Farewell

This is my last post for this blog so I am sorry for those who actually read this which I am sure is not many.  I would like to say thanks to our subscribers for showing their support but it will be no more.  This blog has been great but it is now coming to an end.  well thanks anyone who reads this and i am sorry for those people that there will be no more posts from me.

*SOBBING*

Dear and beloved viewers *sniffle*,

This is my last blog post as an Extension Cord collaborator. The journey was one filled with surprises, challenges, and lots of good times. I am glad that you could be with us through this experience. For me, the magazine-making process was a learning experience. I had never used a vector or raster program in my life (programs used to make the magazine) and had definitely never designed. We also learned different magazine writing techniques, that hopefully you, the readers enjoyed. The magazine itself had its ups and downs and was limited to time constraints. However, I think it turned out well and was duper awesome. Hopefully, you enjoyed following us as much as we did making the magazine. So, without further adieu, I a signing off.

-- Ben Fagelman

Farewell

This is my last blog for this website and i would like to thank my parents for bringing me to this country from Mexico by crossing the border. Without them i would not be here. I also would like to thank my Ezine teacher Ms. Young for teaching us all what it is like to make a magazine.  I would like to thank my group, Beck, Ben, and Jacob. I really like doing these blogs and this might be the last time that i will see this blog. Thanks
                                                                                   -Gustavo

Check out our Final Magazine

Extension Cord Magazine Final

By LASA EZINE

32 pages, published 14 DEC 2011

A school technology magazine. Basic designs, basic writing, bu the topics are interesting! Come and check it out now!

The Last Geek and Poke

Check out Geek and Poke here.

-Beck Goodloe

This is Farewell

     It has been a great semester so far, and now it is slowly ending. This is my last post as an Extension Cord staff, for our first, yet final issue is finally coming to print. I want to first begin by thanking my parents. If it were not for them, I wouldn’t be here today, so thank you for creating the beautiful mind that is me. Next I would like to thank Ms. Young, my Ezine teacher who consistently required me to post on the blog for a grade. I’m never actually this diligent, so again, the blog would not be here if it were not for her and her required class. Finally, I would like to thank my nine subscribers. I will now choose to ignore the fact that seven of the nine subscribers are actually either on the Extension Cord staff or my fellow classmates whom I bribed to join. Juiceboxx, thank you. You were our first subscriber whom I do not know, and it was always a pleasure to see the weird little picture of the black kid every time I opened our website. Amy Bishop, I still don’t know who you are, and the fact that you do not have a picture on your profile is greatly disappointing. I have no idea when you joined, but I hoped you enjoyed the very random technology blog posts littered with mistakes, typos, and incorrect grammar. You say you liked the pictures? Those are required too. So really, this whole blog was controlled down to each little pixel in each blogger’s picture. Nevertheless, let us not stop these facts from ruining the joyous moment that is our end. Once this class is over, I will never touch this blog again. It will never be visited, and it will sit by itself in cyberspace, hoping a viewer might just stumble upon it, but the chances of that are unlikely. So now I say goodbye to you, the two readers whom I do not know, and the seven that I do, this is the end. But do not fret, you can always give me a ring if you are lonely. If you do not have my number, that is probably how it should be, sorry, that’s just the way things roll in our technology-filled world. 

-Beck Goodloe

Apple Loses iPad Trademark Case in China

Photo Credits Here

Apple may end up facing major problems with its iPad sales in China after a court rejected Apple’s claim to own the iPad trademark in the country, and a rival sought to halt sales of the tablet device in two Chinese cities.  The developments are the latest in a long-running dispute between Apple and Proview Technology (Shenzhen), a struggling Taiwanese-owned company that registered trademarks for the name IPAD in many countries long before Apple conceived its smash hit tablet computer.  Normally, Apple is on the receiving end of property rights infringements in China.  With all of the counterfeits that are extending even to copies of its flagship stores.  “Apple is such a Goliath and has a good image, so people wouldn’t imagine that Apple could possibly infringe on our intellectual property rights,” said Xiao Caiyuan, a lawyer for Proview at Guangdong Guanghe law firm. “People always think its small companies infringing upon large companies’ IPR.”  If things continue to go as badly as they are for Apple, the company might end up having to market the iPad, in China, under a different name because of trademark rights that Proview Technology now has.

For More Information Click Here

Jacob Saslavsky

Grand Theft Auto 3 to come to smartphones

In the 10 years since the debut of "Grand Theft Auto III," several video games have upped the ante in the naughty category -- including some other "Grand Theft Auto" games.But the original open-world gangster-action game is doing a second drive-by with the December 15 release of "Grand Theft Auto: 10 Year Anniversary Edition."The game will be available for download on Apple's iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch and on Android tablets and smartphones. It will cost $4.99.Publisher Rockstar Games sells "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars" in Apple's App Store, but this is the first game in the series to be released on Google's Android platform. The Apple version works on all iPads, the latest iPod Touch and the iPhone 4 and 4S. Rockstar has posted a list of supported Android devices as well.From the first batch of screen shots released by the publisher, the game looks similar on the two mobile platforms. Instead of using a controller like on the original PlayStation 2 game, players will tap on-screen buttons to switch between weapons.Rockstar plans to release more details and a trailer video to coincide with the game's release next week, the company said. A spokesman didn't immediately respond to a question about whether the anniversary game would have different missions from the original.

                                -Gustavo 

The Old Is New Again

Microsoft recently released information that they will come out with a new update for the Xbox 360. It will come out on Tuesday, December 6. The update will drive their new wave of accessible media entertainment.  It will add new video streaming features, such as HBO and YouTube, as well as making the entire Xbox Kinect ready. The goal of the update was to make media and gaming as accessible and easy to use as possible, as well as only needing one device to meet all media needs. So far, Microsoft and the people at Xbox have done the best at constantly updating their internet media databases. New features are constantly becoming available and more companies than ever are designing programs around gaming consoles. With this in mind, some people see the Xbox and similar consoles being bought solely for non-gaming purposes. However, most of the market will probably continue to be dominated by internet capable DVD players and cable TV. While the future of the Xbox is uncertain, it is probable that internet-based media will continue to rise in popularity. For those interested in media, the update will mean fun for the whole living room.

Click here for more information.
-- Ben Fagelman

Weekly Geek and Poke

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-Beck Goodloe

Is Apple Overaggressive?

Many are waiting for December 14 to come. This will mark the day when the International Trades Commission makes a public ruling on the Apple vs. HTC court case.

            Recently, Apple filed four lawsuits against the well-known Japanese company HTC on the basis that they were are stealing Apple’s technology. One of the specific programs under speculation is the one that allows the reader to touch a number on the keypad and then it is shown on the screen. Now it may seem like a small matter, but Apple says that they are stealing everything that is making their newer phones special.

            Analysts currently believe that the case is beginning to favor Apple, as the technology is almost identical in both phones.

            To show that this is no game, HTC recently counter-sued, saying that Apple is actually stealing their technology, not vice-versa. This is not the first accusation made against Apple though. Several months ago, Google Android also had problems with Apple, each company saying that the other stole their technology.

            This is not a problem that the common person can affect though. It is now up to the lawyers and CEOs to work this problem out, and now all we can do is wait.

Check out more information here. 

-Beck Goodloe

Microsoft on the Apple Frontier

Photo credit.

Recently, rumors arose that the popular Microsoft Office software will be available for the tablet that started it all - the iPad. Up until this point, Microsoft has been somewhat unsuccessful inside of Apple territory. A relatively boring Bing app has been all they have had to show for up until this point. If this transition could be made, it would be a win-win situation for both companies, at least for the time being. With the apps rolling out on the App Store, it would most likely be available for other phones and application stores as well. Microsoft Office would be contested by the current word, spreadsheet, and presentation apps, called Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. However, I think many people will drop the old apps for the classic programs included in Microsoft Office. The expected price is $10 and will most likely be implemented in early 2012. If the features of the Microsoft programs are upheld in their app forms, they will dominate their competition. Many people are fed up with the new systems apple has tried to put in, and will jump on this quickly. Lots of listeners were surprised when they heard this because of Apple's tightly closed off and privatized way of

doing things. For whether this is for the best, only time will tell.

For more information, click here.

-- Ben Fagelman

Would you like a slice of Apple history?

 

                                                                        Picture courtesy of Sotheby's

     This is the Original contract signed by apple founder Ronald G. Wayne along with Steve Jobs and Ronald G. Wayne. It is planned for it to go to auction on the 13th of december to go to action and its estimated value is 150K. Would you pay so much for it? Many historians and Apple "fans" would. Apple's original partnership agreement, signed on April 1, 1976, by Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Apple's "forgotten founder," Ron Wayne. According to Walter Isaacson in his new "Steve Jobs" biography, Jobs signed the document in lower-case letters, "Wozniak in careful cursive and Wayne in an illegible squiggle." The three signed the document in Wayne's apartment and split the profit in the company not equally: Jobs and Wozniak both got 45%; Wayne, who came to the confab late as a consultant of sorts, got a 10% share. He later received an additional $1,500 payment. Bad move, right? His stock options today would be worth more than $30 billion. Many people say its history and others say is not that valuable. What do you believe? How much would you pay for if it was so valuable to you?

                                                                     -Gustavo

Google Offers Indoor Maps for Android

Photo Credits Here

Google is bringing its mapping technology to the great indoors.  With the launch of Google Maps 6.0 on Tuesday, users of mobile devices running Android OS 2.1 and anything newer will have the ability to use Google Maps not just to get directions to an Ikea, Macy's, or to several airports, but also to figure out how to navigate the places and find housewares, ATMs and their airline boarding gates inside the building.  There are a few problems though.  For example, the release is limited. Google's launch partners include 18 U.S. airports, including some of the biggest, such as Chicago O'Hare International, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International and San Francisco International airports.  Some large stores, such as Ikea, Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Home Depot, have already been mapped, but other stores such as Target and Wal-Mart haven't been. There aren't nearly as many malls mapped as shoppers would like this holiday season though.  In upcoming years who knows, peoples phones may be telling them every turn to make, the directions, and even when to start and stop moving so that they can go everywhere and anywhere, inside or out, with their eyes closed.

For More Information Click Here

Jacob Saslavsky

Jacob's Lead and Nut Graph

Lead - When you walk into an apple store to buy your new iPhone, most people think something like I am so excited to get my new iPhone.  What most people do not think about is how hard it must be to orchestrate the process of getting the products into all of the stores on time.  For people like Laurie Weinstein this process is their life.

Nut graph – Laurie Weinstein is the director of product distribution for the Americas for apple.  She always has work getting apple products to stores and dealing with the difficulties associated with the job.

Weekly Geek and Poke

Check out more Geek and Poke here!

-Beck Goodloe

World of Warcraft Gold to Equate to the Dollar?

On August 9, 2011, Treasure Secretary Timothy Geithner proposed that the US turn WOW gold into legal currency. Recently, this proposal has raised controversy, as many republicans object to the move. “This is nothing but wealth redistribution,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. “Nearly all of World of Warcraft wealth is held by the nations poorest 5%. Making World of Warcraft Gold into legal tender is part of a radical socialist agenda that we must stop at all costs.” Democrats have come to Geithner’s aid though. Together, they have begun a campaign to marry the dollar to WOW gold. “World of Warcraft has an economy that is strong and trustworthy, and attaching our economy to this one is an important step in getting our country back on track,” explained Geithner. “By marrying the dollar to World of Warcraft gold, we may be able to achieve the economic strength enjoyed by Dwarven Miners, or the Blood Elves.” High-level gamers have also begun to jump into the argument, many of whom vehemently oppose the idea. Their reasons? WOW gold is too valuable and combining it with the US dollar would only drag down the idea. To back their argument, the gamers told us that +3 enchanted shoulder pads would cost millions of US dollars, whereas it runs for 500 gold in WOW. Despite the opposition, analysts predict that the idea will pass through Congress quickly, but there is no telling what will happen in the senate, or even how the President will react. Until then, we will just have to wait and see how things play out.

Check out the whole story here!

-Beck Goodloe

Ben's Nut Graph and Lead

Lead: As you walk into the light clean office of the director of communications, you get a sense of how things are run. Papers in neat stacks and nothing is out of place. The great view from the window shows the rolling trees and the hills of Austin. This is the office of PR and communications head, Kathy Thrift.

Nut Graph: Kathy Thrift is the director of communications at the Texas County and District Retirement System; a pension fund that deals with almost every county in the state of Texas. She deals with public relations and controls the flow of almost all public information that represents the fund. As technology advances, Kathy’s job is to implement new technologies into the workplace and display the ideals and views of the company. She wants to use these new technologies to make it easier for users of the fund to become interactive with their plan, get updates, and learn new information.

Gustavo's lead and nut graph

Gustavo’s lead:
          Its 4:00 in a Saturday  morning when Cesar Salinas gets out of his house to deliver 10 games in Galveston Island, TX. Every Friday family and friends call him to see if he has Modern Warfare 3 or Grand Theft Auto 5 available for the weekend. If they are available then he makes the 2 and a half hour drive south to get money for his family.
Nut graph.
Cesar Salinas works in construction every day of the week from 4:30 am to 7:30 pm to support his family. It has happened before that he and his wife are not able to pay bills on time because of how much he gets paid. After a while he saw people working two jobs and he thought of the perfect additional job that would get him fast money. In Mexico, movies, games, Cd's get released earlier than in the US. He orders games from Mexico about 2 weeks before the games get released here. The games get to his house about a day before the game releases.

Beck's Lead and Nut Paragraph

Lead: You could see the sleep crusted in the corner of their eyes and the bags under their eyes gave one an inkling of the adventure that the four men had just undertaken. To some, the sight might have been amusing, but to the gamers who strode purposely through the doors only seconds ago, they had reached their destination: Dallas, Texas. It was the annual LAN party that they had come for, and they had driven 19 hours from Michigan to get there.

Nutshell: Several years ago, Chris Quick and three other friends left Michigan early in the morning, heading for the biggest LAN party in the US (in Dallas, Texas). They were planning to stay the week, filling their time with video games, movies, and other technological time consumers. They had driven 19 straight hours to make it on time, and it was obvious by the exhausted that haunted each of their faces, despite being disguised by looks of jubilation.

-Beck Goodloe

A Private Carrier for the iPhone

Photo credit here.

Recently, word got out that Steve Jobs wanted a private cell phone carrier for the iPhone. He wanted to make an Apple brand provider that would supply plans for only Apple phones. With this in action, all other plans for other providers would become arbitrary and would dissolve. Current providers such as AT&T and Verizon would be out of the iPhone’s vision and would have split the smart phone market into farther distances of separation. Without the iPhone, these two major providers would not be as big of competitors. Many speculate that AT&T would have filed for bankruptcy without the addition of the iPhone their collection. Another group of people think that the Apple phone would not have had the incredible impact on the smart-phone community had it not been for the setting with established providers. The theory is that people do not want to rely on a network that only sells one phone and does not primarily specialize in the telecommunications business anyways. When it comes down to what happened, advisors convinced Jobs before the phone’s release to go with the established companies. Had Jobs created his own provider, it is tough to know just how much the cell provider system could have changed.

For more information, check out this article.
-- Ben Fagelman

Windows 8 will be less bossy about automatic restarts

Picture from microsoft.com

           Don't you hate when you have just installed a new super cool software and the computer tells you to restart your computer in order for the program to run properly and then it takes for ever? Well, that is what Windows 7 does. After you install a cool program like Virtual DJ, Windows 7 will ask you to restart your computer so that the program runs faster and how its supposed to run. After its restarts it freezes and a box shows up that says " Loading Virtual DJ files". This takes forever. Even if you skip it, it still will do it after you turn it back on the next day. This problem is not because of the downloaded software size, its because Windows 7 is so strict. Microsoft says that Windows 8 is not as bad as & but it still takes a while to restart. Windows & is still a good software but the one thing that is affective is that it take a long time to load files. Its not the file's size but the program opening it. For more info click here.

• Gustavo

If you would like to check out the awesome Virtual DJ program click here.

Google Launches a Music Server

Photo Credits Here

Google released a new online music store on Wednesday to challenge the Apple and Amazon.com.  this new service will feature millions of songs from many albums.  Google says people will be able to purchase the music through the android market, which offers smartphone apps, electronic books, and videos.  To help start the new music store, Google said it will offer one free song for consumers to download every day.  Also through Google+ friends can share there purchased songs.  Google is playing catch-up to its biggest rivals Apple, Amazon.com and Facebook, who all have some sort of music store or application through their online sites and mobile products.  For example, Apple has iTunes and Facebook has Spotify.  Analysts say selling online music is unlikely to provide much of a lift to Google's revenue, but they say Google needs to be in the market to ensure that its mobile efforts based on Android can match its competitors such as Apple and Amazon.  Without a music service, Android devices such as smartphones and tablets may not seem as attractive to consumers.  Looking for a product that offers a seamless media experience.

For More Information Click Here

Jacob Saslavsky

Weekly Geek and Poke

Check out Geek and Poke here.

-Beck Goodloe

Another Peaceful Perspective

On Saturday afternoon, Michael Koenig posted a video on video of the earth from an International Space Station orbiting the earth. In this time lapsed short-film taken with a special lowlight 4K camera, we see the earth from an entirely different perspective. In this video, we can forget everything happening on the ground and focus on the earth as a whole. All social statuses and broken governmental systems are forgotten. No more riots; no more coups; no online rants; no discrimination; no war. In this video, all is forgotten, and only the beauty of the earth shines through. We can see the lights of the cities, the clouds, the mountains. There are even physical ties between countries made of light. It is like a spider web. Each country branches into the next, and in turn, those branch into others. It is symbolic. The world is tied together whether everyone sees it or not. We are all brothers and sisters, joined together by our conquest to survive. We were all brought into this world together, but at the pace we are going, we will all leave it together as well. Just take a moment and watch this, and picture the world as one in which there is only love.

Check out the video here!

In addition, if you are wondering, the mysterious green light is the infamous Aurora Borealis.

-This inspirational post is brought to you by Beck Goodloe

Siri, a Threat to Google or Just Compitition

Picture Credits Here

Some people have labeled Siri as a "Google Killer" for they think it will dominate the way we search the web and Google will just be an afterthought.  This is not necessarily true though.  If Google goes ahead and makes a Siri like thing for Android phones there will be no problem.  Plus at the moment Siri's default search engine is Google.  So for now Siri is not a "Google Killer," but rather a serious possible competitor to Google.  This is something Google has not had until recently with specialized search engines like Yelp and Kayak that are easier for their specialization.  Yet, Siri has created a new way of searching the web and other things that before now has not worked well.  Eventually these technologies could work better than Yelp for food searches or Kayak for travel.  Siri is not the first voice activated thing that will search the web.  It is just the best one out there yet.  Google will become an afterthought though if they don't get on the bandwagon and start making a better voice activated search engine like Siri.

More Information Here

Jacob Saslavsky

iPad Vs. Kindle Fire

Image credit and more info here.

Amazon has released their Kindle Fire tablet and is in a war with apple and their iPad. Even though apple is not afraid of them they still don't want to release their newest products. Amazon is having "tablet wars" with the new Nook Color and apple. Many say that Kindle fire is better and other say that the iPad and nook are better. Some advantages that the iPad has over the kindle fire are that it has a dual-core processor which makes it 2 times faster and a very light and thin device. The iPad weights 1.3 pounds which is pretty good for so many services and stuff it has.It is 33% thinner that the first iPad. It has built in 2 cameras, one in the front facing you and the other in the back. A disadvantage is that it’s priced at $499. In the other hand the kindle fire is $199 and has one processor and no camera. It is also about 2 pound heavy. The screen on the kindle fire is really small and for some people size does matter. So which one do you think is going to win? Amazon's Kindle Fire or Apples iPad. 

                                      -Gustavo Salinas

Zuckerberg Flaunts Success at Old Turf

Image Source Here

On Monday November 7, Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire CEO of Facebook, returned to Harvard as part of a recruiting tour. Zuckerberg went to Harvard for college in 2004 when he started the social networking site now known as Facebook. He started the website as a small way for Harvard students connect instantly over long distances. When it started spreading around, Zuckerberg went to California for funding, employees, and advice and never went back to college. Many students at Harvard look at Zuckerberg as a hero and aspire to do great things like him. Many students rushed just to get a glimpse of their hero as he moved from conference to conference around the different parts of the school. Many think of Zuckerberg as a social misfit and a backstabber, as the movie The Social Network depicts. However, students that have seen him in person and have followed him for a while say that he is a genuine person who is interested in what he does. As Zuckerberg becomes more public over time, he will continue to encounter problems with his public image. As long as he keeps making these real and public appearances, he will stay a hero to many.

For more information, click here.

-- Ben Fagelman

Weekly Geek and Poke

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-Beck Goodloe

Siri's Anticipated Arrival on Antiquated Phones

On Thursday, a private blog called Jailbreak Nation released a video detailing release of Siri on the iPhone 4. The video is quickly raising controversy, as Apple did not sanction this study. In the video, we see that the use of Siri on an iPhone requires it to be jail broken. Once this happens, programmers can download files that act the same way that Siri does on an iPhone 4. But why is this a breakthrough? The challenge of this experiment was not to get the files onto the iPhone 4, but in fact to get through to the Apple server. As described by these “hackers,” Apple has put in place “guards” or programs whose specific job is to determine whether or not the Siri information is coming from an iPhone 4S. If the information is not, than the connection is cut and the data is not delivered to the user.

            While this software and knowledge has not been released yet, it is expected to come soon. Many iPhone 4 users see this as an opportunity to get the upgrade that comes with the 4S at a fraction of the cost (as the invention of Siri is the main difference between 4s and 4Ss). Until that time though, I recommend waiting for this new technology (especially if your iPhone is already jail broken). Here is your opportunity to get a cheap upgrade that functions with the same speed and data that you would get if you spent hundreds of dollars on a new phone.

For more information, check out Jailbreak Nation

-Beck Goodloe

Apple Admits to Bugs in IOS 5 That Are Affecting Battery Life

Photo Credits Here

Apple admits that the new iOS 5 is shortening the battery life of the phones due to a bug.  "One [user] told the Guardian: "I am getting around 10-12 hours standby (without using the phone), and then when I am using the phone for browsing, the battery percentage drops 1% every minute.""  What is going to happen if all of apple users on iOS 5 can't use their phones for more than 100 minute (an hour and 40 minutes) while browsing?  Apple has said that they will fix it soon with a new update.  Yet, currently no cause of the problem has been determined.  Some people find turning off certain features saves battery, which seems kind of obvious, but who would want to have to do that just to use their phone anyway.  If this takes too long I see many angry users that might even buy new phones because they need something that will last longer.  For example what if you are on a long conference call and need to be on your phone for three hours and you can't plug it in anywhere.  What will happen when your phone dies in the middle of it.  Not good.  This problem needs to be fixed quickly before bad things happen.

More Information Here

Jacob Saslavsky

Angry Birds Launched Far Past Expenctaions

Image Source

Games are some of the most popular downloads from the iTunes App Store. Recently, the popular, repetitive, and addictive game, Angry Birds, topped the charts with a record 500 million downloads. Reaching this milestone made the game the most downloaded of all time. The game involves a bird being pulled back in a slingshot and fired at enemies protected be shelters. Rovio, a company that instantly skyrocketed with the popularity of their game, owns angry Birds. They currently have angry birds released on all major smart-phones, have millions of plush toys produced, are planning on a store, and hope to start cartoon production. Most players continue to play the game after the initial download. Evidence to this is the fact that people have played 200,000 years on the game. These astounding facts mean that mobile gaming is actually coming into the gaming world. Many people like this style of game because there is a simple goal and you do not have to be too into it. I hope that in the future, big game producers will get more into this field and mobile gaming will get even better than it is now.

For more information on the topic, click here.

-- Ben Fagelman

Your New Phone Might have a Flexible Screen

Image from cnet news

 Nokia has made a new phone that is flexible. The flexible phone allows users to zoom in and out. What does this mean? Technology is growing really fast and that it will be a new way of life. This phone has not been released and its plan to release on winter of 2012. The producers in Nokia want it to be indestructible. Its flexibility might make it the first indestructible phone. Some issues that the phone has are the screen size. Some of the producers are not satisfied with screen size and want it to make it bigger. That is the new product they are working on. A phone that can have a screen as big as the one on the iPad and it is able to roll up into a regular phone sized shape and fits easily into any pocket. The new roll up phone might be a better idea but the question is, How? Some people don't think it’s possible. The producers do think it’s possible and it’s going to be a big hit. Just imagine. You have a phone the size of this monitor. You grab it roll it up and put it in your pocket.

                                                                           -Gustavo

Weekly Geek and Poke

Link Here

-Beck Goodloe

Apple's Uncrowning

As of today, Samsung has overtaken Apple in the “Smart Phone” market. As of third quarter statistics, Samsung controls 23.8% of the global “Smart Phone” market, whereas Apple only controls 14.6%. The ascent has not been subtle though. Samsung has been slowly closing the distance between themselves and Apple after they put out the first Google Android and Galaxy series phones. I do not see this as a surprise though. While many still love the iPhone, it was not until recently that they allowed other networks to service their phones, and that was where Samsung had an advantage. To give you a mental picture, the price of a Samsung stock has tripled since the release of the Android phones, and that number is continually rising.

            We have to remember though that these third quarter stats do not encompass the possible breakout of the iPhone 4S and 5. While it is highly unlikely that Apple will return to power any time soon, anticipation is rising for the later models and open networking.

            When we look at the big picture, we see a tremendous growth in the number of smart phone users around the world (44% or 117 million units). When we put this together with the growing number of Android phones, we see that it is very possible that the number of new phone owners around the world is boosting Samsung’s numbers. Why would a new phone owner want such a nice phone as their first phone? Actually, the Android phones are slightly more affordable than your typical iPhone, with just as much ability and speed. Nevertheless, whether you want the brand name of the value, it is completely up to you.

-Beck Goodloe

Flying Humvees

All in one

photo credits here

Our long lived dream of flying cars may finally come true.  "A flying car that's rugged enough for hardcore off-road driving, able to survive small-arms fire and can quickly take off and land is potentially just a few years shy of reality," says John Roach.  The Lockheed Martin and DARPA have gone into the prototype testing for flying Humvees for the military.  Prototype presentation is expected by the end of fiscal 2012.  If one of the prototypes is successful then they could be being used by 2015.  What does this mean for flying cars for personal use?  It is already clear that personal vehicles that take off and land at airports that are like small planes that can drive on roads are possible, but what DARPA wants is an off-road drivable vehicle that can hold four soldiers and their gear and be able to take of vertically like a helicopter.  They also want it to be easy enough for a typical soldier to be able to fly them and fly 250 miles on one tank of gas.  This means if we convert the Humvee part to car normal people will have easy to be flown cars that can take off from your house without airports or runways.

more information here

Jacob Saslavsky

Jonathan Ive: Steve Jobs stole my ideas

Photo credit: Apple

Jonathan “Jony” Ive Vice President of Industrial Design.

For the official article click here.

Jonathan Ive was one of Steve Jobs's best friends. Ive is the vice president of industrial design and is clamming that Steve Jobs stole some of his ideas. Ive and Jobs were very good friends and colleague. They often ate lunch together and helped the design department with new ideas. Many of the ideas that Ive created were published by steve. Ive is very upset about his friends death an plans to carry on his position if possible. Some reports on Steve say that he stole peoples ideas and not just Ive's which is unusual for a smart person that developed a million dollar company. Ive was one of the victims and is now also going to let out all of his original ideas out into the world and see how it goes. “Steve would be proud if I took his position” said Jonathan in an interview after steve died.

                                                      -Gustavo

Last Regrets

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Intel Chips have historically been more popular in computers than any other processing chip. However, a lot of business is lost to other companies that are less predominate in the computer industry. This is caused by Intel’s lack of presence in tablets and smart-phones. The most popular company running these mobile devices is Apple. They use custom chips that are based on a design from a rival company of Intel’s, called ARM. However, the late Steve Jobs was beginning to question reluctance to buy into another company’s chip. Before his death, he wanted to change the chips in one of the company’s biggest products, the iPad, to Intel. Jobs had known the CEO of Intel for quite some time and and worked with him during the early stages of the iPad’s construction. However, when the time came to make the decision, advisers convinced Jobs that custom chips would be better for the tablet. Slowly, Jobs began to think that the same chips hard-wired into his computers would work well in his mobile devices. Jobs began working on a way to put Intel chips into the next iPad before his resignation and untimely death. Without Steve Jobs as the CEO, nobody really knows what will be put into future mobile devices.

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-- Ben Fagelman

Weekly Geek and Poke

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The Shadow Profiles of Ireland

Big events seem to come in threes. Whether it be the deaths of famous people or breakthroughs in technology, the trend has continued throughout history, and now it has arrived in the technology industry. With the death of Steve jobs being one, the blackberry outages, two, the third comes from Ireland.

Facebook Ireland is currently being accused of creating shadow profiles of users and non-user alike. What are shadow profiles? They are detailed records of personal information held by a private company without the consent of its users/clients. Several years ago, the US had a similar problem. After a graduate student emailed Facebook requesting his information from his account, he was supplied with decades of his old chats, friend requests and pokes. The same problem has arrived in Ireland.

It is believed that Facebook Ireland has been keeping records of its users. Phone numbers, email and home addresses, relationship status’ and location updates are being saved on Facebook’s private servers and are being kept for uses unknown. Nevertheless, users are not the only ones being targeted. Even people who have no Facebook account are being recorded. How do they do this? Whenever someone sends you a request to make a Facebook or tags you in a file, the data is saved. Even companies with advertisements on people’s pages have the option of uploading their subscribers email addresses to enhance their ads!

Facebook could be fined up to $137,000, but very little can be done other than that. Despite this, many privately owned organizations have launched investigations into the matter, but as of now, the only thing Facebook Ireland users can do is sit back and wait.

-Beck Goodloe

Siri Reviewed

      Recently, the iPhone 4s came out. Many new updates came with the newest version of the popular smart-phone, one being a program called Siri. Siri is a digital assistant and companion built right inside the phone. If you type in a command that corresponds with any program pre-installed on the phone, it performs the task. If you talk to the program, it replies accordingly. It even has quirky responses to some statements. For example, if you tell the phone, "I'm drunk", it proceeds to tell you phone numbers for cabs. Although this is a fun program to use for many people, there is a gaping hole in Siri. Although it can accomplish many simple commands, Apple has not released a way for the hundreds of thousands of applications available to the phone to interact with Siri. If applications could put their own custom commands into the popular program, it would be a huge plus. You could tell Siri to update your status on a social networking site, instantly get the lyrics to your favorite song, or launch a game all from what you type. I think that implementing this would make Siri almost perfect.

Apple Adds C Spire as a New US Carrier For the IPhone 4S

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C Spire will be a new carrier for the iPhone 4S.  C Spire, which used to be known as Cellular South is a regional company that Apple hopes will help increase sales away from urban centers where Apple already dominates.  Also, southerners may now want to switch from normal cellphones to iPhones because they now have a reliable network for where they live and their phones will be able to keep them busy with social networking and games.  It is not yet known if C Spire will sell the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 as well as the iPhone 4S, or if they will only sell the iPhone 4S.  At the moment sprint is the only carrier that has an unlimited data plan, but C Spire could potentially give an unlimited plan for the iPhones because they already have one for other phones.  Apple chose C Spire over a company like T-mobile because a major company like T-mobile would not get very many more users and could make partners of apple mad.

More Information Here

Jacob Saslavsky

Google and Samsung create Ice Cream sandwich Android

                

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Google and Samsugn created the Ice cream Sandwich powered Galaxy Nexus. It is not really sandwich powered phone. Its just a name for it. It comes in many colors. With the touch screen the smartphone features a 1.2 gigahertz dual-core processor, a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD screen with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a pronounced curved shape that is intended to cradle the face. There's a a 5-megapixel camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chats, and support for 1080p HD video capture and playback. Not like the Galaxy II, it is more effisient in amny ways. It has a better camera na d better dual-core processor. It is 8.9 milimeters thick. Apple could do this and is now the less thick phone in history. The name ice cream sandwich comes from a new software from the adroid but placed on the new phone. It has beenplaned that it will sell lots of copies that they will reach the 12.5 billion dollars they expecty to get as profit.

-Gustavo

Weekly Geek and Poke

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Speeding up Firefox

On October 14, 2011, Firefox leaders decided to replace their historic XUL technology, effectively changing the interface on Android phones. Why? "Firefox on Android is a critical part of supporting the open Web, and this decision puts us in a position to build the best Firefox possible," says Mozilla’s Director of Firefox Engineering Johnathan Nightingale. Effectively they are trying to change the way that Firefox loads and runs on Android phones. According to a press release from Firefox, they are only changing the user interface of the browser, but are leaving the “behind the scenes” Gecko engine for processing website data. Another thing that Mozilla hopes to change is the startup speed. When ratings for browsers are released, startup time is always included in the recorded data. Historically, Firefox has fallen behind in this category, but things are changing. It is also possible that add-ons will be included in this new version of Firefox, but it is very unclear what exactly is going to happen in this update. According to Nightingale, "By the end of next week, we will have a clearer outline of the work ahead.”

The release date is still unknown, but it has been announced that the update will not be any of the products currently in testing. Firefox is starting from scratch. Let’s see what happens.

Link here

Beck Goodloe

London Philharmonic Orchestra gets played as a soundtrack in video games

 The london Philharmonic Orchestra is a very good orchestra and is now playing hit songs from common video games. Some of the theme songs of video games such as Grand theft auto, Halo, Tetris, World of warcraft and Angry birds will be in the album that this amazing orchestra will be produced. The music the orchestra are being predicted that it will trying to make that gamers not so angry with the tone of the music

Yes, the same orchestra that brought us hit albums such as Mozart: The Violin Concertos and Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 9, is now tackling Splinter Cell and Legend of Zelda.
                                        -Gustavo

Cell Phone Population Growth

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If it seems like everybody always has a cell phone glued to their ear, you are not  imagining things. This is because statistically,  everybody in the US  has  at  least  one cell phone. Recently, an a cell phone organization called the CTIA gave a report that there are more cell phones than people in the United States. This shocking data was acquired from a nationwide survey in late June. According to the survey, there are about 315.5 million people in the US and its territories. In this same area, there are at least 327.6 million cell phones. With the amount of smart-phones closing in on one million, the wireless connecting that the phones are capable of has nearly doubled the amount of mobile data. Clearly, Americans have become much more dependent on their mobile technology. This huge increase in the amount of cell phones has surprisingly only created a 1% increase in total minutes. This means that cell phones have become something more than just verbal communication machines. Now, people use smart-phones as mobile computers. I think that our over-saturation of cell phones in the population is a bad thing. It is almost impossible that every single one of those cell phones is in use. This large and unnecessary waste of technology and money could be used for other more important things. However, needless to say, the cell phone business is in no trouble.

Want more facts about cell phone growth? Click here. 

Do You Want to Sleep Better? There's an App for That

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A company called Zeo believes technology can help you sleep better.  The app is free but will be useless without a 99 dollar headband that sinks with the app.  This headband measures your brain waves while you are sleeping so that it can give you advice on how to better your sleeping experience.  It also creates graphs to tell you what kind of sleep you had at certain times during the night.  Zeo can determine the optimal time to wake you up based on your REM sleep, deep sleep, and light sleep so that you feel the most refreshed.  Then with this information it will wake you up at that optimal time.  Zeo tells you your ZQ score after each night.  The ZQ score is a rating of how well you slept during the night.  The higher you score the better. This sleep score can help you to know if you need to go to sleep earlier or if you are doing just fine with what you are doing.  Zeo also offers a coaching program that tells you things to do to live a lifestyle that allows you to have better sleep.

More information here

Jacob Saslavsky

The Blackberry Outage (Editorial)

On an early Monday morning, the birds were singing, the dew was glistening in the early morning sun while perched on the tips of blades of grass, and 10 million angry Europeans could not use their phones. At around 5 o’clock yesterday, the company released statements saying that their phones were once again up and working. Another morning, more birds, more dew, and the same millions of people angry at their broken phones.

            Today Blackberry released another announcement saying that the outages were caused by a core switch failure within their infrastructure. Okay, now, am I being shortsighted, or does that sound like BS to you? A core switch failure? Flip the switch then (and if it is not a literal switch, then replace it!). Do they not understand the magnitude of the problem? People can’t check their emails on their phones anymore! Not on their Blackberry’s that is. That means they have to go boot up their thousand dollar computers collecting dust on their desks. Unheard of! If it were me, I would already have an Android phone sitting in my back pocket. But I don’t live in Europe, I live in America, and here we have phones that actually work! “Whoa, intense brah…” said one of my many adoring fans, “You are a genius.”

            Not that I hate Blackberry, I used to have one myself and I have absolutely no problem with it, I just think they need to be better problem solvers. Figure out what is going on, solve the problem, and put the haters (like me at the moment) to rest. They are such a “big time” corporation, they have to have some people with common sense on their staff. I mean come on, it’s not like they are all Sooners. Badump chhhhhhh. Am I right, or am I right?

-Beck Goodloe

Microsoft Thinks of Acquiring Yahoo

 

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Microsoft is considering joining the group of companies trying to acquire Yahoo.  So far it is just a roomer, and apparently Microsoft's different divisions are torn as to whether they should acquire Yahoo or if they should not.  This is just three years after their failed attempt at acquiring Yahoo, but it seems Yahoo is less unwilling now than it was three years ago.  Yahoo has undergone some changes since then, and fired its CEO Carol Bartz last month and is looking for a new leader. Yahoo may be considering getting acquired by another company instead.  Yahoo will give Microsoft a good boost for Yahoo still has a large number of subscribers and visitors of the website.  Microsoft is not the only company looking to acquire Yahoo there is also a range of companies from a Chinese internet company called Alibaba to many private equity firms like Silverlake Partners.  This means it could take more than just a little for Microsoft to Acquire Yahoo.

More Information Here

Jacob Saslavsky

Microsoft brings cable TV to Xbox live

Microsoft is adding TV to the Xbox live software in the Xbox 360.The plan is to bring TV to gamers on their own console and not have to do anything else. 40 television providers will be able to make contract with Microsoft. As for the customers, registration and payment for HBO GO will be required to be able to use this new software. Microsoft already has with partners such as ESPN and Netflix. New partners in the United States include Bravo, Syfy, UFC, TMZ, and the "Today" show, among others. The news have been spreading around really fast, even in the other side of the world. BBC is now in the UK and is now going to be part of Xbox TV. Even Spanish shows will air on the Xbox all the way from Spain including    Gol TV. The Kinect software will also make new changes such as new voice activated on/off switch, voice activated controller and new voice activated music playlist. People think that these new features will grow, and grow until Microsoft has gone to their higher peck. Microsoft will release the TV on Xbox software when the Christmas celebrations come around. The voice activated service is now available.

Read more Here.

                                                              -Gustavo