Monday, January 31, 2011
Cinema Blog
Hey guys its Tim Reardon from class, heres my blog (click) Cinema215 This blog is about skateboarding and the industry. Cinema was chosen as the name because i want to run a company in the skateboarding industry since i was younger and this is the name i came up with a year ago. Enjoy! There will be daily updates
Monday, December 6, 2010
Warning: New "Video Girl Barbie" Causes Controversy
A recent toy designed by Mattel is causing adults to panic over whether or not it is safe for their children to use and what could happen if the toy ended up in the wrong hands. As mentioned in the article "Barbie Video Girl Sparks Controversy" The Barbie comes equiped with a small recording device, which is located in the toy's necklace. information collected by the device can later be uploaded and viewed on the internet. Mattel says that the toy is appropriate for children ages six and older.
Parents are petrified that these toys could be given to their children by petophiles looking for an easy way to lure in little girls and then take inappropriate pictures and videos of them in a very easy and discrete way. Many people have decided to boycott the product and hope that it will soon be pulled off of the market. I am curious to see what you all think...
Personally, I think the toy is crossing a line. There is really no reason why a child needs to have a toy with a built in camera, just like children six years of age should not have their own camera phones. Because technology has become to advanced, we really need to be careful how much access we are giving to children. Technology can be great but we all know that it can be mis-used. I just think this particular product is not completely age appropriate.
Rather than having a vide-recording device, I would suggest something like a simple voice-recording device. Because the Barbie is so small and can be taken from place to place easily by a child, unlike a game used on a tv, the risk that the product could be mis-used is even greater.
"Digital Death" celebrities die on social media for AIDS awareness
Because social media is so huge and it is the new way to get the message out, to make yourself more famous, and to promote things, it has been made into a huge charity benefit. There is a fundraiser going on which involves celebrities taking themselves off of social media, "dying" and will be brought back to life only with donations. This shows that this social media obsession can turn into something worth while.
Here is something i found on the internet about it...
"Digital Death for Charity is an effort spearheaded by Alicia Key's charity called "Keep A Child Alive". When paerticipating in the Digital Death for Charity, various celebrities stage their death or disappearance from prominent social networking sites including Facebook & Twitter.
Kim Kardashian, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga and dozens of other celebrities have commited to the cause which benefits "Keep A Child Alive". Alicia Keys told us more about the effort:
It's really important and super-cool to use mediums that we naturally are on.
It's so important to shock you to the point of waking up. It's not that people don't care or it's not that people don't want to do something, it's that they never thought of it quite like that. This is such a direct and instantly emotional way and little sarcastic, you know, of a way to get people to pay attention.
The Digital Death for Charity will continue until the celebrities involved can raise $1 million for World AIDS Day."
Read more: http://www.thirdage.com/news/digital-death-charity-details-hollywoods-heroes_12-1-2010#ixzz17NmRHrrA
Drinking and Driving
Drinking and driving is a common topic many people have a clear stance on. I am 100% against drinking and driving because I think it's reckless and irresponsible. The decision to designate a sober driver could avoid a terrible accident. All those commercials that use emotional persuasion such as tobacco commercials, public service announcements on child abuse, animal abuse and etc, do not affect me as much as the drunk driving videos and commercials.
In this NPR article, they focus on a drunk driving accident victim Jacqueline Saburido, and talk about how effective the campaign has been to stop drunk driving. Jacqueline was a pretty 20-year-old, when she was hit by a drunk driver and pinned in a burning car. She was burned over 60% of her body and now is advocate to stop drunk driving.
According to the National Highway Traffic Administration,
1. Auto accidents are the number one killer of teenagers in the United States, and adding drinking to the equation only makes the statistic higher.
2. Motor vehicle crashes remain the number one cause of death among youth ages 15-20. There were 7,460 youth motor vehicle.
3. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of 15- to 20-year-old drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2005 had been drinking.
On http://fullapologies.com/, people apologize to their friends who were killed or hurt in drunk driving related accidents. After hearing the testimonies of these people I am more conscious to make sure to be smart and not sorry. Especially on college campuses, more people need to do the right thing and stay off the road if they're intoxicated!
Open Source Software
Today some folks wondered what Open Source Software involved so I thought I would link the example I mentioned in class. Check out CASH Music. CASH Music is a non profit that creates tools (software!) that enhances the connections between artists and their audiences.
From the site: "The goal is to help artists find sustainability and to encourage innovation in the music industry. We're doing this by building world class open source software designed specifically for the new music industry: tools handling promotion, distribution, commerce — creating the connection between artist and audience."
From the site: "The goal is to help artists find sustainability and to encourage innovation in the music industry. We're doing this by building world class open source software designed specifically for the new music industry: tools handling promotion, distribution, commerce — creating the connection between artist and audience."
Texting while driving app
Apparently there's a new application for the iphone that deactivates the texting on your phone while over a certain speed limit. Here's the link to the video: RIGHT HERE.
While inarguably this app is a pretty good idea, it raises some very pressing questions about the role of technology in our lives. What if this app had the power to send a message to the police every time it sensed you interacting with your phone? What if the same company were to release a phone that sent out messages to police when it sensed you were going over the speed limit? The technology is definitely at that level. So what's holding them back?
Also, do you think it would be a good idea to mandate the downloading of this app if you have a smart phone? It would certainly save lives taken from texting while driving, but only by limiting our personal freedoms. Perhaps it should come preinstalled on smart phones. What do you think?
While inarguably this app is a pretty good idea, it raises some very pressing questions about the role of technology in our lives. What if this app had the power to send a message to the police every time it sensed you interacting with your phone? What if the same company were to release a phone that sent out messages to police when it sensed you were going over the speed limit? The technology is definitely at that level. So what's holding them back?
Also, do you think it would be a good idea to mandate the downloading of this app if you have a smart phone? It would certainly save lives taken from texting while driving, but only by limiting our personal freedoms. Perhaps it should come preinstalled on smart phones. What do you think?
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