Blog Post 4/29

NYT Giving 300,000 Google Cardboard Viewers

Link: http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/28/the-nyt-is-giving-out-300000-more-google-cardboard-viewers/

How many devices has the NYT distributed before?
What is the purpose of giving out the headsets?
What does the sound in the video do?
What does Google offer in VR?
What has the NYT VR app focused on?
How many times has the app been downloaded?

Blog Post 4/28

Nintendo Announces date for NX console

Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36149049

Do you own a Nintendo console?  Which one?
What's the name of Nintendo's next console?
How many smartphone games is Nintendo releasing?
How many Wii U's were sold this year?
What games will be released?

Blog Post 4/27

Google, Ford, and Uber created a Group for Self-Driving Cars

Link: http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/26/11510076/self-driving-coalition-ford-google-uber-lyft-volvo-nhtsa

What did these companies announce?
Who is the head?
What's the point of this group?
Do you think there need to be new laws for this type of thing?  Why?

Blog Post 4/26

Don't Text and Drive, or the Feds will DM you

Link: http://www.wired.com/2016/04/dont-text-drive-feds-will-slide-dms/

How many people die a year in the US because of distracted driving?

What is the NHTSA doing now?

What is April?

What's the goal of NHTSA's behavior?

Who is the focus of this?

When does the campaign end?

Blog Post 4/25

The Average Webpage is Now the Size of the Original Doom

Link: http://www.wired.com/2016/04/average-webpage-now-size-original-doom/

How big was Doom?

How big is today's average website?

What does this mean for the web?

How big is Wired's site?

Why are sites so big these days?

What does this mean for ISPs?

What do bloated sites do for users?

What's going on with websites today?

Whose working on speeding up pages?

Blog Post 4/22

Facebook Messenger Update Adds support for 50 Recipients

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

What can Facebook Messenger now do?
What can you turn on?
Why is Messenger getting this feature?

Here's the real link: http://www.phonearena.com/news/Facebook-Messenger-update-adds-support-for-group-calls-with-up-to-50-recipients_id80411

Blog Post 4/21

One Woman's Fitbit Decided a Criminal Case

Link: http://bgr.com/2016/04/20/fitbit-fitness-tracker-legal-case/

What had this woman claimed?

What did the Fitbit prove?

What does a Fitbit do over the course of 24 hours?

What do you think about this case?

Blog Post 4/20

Amazon Prime Video Comes by itself

Link: http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-prime-video-comes-out-on-its-own/

How much will Amazon Prime Video cost by itself?
What is the new subscription model for Prime?
Why did Amazon do this?
What shows does Amazon have exclusively?
How many households subscribe to online video services?

BTW, when you get to college, you should sign up for Amazon Prime.  It's 1/2 price for students.

Blog Post 4/19

Why America's Schools Have a Money Problem

Link: http://www.npr.org/2016/04/18/474256366/why-americas-schools-have-a-money-problem

What's the difference between rich schools and poor schools?

How much does a district spend on a student in North Carolina?

How much in Mooresville?

Where does the achievement gap begin?

Where does school funding come from in the US?

Why does it vary between districts?

What case struck at the heart of the nation's school funding system?

What happens in Coolidge on Fridays?

What do you think about this article?

Blog Post 4/18

Apple Renaming OS X into MacOS

Link: http://gizmodo.com/apple-might-turn-os-x-into-macos-1771143946

What was before OS X?
Where did Apple name it MacOS?
What other Operating Systems does Apple Have?
When is Siri coming to Macbooks?
When are they going to change the name?

Blog Post 4/15

Obama to Help Push for Open Market Cable Set-Top Boxes

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/us/politics/obama-set-top-boxes.html

What is Obama doing?

What will the proposal allow people to do?

Who support these proposals?

What are they comparing the boxes to?

How has Obama combatted the trend in the past?

How did he weigh in about Net neutrality?

Blog Post 4/14

The Death of the Macbook Air

Link: http://bgr.com/2016/04/12/2016-retina-macbook-pro-air/

What will Apple launch instead of the air this year?
What will the new Pros look like?
What is Apple focusing on?
What do you think this means for a place like Mooresville?

Blog Post 4/13

Relay for Life Updates

Just wanted to make sure you are reading your emails the right way.  So here ya go:

I just attended a Relay for Life meeting and I thought I would update you instead of having Mr. Akelman put it in our meeting (it's a ton of info).

1. Relay for Life is Friday, June 3. A sign up genius will be made soon to sign up for shifts. Technically, it's supposed to go from 6 PM - 6 AM, however, it did not last this long last year. We will be located at spot 15, near the scoreboard and the kids zone with the fun inflatables. 

2. If you know a survivor (or are a survivor), sign up for the Relay for Life survivor dinner! It's a free meal for all survivors and caregivers are welcome to come ($5). This dinner will be Thursday, May 12, 2016, at Williamson's Chapel UMC (near Harris Teeter). If you would like an info sheet about this, I will leave some in the help desk.

3. Luminaries are available for "purchase". For $10, you can have someone's name inside a luminary. These are lined up along the track and it looks really cool! This can be in honor or in memory of someone with cancer. Again, if you're interested, I'll leave the paperwork in the help desk. 

4. Our "Mooresville Madden" tournament sign ups have officially begun. The tournament will be held May 13 after school. $5 per person to play, encourage your friends to sign up. The more money we raise from Mooresville Madden, the less 50/50 raffle tickets we have to sell! Our goal is set at $1400 and we have $1265 to go.

Thanks for all your help in my Relay For Life/Genius Hour project! Please let me know if you have any questions.

~Rebecca

1) When is Relay for Life?

2) Where will we be located?

3) How much is the survivor dinner?

4) How much are luminaries?

5) When is the Mooresville Madden tournament?

6) Who do you contact if you have questions about Relay?

Blog Post 4/12

Facbook is Succeeding Where Google Should Have Dominated

Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-f8-preview-vs-google-2016-4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29

How has Facebook been beating google recently?
What does Live video mean?
What is Facebook going to release in Messenger?
What's the future of searching?
How is Google going to compete?

Blog Post 4/11

Google Axes Free Fiber Option in Kansas City

Link: http://mashable.com/2016/04/11/google-fiber-kansas-city-free/#tsCn7lSnmkqY

How much does 5Mbit/s cost consumers?

How much will google charge now?

How much is the installation fee?

What does this mean for Google Fiber?

Blog Post 4/8

Amazon releases Alexa API

Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-releases-api-to-add-more-smart-home-capabilities-to-alexa-2016-4

What will the open API allow developers to do?
What example could be done?
Why would Amazon do this?
What is IoT?
What would you do with a device that can control your technology life?

Blog Post 4/7

Reddit Launches New Tool to Curb Harassment on its Platform

Link: http://www.technewstoday.com/29218-reddit-launches-new-tool-to-curb-harassment-on-its-platform/

What new feature did Reddit announce?
What will it do?
What did Twitter do to curb abuse?
What have users criticized Reddit for?
What do you think will happen to Reddit's user base?

Blog Post 4/6

WhatsApp's Encryption Embrace is Landmark Event

Link: http://fortune.com/2016/04/06/whatsapp-encryption-embrace/

Who has used encrypted communications?
What made people start wanting encryption?
Why is WhatsApp important in the encryption fight?
What kind of technology does it use?
How many people use it?
How to they turn on the encryption?
What do you think about encryption?

Blog Post 4/5

You can now watch MLB games on Yahoo for Free

Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-to-live-stream-180-mlb-games-this-season-2016-4

Do you like watching baseball?  Why or Why not?

How many games can you watch this year for free?

What else is Yahoo offering this season?

Who else is competing in this space?

What do you think about this move?  Is it good for a business?  Why or Why not?

Blog Post 4/4

The White House Has Had a Massive Tech Overhaul

Link: http://gizmodo.com/the-white-house-has-had-a-massive-tech-overhaul-1768855776

What do White House employees now have?
Who overseas the technology?
Who solved this problem?
How much cable was removed?
It's about time right?