IMS 201a

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Those of you who still hate Apple's new mapping technology may be in luck as rumor has it that Google Maps will be coming to Apple iOS devices sometime in 2013.  Word on the street now is that there is a test version out there of Google Maps being run on Apple's iOS programming system.  However, there is still no guarantee that Google Maps will be available as Google has yet to submit the Google Maps ideal to Apple for App Store approval.  Of course, Apple has yet to comment on this rumor so we will all be left to wait in the dark for this groundbreaking decision (well it seems like that to some people).

My hope is that Apple and Google will put their differences aside and let Google Maps be available to those who want it.  I mean we still will have Apple's mapping system on our iPhones (we just won't tell Apple we're using Google Maps instead).  Now I have only briefly experimented with Apple's latest mapping technology on my iPhone but I must admit that I was not impressed.  All the features they talked about and showed in pictures, I was not able to figure out.  In addition, I am much more comfortable with using Google Maps from spending time on Google Earth in my free time (yes, I like to find my home on Google Earth).  Let's just hope that Apple and Google will put their petty differences aside and do what is best for the customer (since Apple's new CEO is apparently trying to work in the "best interest" of the customer).  

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Watch out world!!!  Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook are at it again.  This past week, Facebook announced the creation of a new job search app that would rival that of professional networking king LinkedIn.  In addition, the new app would include job listings from sites like Monster and BranchOut.  The press release for the launch of the new app indicates the inspiration was due to the dismal economy.  By taking advantage of social media, designers of the app hope that it will be easier for people to find jobs.

I don't know about you, but it seems as if Facebook is taking elements of popular websites and incorporating their key features onto their own website.  They have the timeline of friend activity on the right side of the screen (Twitter), a way to video chat (Skype), games (numerous gaming websites), and now a job search feature (LinkedIn).  To me, Facebook is becoming a bit too involved in our lives.  Where we used to just use Facebook in our social and personal lives, now Facebook seems to be branching out into our work lives.  Who knows, maybe Facebook will eventually have their own computers to use at work?  

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I'm sure that most of you weren't aware that this week has been National School Psychology Awareness Week.  Throughout our educational careers, we may or may not have had any interactions with our school psychologists.  However, they serve as a valuable asset to the education of all learners.

So you might ask what exactly does an educational psychologist do?  Well they perform a variety of duties to help enhance the learning experience for a child.  They often find solutions to why children might be experiencing any behavioral or academic difficulties.  Many school psychologists give out and analyze test of student achievement and ability (such as I.Q. tests).  In addition, they provide counseling services to students who need them. As you can see, educational psychologists perform a variety of roles that are vital to the success of students along their academic journies.  

Although we may have never really appreciated our school psychologists in the past, let us give a big thanks to all of the educational psychologists out there for all of the work they do (and they do a lot!).  I know that I have a cousin who is a school psychologist and despite all of the long hours she puts in everyday, she says she wouldn't trade her job for anything else.  So once again, a big THANK YOU to all of the school psychologists out there (especially my cousin Ashlyn!).  

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Although most of you are probably aware of Karl Rove's denial that Obama won and Donald Trump's Twitter rant, some of you might not have seen ABC New's Diana Sawyer on election night appearing to be drunk on air.  Many people voiced to Twitter to proclaim Diana Sawyer was drunk.  Although we may never know if she was really drunk, she does seem to be a loopy on the air.  Take a look for yourselves to see if you feel she was drunk on the air.  

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Many of you must be behind the times if you have not heard of Nate Silver.  He is a statistician who crunches political polls for the New York Times.  Back in 2009, he was even named one of the 100 most influential people by Time Magazine.  His statistical formulas allowed him to predict which presidential candidate would win each of the 50 states in the recent presidential election.  For this, he even has his own hashtag on Twitter called #DrunkNateSilver.  Here are some of the top #DrunkNateSilver posts:

I knew Darth Vader was Luke's father before he did #drunknatesilver - Nathan S.

Drunk Nate Silver stumbles through traffic on the Jersey Turnpike, screaming out what time each driver will get home #drunknatesilver - Dave Levitan

Drunk Nate Silver knows what you did last summer #drunknatesilver - Simon Says

#DrunkNateSilver predicted I would type this. And this. - Burke

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Now that the election is over and done with (FINALLY!!!), it might be time for all of us to mend our relationships with our friends who might share different political views than us.  I'm sure like most of you that I tried to either hide or block my "friends" who only posted political related posts on Facebook and Twitter.  But I think that after having digested the results for a few days, it might be time to bring back these people into our lives.  Already, people are posting about Thanksgiving and Christmas (a little too soon for me).  I bet you that by this time next week, we will probably have moved on from the election results (or so I hope).  

Maybe because this is the first presidential election people my age have been able to vote in, but I was amazed at how serious people took the election.  Many of my friends would have debates on Facebook, and even my anatomy lab partners spent more time discussion election issues than dissecting our cats.  To me, it is a sign that we are all growing up.  However, I was disgusted at the way most people reacted to the election results.  Many people who were disappointed in the election results (the Romney supporters and Republicans), voiced how the world was going to end with Obama being re-elected and how they were going to move to Canada.  I think that us college kids still have a lot of growing up to do.  It seems like our emotions still get the best of us sometimes (okay a lot) and we feel that we have to voice our emotions to the rest of the world on Facebook and Twitter.  Too bad we all can't accept the results in stride.  I guess growing up a Browns fan has prepared me to accept losses and move onto the next day in stride.  

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William Gunn Lecture

                                On Thursday, I went and listed to a lecture by William Gunn who is the Head of Academic Outreach at Mendeley.  Gunn talked about open access and how it is used in academia.  He said that the most common barrier to accessing research articles is the requirement that researchers must gain access to research.  As a college senior who has written several research papers in my career, I know that usually the hardest part is finding sources to use in my paper.  Oftentimes, I cannot access an article that I think is valuable because I do not have access to the publisher's website.  Gunn feels this is a serious problem.  

Gunn advocates for the ideal of open scholarship that will allow for research to be freely available and is the product of an open, collaborative process.  Luckily, more and more journals are having an open access option.  As of right now, 20% of published papers are open access.

While I found Gunn's lecture interesting, I thought it was a little confusing.  He never did seem to clarify the difference between open access and open scholarship.  While I feel they are similar, I was not able to differentiate between the two terms in the lecture.  Nonetheless, I am happy to know that academic leaders are trying to come up with ways so that students and other researchers can access published research for free.  

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While many of us have laughed at those who rushed to buy stock in Facebook only to see them get embarrassed by the stock's performance, well today many Facebook employees past and present are starting to reap the benefits.  Using a special form of equity compensation called "restricted stock units", employees were able to trade these units into stock today to the tune of $5.2 billion dollars.  In addition, Facebook's stock is on the rise too.  The 19% gain on Wednesday was the largest single-day gain since Facebook had their IPO all the way back in May.

Now I don't know much about business, but I can imagine that Facebook employees and executives have to be pretty happy with these results considering how doom and gloom they were just a few months ago after the stock's rocky start.  The article goes on to talk about the process of how these employees will be able to turn their paper wealth into cash wealth (in business lingo that I can't understand).  So maybe it isn't too late to buy some stock in Facebook.

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Just when you thought that Apple and Macs were taking over the world, Microsoft and Windows want the world to know that they are still around.  Today was the launch of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system.  During the launch ceremony today, Microsoft CEO stated "We've reimagined Windows, and kicked off a new era for Microsoft and our customers."

One of the new key features with Windows 8 is the touchscreen interface with moveable tiles.  While this feature won't be available on older computers that get the upgrade, users can still move tiles around using a mouse or touchpad.  The new operating system works on PCs, tablets, and laptops.  

Microsoft hopes this new radical approach will attract consumers to buy their products.  Although some people might not like the new touchscreen feature, Microsoft leaders feel that because many consumers share a willingness to learn new things, they will soon be able to operate the touchscreens without hesitation. Microsoft believes that touchscreens will soon dominate PCs.

I personally believe that this risky approach by Microsoft might be met with some hesitation at first but could be huge down the road.  In general, older people are using PCs instead of the newer Macs because they don't want to learn a new operating system.  But by setting the standard in using a touchscreen feature on PCs, Microsoft might be able to bring back some of its old customers from Apple.  As someone who has not yet made the switch to Apple (although I have been very close to), this new operating system might keep me a Microsoft fan a little while longer.  

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If you were posting comments about the second presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama this past week, you might have been a part of social media history.  According to Bluefin Lab, 12.24 millions comments were generated on Twitter and Facebook during the debate.  Not only was this the top political event of all time on social media, it was also the third highest social media event of all time only trailing this year's Grammy Awards and MTV Video Music Awards.  Somewhat surprisingly, 54% of the comments on social media during the debate came from women.  Knowing that I commented once during the debate, it feels pretty cool that I am apart of social media history.  Maybe my children someday will ask me how it felt to be part of the third largest social media event in history.  

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Many of my recent posts have concentrated on the increasing reliance of our society on technology.  This past Friday, defense secretary Leon Panetta said that the next battlefield in the war on terror could be through cyberspace.  Panetta said that attackers are trying to go after banks and financial institutions along with attacking US power grids and government systems.  Assistant professor Williams Robertson, who testified on cyber space legislation in Congress earlier in the year, said that identifying the source of these cyber attacks would be difficult.

Now I don't know that much about cyberspace but I know that this threat seems pretty frightening.  The fact that terrorists can attack our country from the comfort of their own homes is something our government leaders must take seriously.  It was not but a week ago where I read an article where Iran was going to try and attack the US through cyberspace.  In my opinion, these cyberattacks have the potential to affect more people and do more damage than any terrorist attack on US soil could do.  I hope that our government will not brush off these threats and will take action to strengthen our country's cyberspace security.  

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If you watched the second presidential debate last week between Romney and Obama, you knew there were a lot of memorable moments.  From Romney's "binders full of women" comment to some of the questions asked by the people in the crowd, there were a lot of things people were discussing on social media both throughout and after the debate.  Here are some of my favorites tweets from the list.

Dane Cook -- Dear everyone in the town hall #debate. Stop reading your questions off your cards like its a hostage note.

Adam Sternbergh -- "Binders full of women" is what they find in a serial killer's apartment.

Andy Borowitz -- It's as if the Romney from the first debate is tied up in a Scooby-Doo warehouse somewhere. #debate

Jesse Tyler Ferguson -- That debate was better than a real housewives reunion.

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Please watch the video my group created for a class project!!!

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You think you use your smartphone a lot?  Check out the stories of 3 smartphone addicts.  Do you feel that this story could be describing your life?  Read on to find out.

Addict Summaries:

Derek Smith: University of Louisville medical student

What he did: In 1 week, sent 40 emails, 399 text messages, took 25 photos, downloaded 4 song, spent 5 1/2 hours on Facebook, checked the weather 15 times, watched 1 full length movie, bought 2 movie tickets, surfed the web for 129 minutes, and shopped at Target (all on his iPhone 4S)

Kathleen Baker: director of housing at a college university

What she did: In 1 week, sent 256 emails, posted 34 update or comments on Facebook, liked 18 posts, read 93 posts on her Facebook, and spent over 9 hours on her phone searching the web, playing games, checking her bank balances, and listening to audiobooks and music

Stephen Anfield: freelance writer and social media consultant

What he did: In one week, sent 423 text messages, sent 228 Twitter messages, checked into 26 locations on Foursquare, posted 9 photos to Instagram, and placed 3 orders from Five Guys Burgers

Any of these stories sound like you?

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The headline says it all.  You can now exchange your old cell phones for cash.  By placing your old cell phones in one of these new EcoATMS, the EcoATM can use its artificial intelligence to identify and assess the condition of your old device and dispense an amount of cash it seems reasonable for the device.  The EcoATM will also scan your driver's license to make sure that the device was not stolen and that you are at least 18 years old.  The majority of these phones are refurbished and resold. These "reverse ATMs" will start appearing in malls and grocery stores in the near future.  

Now maybe its just me, but I think this is one of the neatest ideas ever.  I know that most of us have no use for our old phones once we get the latest and greatest phone.  Now I'm a little skeptical on the amount of money that the EcoATM will dispense for the phone.  Since we're dealing with a machine, we have not way to disagree with the amount of money we get back for our old phones.  I would sort of like to get money I can for my old phone.  I guess this is sort of like returning college textbooks (don't get me started on this) where you get back however much someone says you should get.  Despite my concerns, I think this is a GREAT idea that you all should take advantage of.  I know that you can put your old phones to better use than having it as a paperweight on your desk.  

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Like many of you, I'm sure you use your cell phones as your alarm clock.  You have some specialized annoying sound that wakes you up every morning.  But believe it or not, there was an actual clock that would wake people up back in the day.  Luckily, Japanese designers developed the iBell which is due to come out in stores next month.

The iBell is a docking station for Apple products that also contains the bells of a classic alarm clock.  Now instead of waking up to the annoying ringtone on your phone, you can wake up to the metallic sound of bells that your parents woke up to many year ago.  For a price of $38, the iBell can be all yours.  After watching the video contained in this link, I'm sure you all will be begging your parents and Santa for the iBell this Christmas.  

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Another use for smartphones???  Yes!!! A study conducted by the digital marketing group Econsultancy revealed that shoppers from the US and the UK are using smartphones to buy and compare prices on consumer goods.  The study found that 28% of US respondents said that they used their mobile device to purchase something in 2012.  Not very impressive? Only 12% of respondents said in 2011 that they used their mobile device to purchase something.  Not surprisingly, the age group that had the highest percentage of shoppers who use their mobile devices were young adults aged 18-34.  

There were several other pieces of information from the study that I found interesting.  One was that 51% of US adults age 18-34 said that they used their mobile device to compare prices while shopping.  Included in that age group are college students like me, who due to the high cost of a college education, look for any deal we can find.  The other interesting piece piece of information I found concerned the response shoppers had to not finding what they wanted while shopping.  In this case, 46% of US shoppers said they would just look for what they wanted in another store while only 8% said they used their mobile device to find the product someplace else.  I guess we aren't as lazy and technology dependent as we think.

Considering I recently just got a smartphone, I know that I will help increase that statistic about using smartphones while shopping.  Especially around the Christmas season when deals are so precious, I know that I will try to find the lowest price on that perfect Christmas gift for my mother.  But in defense of us who use our smartphones for everything including shopping, I don't think we're much different than our parents and grandparents who spend Sunday mornings clipping out coupons from the Sunday paper.  We're all out on the same mission: find the lowest on what we want at whatever means necessary.