http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008782994_milbank25.html

I wasn’t really aware what Congress was doing on Twitter until our last class on Thursday. When our guest speaker showed us the website, I have to say I was suppressing the strong urge to laugh. Some of the “twitterings” of the members of Congress were pretty hilarious. The fact that John McCain is posting things about the sports games he’s watching and his opinions about other members of Congress highly amuses me.
This article talks about Obama’s address on Tuesday night and the fact that his audience was Twittering on their phones instead of listening. This is an example of both the growing prominence technology in our lives and the increasing rudeness of society. We all text in inappropriate places, class, family dinners, church. The politicians present at Obama’s speech are no different then the college students texting their friends in their lecture class. In the days before blackberrys and wireless internet on phones, people would get bored and pass notes or doodle. There’s no way to force our politicians to pay attention when our president speaks, but now hopefully they will be more stealth when twittering.
I think that these members of Congress aren’t familiar with technology and don’t realize who all is reading their Tweets. Because the current young generation has grown up talking on AIM and having facebook and xangas, they seem to be more aware that everyone can and probably is reading what they are posting. By the time kids are in middle school now a days they usually have an awareness of internet privacy and accessibility.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10168157-92.html

There is a website that has been steadily growing in popularity among college age students in the past 5 years. You might have heard of it, they call it facebook. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t check mine at least once, and I’m sure most Miami Students do the same. The big news about facebook this week was the changes in the terms of use. They changed the terms to say that anything and everything a person posts on facebook belongs to them. While the press release was written in vague language, internet gatekeepers picked up on it. This change caused a huge uproar in the blogosphere. I know I read about the changes on Perez Hilton.com, who was telling his readers to boycott the website. On Tuesday the 17th, Mark Zuckerberg posted a retraction of the new terms of use.
As frequent users of facebook, we have come to expect certain things from the website. The smallest change can incite hundreds of thousands of people joining groups to reverse the change. Earlier in the school year, facebook changed the format to “new facebook” and there were a lot of people unhappy. But in the end, no one really boycotted because how we look at pictures or write out our status’s really isn’t that big of a deal. Privacy is another story though. People take their privacy very seriously, and the new facebook terms interfered. Privacy on facebook is very important for a lot of people. When I was in high school, boys on the basketball team posted pictures of themselves drinking and got in trouble with the school. 10 boys ended up being suspended from the team for 2 weeks and missed the play-offs. There were lawyers and court cases involved and it was very messy. So privacy on facebook is very important and maintaining it for some is very essential.

New I-phone models

http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/02/04/the-great-ipod-migration/

Apple is trying to take over the world one smart phone at a time. The company practically has a monopoly on personal mp3 players with their various types of ipods, and now they want to make a bigger dent in the cell phone market. The article says that the current problem with the iphone is the expense. Not only do customers have to buy the $199 phone, but they also have to purchase the internet and data service which is over $70 a month. I have a blackberry and the internet cost is only $30. An extra $40 a month can really add up, especially if you are a college student.
According to the article, Apple is going to come out with two new models that combine different elements of the iphone, but not every feature in order to cut down on costs. I think their idea of an iphone nano will be extremely successful. A combination phone and i-pod without the internet will be perfect for both younger and elderly consumers who wouldn’t utilize the e-mail part of the phone. Many like a simpler model when it comes to their phones and I believe these new options will appeal to those who might have been originally intimidated by the idea of a smart phone.
Apple’s main problem is the fact you can only have one of their phones using AT&T. Everyone in my family and several of my friends would probably have iphones if they were available through other wireless services. Apple should look at what the blackberry creators have done to further their own success. Blackberry offers their phones through many different providers with only small differences at each place like the color of the phone.

http://flickrsudoku.com/

This mash-up is a sudoku puzzle where you can pick the numbers going into each spot at the bottom. There's nothing particularly spectacular about this application but it does use interesting fonts to make the board more visually pleasing.