Memory

      It was once hypothisized that "there was no way that the motors and platters and flying read/write heads of memory could possibly keep up with the blinding pace of semiconductor logic." Fortunately for us, this position is far from reality.

     I found the article "Remembrance of Computer Disks Past" a thought provoking read. The article spoke about the desperate search for memory, and the progression from floppy discs, to tiny disc drives found in the Apple IPods, today. Although the tranformation through each memory host was interesting, I thought that the timing in which such great inventions had been marketed was very impressive. In just sixty-years memory has advanced from "24 stacked disks, each two feet in diameter and weighing more than 20 pounds each," to "tiny, silver-dollar-size"(Malone).

    This article made me think about, and appreciate memory in general. We record information every single day. Even in-class notetaking is a luxury that once did not exisit. There was a time when memory was restricted to the human-mind... frightening! Now, we can record data anywhere, anytime: cell phones, flashdrives, sticky-notes, voicemail, even the internet is a data recording system.

    As stated in the article, "Computer memory is the forgotten story of the electronics revolution. Yet it may be the most remarkable of all" (Malone).

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:n6XBdsEdK20J:online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444100404577641254037608474.html?mod=googlenews_wsj+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk

Connected

An article published September 9th, 2012 stated that, "35 percent of the U.S. Internet population is not on Facebook or Twitter, and of those who are, nearly half are scared of scams."( mail online).

Social Media is an incredible tool. Although only 65% of internet users are on Twitter, or Facebook, I would not doubt that %100 of internet users know of these social networks. They are powerful, and they do connect the world in ways that we've never been connected before. 

Thirty-five percent really is not a terrible loss, either.  If an approximate 17% of internet users are afraid of scams, and 11% claim that the sites are too difficult to use there is still only a remaining 7% of internet users to consider. Of this 7% I think that it would be safe to assume that although these people do not have a Facebook, or Twitter account now, they might have in the past, or will in the future. There are young teenagers who use the internet for school, and perhaps gaming, but do not have their parents permission to start social networking, yet. Alternatively, there are people who have had accounts on these sites, and later decided that it was too much of a distraction. Furthermore, the 11% who claim that the sites were too difficult had to have tried them in order to make their assumption. This being said although only 65% are on Facebook or Twitter, it seems as though statistically speaking closer to 85% of the population has been, or will be a part of these social networks.

Eighty-Five percent of the U.S.internet population is huge! This statistic indicates that Facebook, and Twitter holds a greater turn-out than the U.S. Presidential Election voter turn-out! (infoplease)

Social Media can be used for almost any kind of promotion whether it would be a website promotion, business promotion, product, or personal promotion. The moment we connect through social media, we reach %65 of the U.S.internet population if not %85 in due time. Perhaps this November Twitter, and Facebook will be used as election promoters and for the first time in years our polls will overflow because of the power influence of our social media!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2200880/A-THIRD-U-S-population-refrains-using-Facebook-Twitter.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html

Suicide Factories

The news reports about the Samsung, and Apple factories are stomach twisting. It makes me feel like a cannibal. We are literally consuming these people for our own gain:  “Wang Ling's… was the 15th Foxconn employee reported to have committed suicide since the beginning of 2010” (Garside). Although these facts are heart wrenching, these conditions are being brought to the light, which means hope is on its way.

 These reports remind me of the conditions in early 17^th century American factories.  A historical website declares, “Children as young as six years old during the industrial revolution worked hard hours for little or no pay. Children sometimes worked up to 19 hours a day, with a one-hour total break… They were in horrible conditions. Large, heavy, and dangerous equipment was very common for children to be using or working near. Many accidents occurred [causing] injur[ies] [and] kill[ed] children on the job” (Galenet). In 2012 two articles were published that noted uncanny parallels concerning factories today. They explained that “46% of the workforce clocked up to 70 hours per week”  that  ” 43% of workers reported experiencing or witnessing an accident”, and that “health and safety breaches found by auditors …included blocked exits, lack of or faulty personal protective equipment and missing permits” (Garside).  Four centuries later, and we still have these working conditions!

I really do believe that I could pledge today to stop using products such as the iphone; however, I think in a desperate act to demand change I would hurt the same people I was trying to help.  The most disturbing part of this report was that “a third of employees surveyed wanted to work more hours so that they could earn more, and half felt their hours were reasonable” (Garside). These people want to work, and if I were to boycott their products, I would be denying them their will. So what do we do to help?

The fact that there are being articles published, and blogs posted about this issue means that people are becoming more, and more aware of what is happening. Awareness is the first step to resolution.  If no one knows what is happening, then no one can react to what is happening.  Eventually in American history the Factory Act was passed. In the same way, Chinese laws will be passed, and enforced. Although it took longer than anyone would have liked, “ Apple [has] recognized the need for independent audits and appointed… [the] Fair Labour Association… to clean up the garment trade, [and] is now turning its attention for the first time to the electronics industry “ (Garside).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/mar/30/apple-factories-china-foxconn-audit

http://gizmodo.com/5940903/report-worker-abuse-and-underage-employment-at-six-more-http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/2002_p7/ak_p7/childlabor.html

samsung-factories

Samsung v. Apple

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Engadget started their editorial with “It's done. It's all over. There's nothing left now but the tears, the big checks -- and the appeals.” As dramatic as this sounds, financially, creatively, and logically, this ruling is far from dramatic.

“The majority indicating that Samsung's implementation of various features like pinch-zooming and bounce-scrolling did indeed infringe on Apple's” (Engadget). Apple was awarded $1.05billion by the jury (Lowensohn).  Although $1.05 billion seems like an unreasonable debt, Samsung is raking in a “record $5.2 billion quarterly profit” (Waugh). This being said, in 3 months Samsung can pay their fee with just a little over 4 billion in change.

Creatively, this forces Samsung to step into uncharted territory. In fact, this could be quite the blessing in disguise.  Samsung will have to think of new ways for people to navigate their phones, and other devices.  Their forced turn might not only bring what Samsung needs, but might inspire a new breed of phones. As Tim Stevens worded the situation, “There's nothing like a limited set of tools to inspire creativity.”

From a logical standpoint, the media is going to ask us how this decision will affect the future. They will purpose rhetorical questions to birth drama: “Does this mean that every creative idea ever reused will lead to court?”…  “Does this mean that anything beside Apple will be sued for using Apps? The fact of the matter is that technology has surpassed the rights our forefathers had anticipated within the First Amendment.  However, our judicial system is at work. *See blog “Dear Technology…”* This case might lead to new copyright laws, and it might lead to a time were legality, and creativity are never separated, but to fear the change will not make it any more comfortable.  

Aside from the proceeding arguments, this case might be far from the end, anyway; “Late in the process…at the Apple v. Samsung Trial, when the parties and the judge were reviewing the jury verdict form, Samsung noticed that there were, indeed, inconsistencies in the jury's verdict form” (Jones-Groklaw).

Although, Engadget sees this as a dramatic end, I see this as a mere pothole in a 10,000+ year-long road.

 http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/25/editorial-engadget-on-the-apple-vs-samsung-ruling/

 http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57501103-37/apple-targets-8-samsung-phones-for-sales-ban/

http://gizmodo.com/5938219/why-the-apple-v-samsung-ruling-may-not-hold-up

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2136166/Samsung-roars-record-5-2BN-profit-sells-20-000-Galaxy-handsets-hour--analyst-warns-Apple-fail-just-like-Sony.html