increase the amount of carbon emissions that are the main cause to global warming, also known as greenhouse gases.    

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.

With the popularity of social media growing rapidly everyday, so are the number of ways people are trying to steal your information. One such case is the Dorkbot or Ransomware worm that has previously attacked Facebook and Twitter has now began spreading through Skype. Criminals using Dorkbot infect it into computers through sending innocent-looking links to victims. Once a victim clicks the link, the worm blocks all files on the victim's computer from use  and uses these files as ransom for a set amount of money. Should the victim refuse to pay the ransom, all the files will be deleted.  This article shows that as easy as it is for our computer to collect data, it can just as easily have this data stolen, all it takes is a single opened link. It is always stressed to never open links that seem suspicious, yet many people will open links without any regard for their data. I think it's very low how online criminals will stop at nothing to find sneaky ways to steal other people's information and their money. Are they so lazy to make money on their own that they will just leach off of people who worked hard to make money to support themselves? People who don't take precautions while browsing the Internet are just as at fault as the criminals who plague the web. Since people are caring less about the safety of their data as the number of cyber criminals increases, it will be inevitable that web browsers will have to increase security or the government will have to make an effort to track down cyber criminals and set laws to punish cyber criminals more harshly.

This article states how the Kindle E-reader has evolved over the years, how Amazon has lowered its book prices so much so people would buy e-readers and book buyers would go to Amazon.com and get books instead of going to a book store, and how people try to destroy Amazon for almost having a monopoly of it. Many people like this because new Kindle E-readers cost from $69 to about $100 and many of their book cost from about $1 and up. Also Amazon helped self publishing authors sell their books. The Kindle E-reader has evolved from being a big electronic book with many books in it and having pages flipping crazy if your hand was in the place. Now it has evolved to be a slim e-reader with a brighter screen and having cheap books to buy and not as clunky. A few years ago Apple and five big publishing companies made a contract to stop Amazon from selling books so cheap. The publishing companies would only sell books on apple products. In April of this year the Department of Justice sued Apple and the five publishing companies to stop Apple from trying to get the monopoly on selling books on their products. It is portable computing because people know can have hundreds of books in a device the size of a small book and you don't need to keep buying bookshelves that take a lot of space and the books it has are cheap. It is very light and people can take it anywhere they want to. It is eLifestyle because you a many people in the bus or subway reading away on their e-reader comfortably without having a big book to carry. Many people use it because they can't carry that much weight.    

Social media has exploded over the years and become a huge part of all of our lives. From facebook to twitter, from instagram to tumblr, everywhere we look there's some kind of social media being thrust in front of us. It has appeared so often that we have grown used to it. It's not unusual when someone stops to update their twitter or upload a picture of their lunch to instagram. There's that sense of excitement when your phone buzzes to tell you that you've been retweeted or your post has been liked. Social media has become part of our lifestyle and it's a great benefit to have. It allows you to keep in contact with relatives and friends and stay updated on the lives of those around you, but have we started to become too reliant on this advantage. This article had provided a look at various social media addicts, like 'the liker' and 'the constant checker' and despite the humorous aspect to it, you can still see a slightly more serious question behind it. This article brings to light an issue that we all knew existed, but never really paid much attention to. It had referred to the different types of reliance's on social media as addictions. It's a strong word to describe what most might usually think of as just small habits or pastimes, but maybe addiction is the right word to use. This post not only highlights the different types of social media addicts, but it also tells us the 'symptoms' and downfalls that can come out of each one and it raises some fair points. It draws attention to the fact that the addiction to social media can not only annoy those around us, but also hurt yourself and waste your valuable time. I mean, it becomes very hard to concentrate on the work at hand as soon as your phone or computer buzzes to tell you that someone has mentioned you in their tweet. Social media makes procrastinating so much easier, not that we wouldn't find our ways to without it. This article is just proof that the world around usis growing, especially the cyber world

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

This post is about the price Americans paid over the past 5 years to fix their broken iPhones. With such a thin, glass design, the iphone has not been a very durable phone so far. Many Americans found this out the hard way by dropping it from their hand, plunging it into a body of water such as a toilet or a tub, or dropping it from their laps. The cost of all these accidents adds up to a whopping 5.9 billion dollars over the past five years in the United States. This issue relates back to the "Portable Computing" tag, because no matter how advanced the iPhone is or how it can improve you daily life in hundreds of different ways, it is not able to accomplish anything if it is broken. Reliability when it comes to withstanding drops is a major factor required in order to positively affect our lives. In my opinion, this is disappointing coming from such a prestigious company such as Apple. I think that for iPhone 5, they should build a more robust phone, without sacrificing its slim, thin design that everybody loves so much. You should not have to buy an expensive case in order to keep your phone protected, especially with a price like the iPhone's.