Tech Post #5

I Will Check My Phone At Dinner And You Will Deal With It

I found this article on TechCrunch, and it's about texting at the dinner table at restaurants. Now days if you look around a restaurant, you can find multiple people texting because it is becoming the norm even though older generations have the view that "you shouldn’t check your phone at the dinner table." However, "the situation has sort of reversed itself: you feel awkward if everyone else is using their phones and you’re not." Eventually when using your phone at dinner table "fully becomes the norm, there will no longer be the same stigma attached to checking your phone at a restaurant." Some people view texting while at dinner to be rude because they feel as if you are ignoring the others around you, while others consider it to less rude than talking on the phone since you are not making any noise. Even though some peole think that texting at dinner is rude, others feel as if it adds to the conversation by being able to look up facts and statistics, and it could spark conversations on what applications on are certain phones. I feel as if this will affect culture as this becomes more and more of a norm because it's changing the way people interact with each other at social gatherings, especially dinner. I chose this article because I tend to text a lot at dinner while my parents tell me not to which contines to show the different views of older and younger generations.

 

Here is the link for the article: http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/21/phones-at-dinner/

Tech Post #4

Why a War Photographer Shot an Award-Winning Photo With a $2 iPhone App

I found this article on Gizmodo, and it's about "NYT photographer Damon Winter's award-winning photograph, shot with iPhone app Hipstamatic." Once a photo is taken with this application it is processed with "a color balance shift, the burning of predetermined areas of the frame and increased contrast." People are uneasy about photos being taken with programs like this because they feel as if it is inauthentic. Their criticism was "that using a special effects app transformed the picture from a legitimate work of photojournalism to mere photography." While some people criticize this form of photography, others ask the question "how is using Hipstamatic different from using a lens with an extremely shallow depth-of-field and applying heavy vignetting or using an actual Holga camera or special film stock to produce a desired effect, often for aesthetics at the expense of pure documentation?" So the question is what do you think?

I chose this article because I love photography, and I couldn't believe this photo was taken with an Iphone. I think this will impact our culture because it will change the way photography is viewed and how it is "authentically" shot.

Here is the link to the full article: http://gizmodo.com/#!5758350/why-a-war-photographer-shot-an-award+winning-photo-with-a-2-iphone-app

Tech Post #3

comScore: Facebook Keeps Gobbling People’s Time

 

I found this article on TechCrunch, and it's about how people much time people are spending on Facebook. Facebook is now the top dog when it comes to social networking with it's U.S. audience totaling to 153.9 million alone. Facebook has become the 4th most visited web property. "The total time spent on Facebook in December 2010 vs December 2009 surged 79 percent to 49.4 billion minutes." While Facebook's aduience and page views are increasing, MySpace's are decreasing. "its audience declined 27 percent and total time spent on the site declined 50 percent." Facebook has become so popular that it "even surpassed Google, Yahoo and Microsoft in terms of time spent on each site, according to comScore’s data." Facebook has a strong "command over internet users time on the web" so it's "no wonder advertisers are flocking to the social network to reach users." I picked this article because I know that many of friends and that I, myself, spend quite a lot of time on Facebook, and it was interesting to how Facebook has gained so much power in terms of internet domination.

 

Here is a link to the full article: http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/07/comscore-facebook-keeps-gobbling-peoples-time/

Tech Post #2

ComScore Says You Don’t Got Mail: Web Email Usage Declines, 59% Among Teens!

 

I found this article on TechCrunch, and it's about how teens are using e-mail less and less every year as a way of communication. "Total web email usage was down 8% in the past year (YOY), with a whopping 59% decline in use among people between the ages of 12-17." Teens are moving from e-mail to using Facebook, twitter, and texting as forms of communication. I think this will affect the different web emails services and how people will start/continue to communicate with each other. I picked this article because I found it interesting due to the fact I am a part of this trend. I dont really use email too much anymore and I tend to forget to check it which can cause some communication problems.

 

Here is a link to the full article: http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/07/comscore-says-you-dont-got-mail-web-email-usage-declines-59-among-teens/