Drunk Eyes? Please Google regulate us. October 20, 2008

Do you ever come home after a good long night of fun and have the sudden urge to sit on your computer to send friendly messages? I know I have.  Luckily for all of us, Google has created something to stop us from doing so.  They have devised something called ‘Mail Goggles’ (playing off of Beer Goggles).  The Mail Goggles is something you can download where you can set up a certain time of night, usually between 10pm and 4am, where Google will not let you send any e-mails from your account until you answer five simple math questions within 60 seconds.  If you do not get them right in the time frame allotted, you are not allowed to send your e-mail.

I think that this app is hilarious and very practical.  I wish they would create one for facebook….

HP Going Green? October 20, 2008

HP has released two new computers following the ‘Going Green’ trend.  They’re both energy efficient and Energy Star qualified.  The two computers go for $579, and $659; one version sold exclusively at Best Buy, and one version sold exclusively at Circuit City.

The two computers come in recycable packaging that is completely green-friendly with various power settings.  I believe that this is a very good thing to start going towards.  Our planet is weakening quickly and we need to move all of our efforts into going green in as many ways as possible.  If there are laptops available that are towards going green in the future when I need a new replacement, I will definitely look into buying one.

Google making their own phone? October 20, 2008

Google is releasing their own version of the iPhone on October 22nd.  However, it’s not a ‘Google’ phone. The software is made by Google, for the browsing and organization, looking like a desktop.  HTC is making the actual tangible phone, and TMobile is providing the service.  While it is not supposed to be as fancy as the iPhone, it is supposed to be very similar and trying to take some of their market share.  It has been said that many other versions will quickly follow.

I currently have an iPhone and I do not believe that anything can compare.  I am a firm believer in Apple and I just look at all of the others as imposters that are just trying to live up to Apple’s success.

Why can’t Miami do this? October 20, 2008

At Abilene Christian University they decided to give away either an iTouch or an iPhone to every one of their students to be able to get onto wireless access anywhere on campus.  They had the choice of either as long as they paid for their phone service charges.  The school required one of them as clickers in some classes as well.  Now I understand that Miami is a medium-sized school, however, why don’t we take some of our money to do that for our students? With the amount of money circulating through our school, I strongly believe that we can afford to do something like this.  Instead of spending our millions of dollars on muohio.edu e-mail addresses, save the money and give us free google accounts and give us each something like this.

Martin Luther King Jr. October 6, 2008

On the first website (martinlutherking.org), the purpose is a ‘true historical examination’ of his life. However, there are numerous different tangents that don’t apply directly to the advancement of knowledge of Martin Luther King Jr.. On the homepage, there are rap lyrics, videos, Martin Luther King Jr. pop quizzes, Kwanzaa, etc. This website is clearly not intended to educate people about his life. The makers of the first site are ‘StormFront’, but list no copyright information, contact information, etc. It says nowhere on the website dates that the information was presented on, or anything beneficial for learning something about his life. The topics are too broad and scattered and do not directly pertain to his life. We do not believe that this information given is accurate or credible by any means.

On the second website (thekingcenter.org), the purpose is to share information about the actual life of Martin Luther King Jr.. The homepage is clearly labeled and divided into specific sections of different aspects of his life. For example, some of the different tabs are: the King Program, the King Center, Programs and Services, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and etc. This website has more credible information present because there are copyright dates (2004) on there at the bottom and hosted by the King Center. There are no grammatical errors or spelling errors presented on the website, which also makes the credibility stronger. The most recent spout of information dates back to 2004, which would weaken credibility, however, there are legitimate news stories linked to the page and other information about the King Center. Each page on the website looks consistent and we believe that this Martin Luther King Jr. website is more credible and accurate to obtain information from.

Grow up BLondIEguRL October 6, 2008

(No, this isn’t my screen name)

I had recently read an article on The Wired Campus called, Dear Students With Unprofessional E-Mail Handles: Your Professors Notice, about how professors are now getting fed up with students using unprofessional e-mail addresses when asking them a question or sending in homework and not even opening them.  Professors are trying to encourage their students to send them e-mails from their school addresses or at least a more professional screen name.  If they see HotStuff01 or BigMuscles, they’ll immediately just delete it.  They are also saying that they find it extremely disrespectful when students send them an e-mail with improper grammar usage, words misspelled, words all in lower case letters, etc.

School is practice for the real world so we should be following these leads so it’s not a complete shock when we actually do get out into the real world.  Things can’t just change over night, especially when all of your e-mails consist in informal tones and misspellings.  Also, teachers are offended because we should be addressing them in a formal manner, instead of talking to them as if they were our peers.

I think this is very important because you can easily slip up on these practices and could potentially make a very bad mistake and ruin a job potential or relationships or whatnot.

Where the Hell is Matt? October 6, 2008

Last week, I was shown a website called, ‘Where the Hell Is Matt?‘.  It is a website made by this young man that decided to quit his job and travel around the world dancing in front of famous monuments to make YouTube videos.  His home made videos became so popular that Stride found them and paired with him to make a promotional website for their gum.  Stride funded Matt and helped him to make two more additional videos which looked much more professional with better quality music as well.  Matt is a millionaire now all from Web 2.0.  He is my idol, I would love to have the opportunity to travel to all of the places he has and I am currently trying to figure out a creative way to do this as well. Wish me luck. HA.

‘Muddy Boots’, Google vs. Yahoo September 29, 2008

Muddy Boots Image

Google gives more relevant results by showing approximately 142,000 different images with the tags ‘Muddy Boots’. Yahoo however, only provides 3,716 images with that tag. Therefore, Google yields much better results. Both Google and Yahoo both are very easy to navigate through at the bottoms and through different advanced search options.

Both Google and Yahoo provide options of ‘Advanced Search’. They both allow filter options by size, color, type of site it comes from or specific site it comes from, keywords, in part or in whole, and with a safe search.

I personally prefer Google over Yahoo because I use it more often and are much more familiar with the site.

Muddy Boots Video

When searching for ‘Muddy Boots’ video, Google provided approximately 480 different videos and Yahoo only gave 5. Yahoo has better navigation because there are only 5 videos, whereas Google has so many to choose from. However, I still prefer using Google solely based on the fact of familiarity.

Work is taking over people’s lives in the 21st century. September 29, 2008

Nowadays, people cannot get away from their work.  A recent article on CNN talked about how more and more Americans cannot leave work at work anymore.  Even on vacations, people are constantly checking their blackberrys instead of just relaxing.  When people do not have service and cannot access their work, they’re not able to just sit back and enjoy themselves. 49% of people say that technology has made it too hard for them to leave their work behind when they get home and it is affecting their personal lives.

However, some people think it is just high earners that are having difficult times because their work is ‘more important’.  I think technology is very interesting and beneficial, however I do not like it to the point where I cannot function without it.  I myself have experienced the phantom ringing numerous times and it bothers me that I am so connected with my cell phone.  While technology has so many benefits, I think some people take it way too far.

A new, easier way to break into cars. September 29, 2008

If it wasn’t easy enough to break into cars the old-fashioned way, the Japanese are making it even easier for criminals to steal cars.  In Japan, a cell phone was designed by Sharp Corp. to automatically unlock doors and start the engines without using an ignition key.  There is a chip in the phone and the car and when the phone gets close enough to the car, it automatically unlocks the doors and starts the car.

While in order to move the actual car you need the key, it is still not hard to hotwire a car by professionals.  Potential theives will obviously know what the cell phones look like, and can attempt to steal them from people.  This is rare to happen with matching up the right cell phone with the right car, but if someone wants to steal a car bad enough, it’s not too difficult to orchestrate.

I also think that this is a bad decision because people lose and break cell phones so frequently.  They are also really expensive without car chips in them so people would be emptying their pockets with these phones every time they lose or break them.

This is a huge advance for technology, however a poor decision for people’s pockets and safety.