Twitter project

For my Computer-Mediated Communications class I will be building a twitter score calculator that will help those that are active on twitter to know how much they contribute to twitter. If you want to know your twitter score, you will post a new status update on your twitter and then you will receive a reply with your twitter score .I plan to use python for my project and the resources I plan to use are the internet and python API. For my presentation, I will have a demonstration that shows how my twitter score calculator works. As of this time, I have not found the best method to calculate the twitter score I will research further into what the best method of calculation to use. I am interested to see what some other sites used to calculate peoples twitter score and will present on the different methods that I discovered. Depending on how much time this project takes me I will try to implement other data calculators. I have already seen some twitter calculators and I have to say that I was impressed with some of their GUI’s. I also liked how some of them provide a graph for the user to look at and compare with other twitter scores I might add a high score to my tool. 

Truly a $25 PC

David Braben has developed a twenty-five dollar personal computer. Don’t believe me well check it out for yourself on geeks website. It seems that David’s plan is to get children interested in learning about computers and possibly become computer scientist. David thinks that because kids are only learning how to use computer applications like word and PowerPoint and never learn how a computer works they will never become interested in developing software for computers. Therefore, David made a twenty-five dollar computer that will allow every child to have a PC. Each PC will be able to access the internet and run a few programs such as word but what makes these computers so great is they will allow the kids to learn some basic programming. I think that this is a great way to get kids interested in the computer science field. I also think that this device will get children to appreciate what their computers consist of even if they do not become computer scientist they will have a basic understanding of how their computers work. On a side note I have to say that I am fascinated with the device and if it is available to purchase I will buy it for twenty-five dollars just to see how it works and maybe for a portable computer.  

Is your phone tracking you?

There has been a lot of hype lately about the IPhone tracking you. What some people do not know is that the Android is also tracking you but there is a big difference between the two. When the IPhone tracks you, it only keeps track of the cell phone towers that are used. However, Android collects not only cell phone towers that are used but also Wi-Fi and GPS data, which is a lot more accurate and can pinpoint your location unlike the IPhone. I feel the need to point out that the Android does have an option to turn off tracking so that no data is collected. This feature is not included in the IPhone there is no way to stop the phone form tracking you. Accordingly, to Apple and Google the information that they are collecting is anonymous so you are not associated with your phones data. What is not pointed out is how easy it would be to track someone and associate a phone with its user. As an example, the police use a variety of methods to track people on their phones. They state that they only collect data with permission of the user or a court order. Though some may not realize this, people being tracked by their phone is not something new it has been done for several years now. I found it interesting that just now people realize that their phone is tracking them. What may shock people is their phone is not the only thing that is tracking them. Anything that is connected is or can be easily tracked. Such as your car, computers, phone etc. 

Possible Trouble in Apples Future

Apple needs to take some measures to insure that, it beats Google’s Android in the phone market. If they do not then there might be a repeat of what happened to Apple in the 1990’s when it went toe to toe with Microsoft and lost. Though Apple is not as much as it was but Apple is still considered a premium nitch product. This is what I like about apple I was annoyed with the quality of other laptops that were made out of plastic and easily broke. However, I think that because Apple has lowered some of their prices to become more competitive and sell more than just phones such as Mack books, IPod, IPad Etc. Apple will be able to surpass Google. I would also like to point out that Google’s Android is fragmented because carriers have changed it, which makes it hard for developers to make applications for Android. With apples quality and reliability, it is possible for Apple to overtake the market. I think that Apple has nothing to worry about, Apple has been around long enough that it is well known that they have quality products. Apple has also worked at how versatile it is such as allowing windows to be run on its macs. Personally, I think that is why its mac sales have token off. If Apple continues to do what it is doing and improve the versatility of their products, they will not have to worry about Google over taking the market.

Weekend Social Media

Some claim that Friday is when the majority of people are contributing to the online community. It seems that on Fridays, there are more tweets and people that are on Facebook. Two hundred people were selected to determine what day people were on Facebook the most, within fourteen days. As it, turns out Thursday has the most traffic out of a week.  However, Twitter Chief Revenue Officer Adam Bain states that Fridays are when people are the most active. I think the only reason why Thursday would have more online traffic would be people board at work trying to pass the time or they are making plans for the weekend with their friends. When it comes to the activity on Friday the majority is in the evening when people are at home. I would expect there to be a difference between when people are on Facebook compared to Twitter.  It seems some companies have started to notice the trends of activity on these websites and are trying to tailor when they advertise to the users. As an example for the weekends, a good advertisement would be movie titles or new releases because people are off work and would be able to go the theaters. I think companies should change their advertisements based off the day of the week and the type of common users that are active. It appeals to me because if I have to look at advertisements it might as well be something of interest to me. 

Government Shutdown

In order to solve this problem with the budget both the Republican and Democratic parties need to stop bickering over the numbers and start working together as equals to find a solution. Who cares if you cut $61 billion or $33 billion if you do not make a decision twice as much will be lost when you shut down the local government ran businesses. When they need to be looking at is how much they are taxing the rich and stop cutting heath care and education. How else do they expect this country to have any kind of future if not for the youth and educated. I would also like to point out one big problem with shutting down local government businesses, it will create a lot of anxiety and fear in the public and people will stop spending their money. This in turn will cause the current recession to get worse.

I think they need to pass the bill to extend the deadline for another week but some major changes better start. Otherwise, there will not be much of a government shutdown battle because the government will be shut down. The last comment I would like to make is it would be a mistake for the government to cut military spending not only would that be bad for the people who are fighting overseas but also to those of us who are still here in America. I think the Democratic Party needs to see the importance of defense spending and stop trying to cut back their spending. The main thing to understand is that there are many problems that will not be solved overnight and though we might go through some hard times they will get better.

Done with business plan

Today I turned in my business plan, that concludes the last assignment I had until next semester, and I have to say that makes me very happy.