Contributed by Lindsey Vagnini Recently, my iPhone 4 had blackened and become unresponsive, and despite my frantic attempts to press the little circular button with the square on top as many times and as hard as I could without causing a different reason for its fragmentary state, it stayed that way. After 24 hours of my iPhone refusing to come back from the Apple Inc. dead, I realized its absence caused an uncomfortableness in me that I didn’t know existed. Suddenly, I lost immediate contact with my friends, family, boss, co-workers, classmates, and so on. While maybe extreme, this feeling is experienced by many. The moment your phone stops working for more than an hour—or, for some, even ten minutes—creates feelings of irresponsibility. For instance, I couldn’t reach, respond, or ultimately do one of the most important things humans regularly do: communicate! After 48 hours, I couldn’t take the sight of my lifeless iPhone and went to a local Apple store. When I arrived, I explained my situation to the Apple store associate. I thought maybe because the iPhone 4 is becoming more outdated by the minute, my phone would never be usable again, and it was time for a new iPhone. Immediately, the associate took my iPhone and put one finger on the circle button (what I now call the “magic iPhone puddle”) and another on the on/off button placed on its top edge. Bam! My social relationship world was rejuvenated and I had my source of communication back! Apparently, if an iPhone is not turning on, pushing both of these buttons for 30 seconds at the same time brings the iPhone instantly back to life; however, holding just one of these buttons deletes its internal storage. Good tip! The incident left me wondering: is this a problem? Is this a possibly ever-accruing phenomenon, that while useful for those with the incapability to communicate through conversation, we use our technology to converse more than we use face-to-face social exchange? Some research says relying on technology is constructive. In other words, our reliance on technology is helping to develop a task only possible through the assistance of these digital devices; therefore, this makes digital assistance somewhat of a necessity. This form of communication is called Assistive Technology. In some ways, Assistive Technology could be taking on a new meaning when we consider our internal anxieties caused by the absence of technology. For instance, the “high tech” described in this PBS article reveals the reliance people are putting on their technology when living a twenty-first century version of a “normal” life. In this case, technology is used to fill the need that people with disabilities cannot, without technology’s assistance. So, in this sense, relying on technology is essential for some folks. Still, the question remains: is this reliance a good thing, even when it is necessary for certain individuals' daily functionality? The worrisome aspect of this idea is that people concerned about their technology needs seem to be few in number. This lack of “worried people” posing, holding, and using iPhones in the images released even in the large domains like Google Images are, in my experience, hard to find. For example, in my search to find a representation for this post, I googled the following: “worried people with iPhones.” Needless to say, I found just the opposite in my results. For example, images of Barack Obama, a sunburnt chimpanzee, and a bunch people with teeth glistening smiles surrounded by at least one iPhone appeared. It is safe to say iPhones, according to the Internet’s representation of them, are perceived as healthy and pleasant interactive devices. Google Images seem to think so, and many other advertisement companies often project a sense of mutual agreement in the images they disclose on their websites. This positive light could be causing us to rely on iPhone assistance to effectively communicate in our lives. In consequence, could it be that losing our mouth would worry us less than losing our iPhone? After all, we don’t need a mouth to send a text message!
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Post contributed by Serina Jones
The Apple company is currently dealing with controversy in China. The newest iOS 9 software update gave Apple customers the benefit of receiving news sent right to their devices. The News app works in the favor of anyone who has access to it, simply because one is able to access any kind of news they want. When the app is opened for the first time, the customer is able to choose what kind of news they want to receive and what source they want to receive that news from. Now, the problem is that China has no access to the News app. This is because of China's firewall that prohibits anything that is not allowed in China. Sources say that the app is on Apple devices there, but customers in China just cannot receive news. It has also been stated that Beijing insists that companies censor the things the country does not allow before they bring their products out there. As of now, the News app only works in the United States, but is being tested in Australia and Britain. China is Apple's second largest source of revenue at this time, so the company is treading lightly with the moves they make concerning this app. Post contributed by Willie Franke On September 29, 2015, Google released two new smartphones to the world: the Nexus 5x and the Nexus 6p. The 6p is larger at 5.7 inches, and the 5x is 5.2 inches. The 6p has a 12.3 megapixel back-facing camera and an 8 megapixel front facing camera which, according to Google, takes “the best selfies in the world.” Another feature of the new phones is the ability to take slow motion videos with ultra HD 4K video. Google is also using a new fingerprint scanner to unlock the smartphones instead of having the classic unlock code used with previous phones. Google is using its own Android Marshmallow Operating System. I had no idea what this “Marshmallow” system was until I looked it up here. One feature of the operating system is called “Now on Tap.” It works when a user holds down the home button while on a page, prompting the system to highlight main words like places, celebrities, locations, and events. All the information taken from the text pops up in a little box on the bottom of the screen, and the user can send that information to another user or paste the location in the maps feature. I think the new operating system and phones are great additions to the technology and communication world. People today love documenting their experiences and keeping up with current news quickly. The new cameras on these phones and the new operating system help users get information faster and post better selfies or pictures of experiences. |
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