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5/28 In Class Assignment

1. I would use ePub Bud in Ms. Garvin's world history class.

2. I would use it to create a digital publication and share it with her or use it to read books.

3. This tool would help me learn the unit because I can use it to read other people's work, which can then teach me more about the lesson that I am learning about. If I were to have trouble with the content that Ms. Garvin is teaching, then I can use ePub Bud to view the work of others and read other books related to my topic so I would have more knowledge about the subject.

Social Bookmarking Questions

What's another way you can organize and store information on your computers?
- By using the bookmarking tool installed in Google Chrome.

What have you learned from researching the above topics? What do you know now about these current events that you didn't know before?
- When I researched the topic about ISIS, I learned a lot about them that I didn't know about before. For example, one of the articles that I read and bookmarked was about ISIS buying and selling young women for inappropriate and unexcusable reasons.

What are other social bookmarking apps/websites?
- Other bookmarking websites include Pinterest, Google+, and Twitter.

Will you continue to use social bookmarking?
- Yes, because it is very useful and can be helpful to each individual.

5/18 Do Now

I can make this world a better place by helping others. By volunteering, not only will this make me feel like I've made a difference in this world, but it will also help improve the living situation of others and make their lives easier. I can contribute to the community by donating a view hours of my time in order to make someone else's life improve for the better.

5/15 Weekly Tech Article

     In order to reduce air and noise pollution this summer, MOVE Systems plan to distribute 500 "green" food vendor trucks. They will be designed with solar panels and rechargeable batteries. In addition, sinks, refrigerators, and grills are installed within the cart. These carts are about 5 feet wide and 10 feet long and are able to serve a large variety of foods.
     MOVE Systems is funded fully through donations and private partnerships; because of that, MOVE is giving the carts away for free. 100 carts are already earmarked for disable veterans. It is still unsure whether or not the remaining 400 carts will be distributed among the 3,000+ vendors operating in NYC. The carts are expected to begin functioning by Memorial Day.

Click here to read the article.

RSS Discussion Questions

1. Why did you select the sites you subscribed to?
2. 
   

They were the most interesting and had the most intriguing topics and articles.

1. Was it easy to find feeds and to subscribe to them?

Some of them were very easy to find as the RSS logo was displayed either right on the top of the page or the bottom; however, others took some searching to find.

1. Which sites were your favorites?

Just Jared, Google News, and Fox News were my favorites.

1. What else can you use RSS feeds for?

Instead of using it to acknowledge any new updates, you can also use RSS feeds to share any information to your friends on social media.

1. How likely are you to continue to use RSS feeds in the future?

I am most likely going to continue to use RSS feeds in the future because now I know how helpful and easy it is to use.

5/8 Weekly Tech Article

     Daimler built a self driving truck that can now legally be used on the highways of Nevada. Brain Sandoval officially granted the "Freight-liner Inspiration Truck," which is a license for road use in the state, making it the first to navigate public roads in the US. This truck is loaded with cameras, radars, and other computer hardware and sensors. However, this truck is still not completely self driving, it still needs a human driver behind the wheel.

     According their official website, the truck's semi-autonomous system is "responsible for maintaining legal speed, staying in selected lane, keeping a safe braking distance from other vehicles, and slowing or stopping the vehicle based on traffic and road conditions." This autonomous vehicle allows the driver to complete other tasks, such as doing the inventory or scheduling. However, it requires the driver to transfer control back in order to exit a highway or dropping off deliveries.

Click here to read the article

Do Now Writing Prompt

     If I was the teacher, I would add woodshop to our school curriculum. This class would meet everyday; the students can choose this class as an elective if they are interested. In this class, students would be able to make things out of wood. For example, a typical design for a woodshop class would be to make a clock. Furthermore, students can also create  bird feeders, bird houses, shelves, and more. This class will allow students to build things their own, which can help them advance in knowledge further down in life. 

    Woodshop will help students feel more accomplished and useful. By being able to build things individually, they will understand that they can do anything. They will feel proud of what they have accomplished. The classroom would have six large tables made out of thick wood, wood cutting materials attached to the tables, and pieces of wood surrounding the classroom for the students to use. However, the classroom will have to be in a location that is not near any classrooms, as the class can become quite loud. The students will be able to demonstrate what they've learned by showing the teachers what they've created. If what they had built is useful, strong, nicely designed, and was created in all the right steps, then students will have showed the amount that they've learned in this class.

5/1 Weekly Tech Article

The new Apple Watch was shown to be water resistant in an early user test. Fonefox tossed a sports edition watch into a shallow end of the pool, and after 15 minutes, it was still ticking away. However, this doesn't mean you can go swimming with it regularly. While the watch is water resistant, it is not water proof. The Apple Watch's water resistance is rated at IPX7, meaning it should survive dips as deep as 3.2 feet for 30 minutes. Taking the watch deeper or longer and it will stop working. Though the watch is shown to be water resistant, it is best to keep it away from any wet surfaces. 

Click here to read the article

4/24 Weekly Tech Article

According to Defense One, the Army is working on an attachment for the M4 assault rifle that would basically turn it into a ray gun. Nicknamed "Burke's Pulsar" after its inventor, the device works similar to a ray gun bayonet. The rifle fires a blank round, with the same gunpowder explosion, but without a bullet. The explosive energy is then converted into electrical energy, via the piezoelectric effect. The electrical energy is sent out by two "antennas" which then spreads from the barrel of the weapon. The purpose of this device is to be able to disable and destroy circuit boards from range. It would be used, for example, to stop trucks without shooting them or just destroying someone's cellphone.

Click here to read the article

4/20 Weekly Tech Article

Moley has created a robotic chef that can chop, stir, saute, and serve by using two robotic arms from a company called ShadowRobotics. This invention, which is programmed to replicate recipes, was created by Mark Oleynik. In a demo for the IBTimes, the robot was able to make a soup dish with in 30 minutes without any human help. In addition, the robot was also able to put dirty dishes in the wink. However, despite this progress, the robot is still not fully ready for consumers to use. There are still a lot of changes and programming to be made, as the robot is not able to taste the final result of their product.

Click here to read the article

Wikipedia

The videos shown in class further explained my opinion on Wikipedia. Wikipedia was always rumored to be unreliable and untrustworthy; however, the amount of people using this website only contradicted these opinions. The videos were silly but intriguing. It was very informative.

Spring Break

     

     Last week, I went to South Carolina for vacation. My family and I went to Myrtle Beach and rented a pent house there. Instead of taking a train, which is probably the faster and easier way of transportation, we drove. Driving there was about a 15 hour drive, due to traffic and stopping in between to rest. We left the house at 6 o'clock in the morning and got there at 9 o'clock at night. It was a very tiresome day, sitting in the car, but seeing the view that night made the whole day worth it. The pent house that we rented was top floor and it included three balconies that gave you a beautiful view of the ocean/beach. If you'd like, you can read more information about Myrtle Beach by clicking here. 

     We spent about 5 days there, relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather. We went to many attractions such as the boardwalk and an interesting exhibit called Wonderworks, which is a cool interactive attraction that allows families to try over 100 hands on exhibits that "challenges the mind and sparks the imagination." Read more about Wonderworks by clicking here. After coming back from South Carolina on Thursday, I had to go to play practice for the rest of the week. This year, the drama department is doing the musical Footloose and I am helping Ms. Blender and Mr. Colarusso out by being stage crew again this year. We have practice all week and it's turning out to be a really cool production. Students should buy tickets to see Footloose, which is on April 17, 18, and 19, today! The play cast has put a lot of time and dedications to make this production happen.

4/2 Weekly Tech Article

Google has unveiled a whole new Chrome device, called the Chromebit. It's basically a chromebook crammed into this tiny device. This package contains a Rockchip 3288 Soc, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of eMMC memory, a USB 2.0 port, WiFi 802.11 ac support, Bluetooth 4.0, a Smart Ready controller and an ARM Mali 760 quad-core GPU. In order to use it, all you have to do is attack it to any device with a HDMI port, and then the device will turn into a computer. Google is still currently testing the product. However, Google promises that the Chromebit will be sold for less than $100. It will be available in silver, blue, or orange and will be out later this summer.

Click here to read the article.

3/20 Weekly Tech Article

On Tuesday, March 17th, Nintendo announced its plans to make mobile games with DeNA, and also briefed on a new system called "NX."Very little details were given, other than the fact that it'll involve fresh hardware and gameplay concepts. It's a replacement for Club Nintendo, and will incorporate multiple devices including the Wii U, 3DS, and non-Nintendo devices such as smartphones and tablets. Teasing the "NX" today could reassure gamers that Nintendo is still committed to "hardcore" titles and won't be abandoning its hardware business anytime soon.

Click here to read the article

3/13 Weekly Tech Article

Sony has announced it will stop publishing PlayStation Mobile content on July 15th. On September 10th the entire website will be shut down, no longer existing. Previously purchased games will no longer be available to download. The reason for this shut down is due to the fact that Android gaming itself was never really popular in the first place, since Sony had already stopped publishing Android games for PlayStation Mobile last year.

Click here to read the article

3/6 Weekly Tech Article

Roto is a motorized chair platform with a footplate controller you twist to control the direction and speed of the spinning seat. It enhances the virtual reality experience and brings a new perspective of realism to the virtual reality world. Roto gives the VR (virtual reality) users a better sense of freedom when exploring their virtual surroundings. Though Roto is trying to improve the VR experience, it so also trying to get rid of nausea while being in the VR world. Since you are actually moving while in the Roto, the feeling of sickness decreases and you don't feel as disorientated. Roto will be launched by the company, Kickstarter, and will be going live on March 12th. The base and the footplate will be sound for around $310, with the option of adding a chair and a table for keeping the joystick/mouse/keyboard setups.

Click here to read the article

Web 2.0: Multimedia Blog Pre-Posting

Napoleon Bonaparte

     This year, I am taking the World History class with Ms. Garvin. She has been a teacher here at Wood-Ridge High School for years now, and she is an amazing teacher. This is my second year of having her, and I'm happy to have gotten her because she is able to teach you information easily as long as you complete her work. She doesn't give a lot of homework, but even when she does, it is work that helps you attain information. When I first walked into her class, I expected to learn more about history about other countries that I have never learned about before. Today, we learned more than what I was expecting; so far, we have learned about the French Revolution, the Enlightenment Era, imperialism, nationalism, and more.
     Honestly, it really isn't difficult to get an "A" in Ms. Garvin's class. As long as you pay attention in class, answer questions, and do her work, there is nothing to worry about. Her tests are long but decently easy. If you study the study guide she provides you on her website, then you can easily pass her test with an "A!" Ms. Garvin always provides extra help after school for anyone that isn't understanding the information being provided. She is more than willing to help as long as you don't slack off and fool around in class! Of course, that's what all the teachers expect, and Ms. Garvin isn't an exception.

Enlightenment Thinkers

    This upcoming May, our history class is taking a trip to the 9/11 memorial along with Mrs. Gavin's history class. I am beyond excited since I've never been there before. Ms. Garvin has been planning this trip for a while now, and we finally get to go this year! Also, Ms. Garvin has organized an assembly for her World History class for a Holocaust survivor to come in. He/She will be speaking about his/her experience  and I can't wait for it, as I have always been interested on the topic of the Holocaust. In our class, we use chrome books for class assignments such as the webquest and the wikidot. You can see all of our work on the wikidot by clicking here.

2/12 Weekly Tech Article

The Henn-na Hotel located within Huis Ten Bosch,a Nagasaki theme work made to look like The Netherlands, will be opening a hotel that employs robot workers. These robots are called "actroids" and apparently can establish eye contact and respond to body language. Once you check in with the receptionist robot, an industrial robot will get your luggage, while the remaining robots will take care of other needs, For example, they will make your coffee, clean your room, deliver your laundry, and more. This hotel is a two story structure that only contains 72 rooms, which makes it hard to get a room with the popular demand. Even with these actroids, the hotel staff will include 10 human employees. In the future, the developers hope to build 1,000 similar hotels worldwide.

Click here to read the article

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Educational Technology and Copyright Law

From this article, I learned about the laws of copyright. It showed me certain actions that you can or can not do in order to follow these laws. However, it also showed steps that you can take if you are worried about someone else taking your original idea. For example, the moment you created an artwork or photo, it is instantly copyrighted. You now have four rights: 

1. Reproduce the copyrighted work; 
2. Display the copyrighted work publicly; 
3. Prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work;
4. Distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public by sale, rental or lending, and/or to display the image. 

Welcome to My Blog!

My name is Joanne and I'm a Junior at Wood-Ridge High School. I am currently taking Web 2.0 as a course which is why I created this blog. I enjoy hanging out with my friends and family and just having a good time. In my free time, I watch movies and go to the mall with my friends. Something that my friends know about me is that I go to a lot of concerts. Just over the summer, I went to five concerts. Music is something that helps me throughout the day; it calms me down and makes me less stressed. This summer, I plan on going back to Taiwan this summer to visit my relatives whom I haven't seen in a long time. As a junior, I am still indecisive about my college plans. This is difficult for me because I don't have a long period of time to decide and for that reason I get really stressed. So this is who I am, welcome to my blog! :)