MY PORTFOLIO WEBPAGE

http://www.users.muohio.edu/coorsat/ims/splash.html

This Old Phone? Good Enough for Me

The article that I  read for this week is called  "This Old Phone? Good Enough for Me" by Matt Richtel. This article talks about the cell phone industry and how it has taken a hard hit in this time of recession. 

The marketing research firm, In-Stat,  estimates in its latest report which was released Tuesday,  that shipments of cell phones will drop 20.5 percent worldwide in the next year. It also predicts that the percent of cell phone subscribers will drop from a growth of 19.3 percent  last year to a 9.8 percent growth this year. Most people at this point already have a cell phone and no one has the money to make an upgrade at this point.

This article hits close to home for me because recently I dropped my cell phone in water and it broke. At first, I just assumed that I would go home and get a new one the next weekend, however, when I got to the store, every cell phone i looked at was at-least $150... Therefore, now I am using one of my brothers beat-up old cell phone. But at this point, I rather have this then drop $150 on a new one that I will probably end up breaking eventually anyways.

Making Sense of New Prices on Apple’s iTunes

The article that I read for this week was called Making Sense of New Prices on Apple’s iTunes  by Brad Stone. On April 7th, iTunes great 99 cent prices for every song is being changed to a three tier pricing system where not so good oldies are 69 cents, old songs are 99 cents and new songs are now priced at $1.29 per song.

This new change is not so good for someone like me who loves music and is always buying new songs that just come out. However, if you are someone who does not use apple products, such as a different brand mp3 player you could benefit from this. With raising the price, Apple agreed to remove the DRM protection off the music files so now these songs can be played through different players.

Skype, the Web Phone Giant, Brings Cheap Calls to Cellular

The article that I read for this week is called "Skype, the Web Phone Giant, Brings Cheap Calls to Cellular." If you don't know, Skype is an internet calling service that uses web cams so you can view the person you are talking to over the computer. I currently use Skype about once a week to talk to my brother who is in the Marines and is now in Japan. It is nice because I am able to see him and talk to him over the computer for free, however, i have to be on my computer to be able to do it.

Now, Skype is moving on to mobile phones. They are planning to make their free software available right away for for people with an iPhone or an iTouch and at the beginning of may they plan to also make it availible for people with blackberry phones. Many cellular companies have had their eye on programs like Skype, threatened that if it was to go on to mobile phones, then people would use Skype for things like text messeging(which would be free) instead of using the data plans that they would otherwise have to pay for. I think that it was a good idea for AT&T to bring Skype onto their network because I think it will draw a lot more customer to them, as did the iPhone.

An All-Electric Sedan, Awaiting Federal Aid

The article I read called, An All-Electric Sedan, Awaiting Federal Aid, is talks about Telsa Motors and their new car they are planning to create, however during this time in the econemy, they cannot start to produce it without around $450 million dollars in goverment loan. It is called the Model S and it will be the first all- electric sedan which will begin the generation of fossil-free cars. This car will cost between $57,400 and $49,900, however, if you take into account how much you save in gas prices, it would be equivilent to buying a $35,000 sedan. The battery takes 45 minutes to charge and can run for 300 miles on each charge. As for the amount of space it has, it can hold 5 adults and two children rear facing seats in the back. This car is equipped with a touch screen and internet, which is stored under the hood. Depending on if they get the goverment loan or not, they are hoping for the Model S to be ready by mid 2011.

In my opinion, I think that this is really cool and the start of something big. I hope that they are able to get that goverment loan and start the production of the car which they say will take around 24-30 months. Telsa also has a waiting list where you can reserve one of the first 2,000 cars produced if you put down $4,000. They are also using this money to help finance the sedan. Elon Musk, the company's cheif executive says that “This car will be manufactured, it will come to market. You should have zero doubt about that."

My Favorite Things

Favorite Things

I'm going to write out some of my favorite things, so
you can learn more about me. I hope you like it.

• light blue


• www.google.com


• the beach


• MyMiami
  

Adler, Richard P. and Brown, John S. (2008). Minds on fire: Open education, the
long tail, and learning 2.0. EDUCAUSE Review, 43(1), 1.

I think it is really interesting how this article puts web 2.0 learning styles into perspective and shows you how web 2.o is changing the ways we are leaning today even though we might not even realize it. This IMS class is the first class ever where I have had to use a blog and the first time I have used a blog in general. Although I am still getting used to it, I am starting to like it a lot. I think it definitely brings into perspective a new way of learning. Although we still learn in class from the teacher, we are also learning new things from the students in the class as well as the teacher learning new things from us.
I chose this article because it really goes into the different learning styles that you can take away from Web 2.0. Just to start out, it talks about how over the past few years “we have created building blocks that could provide the means for transforming the ways for which we provide education and support learning” through the growth of the internet being used in both formal and informal ways providing educational resources to most anyone who wants them. It goes on to talk about social learning and how it involves active participation and different experiments that have been done in order to figure out what ways the students are learning best. This article describes how the Web 2.0 movement is changing the ways in which we are learning. “Educators, along with students, are learning among and between themselves.”

Facebook invites users to help set policy

The article "Facebook invites users to help set policy" talks about facebook and it's terms of service. Earlier this month it was made clear that Facebook had made changes to the terms of service in which started that Facebook had the ability  "to use, copy, publicly perform or display, distribute, modify, translate, and create derivative works of ... any content you post" until the member deletes the content or deletes their account. 

After the fact, many people became very upset. Some went as far deleting their account  and several were threatening to. Thousands of members joined groups against Facebooks new terms of service. In response, last week facebook announced that they were going back to the old terms of use policy on member information in the time being as they resolve the issue of the thousands of upset members. 

Currently, facebook has created a group online for people to give feedback in what they think. They will review the comments after March 29 and make their decisions from there.

CEO of Facebook, Mark Zucherberg stated, "Companies like ours need to develop new models of governance ... rather than simply reissue a new Terms of Use, the changes we're announcing today are designed to open up Facebook so that users can participate meaningfully in our policies and our future." 

When I first heard facebooks new terms of service, it defiantly got me thinking that I needed to either get rid of my information, or delete my facebook account. However, I think that changes that have come out  of this whole debacle have been overall positive. Letting the people have a say in the outcome makes the people who use facebook feel reassured. 

Can happiness be found online?

The article I read,  "Can happiness be found online?" talks about the growing web2.0 and its social networking websites such as facebook where people around the world are connecting and possibly giving them a sense of happiness. 

Jim Stolze, a writer and researcher says that "the Internet has become our new global campfire... the place where we gather to argue, laugh, talk, learn, love, turn strangers into friends, and to get a sense of belonging...we are a social species and we need to interact in order to feel alive."

However, it also mentions the downfalls some people have when it comes to the internet. Many people who are not very up to date with newer technology like the internet get onto the internet and just get stressed and frustrated when they try to use it. I know that this was definitely true with my mom about two years ago when she really stated to use the internet. With seven kids in my family, there was usually someone home that would help her out when she wanted to get online to order something or look something up. However, as we all slowly moved off to college, i would get phone calls form my mom almost in tears because she was so frustrated. I know one instance she called me crying saying that someone had stolen all of her credit card information. After about 15 minutes of trying to figure out what she was talking about, I realized that it was just some pop-up for a anti-fraud company.

On the other hand, I do think that many people around the world are finding happiness from social networking services from facebook to youtube. I know I could sit in front of the computer all day watching funny youtube videos.

Google Latitude: Is the public ready for mobile tracking?

The article i read is about Google's Latitude. Latitude is a news and communication tools that is able to provide more relevant information to you by recognizing where you are. Also it allows your location to be tracked and you to track others location. Currently I have somewhat neutral opinions on this. I feel as if in some cases it could be really cool and helpful and in other cases it could be somewhat creepy/ stalker-ish.

On the positive side I think it's really neat how it can deliver information and news to you based on where you are located, especially if you are traveling it could be really helpful. Also I think it would be neat if you have a friend or family member that is traveling, you could track their trip. For example, one of my friends is currently on semester at sea and I think it would be really cool if I could see where she is located as they travel.

On the negative side, I know that there are privacy settings that you can set for this, but on a normal basis, I honestly don't think I would ever want anyone knowing where I am at all times. Also, some people are very naive and might let someone that they don't know very well track them, which could end up being a bad situation.

Secret Prices

Secretprices.com is a shopping website where it gives you the best prices and deals for all different kinds of products on the market . It also gives you rebate and coupon information. It includes customer reviews and product information from Amazon.com and Epinions.com.

Shop Direct Strengthens Online Channel

The article that i read is about "Online and home shopping retailer Shop Direct is rolling out e-commerce software across its multiple brands to improve customer loyalty" hoping to soon replace paper catalogs in the next year. By adding more personalization to the site they are hoping to bring in more loyal customers. This personalization includes the ability to add photos, reviews and even shop with a friend.

Just think about how many catalogs you receive in your home each week. I know in my house at home, having seven kids in our family, we probably get 3-5 a day, which is 18-30 a week. If all shopping catalogs move from paper to the internet, there would be so much paper saved every single day. Once those were converted to the internet, maybe we could get rid of the news paper as well. I know some of the older generations don't really like the whole idea of communicating through e-mail and the internet in place of snail mail, but eventually i think we will get to the point where that is going to be how it is.

CSR ships combined GPS/Bluetooth chip

I don't know about you, but if you don't already have GPS on your phone, you would love to have it, but that usually means spending an extra $100 on a phone. Not anymore. Today CSR launched the world’s smallest GPS combination device, the BlueCore BC7830, designed for mobile handsets- in one single chip measuring 11mm2 in silicon size, it includes GPS, Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, FM transmit and receive technologies and support for Bluetooth low energy. This unique design allows phone/handset designers to add the GPS function to their products for less than a dollar. Meaning that now GPS will be able to be added to mid-range low cost phones that it could not be added to before. Also with the small design of the chip, it will now be able to fit into smaller phones that it was not able to be fit into before. 

The BlueCore BC7830 is sampling today, but should be available in a broad number of devices by the end of this year. They predict that the technology will be shipped in over 428 million devices by 2010. Therefore if you're planning on splurging on a new phone in the next year, I would wait if I were you.

tv is the new pc

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/01/09/technology/personaltech/1194837694976/tv-is-the-new-pc.html?ref=technology

This is a news video that I found some what interesting. It is about using your TV to view things such as pictures or video's from files on your PC. It talks about how every year how we are needing more and more storage and we have gone from kilobytes to megabytes to gigabytes and now they have terabytes which is 500 gigabytes. This is really big for things like home theaters where more and more people have HD tv's and DVR systems where they can store pretty many shows that they have recorded. 

I think it is pretty cool how we are able to do these sorts of things with our tv's now. I think that the next thing to come would be being able to store all of your movies on your tv or some sort of file that you can plug into your tv instead of having dvd's. It is sort of like having all of your songs on your ipod instead of on cd's.