News Report #2

News Report #2

“iPhone 5 – Is it Worth the Money?”

Becky Worley, Upgrade Your Life

Sep 12 2012

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upgrade-your-life/iphone-5-worth-money-215705776.html

 

The buzz about the new iPhone 5 has become one of the most popular topics to talk about since its release.  In this article, Worley shares with us exactly what new features the new iPhone has.  There have been many speculations about what the new iPhone will look like and what the newest features will be and finally the rumors can be put to rest.  On September 14^th people were able to preorder the new iPhone 5 and on September 21^st the much talked about iPhone will finally be in stores.  Worley gives viewers the ability to make an informed decision on whether the new iPhone will, in the end, be worth the high costs.  She gives us details about, first, the bigger screen and how it will allow HD video and game designers to take advantage of the upgrade. Second, the faster processor that has been installed in the new iPhone which will allow for faster downloads and smoother running. Third, the new camera has gotten smaller but will be able to shoot better in low light as well as shoot panoramic shots.  Fourth, the LTE data will increase download and web browsing speeds without draining the battery.  The new battery is said to have 8 hours of talk time, 225 hours of stand-by, and 8 hours of LTE web browsing. Worley also mentions the new operating system, the smaller dock connection, and the pricing. 

In the end Worley gives her opinion about whether or not the iPhone 5 is worth the money. I agree with her that if you have an iPhone 4s there is absolutely no need to get the iPhone 5 unless you just want to have the newest of the new and spend money; otherwise, there are only a few upgrades from the iPhone 4s.  For me, I have the iPhone 3 which in some people’s eyes is ancient history; however, the only thing I don’t like about my phone is that the camera has no flash.  So in order for me to get the iPhone 5 I would have to absolutely love the quality to pay a minimum of $200.  Most of the upgrades will benefit iPhone users but I believe the main reason people have and will rush to buy the new phone is simply the fact that there has become this want (which some people now think is a need) to have the newest technology even if you don’t necessarily need it.

Reading and Activity #2

“Authority Figures” describes the relationship between Wikipedia and the “Encyclopedia Britannica”.  Bauerlein goes into detail about how popular and readily available Wikipedia has become.  He searched several topics in Google and the majority of the time, Wikipedia was the number one result to come up.  he goes into more detail about how the written text is becoming outdated by the time it’s published because with writing a book more research is involved and the process, overall, takes much longer than simply updating a webpage.  However, the editor-in-chief of Britannica states that they are consistently updating the digital form and therefore staying up to date but Bauerlein counteracts this statement by saying that it takes longer than a day to determine a new understanding and not just a current event.  In the end, Bauerlein discusses whether or not the web, one day, will be able to carry the same authority as a book does.  I believe that Bauerlein makes a very good point that college students often turn to the most popular result when looking up information on the web.  I am guilty of doing this even though I have heard multiple times that Wikipedia is not a reliable source.  However, it is difficult to believe that Wikipedia is not a reliable source because with further research I almost always find the information in Wikipedia to be backed up by a more reliable source.  Evaluating information isn’t something I regularly do unless it is a major paper that needs to be backed by creditable sources, otherwise I will look up a lot of my information through Google, which usually leads me to Wikipedia. 

The second article “Information Navigation” discussed how uneducated college students are at located scholarly information.  Foster states that although our generations of college students are technologically savvy, we are still unable to correctly use the internet and technologies for school related tasks.  The article goes into detail about how certain colleges now take the time and money to test students on their information literacy.  One of the reasons I am actually taking this class is to improve my ability to locate the correct information I need for scholarly research. Foster also talks about how universities were able to measure students by conducting certain tests and also the fact that many schools were hiring librarians to teach information literacy courses to their students.  It is the one thing that I believe students need to be more educated on today.  Personally I find it difficult to locate creditable material and then I question myself on whether or not the material I found will be accepted by my teacher.  I am hoping to learn the correct places to search for my information other than just typing something into Google and seeing where it takes me.

Reading and Activity #1

After reading the article, it occurred to me that internet technology is neither good nor bad.  The list can go on and on about how great technology is and how much it has helped us get to where we are today but the dangers of technology are on the rise.  I interviewed my father about his thoughts on the internet and whether he thought positively or negatively about how much the internet is involved in our everyday lives and he couldn’t quite come up with an answer.  I honestly don’t think I could come up with an answer either.  Large sums of people use the internet everyday and without it, tasks that may seem easy now, may not be so easy without it.  However, if we are using the internet for a delivery system I can see why the internet is so important but like the article said, we are no longer using the internet as just another delivery system.  The internet has gone far beyond expectations and now can lead to social disorders, depression, and many more psychological problems.  When talking with my father about the internet he brought up the fact that my little brother is on the internet most of the day.  He is on the internet talking to friends, or playing games, and even connected to the internet while playing his Xbox.  He went on to remind me that when I was 12 there was no way my parents could keep me or my older brother inside all day and how he wishes that children today weren’t obsessed with the internet.  I definitely see where he is coming from because within my core group of friends I see just how much the internet takes up most of their lives whether they are on Twitter, Facebook, or looking up the latest and greatest.  I think it is safe to say that the internet is not going anywhere, so it is up to us to decide just how much we let the internet run our lives. 

News Report #1

News Report #1

“Summer Olympics in Britain Helped Encourage the Growth of Wi-Fi in Public Places” 
By: Kevin O’Brien
9/3/2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/technology/olympics-stimulate-growth-of-wi-fi-service-in-britain.html?_r=1&ref=technology

 

With the increasing need to stay up-to-date through cell phone internet use, Wi-Fi companies are rapidly growing.  The 2012 summer Olympics provided new opportunity for Wi-Fi companies to continue their growth for internet users.  During the summer games, providers such as O2 U.K., Virgin Mobile, BT and the Cloud broadcasted open wireless in public places throughout Britain.  Free Wi-Fi is a key factor in the success of mobile services and by providing open Wi-Fi in densely populated areas, the most popular, accessible, and fastest server will guarantee to become number one.  Virgin had hot spots in seventy two underground platforms in London for the summer Olympics and plans to increase that number by the end of the year.  During the summer Olympics, Wi-Fi distributed by Virgin was free to any user; however, today it only remains free to Virgin Mobile users.  O2 Wi-Fi networks in London have remained free to all consumers which will continue the competition amongst various data services.  Public Wi-Fi networks are in many of the big cities throughout the world and according to the article “Eight of the world’s 10 biggest mobile operators are using Wi-Fi to offload their cellular data traffic.”

                As a personal user of Wi-Fi networks I believe that it is beneficial to have open hot spots in popular places.  I have grown up with the internet and in today’s world we rely on the use of internet immensely.  People are constantly checking email or looking things up on the internet while “on the go” so having internet that isn’t costing you per minute is a huge advantage.  After interviewing my father on his thoughts of the internet and how it has evolved into a necessity today, he still is unable to grasp the obsession people have to the internet.  He remains old school in a sense that he doesn’t have internet on his phone and doesn’t use it as much as some people do today but he does value the benefits the internet brings.  After discussing the different ways we see the internet I was able to take a step back and look at the younger generation today and see just how much they use the internet and Wi-Fi.  It amazed me at the amount of time spent browsing the web through Wi-Fi connection and even using Wi-Fi to play video games.  The days of playing outside or playing board games are beginning to disappear as the use of internet integrates itself into what’s new today.