My Garmin GPS

For my birthday this year, my boyfriend told me that he had bought me a funny gift. He also mentioned that it was something I desperately needed. When I opened up the box, to my surprise, I found a GPS system. As previously mentioned in my blog, I am horrible with directions, so this funny gift would also be quite useful for a girl like me with absolutely no sense of direction.

The brand of this GPS system that was given to me was a Garmin. Before previously buying this brand, my boyfriend received very useful feedback from previous GPS owners and technicians via the Internet. The GPS review website he used is called GPS Reviews. As you can see, web sites like these truly do help in making a decision for someone who may have little knowledge on the product. It is also helpful to use a review site like the one above before purchasing items online, so you can see some of the positive and negative feedback from previous users.

My Garmin GPS system has already proved its usefulness. The other week, I ended up getting lost while going to a friend's house for the first time. I got right back on track after entering the address into the system. Something I value in this particular technology is the easy to use touch screen and simplicity of the technology. I anticipated a lengthy and difficult set up, however I was quite wrong. It was up and running in less than 5 minutes! In addition to the easy setup, I really like that the Garmin can use one's current location as a starting location. This really saves time for someone who is in a hurry or may be unsure of their current location.

Overall, I am very thankful for this technology. In the future, I (personally) will be able to use this device when traveling on business trips or just for the use of going on a road trip with my friends for the weekend.

Adrienne's blogging review.

Looking back on all of my blog entries, I can confidently say that I am happy that blogging was a requirement for my COM 435 course. There are so many thoughts that go on inside our heads each day and it is nice to take a moment to reflect on those thoughts and share them with others. Through reading other students blogs in this class, I have also learned quite a bit about new and emerging technologies and how each one affects my classmates in a different way.

When aimlessly searching around on the Internet the other day, I came across a web site called The Future Buzz. After reading an article about blogging, it confirmed my opinion on the matter. This article outlined 19 reasons why someone should blog. However, it also convinces people that although blogging is a good investment of one's time, the author said that not everyone should Twitter. As a Twitter user myself, I did not agree with this aspect of the article. The aspect I most agreed with in this article was the ability to change layout and text in a blog. This is not true for Twitter. For someone who loves both writing and design, a blog is the perfect place for expression of one's identity. As a former student of Art and Design, I truly do appreciate the availability and personalization of design layouts on blogger.com.

Overall, contrary to my disbelief, I have very much enjoyed writing weekly on blogger.com. In the past, I used to write in a journal on vacations and in the summer, when I had some extra time to gather and analyze my thoughts. This helped me to have a clear head and put whatever I was thinking down on paper. Not only did it help my writing skills, but it helped me solve my problems on my own. Overall, whether writing in my journal or online in a blog), I have significantly improved my grammar and organization in writing, which I am very thankful for. Not to mention, I learned a thing or two about new and emerging technologies :).

The Magic Mouse

Today marked the last day of "class" for COM 435 and my day to present my poster board which explained a new or emerging technology. My topic was the newly released Apple Magic Mouse, which comes with the new iMac or is available to purchase for $69 on its own. In the beginning of my research studies, I had chosen a different topic to present. Looking back, I am very glad that I changed my topic to the Magic Mouse. It was apparent in my presentation that I was much more knowledgable and passionate about the topic that I switched to.

At first, I was a little bit nervous about presenting my poster, because even though I had done extensive amounts of research for the project, I was afraid that I would not be able to answer questions from other students about the technology. Once I began speaking about the positive and negative implications, software requirements, etc., my nervousness disappeared and I became very excited to be explaining a new technology to my professor, TA and classmates. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to interact with as many students as I would have liked to. The handful of my classmates that I did get to interact with seemed to think that the Magic Mouse was really cool. Even though this new technology has been on the market since October of 2009, I was still able to share information with others who were unaware of some of the requirements and features of the product.

Everything in my presentation went according to plan. The questions that many students asked were the same questions that I initially had when researching the Apple Magic Mouse. I had left out my computer equipped with headphones and a video which further explained various features of the mouse. However, not one person stopped by to check out the video. It may have been due to the awkward positioning of the chair it sat on or the fact that there was just too much going on in the presentation room. Overall, I was very impressed with my classmates' presentations on both days. They did a great job relating the information that was learned throughout the semester to their projects. Some students even brought in tangible examples of their new technologies. I had the same idea to bring in a magic mouse, however the closest Apple Store was too far away from my house in West Lafayette and the local Best Buy happened to be sold out. I was also proud of myself for creating and giving a good presentation.

From this project, I learned more about the value that our society places on the idea of 'touch'. From cell phones to ipods, and now to computer mice, many people in my generation appreciate the fact that other information is at our fingertips. Apple understands my generation's desire for things to be simple, easy, convenient, and aesthetically pleasing, hence the production of the Magic Mouse.

Bioplastics

Bioplastics is the topic that I have chosen to do my final project on. There is a significant amount of research and information on this topic, so I am a little uncertain on which aspect I should focus in on. To me, the most interesting aspect is what recyclable plastics could mean to the future of our planet. Many people have abandoned the easy and convenient habit of using plastic because it is not good for our environment. With an emerging technology like bioplastics, many people (myself included) who are centered on the idea of keeping our environment in the best possible condition will be able to use plastics at their convenience because they are no longer seen as a way of harming our planet. If scientists and researchers like those at MIT continue to create alternative ways for everyday products to not become a threat to the environment in which we all live in, we will be able to better preserve this land for future generations.

E-Books

The company E Books note themselves as a "vast range of ebooks from the world's leading academic, popular and professional publishers." Electronic books, commonly referred to as "E Books" may be read on PCs, Macs, Sony Readers and Mobile Phones. On the E Books web site, various works of literature can be searched by author, title, ISBN or keywords. Like any other online bookstore, E Books promotes "Special Offers." They also highlight current best sellers on the sidebar, in hopes of helping you find a worthwhile read for each customer.

In my opinion, this emerging technology will be very easily adapted by society. Many people already buy songs and ringtones off of their various cellphones and computers. If I think about our generation, it is easy to see how marketable this new technology is to them. We love the fact that we can get anything we need at the click of a button. Communication is instant. No longer will we anticipate our favorite classic to arrive in the mail: We will have it instantly with electronic books.

If our society conforms to reading literature solely on the internet, will libraries be non-existent? A library is a thought-provoking learning center that stimulates intelligence and outside-the-box thoughts from people. Although the internet can have the same effect at times, the idea of curling up with a cup of coffee and your favorite book on a rainy day seems simply irreplaceable.

Liable for tweets?

This article from CNN is telling of how technology can be very dangerous in our lives. Courtney Love is currently being investigated due to her tweets that supposedly slammed a fashion designer.

Experts call our current technology situation a "cultural shift." It seems to me like privacy is something that is rarely respected. However, in my mind, this is largely due to the many emerging technologies in our current culture. Twitter is just one example of sharing one's personal life with the rest of the world. In one sense, I believe that if someone should post something on the Internet for the public to see, they should consider the consequences of submitting, posting, etc.

Many cannot tell the difference between a joke and reality. Therefore, it makes sense that tweets can be mis-read. Although slamming the designer via tweets might not have been the best judgement on behalf of Courtney Love, I still think it is important that her privacy is honored.

Mapquest

As previously mentioned, I consider Mapquest to be a life savor. Conveniently enough, I have it on my iPhone. However, today I decided to check out Mapquest on the web. Most of the apps on my iPhone are very useful, but they do not always offer what the web does. The web typically has many more options and features. Mapquest is a great example.

Today, my friends and I were looking for a pumpkin patch in the West Lafayette area. Oddly enough, the closest one we found was about 30 minutes away. Because we were short on time, we could not drive around to look for the pumpkin patch. Mapquest was our answer. I typed in the address, as usual and immediately got results. Because there was a big group of girls traveling to the site, I expected that I would have to print out directions for everyone.

Due to the new feature of texting and emailing directions, I saved a lot of trees! Plus, it was very easy for everyone to find because the directions were easily accessible on their cell phones.