Oh Apple Inc. What are we going to do with you?

Sometimes you have to wonder what people are thinking, and why they do what they do. Recently, Apple Inc. released a new iPod Nano which can do more things, but still causes people to question what the designers were thinking. On November 3, 2009, The Ottawa Citizen reporter Vito Pilieci wrote an article about the new Nano. In his article, ‘TOO MUCH ADO ABOUT NEW NANO‘, Pilieci discusses the new featuresthat have been added, as well as the old features that deserve to be updated.

The iPod Nano is now in it’s fifth generation. Ergo, one would think that it would be up-to-date – and maybe even ahead – of other personal media players. However, the new Nano is still holding on to original features. I’m not saying this is bad, I’m a strong believer in “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Sometimes though, things need to be revamped. For example, the iPod Touch, iPhone, and even Microsoft Corporation’s Zune players have been re-worked to offer consumers visually appealing graphic interfaces which still allow for quick finds. The Nano on the other hand, is still holding strong to the original blocky black-and-grey text-based interface.

Another area of interest in the new iPod Nano is the video camera it now holds. It makes sense that a personal media player would have a video recorder. It does not make sense however that the video camera would not be in high-definition. In this day and age, consumers are being spoiled with high-definition. We expect it. We demand it. Why are we not getting it with the new Nano? No high-def? All you can expect to capture are grainy videos – and that won’t suffice for little Jimmy’s big soccer game.

The quality of the video is one thing, but the ability to store it is another issue altogether. The amount of space a person has to record video is limited to the amount of free space on their Nano. This means that for those of us who enjoy a large musical selection on our iPod library, we are probably not going to be able to house much video – if any at all. Just as well though – it’s not even high-def.

Don’t get me wrong. The new iPod Nano has some excellent features. With it’s sleek design, small shape, and beautiful look, the Nano can hold between 8 to 16 gigabytes of memory, includes a speaker, a 2.2 inch screen, an FM tuner, pedometer, and camera. Not bad considering it’s miniature size!

Overall, Apple Inc. has the potential to blow consumer minds. They just have to work on the little things. After all, a little bit goes a long, long way.

The Dangers of Technology

It is always re-assuring as a citizen to see the government use precedents to establish new laws. This has become the case regarding cell phone usage while operating an automobile. This has developed into such a prominent issue mainly because the majority of people operating motor vehicles now own a mobile phone. As Elisabeth Rosenthal reports in the November 1st edition of the New York Times, many incidents like Phillipa Curtis/ Victoria McBryde case have caused judges to start treating mobile usage while driving in a similar manor to that of drinking and driving, or street racing.

On the night of Nov. 20, 2007, the victim, Ms. McBryde, was on her way to visit a friend when she got a flat tire at night on the highway. She pulled over to the edge of the road and called the towing service and her mother. Around this time Ms. Curtis had rear-ended the Victoria McBryde’s car, killing her instantly. In the hours proceeding the accident she had sent over twenty text messages most concerning her encounter with a celebrity singer she had served at the restaurant where she worked. Even though she was not texting at the time of the accident she was charged under new British sentencing guidelines, citing her as having caused “death by dangerous driving”. These guidelines state that even though Ms. Curtis was not texting at the time of the accident, the fact she had been texting while driving preceding the accident is enough to warrant “dangerous driving”. The accused had a twenty-one month prison sentence handed down upon her.

I completely agree with the nature of the harsh sentence. Operating an automobile commands your full attention. Using a hands on cellular device completely hinders the focus needed to operate a vehicle. Although most European countries and a minority of American states now ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, Britain has become one of the more aggressive countries in attacking the problem. It is vital that all developed and developing nations follow the precedent set by Britain and set out punishments for hands on cellular usage, similar to that of impaired driving or street racing. Cracking down on cell phone usage works in two fold. It will decrease the number of traffic and highway accidents, and will also stimulate the technological economy by promoting the sale of wireless mobile devices, like Bluetooth.

Father Facebook Reaches Out From Beyond the Grave

Leslie Taylor, a staff reporter for The Toronto Star contributed an interesting and somewhat disturbing article for Monday October 26’s issue. Just her title alone, “Facebook urges users to reconnect with dead people,” explains it all.

As we all know, Facebook continues to update and refurbish the social networking site, and it’s latest update is the new and improved ‘Live Feed/News Feed,’ which has been causing a significant amount of uproar.  I will even admit that before reading this article, my fellow Facebook users expressed their distress with this application, ironically enough, I caught these feelings via the news feed tool itself.

To introduce you to this Live Feed, it not only provides constant updates on what your friends are doing every second, but it further offers a reconnect tool, giving you suggestions within a side bar of which Facebook friends you should “reconnect with,” or whose wall you should write on, and most particular to this article, it suggests who you should befriend based on the number of mutual friends.

Apparently Facebook does not remain up to date on the status of some people, as nearly 700 people expressed their distress about Facebook suggesting to befriend someone who has recently died.  While this would definitely be a sore spot for those that are grieving, other Facebook users are even annoyed with Facebook merely suggesting to connect with someone from their past.  Users respond to this with “you’re not my real dad,” meaning that they do not appreciate being told what to do by this modern day technology.  Others are further distraught by the suggestion of reconnecting with an ex – just when you think you are over him, bam, there he is, staring you straight in the face on your very own Facebook page.

As Facebook continues to develop its site, the users seem to perceive its updates as more and more intrusive into their personal lives. Yet Facebook states that they have the mere goal of “[crunching] all of a person’s cross-connections and [suggesting] people they should link up to or reconnect with.”  So really they just want to make users’ experience on the site more useful and to live up to the full potential of the site’s purpose of connecting and sharing with the people of their life.  But it appears that people just wish to be left alone and thus make their own friend decisions based on personal judgment.

I’m not sure about you, but I use Facebook as a means of communication.  I don’t use it to reconnect with people that didn’t care enough to keep in touch with me for the past 10 years and just want to get their friend count up.  I prefer to actually use the site for communication, not just to watch my numbers go up and make myself feel popular.  It’s today’s version of the ‘olden day’ MSN, or e-mail, you wouldn’t send an e-mail to someone you aren’t currently in contact with, so why would you befriend someone who isn’t actually your friend?  And furthermore, if Facebook ever suggested for me to befriend my dead grandmother, I’d be pretty pissed.

H1N1 Infecting the Internet – why calling in sick may cause internet congestion

The pandemonium surrounding a ‘possible pandemic’ of H1N1 continues to rise as the vaccine slowly becomes available across the country in select clinics. While the country struggles to brace itself for the anticipated wrath of flu season, it is forecasted that the internet may not be able to survive such a massive outbreak. David Cope, writer for CanWest news service, recently wrote an article for the Montreal Gazette that warns Canadians about the possibilities of losing internet access in their homes during the height of the H1N1 scare.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office advised for Canadian online users to be weary of the possibility of a network meltdown, as our country’s internet backbone is closely shared with that of the United States. It is predicted that the H1N1 outbreak could compel many people to take time away from the office or classroom, forcing many to telecommute from home. Students and those in the workplaces who stay home, and use the internet to keep connected with business or studying materials, could cause extreme internet congestion – and even the shutdown of the system.

The network was just not built to accommodate pandemics.” – Eamon Hoey, Toronto-based analyst at Hoey Associates.

According to researchers Peak hours of internet activity are from 4:00 pm – 10:00 pm, when adolescents and young adults are home downloading music and videos. While the online networks of workplaces and academic institutions have plenty of spare capacity, the bandwidths of suburbia aren’t designed to handle the congestion that would arise with a ‘stay at home’ population. Although it remains unlikely, if such congestion did occur as a result of H1N1, regulators could block all music and video traffic to give way to email and online browsing. Internet providers, TELUS and Bell Canada, are now taking their own preventative H1N1 steps; however, industry experts remain divided over the possible spread of H1N1 symptoms into the online world.

Fears of H1N1 have been circulating like wild fire, especially over the past few months, and the idea of the downfall of the internet is yet another example of the pandemic paranoia. While the flu is definitely something we should try and avoid, allowing the dread of its possible contraction to haunt our every move is irrational. The media frenzy is instilling fear into every person with a mild head cold and now, anyone who relies on and adores their internet connection.  My advice? Wash your hands to avoid sick days altogether, ensuring your fingers remain happily clicking away on your keyboard.

What Ever Happened to Technological Etiquette?

We all know at least one person who seems to have their cell phone permanently glued to their hand. You know who I’m talking about; the person who will whip out their phone to google something the group is pondering, or youtube a funny video that you’ve been discussing just so they can “relive the moment”. They are the individuals who, single-handedly,  kill more conversations than a bad joke. Let’s face it: Smartphones, iPhones, blackberries – whatever you want to call them – are rapidly becoming the new way to kill a conversation.

On October 18, 2009, The Globe and Mail columnist Wendy Leung wrote at article discussing how these smartphones are breaking social and business rules and barriers; they are infiltrating our daily routines and conversations because of what they have to offer. In her article, ‘SMARTPHONES: THE ULTIMATE CONVERSATION KILLER‘, Leung interviews individuals who share their stories of how smartphones have a caused havoc in their personal and professional lives, as well as how to deal with a smartphone addict.

Because these new phones allow for activities such as browsing the internet, instant messaging friends, and playing music and videos, the dynamics of social groups have changed, and it’s not necessarily for the better. Those who are perturbed by the social injustices presented by smartphones are increasing, and they are not doing so quietly. As Sean Tyson comments:

We’re at a restaurant having drinks and you want to stop the conversation and show us something on a three-inch screen? … No thanks. [no one can resist playing just one clip] It becomes ‘Oh cool, have you seen this?’ And then the next 30 minutes are spent one-upping each other with ‘funny’ YouTube videos.

Let’s not forget the difficulty that arises in picking up where the conversation left off when this “one-upping-YouTube-marathon” ends. How does one bounce back, or even compete, with funny amateur videos? Regan Rankin states it perfectly:

It’s socially isolating, really.

When walking around on the university campus, it’s not uncommon to see groups of people – we can presume they’re friends – standing together but not talking. Instead, they all have their cell phones out and are texting, Facebooking, YouTubing, and web surfing. How is that for some friendship bonding? What about the person who is not fiddling with their technological piece of equiptment? Is there a polite way to tell your friends to shut it off so you can have a decent conversation without ruffling feathers? Linda Allen, a toronto-based management consultant says it’s completely appropriate to politely speak up if someone’s phone is being disruptive.

It’s a case where you have to tell people because many people just don’t get it.

So fear not my technologically-interrupted friends. Just speak up to get people to listen! And if that fails, well you can always text them to listen to what you’re trying to say.

The Student Dream: Get Paid to Creep

I don’t know about you, but I have definitely switched my career choice an innumerable amount of times.  Of course my childhood dreams of becoming a doctor were quickly crushed when I realized – “What?! How many years of school?”  Then those aspirations were shifted to becoming a teacher, which only lead to the painful realization that if this dream is sought I would never step out of a school in my life time…But now, with my university years of Facebooking and social networking with my long lost friends, I have found my calling: “social media expert.”  That’s right, a career getting paid for creeping Facebook, updating Twitter, and responding to website comment postings.  Don’t believe me?  On October 19, a member of the The Canadian Press, Tasmyn Burgmann, contributed an article to The Toronto Star, “Companies seek cyber social butterflies.” You read it correctly, company authorities are no longer banning employees from social networking sites in the workplace, they have finally realized the benefits of their interactive lifestyle and thus created a job description for such behaviour.

Burgman bases her article on a woman from Vancouver, Theodora Lamb, who is employed as a “community animator” for a website called Thebigwild.org.  Lamb works from home tending to this website on a 24/7 basis, where she is to maintain the conversation with its online visitors by responding to comments and producing web videos.  She claims that in order to succeed in such a job you need to be a story teller so that you can facilitate and maintain conversation as well as constant traffic to the website.

This article seems to believe that this is only a great option for young people, because “younger people … understand social media culture, because it’s actually the culture they live in.”  This gives the idea, that because this job is directed towards a younger generation that these employees would not be taken as seriously.  But upon reading this, I can only think about how my own mother is on Facebook.  So really, it seems very stereotypical to me (even though I am intrigued by the job), business positions shouldn’t be so type casted.  Age does not indicate that one cannot participate in “social media culture,” anyone is certainly capable.  And one source for the article further states, “don’t let people not take you seriously. Not only is it a viable career option, it’s a culture shaper and it’s not going away.”  So basically, if you’ve got the experience and you participate on the sites, you are eligible for the job!

And if you are wondering about the salary, these positions can start at $40 000 to $50 000 a year, which seems decent for someone just starting out, but maybe not some one with more experience, but hey, you are getting paid to waste time online, sounds good to me.  It looks like I have definitely chosen the right path with my Communication degree, social media experts, here I come!

Online Ghettos in the Realm of Social Networking

Bad neighbourhoods are always seen in any big city situation throughout communities all over the world. In today’s world, the biggest community is that of social networking online, it was only a matter of time in which an online bad neighbourhood would reveal itself amidst the World Wide Web.  In a recent article in the Globe and Mail by Lisan Jutras, this newly discovered glitch within social networking community is revealed and discussed by social media researcher and Harvard Law School fellow Danah Boyd. Are there really such things as online social network threatening communities? And what exactly does a bad neighbourhood look like? Are there graffiti and broken windows? Drug deals and sexual predators?  It has been noted that this bad neighbourhood does exist, in fact, and it’s a community full of 58 million members. Myspace is full of not broken windows, but broken links. No graffiti, but plenty of visual spam. No drug dealers, but, arguably, sexual predators. Personally, I know I jumped on the bandwagon, and left my profile on Myspace for a more diverse and intellectual social networking site, a little known site by the name of Facebook. Last year, Facebook overtook MySpace in numbers of members. If you are like me, you made the switch because information was better organized on Facebook, and the layout was more conducive to clear communication, or  you just felt that the visuals of the Facebook website was more a more mature setting. Leaving behind the cluttered layouts – cursors shaped like flames or hearts, layouts that take forever to load, and messages wRiTtEn liKe ThIs- was only half the bonus of joining Facebook.  According to Ms. Boyd, there are more reasons that the majority of the community is now avoiding Myspace completely. After months of interviews with teenagers across the country, Ms. Boyd concluded that

 “that MySpace is a digital “ghetto” populated by less-educated, lower-income non-whites.”

She seems to have gained inspiration particularly from this comment by some 14-year-old from Massachusetts:

“I’m not really into racism, but I think that MySpace now is more like ghetto or whatever.”  

Last year, marketers, Rapleaf, found that while some websites have clear racial distinctions– Friendster is used primarily by Asians, while Latinos congregate on Hi5 – MySpace has no clear affiliation as to which race populates its digital screens. Research suggests that educators and politicos won’t bother reaching out to MySpacers, leaving them civically disengaged and less informed. Although, making the switch from MySpace to Facebook is not like leaving the South Bronx for Connecticut, but the change is drastic and reflects who you associate with. Social networks are not subjective to race and gender, it just so happens that social circles gather in certain locations, and the groupings have no distinctions on income, family name or education. Staying in a certain community is a choice, and everyone is free to make the switch to any social networking community as they wish.