People are really getting crazy obsessed about the iPhone 5. To be honest, how do we really know it's going to come out? It has been believed that this new iPhone will be realesed in early september, but just recently it was said that it may not even come out until October. I personally don't think this new iPhone will be anything "revolutionary". It's like when the iPhone 3 came out: yeah, it was quite a big deal. The iPhone 3GS wasn't that much of an improvement until we got to the iPhone 4; now there was a difference.
And just who starts these rumors anyways? Ate they actual tech personnel from Apple or perhaps they're just tech geeks. Whenever something breaking has come up, of suddenly becomes headlines in Tech news. Just the other day, a supposed prototype of the iPhone 5 was caught on a subway. For all we know the image the discoverer took may have been photoshopped or enhanced in some way. Or he may have been mistaken on the kind of phone it actually was. All I can say is that Apple is good at keeping their mouths shut and building up great hype. Let's hope they don't disappoint us all.
source: iPhone 5 leaked
Wednesday
Tuesday
What Does Google Have That Microsoft Doesn't?
Google has the greater percentage in search engine users, and makes a huge amount of money from its advertisers. You'd think Microsoft's Bing would be making a good amount of money too. So why doesn't it? Google has become the "big man on campus". Who is really able to compete with it? The way Google makes its money is by the CPC (Cost Per Click), meaning, that the little advertisement pages sold to these advertisers are set on a price depending on the number of clicks by a user. You'd think there would be a "set" price for these, but apparently there isn't. Google prices its CPC at 3 o4 times the price of Bing. Here are examples of CPC differences:
While this may be good for advertisers because they're paying less to get advertised, Bing will not get the same revenue as Google because of the fewer amount of clicks being received due to the lack of users. Microsoft does have to pay about the same amount of costs as Google to build and maintain the search engine, so no wonder it has trouble to even be considered a competitor against Google. And according to Nathan Newman, founder of Tech-Progress.org, Google (unseen to many users) controls many aspects of the advertising infrastructure. It's basically the "big dog" and has abused monopoly power by raising it's CPC price. He also claims that Google is harmful to the online ecosystem of e-commerce. He may be making a point, but that's the world we live in, I think. Well want to be at the top: powerful, wealthy, known. Will that every change? Not soon, that's for sure.
While this may be good for advertisers because they're paying less to get advertised, Bing will not get the same revenue as Google because of the fewer amount of clicks being received due to the lack of users. Microsoft does have to pay about the same amount of costs as Google to build and maintain the search engine, so no wonder it has trouble to even be considered a competitor against Google. And according to Nathan Newman, founder of Tech-Progress.org, Google (unseen to many users) controls many aspects of the advertising infrastructure. It's basically the "big dog" and has abused monopoly power by raising it's CPC price. He also claims that Google is harmful to the online ecosystem of e-commerce. He may be making a point, but that's the world we live in, I think. Well want to be at the top: powerful, wealthy, known. Will that every change? Not soon, that's for sure.
Say 'Hello' To Vein Scanning
You can just forget about pulling out your insurance cards or filling out forms. Well, not quiet yet. However, New York University's Langone Medical Center has introduced a new way for patient check-ins. It's purpose is to speed up patient check-ins and reduce hospital errors, which I read that with our current system, there are about 98,000 deaths a year because of it. Absolutely outrageous. These scanners are made from the famous company Fujitsu and apparently, a person's palm-vein lattice vary with each person, just like fingerprints and irises. Is it secure? We definitely have to worry about security and identity-theft these days. But according technology testing, these scanners had a false rejection rate of 0.01% which is quite impressive. Of course, nothing is PERFECT, correct?
I guess people just keep finding new ways to speed up processes and make things easier for the rest of us. This is of great use I think, but just like with robots, what purpose will humans be serving? Will we be unintelligent, overweight people who sit around all day every day, like the people in the movie Wall-E. I definitely don't want to get there, but at the rate we're going, it seems that Disney/Pixar may have predicted the future of the useful-ness of humans.
source: Fujitsu- Vein Scanner
I guess people just keep finding new ways to speed up processes and make things easier for the rest of us. This is of great use I think, but just like with robots, what purpose will humans be serving? Will we be unintelligent, overweight people who sit around all day every day, like the people in the movie Wall-E. I definitely don't want to get there, but at the rate we're going, it seems that Disney/Pixar may have predicted the future of the useful-ness of humans.
source: Fujitsu- Vein Scanner
Use 'Social Media' to Engage Customers and Make More?
It has been noted that more and more people are shopping online. We live in such fast-paced lives that there just doesn't seem to be any time to shop in-store. The market is tough right now because consumers just are not "confident" enough to spend. I work for Macy's and I myself have noticed a drop in customers who shop, however, the company seems to be at a steady level, so where are these customers? Well, shopping online of course. Many companies, like Macy's, have opened great employment opportunities dealing with their online website, including their Facebook page or Twitter page. I came across a blog that gave some really great tips on how to engage customers using social media which I guess would prove to be worthy information for business owners, marketing specialists, etc.
As I was reading this blog, it was yet another reminder of how social media rules the world. Pretty soon, we'll be glued to our seats letting our computers do everything for us.
source: Carol Roth
As I was reading this blog, it was yet another reminder of how social media rules the world. Pretty soon, we'll be glued to our seats letting our computers do everything for us.
source: Carol Roth
Monday
Robots Can Act and Relate to Humans: Are We Ready?
In previous classes, we've mentioned about the advanced technology and how robots are slowly taking over the market, replacing us humans as workers. I came across an article over the weekend that talked about a company in mainland China, Foxconn, who was going to replace some of its workers with 1 million robots over the next three years. Terry Gou, the founder and chairman of the company said that the robots would "be used to do simple and routine work such as spraying, welding and assembling which are now mainly conducted by workers".
It's quite interesting that such things are happening NOW. They new issue of National Geographic has a special on robots and how they're being made to act and relate to humans. Physical traits weren't the only thing attributed to the robots, it also included human attitudes and social mannerism.The issue shows images of robots, many of the human-like robots were just the head. You can't help but ask, how many human characteristics and human function do we want to outsource to robots? In a way, it's incredible that we've been able to accomplish such great achievements, especially scientific and technological achievements. It's also scary too. Who knows, maybe ten years from now, we'll have robots among us everyday, doing every day things like humans do. Will humans then become the minority? We'll see. But hopefully I won't.
(Above) Nick Mayer, of the LifeNaut project in Vermont, sits down for a chat with the robotic head Bina48. Hanson Robotics created the talkative humanoid in the image of Bina Rothblatt, the co-founder of LifeNaut, which is exploring robot-human fusion as a technological path to immortality.
Source: Making Robots Human: National Geographic Probes Robots that Act, Look like us
It's quite interesting that such things are happening NOW. They new issue of National Geographic has a special on robots and how they're being made to act and relate to humans. Physical traits weren't the only thing attributed to the robots, it also included human attitudes and social mannerism.The issue shows images of robots, many of the human-like robots were just the head. You can't help but ask, how many human characteristics and human function do we want to outsource to robots? In a way, it's incredible that we've been able to accomplish such great achievements, especially scientific and technological achievements. It's also scary too. Who knows, maybe ten years from now, we'll have robots among us everyday, doing every day things like humans do. Will humans then become the minority? We'll see. But hopefully I won't.
Source: Making Robots Human: National Geographic Probes Robots that Act, Look like us
Internet Explorer Users= Lower IQ Individual
Who uses Internet Explorer? Seriously. It slow and annoying and unless you're forced to access the school library in which your only option is to use Internet Explorer, no one really uses it.
There was a study conducted by Vancouver consulting firm AptiQuant that suggested that Internet Explorer users may be the "dumbest on the Internet". The consulting firm gave IQ tests to over 100,000 internet users found randomly through user searches and targeted advertising. According to the survey, those internet users with the highest IQ were those among who use Opera as their web browser.
To do such a study, I think, is quite entertaining for us readers. What's the purpose of it? I'm not so sure. Perhaps to wake up those people working in Microsoft and tell them that they need to hurry up and catch up or else it will be too late for them to do so. Or perhaps to poke fun at Microsoft about the mere fact that it is falling behind, way way behind Apple Inc.
Here's the chart showing the different IQ scores among the users in 2006 and 2011, who did use different browsers such as FireFox, Opera, etc.
There was a study conducted by Vancouver consulting firm AptiQuant that suggested that Internet Explorer users may be the "dumbest on the Internet". The consulting firm gave IQ tests to over 100,000 internet users found randomly through user searches and targeted advertising. According to the survey, those internet users with the highest IQ were those among who use Opera as their web browser.
To do such a study, I think, is quite entertaining for us readers. What's the purpose of it? I'm not so sure. Perhaps to wake up those people working in Microsoft and tell them that they need to hurry up and catch up or else it will be too late for them to do so. Or perhaps to poke fun at Microsoft about the mere fact that it is falling behind, way way behind Apple Inc.
Here's the chart showing the different IQ scores among the users in 2006 and 2011, who did use different browsers such as FireFox, Opera, etc.
Thursday
When Facial Recognition Goes Wrong
In class on Monday, we quickly went over Chapter 5 and in it we briefly discussed about different security measures such as biometrics, physical security measures, access controls, data encryption, etc. Instead of boring you with this once more, I found an article which talked about a man and his personal experience with identity confusion. Apparently, the fraud prevention system of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles made an error an revoked this man's license. This man, John H. Gass seems to be an exemplary driver, not having a traffic ticket in years.
This anti terrorism computerized facial recognition system, used by 34 states, is used to help identify people with multiple licenses or aliases, people trying to evade the law, underage people trying to buy alcohol, etc. Sure, it seems to be a needed computer system. But like many other things in the world, nothing is perfect and errors do happen and will happen, as it did for John Gass. When people are wrongfully convicted, they have to spend so much time trying to prove who they are. It seems sort of ridiculous that we depend heavily on such systems to convict people, identify terrorists and who knows what else. There's people in jail who have been wrongfully convicted but then exonerated with DNA testing which is something we didn't always have.
On average, states find about 1,500 cases of possible fraud. Surely not all of them are actual cases of fraud. The Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet of the Federal government which was formed after the terrible terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Sure, I agree that there has to be security measures to protect our country and the people who reside in it. To what extent though? By any means necessary? So are we going to shoot poor Joe because we suspect, or rather, a anti terrorism security computer program tells us we should suspect Joe? I certainly don't think so. Where's our right to privacy? We no privacy and it appears that we have no rights either. But I guess when you think about it, there is no perfect system and even when we find the BEST one, it won't make everyone happy.
Politics is just a whole big mess and no one wins. I'll just end here.
*sigh*
source: When Facial Recognition Goes Wrong
This anti terrorism computerized facial recognition system, used by 34 states, is used to help identify people with multiple licenses or aliases, people trying to evade the law, underage people trying to buy alcohol, etc. Sure, it seems to be a needed computer system. But like many other things in the world, nothing is perfect and errors do happen and will happen, as it did for John Gass. When people are wrongfully convicted, they have to spend so much time trying to prove who they are. It seems sort of ridiculous that we depend heavily on such systems to convict people, identify terrorists and who knows what else. There's people in jail who have been wrongfully convicted but then exonerated with DNA testing which is something we didn't always have.
On average, states find about 1,500 cases of possible fraud. Surely not all of them are actual cases of fraud. The Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet of the Federal government which was formed after the terrible terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Sure, I agree that there has to be security measures to protect our country and the people who reside in it. To what extent though? By any means necessary? So are we going to shoot poor Joe because we suspect, or rather, a anti terrorism security computer program tells us we should suspect Joe? I certainly don't think so. Where's our right to privacy? We no privacy and it appears that we have no rights either. But I guess when you think about it, there is no perfect system and even when we find the BEST one, it won't make everyone happy.
Politics is just a whole big mess and no one wins. I'll just end here.
*sigh*
source: When Facial Recognition Goes Wrong
Monday
Microsoft, Not Giving Up Without a Fight!
It was leaked that Microsoft is currently working on a project, entitled Tulalip. It is still a "private project" and we do not know much about it, yet but it advertised itself in the splash as a service that lets users "find what you need and share what you know easier than ever" and there appear to be the options to connect via Facebook or Twitter. Microsoft accidentally leaked a splash page and was immediately taken down on Thursday with an apology note that read:
Here's the splash image of Microsoft's upcoming project, before it was taken down on Thursday:
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“Thanks for stopping by. Socl.com is an internal design project from a team in Microsoft Research which was mistakenly published to the web. We didn’t mean to, honest.”It is still unclear what they're working on exactly but it is believed by many that Microsoft is working on a social network that will compete with Facebook and Google+. Fusible, which is a website that delivers breaking news and information on domain names and trademarks said the following:
"It’s far too soon to speculate if this some kind of Microsoft response to Google+, but as Fusible points out in a different article, Microsoft’s domain activity — which may include a purchase of social.com, too — has all happened in the past two weeks, after Google+ launched on June 28th."I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Microsoft has to offer us now. Still, will it overtake Facebook? Hmmm, I don't think so. But we shall see.
Here's the splash image of Microsoft's upcoming project, before it was taken down on Thursday:
The Social Network: Follow-up
Wow. Forgive me for the delay here. This was the second time I watched The Social Network. I have to say, I enjoyed it the same the second time around.
1. In your opinion, how is Facebook and Google+ different or the same?
Facebook and Google+ has some very similar qualities. However, I did some research comparing both social networks and found some major differences between both which could be tempting for new upcoming users.
2. How many users does Facebook have? Why so many? Why did Facebook overtake MySpace?
Facebook currently has over 750 million users. That correct, over 750M. It is worth over $100 billion. And to think, the nerdy yet successful Mark Zuckerberg could easily decide to retire now if he wanted to. MySpace was the "top dog" in 2008. That is until Facebook came along that April and never looked back. In those 3 years, MySpace has lost over 40 million users, lost its 2 co-founders and has laid off most of its staff. I think that major problem to MySpace's demise was that it was created in the entertainment industry and not by technology gurus. Critics point to MySpace's administrative and strategic blunders and its inability to help evolve with the ever changing web. Connie Chan, analyst with Chess Media Group says Culture is changing and quickly enabled by technology. News Corp's old school thinking and probably red tape were also factors in MySpace's fall." Like Microsoft today, MySpace just could not keep up and fell way, way behind.
3. Do you think Google+ or any other social media will overtake Facebook?
This is hard to say. I think it'll be very hard for Google+ to convince people to abandon their Facebook pages. If Google+ does overtake Facebook, I think it will be because Google+ will offer the opportunity to start over. Who can befriend 400+ friends? That would be too awkward. There's probably friends or statuses of friends that annoy the heck out of you. And you can't start over with Facebook. And of course, it isn't Facebook's fault, but it does give and opportunity and an advantage for Google+.
4. Why do you feel there is such an obsession with Facebook? Do you think this obsession is warranted?
People love staying connected with their friends and loved ones. We've probably "friended" old classmates from middle school and high school who we probably don't talk to. We probably have friends on our phone book that we don't really call or text, but we can easily find out what's going on with their lives simply by clicking on their Facebook profile. I think people are obsessed with knowing whats going on in people's lives. I can't exactly explain this phenomena, but I know I get curious as to what is going in people's lives sometimes. It perhaps makes it easier to connect with others and not have the awkwardness of conversation.
5. What was your perspective of the film overall?
The movie was mildly entertaining. It was also inspirational for people like me, college students, who are close to going out into the real world and join in the job market which is not doing so great right now. Inspirational because it shows how even young people can become successful on their own. Mark Zuckerberg was portrayed as a socially awkward person. I think it showed the perks and also the negativity of being successful. I guess if you want to be on the top, you have to willing to lose friends along the way.
1. In your opinion, how is Facebook and Google+ different or the same?
Facebook and Google+ has some very similar qualities. However, I did some research comparing both social networks and found some major differences between both which could be tempting for new upcoming users.
- Google+ offers "hangouts" where users can join in group chats. Users can send messages and as well as YouTube videos to watch. Now that's pretty cool.
- Google+ offers news readers, called "sparks", where users can read different news feeds and are able to choose the topics they would like to see, easily accessible on their profile. The DIFFERENCE is that it focuses on specific topics and news from media outlets and not necessarily about a friends newborn or something unimportant.
- With Google+, you can keep your group circles secret. It'll show who you've put in circles, but not how you've arranged it or titled it. Although Facebook has different privacy settings, the bottom line is that all the members of the group will be able to see all the other members of that group. Also, Facebook uses Lists, not Groups. It requires extra steps for users, who have to click through several screens to specify what "list" to share with, and setting up Lists isn't quite as seamless as on Google+. It requires much more effort from users, which is something people just don't want to do these days.
- In Facebook, you're only able to see the News feed of people you are friends with. With Google+, you can see updates from who you may not be yet following, but who are following you.
- With Facebook chat, you can only chat with people you are friends with. With Google+, you can "hangout" with people who aren't necessarily in your circle. They are much more open, which can be good, or bad.
- Facebook follows people (you) around the web. We see the Facebook "like" button on many third party sites. Google+ also has its advantage to that. Google+ is embedded into Gmail. While on their inbox, users can also easily log on to the social network. And Google+ also follows people as they browse the search engine. In other words, Google has found a way to immediately put Google+ in front of users.
2. How many users does Facebook have? Why so many? Why did Facebook overtake MySpace?
Facebook currently has over 750 million users. That correct, over 750M. It is worth over $100 billion. And to think, the nerdy yet successful Mark Zuckerberg could easily decide to retire now if he wanted to. MySpace was the "top dog" in 2008. That is until Facebook came along that April and never looked back. In those 3 years, MySpace has lost over 40 million users, lost its 2 co-founders and has laid off most of its staff. I think that major problem to MySpace's demise was that it was created in the entertainment industry and not by technology gurus. Critics point to MySpace's administrative and strategic blunders and its inability to help evolve with the ever changing web. Connie Chan, analyst with Chess Media Group says Culture is changing and quickly enabled by technology. News Corp's old school thinking and probably red tape were also factors in MySpace's fall." Like Microsoft today, MySpace just could not keep up and fell way, way behind.
3. Do you think Google+ or any other social media will overtake Facebook?
This is hard to say. I think it'll be very hard for Google+ to convince people to abandon their Facebook pages. If Google+ does overtake Facebook, I think it will be because Google+ will offer the opportunity to start over. Who can befriend 400+ friends? That would be too awkward. There's probably friends or statuses of friends that annoy the heck out of you. And you can't start over with Facebook. And of course, it isn't Facebook's fault, but it does give and opportunity and an advantage for Google+.
4. Why do you feel there is such an obsession with Facebook? Do you think this obsession is warranted?
People love staying connected with their friends and loved ones. We've probably "friended" old classmates from middle school and high school who we probably don't talk to. We probably have friends on our phone book that we don't really call or text, but we can easily find out what's going on with their lives simply by clicking on their Facebook profile. I think people are obsessed with knowing whats going on in people's lives. I can't exactly explain this phenomena, but I know I get curious as to what is going in people's lives sometimes. It perhaps makes it easier to connect with others and not have the awkwardness of conversation.
5. What was your perspective of the film overall?
The movie was mildly entertaining. It was also inspirational for people like me, college students, who are close to going out into the real world and join in the job market which is not doing so great right now. Inspirational because it shows how even young people can become successful on their own. Mark Zuckerberg was portrayed as a socially awkward person. I think it showed the perks and also the negativity of being successful. I guess if you want to be on the top, you have to willing to lose friends along the way.
Wednesday
Social Media: A Way of Life
Our last class session started with a YouTube video showing us how social media is not a fad, but a part of life that is here to stay for a good while it seems. Over the weekend, I saw a commercial, I believe it was for Toyota, and in it, we see a girl and her laptop talking about Facebook and also mentions that older people become sort of "anti-social". She tries to get her parent's involed in Facebook and mentions that sadness at how her parents only have 19 friends whereas she has 600+ friends. In the meantime, we also see her parent's bike riding with friends and doing other things. So really, the parent's hadn't "secluded" themselves from society as she thought, but were very much enjoying life with their friends and their Toyota.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we do EVERYTHING with help from the internet. We get clothes, books and food online. We find out about news and important events through sites such as Facebook, Twitter and others. Forget about writing letters. We can just easily call or text in a breeze. Talk about the loss of romanticism through writing and poetry. Who even writes anymore? Unless its for a school paper or your grocery list, it's not really something we do anymore. Why buy invitations or greeting cards anymore? Just send it via email or via Facebook. We make our friends online and on sites such as Facebook, we have "friends" who are actually people we don't really talk to, don't know or perhaps just saw once at a bar or party.
It also brings bad things. Cyberbullying happens more and more. Child pornography and exploitation is easily found. Sexual predators have it easier to come in contact with children. We have sites where adultery is facilitated. We also have sites like Craigslist where you can get ANYTHING, literally.
With every good thing comes bad things though, right? Social media, the internet, has faciliated life in many ways, good and bad. And it a part and way of life that is here to stay. I wonder, however, what kind of other cultural or technological revolution will happen next that will change the way things are done. What else can they do? In my lifetime that is.
Would you like to know how to get better grades using Social media? Click below and find out. Quite funny and interesting.
How To Get Better Grades Using Social Media
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we do EVERYTHING with help from the internet. We get clothes, books and food online. We find out about news and important events through sites such as Facebook, Twitter and others. Forget about writing letters. We can just easily call or text in a breeze. Talk about the loss of romanticism through writing and poetry. Who even writes anymore? Unless its for a school paper or your grocery list, it's not really something we do anymore. Why buy invitations or greeting cards anymore? Just send it via email or via Facebook. We make our friends online and on sites such as Facebook, we have "friends" who are actually people we don't really talk to, don't know or perhaps just saw once at a bar or party.
It also brings bad things. Cyberbullying happens more and more. Child pornography and exploitation is easily found. Sexual predators have it easier to come in contact with children. We have sites where adultery is facilitated. We also have sites like Craigslist where you can get ANYTHING, literally.
With every good thing comes bad things though, right? Social media, the internet, has faciliated life in many ways, good and bad. And it a part and way of life that is here to stay. I wonder, however, what kind of other cultural or technological revolution will happen next that will change the way things are done. What else can they do? In my lifetime that is.
Would you like to know how to get better grades using Social media? Click below and find out. Quite funny and interesting.
How To Get Better Grades Using Social Media
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