Blog Assignment for Digital Nation

1. Multitasking versus Single Tasking - In the movie there were arguments between those that constantly multitask and whether it is good or not. What is your opinion?

Response: I think multitasking seems to take away from the initial information a person is trying to absorb.  Single tasking may seem too slow or boring to most, but I believe it helps some focus and center their attention on what matters most at the moment, aside from multitasking which can keep you from maintaining one single though.

2. Addiction to computer games - Children in South Korea are being treated for addiction to gaming. Some are even sent away to a camp to "kick their habit". What is your opinion of this? Do you know anyone showing an addiction to gaming?

Response: Not really.  The people I know of; being a gamer myself, tend to be off and on daily, not really focusing my time and attention on them for too long.  I know the hazards, dangers, and addictions that come with them, so I like to try and spend the rest of my time on other daily duties.  I do feel bad for the children however, who stray away from reality looking for a new one, and given the right or wrong influence are unable to distinguish the two.

3. Multitasking hurting Education - Some teachers say the students are not able to write more than a paragraph at a time and that the paragraphs do not connect in any way about a single subject, but instead are each unrelated. Is this a good thing or?

Response: Multitasking defiantly hurts the student, especially having a PC in the classroom, because when they get bored with their teacher or work they turn to the internet for videos, music, and social network sites drowning out all they’ve learned within that time due to effects of short-term memory.

4. Long term versus short term concentration - When print became available; our memories became shorter because we did not need to remember as much. Therefore, long term memory was lost because of the gain in the use of a new technology, print. Is short term concentration simply the new technology?

Response: No.  I know some complain about “Print” but I believe it’s how you use it. Given the right environment some can focus and absorb the material, but others given the right environment tend to focus on their surroundings then the material.  I would blame the user not the print.

5. Value of computers in education - A school in the Bronx, New York changed the way they teach students by issuing them all laptops. Dropout rates improved as well as math and reading scores. Is this the answer to America's education problem?

Response: Not really, although I agree with the issuing of laptops to help the students with their work, even those whom can’t afford them, but again it comes down to the distraction it can make, with the internet at their finger tips at the moment of boredom. With the help of a parent/guardian or companion I guess with the type of management towards work and recreation could put that worry to rest though.

Tell me what You think!

Microsoft Is Looking For Testers To Try A New Disc Format For The Xbox 360.

Microsoft Corp. reportedly plans to implement a new "disc format" for Xbox 360 game console along with the next release of the system update for the system. At present the details are scarce, but since the software giant is looking for multiple thousands of participants of the update preview program, the system software upgrade may be a major one.  This is an important update as they continually strive to improve their products.  As a part of the preview program, volunteers will receive a copy of Halo: Reach along with other possible rewards," said Microsoft's Major Nelson.

“No new information about the updated Xbox 360 disc format is available at present.”  Sates the author, given the fact that implementation of a Blu-ray disc drives requires change of the hardware, Microsoft might incorporate a new recording technology for games distributed using DVD-ROM discs to boost capacity, tackle software piracy or cut its own costs a bit.  A few years ago, Microsoft used to sell a standalone HD DVD drive for Xbox 360 game console, which allowed gamers to watch high-definition movies. Since the HD DVD lost the war against competing Blu-ray disc (BD), Microsoft discontinued the accessory. Potentially, the company might come up with a discrete BD drive for Xbox 360, but that drive will be used for movies only and not for games.

Unfortunately opportunities like these always come out too little to late, the article I read was released March 29^th.  But the actual update was released a week ago. So, sad for most opportunity goers, hopefully someday articles like these can be a little more up to speed to help gamers track them more accurately.

SCCM 2012

At Microsoft Management Summit (MMS), Microsoft announced availability of a new beta of one of many products in its System Center family: System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2012.
Apparently SCCM 2012, is going to enable management for iPads, iPhones, Symbian devices, Android devices and Windows Phone 7 devices. That’s quite an expansion, given that SCCM 2007 only managed Windows Mobile devices.
Microsoft made it available for download as of March 23, the second beta of SCCM 2012. (System Center Configuration Manager “assesses, deploys, and updates your servers, clients, and devices—across physical, virtual, distributed, and mobile environments,” as Microsoft explains it.) Microsoft also announced this week at MMS 2011 a beta of its System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2012 product.
Microsoft is positioning SCCM 2012 as a product that epitomizes the “consumerization of IT” trend in which Microsoft execs are big believers.  This being the new works of Microsoft may fix many problems with many devices, probably making windows the number one product with consumers and manufactures, being universal may even defeat the majority of its competition.

Microsoft and Zune Update!

It’s official! Microsoft has dropped Zune, but when you hear it you hit you think Zune is dead in the water, unfortunately that is not the case, Microsoft says “it’s all about the software”, though the Zune hardware will be chucked, the software lives on through Microsoft’s XBOX 360 and Windows 7 phone.  However with those you will still spend money or money for Microsoft points to buy or rent movies, music, or music videos, which I really haven’t done yet to suggest.  It seems Microsoft saw the flaw in 2006 when it was launched with its design and integrity, especially against Apple’s iPod but continued with its production, with the problems and incompatibility problems like; PC’s and laptops unrecognizing them to deleting entire libraries on a whim that the Zune had, it’s a wonder the device wasn’t scrapped in 2007, even when advertising wasn’t helping it’s success. Microsoft hopes someday for the app to be picked up by other stand-alone devices but none have picked it up yet.  Personally, I do hope to warm-up to The Zune App on my own 360 console, but thanks to RedBox today or tomorrow will not be that day.

Microsoft’s IE9

Microsoft introduced Internet explorer 9 at PDC (professional developers conference) in December of 2009, though they didn’t show much, mainly a few benchmarks, but some talked about the technologies that the browser would use, and a little information about the direction that development would take. But it was a significant event nonetheless. After years of playing catch-up, the stopgap Internet Explorer 7 added tab support, and then the solid Internet Explorer 8, which offered little in the way of support for new Web innovations—Microsoft was starting to position its browser not only as good, but able to take on the competition and be best in class. With the release today of Internet Explorer 9, the company has gone on to say just that “IE9 is the most modern browser there is.”
We know Microsoft set out to do four things with IE9. The browser had to be fast, it had to be standards-compliant, it had to be trustworthy, and it had to put the focus on sites and Web content, rather than the browser. Ars technica, a technology news and information website has been following the browser's development since the first public preview in March 2010, with extensive coverage of the beta and release candidate, but those major points are still worth looking at.  Mainly it was to compare IE9 to IE7 and chrome and strip its interface down to make it cleaner and simpler, intending the site to be the major focus and not the frame. 

The end results were the tabs have moved alongside the address bar (though they can be moved below it if desired), the status and menu bars are gone by default, the toolbars are gone by default, and the icons on the buttons use new artwork, and also includes a download manager, and private browsing.  Feedback say’s “It has a new slimline interface”, “It’s much less annoying”, and some are even upset they had to wait so long for it. I personally do see a difference and wouldn’t mind downloading it and putting it to use right away.

Criminals already take advantage of Japan!

Criminals have already jumped on Japan's twin earthquake and tsunami disasters at record speed, security experts said today. Scams range from links to fake anti-virus downloads and phony donation sites to classic online swindles that rely on greed.  Authorities say "What's surprising this time is how quickly they picked up on the news," said Chet Wisniewski, a security researcher with U.K.-based Sophos. "We knew [scams] were coming, but they started appearing in record-breaking time, less than three hours after the earthquake."

Facebook has been used by cyber-crooks to collect information when users click on a link posing as CNN video footage of the tsunami that struck the eastern cost of Japan Friday, said Sophos in a blog post Sunday.  A record 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan mid-afternoon Friday, and a powerful tsunami struck its northeastern coast minutes later. The death toll may reach in the tens of thousands, according to recent reports.

Scammers are also flooding e-mail inboxes with messages asking recipients to donate money to relief efforts, said Eric Park, a Symantec researcher with the company's anti-spam team.  A Symantec researcher noted that other scams have appeared taking advantage of news of the earthquake and tsunami. "Symantec has observed a classic 419 message targeting the Japanese disaster," said researcher Samir Patil in a post to the company's security blog today. "The message is a bogus 'next of kin' story that purports to settle millions of dollars owing to an earthquake and tsunami victim."

A "419" scam is a long-used con -- named for a section in the Nigerian criminal code -- that tries to convince victims to advance funds in the hope of realizing a much larger return.  Crooks have also registered a large number of domains with URLs that may fool users into thinking that they're legitimate donation or relief sites, said Patil, a tactic that can also push those sites higher on search results.  It’s sad to see how quick people take advantage of a disaster an other peoples tragedy and good will, shows how little remorse people show towards the types of situations. So Beware!!!

Anonymous does it again!

If anyone has heard of the hacker group anonymous, then you’ve probably heard they started a ruckus last year, the "OP(operation payback)" produced an international series of attacks on pro-copyright trade groups and enforcement companies like RIAA (US), BPI (UK), MPAA (US), AFACT (Australia), BREIN (Netherlands), Aiplex (India), and Websheriff (UK). One of the smaller sites actually yielded the biggest bounty; the UK "P2P settlement letter factory" ACS: Law gave up several hundred megabytes of private e-maills after being taken offline by the attack, and the firm has since collapsed.

Also in the fall of  2010, WikiLeaks came along, bursting into the media like a second sun, when it released a huge cache of US diplomatic cables. Anonymous reacted quickly.  When companies like Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal made it more difficult to donate to WikiLeaks, and they redirected Operation Payback towards payment processors.  The attacks were not wholly successful, but they did stir police in multiple countries to action. The FBI seized servers in December, then executed 40 search warrants early this year, while the UK made 5 arrests and the Dutch picked up at least one man. In all of the excitement, Operation Payback's initial goals were forgotten and the operation died out.
Well though they may have been foiled, they haven’t been broken.  This time taking down the website for Broadcast Music International (BMI). They have been talking about it in Internet Relay Chat (IRC) rooms for weeks, even releasing graphics to stir the hearts of the faithful. "Copywrong" would be vanquished by the the "legion" of Anons, though it was never quite clear what this entailed, but BMI eventually fell under the load.  They leave with the promise; “More attacks are on the way.”  Though the writer ends with “This could be a long fight” It seems like authorities are doing all they can too take them down, but we’ll see in time. Engaurd.

Lenovo's Thinking Now!

Lenovo’s releasing a new laptop, called the ThinkPad X220.  The second generation X series laptop from Lenovo, offers quite a bit wit this baby, Sized at a decent 12.5 inches, this fresh piece of machinery will feature a new "buttonless" touchpad also retaining mouse keys in support of the TrackPoint navigator, while offering the sweet bliss of a 1366 x 768 IPS (Inches Per Second) display, up to a 2.7GHz Core i7-2620M CPU, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and a choice of Intel SSD’s ranging up to 160GB. The 9-cell battery is rated to last you 15 hours and there's an additional external battery pack that will keep you tether-free for 23 hours. I found the full specs Lenovo provided within a PDF file and saw a decent amount of features and components, The ThinkPad will be released very shortly Lenovo stated but as of when and pricing is still yet to be determined, I however look forward to it and I’ve been in the market for a new laptop, this ThinkPad may be the one I’m looking for.

The iPad 2

Its said that the second-generation iPad will have an Apple A5 processor that will provide more speed and power while not consuming more power than the original iPad's A4 chip, giving it faster performance than its predecessor, even though the current iPad has excellent performance and is already pretty thin and light as well as support for high-definition video output thanks to a new adapter. It’s also supposed to be thinner and lighter than its predecessor. With a release in April while all of the changes I've read about will be welcome, I don't expect them to be dramatic improvements.  It seems there's nothing in the iPad 2 that's going to make the original model obsolete. The only current iPad owners who should be seriously considering an upgrade are ones who really want to do video conferencing.   Either way I have been out of the iPod/iPad movement and don’t really expect to see my way into it, I can’t really find anything appealing about them either, they’re too pricey and flashy.  Is it for me? definitely not.  Would I recommend it? probably not,  It's all up to you and your notes.