The Event

In preparation to the event, I've been inviting people who I think would have interest in going. I used the following mediums to invite people to our Wednesday night event:

• Word of Mouth
• Facebook
• Text Messaging

I talked with people that I see in person on a regular basis that I thought would have interest in seeing the event due to their educational background and interests. I invited 8 people this way.

With Facebook I was able to send personalized messages to those that would have interest, but that I don't see in person regularly and also don't have their cell phone number. About 20 people were invited this way.

Text messaging was used for those whos numbers I had, but that I don't normally see in person. 12 people were invited to our event using this medium.

Results: I actually had someone show up at the event, and a few of the people said that they tuned into the online webinar. 

What I Have Learned (Reflective Blog Post)

This project has helped to open my eyes to how the public school system is currently functioning, and what technologies are currently being implemented in the school system. Back in my day the most advanced thing we had was a whiteboard and an overhead projector. Elementary schools have now expanded to include many electronic gadgets in their curriculum to attempt at bettering the learning experience of the student.

Some of the technologies that are being used now that weren't there when I was a student were the following:

• Smart Boards (this one really impressed me)
• iPads
• Kindles
• Document Camera
• Laptops
• Wifi on Buses
• Heart Monitors (used in gym classes)

It really impresses me how far we have progressed in the past few years as far as technology goes. While studying this and preparing my section of the e-book I had the opportunity to talk with many teachers that are currently implementing these technologies in the classroom. They all had pretty different opinions as to how these devices should be implemented in the classroom as well as to their effectiveness, but they all agreed that the technology has greatly improved the learning ability of the student. 

One teacher told me a story of a student that she taught that had a hard time learning how to read. The student was given an e-reader and it had a huge impact on the students literacy rate. The e-reader helped the kid to learn words by sounding out the words that the kid did not know. All he had to do is select the word and it would be sounded out for him, making it as if an adult were there reading the book to him. The student got excited and was more motivated to do his reading assignment. The result: the kid was able to progress to the same literacy level as his peers.

Another story that I enjoyed listening to was about the document camera. Teachers that use it love that they don't have to make individual overhead slides to share with the classroom. The student can visually see the object/homework assignment that the teacher places on the overhead. It helps students to easily follow along with the teacher as he or she is explaining homework to the students.

During the process of writing my section of our e-book chapter, I let some teachers read what I was writing. It was a good thing that they read it because they had a lot of insights that I did not have. I ended up having to change a lot of my first draft because it did not coincide with the opinion of the teacher. It was useful to have their expertise while writing because it helped me to know if what I was writing was really correct or not.

This class was an interesting one because of the unique way that it has been set up. I noticed though that there have been a few very general themes that have been applied throughout the entire semester: open science and open government. I would say that these two themes are what I mainly learned while taking this course, outside of the new way of learning.

I now have a different perspective on open government as well as open science. I used to be a hardcore advocate against having open science, but after hearing everyone's views I have somewhat changed my opinion to a spot on the spectrum that is more in-between. As far as open government goes, I am still un-decided on what stance to take. I see both pro's and con's to both sides so for right now I will remain undecided on that issue.

The whole "self-directed" learning thing was a very new concept to me. I have had a love/hate relationship with it. The one thing that I really enjoyed doing is being able to choose what literature that I wanted to read in order to study and prepare for class the next day. It was a nice way of doing things because you seem to absorb the information better if you are choosing what you are studying. It also allowed me to get a grasp on different concepts that other students would not have seen because they were reading something completely different from what I was. Then we would get together and share what we learned making it so that we didn't have to read everything that the other students were and were still able to learn a lot of information without having to go through all of their readings as well.

The one thing that was hard for me with the self-directed learning concept was the lack of structure. It is very hard to judge grades and things like that in a university when there isn't a set structure put in place with a true way to be able to test people and weigh how much that they truly learned.

The Cellphone: Our Extended Brain

We are so dependent on our cellphones, and they increasingly perform more and more functions for us. They are essentially an extension of our brain. When I was younger I had many phone numbers memorized, I could easily pick up a phone and dial my friends number with no problems. Now I can't dial anyone's number without using my contact directory on my cell phone. Instead of me remembering the numbers, the phone does that function for me.

I also don't have to remember many other things, instead of storing it in my brain I just type it into my extended brain, my iPhone. Remembering things has never been easier. If I need to be reminded of something I just go to the reminder app and I'm reminded to do it.

From the time I was in Jr. High up until my mission I would use something called an alarm clock to wake me up in the morning. After time my alarm clock was replaced by an iHome which allowed my music to wake me up. Now my cell phone has replaced the use of an alarm clock and I no longer have to lug an alarm clock with me if I'm going to need to be woken up in the morning.

I love taking pictures and documenting my life that way. I used to have to take a camera around with me. I got an iPhone and haven't touched my camera ever since. The photos are just as good as if I used my digital camera, and I can easily show people my pictures right on my phone rather than showing them a photo album that I would have had to lug around.

The smart phone has also replaced things such as our daily planners and palm pilots. Our phones are basicall our life lines, without them it would be very hard to function. We check our email, browse, the web, and we can talk to pretty much anyone we desire all around the world.

We are currently trying to even replace our wallets with our smartphones using NFC chips in our sim cards that allow us to use our credit cards just by presenting our phone.

We used to battle about which computer was superior, or what operating system was better than the other. I think that today's battle is which smartphone is better, which phone should I buy, who makes the best smartphone that will fulfill all of my needs.

Education: An Annotated Bibliography

I have been researching the use of technology in the classroom. In doing so I have visit several blogs, websites, and also have interviewed peers that are currently teaching in the classroom in order to gather the most current and best information available.

Kari Kotter, 2012: I use a document camera with mine and I love it! I like how the students can see the same worksheet they have. I'm not trying to explain where they should be, I can actually show them.
She is a teacher and has helped me to understand how useful some technologies such as tablets, e-readers, and smart projectors are used in the classroom.


Gillian Cheney, 2012: The E-readers work wonders with the students. I worked in a special education classroom with them and the students loved them. They struggle reading words, but understand words when they hear them so they all enjoy "reading" or listening to the books. 
Gillian has worked with the e-readers in the classroom for a while, especially in the special education sector. She has great insights as to how the e-readers are affecting the learning process.


Jill Barnes, 2012: I could see tablets being a distraction in the learning process because there is so much you can do on it, the student will be too focused on that rather than what's going on in the classroom.

Jill has good insights on how tablets have had a negative impact on the teaching process. It was good to get some opposing views on tablets in the classroom.

ipadinschools.com, 2012: “There is not a ton of debate about whether this is a direction the schools are heading,” said Annette Alpern, assistant superintendent of instructional services at the Redondo Beach Unified School District. “The question is more: How quickly will the future arrive?”

This website is designed specifically for discussing the use of iPad in schools. It has a lot of relevant information and helps to address alot of the questions that I have had while researching the topic.

Marc J. Rosenberg, 2011: 

http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/743/marc-my-words-back-to-school--tablets-in-the-classroom

Well positioned to take advantage of the K-12 eLearning explosion, tablet design takes us beyond online courses, simulations and games with sophisticated learning objectives in mind. Don’t be disdainful of video games; rather, look at the complexity of the decision-making and cognitive challenges they present. Done right, they can be powerful educational tools. 

This guys seems really knowledgeable on the subject, and his article has been useful to me while compiling my thought and ideas.

Vineet Madan, 2011:

http://mashable.com/2011/05/16/tablets-education/ 

Though tablets are a recent phenomenon, many students in high school and college have been using smartphones for years, and are already well-acquainted with touchscreen technology. Because they’ve become so accustomed to using these devices, students are increasingly expecting to use them in the classroom setting. When classrooms don’t implement what has now become “everyday” technology, we’re doing students a disservice. 

This website has some good insights as to why we should be implementing tablets in the classroom.

My Views on iPad in College Education

I think a lot about the future, and if the future of education involves the use of tablets in the classroom. They are nifty devices that have a lot of benefits, and can really make things more interactive for the student. They also have many other pro's and cons that make them a very useful device in the teaching process.

About a year ago I bought an iPad with the intent of using it with school. I was very impressed with it and what it was capable of doing. I liked how fast and zippy it was, and how easy it was to do simple tasks that would take a bit longer on the computer. It also helped me to keep my media more organized and in one place. I have really enjoyed my iPad.

I started to use my iPad at school immediately. I quickly learned that although it was a great gadget, it was hard for me to be as efficient with my school work if I relied solely on my iPad and did not use the laptop as well. The first obstacle I encountered was typing, it is very hard to type as fast on a glass screen. To resole this I bought myself a physical keyboard. Problem solved.

The next issue I encountered was multitasking. On my laptop I have many windows open and I am constantly switching between them and sometimes I need to have multiple windows open and be viewing them at the same time. I can't do this on my iPad, and really the only time this is inconvenient is when I am doing a research paper and need to be using the internet constantly.

What I really like the iPad for is studying. I use it to study my notes because it is portable and can keep all of my notes in one location. It's also easy to use when I am taking notes in class and from a book.

Talking With Teachers

I used part of my time last week to talk to teachers about the technology they are currently using in their classrooms. This allowed me to get a deeper insight into how things really are, and how things are going while incorporating specific devices into the classroom setting.


I learned that most teachers are very passionate about the technology used in the classroom. They all agreed though that there has to be a good balance between the technology being used and how it is being used. One teacher said, "I believe that technology has a place in the classroom and that it can help students achieve so much. However, I don't feel like technology should take over the classroom. It's a great tool to help students, but it's not the only tool."


While doing the interviews I learned of another gadget that I didn't know what being used, the "document projector." This gadget has a camera which projects the document, which is placed directly below it, on a projection screen, allowing students to see an exact copy of the document which the teacher is presenting. This has been very useful in the classroom because it eliminates the need for the teacher to create overhead slides, instead they can use the original document and the students can easily see it.

When discussing the use of document projector in the classroom a teacher said, “I use a document projector and I love it! I like how the students can see the same worksheet they have. I’m not trying to explain where they should be, I can actually show them.”

Another thing that I learned while talking with the teachers is another way that e-readers are being used in the classroom. Another advantage of the e-reader device is its capability to audibly read the books to the students, which helps them to figure out words that they otherwise would not be able to pronounce on their own. In an interview with a teacher that currently uses e-readers in the classroom I asked her opinion on the use of them and she responded as follows, “The e-readers work wonders with the students. I work in a special education classroom with them and the students love them. They struggle reading words, but understand words when they hear them so they all enjoy listening to the books.”

I'm excited to see what else I can learn while on my search for information on technology in the classroom. 

The Use of Technology in Education

My group is Education, so we have been thinking about the philosophy of education, as well as the technological mediums that have had great impacts on how students are being taught in the classroom. The following are some of the ideas that we have some far:

-Smart Boards
-Projectors
-Laptops
-Tablets
-E-readers and E-books
-Heart monitors in Gym Classes
-Online Syllabi and Course Websites


I believe that technology, when implemented properly, can be extremely useful in the education process. Many times they are implemented incorrecty and instead of becoming something useful it backfires and becomes a distraction to the students. A lot of the devices, such as laptops, being implemented in the education process have access to internet and have caused the students to be paying attention to other things instead of what they should be focusing on in the classroom. Although a great device, it is a huge distraction if not implemented properly with the right controls that limit the distractions.


When technology is implemented in the learning process it is crucial that it is implemented properly so that it does not become a detraction to the learning process. This is something that may be difficult to do in a lot of circumstances, but it is definitely something that is attainable. Many schools implement a firewall that restrict access to the internet on the student's laptop until the teacher authorizes the computer to access it at appropriate times. Many different other controls can be put in place to help limit the distractions.


What are your thoughts on other technologies that are being implemented in the classroom, or other ways that we can limit the distractioned use of these mediums?

iPad 3/HD/2S and Consumption

The new iPad is going to be announced tomorrow. The rumor mill is rolling with all sorts of rumors, all of which are unknown to be true until the official announcement from Apple tomorrow. The one feature that should drastically affect the consumption of mobile content is the introduction of 4G LTE to the iPad.

Currently, the iPad runs off of a 3G connection, which can get max speeds of 1 MB/second. The current connection does not allow for lag-free streaming of HD video content and has been a concern for a while as far as speed goes using the internet on the iPad. Lately, movies have been available to stream in HD and at the current 3G connection the iPad has not been able to stream these movies too well, unless connected to a local wifi network. The 4G LTE is theoretically capable of handling speeds at 42 MB/second... A LOT faster and not even comparable to the old 3G technology.

Because Apple currently is the market leader in the tablet industry, 4G LTE would drastically affect online content consumption. Users will be able to stream content at faster speeds without having to worry about a terrible connection that will slow them down. This will increase the amount of HD content being streamed off of the internet, and with higher demand providers such as Netflix and Amazon will probably be able to attain new licensing rights to increase the amount of online content available to subscribers. Consumption is going to skyrocket.

My Review on Windows 8

So I woke up in the morning and learned that Windows 8 was available for download, so I spent my afternoon putting it on my computer. I was pretty anxious to see how it compared to Windows 7. I was shocked to learn after installation that Windows 8 is a completely different experience.

No Start Menu
The first thing that you notice on Windows 8 is the elimination of the Start Menu. I thought that it was kind of odd because I am quite used to clicking on that windows button and loading up a list of all of the programs on my computer. The windows bar is still there so you can easily place icons on it to quick launch them, but that's only if you are in "Desktop Mode", which you don't use as often in Windows 8. You are probably wondering what they use instead of a desktop. The answer is "action tiles."

Action Tiles
When you hit the windows key on your keyboard, instead of a start menu launching you get "Smart Tiles". Each tile is a different color, and by clicking on it you initiate a specific app that is installed on your computer.... yes, apps. Windows 8 uses apps for most of the things that you do on your computer, while still allowing you to use programs, so it is merging together the tablet interface with that of the pc.

I really like the action tiles. It was kind of difficult at first, not to launch apps, but to learn how to change the settings on the computer because it is quite different. I quickly figured things out though and I have been overall content with the new look and feel of Windows 8 and the action tiles.

The Good
What I like about this operating system is how it integrates your social media into the operating system. This makes it possible for you to chat with all of your friends off of Facebook and MSN Messenger simply thru an app, and it will notify you when you get a message from someone. It also allows you to see your friends status updates and pretty much get information off of their wall without ever even visiting facebook.

I like how it is designed for both the pc and the tablet. This way they can have just one operating system that works seamlessly between the two. This will make buying apps and other stuff a lot easier process because you can use them both on your computer and your tablet.

The Bad
What I don't like is how there are still a lot of bugs in the system. My E-mail app doesn't work at all, so I have been unable to check my email using it. Also, it has issues sometimes loading all of my Facebook contacts into the chat app so I don't usually know if my friends are online or not.

A Few “Fun Theories” So Good That They Have Already Fooled You

We have been talking about Fun Theory quite a bit lately, and quite frankly, it is one of the few topics that I actually enjoy learning about. Taking something tedious or boring and turning it into something that people enjoy doing is an extremely hard task, there is a reason why those tasks sucked to begin with, however, some great minds have been able to re-design people’s perspectives on the task and turn it into something that people can enjoy doing.

I was contemplating about fun theory, when I realized that I have been an active participant in it a lot of times without even knowing simply because the creators of the “Fun Theories” that I have participated in designed it so well that I had no idea that I was being tricked into doing something that I normally don’t enjoy doing.

Just Dance 3 for Xbox Kinect

I recently bought myself an Xbox 360 and a Kinect to kill some time with when I have nothing better to do besides homework. I bought a game called “Just Dance 3”, and I’ve been addicted to it ever since the first time I popped it into the console. I can spend up to an hour at a time dancing to its songs as I am moving and grooving to the beat of the music.

To those that have played Just Dance 3: have you noticed how much you sweat as you play that game? Normally, for me at least, I am sweating profusely just after 2 songs, and as time goes on I become more and more out of breath, but I want to keep playing because I am having a ton of fun doing so.

This is a great example of Fun Theory being employed in our lives. We play Just Dance 3 to have fun and socialize, but what I didn’t realize was that it had turned something that I hate doing (Exercise) into something that I can enjoy and get a good cardio workout.

Zumba

I am not a fan of Zumba, and I probably never will be. I only went once because my girlfriend really wanted me to go with her, and I will never return. I have noticed though that it is an activity that’s been along for a few years that has become a new fad here amongst girls. Instead of running  on a treadmill, girls (and a few creepy guys) dance to some music (kind of like Just Dance 3, but not the same) for about an hour as they sweat away the calories.

I will admit that Zumba was a lot more fun than running on a treadmill, but I will stick to lifting weights and running. It’s just not my thing.

Words with Friends

This is one of the more popular games that people are playing on their cell phones right now. It’s like the game Scrabble, but you play it in your free time against your friends. It’s quite addicting, and I have spent countless Sunday school lessons distracting myself with it. By playing the game you are actually educating yourself on new words. Cool huh?

Google

Did you know that by using your e-mail, Google Chat, and by using Google+ that your information is being shared? You are technically employed by Google to do work for them and they use you as their product. You have fun, but don’t notice that you are doing work for free! I’m sure it’s not that extreme where Google shares all of your confidential information with everyone (they aren’t like Apple, stealing all of your contact information and sending it out to everyone), but a lot of your info that you input into the Google products does get used and sometimes shared.

What other Fun Theories can you come up with that we have been using without even knowing that Fun Theory was being used in the design?

My Passion and Trends

After looking over my past blog posts and things that I tend to comment on, I have learned that the trend I see in my writings is how much I love gadgets, especially the tablet and cellphone market. I talk so much about tech companies that produce those things and debate on the success of specific companies.

One of the main companies that I have been talking about a lot, as well as other class mates, is Apple. I feel that there are many people that have a lot of passion for the company and will go to many extremes to defend it. I find the company quite interesting, and though I have my complaints about them, I use their products. I will admit that back in the day I disliked the company and would not use their products. I one day caved in and got my very first iPod, I was in love with the device. As time passed I upgraded to the iPod touch, then last year I bought my first tablet... the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1... it was good, but I didn't like Android on a tablet so I returned it and got an iPad. My iPad is now one of my favorite possessions and I now use it more than my laptop. I also plan on replacing my cellphone when the iPhone 5 comes out, and I also plan on buying the next Macbook Pro whenever that is released. I'm being won over.

The Cellphone

If you want to communicate with someone you can, with practically anyone, at anytime, pretty much anywhere. Most people our age carry around a device in our pocket that allows us to do such a thing. But think about it, we are so accessible now and this accessibility is more recent. Never before in the history of the world have people been so accessible. When my parents were my age, they had to be near a telephone or make plans in advanced in order for their plans to work out, now someone can simply send us a text message minutes before.

We are also addicted to this technology. The age that kids get cell phones and begin to text has gradually decreased over the years. My six year old sister is already text messaging. Some people that I have talked to have claimed that if they had to give up their car or their cell phone for the rest of their life that they would choose to give up their car... this is how much importance we place on that device in our pocket!

Our telephones have come a long way. It all started back in the 1870s when Alexander Bell created the first electronic device that would transmit sound recordings, then it all began to evolve. The telephone began to change and evolve as it became more prominent in homes. Telephone lines and switchboards were created. Rotary dialing was soon replaced by keypads. Payphones were put into place in 1889 which opened up the opportunity for people to contact people from outside of their homes. Caller ID came about and allowed people to see who is calling before they even picked up the phone. Cordless phones came which allowed us to have no cords on our phone as we talked on it. Now, we have cell phones which has given everyone their very own personal phone line which opened up many more doors.

The cell phone is so entrenched in our way of doing things down that I don't believe many of us could give it up. I personally am so attached to my cell phone that I know that I just could not do it. I was going to do an experiment, like I did with Facebook, where I gave up using my cell phone for a while, however, our culture has changed to revolve around the cell phone, it has replaced telephone lines in our apartments, so it would have been pretty hard for people to contact me, so in the end I did not give it up.. and I don't believe I could have gone longer than a day without using my cellphone anyway. 

One OS

For those who don't know, OS is a simple acronym for "Operating System" (aka Windows, Android, Max OS, iOS, Lynix). That being said, every electronic device that you own with a screen uses and OS, it defines the graphical interface that you will be using while interacting on your device.

The Past

In the past we have had just a couple of operating systems, and they were all pretty much designed for a computer or laptop. Windows and Apple are the two main operating systems that have always been used. Not too long ago something new has came into our world, smart-phones and tablets, so other OS's have been developed for specific use on touchscreen devices. (these would be Android OS, iOS, WebOS). So basically, you have an OS for computers/laptops (Mac OS), and one for touchscreen devices such as smart-phones and tablets (iOS). 

The Present

We live in a time where the two types of Operating Systems have begun to merge. People are buying more and more smart-phones and tablets. The Apple iPad was the most sought after device this Christmas season. With more and more people buying tablets instead of a laptop we have needed a way to have better communication and file transfer between our electronic devices. Right now things are changing and the new operating systems that are emerging have begun to merge the two. The goal is ONE OS. One operating system for all your devices. Your tablet, your laptop, and your smart-phone.

HP's WebOS is what started the revolution. They developed their operating system to exchange data seamlessly between your tablet and smart-phone. HP made it easy to jump between the two devices by automatically forwarding calls/text to your tablet while your smart-phone was not in use or charging. It also made it possible for you to easily jump to where you were when changing between the two devices by simply bumping the two devices together. Lets say that you are viewing a website on your tablet, but you are on your way out the door. The solution: bump your tablet and smart-phone together and you will magically be on the same website on your smartphone that you were viewing on your tablet.

WebOS has caused both Windows and Apple to think harder on the future of their operating system. They too have realized that they need to bridge the gab between electronic devices and create one OS. Windows announced a while back that they were in the process of developing Windows 8, which will be the first mainstream operating system for both Tablets and Laptops/Pc's. They may even release a version for their Windows Phones in the future.

Today, Mac announced their new operating system that will be released this summer, Mountain Lion. Their new operating system will incorporate many things that the iPad already does, such as iMessage, Notification Center, Task List, Memo's, and the iCloud. All of your Apple devices will be able to communicate with each other, and when you buy a new Mac, you just log in to it with your iCloud credentials and it will automatically configure your e-mail and other settings. Another huge step towards ONE OS.

The Future

The future of the operating system is not too far distant. This year Windows 8 will be released, so Windows users can rest content that their devices will no longer have multiple operating systems, making use much more convenient. Apple is beginning to merge the gap as well, and I'm quite sure that we are coming to the end of Mac OS X, which is now 11 years old. Every year Apple has taken the Mac OS X and just revamped it.

The Apple with a Wormhole

Congress sent Apple a letter this week demanding answers. Why? Because your iPhone has a security flaw that allows apps to steal your entire address book and send it to other companies. Some of the known apps that do this are Path and Facebook. It is so easy these days to steal information from people, it's just one of the major issues with our digital age. We need to up the security to protect our information and our identity. We trust companies by sending confidential information in an e-mail, text message, and storing it on our computers and phones. I personally feel violated that Apple's flawed code allowed for companies to steal my private info. Shame on you Apple, shame on you.

If you are interested in the details of the letter, I have included it in its entirety below. Enjoy :)

Mr. Tim Cook
Chief Executive Officer, Apple Inc.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014

Dear Mr. Cook:

Last week, independent iOS app developer Arun Thampi blogged about his discovery that the social networking app "Path" was accessing and collecting the contents of his iPhone address book without ever having asked for his consent.[1] The information taken without his permission – or that of the individual contacts who own that information – included full names, phone numbers, and email addresses.[2] Following media coverage of Mr. Thampi's discovery, Path's Co-Founder and CEO Dave Morin quickly apologized, promised to delete from Path's servers all data it had taken from its users' address books, and announced the release of a new version of Path that would prompt users to opt in to sharing their address book contacts.[3]

This incident raises questions about whether Apple's iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts.

The data management section of your iOS developer website states: "iOS has a comprehensive collection of tools and frameworks for storing, accessing, and sharing data. . . . iOS apps even have access to a device's global data such as contacts in the Address Book, and photos in the Photo Library."[4]The app store review guidelines section states: "We review every app on the App Store based on a set of technical, content, and design criteria. This review criteria is now available to you in the App Store Review Guidelines."[5] This same section indicates that the guidelines are available only to registered members of the iOS Developer Program.[6] However, tech blogs following the Path controversy indicate that the iOS App Guidelines require apps to get a user's permission before "transmit[ting] data about a user".[7]

In spite of this guidance, claims have been made that "there's a quiet understanding among many iOS app developers that it is acceptable to send a user's entire address book, without their permission, to remote servers and then store it for future reference. It's common practice, and many companies likely have your address book stored in their database."[8] One blogger claims to have conducted a survey of developers of popular iOS apps and found that 13 of 15 had a "contacts database with millions of records" – with one claiming to have a database containing "Mark Zuckerberg's cell phone number, Larry Ellison's home phone number and Bill Gates' cell phone number."[9]

The fact that the previous version of Path was able to gain approval for distribution through the Apple iTunes Store despite taking the contents of users' address books without their permission suggests that there could be some truth to these claims. To more fully understand and assess these claims, we are requesting that you respond to the following questions:

- Please describe all iOS App Guidelines that concern criteria related to the privacy and security of data that will be accessed or transmitted by an app.

- Please describe how you determine whether an app meets those criteria.

- What data do you consider to be "data about a user" that is subject to the requirement that the app obtain the user's consent before it is transmitted?

- To the extent not addressed in the response to question 2, please describe how you determine whether an app will transmit "data about a user" and whether the consent requirement has been met.

- How many iOS apps in the U.S. iTunes Store transmit "data about a user"?

- Do you consider the contents of the address book to be "data about a user"?

- Do you consider the contents of the address book to be data of the contact? If not, please explain why not. Please explain how you protect the privacy and security interests of that contact in his or her information.

- How many iOS apps in the U.S. iTunes Store transmit information from the address book? How many of those ask for the user's consent before transmitting their contacts' information?

- You have built into your devices the ability to turn off in one place the transmission of location information entirely or on an app-by-app basis. Please explain why you have not done the same for address book information.

Please provide the information requested no later than February 29, 2012. If you have any questions regarding this request, you can contact Felipe Mendoza with the Energy and Commerce Committee Staff at 202-226-3400.

Sincerely,

Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member
G.K. Butterfield, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trad

Facebook: Being Disconnected

For the past several years I have been a heavy user of Facebook. It makes it so easy to communicate, interact, and keep in touch with all of your friends' lives, however, it is something that also was consuming a lot of my time. One day when I was bored I decided to do some math to calculate how much of my life was being wasted on the social media service. This is what I came up with:

     If I spend just 1 hour a day on Facebook then I am spending 15 days back-to back on Facebook a year

     If I spend 2 hours a day on Facebook, then I am spending 1 MONTH of time back-to-back on it a year

You may be thinking, "There is now way that I spend 2 hours of my time on Facebook a day!" but a lot of you might just be in denial. First, think about how many hours you spend in class a week. Most people spend about 4 hours a day in class. Out of that time in class how much of it are you on Facebook? I'm guessing you probably spend at least an hour out of your 4 hours of class time on it, and some days even more than that.

Now think about how much time you spend out of class on it. You go to the library to study and the first thing you do is check your Facebook feed and wall. You spend a few more minutes stalking specific friends. You may even use Facebook chat for a little bit. Then during your studies you take a few breaks to check your Facebook. Then before leaving the library you check Facebook again. An hour can easily be wasted just in the library.

During the day you are constantly checking your Facebook App on your smartphone. This will easily add up to maybe 15 to 30 minutes a day. If you are at some meeting, or with a group of people you might even be on your phone checking it during those times as well.

You now have some free time, what do you do? You get on Facebook again. Then at the end of the day before you go to bed you check it again, just to make sure that no one has commented on anything. Is this pattern starting to sound familiar? If this story matches your life, you easily spend at LEAST 2 hours a day on Facebook on average. That means that ONE MONTH OF YOUR YEAR IS SPENT ON FACEBOOK, which in the end would be 1/12 of your total life if you keep up with the same patterns.

I recently read an article that spoke of a new study on Facebook. The study claimed that Facebook is more addicting than smoking and alcohol. In response to the article I decided to test that theory and delete my Facebook account to see how addicted to it I am. It turns out that it is harder than I thought. It has now been 8 days, and I am about to cave. I want to get back on and see what has been going on in my digital world. I want to browse through all of the photos that people have uploaded. I want to chat with my friends. I want to read everyone's status updates and check to see if I got any event invites. It's so freakin' hard to resist the temptation to reactivate my account. 

Today has been the hardest day so far, I really just want to reactivate it. It's only 10 AM and I am still considering doing it. I am going to hold out though, just to see if I can do it. Who knows, maybe I can go another week. Only time will tell.

Create: YouTube and Blogging

YouTube has greatly contributed to the digital revolution. Anyone can make a video and upload it onto the internet from virtually anywhere, any place, and at any time. It is possible to upload your video from your computer, from your tablet, and even a smartphone and can be accessed via computer, phone, laptop, tablet, iPods, Blue-Ray players, and even the T.V. now, making the content you publish extremely accessible.

 

There are several people who have become well known simply because they uploaded their videos to YouTube. Justin Bieber is someone known world-wide, and his fame started with his YouTube Videos which were discovered by Scooter Braun who recruited Justin Bieber to his record label which was owned by him (Scooter Braun) and Usher.

Blogging is another way that we can share our ideas and creations with the world. Blogging is essentially free, and allows us to quickly spread our ideas to everyone that has access to the world wide web. Blogging has taken many different applications that have greatly attributed to our learning. There are fix-it-yourself blogs, cooking/recipe blogs, art blogs, educational blogs, and journal blogs just to name a few of the many applications of blogging. As more and more people create and share their knowledge, we grow as a people and become more knowledgeable as we read and apply other people’s ideas.

What other ways can we use Blogs and YouTube to better our lives? 

Flashback

Step back, just 6 years ago. Think about just the process of renting a movie. What did you do? You probably drove to the local Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, walked up and down the isles with your friends trying to find a movie that pleased everyone, paid to rent it, and drove home to watch it. How does that compare to how you rent a movie now?

Now when you want to watch a movie we no longer want to get in our car and drive somewhere. We now can get on our netflix accounts and stream a movie from the internet, or download it off of iTunes without ever leaving the sofa. I think that we have gotten so used to having things "on-demand" that we are too lazy to drive up the street to rent a movie, we would rather get it now on the internet, or have Netflix send us a disk to our mailbox so that we don't have to venture away from our homes.

I look around and movie rental companies are going under. Hollywood Video went out of business just a couple years ago, and now Blockbusters are closing down everywhere. Technology has completly changed how we consume media, and soon DVDs may be a thing of the past.


Books are another thing that have been impacted. We used to mainly use physical copies of books, now we have devices such as the Amazon Kindle that allow us to read e-books. Amazon recently reported that the sale of e-books has actually surpassed the sale of paperbooks. It is also causing brick-and-morter stores such as Borders to have problems. Borders recently went under and I suspect it is due to companies such as Amazon who have developed their e-book platforms.

The Radio: Bringing the Nation Together

I don't know too many people who still listen to talk radio, outside of my dad and a few other republicans that need their Rush Limbaugh. Belive it or not, back in the early 1900's the radio was one of the only forms available for media. It became cheap and almost every American home could afford to have one. People would just turn on the radio and listen to talk shows and the news as it came out of their speakrs.

During the great depression there was a man named Coughlin who had a radio program. When his show came on almost every radio around had his program on; you could hear his voice echoing throughout the streets. He was one of the many people who American's listened to during the depression.

Today we use other forms of media to bring us together. Facebook is one of those forms, and I know it's definelty my main source of entertainment while I'm in class sometimes. Facebook has completely changed the way we communiate with eachother. Before, if you wanted to throw a part or "event" you had to send out a mass text to all of your friends, or call them all up and notfiy of the party, and then hope that they texted you back with a response on whether or not they were going to come. Now all you have to do is send out a Facebook invite and everyone knows of the party within minutes. Facebook also allows us to interact visually by posting our pictures so that everyone can see.

President Hoover and the Great Depression

I've been reading my assigned book, "The Great Depression and the New Deal", so a lot of my postings will come from my thoughts related to that book.That being said, today I read about the presidency of Hoover.

The Core of His Beliefs
President Hoover took the reigns of the presidency during the beginning of the great depression. He has been highly criticized for not doing enough during the countrie's time of need to prevent the crisis from spreading further.

I found a quote in the second chapter of the book that lets us deeper into Hoover's mind on his perspective on things. "He opposed federal relief on principle, believing that Americans risked being plunged into socialism and collectivim if the federal govenement provided aid directly to its citizens."
Hoover belived in very little government intervention. He believed that issues should first be handled by the citizens theselves with the help of private businesses and institutions, then if not solved the problem should reside on the shoulders of the city and state governments. If those instituations could not solve the problem THEN should the government provide relief.

Action Taken By Hoover
It was a time when people were trying to live frugally as possible, living in fear that they could easily have their hours cut or wage reduced at work, or even lose their job. One of the actions that Hoover took was to have business owners to agree to not reduce the wages of their employees. The issue with this action was that "the businessmen's pledge to uphold wage rates said nothing about whether they would reduce hours or lay workers off, and they did both."

Hoover raised tarrifs on imported goods in the United States. After the Government raised the tarrifs it had a ripple effect and other countries did so as well in retalliation. By making tarrifs higher world-wide, there were higher barriers to international trade due to its higher costs, so as a result the world trade decreased 25% in volume.

When Government Intervenes
I feel that the actions taken by Hoover demonstrate what happens when the hands of the government intervene with the business world. When tarrifs were raised by the government it had a large affect on businesses that were trading with the world, and it chain reacted to every nation, causing a collapse in world trade which is necesary for a well established economy to thrive.

Also, when he had businesses not decrease the wages of workers, it caused them to have to use the alternative method of simply firing people because they had to reduce labor expesnes in some form or another, and it became the only option. If you can't decrease wages from everyone as a whole, in result you have to let people go. I believe that Hoover's actions were in contradiction to his core beliefs of preventing massive governemtn intervention.

I strongly belive that the goverrnment should be as basic as possible, doing things that protect our constitutional rights without intervening too much in the free market.

Yahoo Answers and Fake I.D.

In our digital age, it is very easy to be fraudulent. People can claim to be anyone that they wan to be, and there really isn't a way to verify if the person is real, fake, false, true, ect. When online we need to be careful what we consume, and on what we decide to believe.

For fun, I decided to create a fake yahoo account and post some earth-shattering questions, I think the online community would call this "trolling". Disclaimer: Don't take these questions seriously, I made them up. Below is the responses to my questions:

Should I pull the plug on our son who has no arms and no legs?

My son recently got into an accident that caused the loss of both of his arms and both of his legs. He is currently in a coma and being kept alive by machines, and the doctor says that he has a 80% chance of coming out of the coma. I think my son would be happier if we just pulled the plug, no arms and no legs, what kind of life is that?

Response #1: No..please don't..live him..let him be..yuh might think that pulling the plug is what he wants but its not..live he..let him live please..a life can still be amazing without yur arms or legs..

Response #2: It's not a life worth living

Response #3: I'm sure your son wants to live. Everyone has1 life, do u really wanna end it even though he can still be left alive. I say leave I'm and let him live!

Our son now has no arms and no legs, should he assist him in basic activites, or will that make him weaker?

Our child now has no arms and no legs. He is in a coma, but should be out of it soon. We were wondering if we should help him do basic things, such as feed him, and dress him. We figure that by doing so we will only disabilitate him and he won't ever learn to feed himself on his own, forever being dependant upon others. Should we force him to learn?

Response #1: You should assist in being dependent on himself, however this would involve assisting in him learning how to feed and dress himself. Pretty much the same way you bring up a young child. You teach them, show them and assist them with these basic duties when they are young. As they grow they learn how to do these things themself.
It is as if your child has been reset to a younger age, and you now need to be their parent who shows them how to become independent and be able to do things for themselves.

Response #2: I think you should help him at first but then gradually make him adapt to his new life. Wht I mean by this is help him for like a week or two and then slowly have him try and do things himself. Put him into physical therapy...they will help him with daily tasks. Also with all of the prostetics out now those will help him to in the long run when doing daily activities and chores. You guys arent going to be here his whole life so its good to get him to learn on his own. Good luck and God bless you and your family,especially your son.

Response #3: How is he supposed to dress himself or feed himself without any arms or legs? You should assist him. Face it, something tragic happened to your child and he will never be the same again. He's not normal, he needs help.
Life will only be harder for him if you make him do simple things that are very difficult for him to do.

Response #4: You can't force anyone to learn. But think why would your son not want to learn? You didn't say why he is in this condition, I'm thinking it would have been an accident or illness. If he is not out of his coma yet the doctors very likely can't make a determination what his prognosis is. You wouldn't want to give up before you have a chance to let him have a full useful life would you? Great strides are being made even with those who in other years would have been considered hopeless. Ask your son's doctor to let you visit a rehabilitation hospital and see the fantastic work being done daily. I worked as a nurse in one in Sacramento. It renewed my faith in the ability of the human body to heal.
So Yes! Help your son by feeding him as he needs to eat to regain his strength. It will take a lot of training to help him get to the place he can function on his own. He needs you now as much as he did when he was a baby. I think you love him as much now as you did before this happened to him. How will you feel when you look back on this time? If you quit to quick will you feel that you might have won if you had given him a chance and tried to keep him alive? That's a hard thing to live with.
I know you have to be true to your self and do what's best for you and your other family members. but really look closely at the situation and have all the facts at your disposal before you make a move you will regret.

Is McDonald's paper really biodegradable?

Someone told me that McDonald's uses biodegradable products when packaging my burger, fries, and shake. Ever since I've been chucking the McDonald's portion of my garbage out the window of my car because it is supposed to decompose. I started noticing that the McDonalds trash that i've been trowing in my back yard is not decomposing, and it's been a whole month. Is it really biodegradable?

Response #1: ahaha this is the funniest thing i've ever heard!
i work and maccas, and i can tell you. its not biodegradable.
lol.

Response #2: Not all of it

Response #3: All paper is biodegradable, plastic and styrofoam are not. The paper will eventually decompose, but not in one month. Have ever seen an old newspaper or book? Heck I've got a stack of 40+ year old comic books sitting right here on my desk.

McDonald's (and other burger chains) did use styrofoam containers back in the 70s and I believe into the 80s but they switched to paper packaging to be a bit more environmentally responsible.

I'm 6 ft tall and 120 pounds, am I really too skinny?

My friends tell me that I look way too skinny and that I need to gain weight, but I really want to reach my goal weight of 110 pounds. Do you have any reccomendations on how I can lose another 10 pounds, I think then I will be the perfect weight. There has to be a better way than vommiting food.

Response #1: That's not a perfect weight. At your height, you are way too thin! Bulk up!

Response #2: Dude you need to gain not lose! I'm 5 10 and my preferred weight is supposed to be 130...you're crazy and could actually die if you lose 10 pounds. Also if you haven't already started puking your food dont start cause it will cause your body to get confused and shut your metabolism down and you can actually die cause your body will automatically start rejecting food.

Response #3: So you want to be lanky??!! 6 foot tall and u want to be 110 pounds!! You want to be anorexic??!! I think 120 pounds is a good weight and you should consider gaining another 2-4 pounds

Response #4: At 6 feet, you should be at least 150 lbs!

Response #5: ...you think an anorexic man is hot? women worry about being thin already shouldnt the guy strive to have a more built body than his partner??
at the very least, try to be healthy about things. stop or dont start throwing up food thats incredibly dangerous. as an ex bulimic i would know. thats a path u do NOT want to start going down! your height is perfect, so please just eat some food..

Response #6: well Im 6ft 1in and pretty fit, I weight 200lb
clearly your a scronny little b*tch haha. bulk up dude, man I cant imagine what you even look like that thin. sure as hell aint attractive.


How can I save my cat?
I need to know what medicine I can give my cat to save it. He was acting weird so I gave him ibprofen because I thought it just had a headache. It must be very tired because it's been a sleep now for 2 days. I put some Nyquil and Dayquil down his throat yesterday just in case it was the flu. What other medicine should I try? I want my cat to wake up and play.

Response #1: Stop giving your cat medicine and take him to the vet!!! You don't want to kill it, do you?

Response #2: NEVER, ever give a cat medication meant for a human. That's a sure way to kill it. Get the cat to a vet. Find out what's wrong. And the vet will prescribe medication meant for a CAT. the reason your cat is asleep for 2 days, may be a reaction to the meds you gave it.

Response #3: a) if you are a troll, SHAME ON YOU thats a cruel thing to say
b) if you actually did that, get the cat to the vet, NOW!

The Rise of the Rich and the Famous

"Every free-born American has a right to name his own necessities." That quote represents the sprit of the 1920's. If you want it, go and buy it - you deserve it because you are an American. The economy of the United States was booming. Production was soring. Spending was high. The future looked bright from an American's perspective at the time.

There were some technological advancements that aided the high demand of the 20's. Ford created the moving assembly line which enabled them to mass produce their Model-T.... you know, that ugly black car that you see out of your U.S. History textbook and thank the heavens that you drive something a bit more classier.

By the end of the 1920's 1 out of 6 American's drove a car, which was enough to fit the entire nation in an automobile and send them down the highway. As spending skyrocketed, so did the debt of the people. Because people thought that the future was bright, they started to buy luxuary goods by financing it with debt. GMC started to sell cars on high interest loans. This enabled more and more people who couldn't not normally afford a car to buy one on credit, and pay back the debt later... or at least attempt to.

The Stock Market was also a driver of the economy. People would invest large amount of money in it because they watched it rise, and rise, and rise. There wasn't much regulation in the stock market at the time, so what happened was a lot of unethical situations. Investors would group together to create "pools", meaning they would buy eachothers stocks and cause outside investers to speculate the company to be doing well, so they would heavily invest, and the the investers who formed the pool would then withdraw there money, dropping the stock prices back down to their normal levels. This was not illegal at the time, but today if you do so you can expect to spend some time behind bars, if caught that is.

Well, like all good things there is eventually an end to it all. The stock market, after much artifical inflation, began to decline. This scared Americans so they began to quit purchasing luxuray goods and investing in the stock market, halting economic activity. This led to the crash of the stock market, and along came what we know today as the "Great Depression."

SOPA

You know, I didn't really want to join the bandwagon of people facebooking, twittering, and blogging about SOPA and how terrible it is, but after going 1/2 a day without access to my main form of information, WIKIPEDIA, I have felt lost and have had to resort to a day without study, a day without hope, and a day without dreams. Well, it's not that dramatic, but lets face it, SOPA sucks.

I have learned that I really need to find other sources of information other thatn the WIKI. The pros of SOPA: I would actually have to learn how to use a book and do some good old fashioned research at the library. Let's face it, that's not really a pro.

So after much consideration, SOPA must be stopped. I can not possibly live without Facebook and Wikipedia. I am a huge facebook consumer, I one time calculated how much time I spend on Facebook a year: 1 MONTH. Yep, I admit it, if you were to take all of the time I spend of Facebook and put it side by side, I spend 1 month out of the year on it. I calculated this by taking my avearge daily use (2 Hours) and dividing that by the number of hours in a day (24) which gives me a fraction of how much of my time is spent on the dang thing (1/12), and 1/12 out of a year means ONE MONTH!

I also refuse to go use actual books. If SOPA passes we can kiss my education goodbye. Good thing I have an XBOX to keep me entertained today while the WIKI is out.

Digital Drugs

I was recently reading on a tech blog, and a reference to something called iDosing was in an article that I was reading. At first I thought it was some new Apple Product, so I looked up what it was, and as it turns out it had nothing to do with Apple or a new product added to the iProduct line. It was a reference to a new way that teens are taking in drugs, digitally.

To iDose you listen to long mp3 tracks that are sold through an iDealer that can be found online. It is believed that certain sounds and music combination can have similar reactions to your body as Cocaine, Meth, Exctacy, and many other hard-core drugs. Instead of consuming the actual drug, teens can consume the drug in the form of sound & music.

It's in schools located in Oklahoma. Kids are bringing their iDrugs with them on their iPods, and teachers are taking the issue very seriously. A letter was sent out to all parents in specific school districs that are prone to the iDrug usage notifying them of the recent iDrug craze and the dangers of it.

It is interesting to note the prices of these digital drugs, they actually range anywhere from $2 to hundreads of dollars. Many websites selling the iDrugs have sprung up over the last few months claiming to sell high-quality drug facts, some of which have even created a new audio file for intaking the digital drugs, .drg.

Along with the drugs is also a large guide on how to use them. The guide can be purchased from this link https://sites.fastspring.com/idoser/instant/guide for $12.95 and will teach you all that you need to know on the new trend. I share this link only as a refrence to the manual and the price of it, and by no means am I reccomending that you purchase or read it.

There is much debate right now on wheither iDosing can actually get someone high or have strong affects on the human body. My personal opion is that it's just a new scam meant to make money off of a digital product that has a high profit margin. I do not believe that it is something that parents need to worry about, but they should probably teach their kids how dumb it is to spend $1,000 on an mp3 track that promises to get you high like marijuana.

Open Science and Why It's a Bad Thing

What is "open science"?
One of the topics that we have disussed in class this week was concerning open science. While I do not know a whole lot concerning it, after hearing some of the basics surrounding it I have developed some concerns regarding passing laws that make science as open as groups of people would want it to be.

Open science means revealing the secrets regarding your disoveries and inventions. It also means providing all of your process notes and details. By providing this it makes it possible for anyone who wants to be able to replicate your work and use it to their advantage.

At first thought, this might seem like a great idea, one that might help us advance in society with better medicine, greater inventions and so forth, but after pondering this and applying my background in business a quite opposite affect would occur.

Our Motives
When you go to a baker and purchase a loaf of bread, that baker sells you that bread because it benefits him and his family. The baker does not go to work and spend countless hours of his week making that bread simply so that when you need it he can provide it for you, he does it to make a profit so that he can survive. He may enjoy doing the work, but in the end it's all to churn a profit. And by doing his job, both he and you benfit in the transaction: you receive great tasting bread and the baker recieves money so that he can pay his bills and buy food for his family.

When you got to a doctor and he helps you, he is doing so not simply so that you are healthy, but so that he can earn a wage and support his family, just as in the baker example above. One of the reasons why he chose his job is because he enjoys helping people, but the roots of his reasoning for spending countless hours at school and developing the expertise to become a doctor was so that he could make money to pay his bills, feed his family, and survive.

Every single one of us, just like the baker and the doctor, does what we do to make money so that we can survive. Our motives are ourselves and our families.

Applying This to Science
Just as the baker and the doctor, scientists and engineers do the things that they do not simply to benefit society, but to benefit themselves as well. This is why people perfect their skills and become good at what they do: if the baker was a crappy baker then no one would buy his bread, and likewise if the doctor was terrible at his job then no one would go to him and he would be without money as well.When a scientist/engineer creates a process or discovers something new, he can then benfit form his labors and make a profit it by patenting his discoveries and using it to invent a useful product that will be sold for profit in order for the scientist to recooperate costs from his reserach and also provide a living for his family.

Let's say that you are a scientist and you create a new pill that benefits society. You have spent years and years of time, as well as countless dollars in order to develop the pill that you have created. Now what do you do? You patent your invention and you keep your secrets to yourself, and then you sell the pill to others in order to make a profit off of your hard work as well as recooperate your expenses for developing the pill. Is this evil? NO!

Open science would want you to divulge your secrets, reveal your processes, and make it possible for everyone to replicate what you just spent years doing. Why is this bad? Because in the long run you will not be able to make a profit off of your pill, and then you will not be able to gain off of your hard work. You may make a profit in the beginning, but after a few months other companies will begin manufactuing the same pill you devloped, which will flood the market with other brands, which will ultimatley drive the price of your pill down until you make zero profit.

If in the end you are not going to be gaining anything for your work, besides the satisfaction that you invented the pill, then there would truly be no motivation for you to devlop the pill to begin with. You have a yourself and you family to support, and doing science is costly. You would essentially be going into debt in order to receive gratification, but you will not be able to support yourself, your family, or recooperate the expenses you invested into developing the pill. In this situation, no one is going to want to develop anything. New types of good medicine and cures to diseases would eventually cease to exist. There would be not motivation to spend the time doing so. New invetnions would soon stop happening. People will stop inventing new technologies, and in the end our economy and our lives would digress. Our society would cease to progress without the incentives that money provide.

Patents, copywrite laws, and othersuch things are good for society. They motivate us to work harder, and protect our intellectual property. It motivates people to do better at what they do, and to develop better skills than anyone else. It helps society to advance, attributes to the reason why new inventions are created.

How digitally civilized am I?

At the age of 4 I was pretty obsessed with our home computer. It was nothing like the computers we have today, it was simple and ran off of "shell". I would play games like Wheel of Fortune and Jepordy which ran off of the big floppy disks that we were using back in the day.

I am a geek at heart for my obessesion with technology has never changed. Everyday, along with checking my e-mail and Facebook, I also check updates on a few technogy blogs such as http://www.engadget.com and http://www.gizmodo.com. I'm obsessed with these blogs and I probably check them at a minimal of 10 times a day.

I'm the member of my family that has to fix the technical problems at my parents house. If their printer isn't working for them, their comptuer isn't working right, or they simply can't put songs on their ipods, I'm the one that has to fix the problems.

I also must be continaually buying the latest and greatest gadgets to satisfy my obsession with technology. I love how convenient it is to read using my Kindle, or how great surfing the web is on my iPad. I love having a 4G phone that has the latest and greatest features.