Book Podcast

Design poetics voice over- Runner

A Social Network that Pays You

There is a new social network called Chime.in. It lets people create pages about their interests and they get paid for the resulting or revenue that they collect. It was created so that people who like a certain thing can interact with other people who have the same interests.

This new network plans on giving people 50 percent commission or let them sell their own ads. The site resembles facebook but is also like twitter because the status is the main attraction and that users can follow anyone without having to friend request others.

It launched in october in BETA but it is said to be offically launched at the end of this year. So far they say there are about 5,000 users using Chime.in and it looks to be rapidly increasing.

Get the party going with Party Robot!

The party robot was created mainly as a theraputic tool for children with autisim. This toy would help them with social communication. The robot is now being sold to everyone as a toy that can dance to the beat of music or of clapping of hands.

The robot that was made for autistic kids cost over $1000 dollars but this is about $50 dollars. It is also said to be this years number one Christmas give for kids. The Party Robot, also known as My Keepon is a great toy for all kids because it helps they communicate with others and is fun to dance and play with them. Here is a video that shows what they can do.

http://www.technologyreview.com/video/?vid=751

iPhone 4S flaw

The new and most wanted item to come out of Apple has a flaw. A large number of customers angerly contacted Apple complaining that the battery life of their phone was poor. Their phones which should last up to a day would die within a few hours, which is abnormal. The Apple company went to work to find the problem with the new phone. They found a few bugs causing the problem and sent out an update to the phones that will fix the issue.

However, the phones still will drain energy but just not as quickly. The article talks about tips of help decrease the drainage. First, lower the lights on your ipod so that it is not as bright. Then make your auto-lock time to one minute. The more time that your phone is locked the less time will be being used and lose energy. Also, another big tip is to turn off the wifi on your phone if you are not using it. Hopefully Apple creates a better way so that their phone will have a great battery and the life of the phone won't end so quickly.

Design Poetics Video poem by kellie lorence

Special Mouthpieces for Football Players

Stanford University is currently using special mouth pieces to see how much of an impact head injuries are on football players. They plan to expand these mouth pieces to not only foot ball players but also to lacrosse, hockey, and soccer players. The mouth guards were created by Seattle-based X2 Imact. They hope to also create an affordable alternative to specialized helmets that have been used in head injury studies.

This is a good invention because head injuries during football games are a growing concern. They tested the product on dummies and are still collecting data.I believe this would be a great idea because it can help them find out what to do to help people not get concussions and other harmful brain injuries.

Design Poetics 2&3 Kristopher Wiltsey's poem

Car to Car Communication

Car to car communication is the latest technology being researched by the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. These have special radars, lasers, and video sensors that help the cars know if another vehicle is coming in close contact with them. These will help the driver know when it is safe to cross an intersection and if there is traffic.

This new technology is interesting because it is going to be like having a Smart car. It will tell you what to do and let you know if someone is entering your blindspot. This technology will hopefully benefit drivers and help keep the roads safe to drive on.

Tests are still being ran and research is still being done on these communicating cars. But, within the next 10 years our cars might be able to talk one on one like people do.

Goodbye Facebook, Hello Google +

The social network, Facebook is upgrading its old layout and adding a new one. However, most people prefered the old facebook and moving onto bigger and better things such as Google +. Google at first made Google + private and only certain individuals were invited to use it. Now Google has opened Google + to everyone. With Google + you can create "circles" and you can even add celebrities to your circle and get updates about them.

Google + is like a combination of facebook, tumblr, and twitter. You can communicate with your friends, blog and write messages, and follow people and keep updated on their life and other things. Something really cool about Google + is you can video chat with other people. On facebook, you can video chat but only with one person. On Google + you can chat with mulitple people at a time. I created a Google + account the other day. It is a little confusing at first but I finally got the hang of it. I predict that Google + will become more popular than facebook in the next couple of years.

Longer Term Missions for NASA

NASA created an partically inflatable habitat that can allow astronauts to stay in space for a longer time and also remain safe. They tested the habitat in the barren area of Arizona because it has the same kind of terrain as space does. They sent the astronauts to this habitat to sleep overnight and would have them do stimulation work during the day every day. The structure is currently made of a hard cylindrical shell with some inflatable parts. There are four rooms; two outside additional for cleaning dust off and for hygiene and a inflatable part that gives the habitat a second level for sleeping and other recreational activities. Inside the habitat the astronauts will be able to control the temperature and other things with iPhones and iPads.

They created this vessel so that astronauts will be able to survive while living on the Moon, Mars, an asteroid, or just free flying. Deep space missions are dangerous because of the radiation that causes cancer and solar flares. Being able to stay in space longer can really change space science. They could physically go out into space and study different space specimens. They hope to have a way to test a flying unit in space within the next 10 years. I find this absolutely fascinating. I was upset when I found out they were cutting back on NASA's funds but I think if they could successfully create a unit that can safely keep astronauts in space for longer change NASA history.

Culture paper

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1DJFzd3pWrhT7ISIi82-Th-jS4uQxpgKIxsV3BJRwj3Q

Poem!

Falling, falling into a deep dark hole

No light is to be found in this hole of sadness.

There is nothing to do to but let the darkness enclose my body.

But wait! What is this I hear? Tiny tunes dancing upon the air.

The melody of the song gently lifts my soul out of darkness and into the light.

Music is my savior, my escape from the troubles of the world.

It allows me to express my creativity and takes me to a place where I am safe.

Singing sooths my mind and my body

The words I sing paint a picture of a story waiting to be told.

Without my music and my voice I would be back in the dark abyss

There would be no light in my heart and no smile on my face

Just one sound of harmony puts me in a state of enchantment

And I hope that I spend the rest my days basking in its glory

To Hear or Not to Hear.. that is the question?

I came across a rather interesting article about a new type of ear phone that helps prevent hear loss. Numerous people, including myself, listen to their Ipods or Mp3 players way too loud. I do not think I am listening to music that loud but my friends are always asking " uhm isn't that a bit loud? I can hear your music from over here." Why does listening to music cause hearing problems? Well there are little hairs in your called Cilia and when listening to the music so loudly it causes the little hairs to break apart. These hairs however do not grow back causing deafness.

This new product is suppose to limit the volume without distorting the sound. A lot of ear phones go up to 88 or even to 113 decibels which really can mess up your ears. With the new earphones the maximum volume cannot go past about 85 decibels. They are having a hard time selling this new product because people are complaining that the music or other audio they are listening to is not loud enough. Young people are their main target but they just will not budge because they like to listen to music loud. I personally think the reason it isn't loud enough because our hearing is already going away. I think its a great idea but hopefully they will find better selling tactics to get it out the the younger generation to at least save their hearing.

Bookless World...

A world without books would be a meaningless world. Books are what give people an imagination and knowledge. In the movie, Fahrenheit 451 people could not go a few minutes without watching TV. They were always in a daze and were just very weird. They felt words in a book were meaningless and just made people wish they had different lives. Nevertheless, that is why books are so important. They are a great form of entertainment because they stimulate the mind. Without them, I feel the world would lose creativity. People would be so dull and stupid. To be honest, the world we live in is sort of kind of like the world in the movie. People are too busy with technology to pick up a book. They are even making nooks and kindles and eliminating books all together.  I realized that I have not read a book lately because I spend too much time on Facebook or on YouTube.

            Imagine... looking at a comic book with just pictures or being sucked into the television. Your mind turning into goo and always being in a horrible daze, not sure whether your life is real or not. There is no way to get away from your problems. You always feel clueless to things that are going on around you or to what things mean. Having conversations with others that last a few seconds because you run out of ideas to discuss. People would be inside watching television no stop so people would never be outside enjoying the fresh air. Doesn't sound too fun does it? Life in a world like would get boring really fast. With books, you can escape to a secret world of your imagination where your problems are behind you. Words are not rubbish and they help you understand events that happened in the past and other important things about life. Do you want to live in a world where you are a mindless drone or would you rather live where you can be creative and be intelligent? I know personally I would die if I did not have books. I say no to a world without books!!

Have a heart problem?

Apparently there is a new application on the iPhone where you can track whether or not you have a heart problem. It is called ECG. All you have to do is place the phone against your chest and with the webcam video installed in it there it showed a electrocardiogram. With the phone you could see the pulse of your heart. Although this is an iPhone application it sure is not a cheap one. The cost varies but it will cost about $100.

I find that this is a bit weird. Many people at first believed that this appliction was a fraud but it is supposed to look work. I had saw the video myself, I too would have doubted the ability of the application. I am sure that I will be seeing people walking around fiddling with this new application. Although it is expensive people will just buy it just so they can have it.

Post Card front & back

ecard!

Weekly blog 1

I remember when 3D was such a rare thing but now it is all you ever see in the world. It started out with the occasional 3D movie but now EVERY movie is in 3D. Not only are movies in 3D but they now have 3D TVs and Phones. On Engadget.com there is an article about how they are putting a screen over top laptops to make a person's webcam have an 3D effect to it with out using the glasses. Currently only Sony is doing this to their laptops and they are still very expensive.

To be honest, I think the 3D craze is a bit much now. Those items that they are selling that are 3D are not even affordable to the average person. People shouldn't be wasting their money on something like that. I know that when I watch something in 3D it strains my eyes. Image watching Tv, a movie, or even looking at your phone all day in 3D, that can damage your eyes pretty bad. Although it seems super cool that you can now chat on webcam in 3D, I still do not think its worth it.

My Life

Hi, I'm Sara Hewitt and I am a Communications Major at AU. I was born in Reading Pennsylvania but moved to Beckersville Pennsylvania after my mother had a stroke when I was three years old. I have been living with my grandparents for eighteen years now but I currently live on campus. For the first two years of college I was unsure about what I wanted to do with my life. Everyone else I knew was set on what they wanted to be and had their plans in line. Finally, I figured that Communications is a good direction for me but I am still unsure of what I want to do with it. Hopefully after taking more of the core classes for my major I'll be directed to my "Calling".

Besides school, I am very into music. Music has given me many special opportunities such as touring all over Europe. I went with a selected choir to Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland. I have been singing since first grade. Most kids stop chorus when they get to Middle School when it is not required anymore but I kept with it. I also have been in five musical productions. I was going for Vocal Music as a minor but I had to drop it for graduating on time purposes. Now music is just my outlet for stress.

I am a pretty outgoing person. Making friends and doing new things is what I thrive for in my daily life. I was a very shy person in High School but I figured College is a start of a new life and a new me! I am not going to lie, taking risks and doing new things still scare me but I am willing to charge through it because I know in the long run it will help me. Pretty much this is me, your average girl searching for the right pathway to success.