Wannabe Digerati
Technology & Social Media
Amazing Texting Stats
Aug 17th
Check out this infographic from Mashable.com (link). It has some really amazing stats on texting in the world:
“Do Kids Learn As Well With E-Books?”
Aug 10th
Thats the question that USAToday.com asked today. Schools are investing a lot of money into replacing physical textbooks with e-readers such as Kindle’s or iPad’s, so its a smart question for educators to ask.
Read their article to find out what they had to say (link), but I do agree with the threat of distractions that hyper-connected devices like a iPad can bring to studying. Though, I did get distracted BY my iPad while writing this short article here, so who knows.
Sharpie’s New Liquid Pencil
Aug 9th
Sharpie just released to the market a new take on the old trusty pencil: the liquid pencil. As of today, you can head to your local Office Depot and pick up the new Sharpie Liquid Pencil that is the result of years of research and development. Apparently the pencil contains a liquid graphite that is erasable for up to three days, at which time it hardens and turns into a type of ink that cannot be erased. Sharpie promises that it writes like a pen, but erases like a pencil. Sounds pretty cool to me, but honestly, I can’t remember the last time I used a pencil as it is.
If this seems like something you would be interested in, head on over to Office Depot’s website and place an order (link).
How to Save a Water-Logged iPhone
Aug 8th
Its once of the scariest things to a iPhone (or any mobile phone) owner: dropping it in water. Its so scary to me that I’ve had two bad dreams in the past six weeks about me either falling or jumping into water with my iPhone in my pocket. But its my understanding that there is a way to resurrect a water-logged iPhone, at least according to the guys at iFixit.com (link). Check out this terrifying video where they drop a iPhone in water, on purpose, just to show you how to fix it:
If watching the video is too scary for you, here’s the steps they say to take:
- Power the phone off as soon as possible
- Take out the sim card (using a paper clip is the best method)
- Stick the phone in a bag of UNcooked rice with as little air as possible
- Let it set for 2 to 3 days before trying to turn it back on
The guys at iFixIt.com say that if you do the first 3 steps and mail the iPhone to them, they have a 90% chance of repairing it for you. If they can’t fix it, you don’t pay anything. Doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me.
Anyway, I hope this short little how-to puts your fears of a water-logged iPhone at ease a little bit.
College Students Are Going Mac
Aug 7th
In a recent report by Global Equities Research’s Trip Chowdhry, it was stated that in five universities that were polled, 70% of incoming freshman had Apple computers. Of course polling five universities can’t speak for all of the univisities in the country, that is a pretty amazing statistics and bode’s very well for Apple’s future.
By connecting with today’s youth first through iPods and iPhones, then Macbooks and iMacs, Apple is rapidly building a strong base of more-than-likely lifetime customers. Most young people I know, unless they are heavily into PC-based gaming, all either have Macs or want a Mac. I’ll be holding onto my Apple stock shares for quite a while with research reports like this.
For more on Apple use among students, see CNN & Fortune’s report, Big Macs on Campus (link)
iPhone Controlled Drone – Pure Awesomeness
Aug 6th
How awesome is this? A flying drone with not one but two cameras thats completely control by your iPhone. Sure its $299 but I know people who have wasted more money on less cool items than this!
According to the video, it looks like it works great!
The AR.Drone can be pre-ordered now at Brookstone.com (link)
Social Networking is the Web’s Top Activity
Aug 6th
Shocking? Not at all. And I bet that a lot of those “Online Games”, which comes in at number 2 on the Share of U.S. Internet Time, are played on social networks.
Read the full report here (link)
YouTube Ups Max Video Length to 15 Minutes
Jul 29th
YouTube’s parent company, Google, today announced that they are increasing the maximum length allowed for videos uploaded to their site from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. Google said that the the reason for the increase was that because of stronger copyright protections they’ve implemented, there is now a smaller chance that people will be able to upload large chunks of movies and TV shows to the site without the content owner’s permission.
While it is good that YouTube is giving people more freedom, I doubt it will make that much of an impact on their users. Most people still use YouTube to share and watch short clips 5 minutes in length or less. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever sat through an entire ten minute long video on YouTube, so I doubt I’m gonna sit through a 15 minute one. People’s attention spans are just too short these days, or at least mine is.
Granted, some people will take advantage of the extra time and hopefully create some stuff that is worth watching on YouTube for more than ten minutes.
Any of you ready for your 15 minutes of fame?
New Paywall Kills the London Times Readership
Jul 27th
The UK Guardian Newspaper reports that since the London Times introduced a new system that requires readers to register and pay for access to their website’s articles, web traffic has nose-dived 90%.
I understand that newspapers need some way to make up for lost revenue from their dying print business model that they have always had, but making people pay for access to news online ain’t gonna work. People are used to most stuff on the internet being free, especially news, so I really can’t see many people paying for it, and the stats back it up. Especially when they can go to other sources and get the same information for free. Recently in the US, Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch has said that they are exploring this option as well. Lets hope the London Time’s massive failure helps change their mind.
What about you? Would you ever pay for news online?
Read the UK Guardian’s article (link)
Facebook Reaches 500 Million Users
Jul 26th
Wow, I’m really starting to get behind in making posts here lately. Gotta get back in the swing of things. Anyway…
Last week, Facebook announced that they now have over 500 million users on their site. Half a billion people. That means that 1 in every 12 people on the planet have a Facebook account. That also means that if Facebook was a country, they would be the third largest country on the planet based on population, trailing only India and China. And all of that growth has been accomplished in just 6 year. Amazing.