3,600 Apple iPad Minis Stolen from JFK

3,600 iPad minis were stolen from JFK airport after just being shipped from China earlier this week by a gang of thieves.

The New York Post put a value of $1.5 million on this robbery.  The gang used one of the airport’s forklifts to load two pallets and were not interrupted by any airport employers.

Investigators suspect that someone within the airport was working on the job, because it went so smoothly. It will be interesting to see who actually was involved, but more importantly, what will Apple to do make up for the loss of all of those iPad minis.

Reference: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/15/appleipad-minis-theft-jfk/

Facebook Keeps Growing

Approximately 800 million shares were available to trade on Wednesday.  This also marked the first day that early employers and investors were able to sell 773 million shares.

Another 31 million restricted stock units owned by employees who joined the company prior to 2011 were also newly eligible to trade.

Facebook’s shares surged in heavy volume and 170 million shares exchanged hands by the mid-afternoon.

While there had recently been controversy regarding whether or not Facebook was a good buy, people are finally starting to think that Facebook might be a wise investment.

Reference: http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/14/technology/social/facebook-lockup-stock/index.html

Facebook Launches Job Search App

Is there anything Facebook isn’t capable of nowadays? Facebook came out with a job search app that includes listings from Monster and Job Hunt.

This app currently includes 1.7 million job postings and I’m sure will only continue to grow as it becomes more popular.

This app was developed in part of the Social Jobs Initiative, which Facebook formed in October 2011 in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Labor and three non-profit organizations.

It will be interesting to see the impact of finding jobs through Facebook as opposed to linked in or job sites because more people are plugged into Facebook and use it on a daily basis.

Reference: http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/14/technology/social/facebook-social-jobs-app/index.html

The New Wii U

The Wii U is going on sale Sunday and the product is already sold out of preorders.  While specifics of the Wii U haven’t been released, Nintendo promised that there are plenty of them to go around, even if you haven’t already ordered it.

The new toy is essentially a “spiffed” up version of the original Wii, but of course only worse with Wii U games and only supports one Wii U GamePad.

I personally am not a big gamer or use Wii products religiously, but I think that Nintendo was wise to come out with a new product right around the holidays.  I’m sure people will like this product and it will be a hit for children and gamers.

Reference: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/16/tech/gaming-gadgets/15-things-wii-u/index.html

Apple Patents the Virtual Page Turn

Earlier this week Apple was awarded the patent on the virtual page turn, which is displayed in the image to the left.

This feature is used in the Apple’s iBooks and this particular patent is only one of the 38 patents Apple received this week.

Apple already won a lawsuit earlier this year between Samsung after the Galaxy Note 10.1 was released.

This feature is sort of controversial in my opinion.  Even though Apple is probably responsible for creating this feature, all sorts of products use it so it is difficult to have one company claim in.  It will be interesting to see what other features Apple has patented and if any other lawsuits will arise from it.

Reference: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/16/tech/innovation/apple-page-turn-patent/index.html

Cameras Introducing Instagram-like Filters and 3-D Effects

Three-dimensional images and photo filters have become so popular that these features have been requested for lytro cameras.  Lytro cameras allow you to take a photo and refocus the image anywhere after it’s taken.

This new camera was only released a year ago by Silicon Valley-based startup.  The product is long and rectangular with a small touchscreen on one end. This camera uses Light Field technology to capture the interactive images.

This camera already has certain settings and filters, such as the “glass filter” which throws up a pane of frosted glass between the foreground and background (example on left).

This product has been a hit so far with amateur photographers, but enterprising consumers have also found some creative uses for this device as well.

With filters and different camera settings, the average person is able to capture beautiful and creative pictures without having to go to a photographer.  People like to create their own pictures so it makes sense that these technologies are  arising and becoming popular.




Reference: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/15/tech/innovation/lytro-filters-focus/index.html

Twitter’s Impact on 2012 Election

There is no denying that technology had a major impact on this years Presidential election. Both candidates used this social media platform to reach out to people and spread their messages.

Below is a link to a video from a Twitter employee who talks not only about how Twitter impacted the election, but how the election impacted the use of Twitter.

Twitter’s Impact on 2012 Election

Instagram Invades the Internet

The extremely popular, mobile device only app known as Instagram has made a movie.  After only two years of existence, Instagram has captured over 100 million users and decided it is time to expand to the web.

On Monday, Instagram announced that it will be adapting users and data into web-based profiles for people to view via laptops, computers or tablets.  By doing this, viewers will be able to look at the images in regular 6x6 size, larger than that on a cellphone.

While people still will only be able to upload photos portable devices, the fact that Instagram has decided to expand to the web, shows how popular this social media platform has become.  I know I personally prefer Instagram to Twitter, or Facebook because of how new it is.  I only follow a select group of people who I actually am close with and find pictures to be more interesting that posts.

I’m sure as Instagram continues to develop, people will be able to post pictures from the web, but right now I think the platform is growing so rapidly that it is trying to figure out how to keep up with it’s users!



Reference: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/05/tech/web/instagram-web-profiles/index.html

Is Tweeting Your Ballot Breaking the Law?

Social media has become such a major part of our society that it is not surprising that some people felt the need to tweet a picture of who they voted for during this past presidential election.  However doing this is actually breaking the law because most states prohibit filming or photographing inside poling places.

While it is technology not against the law in some states, Rhode Island for example, taking pictures of your ballot says a lot about where the direction this country is headed towards. Before voting used to be a personal decision that wasn’t announced to a large group of people, but that has clearly changed.

With the increase of social media platforms, more and more people felt the need to discuss their opinion and political views throughout these mediums, making their political stance very evident.  The candidates also used Twitter and Facebook to target and get their message across to a large group of people.

Even though technology has become such a huge part of connecting with people, I still think that people should keep images of who they voted for to themselves, it really isn’t anyones business who someone might have voted for.

Reference: http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/06/technology/mobile/photo-ballot-voting-law/index.html