Reflections

     The past 12 weeks I have learned a lot, but why would technology be important to me? Well, I think that the reason technology is important is because it helps us to do things that humans can't do themselves; yet they can make machines that will do whatever it is for them. I think technology is important because it helps make our lives easier. In the past 5 years, technology has changed so much. Now, everything is touchscreen and flat screened, compared to the old televisions that had curved screens and the old phones that flipped. Five years ago we didn't have blu-ray, and people went out and bought CD's, rather than downloading their music. In the next 5 years, I know that technology is going to change greatly, but what they're going to invent I do not know. Maybe next they could invent a transparent phone.
     When I'm working on my school work, the only technology I use is the internet or a calculator. Everything else I get from a book. I like getting my information from a book because I feel like I can trust it more than I could trust what comes off the internet. In my spare time, I use the internet to talk to friends, or sometimes I will watch a movie with my family.
     In the future, I think that I will use some of the things I learned, such as photo editing. I had never edited any of my photos until a few days ago, and I really like doing it. I also think that I will use some other things such as knowing how to make an avatar. For lifelong learning, I think that a blog would be the most practical because people can write about any topic, and if your reading the blog, its because you want to learn more about it.
    I don't think I'm ever going to make a podcast again, it was my least favorite since I don't like to record my own voice. My favorite thing we did in Online Experience was making the avatars. I like to design things, and even though my avatar didn't look like me, I had fun making it.

Photo Editing

1980's Powerpoint

1980’s powerpoint

Chirbit

Check this out on Chirbit
Check this out on Chirbit

Technology Article: Chrome Pixel Touchscreen Laptop

The new Chromebook laptop is the first to have touchscreen capability on a computer. It has about 4.3 million pixels, which equates to about 239 pixels per inch. Most laptops and computers only have about half that amount. This laptop was an attempt to get rid of all hardware, so there is also a built in laser microphone under the keyboard, along with the two other microphones next to the camera. The computer gets its internet through Wi-fi, and the battery life of the Chromebook lasts about five hours. Now, this may seem very glamorous, until you hear the price. One of these laptops cost between $1,299 and $1,449 depending on the version you get. Google predicts that in the future all laptops will have touchscreen!

Voki vs. Blabberize

I personally liked making the Voki avatar better, I thought it was much easier to use and it was easier to find something to say since you are talking about yourself. However, if I were to use on of these sites again it would probably be Blabberize because I found it a little bit more interesting than the Voki. You could use Blabberize in other classes for a project maybe, like in history class. This way instead of writing a paper on them, they would have a voice and you could listen to it that way. I think people might want to pay more attention to it. It did take me awhile to make my Blabberize work, I thought it was hard to get the mouth to move right. It also took me awhile to make my Voki, I wanted to get it to look as much like me as possible. However, I dont think it looks like me at all. I thought both of these sites were fun, and it was the first time I've ever used a microphone online, so I learned something!

Frida Kahlo Blabberize

Online Safety/ Identity Theft Cartoons

By KaityG567 | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

By KaityG567 | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Julie's Journey & Tracking Teresa

     In this short video clip, a 13 year old girl named Julie started talking to this guy,named Tom. She thought he was a teenagers also. However, he wasnt. He was a 56 year old man. Julie started talking to him between 3 and 6 hours a day, and when she couldn't talk to him she got really upset. She knew that she wasn't supposed to be talking to him, but she did it without her parents knowing. As they talked more and more everyday, they went from friends, to best friends, to a sort of relationship. Shortly after that, she ran away to go see him for 3 weeks. She didn't know what was going to happen to her. She knew Tom could have done anything he wanted. However, someone saw their truck and reported it. Now, he is in jail for 25 years. After he went to jail, he sent Julie a letter stating that if he ever got out of jail he was going to kill her. Julie said that she would, "never do it again."
      In the short clip, "Tracking Teresa", A girl with the user name of Teresa01 in a chat room online, didn't put any of her personal information like her age, gender, or real name. However, she did put her little brothers name and her hobbies, and just by that, someone can find out a lot about you using directories and search engines. Within 20 minutes, Someone can know where you live, your phone number, your full name, your family members names, what school you go to, your hobbies, and much more.  I have put my personal information out online before, but after watching this I will make sure to be extremely careful about what I put online and never do it again. I think the most important thing to remember when your online is to be smart!

Cyberbully Movie

     I thought that this movie was very realistic. So many people today don't think too much when they are online, and give out their information as well as adding people they don't know. However, as the girl in the movie found out, this can be very dangerous. Even though this movie was very exaggerated, this could happen in real life. When kids are being cyber bullied, they feel that they are alone and can't get away from it since it follows them home. Some feel that suicide is the only option, as did the girl in this movie. I feel that parents should keep a close eye on what their kids are doing online, for this reason. If more parents paid attention to what their kids were doing online, I think that many lives could be saved.

Status Cloud

I was surprised to see that there are a lot of people with the same name as me. One lady, a 26 year old, Has the exact same first, middle, and last name! There was nothing I was embarrassed about, I'm pretty proud to see that I don't have anything embarrassing or inappropriate on my Facebook page. In the future, I will make sure that I continue to keep my posts clean!

Netiquette

     Netiquette is how you should behave online, You could think of it like manners. It comes from the two words network and etiquette, Which is a proper way you should behave. Netiquette affects anyone that can see what you say, or anyone that is talking to you.
     An example of good netiquette might be to use good grammar or don't forward spam to other people. You could also share the results of a question with other people or being respectful of other people's property, such as their personal files.
     Someone who forwards spam, or reads other people's emails or files has bad netiquette. Another example of bad netiquette might be someone who is trying to pick a fight with somebody else online or someone who picks out all the mistakes that a person makes.

Downloading Music

Many people like to listen to music, but what is considered legal and illegal? Well to put it simply, you have to pay for what you use. For example, If you buy a CD and rip it to your MP3 player, You can not let your friend use it. You also may not download files from the internet or share files with another indivudual of any kind. However, you can use the CD for your personal use and you can let others listen to it with you if you are in the car, You just cannot let them have a copy of the tracks or the CD itself.

Read more at: -----> http://www.worldlawdirect.com/article/1395/downloading-music-legal.html

ZZ Top Vs. John Lee Hooker

 In 1948, John Lee Hooker recorded his hit song called "Boogie Chillen". He did two remakes of the song, One in 1950 and the other in 1973 with a band called "Canned Heat". This song was featured on an album called "Hooker n' Heat". That same year ZZ Top recorded their hit song "La Grange" and was featured on their album "Tres Hombres". Hooker's label, however, noticed some similarities in the song and sued ZZ Top for copyright infringement. Unfortunately for Hooker, he lost the case and ZZ Top was not sued.

 Read more at:
http://www.benedict.com/Audio/ZZTop/ZZTop.aspx

Iceland Glogster

Iceland Reasearch Project Wrap-Up

      At first I didn't think I would like to do my project on Iceland, It wasn't the country I originally wanted. But as I started to research about it more and more it became a country that I would love to visit myself one day! My favorite part about my country is how preserved and beautiful it is. It looks the same as it did one hundred years ago! I thought it was really cool to learn about a country that I would normally have no interest in whatsoever. My least favorite part was doing a storyboard on my power point, However I do think that it helped when I came to make the actual power point. I think one of weak points not looking at the audience when presenting, However I think that I had plenty of visuals for each slide. I learned many new things about my country. I never would have guessed that the climate in Iceland is like that of Florida's. A suggestion for research projects in the future might be to let them have one thing that is a surprise, that they want to talk about and put that on their power point.