Social Networkers Have a Responsibility as News Sources

Pete Cashmore of Mashable wrote an article for CNN predicting the top ten web trends to watch for in 2010.  Some of them are predictable.  He writes to expect several Twitter-copycats as people strive for even more real-time interaction with their world and the people in it.  Cashmore also says with the widespread use of smartphones and apps to expect even more convergence in our devices - for example, Tom Tom's and other GPS devices will likely go out of style and instead they will be sold as apps on iPhones, or even become an included feature.  He also says to watch for the increase in "cloud computing," like Apple's MobileMe, where data is no longer stored on one desktop, but instead stored on a server (or cloud) accessible to multiple devices at once. 

Possibly Cashmore's prediction with the most interesting consequences is the continuance of our news coming to us through our social network instead of a direct news source.  Practically every website, blog, and article have icons to post what you're looking at directly to your Facebook or Twitter account with one click.  With the "information overload" of today's internet, people are getting to know their world more and more through their friends.  This trend is extremely useful for sharing information with your entire social network instantly, but it also has interesting side effects. For example, if people are only paying attention to things that are shared with them through their social network they may be missing out on other relevant information that's not of interest to their social networking "friends".  Having shared interests is a good thing, but this could create a new kind of ignorance and uniform thinking.

In the past, people were concerned with news organizations merging together to create information powerhouses.  The fear was if one news organization controls too many outlets then the same information will be distributed through several channels giving people less choice and variety.  The thought is that it is better to have many different organizations with different agendas and different voices.  Well, now that news organizations are changing with the rapid use of social media I think the new concern in the next decade will be keeping variety in the content that people choose to share with their network.  This new system could work great as long as there is a healthy balance of people participating with new content and different interests.  If too many people become passive observers instead of contributors all we'll ever know about are trending Twitter topics and funny YouTube videos posted to our Facebook pages.  If people participate actively and intelligently the benefits can be very exciting. In my opinion, this should be a trend to strive for in 2010.

-Erin

Social Networkers Have a Responsibility as News Sources

iPhones Replace Musical Instruments at University

The University of Michigan is replacing instruments with iPhones in a course titled “Building a Mobile Phone Ensemble.” Taught by scientist and musician Georg Essl, students are learning to “design, build and play instruments on their Apple Inc. smartphones.” iPhone applications like Ocarina allow the phone to produce sounds similar to a flute-like instrument. Building an instrument on an iPhone can transform the phone to produce unique and different sounds. Students program the phone to “play back information it receives from one of its sensors as sound.”

I think it’s awesome that universities are taking a creative initiative giving traditional courses like music class a modern twist. It will appeal to students who are interested in taking a music course but have no musical training. Hopefully the school provides the phones otherwise that would be a very expensive course to take.

I don’t have an iPhone, I’m technologically illiterate, and touch phones weird me out, but I’d be extremely interested to see what these students produce. A public performance is scheduled for December 9, but for now here's a video of a practice performance.



 -Rachel

iPhones Replace Musical Instruments at University

Welcome “worldmode” iPhone!

There has been a lot of buzz concerning Verizon’s attacks on AT&T by creating phones directly in competition of the iPhone and by attacking AT&T’s service.

Well, according to AppleInsider, Apple is in the works of creating a “worldmode” iPhone that will be available to other networks, especially Verizon. Even though Verizon’s Blackberry Storm and Droid (which was just launched last Friday) were created to combat AT&T’s iPhone sales. Verizon has reportedly been in contact with Apple about getting the iPhone. In fact, Verizon is expected to have the phone within the year.

This may have negative effects for Verizon’s Droid sales, because customers may hold off to purchase the iPhone. Furthermore, AT&T may be seeing some losses as customer’s switch to Verizon. They will lose the exclusivity with the iPhone, which will most likely lower their market share.

It will be interesting to see how the two major networks will compete when they both have the iPhone. What incentives will they give to choose their network? Will the prices drop dramatically? I think this is a good thing for us consumers. Verizon and AT&T will have to compete off prices, quality of service, and size/speed of network. Finally! The end of the AT&T’s monopoly with the iPhone!

-Annie H.

Welcome “worldmode” iPhone!

Is the iPhone Hype Over?

With all the new smart phones hitting the market, iPhone and AT&T are feeling the pinch. Verizon has been hitting AT&T hard with commercials advertising their new smart phone Droid (available today) and advertising Verizon’s largest 3G network. Droid is supposedly the Smartphone that can do everything that the iPhone can’t. Verizon directly attacks the iPhone by referring the iPhone as iDon’t.

Verizon’s campaign is also playing commercials showing maps of AT&T’s 3G coverage compared to Verizon’s 3G coverage. Check it out:



AT&T is actually suing Verizon because they claim that this commercial does not accurately represent their coverage, leading to a loss in market share. Verizon is stating that the commercial clearly states that the maps are for only their 3G network, and it is totally accurate.

There is no doubt that Verizon is directly competing with AT&T, but will it be enough to triumph the beloved Apple iPhone?

-Annie H.

Is the iPhone Hype Over?

Price Bumping – Value Jumping

For all of us “legal” music downloader’s, the days of the .99 across the board tracks on iTunes are over.

I’m not surprised because the strategy is tried and true; lure us into a feeling and once we are hooked on it, bump the price of the experience up. Most of us are still hooked into the easy and popular way to legally get our music. So we will whine, but will crave our Apple fix. They do have rebuttals planned for our whining over this price increase, in the form of value added programs that jump at us in the form of “passes” to make us feel special. The Fray’s iTunes “pass” accompanies the release of the featured track. This pass is set at $17.00 and delivers songs, video’s and photos over a time frame in hopes to retain fans over the long haul.

Innovation and freeware supporters, Nine Inch Nails, are coming out with an app for the iPhone in hopes of connecting their fans interactively with the intent of being a fine “up-selling” group. “ One of the biggest wake-up calls of my career was when I saw a record contract," Reznor says. "I said, 'Wait — you sell it for $18.98 and I make 80 cents? And I have to pay you back the money you lent me to make it and then you own it? Who the fuck made that rule? Oh! The record labels made it because artists are dumb and they'll sign anything' — like I did." (NIN iPhone App Extends Reznor's Innovative Run)



So, who will rule? Free and up-selling or expensive and value-added?

-Jodi

Price Bumping – Value Jumping

Money, Get Away!

All I’ve heard about for the past couple of weeks is how money is destroying our lives.

The people that had it, lost it, those that don’t have it still don’t have it and the folks that need it, can’t get it.

Reports from the entertainment industry have mirrored the general markets. As of October 10th, the numbers for the major music companies are as follows:

• WMG - $5.95 off a 52 week high of $11.50
• Sony - $23.51 off a 52 week high of $57.19
• Apple- $88.74 off a 52 week high of $202.96
• Sirius XM - $.40 off a 52 week high of $3.94*
• Viacom - $20.68 off a 52 week high of $44.95
• Live Nation - $11.74 off a 52 week high of $24.03
• RealNetworks - $3.63 off a 52 week high of $7.61

*NASDAQ normally de-lists sub $1 stocks, but the exchange is considering an exception based in current market conditions.

This looks very depressing but on the other hand, we can’t give up on our entertainment. What keeps us working day in and day out is the thought of Friday night’s rock show, catching a good flick at the theater, buying that awesome home entertainment package and inviting good friends over for a entertaining evening!

Let’s take some lyrics from the classic Pink Floyd tune, “Money”:

Money, its a crime.
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise its no surprise that they’re
Giving none away.

To solve this problem, I vote for Emma’s plan on the latest episode of “News and Views”. She encourages us to put our cash in a shoe box and stash it under our beds. That way we are responsible for our own piggy banks and can get back to the basics of enjoying our short time on this earth…

Jodi

Money, Get Away!