AirPort Express: Ideal for a College Dorm Room

I was pondering thoughts and this brilliant idea came across my mind. Let me first say that I do not own an AirPort Express, nor am I a college student. I am currently using a Linksys wireless router and am currently in my Junior year of high school. So, why is the Airport Express ideal for a college dorm room or apartment?

First, the amount of space the thing takes up is so minimal and you can really put it anywhere. Dorm rooms are very tiny, but you will, without a doubt, find room for this tiny 3.7 x 2.95 x 1.12 inch device. It only weighs 7.4 ounces!

Secondly, the main feature of this device, the wireless internet router. Sure, you might be saying, "Why the heck would you need wireless internet in such a small room?" Here's why. College students are usually either lazy or tired, meaning they don't want to bother with all of the wires or having to sit at their desk to be online. Wouldn't they love to be able to relax on their bed and still be able to connect to Facebook? Or maybe they want to watch a movie online and they don't want to watch it at their desk. The point is, is that in a dorm room you don't want to be restricted to one place where you can use the internet.

Thirdly, the capability to print wirelessly. Most know that colleges don't make enough room on the desks for a printer and usually students have to physically pick up the printer and move it when they want to print. With the AirPort Express you can print wirelessly so you don't have to deal with cords not being long enough. It's also quite ridiculous for you and your roommate both to have individual printers in the same room. With the AirPort Express, you can share the same printer with your roommate and possibly even keep the printer under the bed and out of the way. You will also cut down on ink cartridge costs by sharing a printer and splitting the price.

Fourthly, everybody likes listening to music and how awesome would that be to play music from your computer wirelessly! Another cord elimination! Students can just hang around the dorm room playing music from iTunes and streaming it to speakers that can be all the way at the other side of the room. You can also control the music from an iPod touch or iPhone which is another awesome feature.

Fifthly, almost anybody can use it! Whether you are using a Mac or a PC you can still use this amazing device. As long as your computer has a wireless card in it and a somewhat modern operating system you can use the AirPort Express.

Well, I covered some pretty awesome features (if I may say so, myself). You can use internet wirelessly, print wirelessly, listen to music wirelessly, all from this tiny device that almost anybody with an updated computer could use. What do you think? Do you agree that the AirPort Express would be great to have in a dorm room? Let me know!

Do Facebook Application Developers Know Too Much?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg sent application developers into cheers last April, during Facebook's annual "f8" conference. The big news was that Facebook was removing all restrictions on the amount of data about a user an application can save. Previously, Facebook applications couldn't store and cache data for more than 24 hours. While developers and marketing companies burst into cheers of happiness, should you, the user support this change? As far a user experience goes, yes, you should. However, privacy and safety wise, definitely not.

Before this change, apps had to constantly retrieve data from Facebook servers, which resulted in drastically slower loading times. Now that that all the data that apps need is already there, the end user receives an overall better experience. While your apps may load faster, most users overlook the fact that applications are accessing your personal data. ACLU has put together a campaign to raise awareness of the privacy concerns surrounding Facebook applications. Regardless of your privacy settings on Facebook, once you click the "allow" button on an applications, you give it permission to access all of your personal information. ACLU also release a shocking article mentioning that your private data is also revealed when one of your friends takes a quiz.

The "Which Spongebob Character Are You" quiz may not seem suspicious to the user, but deep behind the "allow" button, you are giving out information you would normally keep confidential. Applications are made for profit. How to developers make profit? Your information. Think twice before taking that quiz your friend sent you that message about.

Want to know more? Take ACLU's Facebook privacy quiz. (Not to mention, this quiz is a Facebook application...)

Is the Internet Taking Over?

Where do you go to get news? How do you go to catch up with friends? How do you connect with people? Think about it! The Internet is the first place that people go to get news, to catch up with friends, to get updated. For example, Facebook. Facebook is the first place that I go to see what is going on with my friends. It allows people to share pictures, videos, and cool links with their friends. Is this stopping people from, say, going and getting lunch with their peers? Would they rather use social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook? Maybe so.

Another good example, is news! When was the last time that you read a newspaper? Most newspapers have gone web-only already. And there are so many different websites regarding different types of news. IGN posts gaming news, Engadget posts technology news... You get the point. Do you think the Internet is taking over the world as we know it? You don't even need to call to order a pizza! Dominos' and Pizza Hut's websites allow you to order online, then get delivery to your house. Post a comment on what you think.

Piracy: big deal or not?

We've all heard of digital piracy. An alarming statistic shows that 7 out of 10 computer users (Mac and PC) have committed digital piracy once, and what's more, 6 out of 10 do it regularly. This post will simply highlight a few of my opinions on what the authorities and governments are doing and what they should be doing to combat piracy.

I am not a software, music or video pirate nor do I intend to become one but I do know many, many people that commit it and are open about it. This really does annoy me. I am someone that purchases software, TV shows, movies or music whilst those people are getting way with it! If industries go on about how damaging it is then why are people being caught not only this but tax payers' money is being used to "heal" up those industries whilst piracy continues to burn a hole in the creative, digital world. They know that it's illegal yet they continue to do it...

I also believe that these 'anti-piracy' schemes are, in some ways, promoting piracy, I mean, US version of The Office is at around season 6 yet in the UK the US version is at season 3; as a big office fan I really want to see season four yet I can't due to DVD region coding. Surely all this is doing to making it easier for people to simply pirate The Office instead of waiting months for it to come out in region two DVD!

Another way that I believe that piracy can, and should, be tackled is by ISPs alerting the police or copyright infringement organisations when someone pirates something then the authorities would allow the ISP to look deeper into that user's history of accessed websites or connections to websites and then take appropriate actions.

So, that was my first blog post for thecreativeone.tv and I really do feel strongly about this and I do also believe that too many people believe that it's fine to pirate something from the digital industries. Comment with your opinions - thanks for reading.

Stop Tweeting, Start "Woofing?"

Twitter isn't the new kid on the block anymore, now it has an arch nemesis that goes by the name of "Woofer."  Sexy, I know.  Woofer is another blogging client like Twitter, and there is no question as to whether Twitter was a factor in Woofer's immaculate conception.  If you go to Woofer's website, the interface looks almost exactly like Twitter's down to the ugly blue background, with the exception of a few things.  The mascot is a dog, and there is a minimum requirement of 1,400 characters per post.  Yes that's right, you are requred to write at least 1,400 characters.  In my opinion part of Twitter's appeal is the fact that it's a micro-blogging platform.  I just take a minute to type my thoughts, and I'm done.  Fourteen hundred characters seems more like a blog, and if that's what it's going for, what is the Woofer's appeal?  Developing better English apparently.  You are encouraged to "be eloquent, use adverbs, and don't ever abbreviate."  I can't say I'm against getting rid of the "wut r u doing" "nothin, im kool" conversations, but is this the future of blogging?  If I'm required to write at least 1,400 characters at any given moment, I hope not.

Thanks for reading,

Talina

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/coolenufforamac

Woofer's Site: http://www.woofertime.com