For my remix I made a online dating profile for my iPhone. I chose to do this because this phone can be a perfect match for anyone! (I already have 6 matches! haha) so go check it out. You will have to sign in. The email address/user name is ashes9109@yahoo.com and the password is smile9. Once you sign in, go to the upper right hand side of the screen. You will scroll over the link that says my information then click the link that says my profile. Enjoy!
Filed under: Uncategorized — Ashley Laranjo @ 3:29 am
When asked to pick one thing that we have covered this year in our class to create a project over, many ideas flooded my mind. We have covered many different topics such as our personal use of technology, how and what the internet is used for, how to tell if an internet site is credible, and many more things. My favorite subject that we have covered so far this semester is how people spend time on the internet. The majority of the population owns a computer and spends an abundant amount of time surfing the web. I would like to further research into how pepole are spending their time and what exactly makes the internet so addictive. In this project I would like to write an article and use video clips to help support my findings.
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow is both imaginative and thought provoking. I think the thing that makes it most interesting and important is the catch 22 that is incorporated into it. It seems the more that Marcus fights for civil liberties, the more he is viewed as a terrorist. This is very frustrating. It seems like the citizens are acting as show dogs who will roll over and jump whenever the government tells them to. However, one must think that if it is for your own safety, why not do what the government tells you to do? Marcus’s dilemma however is that people are not thinking for themselves and do not know when they are being taken advantage of.
This slightly reminds me me of the US Patriot Act. The government wants the authority to listen and look into citizens personal lives and also they want to be able to hold someone who is suspicious of being a terrorist. Personally, I think this is great. As they say, better be safe then sorry! However, I do understand why people would cause a riot because the court system in the United States is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. I will admit, if I were to be held for suspicion of being a terrorist, I would be a little ticked off but, I would understand that it was just the government trying look out for my fellow countrymen.
The scene that best exemplifies the catch 22 is when Marcus is being targeted more and more by the government when all he wants is to revive the liberties that people once had . After all, the preamble to the Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
The process alone to starting this paper used many different types of technology that I use on a daily basis. It took turning on the computer, bringing up Microsoft Word, and turning on the internet radio (for my personal enjoyment!).Trying to think back to a day when I did not use modern technology is next to impossible. I guess if I had to name one day when I did not use it, it would have to be the day that I was born! Frankly, I do not understand how the Amish people can survive without it. Everything that people (well, with the exception of the Amish) do today revolves around computers and other technological devices. My daily routine is using an alarm clock to drag my butt out of bed, turning on the television to catch what the whether is forecasted to be, checking my email, using skype to keep in contact with my good friend from Germany, texting the boyfriend on a cell phone, getting on the internet to look up music videos, and checking who commented me on Myspace. It is all one big fast paced, chaotic, entertaining, world of technology. So, when I have to narrow it down to one piece of my favorite most used technology, it could only be one thing… my iPhone!
Ahhhhh, the IPhone. What a wonderful invention isn’t it? So many devises wrapped and packaged into one tiny, itty bitty, phone. It is a phone, an alarm clock, an agenda, a calendar, the internet, a notepad, an address book, an iPod and GPS system! Whew! That’s a lot, but wait! There is more! If you download an application from the Apple App store it can do so much more! My iPhone personally serves as a device to play games on such as my favorites Tap Tap Revenge, Oven Break, and Flood-it. With over thousands of apps, there is certain to be an app for every type of person out there. These apps are not just games. They also have apps that send out a location of where you are at to a friend for directionally challenged people such as me. For people who are not quite punctual and are late to movies, they have a Fandango app. A useful app that I found for this class was none other than an app for WordPress. Actually, one of my later blogs was written off my iPhone. With so much on one piece of technology, I am going to break this essay down into sections of how I use my iPhone the most.
Before we move on further, I would like to take a glance of how the iPhone came to be. Looking around it is obvious how far the invention of the phone has matured since 1876 (ideafinder.com). You can look at the picture at the bottom if you do not believe me. I am sure that Mr. Alexander Graham Bell was awakened from the dead, had a heart attack after he had seen the iPhone, and was laid back down to rest in peace. Let’s move on a little ways from the first telephone. Take a look at the first cell phone in 1984…”weighed 2 pounds, offered just a half-hour of talk time for every recharging and sold for $3,995.”(msnbc.com) And I complained how I thought the iPhone was expensive! I suppose when it comes to technology, consumers are willing to stand in long lines and pay an absurd amount of money to have the newest toy. In the 1990’s, new models of cell phones were starting to show that more resembled the cell phones of today. In 1993 Bell South and IBM came out with the Simon Personal Communicator. Not only was this cell phone an actual phone, it had cool new features such as a calculator, a pager, an address book, an e-mail device, and a fax machine. Not to mention, it went from over two pounds to weighing twenty ounces. The best part was, that it went from over three grand down to nine hundred dollars! (ezinearticles.com) Finally, we arrive at the iPhone. A touch screen phone with too many features and gadgets to list! It is light weight and has many practical uses. My favorite part of the iPhone was the price I paid for mine. Although I did not get the latest 3GS, I did get a 3G for only $99; Much better than the aforementioned prices. Now for my personal uses of the iPhone…
First, and the most obvious, I use my iPhone as a phone! Now that was a shock huh? As a human being, more in particular a female, we have a need to talk. I probably spend about three to four hours a day on my cell phone. Now before you start being all judgmental, take into consideration that I was raised in Oklahoma so I have friends and family that I must stay in contact with. Also, being in a long distance relationship, the main way to keep in contact is through communication over the telephone. (I am disregarding personal hand-written letters because bluntly, that just takes too long!) Yeah, there is also email but, sometimes it is nice to hear a loved one’s voice. Skype is good too but, I am not always equipped with a computer that has a web cam. Therefore, leaving me the easy option of whipping out my cell phone, punching a few numbers on the keypad, wait for the other person to pick up the phone, and voila- a conversation can start in a matter of seconds.
Secondly, I use my iPhone for texting. I text constantly! Whether it is my boyfriend Chris to tell him I love him, my mother reminding me she will be home late from work and to go ahead and start dinner, or my best friend Victoria just seeing how each other’s day went. Texting is a very useful invention because sometimes I may need to send an urgent message yet I am unable to place a call. Also, texting allows me to multi-task more efficiently. I am able to watch television, do the laundry, and hold a conversation with another person. I also believe that texting allows people to say things they would not normally have the courage to face. Instead of looking like a fool in person, or wait for a hurtful response over the phone, it just seems easier to be let down via text. Maybe it is because another person isn’t able to hear the disappointment or embarrassment in my voice. I also love texting because it allows me to get everything written down in the correct order that I want rather then just blurting things out. It saves me from thinking later on, “Man, I wish I would have stated that differently.”
Last, but certainly not least, I use my iPhone for entertainment. When I have free time I can use my iPhone as a safety device to save me from a severe case of boredom! I can check my email, log onto Myspace, listen to music on the built in iPod, take pictures, play games, or look up videos on YouTube. Almost anything that I am able to do on a regular computer, I can do on my iPhone. Sure, there are some websites that are not compatible with the internet through a phone but, for the most part websites have realized that visiting their sites on a phone is a fast growing phenomenon and have created a mobile version of that particular site. The games that are available through the app store can also fill in some empty chunks of time. I must say, some of these games can be very addicting! I also take a lot of pictures off my phone. Now I am not well informed on all information about cameras, however, I have to say that the picture quality off an iPhone is spectacular! For a Myspace junkie like myself, this is good because I am able to upload photos straight from my phone. These are just some of the ways that I can keep myself entertained off my phone.
Though I use many pieces of technology throughout my everyday life, it is easy to pick out the iPhone as my favorite device. It took over one hundred years to be created, but when it finally did hit the market, it was a huge success! I do not see how there can ever be a better version of a cell phone-but then again I am sure people said the same thing about the 1984 “brick” that weighed two pounds and cost almost four thousand dollars. Thank God for new technology!
Very first telephone ever invented
First cell phone. weighed two pounds, could only use for 30 minutes, and costed almost four thousand dollars.
Through the use of technology, games are no longer for the adolescent age group. Yeah, of course the younger children are a major age group that game designers try to go after, but now more then ever it seems like adults are starting to enter the world of gaming. Why? Perhaps to kill time, socialize, or even enter an alternate world where they are free from rejection. Like one of the lines from the song Want To Date My Avatar said, an avatar is sexier in real life. Therefore drawing people’s attention because they can be anyone they want to be online.
The question is, how do the designers incorporate education into gaming? Obviously beating people over the head with facts and data is not interesting. So a new approach is being tested-which so far seems to be working. It is by sneaking little facts and details into games that people find interesting, in hopes of them researching more into and learning new information they never even imagined to be true. However, there is one problem with this. Only about 0.01% of people will look further into something they deem interesting. Yes, when one transfers the percentage into the number of people it is close to ten thousand, based on the video Video Games and Learning, but I feel like 0.01% is not a big enough percentage of people. Although, I will grant that this is a start.
Maybe when one person out of that small percentage actually looks up something, they will tell some of their friends, which are most likely interested in the same things that they are, that way knowledge will spread by word of mouth…
Filed under: Uncategorized — Ashley Laranjo @ 3:23 am
Upon looking at the following websites, I fond them both credible and interesting. Some of the signs that I looked for was a name of the author, a home page that links back to a more recognized organization, and good writing skills. The article about the teenage boy being locked in a closet for four years also has pictures and detailed information. It also had alternative links that could be accessed to find out more information on the story.
The article about body language gave real life examples which meant some research went behind the author was saying to be true. One could easily google body language and see if the information on this page held to be true on other websites.
If someone would have been asked the question what is the definition of literacy twenty years ago, the answer would have been this: the ability to read and write.
However, due to the fact that most everything in today’s society is aided by technology, the definition of literacy must be altered a bit. The new definition of literacy should be as follows: the ability to read, write, and properly manage a computer.
It is apparent that the education system agrees with this redefined word through the computer classes that kids are required (or highly recommended in some schools) to take. Not only do the children have to learn the basic typing, but also they are taught how to use Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and the jest of the Microsoft Windows program.
Not only does the schools offering these courses promote my idea that literacy now involves computers, but the senior citizens reinforce this idea as well. As many people have encountered, a large majority of senior citizens do not know how to effectively use modern technology leaving them confused and helpless.
It seems that in today’s world one must learn how to become technologically savvy if they wish to be successful.
Filed under: Uncategorized — Ashley Laranjo @ 2:21 am
The internet should be used more for information rather than entertainment. It is as simple as that. People are spending too much of their time playing games or commenting each other on myspace rather than doing something productive! It is taken into consideration that millions of people do use search engines such as Google or Yahoo to look up things. However, they are looking up song lyrics, the latest fashion, or something of that sort when they could and should look up something more meaningful. For example, a college student could be researching about European history for his or her term paper. Perhaps, a mother could go to webMD.com and type in the symptoms of a sick child, and better understand the medical care the son or daughter might need.
Some people may argue that since they are the ones that spend their hard earned money on a computer and internet, they should have the freedom to do what they please. Whether it is to look at porn or do online shopping. However, it would be a safe bet that over half of the people using the internet are teenagers. These teenagers were most likely not the ones who paid for the computer. On another note, parents would be likely to be more than pleased for their children to be on the internet and gain knowledge rather than waste away catching up on all the gossip on myspace or downloading music from limewire…
