Speak2Tweet

Speak2Tweet... it sounds catchy but what does it mean? This form of new media is allowing information about the revolution in Egypt to cross borders into places such as the United States and Germany. There were 50,000 protestors in the streets of Cairo and due to this contribution to Twitter, it has been said that the number of protestors are growing. People are using Google, Facebook and Twitter to post messages and updates about their protests. What I found most interesting was the SayNow social media platform that is an add on to Twitter. It is voice - based and the Egyptians call a number and leave a message which is ultimately transferred to Twitter and can be played through the website. This revolution to remove Egypt's leader, Hosni Mubarak, has gained momentum through social media devices and it is even at the point where protestors are going through desperate measures to charge their cellphones. The best part about Speak2tweet is that no Internet conncetion is needed. People used Vodafone and MobiNil to text and leave voice messages and they were able to call three different numbers to leave messages as well. According to Ujjwal Singh, the co-founder of SayNow, and AbdelKarim Mardini, Google’s product manager for the Middle East and North Africa their main priority is to make sure Egypt has all the support they can get. “We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time. Our thoughts are with everyone there.” This statement shows their concern for helping Egypt through their time of need and it also shows how important it is to stay connected. Since social media devices are a form of connection, it is necessary for these platforms to continue to develop and expand.

"Protestors charged their cellphones in a tangle of power bars and extension cords in Tahrir Square on Tuesday" - New York Times

Click Here to see the latest video sent by Egyptians through speak2tweet

Kogi Korean BBQ Truck

Source

           Mark Manguera came up with the perfect plan to sell gourmet Korean BBQ tacos from a mobile truck in the Los Angeles area. His target customers? LA club goers in search of late-night eats, but sick of greasy fast food. Kogi Korean BBQ truck looked to establish a street culture vibe that would attract this targeted customer base, which has now come to be known as “Kogi culture.”

Manguera’s distinctive delivery method was not only what made the venture unique, but also surprisingly difficult to attract a customer base. He needed to find a way to let people know where the Kogi truck would be at any given time, as it would travel all over Los Angeles, from Venice to Culver City to downtown and back. If you’ve ever been to LA, you already understand how this task might be difficult. There was no way for truck drivers to plan in advance exactly what time they would be at any given location due to the infamous LA traffic, police blockades and other various travel issues. Kogi Korean BBQ needed to come up with a fast way to communicate the truck’s every location at any given moment to their constantly growing customer base.

The Terminator: Sci-Fi Movie or Realistic Fear

http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads
/terminator-2-terminator-297829_506_755.jpg

I know exactly what your thinking, why in the world would people invent robots to kill them, especially when they will be as handsome and powerful as Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Lets be honest, his tall, dark, handsome, and that accent is to die for.  My one question is "Could that movie be a realistic prediction of the future?".  Now just hear me out.  Ever since storytelling began hundreds of hundreds of years ago, people have been using symbols and metaphors within their works.  A dove represents peace, a ring represents love, and ice can represent death.  Can a Terminator be considered a symbol not for robotics, but for technology for a whole?  The basic plot of the movie Terminator is that robots come back in time to destroy people who are a threat to them in a war in the future.  Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of these robots and attempts to kill the leader of the human race.  But how does this seem anything near real world situations?  We live in a world where people have machines do everything.  Drive us to work, communicate with our peers, even monitor us when we sleep. But now so more then ever we are seeing people abuse machinery at quite possibly the worst times.  Teenagers are texting while driving, people are on conference calls while on the freeway and when devices like smoke detectors malfunction, it can lead to fatal results.  Society 15 and 20 years ago realized where technology should play as a role in everyday life, in the background. Take away the meaningless tasks, but in modern times people are abusing it to the point of death or near fatal injuries.  But the buck doesn't stop here.  Children are IMing for hours on end, taking away from their education, while teenagers are playing Xbox live and Playstation online til the wee hours of the morning.  By no means am I a martyr, but I do think we all need to take a step back and reevaluate what we let effect our lives.  Losing a cell phone is a bigger deal then writing a paper.  A place where Internet is down is highly frowned upon.  And people without the most up to date equipment are seen as inferior.  What ever happened to personal interaction?  Face-to-face?  Non-multitasking.  By no means is James Cameron a prophet, but I do think he had something right when he directed this Sci-Fi blockbuster .

Technology and Japan

After the devastating earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan, I have read about many incredible ways people and technology have helped aid in the recovery process. One of the first articles I read, talked about how students at Tufts University have used a Facebook and Twitter to create maps that pinpoint crisis areas across Japan. This technology, which was also very in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, allows people (if they have internet access) to Tweet or Facebook about a certain problem nearby, so it can be added to crisis maps, which are distributed to the Red Cross and other emergency aid organizations. Also, similar to what happened during the recent uprising in Egypt, Twitter and Facebook are working to set up toll free telephone lines that will allow users to broadcast their messages onto the internet. Also, phone services such as AT&T and Verizon are looking to make all calls to Japan free for the month of March. Hopefully, this can help families to reconnect with loved ones who have been displaced by the disaster.

One amazing technology that I have read about since the disaster in Japan was launched by Google, and is known as the "person finder." This interface is very simple, and it works by allowing users to either look for someone or provide information about someone. When you are searching for somebody, you type in their name and it will provide you with any information about their whereabouts and how you might be able to contact them. You can also type in information about a person, which can update those who are desperately searching for loved ones. Although this technology is amazing and very helpful, it has been the bearer of very sad news to thousands of families who learned that their loved ones were no longer with us. However, because anybody can access the interface, and there is no way for Google to validate the information, there have also been many stories of people posting information inaccurate information about those displaced persons. Even though the server is not always going to be accurate, it more often than not provides people with valid information. Hopefully the world can continue to rally around Japan and help it rebuild as soon as possible.

Citations: http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2011/03/14/1226021/298659-japan-earthquake.jpg

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2011/03/13/aqui.japan.google.tool.missing.cnn

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/science-technology/US-Japanese-Students-Use-Facebook-Twitter-to-Map-Crisis-Points-117965689.html

The Transmedia Bowl

"Not that the ads will be the best ever. It may be that 2011 Super Bowl advertisers now are so focused on spreading the message across so many media channels that many forgot to focus on the content of the central message itself."
This article, "Super Bowl ads mix old and new media," by Bruce Horovitz in USA Today, discusses the effects new media has on advertising and marketing tactics in contemporary society. The Super Bowl has become the first "transmedia bowl." What does this mean? It means that the campaigns used during the Super Bowl commercials are not just tv commercials, they are a "multichannel, multiplatform, deeply social experience." The commercials are directing viewers to other forms of social media that will help them become more interested in their product. For instance, Sketchers shoe company is using  Facebook to show images of an add with Kim Kardashian declaring her break up with her trainer in order to gain followers for their product. This add will lead viewers to Sketcher's Facebook page and if a viewer declares their own "break up" they can get a personalized video from Kim Kardashian or win a workout session. The catch phrase is "break up to shape up" and although it sounds ridiculous, using social media and a celebrity icon will get viewers to buy these sneakers much faster than they would in the past. 

This is not the only company who has thought to use social media as a campaign method. For instance, Bud Light constructed a guessing game that brings people to the brand's Facebook page before the game. "Audi is using Facebook and a Twitter hash tag in the ad this year to drive game viewers to tweet about the ad and check it out on Audi's Facebook page." The list of companies using Twitter and Facebook in order to further their campaigns is endless. The point of this post is to show how multi - media is consuming our lives. These ads would never have such desire to include social media in their design a decade ago. We are living in an era where technology is prevalent and each company is competing to remain ahead in every form of social media possible. Do you think this causes the real content behind these messages to be lost?
Every company has a Facebook page and a Twitter because if they don't, they will fall behind in the marketing world. What is this saying about our culture? How many forms of social media is too many? Also, did you see the difference in this years Super Bowl ads compared to previous years when social media was not as ubiquitous?

The Ultimate Multi-Taskers

Source

Being 18 years old myself, I can easily relate to Roman and his classmates in Alone Together. Starting off the segment “Growing up Tethered” Roman admits that he texts while driving and that he will never stop. Because I am part of the same generation of the teenagers in this article, I can pretty accurately say that this is not necessarily the norm. Furthermore, I think there is a very big difference between checking your Facebook while driving and checking a text message or answering a phone call. This difference, however, is not one of safety. Rather this difference occurs on a mental level. Roman talks about how he must check his Facebook the moment he receives a notification, regardless of if he is driving. In my opinion, if someone is sending me a Facebook message or writing a post on my wall, it is most likely nothing of urgency. The only reason that I would even look at my phone while driving, is the thinking that someone might be trying to get in touch with me about something urgent. This constant paranoia is a whole other problem that our generation deals with, however, I personally think that it is more justifiable than just wanting to see what someone wrote on my Facebook wall. Regardless of the reason, texting while driving has been proven time and time again to be an extremely dangerous task, which is why it has been legally banned in 30 states.

Learn more about cell phone usage laws.

Response to "Alone Together"

In the excerpt of "Alone Together", a group of 10 or 15 high school kids are interviewed. Each of them talk about their connection to technology. Roman admits that he texts while driving because "[he has] to see" his new message. Maury states that he always must know who is calling and for what reason, so he will hang up on his friends even if the call waiting is from an "unknown". Marilyn adds that she "[doesn't] have a choice", that she needs to look at her phone when a text comes in and must always pick up her phone if she hears it ring. These statements were a little surprising to me, but not utterly shocking. What really got to me was when a group question "When was the last time you felt that you didn't want to be interrupted?" was asked and there was silence. I don't understand how there haven't been any instances in which these kids wanted to be alone. How do they have a minute to think or breathe? Better yet, when they took the SATs and had their phones off for 4 hours, didn't they feel symptoms of withdrawal? What if their phone broke, would they be able to even survive a day without it? With these questions in mind, I can't help but wonder what this need for constant connection means for the new generation? Are we simply addicted to technology or is it just that we are more curious than previous generations?