EZ-Readers

            I used Top Ten Reviews to compare the Nook Color and Kindle Fire. I chose these two to compare because they both came out around the same time and seemed to compare well to each other when they came out. This site is hard to use to compare two different eReaders, but is manageable. I do like how all of the technical data is written under a floating picture of the device.

            Both eReaders are rated as excellent all scored over a 9 in their rating. Both of these ereaders are 7in touch screens and the nook is slightly larger for overall size. The Nook is not setup to read blogs as the Kindle is. Other data that could be compared is the Nook has over 2.5million books, 160 magazine titles, and 36 newspaper titles available. The Kindle has 1.6million ebooks, 272 magazine titles, and 9 newspapers available at the bookstore. These are the important facts to someone who might be worried about the availability of not so mainstream books. The Nook does have quite a bit more expandable memory up to 32GB the Kindle Fire only goes to 6GB. And as far as software they both seem to compare some different formats.

            As my closing comments my wife has a Nook Color and I really enjoy reading on it. I do not think that eReaders will become useless but I do think that they will end up being like cell phones. As soon as one comes out the next best thing will be in Research and Development. I also really feel that the only other place eReaders could go is Books on Audio File!?!? Sounds good to me.

Obama-ize YOURSELF!!!

This photo I pulled off of my computer it is a picture of me with the little mushroom from Mario Brother’s video game. I used http://www.lunapic.com/editor/ to create the photo above. It was taken while in western Parwan Province in Afghanistan. Anyway back to the reason for this blog, I believe that since the photo was copyrighted by Associated Press that they were completely within their means to take legal action. Mr. Fairey was using, yes an altered version of the photo but sill, someone else’s photo to make a profit without permission. Without even an attempt to get permission, he stated “You know, I actually don't know who the photographer is...but, whoever you are, thank you..." this I took from an article from the Phillynews.com blog, no longer on the internet. This is just outrageous to me. I know that I am kind of jumping around but I am just trying to make one point, which is no matter what you should always have permission to use someone else’s work. Most defiantly if you are going to use it to possibly end up turning a profit. Well that is enough of my rant, hope you enjoyed as always.

Time to Dream of Clouds!

This week while using photo editing tools I did not use the cloud except to download the new toll that I really do like. I downloaded Picasa, from Google.com after that I only used the cloud to upload these photos to the class Wiki. I think that these sorts of tools that are free to use will help the art world. Why you may ask? Well because being that they are free I believe that these tools give, younger and maybe financially unstable people, a way to easily express their ideas and an easy way to do it. After all art is a way to express yourself. I think that these tools are awesome and if you had better knowledge of what each thing does it could be awesome for someone to use them to turn a buck or two. I heard that on TV once… anyway I do not think these kinds of tools will just “create more ‘noise” in the art community; it may just create more competition. I like them and don't consider myself an artist, but do like to use them. Well that is my blurt for the week see you all on Tuesday night.

   

Creative Commons, not a Hangout to Drink Coffee!!!

    This week the assignment is to blog about creative commons. I think that Creative Commons is a good web site with good intentions to the creators of artwork and music and other sorts of this stuff. I like how the developer of whatever medium the creator uses or develops, can choose who can share and modify their idea and to what extent. I like this idea but it seems as though the rules may be a little loose in some areas, at least it feels that way. Like if I create an idea or image that I want to copy right but use a creative common on it, it seems as though I can’t allow people to use my idea with any monetary return to me. Like say I’m a photographer in that instance. Other hen that the creative common seems to be a great way to share and express your ideas and works and to at least get credit for it being your idea and then you can choose who can do what with it by which creative common you use.

-Lance

Horrible Web Site

    So today I was looking through the web and was looking on this site of the 20 worst web sites of 2011.  Upon reviewing the one we went over in class last week, which was a horrible one, I came across one that isn’t quite as bad but had a bad review also. This site called TechCrunch.com. I could see y it had a bad review as soon as I went to it. First thing I noticed is the loo at the top of the page was distorted and looked like garbage. The next thing that had come to my head was there were literally a million adds posted everywhere on this page, left side, the top, the middle between text, and at the bottom. The menu bar was also very small and unnoticeable; there were two of them also, why I do not know. So I went from this review that was linked to the picture and then I clicked on the home button to see if this was how the whole site was ran and not to my surprise it was just as bad. The home page was huge and took a long time to load and I have broadband internet. Again we come back to the same thing with the adds and the distorted logo but the worst part is that all of the post on the home page go on forever and the only way they are organized is by when they were posted. There should be some kind of organization sone with this page it is really bothering me looking at it any longer. I’ve got to stop before I throw my comuter. Thank you for listening to my rant see you next time.

Lance

Plagiarizing Right and Wrong

Hello all,

            Plagiarizing seems to be cut and dry when you are introduced to it, don’t cut and paste things to a school paper. That is about as simple as it gets, but when you go past that it seems to get a whole lot more complicated.  When you start typing and using someone else idea you need to note that you used their idea. If you think about it, it makes sense but if you are not thinking about it, you could easily just re-write someone’s idea into your own words. Then depending on the content of your statement you could be or may not be plagiarizing. I think that there are some grey areas in the rules and regulations and then how are you supposed to regulate if two people have generally the same idea and post it online without ever meeting each other and never knowing that someone else has the same idea? 

Here to Learn!!!

     Why am i here? Why am i in this class? And why am i even in college? these are all questions to which i am still trying to figure out. i believe that this all started when i returned from Afghanistan. i came home to a job that i hated when i left and really was not going to return to, in all honesty. i started to do things that  knew i was going to regret, nut i didn't care because i felt as though i was going nowhere. i had to keep this job to support my family and barely scrape by doing it so going to a new job paying significantly less wasn't  an option i started to see someone to figure things out. he had suggested to me something i always wanted to do since i had passed up right after high school. go to college.
    At first i was very reluctant, "i don't have time for that." i said this to him and myself for several months and every time i met with him he always brought it up. finally he leveled with me and told me that his experiences with college had cost him his first marriage. that really told me it took a ton of dedication to do. he said that even though things hadn't worked out he was still in a better place today because he MADE time to do it.
     Long story short i spoke with my boss at work and he was very understanding, one reason was he knew i was about to quit and didn't want that, he said that they would work around school and it would help me get a better job at the company. Then i had several conversations with my wife about how it would be hard and take up a lot of time and she surprised me the most. She supported me 100% and wanted me to do it.
     The first semester was the hardest, never being in a college class i took 2 classes thinking it wont be that hard was very naive of me. It was extremely testing to jump into 2 classes and work 50+ hrs a week and still spend time with my kids. so last semester i took 1 class and it helped immensely on my time management. it didnt help that i waited to sign up for my fall classes until the last week of registration. so i took the summer off and saw that fall was approaching fast. i decided to take this class because my adviser told me it would cover 2 classes i need for my degree and it sounded interesting.
     Since signing up for these classes they have already proven to enhance my moral and my position at work. This past June my supervisor approached me and complimented me on my turn around of performance and my dedication to the company. he stated that it had been noticed by several people and a few of the managers of the facility. at that time i was still trying to leave the department but stay within the company. at that time he lowered his voice and said "Lance i fought with a couple of people to be the one to offer you this. If you would like we would like to offer you a Team Leader position on third shift." this meant a significant pay raise and extra responsibility. I told him i would like the position and was very appreciative for the offer. hes said that he was pleased to give me the job and it was effective immediately.
    To sum things up i decided to take this course for several reasons to enhace my career at my company, to continue on with my degree program, and to gain skills that will help me both as a civilian and as i try to further my position in the VTARNG.
    And an added bonus college credits help with promotion points in the military!