What makes a website appealing to me is not all of the moving parts or the cool artwork, but how easy it is to navigate. Yes the other two aspects are important to me, but if the website is really creative but impossible to follow I don’t enjoy using it. I use a website called thissongissick.com and I really like this website because it does look nice, but it is extremely easy to use.
I completely understand the argument that Facebook would be a distraction in the workplace, because it is for sure a distraction to my school work sometimes. I also understand the argument that taking small internet breaks on Facebook or Twitter will actually lead to happier employees which in turn leads to more productive employees. I think both arguments are valid, but I think the whole argument on whether Facebook should be allowed at the workplace is a little pointless. I think it is pointless because if someone really wants to get on Facebook while they are at work but cant accesses it with their computers they will just use their smartphones. So I think employers should just allow their employees to use Facebook at the workplace because it is going to happen anyway.
http://mashable.com/2012/03/28/why-use-siri/
To be honest I don’t use Siri. When I first got my Iphone 4s I used Siri a lot because it was something new and exciting. I would text friends using Siri, I would play music using Siri, and I would look things up using Siri. It was really fun for awhile, but now I cant remember the last time I used Siri. The problem I have with Siri, and the reason I don’t use it anymore, is its supposed to be convenient and save time but it just does not do that. If I wanted to play a song by Avicii or any artist that has an interesting name Siri is absolutely no use to me. This is because how I pronounce the name and how Siri pronounces the name are two completely different ways and it wont understand what I am saying. Regardless of it I am using weird names or not it seems like Siri always has random issues causing what ever my simple task was to take longer. I have just found it easier to do what ever I wanted to do by myself. If I want to look something up, i just Google it on my phone, if I want to text someone I use my fingers to type it out, if I want to know the weather I just click on the app I have for that, I don’t use Siri. The idea of Siri is still very entertaining, but the way it works currently just causes me issues and delays. Until Siri can do things faster than I can and easily to I will be using my smartphone the same way I have been using it for years.
http://mashable.com/2012/03/28/racist-twitter-user-jailed/
A college student in England was just sentenced to 56 days in jail for tweeting. Yes the Tweet was racist and something that should not have been published online, but going to jail for a tweet is absolutely ridiculous. I know that what I post on twitter is public knowledge and I need to be careful about what I tweet because it could ruin my image and stop me from getting a job. Yet I should be able to tweet whatever I want and not be afraid of going to jail, even if what I tweeted was Racist. Just by opening my twitter account today I saw a few post from stars like WIz Khalifa talking about smoking weed. Technically smoking weed is illegal, but you don’t see him getting arrested. Also racism occurs all the time and finds its way into our media, and no one is ever sent to jail. on national television and radio Don Imus refereed to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as a bunch of “nappy-headed hos”. That comment was extremely racist, but you did not see Don Imus sitting behind bars he was just fired. This whole story is just another reason why I don’t use twitter, because all it does is start rumors and cause trouble.
Facebook collects a lot of information from its clients like name, birthday, gender, and location. This data how ever is mainly voluntary and I could give a fake birthday or change my name (everyone does it for jobs) if I was really concerned about that information. Facebook also complies more complex data by tracking what sites you go to, sharing these sites on your wall through those websites Facebook applications, what you post about, and what pictures you were tagged in. They use this data mainly for advertising purposes. Facebook uses your GPS location to try and give you ads for your local area, uses your age to make sure you have age appropriate ads, and it tracks what websites you go to to try and make more relevant ads. I really don’t have a problem with most of the information that Facebook collects. They made a point in their policy on how when they give your information out, it never uses your name and most of the time they combine your data with others that are similar to yourself to make impossible to identify any one person. The things I do have problems with is how Facebook tries to tag my friends or me in pictures by itself, and how it tracks its users on different sites even when they are not using Facebook.I understand why Facebook tries to tag pictures by itself, because it seems easy and saves time, but it just creeps me out. I don’t like the idea that Facebook is checking millions of photos daily and trying to know who is in every picture. This just seems a little big brother like which is why I do not like it. My biggest issue is how Facebook tracks what sites I go to even when I am not using Facebook. Almost all sites now have some way of linking itself to Facebook which seems safe enough. Yet I normally not signed out of Facebook on my laptop because its just easier to not log out, so when I go to a site that has a Facebook application Facebook knows. Now I never have any of this information shared on my Facebook wall because I do not give it permission to, but Facebook still knows what sites I have been to and I do not like it.
http://mashable.com/2012/02/29/technology-effects-on-childrens-brains/
Regardless if this is true or not it is interesting to think about. This explains why teachers don’t really allow us to use our computers in class because half of us would not be paying attention. I know its extremely hard for me to not surf the web when I am taking notes on my computer taking notes, especially when I am bored. One of the reason it is hard for me to resist is because it is so easy. If this was during the time when we used dial up internet I think I would be a little more focused in class, because if I even tried to surf the web it would take half the class for one page to load. With technology getting better and better it will make it easier and easier for me to keep myself entertained when I am bored. Even now when I cant use my computer in class I can still zone out and keep myself entertained with my iPhone, cause I can surf the web and play a ton of games and in the right class the teacher wouldn’t even know.
http://mashable.com/2012/02/29/nascar-wont-punish-keselowski
Social media has always been very popular throughout all types of professional sports. While I have voiced my dislike for twitter I actually enjoy reading some tweets that professional athletes tweet. The funny thing is I never see them on twitter I only see them when ESPN decides to read some of them off. The weirdest thing about social media and professional sports is all the rules they have surrounding them. In the NFL you are not allowed to tweet or update your Facebook status before, during, or after a game (there is some amount of time before and after but I don’t know the exact number). Major athletes have gotten finned before for breaking these rules. I understand why coaches wouldn’t want their players using social media during games and it would be pretty easy for a baseball player or football player to have their phone easily available. NASCAR on the other hand was a sport that I never thought anyone would be able to tweet during the race, but that is exactly what happened. I don’t get why he had his phone but its a pretty awesome tweet, and I am glade he didn’t get fined for it.
http://www.mixcloud.com/cesar-maza/ultra-music-festival-aerial7-dj-competition/
Ultra music festival is one of the largest electronic music festival in America and is located in Miami Florida. I have always really wanted to go but never have, but the other day on Facebook I came across one of my friends link talking about it so I clicked on it (the link above). What it brought me to was a set list that someone made to try and win some contest that would have him DJ at Ultra. I thought this contest was really cool for two reasons. First I really did enjoy the song that one of my friends made, I was really surprised he could even do some of the things he did in the song. The other reason was how the contest was won. The contest wasn’t won by how many plays your set list got, but how well you could promote yourself via social media. I think that is a great way to publicize Ultra for free. These kids are posting the link on every social media they can think about, all of their close friends are doing the same, and even random people are posting the links just because they like the song. This is getting the word out about this contest, but it is also getting the word out about Ultra and will most likely increase ticket sales.
http://mashable.com/2012/02/22/pope-twitter-lent/
Okay so now the Pope is tweeting, this is exactly why I don’t like twitter. It seems like everyone needs to have a twitter no matter who you are just so people can follow you. No offense to anyone who is following the Pope but its for sure not him tweeting, it is someone else because the pope obviously is too old to really know what twitter is and too busy. Also what can the Pope really say in only 140 characters. I think twitter is getting too big and people put to much faith in it for news, religious reasons, and for new celebrity gossip. So the Pope tweeting is weird but the most recent twitter story that made me really dislike twitter is when everyone even ESPN was reporting about Rob Lowe’s tweet that said Peyton Manning is retiring. This was a random tweet that was backed up by no evidence yet it still made national news because it was a tweet by someone famous. Stories like this always just make me wonder why people believe so much of what is put on twitter, and why they like it so much cause I am still not sold.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/16/google-motorola-china/
Asia might be one of the most electronic crazy continent but even with this there are so many things you cant do on the internet in China. I know this article mainly deals with Google and its mobile phone software and services in China, but it just really reminded me of how restricted people are in China. The article mentioned how China might try and use this deal to try and get Google back to mainland China and this is what reminded me of my study abroad there. While we were there I barley went on the internet. If I wanted to do research Google wasn’t really an option and If I wanted to stay in contact with friends I would have to email them or skype them because Facebook is another one of those websites that you cant access in China. There are ways around this like using proxy servers but it made things so difficult to do. I am still shocked at how much control the Chinese government has over everything, like when we were there a ex-patriot told us how it would be a very bad it idea to tweet or Facebook about how messed up China is because he said “big brother is always watching”. Even though it was an exaggeration it really did drive home the idea that the government does have so much control. With the world becoming so connected and Facebook and Google being so big I wonder how long until you can use both In China.
