23 November 2008
16 November 2008
12 November 2008
07 November 2008
05 November 2008
29 October 2008
20 October 2008
15 October 2008
Image Manipulation
I brightened the sky that I used and layered three images on top of one another using the eraser tool. The topic of my image is parrots by the water, in an environment they typically aren't found.
13 October 2008
Playing with Podcasts
Jungle sounds!
We used jungle sounds found online from FindSounds.com and changed the pitch on those sounds. Our voices are first as a description before the jungle sounds play.
We used jungle sounds found online from FindSounds.com and changed the pitch on those sounds. Our voices are first as a description before the jungle sounds play.
12 October 2008
MoveOn Grows Up
The online grassroots liberal political organization MoveOn.org started in 1998 and has grown ever larger during this election cycle. This article was about the power the organization has and how the site can affect change as well as help other blogs. It shows the power individual blogs have and what they can grow to become. MoveOn has over 4.2 million members and turned 10 years old this year. In the 2006 midterm elections they raised and spent $11 million more that th NRA. I think it's amazing the amount of power this organization has and the number of people they can reach. The blogging phenomenon in general is spectacular to me--I love that people can be so easily connected and the fact that people are now using it as a method of political intervention is another step forward. You can even see ads for MoveOn on Facebook, I think it's great that they are so effective with their methods of reaching people and raising money through the internet and emails. Something that Eli Pariser, head of MoveOn said really stuck with me, "back in 2001, people felt alone, like there was nothing you could do to get involved. Not anymore. People are finding each other. People are communicating. People are pumped up."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100803677.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100803677.html
03 October 2008
Dementia Patients Find Comfort In Robot
When I first read this headline, I wasn't sure what type of robot could comfort dementia patients. Would it be a robot similar to Rosie from the Jetsons and provide comfort by completing household chores or would it be some sort of robot that helped them remember people and things they otherwise could not have? I was wrong with both my guesses, the robot they are using at a retirement community in McLean, Virginia, is a furry seal that resembles a stuffed animal. The "robot" makes cooing noises when petted and can even talk to patients. I think this is a great idea since dementia patients often suffer from psychiatric disturbances and if this works as a way to calm them down or shift their moods, then I think it's great. It doesn't matter that they may think it is a real creature because even patients who know it's man-made don't seem to care. I'm glad this facility in McLean has five of the "robots" to help the dementia patients who live there.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100101054.html?nav=hcmoduletmv
26 September 2008
Mash-up
http://www.weatherbonk.com/weather/
The mash-up I found is called weather bonk. It is a combination of traffic and weather and webcams in your chosen city in the United States. It uses Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, NASA, NOAA Weather Service, WeatherBug, Yahoo Geocoding, Yahoo Maps, and Yahoo Traffic. The utilization of all these allows the mashup to present accurate information for so many cities. I personally think this is really cool and very helpful for planning road trips. You can select the city you live, will pass through and your desired destination and view the fastest route to reach your destination as well as how to pack for the weather in the coming days and whether or not you should anticipate traffic in certain cities along the drive. You can even add "favorite cams" so that a traffic intersection you frequent comes up and you can avoid it if it is congested or if there is a bad accident. This feature makes the site even more interactive than it already is and makes it a Web 2.0 site. Overall I think this particular mash-up is incredibly helpful and I plan on using it in the future.
The mash-up I found is called weather bonk. It is a combination of traffic and weather and webcams in your chosen city in the United States. It uses Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, NASA, NOAA Weather Service, WeatherBug, Yahoo Geocoding, Yahoo Maps, and Yahoo Traffic. The utilization of all these allows the mashup to present accurate information for so many cities. I personally think this is really cool and very helpful for planning road trips. You can select the city you live, will pass through and your desired destination and view the fastest route to reach your destination as well as how to pack for the weather in the coming days and whether or not you should anticipate traffic in certain cities along the drive. You can even add "favorite cams" so that a traffic intersection you frequent comes up and you can avoid it if it is congested or if there is a bad accident. This feature makes the site even more interactive than it already is and makes it a Web 2.0 site. Overall I think this particular mash-up is incredibly helpful and I plan on using it in the future.
18 September 2008
Are the new Ipods Worth Purchasing?
The 4th generation IPod nanos were released about a week ago and they have already drawn some criticism. The columnist and I posed some similar questions and problems with the new devices that appear to be mainly a gimmick. These new IPods had the potential to be another must-have device yet according to my personal opinion are just the next step up in IPod evolution. Those changes introduced blend the appearances of the 2nd and 3rd generations and allow the user to turn the device sideways. The coolest (or is it the cheesiest?) aspect of the new IPods is the feature that allows the listener to shake the device to change the songs when in shuffle mode. But what if you're running or going up or down a staircase, is your song going to change? If not, how hard exactly do you have to shake the thing to get it to change songs? Will I get this new IPod to update my generation 2 nano? Nope, these IPods don't seem worth it. I'm going to wait for the new larger IPod update and hopefully by then, Apple will have come up with something newer and cooler.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091702991.html
13 September 2008
Spamming is a First Amendment Right?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091201211.html
The courts in Virginia ruled earlier this week that a law prohibiting the sending of spam email messages is not legal--the ability to send spam is a protected first amendment right. Justice G. Steven Agee, wrote the unanimous opinion for the court stating that "the right to engage in anonymous speech, particularly anonymous political or religious speech, is 'an aspect of the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment.'" Agee cited a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court case. People in Virginia are more than a little upset by this decision due to the annoyance spamming creates. The case is expected to be appealed at the Supreme Court for a final decision. While I think that people should be able to say what they want in emails among friends and in public areas, sending spam to random people's email accounts feels a little more like invasion of privacy than freedom of speech to me...
The courts in Virginia ruled earlier this week that a law prohibiting the sending of spam email messages is not legal--the ability to send spam is a protected first amendment right. Justice G. Steven Agee, wrote the unanimous opinion for the court stating that "the right to engage in anonymous speech, particularly anonymous political or religious speech, is 'an aspect of the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment.'" Agee cited a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court case. People in Virginia are more than a little upset by this decision due to the annoyance spamming creates. The case is expected to be appealed at the Supreme Court for a final decision. While I think that people should be able to say what they want in emails among friends and in public areas, sending spam to random people's email accounts feels a little more like invasion of privacy than freedom of speech to me...
04 September 2008
"A Social Network Where You Can Be Too Social"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090303556.html
With the social networking site, Facebook, growing to over 100 million users in the last couple of months, the site has taken some serious measures against spamming. There have been at least 64 large-scale spam attacks that have occurred on social networking sites just like Facebook within the last year. The defensive measures being taken by the company, however, are kicking legitimate members of the site off too frequently. The majority of large-scale spam attacks flood hundreds of users with identical messages--so if a user of the site were to send out a legitimate message or wall post to dozens of friends within a short time-frame, that user may be flagged by Facebook as a potential spammer. In the past week, however, Facebook has gone to extremes and skipped the flagging stage by deactivating the account of anyone whose behavior seems questionable in the slightest. The actions taken by Facebook, while a sincere gesture, has outraged some users. Their grievances are not unreasonable either, with Facebook having become such an integral part of networking and keeping in contact with people, being deactivated by the company could create major communication problems among users. While Facebook is looking into reactivating legitimate users' accounts, it has become a difficult process that begins with the deactivated user writing an explaination that states why their message was legitimate (and not spam) in the first place. Should proving your legitimacy to the makers of Facebook be something users should have to be subjected to? I don't think so. Calm down Facebook.
With the social networking site, Facebook, growing to over 100 million users in the last couple of months, the site has taken some serious measures against spamming. There have been at least 64 large-scale spam attacks that have occurred on social networking sites just like Facebook within the last year. The defensive measures being taken by the company, however, are kicking legitimate members of the site off too frequently. The majority of large-scale spam attacks flood hundreds of users with identical messages--so if a user of the site were to send out a legitimate message or wall post to dozens of friends within a short time-frame, that user may be flagged by Facebook as a potential spammer. In the past week, however, Facebook has gone to extremes and skipped the flagging stage by deactivating the account of anyone whose behavior seems questionable in the slightest. The actions taken by Facebook, while a sincere gesture, has outraged some users. Their grievances are not unreasonable either, with Facebook having become such an integral part of networking and keeping in contact with people, being deactivated by the company could create major communication problems among users. While Facebook is looking into reactivating legitimate users' accounts, it has become a difficult process that begins with the deactivated user writing an explaination that states why their message was legitimate (and not spam) in the first place. Should proving your legitimacy to the makers of Facebook be something users should have to be subjected to? I don't think so. Calm down Facebook.
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