News Discussion 5-Can you trust your email?

Can you trust your e-mail? It’s the first thing you check when you wake up and may be the last thing you do before you go to sleep. But can you trust it? Professors at three business schools reveal new research. It is easier to mislead and stall in written communication because you are without the visual clues that help you determine if someone is lying. Also people ac­tually feel more justified when lying in and email.

Not being physically present with the person you are communicating with changes a lot of things. Now lying can be made easier but even uncomfortable conversations are easily avoidable just by typing or texting. Its easier to break plans with someone, apologize or lie through a email. Technology is making it easier to avoid contact with other people and addressing situations properly. Through email, searching online for information, texting etc you can avoiding human contact that once wasn’t a choice. No wonder I am so uncomfortable approaching people. I have always found a way to avoid making a phone call, asking for help or talking to people I don’t know by using the internet, emailing questions I need answered and texting.

News Discussion 4: Mashup-DigiPoem

DigiPoem is described as generating simple visual embellishments of poetry and other text sources using image tagging on flickr. You have four categories to be interpreted with images to choose from; Poetry, Haiku, Lyrics and Text. Text is you have the option of writing something of your own. In the Poetry category you choose one of the 10 poems they have available. If you click on the Haiku tab you get a random Haiku interpreted with pictures. With the Lyrics feature you type in the name of a song and its author to view song lyrics.

The site was very easy to use but extremely limited. You can only pick from ten poems and you get random haikus that don’t even make sense. I even typed in numerous songs from oldies to current hits, and the search was unsuccessful, the search always came back as zero matches found. Their song archive must be very limited.

It’s a neat idea, but very undeveloped and inaccurate. The images tagged poorly represent the word they are supposed to display visually. An example of this would be the word “toucan”.  The word was matched up with a picture of hand-drawn zoo animals? Why wouldn’t they simply tag a picture of a toucan?

It fits well with web 2.0 ideas. It’s allowing you to interact by typing in your own text and allowing the site to interpret it with pictures. It is also using image tagging and teaming up with flickr to retrieve their images from their site. I think this tool/site was poorly developed and if someone took the time to do it right it would be a lot more interesting and useful!

You can visit the site at: http://www.dudeyjon.com/digipoem/

News Discussion 3: All Eyes On The MacBook

We are still waiting for a update for Macs biggest seller, the MacBooks and Macbook Pros. With the iPhone and iPod updates already behind them, sources say the new revamped notebooks are due to be introduced in October. The MacBook pro made its appearance in 2003 which is an eternity ago when you are referring to technology. They came out with the new MacBook Air but the hype didn’t seem to last long. I want everything that the MacBook Pro has to offer but lighter, and apparently the Air was lacking in a lot of areas. Being a Graphic Design Major I get tired of carry such a heavy bookbag, the weight of the computer adds to the pounds of notebooks and papers I have to haul around campus. They have quite a list of things to change on the new Macbook line, including, an HD camera, LED backlit screen, 3G wireless technology, and a multi-touch glass trackpad. But I think their main concern is making it more compatible and skinnier like the MacBook Air. Im hoping to be able to update my computer once I graduate, the problem with being in such a technology demanding major it gets expensive but you at least have a good excuse to invest in some pretty cool programs and computers. I cant wait to see what Mac comes up with.  

News Discussion 2: Who Uses AOL and Why? Source: The New York Times

According to the article I read AOL.com is ready to make a come back. They are looking to attract a new audience and put AOL back on the map. I remember our first computer. That is how we connected to the internet. All my friends had it, we could email, IM and search the web all in one place. But slowly I noticed my dad trying one new thing at a time. Next thing I knew we had internet explorer and AOL was gone. Slowly AOL became less popular because there was other options. Now we’ve got Google mail, Yahoo, Hotmail and the list goes on. AOL couldn’t keep up. Now they want to reinvent their site. It would combine e-mail, AIM, social network updates and your RSS feeds. But I still wouldn’t use AOL. I feel like everyone gets comfortable with their online habits. Its more of a hassle to change your email address then click a few extra buttons to check your social networks, and send emails. AOL has to do a lot more than making things slightly more convenient in my opinion to spark interest in their company again. 

News Discussion 1

Google Inc. has taken on the challenge in designing its own browser called Google Chrome. Their intention is to reduce the usage of leading browser Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and take the lead in the internet search market. Google claims they have made a faster easier way to use the internet. How much easier can it get? I really don’t see what sort of improvements can be made to the already existing browsers. I feel like I can already find the information I need fast and affectively. But because I lack the brain power doesn’t mean there aren’t smart inventive people at Google thinking how to make things more efficient. Google wants to tackle the web beyond a internet search engine. However they have a disadvantage compared to their competitor. Internet Explorer is pre-installed on most hard drives running on Microsoft Windows and Google Chrome has to be downloaded. Google Chrome plans to explore deals with PC makers but I don’t think that will be enough. If Explorer is connected to one of the largest companies in the world, Microsoft, I don’t see how they are going to surpass Internet Explorer. I personally cant even think of other programs that are used other than Microsoft Windows to run your computer? I’ve always had my computer running on Microsoft Windows, typed papers on Microsoft Word. That’s just one company that is hard to beat. I think the only way for Google to get ahead is to create a browser for Mac users. Macs are starting to be preferred over PCs and the sooner they come out with the development for Mac the better.