Charity

During this holiday season, we should strive to give a hand to others. Often enough, we consider most as our equal when it comes to our personal abilities and circumstances. However, we do not see that there are several personal circumstances that lurk beneath the surface that can severely handicap someone, such as depression, anxiety, or other health-related problems.  Also, when one has these circumstances placed in their lives, it is hard to see the circumstances on others. Often enough, we are focused on our own problems to a point where the problems of others seem less meaningful than ours, despite the serious effects it may have on them.  Charity allows see personal circumstances of others. If we have charity, then we will endure through our hardships and be able to better see the hardships of others. We will not be striving in life, but moving forward at a considerably good pace. It will also open doors in the lives of those around us. Charity never fails to bring miracles in our lives and the lives of others.

Lull of Gaming

Video games are demanding and enticing, leading to excessive time commitment and life challenges. Typical video games feature several short-term and long-term objectives, which entice gamers to continue playing for longer hours. For example, Battlefield 4, a first person shooter, features 64 reasons to play on it's website. Yet, at the same time, it features not disclaimer about the effects of excessive game playing. And it is all done by charging over $100 for the full game. And this is not uncommon: several next-generation video game titles give several reasons to play while increasing the cost of the game even further. Gamers are left to common sense, but this isn't always the case. However, publishers eliminate a bulk of buying decisions from gamers by creating addictive franchise titles, hooking gamers even further. While it is certain that not all games are addicting, several titles, such as Battlefield 4, cause many gamers to fall into this trap. Hence, in the digital age, publishers  extract cash from gamers by lulling them in an addictive fantasy. How wonderful.

Facebooking to Oblivion

Many often misuse Facebook by spending excessive time on the social networking website. The time spent on Facebook is called "Facebooking". Facebooking demands more time as more people are added into the social network and as new content providers add additional content to the social network platform. "Facebookers", or those who spend excessive hours on Facebook, are often more expressive than what they would normally be like if they were in person. This form of expression negatively impacts their real life social behaviour. Also, excessively looking through the history of a particular person, or "Facebook stalking", creates another social barrier. Hence, Facebook alienates real-life relationships, quite contrary to being "a place for friends".

The Amateur Revolution: My Take On Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody"

In Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky presents the notion that the advent of social tools have presented a landscape of new ideas and innovations. Shirky claims that the cost of failure is minimized in tools such as Sourceforge. He talks about how collectives are formed from social media groups such as Digg.

Ideas and innovation are disrupting our traditional corporate structure. We consume this in the technology we use. Our smartphones today contain a great bulk of open source software. Microsoft fails to deliver anything that is as popular and ubiquitous as Android or Linux. Hence, our corporate management structure is giving way to the sea of collective contributions.

Computer Science: Stereotypically Male

Let's face it: women aren't majoring in Computer Science. Of all my three sisters, none of them have any interest in Computer Science. Instead, they are more interested in nursing and medicine, both of which favor women. Yes, we can all talk about Grace Hopper. However, female icons such as Florence Nightingale and Ellen Keller eclipse her contributions. When I talk about compilers with my younger sister, it annoys her. Compilers, one of Grace Hopper's greatest contributions, are reduced to an annoyance. I don't think that my conversation with my sister is an isolated circumstance. Both men and women want acceptance in their related career field. Computer science carries such a heavy stereotypical favor toward men that women feel alienated even by contributions from their gender. It is no wonder why less than twenty percent of computer science majors are women.

Heaven and Hellfire: The LDS Church and Technology

Technology and it's culture both supports and opposes the LDS Church and it's culture. Much of internet entertainment directly opposes the church and it's teachings. However, the church uses the same tool to protect it's members by publishing gospel-oriented media, such as articles and videos. The church encourages members to distribute this media via social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter. The church also increases its distribution channel further by paying for prominent advertising space on popular websites such as Google and YouTube. Despite these efforts, immoral media still spreads rampant on the internet at a faster rate than gospel-related media on the web. However, the message of the Gospel spreads further than ever before through the internet. While destructive media decays society, the greater availability of wholesome media blesses and strengthens members and those around them.

Software Patents

Software patents are confusing and mysterious. Several large corporations buy into this mystery to to gain more profit. It hinders innovation. Only large companies are able to have enough of an arsenal of patents in order to truly innovate without excessive disruption. Hence, war is fought by taking on smaller, more innovative companies and seriously crippling them. Therefore, innovation is lost at the cost of a higher quarterly profit and decreasing the value of goods sold to the consumer. Hance, the patent system is fundamentally flawed and should be reformed.

Yahoo Mail Disaster

The Yahoo Mail disaster outlines the point that users should be placed first in any major decision. With the new design on October 8, several features are missing or broken. "We are working on this issue"  is the only response Yahoo wants to give. Yahoo lost its connection to its customers, which leads me to think there is a large disconnect between PR and QA. Yahoo needs to keep its existing user base alive and also attract new users to its email service. Stale products are unattractive and become quickly eclipsed by higher quality products. However, sufficient thought be put into product quality. Instead, Yahoo Mail backslaps it's users by providing a new inferior service to its customers in a feeble attempt to celebrate i's 20th anniversary. Useless new features were added and old critical features, like sending mail messages, were lost. While Yahoo Mail may never recover from this mishap, we learn that good PR is no substitute for bad QA.

Reference:
http://www.zdnet.com/anger-explodes-at-yahoo-mail-redesign-disaster-key-functions-removed-or-broken-7000021911/

Collaboration and Family History

In the digital age, family history collaboration occurs over the internet. Millions around the world can find their deceased ancestors through the powerful tools available online. In Mormon culture, family history is a demonstration of love for deceased loved ones by those who participate in it. With the internet resources now available, family history patrons are now connected to millions of other participators throughout the world. As a developer, I am especially interested in the software used. Family Search employs advanced algorithms, visualizations, and communication tools to better facilitate the needs of these users. Each record update notifies relevant users about change via email, providing a communication channel that didn't otherwise exist. Visualizations give the user an at-a-glance view of their progress, allowing faster additions and edits through this advanced viewing mode in the software. Advanced algorithms provide text recognition capabilities for old genealogical records and guide users to new ancestors that could be part of their family, thus increasing the amount of work done. Hence, the love of family history work increases as users collaborate over the internet in the digital age.

References
http://www.lds.org/ensign/1998/05/a-new-harvest-time?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/ensign/1991/05/linking-the-family-of-man?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/ensign/2000/07/family-history-via-the-internet?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/church/news/updated-familysearch-to-bring-new-features-under-one-roof?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/ensign/2010/12/future-of-familysearchorg-explained-at-seminar?lang=eng

Pocket-Sized Privacy

Privacy costs a premium. My smartphone sends my private information, such as my current location and browsing habits, back to services, like Google and NSA's PRISM project. John McAfee, a security expert, is developing a $100 device to protect my privacy. This pocket-size device uses the "dark Web" to bounce traffic back and forth between different peers, creating anonymity. Why do I need this? I, as a consumer, gain very little from someone else tracking my what I do on my smartphone. With that in mind, I'd rather keep my personal information secure rather than giving it away.  I need pocket-sized privacy in my life. How about you?

References

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_24198989/john-mcafee-reveals-details-gadget-thwart-nsa

Our Imminent Silicon Life

Silicon penetrates our lives. Silicon, the tiny transistors which make up the critical part of the CPU, are small and efficient. With CPUs small enough to digest, these chips connect our world. Break ups and relationships can be handled via text messaging at any location at any time. My phone and I occasionally communicate without ever touching each other. Doctors offices log my visits in a centralized database where my diagnoses are logged for future reference. These records also store device information from previous visits. "I for one welcome our new computer overlords."

References
http://singularityhub.com/2013/09/23/intel-unveils-tiny-low-power-quark-chip-for-internet-of-things/
www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/ibms-watson-victorious-in-jeopardy-our-new-computer-overlord/45002

Need for Speed and Thought

About a week ago, I downloaded Need For Speed: Most Wanted on my new Moto X. ­ Its impressive graphics and intuitive controls startled me. The computer I owned nearly a decade ago would have struggled to render this game in real time. And I am running this smoothly on my smartphone. Now, this NFS franchise, with other phone-related queries, fill my time once spent in thought and contemplation. Now, I schedule time for contemplation. My smartphone nearly attracts more attention than my own creative ideas can. Notifications from friends, apps, and games seemingly shine more brilliantly than my somewhat dull and partially-developed ideas. As I gaze into the future, I wonder whether my phone will want to relieve my burden of personal thought. My idea fades, as Need For Speed: Most Wanted sent me a notification to play it some more.

References:
Oaks, "Focus and Priorities" (Ensign, May 2001)
Postman, "Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change"