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