Article Review: Tackk

Summary

There are so many tools available for creating presentation, such as PowerPoint, Prezi, Voicethread, etc. There is a new tool called Tackk. The editor on the right side allows you to customize how the section looks. You can add heading, information, and medias. When you're done, you will be given a URL that links to your presentation. You can give this URL to others and they can access your presentation right away. You can select whether to let others be able to edit it or not (view only). Trail expires in 7 days. If you create an account, it'll never expire. You have to be 13 and older to have an account.

Main Concept

• Creativity - All presentation tools are made to make presentations more creative and interesting.
• Advancement - Tackk and other tools shows the advancement in technology. New tools are being created to facilitate and make presentations fun.
• Presenting - Tackk and other tools are finding new ways to present information (not just powerpoint). They are trying to make the presentation attractive and easy to understand.

Strength

• There is no need to email it or use a thumb drive to send your powerpoint to others.
• Your group member can edit it and you can see the changes without transferring it through email or thumb drive all over again.

Weakness

• Children under the age of 13 should be able to make an account in Tackk too.
• Tackk is just like the other tools used to present; it's too similar to be that much help.

Questions

1. What are some other creative ways to present aside from making a fancy powerpoint presentation?
2. What can you suggest Tackk to include in their list of functions available?

Article Review: 6 Apps to Facilitate Mornings

Summary

1. Alarm Clock Extreme
The alarm clock will slowly increase the volume until you wake up.
There is a large snooze button that makes you solve math problems to dismiss the alarm.
The snooze button can be set to decrease after each alarm.

2. Sunrise
The app links Facebook, Google Calendar, LinkedIn, Eventbrite together.
It combines events and birthdays you have for that day.

3. Sworkit
Workouts that range from 5-60 mins.
You can select the style and it would randomize the exercise for you.

4. TED
Listen to TED talks from educators, scientists, researchers, etc for about 20 min to start your day.

5. Guide
Read news to us from the web by a robotic voice. We can listen in the morning while showering or making breakfast.

6. Spotify
You can make your own song playlist or subscribe to other's.

Major Concepts

• Technology - technology has gone so far to combine every functions of gadgets into just a smart phone.
• Human Ingenuity - People have to use creativity in order to come up with these apps.
• Advancement - Over time, technology improves and advances.

Strength

• TED talks are a good place to learn more and become more worldly.
• Guide app can help save time. We could listen to the news and finish preparing ourselves for work, school, or the day.

Weakness

• Alarm Clock Extreme isn't the best app in there. It's annoying. It should be later on in the list, not the first one.
• The pictures should be smaller. So it's easier to read.

Questions

1. How is having the Spotify app more useful than just using iTunes to create playlists?
2. Is Sunrise app useful for teenagers who dont have much event to attend to too?

Source:

Drell, Lauren. "6 Apps That Make Mornings More Manageable." Mashable. Mashable, Inc., 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. <http://mashable.com/2013/02/13/morning-apps/>.

Article Review: Securing Yourself From Hackers

Top 20 Passwords

1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123
11. Nicole
12. Daniel
13. babygirl
14. monkey
15. Jessica
16. Lovely
17. michael
18. Ashley
19. 654321
20. Qwerty

Most common length is 6 characters.

Write your password down so you wouldn't forget it.

Strong Passwords

• minimum of 8 characters
• include upper case, lower case, numbers, and symbols
• take a sentence and use the first letter of every word then add numbers, symbols, and complexity
• don't use personal information
• don't use dictionary words
• don't use a sequence on the keyboard

Major Concepts

• Security - By using easy passwords, hackers can quickly crack your password and invade your privacy.
• Creativity - You should be creative in making a password so that only you can relate to it and it'll be hard to figure out. Think out of the box!
• Internet - You should have security on the internet. On the internet, people can find out about your information and even where you live or currently are. They can extract more information if they have your password.

Strength

• The arrangement makes readers want to read it.
• It's short and precise.
• Contain charts which helps convey the idea to the audience.

Weakness

• The first list contain an extra password (21 passwords instead of 20) not on the second one.
• There are some grammatical errors.
• The first list of passwords should be in numbered list not bullet list.

Questions

1. Why is there some names on the list? Are those names more frequently used than others?
2. Is the information presented on this website reliable and trustworthy since it says there that the source is unknown?

Source:

"Top 20 Worst Passwords That Can Hack Your Private Accounts?" All Infographics. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.

Article Review: Anonymous DDoS Petition

Summary

Anonymous petitioned the White House asking the government to accept DDoS (distributed denial of service) as a valid form of protest on Jan 7. DDoS is the practice where the website becomes offline because it is overloaded with requests. DDoS is a civil disobedient tactic or even a way of hacking since government and military websites could be destroyed by DDoS. The petition wants anybody jailed for DDoS to be released. The document need 25,000 signatures (having already 2,700 signatures) by Feb 6 to get a response from the White House.

Major Concepts

• Persistence - The members of Anonymous is persistent in getting the White House to accept their petition. They are willing to get so many signatures in their document.
• Technology - Anonymous is using DDoS to petition instead of sending a normal petition letter. Technology is getting more advance everyday.
• Law - Anonymous wants DDoS to be a valid form of protest and people not to be jailed for it. They want the law to be changed.

Strength

• Author isn't biased in the article since he didn't inclue his opinion. This is good because articles should give news and inform people about facts. A proper news article should not include opinions.
• Author used lots of details and also managed to keep it short and precise. This is good since it's fast paced (not wasting the reader's time), yet contain lots of information, and is straight to the point.

Weakness

• Author makes it hard to understand on the first time reading the article. Must re-read 2 times to get it. So the audience might lose interest.
• Author uses some hard vocabulary that readers may not understand. ex: expunged This causes the reader to have a harder time understanding the article as a whole.

Questions

1. Why do they want the government to accept DDoS as a valid form of protest so badly?
2. Are there another currently being jailed for DDoS?

Source: 

Jauregui, Andres. "Anonymous DDoS Petition: Group Calls On White House To Recognize Distributed Denial Of Service As Protest." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Jan. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/12/anonymous-ddos-petition-white-house_n_2463009.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003>.

Article Review: Papermache Online Research

Summary

         Academia wants to use the internet for educational purposes because many bad or incorrect information is available. Los Angeles wants to start up Papermache.cc, Inc., a site that allows university students to share their graded paperwork and start discussions. It's founder, Benjamin Fenigsohn, has been working on this site for over a year. A funding campaign to raise money for the finishing touches 36 hours before his beta launch. He tries to make it "easier not to cheat than to cheat", since the reason why students cheat is because it's easier.

Main Concepts

• Academics Importance - Papermache.cc is made solely for the purposes of academics assistance. This network is being build because academics is important.
• Social Networks - Social networks is a popular way to connect with people from all around the world. Benjamin Fenigsohn realised that and thats why he created Papermache.cc. He wanted to make a medium where students all over the world can communicate to each other and help each other.
• Human Ingenuity - Benjamin Fenigsohn used human ingenuity and creativity to link education with entertainment (social networks). He made education more enjoyable and help more accessable

Strengths

• One of the author's strengths is that he focused on the problem and then introduced a solution for it. He didn't just state the news about Papermache right away. He made it interesting for the readers to read.
• By quoting, the author makes his point much more clearer. It's easier to understand the authors motives and perspective.
• I like how the author says "easier not to cheat than to cheat" since it got me thinking over it. It's true and simple but we tend to look over it at times.

Problems

• The author should make it shorter so that more people would be interested in it. Since some people dont have much time, they would want to read quickly and get the main ideas of the article. This article was of medium length but it could still be a bit shorter. The author could get to the point quicker.
• Some readers might have a problem with the vocabulary. Sometimes high vocabulary is used in the article. For me, I don't really have a problem with that since I can refer to the rest of the sentence for clues and I know almost all of it.

Questions

• How is Papermache more efficient that facebook or other social networks that are already made popular ? A discussion page can be made there instead.
• Will Papermache be successful; will it become popularly used by the targeted audience, university students?

Source:

Fenigsohn, Benjamin. "EdTech Startup Papermache Aims To Inspire Better Online Research." Edudemic. N.p., 13 Jan. 2013. Web. 14 Jan. 2013. <http://edudemic.com/2013/01/papermache-research-tool/>.

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