Siri can't direct you to an abortion clinic

Almost everyone I know that has an iPhone 4S has upgraded or purchased it full price for Siri, your personal assistant on your iPhone. She is able to get you the weather forecast of a particular city to helping you set up reminders/appointments to even directions to nearby restaurants, but one thing it won't give you directions for is an abortion clinic. Numerous groups and blogs have taken it upon themselves to bring it to Apple's attention that Siri is able to produce an answer when asked where the nearest drugstore was to buy protection, but was unable to produce an answer when asked about a abortion clinic. Apple claims that this is not intentional and they aren't setting up a anti-choice agenda, its just simply the product going from beta phase to final phase and it is bound to not have the answer to everything. I found it interesting that people would bring it up, and personally, I do not see the big fuss about Siri not being able to find a nearby abortion clinic; but that's just my personal opinion and others are bound and will most likely have other opinions also.

(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/01/tech/mobile/abortion-clinic-siri-iphone/index.html)

Most people go online 'for no particular reason,' survey finds

Do you ever find yourself just reaching for your laptop or computer, turn it out, and pointless go online and check anything? Don't feel left out. "A report from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that about 53% of young adults ages 18 to 29 go online on any given day for no particular reason except for a diversion or just for fun. About 81% of people in this
demographic said they have done so at least occasionally. The study -- conducted among 2,260 adults ages 18 and over on landlines and cellphones -- has a margin of error of 3.7%."

It's kind of interesting to see those numbers - with the development of the web today, personally, I sometimes find myself spending hours on websites like Wikipedia just going from subject to subject!

(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/02/tech/web/adults-online-no-reason/index.html)

Fallout continues over smartphone tracking app

Just as the title of the post mentions, there apparently exists a program or application on our smart phones that "tracks" everything from every key stroke to every URL visited on the phone, claims researcher and developer Trevor Eckhart. I came about this topic when it first surfaced last week and I was kind of surprised to learn about it. With today's technology, it may seem a little difficult to imagine not owning a smart phone - I personally only know a hand full of people that refuse to switch and still use their 5+ years old phones. Smart phone have made life way easier with being able to surf the web for sites we require information from or to just kill time, being able to use applications such as Google Maps to get us from place to place, or even applications like WhatsApp that connects via the Internet and allows the user to send messages to their contacts for free; nationally or internationally. So to read the article was needless to say very shocking and surprising. This updated article talks more about how the issue has been developing and how even there has been a filing in court against Carrier IQ (the company responsible for the application). It's a very interesting article to read and see the opposing views from each side.

(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/02/tech/mobile/carrier-iq-reactions/index.html)

Facebook and the Stock Market

There has been rumors about an IPO for Facebook recently that have caused quite the stir. The biggest concern is user compatibility. Right now, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is focused on giving users the greatest experience possible and that includes creativity. This is one of the issues that people have if Facebook were to go public because then the focus would shift towards revenue streaming. Josh Constine, who is a writer for TechCrunch says this will lead to more ads popping up when browsing the website, this takes away from the user experience and creates a hassle. Once Facebook goes profit, there would be an immense pressure from stockholders to drive profits up and this will create new features on Facebook but not for the everyday user.

As a user of Facebook, would you advise Facebook to go public?

Source: CNNTech

Microsoft iPod Spoof

I think that this video has a lot to say about the different marketing strategies implemented by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. While Jobs knew how to sell the form of a product, Gates focused solely on the product’s function. Although Apple products have become more popular in recent years since the inception of the iPod, Apple products in general do not historically have a reputation for tremendous functionality. But they sure do look cool. However, we have seen that Jobs was able to use the form of a product to make it become a more attractive medium of human expression.

5 Reasons Why Consumer Tablets Are Bad For Businesses

I was reading an article over the weekend, and one thing lead to the other, and I found myself attracted to this article called "5 Reasons Why Consumer Tablets Are Bad For Business". It was kind of interesting to read because now a days, everywhere I go, I always seem to see these tablets around. Whether I'm at the mall, on campus, at a business, in restaurants, and most popularly (I believe) on air planes. Apple's launch of the iPad back in 2010 brought a whole new of killing time. Though a lot of people own iPads, I have been noticing that some shops are starting to incorporate it with their system (more obviously Apple stores). Some of the reasons why the author of the article thought that tablets were bad for businesses included:

1. They’re high on frivolity, low on functionality

2. Thieves like them

3. They drive the IT department of corporations crazy

4. Being hard to customize in high volumes

5. Their wimpy work ethic

(Source: http://www.tabletsatwork.com/5-reasons-why-consumer-tablets-are-bad-for-business/)

BidPal

Watch out paper and pencil! There are new tools on the block for silent auctions….they’re called BidPals. So lets talk about them. The BidPal network is a fairly new company that uses wireless LAN networks to conduct silent charity auctions.

So here’s how it goes. The charity organization buys BidPal’s services to conduct the silent auction. Several days before the auction, BidPal receives the information for each auction item (such as item description, starting bid, and minimum raise) from the client and loads it into a database. Several hours before the auction, BidPal arrives to the auction site and sets up its own wireless LAN network that connects to a central server with all the auction information on it. The bidding devices used by the client are nothing more than iPod Touches with the BidPal app loaded onto them.

So BidPal assistants, such as myself, clean and charge the iPods and then synchronize them with the wireless network. We check to make sure all the information loaded into the database is correct and then begin registration. Usually bidders are slightly confused when they receive the device simply because they have not encountered this kind of technology in a silent auction setting. And if they have sour feelings about the change, those feelings only get extrapolated as the evening carries on and the bidders' BAC steadily increases. But that is where BidPal assistants come in handy. We circulate around the auction area and ask bidders how they are enjoying the device to ensure that the bidders understand the technology and to fix any glitches that might be occurring. This really helps to make sure that the technology is warmly received and that people enjoy themselves. For the most part, people enjoy it, are fascinated by it, and want it back for next year’s auction!