Post Grad Post

Hi guys! I’m not sure if anyone is still following this blog or even if I have it set up to post to twitter/facebook, but if there is anyone still out there reading the stuff I jot down then rejoice! I’m going to start writing again. I don’t know what exactly I will be writing about so I guess I’ll figure it out as I go along. All I know is that I’ve been incredibly lazy since graduating and I need to find a decent paying job and I need to remind myself how to write again. Let’s go!

The Games Don’t Want Me

This is sad! I was attempting to put off preparing for my Spanish oral exam by killing people online in Call of Duty, when I was met with utter failure.

I began this journey by attempting to play COD on the Xbox. Wouldn’t you know it, the red ring of death error came back. (After Jack had it fixed twice, I don’t know if there is any way of saving this system for good.)

Non-deterred, I asked Will if he wanted to play Black Ops online with me. He agreed, and when we went to play we discovered that the Playstation Network was down, due to some asshole hackers. Though, Anon is saying that they aren’t responsible, so quite frankly they probably aren’t. But it can be hard to judge these things.

Oh well. Back to Spanish. If I manage to survive this exam, it will be wholly remarkable.

Stuff I Read (And How I Read It)

I’ve recently decided to organize/revitalize my online feeds and blogs, so here are a few sites I enjoy visiting.

1. Reddit: I know, I know. This doesn’t count as reading per se, but it is my favorite upvote site. I think it’s a good way to keep one finger on the pulse of the internet, and it’s a good alternative to 4chan, which I don’t really use anymore.

2. longreads: This site is AMAZING. I absolutely love it. The owner posts a grab bag of long articles from various sources and then includes the word count for each article along with an estimated reading time. But what I really like about this site is that so far all the articles have been really good reads.

3. The New York Times: Yeah, there is a paywall now but you can still read some articles for free. I know some people don’t like the Times, but I still do. It just depends on your taste (and political persuasion.)

4. Engadget: This is my go-to source for all things technology. Gizmodo works as well, but I prefer engadget because they always do a really good job with keeping up to date on the latest technology. Admittedly, some of their reviewers are a little Apple biased, but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

5. xkcd: I’m not even going to explain this one.

There are more, of course, but this is a decent overview of some of the sites I enjoy reading.

My current RSS program is Feed Demon synced up with Google Reader. I like to use Google Reader to store all my feeds because most smartphone apps and desktop programs are compatible with it. I like Feed Demon as a desktop program, but the free version does come with ads. I will probably drop 20$ for the real thing sometime over the summer when I have a little more spare cash. It’s a fairly basic piece of software, it keeps track of what you’ve read and it notifies you whenever new articles show up.

I am planning to expand this idea of reading online in a future post, but for now I need to prepare for class.

End of the Semester Blues

I’ve been doing a terrible job maintaining the blog lately. I admit this. The end of the semester has brought new, large mountains of work and a thrown off schedule that hasn’t prohibited me from blogging, per se, but it has discouraged me from doing so .

This, combined with the fact that my blogging competitor hasn’t posted anything new in several weeks has led me to become an enormous slacker.

So to make up for it, I am going to change the direction of this blog  little bit. I am going to start using it to post notes and ideas about my upcoming essays, and anyone who wants to comment on them may feel free to do so. Though I’m not really expecting much as I am well aware that the end of the semester pressure is on everyone, not just me.

To begin, I have an annotated bibliography due tomorrow. I am still debating whether or not I should turn it in late and just take the hit.

For the curious, here are the sources I am planning on using.

1. Derrida, Jacques. Paper Machine. Trans. Rachel Bowlby. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2005. Print.

2. Goldberg, Jonathan. Writing Matter: From the Hands of the English Renaissance. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1990. Print.

3. Lovink, Geert. Zero Comments. New York: Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, 2008. Print.

4. Miller, Susan. Assuming the Positions. Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998. Print.

5. Schurink, Fred. “Manuscript Commonplace Books, Literature, and Reading in Early Modern England.” The Huntington Library Quarterly 73.3 (2010): 453-470. Web. 15 April 2011.

6. Baumer, Eric P. S.; Mark Sueyoshi & Bill Tomlinson. “Bloggers and Readers Blogging Together: Collaborative Co-creation of Political Blogs.” Computer Supported Cooperative Work 20.1-2 (2011): 1-36. Web. 15 April 2011.

More to come later.

*Edit: This new direction is not permanent. It is only a temporary change to make my final projects easier. I will continue to post on my usual topics if I have time.*

The Computer Whisperer Strikes Again

I’ve decided to take the plunge. Next semester I am taking two programming classes, with the intention of either staying in school an extra year to add a full-blown Computer Science major or graduate on time with a minor/realize Comp Sci is really hard and not take any more related classes.

This is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, but I was afraid to pursue it because I know the classes will actually be challenging. Lately I’ve been cruising by in my English classes because quite frankly…they just aren’t that difficult. Papers can be stressful, but they are still just papers. I write them the night before and still make decent grades.

I will either hate my life in the fall, or be incredibly excited. Time will tell.

More Phone Talk: The Galaxy S II

You know what they say: “You can keep waiting on a better phone forever and ever because there will always be something harder, better, faster, stronger on the horizon.”

The latest contender for next-best-thing is the Samsung Galaxy S II. This phone will include a:

• 4.3 inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen;
• A 1.2 ghz dual-core processor
• 1 gig of RAM
• 16 gigs of built in storage, with a microSD card slot for upgrades. (For a total of 48 gigs, max.)
• An 8 megapixel camera on the back and a two megapixel camera up front for video chatting
• Android 1.3, Gingerbread.

In addition to all this, it will be slightly thinner than the iPhone 4.

It is really only a matter of time before smartphones begin to encroach on laptop territory. Dual-core processors are already starting to become standard on upcoming devices, and this particular phone is actually clocked at 1.2 ghz!!

To put the speed in which this technology is advancing into perspective, look at it this way: My current phone, the Motorola droid, is about two years old. It has a single core processor clocked at 600 mhz. For those of you who are bad at tech terms, this means the Galaxy has twice the clock speed AND twice the cores of my old phone. It also has 4 times the RAM, but let’s not belabor the point.

I know, when technology is moving this quickly, you could definitely argue that it is a capitalistic gimmick made to convince consumers that they need to buy the next-best-thing. But honestly, I really am excited about how quickly these devices are advancing, because I definitely have a sordid love affair with my current smartphone.

And who knows, maybe by the time August rolls around there will be an even better smartphone for me to use my upgrade on. It’s certainly possible.

To see the Galaxy S II in action, check out this video:

Online Learning: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

A recent article hosted by the New York Times changed my perspective on online learning. As an intern at the Global Text Project, I think learning online can be a wonderful thing. But when high schools use the system to allow students to pass classes that they would otherwise fail in a regular classroom environment, it really makes you wonder just how effective online courses are.

The Good

Free courseware allow students in other countries or self-motivated individuals in the U.S. to educate themselves. MIT has a huge opencourseware program, many of their lectures on various topics can be found online for free.

The Bad

Online courses are not nearly as effective in the high school setting. Many failing high school students just don’t have the motivation to learn. Online courses make it incredibly easy to cheat on assignments, and with the lack of a dedicated teacher to guide them, students have no real incentive not to cheat. I hate that it works this way, but online courses in high school really only serve graduate students without actually teaching them anything.

The Ugly

What’s worse is, Republicans have started to notice that it is much cheaper to teach kids with online courses than it is to employ real teachers to do the job. Teacher’s unions claim that “the push for online courses, like vouchers and charter schools, is intended to channel taxpayer’s money into the private sector.”

I have mixed feelings on this issue, particularly because these programs will promote learning to use technology. For example, Idaho’s superintendent of public education “promoted giving students laptops and requiring online courses.” There is a lot to be gained through providing laptops to students who might not otherwise have access to such technology. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that computer’s are not substitutes for actual teachers, especially in a high school setting where unmotivated students need human intervention more than anything else.

Smartphones: Soon to Replace Everything

The New York Times has recently written an article regarding gadgets you can get rid of. After reading it, I felt inspired to write a follow up article about all the gadgets that a smartphone has replaced/will replace. Here we go!

Has Replaced

1. MP3 Player: Let’s face it. The MP3 player is dead. Nearly every decent smartphone these days comes with at least 16 gigabytes of storage for all the music files you could possibly want. As if that weren’t enough, you can stream Pandora from your 3g connection, i.e, anywhere. The only issue here is battery life. Depending on your phone, streaming music all the time will eat your battery.

2. GPS Navigation: This is less applicable to iPhone users, who have to buy expensive third-party apps to make use of their built in GPS effectively. Android users can pretty much throw their Garmins away. Android comes with fantastic navigation software. Pick up a phone with a 4.3 inch screen and a car dock/charger and you’re good to go! Hands-free talking/music streaming/navigating all-in-one car accessory.

3. Non-professional cameras: That is, point and shoot cameras. Most smartphones nowadays come with either 5 or 8 megapixel shooters, so there is no real need to buy a digital camera that isn’t a dSLR.

4. Alarm clock: For about 99% of the population a phone alarm will be enough to wake them up. Heavier sleepers (or paranoid oversleepers) might want to hang onto their dedicated clocks.

5. Newspapers: There are tons of smartphone apps that bring you the news. I read the New York Times on my phone all the time. Technically, it’s the internet who is to blame for the death of the physical newspaper, but the ubiquitous smartphone plays a role as well.

Will/Might Replace

1. Credit Cards: This is a cool/scary one. NFC (near field communication) devices are set to be installed on most smartphones in 2011/2012. This will allow you to make payments by simply waving your phone in front of a terminal. This is obviously rather scary due to the potential for security breaches, but the concept is extremely cool.

2. Car Keys: This already exists. OnStar will allow you to unlock your car/remote start your car from anywhere.  Furthermore, the app can honk your horn, check your odometer, check your gas levels, and even tell you where your car is if your car has an embedded GPS.  This could be really convenient, but it could also be a huge security risk as well. Yet another reasons we should fear hackers.

3. Books/E-Readers: I hate to say it, but we’re heading in that direction. It will be a long time before physical books ever truly go away, but we are going to see more and more people reading on their smartphones. While e-readers are really cool, after you’ve practiced reading on your phone, you’ll find it’s just as easy as reading a book on say, a Kindle. And as of n0w, Apple and Android smartphones both have access to both the Kindle store and the Nook store. Apple has a third option, the Apple book store.

4. Tablets: This is iffy. Super high resolution, dual-core 4.3 inch smartphones are making their way to the market. For most users who are looking to save money, a smartphone will fulfill all the same duties that a tablet computer will. I know that I’ve said the opposite of this in the past, but I’m really beginning to think that we are moving towards and all-in-one device that is easy to carry around everywhere.

Is it just me, or is reality starting to feel more and more like science-fiction every day?

iPhone 5 Rumors

With the Verizon model of the iPhone 4 still hot off the press, tech geeks are already looking forward to the iPhone 5. This device is still a mysterious figure in the tech world, and yet a figure that looks to be quite intimidating.

9 to 5 Mac already has a page up, detailing a few of the rumors that are currently in circulation. So far, the phone will supposedly have an A5 processor (1 ghz dual-core, same as iPad 2), a 4 inch retina display (hopefully it will still be a retina display) and a design similar to that of the iPhone 4 but with a metal back. There are also rumors that it will come with an 8 mp camera made by Sony.

Sadly enough, the iPhone 5 rumor blog claims that the phone will not be mentioned at the Apple press conference in June. But there is still hope that the phone will come out in either late summer or early fall.

I am due for an upgrade in August. I guess I will be playing the game of “wait and see” around that time, because the iPhone 5 would be a strong contender on my list of possible phone choices.

Manipulating the System: Interns at For-Profit Companies

Internships can be a great way for college kids to gain professional experience in their chosen field. But some companies have been taking advantage of students looking to build up their resumes.

Before I go any further, it is worth mentioning that I am currently an unpaid intern for the Global Text Project. I don’t mind working for free at this particular position for two main reasons.

1. GTP is a non-profit organization. My work also counts as volunteering, because I am editing textbooks that will be distributed free of charge to developing countries.

2. I actually get to do real editing work. I do more than just refill coffee cups.

According to the New York Times, many for-profit agencies are using unpaid internships to drive up their profits. What’s even worse, more recently they even been charging students for the privilege to work for them.

Why does it have to be this way? What is stopping huge companies like WNBC from paying a small, but reasonable salary to their interns? One such intern, Bill Watson, could “barely afford to pay the rent for his apartment in New York while he worked for WNBC.”

On the other side of the coin, wouldn’t making unpaid internships unlawful decrease the number of internships available to students? As long as the level of competition amongst wannabe interns is high, companies can get away with offering unpaid jobs because so many students feel the need to garner professional experience.

For now, this is just a fact of life for college students. Until we graduate and find our way out in the real world, it looks like we are going to have to pay our employers to work for them.