All-electric monster truck

1. Topic: Electric Monster Truck
2. Article Title: Bigfoot monster truck goes all-electric, crushes cars in silence

3. Article Source: Slashgear

4. Summary: Monster trucks are known for their loud noises, and gas guzzling ability. Although that is still true for most today, there is one that stands out. The Bigfoot monster truck to be exact. It has been produced into a new model. An electric model. With all the same capabilities as before, but with less noise, and less fumes.

5. Reaction: I am very surprised that this had not happened sooner.

6. World Impact:

• I think that it is going to make a big impact now that they are more Eco-friendly. Not only would it be less expensive to run, but it would be cleaner too. Now it won't harm the environment as much as it did before. But it also takes some of the fun out of it. The loud noises is what some people enjoy most about them.

Broken Records

1. Topic: Video Gaming Record Broken
2. Article Title: Guinness world record for the longest video game marathon broken

3. Article Source: Gizmag

4. Summary: The previous gaming record of 120 hours has been broken by Oken Kaya. He logged 121 continuous hours of playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. He began his journey on Tuesday, November 13th. He is even trying to beat his current record. The previous record was held by two people in Canada.

5. Reaction: I think that playing for 5 days straight is just short of insane! There is no possible way that I myself could go for 121 hours with no breaks. I have heard that playing video games for too long can cause seizures, and other problems dealing with eyesight. So what I am having problems understanding is how he is still as healthy as he was before. Most people I know experience headaches, and blurry vision after about two hours! I can't imagine what they would be like after 5 straight days.

6. World Impact: Now that someone has beaten the previous record of 120 hours, I'm sure that it will spark more gamers to try and beat the new record. Give it a year or so, and you will be hearing of someone breaking this record with 122 hours of continues gameplay. It might even be the same person. He did say he wants to go further into the record. Maybe the previous record holders will try to get their title back. It might turn out to be a full out war between these 3 gamers. Seeing who can log the most continuous hours.

Weekly Blog Review #10

This week we discussed identity theft. Here is some vocabulary that went with it:

• Scam- An attempt to trick someone, usually with the intention of stealing money or private information.
• Identity Theft- A type of crime in which your private information is stolen and used for criminal activity.
• Vulnerable- In a position that makes it easier for you to be harmed or attacked.
• Phishing- When people send yo phony emails, texts, calls, etc. to hook you into giving them your personal information.

This is a list of things that people might want to take from you in order to steal your identity:

• Full name
• Date of Birth and where you were born
• Drivers licence or passport
• Social Security number
• Mothers maiden name

What could happen if you identity is stolen?

• You could serve jail time.
• Go bankrupt
• Accounts get hacked
• Ruined credit
• Held responsible for things you did not do

Here are five rules to follow to protect yourself from online scams:

1. Avoid opening the message or email in the first place.
2. Don't click on any links or download attachments; the might contain viruses or spyware.
3. Don't reply.
4. Mark as "junk mail" or "spam" for you email provider, or report it to your social network sites.
5. Verify contact information. (Banks or other businesses should never ask you to verify your account information. You should contact them and see if it is a reliable email. But banks never ask for account verification. They have it stored so they don't have to.)

Thats all I have for you this time! We didn't have a web 2.0 tool this week. So thats all folks!

Weekly Blog Review #9

This week in my Introduction to Publications class we learned about data collection. How companies can track your searches and what sites you go on. Here are some terms we learned:

• Track - When companies collect information about you based on your online behavior.
• Target - When companies tailor content to you based on the information they have collected about you.
• Demographic - Common categories of the population, such as age, gender, and race.
• Cookies - Data files that are stored on your computer when you visit certain sites.

Now that you know more about data collection, here are some tips to help limit the collection of data on you or you computer:

• Always read the fine print. It might just tell you some important information. Like whether they will sell your information to other companies or not. For example, if you have gotten spam mail after signing up for an accouunt, then the most likely sold your email.
• Avoid using the same website for your email and your search engine. That can limit the total amount of information that is retained by one site. Also, clear out your browsing history and cookies, so that your searches and browsing are not connected.
• Avoid downloading search engine toolbars. When you do, it may permit the collection of information about your web surfing habits. 
• Disable auto sign-ins. This saves your information, so that other people can access it.
• Clear out your cookies!
• Determine who your audience is. This is mostly on blogs and social networking sites like Facebook. You can determine who can see your information on Facebook in its settings.
• Opt out cookies. I know you can do this in Google Chrome in the settings, and I'm sure you can in other browsers, but I don't know how.

This week we used Mixbook to make a pamphlet about limiting your data collection. Mine included the tips above. And also a few pictures, not much more. I really liked using Mixbook because it was easy to navigate. I just think that they could put in better templates.

Also, this week we moved into out building!!!! On Friday November the 2nd was our first full day in the LSB (it stands for Lena Sue Beam, but I say Lumpy Space Building. Because of LSP from Adventure Time.) Being in our building is so much better then being in the MC.

So, overall, I've had a pretty good week. Nothing to stress full. I'm excited for Spirit Week next week! Here are our days:
Monday: Nerd Day!
Tuesday: Culture Day!
Wednesday: Gender-Bender Day! (Guys have to wear dresses!!)
Thursday: Celebrity/Superhero Day!
Friday: Spirit Day!

Well, hope you guys had a good week! And I hope you guys learned something from this! See Ya!!!

iZettle

1. Topic: Scan a credit card on your phone.

2. Article Title: iZettle launches on EE, aims to let UK merchants dabble in plastic

3. Article Source: Engadget

4. Summary: iZettle has released a payment platform that you can use on your phone. Which is good news for small businesses that might not have a building or cash register. Like yoga classes that take place in a park.
5. Reaction: I think this is wonderful. I'm just surprised you haven't seen more of them before this. My dad is always saying that he is going to open some kind of small business, now he can. Because no one carries much paper money anymore. It's all in bank accounts. So whensomeone wants to buy something, they don't have to have physical money with them to do so.

6. World Impact: Since this has been released, I think there is going to be a boom of small businiesses that see a window of opportunity. Now they can accept payment of any kind. That helps to not limit the audience of the offered product or service. That could help open jobs ( in a way). Because more people can be self employed, and not have to rely on a job that they could lose at any moment. That could make people even more self reliant, not depending on someone elses money.

Patent Trolls

1. Topic: Patent trolls are suing Microsoft!! 

2. Article Title: Patent troll claims it invented the Windows 8 and Windows Phone "tiles"

3. Article Source: Arstechnica

4. Summary: A company that has a few patents but no actual products has sued Microsoft. Saying that they are the ones that came up with the tile-based interface that is used in Windows Phone and Windows 8. The company is known as Surfcast and is based in Portland, Maine. The website of this company shows that they currently only care about one thing - patent litigation.  They say that they developed the Tile concept in the 1990s. Surfcast owns four patents and is suing Microsoft over one of them. This lawsuit was filed yesterday in the US District Court of Maine.

5. Reaction: I am very surprised to hear that Microsoft is being sued. Seems like everyone wants a piece of everything these days. I can remember exact facts, but I can remember many other situations like this. I guess people just want to draw attention to themselves and away from big companies. To me, this all seems to be for attention. Surfcast is a small company with very little recognition. What better way to be noticed than to sue Microsoft over the tile design. They seem to have some legitimate proof, but I think that Microsoft will be fine after all this is settled.

6. World Impact: I'm sure that this will cause quite the uproar from the Microsoft fans and supporters. Then there are others that know that this is a stupid thing. Microsoft makes tons of money, they can surely get a good lawyer to help them win. Also, if the website of Surfcast seems in anyway illegitimate, that could be very good for Microsoft. Since almost everything is digital now.

Weekly Review Blog 8

This week we learned quite a lot about staying real online. Here are a few terms that we learned:

• Represent- How you present yourself to others.
• Persona- Image or personality you portray to to others.
• Avatar- Image or graphic that represents you online.
• Anonymous- Hidden Identity.
• Inhibited- Being careful or restrained about your actions or impluse. 

Also, we did some more work on out Digital Drivers License. We also used a new web 2.0 tool called Glogster. It's basically a picture blog. You can have text, but not very much of it, you have to put it in little text bubbles. Also, I don't like many of the pictures and graphics. They should keep adding more, better ones. Also, they have lots of emo pictures, I'm not emo, neither are many, many people. So why so many emo pictures?

With Glogster, we made ours about how to be real online. Mine included the following tips:

• Be true to yourself.
• Don't represent something that doesn't represent you.
• Don't do things that would reflect badly on you.
• Don't put inappropriate things on social media.
• Don't be anonymous.

So keep those things in mind the next time you go online. Don't pretend to be someone that you're not. Be who you are, don't try to make a different image of yourself online. Don't pretend to be a thug when you are really an A+ student and you've never been in trouble. And sometimes those fake images can make you look bad.

Also, don't put inappropriate things online, I don't want to see it. Neither does a good percentage of the world, so don't do it.

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