Sep 24, 2013 | internet, networking
China is one of the fastest growing powerhouses today on the world stage. But it’s also notorious for censorship. But that’s changing…somewhat.
The Chinese government is lifting the ban on social media sites Twitter and? Facebook…that is, if you’re in the Shanghai free trade zone. Hong Kong is already a free trade zone, so they already enjoy these freedoms. The three big state owned communication companies gave little or no complaint as the ruling came down. The social media ban started in 2009. But lots has changed, like revolutionary protests caught on camera in the Middle East. Heaven forbid if that kind of instability happens in China. Think it can’t happen? Well, I read it has one of the biggest economic gaps in the world. And who remembers Tienanmen Square back in 1989?
This is a huge step for China economically. It’s mighty difficult to grow globally when foreign traders can’t even get a hold of you due to censorship. One anonymous Chinese official said this. “If they can’t get onto Facebook or read the New York Times, they may naturally wonder how the free-trade zone is compared with the rest of China.” And note that Hong Kong and Shanghai are the top tourist friendly areas in China.
But these free trade zones only represent a small percentage of the Chinese land and Chinese people. The Shanghai free trade zone is less than 29 square kilometers. Think about how big the Chinese populous is. There is talk that social media bans will be lifted throughout the country in the next several years. These are great steps in the right direction, but I think more needs to be done. If they’re going to continue to shine economically, they need to open up social media and cut down censorship for all. But it’s more than that. Think of the message they would send socially and globally if every Chinese citizen have the exact same freedoms we in the USA take for granted? Isn’t that even more important?
Sep 23, 2013 | Entertainment, internet, networking
The 65th annual Emmy awards aired last night, honoring the best in television during the last 12 months. There were lots of surprises. But there was one moment that 10 years ago would have been impossible.
The drama House of Cards won an Emmy last night. It’s director, David Fincher, took home best directing for a drama series. What makes this unique is House of Cards can only be seen online on Netflix. This is the first time in history an exclusively online show won an Emmy. They also won for cinematography and creative arts. Those two were given in a private ceremony, but Fincher’s award was given during the show, putting this tremendous feat on a public national forum. Keep in mind House of Cards was nominated for 9 Emmys, and that Nelflix has over 30 million streamers, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down.
This is a great sign for online entertainment. And Netflix isn’t the only one. I saw a report on CBS This Morning talked about the rise of You Tube shows. I heard one You Tube producer say he wouldn’t put his program on mainstream TV unless they made him a huge offer, due to the creative freedoms You Tube gives him. You can get Netflix for a little as eight dollars a month. That beats what a lot of cable companies right now. I heard some families are hooking up their computers to their big screen TVs not to watch prime time TV, but You Tube channels! And now an exclusive Netflix show is getting Emmy awards and this kind of recognition? Is streaming online entertainment the future of visual TV?
Sep 22, 2013 | networking, Wireless
On Thursday, at Apple Town Hall auditorium in Cupertino, California, Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down for an interview with a representative of Bloomberg Businessweek. With little fluff, Cook dove right in the Apple business.
You can go to Buisnessweek’s website to read the interview, so I’m not going to talk about everything, but there are some things that intrigued me. To hear Cook tell it, their products aren’t price driven, as in, when they decided to sell the iPhone 5C, they didn’t obsess if this price is low enough.? That’s why we see a price span of $49-$400. It was never their intent to sell a low cost phone, but now I think they’re seeing to he advantage of doing so. They can pass on the lower cost and sale to more consumers. It’s also interesting he compared Toyota to BMWs as far as low cost products are concerned. He even went as far as to call low cost products ‘junk’. Cook ended the interview with the Apple mission people.
Well, in one way, Apple products have enriched people’s lives. Now I’m beginning to wonder does it control people’s lives. After critic after critic bashed the latest iPhone 5C and 5S, they were long lines all over everywhere for this phone. When I went to pay a bill, there was a line there about this phone. It’s amazing people are still into a frenzy over this possible monstrosity. Have we become that brainwashed? I guess if I was there to ask Tim Cook a question is, “What kind of hold do you have over people?”
Sep 21, 2013 | Computer technology, News, Wireless
Some time ago, I wrote an article about Blackberry’s downfall. Now the downfall has turned into a spiral. And it looks like this once technical powerhouse has past the point of no return.
Friday, Blackberry stocks tanked to under $9 a share. They’re about to report a loss of almost one billion dollars. They’ll be lucky to make half the revenue they expected to in Q2 2013. They plan to cut 4,5oo jobs and nearly half it’s operations in the next several months. The company sold only 3.7 million smartphones this fiscal quarter(a three month period). How many iPhone 5Ss’ were sold yesterday?
No wonder Blackberry co-founder Mike Lazaridis stepped down last year. He doesn’t want to go down with the sinking ship. Plus, shareholders pressured him to leave, but if it were me, I wouldn’t even have waited that long.? But he is looking for bids and a buyout for his sinking ship. He talked to some equity companies, but they didn’t end in agreements. We don’t know if they will. And upset shareholders can’t seem to agree on anything. It makes me wonder if an equity firm or any company even want to take a chance. Well there has been previous incidents in the business world where a buyout literally saved the company. The question is can Blackberry be saved at all?
Sep 20, 2013 | Uncategorized
In honor of the recent death of Nintendo founder Hiroshima Yamauchi, I’m naming my personal favorite Nintendo games of all-time. I’m old school, so all of these games are classics. I lost interest in Nintendo around the Wii era.
10. Final Fight (Super Nintendo): Not many people remember this one, but this was the flag game of Super Nintendo. The graphics and storyline were a lot better than Double Dragon, and the weapons, like knives and? pipes, were cool too.
9. Duck Hunt (Nintendo): The original NES flag game. I liked this game and put it on the list because you didn’t even need a remote. You shot the ducks with a toy gun. That dog got heck of annoying!
8. Mike Tyson Punch Out (Nintendo): One of the first, if not the first game modeled after a celebrity athlete. I took a while for me to get past King Hippo, but I never even made it to Mike Tyson. From what I saw, few people beat the game because with one punch, Tyson knocked you out. So like real life.
7. Tetris (Game Boy): One of the most addictive games of all-time. You play with blocks and get them to fit together, and the blocks speed up, so does the music. It’s a simple concept. I didn’t say it was an easy one.
6.Metroid (Nintendo): I put this one up for it’s theme music alone. It was a space game that told a great story, and the fact that it’s so out there kept me and other kids coming back.
5. Super Mario Kart (Super Nintendo): This gets my cute award. All the Super Mario characters race against each other on various courses. It’s addicting and one that’s easy to conquer.
4. Super Mario Brothers 2(Super Nintendo): My favorite version of the Super Mario series. It’s Super Mario meets Alice in Wonderland, giving it a trippy feeling. You could skip half the game to beat the game. At the game’s end, you’ll find out where that trip comes from.
3. Street Fighter (Super Nintendo): Fighting games were an early 90s craze, and Street Fighter was one of the best. Just 8-11 characters fighting to the death to beat the game. Who was your favorite character to play? Harrrraahh you Ken!
2. Mortal Kombat (Super Nintendo): This game was so violent that it inspired a video game rating system(E, E10, T, M, AO). Any game with the finishing move of tearing someone’s heart, spine, or brains out is going to cause buzz. Who was your favorite character to play? Get over here!
1. Legend of Zelda (Nintendo): It was one of the first game you could save, and you had to. If you didn’t, you’d be playing for hundreds of hours straight. The storyline was just that tight! The music was engaging. There was a surprise at every corner. It was challenging, but engaging. It took me years to overcome this game, but it was well worth it. And for 25 years, the Zelda saga continues.
Past or present, what are your favorite Nintendo games?
Sep 19, 2013 | Entertainment, News
Did you have a Nintendo back in the 1980s and ?90s? Did you go to someone?s house and play their NES? I did. We have one man to thank for that.
Nintendo founder Hiroshi Yamauchi died in his native Japan early this morning of pneumonia complications. He was 85 years old. But did you know Nintendo has been around since the 1940s? No, not as an electronic gaming company, but as a card game maker. Mr. Yamauchi inherited it after his grandfather?s death in 1949. By the late 1970s, he saw the rise of the home video game, and put his innovative skills to work. ?By the mid-80s, Nintendo was the world leader in home gaming, and names like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, and Zelda became household names. In the early ?90s, Yamiuchi followed that with Game Boy and games like Tetris? Super Nintendo and games like Final Fight, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Yamauchi retired in 2002. In recent years, Xbox and Playstation have knocked Nintendo off the home gaming throne.
But nobody can deny the impact Hiroshi Yamachi?s Nintendo Entertainment System has had on our pop culture and psyche. Even today the Nintendo Wii is having moderate success. The more I learn about Mr. Yamauchi, the more I respect his ability to have success and keep a low profile about it. Okay, maybe it was a different time when he ran Nintendo, but I never saw him at a press conference displaying Nintendo?s new product. In fact, I don?t remember him being in the public eye much at all. But yet he created an empire, and according to Forbes, his worth is over $7 billion. So he did a lot of things right. What?s your favorite Nintendo memory?
Sep 18, 2013 | Entertainment, General, internet
Okay, I’d better clarify that! Since it’s inception in late 2005, You Tube has released countless videos. They now average billions of hours of videos every month. Now, you no longer have to be online to get this phenomenon.
Effective next month, you can save clips on your portable device for 2 days, and you can watch them when you’re offline. Advertisers will still tout their products, which I’m sure is good news for them. You Tube will be still be free for the viewer, which is good news for me and you. For You Tube video producers, they can option out of the offline option. Why would they want to?
No, I don’t see a downside to this at all. You may say, “Everyplace has wi-fi or online access these days.” Not really. Imagine being in a car with three bad kids, and offline You Tube is the only thing calming them down. I know places, like my gym, that doesn’t have online access. Don’t get me started on airplanes, where in many cases, in-flight entertainment is now a fond memory. Offline You Tube will be a true plus over a crying baby or arguing couple or a disgruntle customer complaining to a flight attendant about everything!? This is good for advertisers too. This frees up more space for more companies to hack more products. I know these commercials can get annoying at times. But I’d rather watch the same You Tube commercial 10 times a day then to pay for You Tube out my own pocket! What do you think about offline You Tube?
Sep 17, 2013 | internet, News, Security
Back in 2009, due to an uprising, Iran’s government blocked and censored social media sites in an attempt to slow down protests and demonstrations. They found software to hook up to networks outside the country to show their struggle to the world.
Isn’t that supposed to teach Iranian leaders about censorship? Apparently not. Their Facebook and Twitter rights have been taken away after some found they could get around the gov’t blockage they set up back in 2009. Iran has a new president, Hassan Rouhani. He’s considered a moderate by many people. He promises to reduce censorship. Some of Rouhani’s cabinet members even have Facebook and Twitter accounts. It’s believed many anti-censorship groups have tasseled with censors over blocked Web sites. And for a while, the anti-censorship groups opened glitches to expose Facebook and Twitter. But the Iranian censors took back Web control and the blocking went back on.
You know, with all the problems our nation has, we should consider ourselves blessed. We are fortunate to live in a country where we can log on social media sites without blockage or censorship. That’s why I’m so weay about the NSA surveillance scandals because I worry about what it could lead to. But yes, we should all be thankful our leaders will never have the power Iran does pull this injustice. I’d encourage those in Iran who are fighting censorship to keep fighting the good fight. They did back in 2009, and opened all our eyes to what goes on in that land. Now I’m nobody to tell people how to run their country. But I believe all should have an opportunity to have access through social media. Shouldn’t every peace loving peace loving person have that right?
Sep 16, 2013 | Computer technology, Security
On Sept. 20, Apple will release it’s iPhone 5S. I don’t see much difference between this Phone and other iPhones, but there is one. Apple iPhone 5S has a piece of security technology unavailable to all other devices.
That difference is an ID scanning system. Instead of typing in a password, you can scan your finger on the home button to unlock this newest member of the iPhone family. It’s called ID Touch. Millions will probably want to at least test this technology out. For Touch ID, customers launch the app, set up a single fingerprint, the fingerprint goes on the home button. It will tell you that you successfully set up the app. To re-open the iPhone 5S, put your finger on the home button. If successful, you go into your phone. If not, a red fingerprint icon will appear.
I appreciate what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. I’m sure most of you know how difficult it can be to keep up with passwords every account and device. There is the temptation to give everything the same password, but that can lead to serious trouble. So fingerprints might be the answer. I must admit, it’s unique and borderline revolutionary. Those always sale. But there’s the down side. Critics, including myself, have pretty much come to a far gone conclusion this new device is doomed to disappointment. Apple stocks back that up. Plus, hackers are getting smarter and smarter. I read one article where hackers can break into your car and tamper with the brakes, gas, steering wheel or any part of the motor vehicle they choose. Surely if someone is determined enough, they can crack a finger code. So will this fingerprint technology work, security wise or sales wise?
Sep 15, 2013 | News, Security
Here we go again. Again we learn the National Security Agency is spying on people without the peoples’ knowledge or consent. We just learn of another tool they’re using.
According to Speigel, an independent International news brand, the NSA monitors international spending through credit card and online banking transactions. According to while blower Eric Snowden, an operation launch called ‘Follow the Money’ went out in 2011. Over 180 million records of transactions were kept, 84 percent from credit cards. VISA customers were an especially huge target. One document says they wanted transactions from customers in the Middle East and Africa. They insists it’s not about targets.
I can actually see a little logic to this. Let’s fact it, there are a lot of scams going on, especially from nations like Nigeria. I’ve learned the hard way then I see a Nigerian transaction on Ebay, to run the other direction. So there’s a part of me that wants to believe there is good these actions, like fighting fraud. Then I remind myself about the spying on law abiding citizens in this country. I’m reminded about all the spying that they did on our European allies, and even on the UN. So I guess what I’m asking is: Is NSA spying ever appropriate?
