Watershot

This company has created a housing for your iPhone, so you are now able to take your phone up to 130 feet deep. How can this be with my touchscreen phone? Watershot also created an app that allows you full function of the camera with the four push buttons on the housing. The app is free from the app store. It can create full video, single shot, or multi burst photos all by switching modes with one button UNDERWATER!!! This is such a great advance in photo sharing as well, in the app you can post your photos to facebook, instagram, etc. all underwater!! (provided you have service underwater) This company also makes the housings for the Samsung galaxy phones.

Still don't believe its possible? This company started making underwater housings for hundred thousand dollar movie cameras, so I think its safe to say they know how to do it right!

 



Not only does this company create underwater housings, they create underwater lighting. Being a diver, I am always excited to be able to take amazing pictures underwater. However, I do run into the problem of lighting when underwater at depth, it can get dark down there. So lighting from a company that specializes in making your camera go underwater is a win-win. They are not cheap but lighting is a saftey issue when underwater and in the dark.

There is so many new and exciting things coming from this company in the future. Sony has created a new DSLR lens that you can operate with your smart phone. So this company said well lets take it underwater! They have created a housing that will attach to a Watershot housing for your phone so you can do just that. The housing is still in testing stages but I have full confidence that they will perfect its design and release its soon!

Most of this information is from when I met and talked with the owner of the company, but here is the link to the website for some more information.


http://www.watershot.com/led-lighting/led-lighting-kits.html

Mariah Taylor

Integrating Embedded Systems with the Human Body

When ever there is something needed to be tested it is first tested in animals, and later finds a way to the human body. this topic is so significant and important to me because the rate that technology is going and where it come through out he years this is already being done and soon everyone will not have the choice in the matter.

Questions to ponder:
What really is the need for humans to have these chips embedded in their bodies?
What do you think will happen if you do not comply and choose not to get something like this?
Do you believe that we are headed to a time where there will not be a choice in the matter?

Notice that this device is being placed, in the right hand. That is significant I will explain why I pointed that out later on in this discussion.

Justifications to why people should get this. 
A doctor who rock  climbs for a hobby have something like this implanded in body. In his right upper arm. He said "what  if a fall on day while rock climbing and I am unconscious when and if help comes they can scan me and find out my name age etc."

Hospitals complain the when people come into the emergency room its something good to have because they can scan a person and find out their medical history. Medicines they might be allergic to etc.

the police department and sheriffs expresses that  if parents get a device like this in the children it a way to find them if they get abducted.

Me personally I believe that there is a huge danger in this because now you leave yourself open to be controlled with no privacy and your location a whereabouts is always known. also it is a fulfillment of prophecy and being a believer in Christ I would never in no way agree for something like that to be embedded in my body.

Remember earlier I said notice where this device is located in the picture above. The RIGHT hand.
In the Bible Revelations 13:16-18 says:
¹⁶ It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
¹⁸ This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

Also take a look  at this video NBC Prediction that we will all have a RFID chip under our skin

WILL YOU TAKE THE CHIP OR NOT?


By: Vilikia Dyer 

Bias in Online News

     One of the biggest issues facing the so-called information age is, ironically, bad information. The best and worst part about the internet is that anybody can say literally whatever they want. If someone wants to inform you, they can. If someone wants to trick you, they can. This reality means that people with adequate writing skills and an agenda to push can write in a way to influence a reader. The same story reported on by Fox News with the headline "Democrats want to take your guns" may read "Democrats making the world a safer place" on MSNBC. While this is purely an (accurate) example, it demonstrates that word choice greatly affects the impression left on readers. This intentional word crafting to influence someone is known as bias.
     The ability to detect bias is very important to remaining informed while avoiding ignorance. Writers often use 'power words' to do this. These words have either strong emotion or being forth a certain mood when read. For instance, an author with no bias would refer to a group of people by the name they wish to be called. If the author wants to make them look bad, he could make a play on words with their name, or call them a word with heavy emotion (evil, treacherous, etc.). To make them appear in a positive light the author could compliment the group or praise their actions, using words like (brave, noble, hero, etc.). Most writers aren't as simple as these examples, and it can be hard to see bias without reading another source on the subject. For this reason, I believe it is very important to read a multitude of news sources and make enlightened judgments from what you find.     
     Without critically thinking, an individual could easily read a biased article and believe something that is simply not true. Worse yet, that same person could blog or talk about what they believe to be true and spread the misinformation ever further. Because of how easy it is to be misinformed, being well informed is a fairly large undertaking. This task is all the easier once the ability to detect bias is mastered.
For more information on bias: http://fair.org/take-action-now/media-activism-kit/how-to-detect-bias-in-news-media/
Written by Gavin William Young.

Have you heard my podcast on sound cloud about digital radio in cars? https://soundcloud.com/jason-a-kennedy Check it out and leave comments if you want below.


by -Jason Kennedy

Surveillance in the Digital Age

     In the past year alone, revelations as to the scale and methods of digital surveillance have changed the world's views of digital media and how it can be used. A situation that was once considered a conspiracy theorist's paranoid ramblings is, in fact, occurring on a massive scale. Multiple governments and private companies are collecting data (a.k.a. spying) on nearly anyone using the internet. This ability to manipulate digital media for their own agendas has eroded people's trust of groups and leaders that they once assumed were working in their best interest. Encryption of information has become a hot topic amongst internet users now that they know they are being watched.

     Many of the information 'leaks' have come from various sources, but Edward Snowden is the latest to come forward with damning proof. From what I found in my research, Snowden went about informing people in a non-selfish way. Rather than couple the very powerful knowledge he had with an agenda or bias, he simply gave his story to an online newspaper: The Guardian. He provided The Guardian with evidence he collected from working in the National Security Agency (NSA), a program run by the United States government. His findings showed that various U.S. government agencies had set up a multitude of ways to collect very private information about people around the world, including U.S. citizens. To make matters worse, major internet and phone companies have been involved in aiding these data collections, essentially selling their customers privacy for large sums of money.
     Uncomfortable with the idea of having no digital privacy, people are turning to data encryption programs/services to keep their online interactions private. This has spurred what was once a niche industry into a rapidly growing digital service. A direct correlation can be assumed between leaks about digital surveillance and the rising popularity of data encryption, thus greatly affecting the state of digital media as we know it.
Written by Gavin William Young. For more information on the subject: http://reason.com/blog/2013/10/21/snowden-documents-reveal-more-of-the-nsa

Skylanders

Skylanders are making a huge trend. When they first came out I did not see the reason behind them. Now if you have never heard of SkyLanders it is a video game based off of the old Spyro games. (Dragons and what not.)  It is also almost nothing like the original games and that is also disappointing. Now in Skylanders you have a portal that is wirelessly connected to your console. Before being able to play the game you also have to purchase a character. It is like a mini action figure toy, but when placed on the portal it comes to life in the game and you can play them. Now each character has their own personality and abilities. Throughout the game certain levels can only be achieved by certain characters. Now I finally did buy it just to see how it was and when I was in GameStop I had a conversation with one of the workers that really opened my eyes. Skylanders is essentially a real life (well almost real) Pokémon hunt. People are going crazy over these things, thinking they need to have them all . If you have not looked into these things it is kind of ridiculous. Online some of the special edition Skylanders are going for thousands. It is pretty crazy. You might have also noticed that everyone if following the trend and creating their own versions, Disney for example. Which in my opinion just looks dumb. But in the next blog I will follow this up with who else could follow the trend to make all of our dreams come true. Hint Hint the phrase gotta catch em all would go to a new level.

Below is a link to the Skylanders site.

http://www.skylanders.com/

-Summer Whoolery

Piracy

     Let's talk about pirates. Not the "plague of the seven seas" kind, but the digital kind. More importantly, let's consider a notion that not many people think about, that is, if piracy can be helpful. Now everyone has been told that piracy is bad, that pirating steals money from the economy, and that it's morally and legally wrong and that it's unethical. Now, I'm not saying that all that's false, because it's not, but I do believe that piracy can actually help in some cases.
     Illegally downloaded music, movies, and video games are estimated to cost the economy billions of dollars each year-the Motion Picture Association of America estimates their annual losses to be $20.5 billion alone-but can there be benefits? According to this article, scientists in Europe have found that piracy actually boosted online music sales, and another article states that piracy helps create innovation by forcing companies to create new business models and by creating new markets for other businesses.
     For example, when it's discovered that a lot of people are pirating a certain thing, such as a video game, then it forces business owners to think about why they would rather risk getting viruses in their computers than pay for it. Is the price too high? Would they rather get to play a demo before they spend the $60 to buy it?
     Besides that obvious effect that pirating media has, it can also help drive sales like the first article mentioned above stated. For example, if Consumer A only pirates his media, while Consumer B only pays for it, then Consumer A (who can probably see the new media first because of his pirating) will watch/listen to/read/play various media, then recommend it to Consumer B, who will pump money into the economy by buying what Consumer A told him about. This may not be as effective for bigger franchises in the multimedia industry, but consider how useful it could be for getting the word out about new and upcoming music artists, indie games that don't have the money for marketing like bigger companies such as EA and Activision do, or new authors wanting to generate buzz about their first book.
     Yes, piracy is illegal (and unethical, in most peoples' opinions), but it is not without its benefits.

--Megan Commings