Changes to Google+

     Google co-founder Sergey Brin announced, at a Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco that changes will be made to Google+. Other forms of identity will now be offered. It is time for the fake Lady Gaga’s to rise again. The vice-president of product managing for Google says that they always intended to support pseudonyms, and that there is no reason not to have them. Google+ will also be offering branding pages for businesses, even though Nike got kicked of earlier for attempting this. Google was strict in the beginning, but now they seem to be lightening up. Google Apps will soon be integrated as well, probably as soon as the branding pages go into effect as well. Google is making major changes.

Original Website

Video Therapy

      Who needs to get in their car and travel to see a therapist when you can just Skype them? Technology has finally found it's way to therapists' offices. It is now possible for people to conduct therapy sessions through the Skype app on their phones with their therapists hundreds of miles away. This means that you can have a therapy session during your 20 minute coffee break, on the subway, or in your pajamas on the couch. However convenient this may seem, there are some major drawbacks.
      One drawback is that Skype may disconnect halfway through the session. Someone could be pouring out their heart, only for the screen to go blank when they are extremely emotionally vulnerable. This could cause confusion, frustration, or even anger that might not be healthy for the patients to experience. They might think their therapists have disconnected them one purpose. Also, no matter how private you think your conversation is, a record of it has been stored somewhere. Someone, who has enough time on their hands and who is technoligically saavy might be able to access it and see your private thoughts. No one wants their insecurites known by all.
      In the end, though, it is all about personal preference. Whether you think that the human to human bond between therapist and patient cannot be replicated on the internet, or you see it as convenient to be able to take your therapist with you wherever you go, it is up to you. The drawbacks, and/or plusses will not have any affect on those who believe strongly in their preference.

Link to the New York Times' Original Article
     

RSS: The Experience

It seemed easy at first. Subscribing to a website through RSS on Google Reader. Click on the orange RSS link, follow the directions, and you're done. That is NOT how it works. Before you can click on the link, you have to find it, which can take infinity. Sometimes it's not there, sometimes it's hidden in a corner of the blog, and sometimes it won't connect to Google. If you manage to find the link (go you!), and subscribe to the blog, your Google Reader fills up at an extremely fast rate. It is very confusing, and I didn't know where half my blogs were for the first two days. I survived, though. I learned how to find my blogs, find the RSS links, and sort throught all of my subscriptions. I like Google Reader. It's easier than going to a bunch of different websites and reading them all, but it takes some getting used to.

Here's A Link to My Favorite Blog!

Mark Zuckerburg: Making Billions

Mark Zuckerburg has come a long way. He started off a college student, but he is now the CEO/founder of one of the largest social networking sites in the world. Facebook. Facebook recently pulled in $1.6 billion dollars in revenue, doubling what it was making in the first half of this year. Why? Advertising. Since so many people use Facebook, companies have started creating Facebook pages for themselves to get word out about their products. Facebook has started getting a bigger share in advertising, creating more profits. It is on target to make $3.2 billion dollars this year. Guess who’s getting most, if not all, of the profits? That’s right, Mark Zuckerburg.

http://techland.time.com/2011/09/08/report-facebook-doubles-first-half-revenue-to-1-6-billion/

How People Get Scammed: Internet Hoaxes

A pregnant man’s journal homepage. A website telling all about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide. Information on how to create your genetically perfect baby…online. What do all of these websites have in common? I’ll give you one guess. They’re all scams. Many people fall for fake websites, and those of us who don’t think that they’re idiots for believing that the things that these websites advertise are real. But are they? Take a look at one of these fake websites (the links are helpfully posted below!). Pretty convincing stuff. False websites use many tricks to prey on innocent Googlers. Some, like the dihydrogen monoxide website, use big, confusing words so people don’t really understand what they’re reading. If it sounds scientific, it must be true though. Others, like the website where you can make your own genetically perfect baby, look professional (I mean, there IS a picture of Dr. Elizabeth Preatner), so people buy into them. Who wouldn’t want to make their child as healthy as possible? And some websites use people’s fascination with the strange and different. A pregnant MAN!? Whoah! There are so many real-looking fake websites out there, that it is hard to tell a lie from the truth. But be smart and trust your instincts. Don’t believe everything that you read and don’t trust a site just because it looks like it’s safe. Take some time to check it out and verify it first, or you, too, could become a follower of the pregnant man.

Link:

http://moodle.lakeviewacademy.com/mod/resource/view.php?id=5084

Computers: Back to the Future

There's a reason that your grandparents can't use today's technology. It has made major advances. Even as recently as 30 years ago, computers were fat, white squares with wired keyboards that displayed text in one color and one color only. Today, with our sleek black laptops that can connect to wireless internet in the blink of an eye (sometimes), we cannot imagine having to use one of the "old" computers. What we call old, however, was the best of the best three decades ago. In our age, even three year olds can use computers, but, back then, only technology wizards could use them. It is scary to think what would happen to us, so used to modern technology, if we had to live when there was almost no readily available technology at all. What would we do? We should all be very, very thankful that technology has come as far as it has. But who knows? Maybe in another 30 years, today's newest model laptop will be seen as ancient.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2390894,00.asp