No Shave November?

I'm cheating. Trim only November. Gotta stay classy.

Still Stumbling?

Did I mention stumble's success? Take a look at this chart

In the past 16 months it has doubled its user base. Their next market is the international market. There is more room for growth.

Qwikster?

Netflix had this brilliant idea to offer two services, one for dvds and one for instant view. Is that a good idea? To separate the two? Let me ask you this. Will we always need to place a disc into a device to play media? might there be a day when all of the data is accessible over the networks? Absolutely. Disc will become obsolete. We will be streaming blue ray quality from the web. Ever heard of Fios internet? Look it up. When I hear of netflix attempting to separate their two service I think of how they're preparing for the future. Not a bad idea. The problem is that a lot of people don't like having to pay twice for a service they can get now together.

Stumbling

I read this article about Stumbleupon. Go figure. The creator's idea was to help internet users to find things online that they would never have looked for otherwise. It is like a search engine that gives you something that you will like but had no idea existed. Will there be another Steve Jobs? Well duh. Garrett Camp, Geoff Smith, and Justin LaFrance are Steve Jobs! They created Stumbleupon and will be able to invent even better ideas in the future because of their success. Hello!

Sustainable Design (This post is actually worth looking at)

What is sustainable design? It is environmental friendly. I will be the first to admit that I really don't care about the environment. However, I will also admit that these new sustainable designed buildings are pretty freaking awesome. Let's take a look at apple idea first.

Located in Cupertino California, this building would be self-sufficient and would have an enormous greenery in the middle.

Next is NASA's environmental friendly building. The idea for this project is to create a building that will actually benefit the environment in which it is built in. Costing $20 million dollars this project will not need any artificial lighting.

Located in Manhattan, the W57 is expect to be completed in 2015. Designed for residential, each unit will have either a balcony or a bay window for natural lighting. Also, the courtyard will contain a large green area which is uncommon in this city.

Sharing is Caring. Haha, that's dumb.

Ever had someone show you an extremely humorous video? I have. Then you wonder how that person can be so cool to find that awesome video! I have. Let us speculate that I have the funniest short video in the entire world. I then post it on youtube with a generic name and no tags. Do you suppose those cool people would be able to find it? Absolutely not. Knowing where the funny videos are online is a collaborative effort. When I post the funniest video in the world on youtube I tell my friend. My friend then tells another friend. Rinse repeat.

AddThis found that most sharing happens on Wednesdays at 9:30am ET. We most like to share by copy and pasting URLs to emails instant messages or posting them on social media.

So get out there and start sharing!

Will There Ever Be Another Steve Jobs?

No, but in all seriousness, that's an unintelligent question. When Bill Gates dies will we ask the same thing? How about Tim Berners-Lee? Is the world going to just stop spinning? Are we done progressing? No more inventions? Nothing new?

No

As long as there are people there will be inventions. Back in the day someone invented fire, and stone tools, and wheels. Today we have more advanced inventions such as nano filters and flying windmill generators...

Speaking of which, were you worried about birds being killed by windmills? Well, you can stop now.

Is google+ dying?

Within the first few days of the launch of Google+ the site received traffic as high as 1,200%. However, since then there has been a drop in traffic by 60%.

Why? Is it that everyone joined google+ in the beginning to realize that everybody was still on facebook? Then turned back to their old social media site? I think that's why. A facebook page or google+ account is only worth as much as the friends who will talk to you there.

Dalai Lama Joins Google+

Google+ is only for the simple consumer. The high lama Dalai Lama recently joined google+ and has even setup a hangout date with his buddy Desmond Tutu in South Africa! Due to visa issues Dalai Lama is unable to visit Desmond for his birthday. Good for these two dudes they are able to video chat instead! Happy Birthday Desmond!

Timeline feature

I am sure many of us are familiar with the new feature facebook is soon to release. The timeline is yet another change to facebook that most people are most likely not very excited about. Since when has there been an update to the profile where people have predominately posted positive feedback? It is the change we do not like. It is the change that facebook has to fight. This time around the new update appears as if it will be released gradually. A facebook spokesperson is quoted as saying it will "roll out" within the next few weeks. This is a great idea on FB's part. As users decide to use this new feature they cannot collaborate as easily to beat up the change. Also, the users who are not excited about it can sit and wait till it is widely accepted. Congratulations facebook on adopting a great way to break the change.

Facebook does not make you stupid

Recently a professor named Reynol Junco from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania  performed a little research to see if there is a correlation between facebook usage and low grade point averages. His survey sample was 1,839 which consisted of college students and their actual grades. What he found is that on average students spend about 103 minutes on facebook each day, and for each 93 minutes spent above the average the students gpa would drop by .12. Junco, informs us that even though this drop in gpa is a significant amount it is not serious when you take into consideration all of the possible factors of the real world. An extra 93 minutes is almost double the amount of time of the average user.

So don't worry kids, you can still use facebook and be smart : )

5

A few days ago I read an article that discussed the process in which banks profile their current and future customers in order to prevent undesirable situations in where a customer defaults. They found it easy to use the internet to learn what they need to know about a customer. Maybe a customer just walked from a house; that would be information that a bank would like to know. It is because many facebook users post information like this on the internet that bank are beginning to search the web in order to better profile their customers. Do you think this is creepy? Because it isn't. If you don't want someone to know, do not post it. If you only want your friends to know, use the privacy settings. Did you post something you wish you hadn't? Delete it.

Also, advertisement can be arrangement to cater to people that post specific statuses. If someone talks about how they just defaulted on a credit card payment then they will not receive credit card advertisements on their media page.

Blog 2

According to the material in the class textbook, social media can be used for dialogue between a business and it's customer. To be honest, this form of communication is great for a business in that it allows them to better cater their product to their consumer. What I want to bring to your attention is that while engaging in communication through electronic media there is a disconnect between the two individuals. It is almost as if they forget they are speaking to another human being. I am sure we are all familiar with how easy it is to become upset with a person while communicating over social media and maybe even retaliating with offensive language. It isn't even vulgar words but instead there is a lack of respect that one would usually find in face-to-face communication.

Maybe you have had an email correspondence with an individual that you have never met before. Were you surprised at how informal their language was worded? I know this has happened to me quit a few times. It makes you wonder what has happened to the art of respectful communication. Every now and then there will be a headline in the news about a company who made a social media mistake; whether it be a tweet that shouldn't have been said, or a typo that completely change the sentence structure, as a user of electronic communication there is an unwritten rule of responsibility that all of us should abide by because the consequences can be devastating.

I want to encourage you to focus your attention to the behavioral contrast between face-to-face communication and electronic communication. There are important subtle differences that we should be aware of.

Lost Arts

Who would have thought that a skill so simple as grilling could become lost to my generation. It was the summer of 2010 that I attempted to start a charcoal grill. I will confess that I lacked the proper skills to create the red hot coals needed to cook yummy bratwursts and hamburgers. However, with the help of my brother and his friend we pieced together the ancient art of stacking charcoal and allowing them to simmer till they were very hot. It was then that we tried to place the grate back over the hot coals only to realize that the charcoal stack was too high and hit the grate; someone suggested to knock them down! Perfect! It was a good time.

What is Social Media

Wikipedia tells us that social media is "the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue." I'm going to assume all of my readers, all none of you, are familiar with the internet and its various tools. It is a great little place for gaining knowledge and communicating. The "punny" authors of How to Make Money with Social Media have their own idea of what is and is not social media. The funny thing is, I disagree with them. In their book they said that a company who posts a speech given by their CEO posted on youtube is not social media because the only viewers are going to be family members and a few employees. But isn't that how the internet works?! How many people do you think will read my post here? Yet they would consider this medium a form of social media. Youtube has the ability for dialogue. A company can grow a fan base on youtube, post a video, and interact with their customers. While we're on that topic, you get as much out of social media as you put into it. An inactive account does not attract attention.

Apart from homework posts, its bloody hot in my room. Where is the crisp fall weather we are all anxiously waiting for?

Home work

Hello World,

I just successfully changed the name of my blog. Hopefully you like the change, though it's not original I like it. What better way to start out a long list of homework blogs than with something real. Here goes. Just moved into a new apartment to find that this side of the street is much louder. Not to mention, there seems to be a plethora of small obese children that like to play outside the building all day long. It's cool. I will get use to it.

Hey, epiphany time. It has been six years since I wrote an official blog post. Geez, where has the time gone. Speaking of time, suppose I should start that reading despite the fact that it is 12:29am on September 11th and the sprinklers just started up.