Screen Capturing Blog Tour Video: 6/4

http://www.screencast.com/users/kristinatorres/folders/Default/media/fdf30614-58f9-4159-a600-877f7445f9b1 

Web 2.0 Finding A Tool

Prezi is one helpful Web 2.0 tool that I can use for many of my classes in school, such as my biology class. With Prezi, I could type all of the information I need to know on one large "canvas". This is a very beneficial resource to present and organize information. I can use this for presentations or just as a helpful studying tool.

Do Now 5/18

      My desire to help make this world a better place is ignited by witnessing and hearing about the struggles in other people's lives. Realizing how hard it is for those who cannot afford as much motivates me to want to make a positive difference. I can contribute to the community by making it my goal to participate in different charity work and get involved in other volunteer work. 

Technology Article 5/14

Verizon Wireless and Sprint to Pay $158 Million to Settle Billing Investigations

• The Federal Communications Commission announced on Tuesday that Verizon Wireless and Sprint had agreed to pay a combined $158 million to settle investigations into millions of dollars of unauthorized charges 
• These unauthorized charges appeared on customers’ cellphone bills through a practice known as cramming 
• Under the agreement, Verizon will pay $90 million and Sprint $68 million 
• The unauthorized charges came in the form of third-party premium text messaging services 
• Most of the charges were $9.99 a month, but they ranged from 99 cents to $14 

RSS Assignment Discussion Questions 5/14

1. Why did you select the sites you subscribed to? 

I chose to subscribe to these sites because they relate to my interests, such as the TV shows I like to watch and singers I like to listen to. 

2. Was it easy to find feeds and to subscribe to them?

Yes, it was very easy to find the feeds by searching with Digg Reader and subscribe to them. 

3. Which sites were your favorites?

My favorite sites were the ones that I subscribed to as my personal interests. 

4. What else can you use RSS feeds for?

I can also use RSS feeds to find the latest information from sites I am interested in. 

5. How likely are you to continue to use RSS feeds in the future?

In the future, I may use RSS feeds to help me save time by not needing to visit each site individually. 

Do Now Writing Prompt 5/13

A new class that I would want to add to our school curriculum is a psychology class. This class could be an elective, so the students would meet during school hours at whatever period they have the class during. The students would learn all about the mind and behavior. This class would help them understand the importance of mental functions in individuals.
     The class could perform activities to learn the material by being hands-on to make the class more interesting for them. To demonstrate their learning, the students could make PowerPoints about the information and present them to the class. Having the students present information to the class will assure that they well understand it.

Microsoft Takes Steps to Close Its App Gap on Mobile Devices 

• Microsoft has lost influence in the technology industry as software developers gravitated to mobile technologies like Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS 

• Microsoft has a plan to win software developers back, partly by making it easier for them to run their existing Android and iOS apps on Microsoft Windows 

• Microsoft stated that it has created new tools that will allow developers to convert apps written in the programming languages used by Android and iOS developers to software that can run on Windows 10 

• Windows 10 is a new version of the Microsoft operating system that is coming out in the summer

Tech Article 4/24

Twitter Broadens Ban on Violent Threats

• Twitter changed its rule, which previously stated that it would only seek to ban direct, specific threats made against others, after complaints about it 
• Last week, The Washington Post claimed that Twitter needed to “do a better job combating abuse without chilling or silencing speech.”
• Now, Twitter has decided that users can get suspended if they promote violence in any way against others 
• The company also said that it would begin to use other enforcement tools, such as temporarily suspending accounts that promote violence or abuse
• The company will also begin testing the automatic blocking of tweets that match previous patterns of harassment 

Wiki Opinion 4/15

My opinion about Wikipedia is that it is a good starting point to discover information, but it is not always reliable. I agree with what was said in the video that it should not be a source to cite in a research paper because the information may not be coming from actual experts. However, I also agree with the video that it is a good way to share information you know with others across the world.

4/13 Spring Break Post

      Over spring break, I went on vacation to Florida with my friend Ariana and her family. We stayed in Orlando at the Grande Villas Resort for five nights. At the resort, we hung out by the pool there to tan and swim. Just a few minutes away from the resort, however, is Downtown Disney and Walt Disney World in which we visited almost every day. Aside from that, we also went to Universal Studios for a day and rode many of the roller coasters there.

      Ariana and I visited every one of the four parks at Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. On the first day, we went to Magic Kingdom, which is the park that is shown in the video. Two days after that, we went to Epcot, where we ate at a Mexican restaurant and watched the fireworks at night. Then, the following day, we went to Hollywood Studios where we rode the Tower of Terror and the Rock n' Roller Coaster. Lastly, we ended our vacation with going to Animal Kingdom and getting on the safari and Expedition Everest.

Tech Article 3/27

10%? 20%? Apps Are Changing How We Tip 

• Apps such as PayPal, Square, Breadcrumb, Apple Pay and Facebook have a new payment feature that is supposed to make paying for things easier 
• New electronic tipping platforms have been quickly spreading in many places such as cafes, restaurants, beauty salons, taxis and anywhere else a tip jar used to be
• The problem customers have with this feature is that it forces them to have to give a specific amount for a tip 
  
• Nir Eyal, a tech writer and entrepreneur, stated that the base tip for taxi cabs used to be 8 percent, but with new apps, it has climbed to 15 percent and even 25 percent
• The tip percentage has always risen in restaurants, where 20 percent is the base tip price 

Tech Article 3/20

The eternity drive: Why DNA could be the future of data storage 

• A storage company called Backblaze has been simultaneously running 25,000 hard drives to figure out how long the data will last in one's hard-drive or USB stick 
• The company concluded that some data may last longer than a decade, but other data may last just a little more than a year 
• Researchers at ETH Zurich, in Switzerland, believe that a permanent solution to store data for millions of year may be DNA 
• In DNA storage terms, one gram of DNA would be capable of holding 455 exabytes, where one exabyte is equivalent to a billion gigabytes 
• Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Robert Grass, said the problem with DNA is that it degrades quickly 
• Because of this, Grass and his team are hoping to find ways of combining the possibility of the large storage density in DNA with the stability of the DNA found in fossils 

Tech Article 3/13

Apple Watch Success Will Hinge on Apps 

• On Monday, Apple held a media event to explain how the new Apple Watch works and how much it costs
• Apple demonstrated what the watch is capable of doing with apps made by other companies 
• The Apple Watch relies on an iPhone to fully operate, so users would have to install watch apps on the iPhone as well 
• Apple will offer three models of the watch: Watch Sport, a version with an aluminum case, Watch, which has a stainless steel case, and Watch Edition, which has a case made of 18-karat gold 
• Some are worried that the watch’s small screen can limit features or ads 

Tech Article 3/6

Google Introduces Long-Anticipated Insurance Shopping Site

• The United States industry has been anticipating Google's entry into insurance shopping 
• The company announced on Thursday that it was introducing a United States version of its Google Compare auto insurance shopping site 
• The site will start in California and focus on car insurance 
• The company has been acquiring state licenses to sell insurance and forming partnerships with the insurance sites like CoverHound, an online insurance agency in San Francisco
• Many insurance brokers who have been in charge of insurance trade for decades are now worried about Google's move into insurance

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  CrediThe United States insurance industry has been anticipating — or dreading — Google’s entry into insurance shopping for the better part of a year. The wait is over.gle said. Customers enter information like their name and driver’s license number, and the site provides quotes in a few minutes. If and when a customer buys, Google will collect a referral fee from insurers.

Tech Article 2/20

"Apple Is Forming an Auto Team"

• The Apple company has been trying to assemble a team to work on an automobile 
• About 200 people have been recruited from Apple and other companies that may be potential competitors in order to create the technology for an electric car 
• Apple has hired engineers from A123 Systems, Tesla and Toyota to work on these advanced battery technologies, which are still a work in progress 
• Apple claimed that this car project is probably many years away from being a successful product 
• Apple also claimed that this product may never even reach the mass market if the vehicle's quality does not impress Apple's executives 

Web 2.0: Multimedia Blog Pre-Posting

evolution

      One of the classes I am taking this year is AP Biology. My AP Biology teacher is Mr. Colarusso, whose website with more information can be found by clicking here. When the class first started, I expected to learn about numerous topics such as evolution, cell life, and photosynthesis. I have learned about all of those topics in class so far along with others that I did not expect to learn at first, such as chemistry and genetics. Check out my AP  Biology textbook to view more of the topics I will eventually cover throughout the course of the year.

osmosis lab

      Although AP Biology can be very difficult, there are aspects of the class that I do like. Some of the labs that we do during class are really enjoyable, especially because I like to be hands on. One example of a lab I enjoyed doing was when we tested osmosis by using pink dye and experimenting with how it can diffuse into a plastic bag filled with water when it is placed in a container of water. Aside from the labs, I also enjoy learning about certain topics during class, such as evolution and genetics, because they are very interesting to me.

      Technology is incorporated in my AP Biology class in several different ways. For example, we will sometimes use laptops to research online for more reliable information about certain topics. Also, we often do virtual labs in which we have to use a laptop to conduct the experiment online while viewing it from the projector. Lastly, my teacher will find helpful videos online to show the class to help us better understand what we are learning.

Tech Article 2/12

"Samsung Tweaks Television Policy Over Privacy Concerns"

• The Samsung company recently updated a privacy policy for its Internet-connected Smart TV line of sets, which allows users to operate their TV's with verbal commands 
• The policy states, “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.” 
• This policy created many complaints from Samsung users because it seems to imply that Samsung is able to eavesdrop on its users 
• Samsung cleared up this so called "confusion" by posting a new explanation about how the system works, explaining that the voice commands are only received when the users click an activation button and speak into the microphone embedded in the remote 
• Samsung also said that the voice commands feature could be turned off completely if users would like 

Multimedia post 2/10

Click here  to see one of my favorite beaches that I've been to.

Do Now 2/9: Educational Technology and Copyright Laws

After reading this article, I learned the true definition of "copyright" and the laws pertaining to it. I learned that the four rights automatically given to an individual who has copyrighted work are that he or she is able to reproduce the work, publicly display the work, prepare derivative work based on the first work, and/or give out copies of the work to the public. Also, it explained the fair use of copyright, including the law that states what is not regarded as an infringement of copyright. Photos that are "licensed", for example, are not subject to fair use by others.

February 12 Weekly Tech Article

"Twitter’s Revenue Grows Despite User Stagnation" 

• the number of Twitter users is surprisingly low to the company, being only about one fifth of the amount of users who use Facebook 
• analysts expected Twitter to have about 291 million regular users by this time, but it only has about 288 million 
• Twitter surpassed analysts' expectation of $453 million for revenue, however, by having revenue of $479 million in the fourth quarter 
• Twitter's revenue rose up 97 percent compared with $243 million a year ago 
• Twitter recently reported a profit of $79 million, which is a huge increase compared to its profit of $10 million a year ago 

Welcome to my Blog

My name is Kristina and I am a senior. I like to dance, eat, and go out with my friends. I have two siblings, a younger brother and sister, and a dog. My best friends are Cali, Ariana, Alexa, Stephanie, and Jessica. The classes I am taking this year are Web 2.0, AP English, Genetics, Honors Pre-Calculus, AP Biology, and gym. I'm planning on going away to college and majoring in Occupational Therapy. Over the summer, I am going to Atlantic City for nationals for dance and going on a cruise for vacation.