Mikayla Chiarello
News Report 5
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10103412-52.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
“Google shutting down 'Lively'”
This article was about Google’s virtual game world known as ‘Lively’. It was just launched this summer and was often compared to Second Life. Lively was web based and it allowed it’s users to create rooms and characters in the world which could then even be put onto blogs and on facebook. It sounds pretty interesting and like a good concept, but it never got the attention or popularity it seeked so Google has chosen to shut down the project and put the energy and workers that were working on ‘Lively’ onto other more successful projects. Google was quoted as saying, "Despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we've decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year. It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business." They also said that this does not mean they will be laying people off, they will just reassign these workers to other areas of research. I think that it is a good idea to pull out of a project that although seems great hasn’t really made a following. Those workers could be putting their time to more successful projects that could one day blow our minds. I also think it’s good that just because the project didn’t take off as expected, they are keeping the workers and just reassigning them.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
reading number 5
"Web Hoaxes, Counterfeit Sites, and Other Spurious Information on the Internet"
Mikayla Chairello
Reading Report 5
11/17/2008
This article brings up very interesting information about the internet that people often either choose to overlook most of the time or simply don’t know or realize. Although the internet is full of uselful, high quality information, it also is riddled with sites that contain misinformation, or opiniated information or even counterfeit websites. Sometimes this misonformation comes from simple honest mistakes of typos or accidentally leaving out information, but other times, webasites can be intenionally misleading and that’s where it gets scary. There are ma y different types of these ‘false’ websites. They can range fron political, fun , to just misleading advertisements. One of the most interesting examples in the reading was the website martinlutherking.org. From its title it obviously sounds like it would be truthfuil information about Martin Luther King jr. that supported his cause and would correctly portay him and information about him. But in actuality this website was made by a White Supremecist group. Another thing that would trick most naïve people is that this website looks pretty legitamte. And people don’t realize that it is extremeley misleading for that reason. I think it is a really scary idea that people don’t look further into the information that they encounter while surfing the internet. Most people will read and use the first information they come across because it’s the easiest and quickest way, without questiong its aunthenticity or legitamacy. If we don’t start education our students on how to identify high quality information from some of the garbage out there, we will begin to see some highly misonformed people who believe extremely false or misleading information. We definitely don’t want this kind of information to spread.
Mikayla Chairello
Reading Report 5
11/17/2008
This article brings up very interesting information about the internet that people often either choose to overlook most of the time or simply don’t know or realize. Although the internet is full of uselful, high quality information, it also is riddled with sites that contain misinformation, or opiniated information or even counterfeit websites. Sometimes this misonformation comes from simple honest mistakes of typos or accidentally leaving out information, but other times, webasites can be intenionally misleading and that’s where it gets scary. There are ma y different types of these ‘false’ websites. They can range fron political, fun , to just misleading advertisements. One of the most interesting examples in the reading was the website martinlutherking.org. From its title it obviously sounds like it would be truthfuil information about Martin Luther King jr. that supported his cause and would correctly portay him and information about him. But in actuality this website was made by a White Supremecist group. Another thing that would trick most naïve people is that this website looks pretty legitamte. And people don’t realize that it is extremeley misleading for that reason. I think it is a really scary idea that people don’t look further into the information that they encounter while surfing the internet. Most people will read and use the first information they come across because it’s the easiest and quickest way, without questiong its aunthenticity or legitamacy. If we don’t start education our students on how to identify high quality information from some of the garbage out there, we will begin to see some highly misonformed people who believe extremely false or misleading information. We definitely don’t want this kind of information to spread.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
reading 4
Mikayla Chiarello
Reading 4
Can WIKIPEDIA Ever Make the Grade?
11/5/2008
I found this article very interesting, because like most of the people my age that I know, Wikipedia is a very familiar site. Anytime someone needs a quick answer or some little tid bit of information (not research type information) they refer to Wikipedia. I feel they do this for many reasons. Some of these reasons are also probably the reason scholars hate it and that it may not always be accurate. The first is if you do a search through Google or some other search engine, the Wikipedia site for your search will be one of the first to appear. Also when students are looking for quick answers they choose Wikipedia because one of the things they value is short, to the point answers. So when professors try to add full length studies, they will be cut down, often offending them. Wikipedia is also very easy to read and understand which is probably because just about anyone can add to it. But that is also a reason it is so popular; nobody likes to read something they don’t understand. The most recent issue with Wikipedia is that people are upset that they don’t give priority to academic scholars and some average Joe could post about something he really has no clue about. One professor did an experiment with the site, writing under a different name, he would post articles with false information in them to see how long they would stay up. Most of the times they only lasted a few hours, which seems pretty short, but could leave some people with completely false information. The website says it may think about giving priority to scholars, but they have to learn to work with everyone else on the site and not talk down to them. They will also have to be ok with their work getting considerably shortened. I think this was a very interesting article because it really makes me think about the information I’ve looked up on Wikipedia in the past and what could possibly be false, that I
Reading 4
Can WIKIPEDIA Ever Make the Grade?
11/5/2008
I found this article very interesting, because like most of the people my age that I know, Wikipedia is a very familiar site. Anytime someone needs a quick answer or some little tid bit of information (not research type information) they refer to Wikipedia. I feel they do this for many reasons. Some of these reasons are also probably the reason scholars hate it and that it may not always be accurate. The first is if you do a search through Google or some other search engine, the Wikipedia site for your search will be one of the first to appear. Also when students are looking for quick answers they choose Wikipedia because one of the things they value is short, to the point answers. So when professors try to add full length studies, they will be cut down, often offending them. Wikipedia is also very easy to read and understand which is probably because just about anyone can add to it. But that is also a reason it is so popular; nobody likes to read something they don’t understand. The most recent issue with Wikipedia is that people are upset that they don’t give priority to academic scholars and some average Joe could post about something he really has no clue about. One professor did an experiment with the site, writing under a different name, he would post articles with false information in them to see how long they would stay up. Most of the times they only lasted a few hours, which seems pretty short, but could leave some people with completely false information. The website says it may think about giving priority to scholars, but they have to learn to work with everyone else on the site and not talk down to them. They will also have to be ok with their work getting considerably shortened. I think this was a very interesting article because it really makes me think about the information I’ve looked up on Wikipedia in the past and what could possibly be false, that I
Monday, October 27, 2008
news report4
Mikayla Chiarello
10/28/2008
Google's New Android Phone Vulnerable To Attack
By Stefanie Hoffman,
http://www.crn.com/security/211600884
This article was about the new cell phone from T-Mobile and Google called the G1 SmartPhone. It was released in last week, October 22, and uses the android operating system. It was supposed to be the next big thing, without flaws and all up to date technological features. But a glitch was found in the android operating system which would allow hackers to access these users information if they use certain websites that may pose as other existing websites. They could access any information that the phone had access to including social security number and any other personal data. Charlie Miller, the principal analyst at Independent Security Evaluators said, "if you end up on a bad guys' site, he can basically take over the phone and run code, and access anything your browser has access to and do anything your browser could do,". Miller was the one outside of Google who first observed the flaw. He contacted Google immediately and they responded by simply stating that they were still trying to fix it and asked him to stay away from the public with his information. He said he felt that was the wrong thing to do and felt the public had every right to know the glitches in a product they might purchase. Google still proclaims that this minor security problem should not impact its sales and that a solution to the problem will be found in no time. The reason I chose this news report is because I had done the article on the introduction of the G1 phone in my last news report and it was interesting to see how things have progressed.
10/28/2008
Google's New Android Phone Vulnerable To Attack
By Stefanie Hoffman,
http://www.crn.com/security/211600884
This article was about the new cell phone from T-Mobile and Google called the G1 SmartPhone. It was released in last week, October 22, and uses the android operating system. It was supposed to be the next big thing, without flaws and all up to date technological features. But a glitch was found in the android operating system which would allow hackers to access these users information if they use certain websites that may pose as other existing websites. They could access any information that the phone had access to including social security number and any other personal data. Charlie Miller, the principal analyst at Independent Security Evaluators said, "if you end up on a bad guys' site, he can basically take over the phone and run code, and access anything your browser has access to and do anything your browser could do,". Miller was the one outside of Google who first observed the flaw. He contacted Google immediately and they responded by simply stating that they were still trying to fix it and asked him to stay away from the public with his information. He said he felt that was the wrong thing to do and felt the public had every right to know the glitches in a product they might purchase. Google still proclaims that this minor security problem should not impact its sales and that a solution to the problem will be found in no time. The reason I chose this news report is because I had done the article on the introduction of the G1 phone in my last news report and it was interesting to see how things have progressed.
Monday, September 22, 2008
news report 3
Mikayla Chiarello
News Report 3
9/22/2008
Tuesday phone debut is first salvo in Android war
By Stephen Shankland
cnet news
9/20/2008
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10046666-94.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.0
This article was about the way cell phone technology changes and the way it will continue to change throughout the future. Some mobile phones already have access to the internet, but not all of them and there are currently a lot of limitations. Engineers hope to eliminate these limitations and bring easy internet access to all phones. This Tuesday T-Mobile will release its first phone powered by Google's Android operating system. The phone is called Dream and was designed and built by HTC. It will be on sale starting in October for $200. This could be very good for T-Mobile because by using Google it will most likely increase their sales, kind of like what the iPhone and Apple did for AT&T. Google will benefit because they say that people who have the internet on their cell phones use it much more and Google wants to be the company to give them their information. Google hopes to bring a lot to the table in for the cell phone industry. They want to bring more openness (like in PCs) to mobile phones, which has yet to be done because of certain limitations. Some rumored features of the new Dream phone include, full QWERTY keyboard, 3G touch screen, full HTML browser, GPS, access to all Google applications including Maps, YouTube, instant messaging, SMS texting email, 3megapixel camera, music player, video recorder/player and a memory card slot. I never had an iPhone or the LG dare, but if I had $200 to spend on a cell phone I would want to try this new mobile phone. I also think that Google’s influence will definitely help boost sales, but I don’t think the iPhone will have any worries because so many people love their iPhones and I’m sure they are designing some kind of new technology to push the competition further .After reading this article I’m really excited to find a friend or someone I know who is going to buy the phone so I can see and use it firsthand.
News Report 3
9/22/2008
Tuesday phone debut is first salvo in Android war
By Stephen Shankland
cnet news
9/20/2008
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10046666-94.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.0
This article was about the way cell phone technology changes and the way it will continue to change throughout the future. Some mobile phones already have access to the internet, but not all of them and there are currently a lot of limitations. Engineers hope to eliminate these limitations and bring easy internet access to all phones. This Tuesday T-Mobile will release its first phone powered by Google's Android operating system. The phone is called Dream and was designed and built by HTC. It will be on sale starting in October for $200. This could be very good for T-Mobile because by using Google it will most likely increase their sales, kind of like what the iPhone and Apple did for AT&T. Google will benefit because they say that people who have the internet on their cell phones use it much more and Google wants to be the company to give them their information. Google hopes to bring a lot to the table in for the cell phone industry. They want to bring more openness (like in PCs) to mobile phones, which has yet to be done because of certain limitations. Some rumored features of the new Dream phone include, full QWERTY keyboard, 3G touch screen, full HTML browser, GPS, access to all Google applications including Maps, YouTube, instant messaging, SMS texting email, 3megapixel camera, music player, video recorder/player and a memory card slot. I never had an iPhone or the LG dare, but if I had $200 to spend on a cell phone I would want to try this new mobile phone. I also think that Google’s influence will definitely help boost sales, but I don’t think the iPhone will have any worries because so many people love their iPhones and I’m sure they are designing some kind of new technology to push the competition further .After reading this article I’m really excited to find a friend or someone I know who is going to buy the phone so I can see and use it firsthand.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
news report 2 citation information!
"Link by Link
Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free "
By NOAM COHEN
Published: September 14, 2008
New York Times
9/17/2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/technology/15link.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin
Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free "
By NOAM COHEN
Published: September 14, 2008
New York Times
9/17/2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/technology/15link.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin
News Report 2
Mikayla Chiarello
News Report 2
9/17/2008
Link by Link
Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free
This article was about what seems to be the new possible future (or lack there of) of textbooks as we know them today. It spoke on the extremely high costs of textbooks for students and how it could be detrimental to the amount of potential readers the book may have had. The prices of these books, which can be as high as a few hundred dollars, may very well deter students from buying them and therefore hinder their learning experience and obstruct their access to information. Certain professors are aware of this and are starting to do something about it. One particular professor named McAfee has boldly chosen to put his introductory economics textbook on the internet as a free download. A few other reasons he gave for doing so included the fact that the information will be much easier to update and edit which is a growing necessity especially for people in technology or medical fields. It will also enable thousands if not more people, from all around the world, to access the information in the book and gain more knowledge on the subject matter. Another Professor, Professor Baraniuk agrees saying, “If I had finished my own book, I would have finished a couple years ago. It would have taken five years. It would have spent five years in print and sold 2,000 copies.” Instead, he put it online to download and there have been 2.8 million views of his textbook as well as a Spanish translation of it. A publishing company has also started a company called CourseSmart, that puts textbooks online, but unlike these professors, although a lot cheaper, they still charge a formidable fee. In my opinion professors should put their textbooks online to download. I do understand that it is their job to write these books and need to get paid, but the price students are charged for their education is ridiculous especially since they have to pay for the class as well as the textbooks. I think that to put books online would be a lot cheaper because they wouldn’t need to be printed in full text and therefore a lot more convenient for students and other interested learners worldwide. I think this is also the next step in the future of education.
News Report 2
9/17/2008
Link by Link
Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free
This article was about what seems to be the new possible future (or lack there of) of textbooks as we know them today. It spoke on the extremely high costs of textbooks for students and how it could be detrimental to the amount of potential readers the book may have had. The prices of these books, which can be as high as a few hundred dollars, may very well deter students from buying them and therefore hinder their learning experience and obstruct their access to information. Certain professors are aware of this and are starting to do something about it. One particular professor named McAfee has boldly chosen to put his introductory economics textbook on the internet as a free download. A few other reasons he gave for doing so included the fact that the information will be much easier to update and edit which is a growing necessity especially for people in technology or medical fields. It will also enable thousands if not more people, from all around the world, to access the information in the book and gain more knowledge on the subject matter. Another Professor, Professor Baraniuk agrees saying, “If I had finished my own book, I would have finished a couple years ago. It would have taken five years. It would have spent five years in print and sold 2,000 copies.” Instead, he put it online to download and there have been 2.8 million views of his textbook as well as a Spanish translation of it. A publishing company has also started a company called CourseSmart, that puts textbooks online, but unlike these professors, although a lot cheaper, they still charge a formidable fee. In my opinion professors should put their textbooks online to download. I do understand that it is their job to write these books and need to get paid, but the price students are charged for their education is ridiculous especially since they have to pay for the class as well as the textbooks. I think that to put books online would be a lot cheaper because they wouldn’t need to be printed in full text and therefore a lot more convenient for students and other interested learners worldwide. I think this is also the next step in the future of education.
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