The Zing

The Zing

As we listened to the interview with Brooke Gladstone and Alex Goldman from On The Media, the first time in class, I was a bit confused about what the deal was with the "Zing of Authority".  It was a bit confusing to truly understand what she was really talking about.  Then she explained more about the zing and its more about how information comes straight from a source.  During the interview the police scanner was the zing, as the information came in real time from the police which made it authentic. 

In the past few years social media has boomed and has made people more impatient when it comes to getting information.  According to this article "Twitter dominates the intersection of social media and news.

 We no longer want to wait for the morning newspaper or the evening news to get our information and updates.  People like the instant gratification of being able to pick up their smartphone and have instant access to information.   Some of the news applications I have on my phone push a notification when big news stories happen.

When the Boston marathon bombing occurred people went to the place where they could get up to date information about anything happening, Twitter.  According to Mitchell & Rosenstiel, "Twitter users, though, the news links come from a more even mix of family and friends and news organizations. Most of these users also feel that without Twitter, they would have missed this kind of news."  Social media can make our lives easier, though it is hard to know if all the sources are relying correct information and it may only a small details.

Bruce Kasanoff said, "Remember, to elevate social media to the heights of social influence, you must speak with an authentic voice." This quote relates to what Gladstone is referring to in her podcast.   Individuals over social media present information that may not always be correct, as it seems that we all like to be the first to report about certain events going on.  I frequently see people make comments on well known companies Facebook pages racing to be the first commenter on a certain post, people get a thrill with being number one, which is part of the Zing.

Social media has changed the way we communicate over the past few years.  We have to be careful when we read comments from people that aren't credible or aren't authorized sources, as people like to post things they hear whether they are correct or not. We all want to have that “Zing” feeling of being the first to post or comment about something, but it's up to us as individuals to make sure we communicate accurately.

Mitchell, A. & Rosenstiel, T. (2011) What Facebook and Twitter Mean for News.  Retrieved from

http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/mobile-devices-and-news-consumption-some-good-signs-for-journalism/what-facebook-and-twitter-mean-for-news/

Kasanoff, B. (2013)
How authenticity elevates social mediahttp://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130311124041-36792-never-forget-authenticity-elevates-social-media

App - Target Cartwheel

I am a coupon queen and I love target. So when I first heard about "Target Cartwheel" I decided to check it out, since its a free app. I love the idea of having coupons right on my phone and not having to cut coupons from the paper anymore.



The cartwheel helps you save on things that you already buy at target. The app is optimized for the IPhone and requires iOS 6.0 or later but they recently came out with a Android version. The coupon offers range from 5% to 50%. You can use the offers as many times as you want before they expire.




First you can sign up with your email address or through your Facebook account. After you create your account you will be assigned your own scan bar code to redeem your Cartwheel offers.

Cartwheel is an app that includes over 700 coupons and can be used on your tablet, smartphone and desktop. When you first sign up you get 10 spots for coupons. You can get more when you use coupons in the store.

You can view all the coupons at once or you can view them in categories like: Apparel, baby, electronics and grocery...

I have found that I mostly use the food coupons!






Target's cartwheel incorporates a social aspect to shopping. You can hook the cartwheel up with your Facebook account and see what offers your friends are adding and using.





After you find a coupon offer that you want to add to your cartwheel you just hit add.







Then to redeem the offer you go to the app and go to my cartwheel and have the cashier scan your personal bar code.






Pros about Cartwheel:

* You CAN use Cartwheel with any other Target discounts or coupons, manufacturers’ coupons and your REDcard discount.


* Multi-use offers – you are able to use any offer on your list as many times as you wish until the offer expires (with the following exceptions: limit of 4 items per offer, per transaction; limit of 6 Cartwheel scans per day).

* Single scan barcode – each barcode generated by Cartwheel is unique to the guest and holds all of the offers on their Cartwheel list.


* Badges – badges are a fun way to earn more spots on your Cartwheel list. They are awarded for reaching savings milestones, interacting with Cartwheel, and via social sharing. For each badge that is earned, a new spot on your Cartwheel list is opened.

Best Device- Virtual Reality

One cool thing at the CES show this year was the Oculus Rift prototype.

Here is more information about it:






The company was founded by Plamer Kuckey and Scaleform co-founders Brendan Iribe and Michael Antonov.  The Oculus Rift is being developed by Oculus VR, which raised $2.4 million with their Kickstarter.

Convergence: With their Kickstarter anyone who pledged $300 or more was rewarded with the developers kit.  Pledges over $275 would get an un-assembled Rift prototype.  The consumer version of the product is expected it be available in late 2014 or early 2015. The developer kit costs $300 and has a resolution of 1280 x 800.  When the consumer version comes out it will be under $300 and will have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 with a 7 inch screen.

Consumerism: It is a head mounted display for gamers.   The product is aimed at hardcore video game players.  It has better resolution than the previous model.  It can be hooked up with a HDMI and USB cable, so you can use it with your PC, console or even your smartphone.

Interactivity: The new Oculus is very accurate at tracking your head movements. The new motion tracking system allows for actions such as crouching or learning, which helps to alleviate motion sickness.

48 hours later...

    When we were first told about this assignment, I was kind of excited.  Sometimes I get so sick of having a phone with me all the time when people expect me to answer it anytime they call or text.  The last few months I have had my phone primarily on vibrate only, so I can't hear it go off very often :)

     I started February 15th  Saturday night, which wasn't hard, as I usually put my phone in my room for the night around 7.  The next day I went to the parade of homes with a few family members.  It was nice not having my phone with me, people asked me for the time or to map directions and I told them I couldn't!   We did the parade of homes for about 8 hours, so it was easy not to have my phone with me.  After we got done with the parade, that night a few people sat and watched a movie.  I went in the other room with a few people and played some games, which was more fun anyway.

    Sunday we went to a few more houses on the parade of homes.  We got done earlier than yesterday, so I thought about getting my phone, then remembered it was at home!   When I got home I did think about playing words with friends, as its one of my favorite apps.  Then remembered I couldn't play.  So I grabbed a book and read for a while.

    It wasn't too hard for me to go without my devices for 48 hours.  I did miss checking instagram and playing words with friends. but other than that, I was fine.

New Media Convergence

TV survey:

Screens to watch TV on:

Smart TV's

Tablets

 Computer

Smartphone

How to watch TV:

Netflix was founded in 1997 in California by Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings, For only $7.99 a month, instantly watch unlimited movies & TV episodes streaming over the Internet to your TV via a PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 or any other device that streams from Netflix. You can also watch instantly on your computer too!

Amazon Instant Video (formerly Amazon Video On Demand) is an Internet video on demand service offered by Amazon.com in the United States.  It offers television shows and films for rental and purchase. The service debuted on September 7, 2006, as Amazon Unbox. On September 4, 2008, the service was renamed to Amazon Video on Demand.

Apple TV is a digital media player developed and sold by Apple Inc.   Apple TV was unveiled as a work in progress called "iTV" at a press conference in California on September 12, 2006.

The Hulu venture was announced in March 2007 with AOL, MSN, Facebook, Comcast, Myspace and Yahoo! planned as "initial distribution partners". Jason Kilar was named the CEO in June 2007.  Hulu is one of the best places to find free, full-length, high quality movies and television shows on the Web today.

Too funny not to share!

Google Glass Beta Tester

First Assessment

I remember sometime last year when I was talking to a good friend about the common raves and rants that happened over Facebook.  We discussed how peoples fears and anxieties were influenced so poorly.  I believe social media effects our opinions because it can enhance our fear, which can lead to misunderstandings.   Some people are becoming more understanding and taking a step back and considering the other party's philosophy.

  I don't fully believe that social media changes our opinions, I think that we are open to other peoples opinions, but we rarely change ours just for the sake of settlement.  It seems to be a never ending cycle.  One thing that has changed is the fact that more people are speaking out for their own beliefs, as well as for the support of others..

This article had some great statistics.
"The long-term shift in the public’s views about same-sex marriage is unambiguous. Polling conducted in 2003 found most Americans (58%) opposed to allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, and just a third (33%) in favor. The new survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted March 13-17, 2013 among 1,501 adults nationwide, confirms that these figures have crossed, with 49% supporting same-sex marriage, and 44% opposed"

Facebook helps to spread viral videos that can change our thoughts, which I think for the most part is positive.  It allows for collective dialogue.  For example, I am not a big live TV watcher, so I didn't watch the Grammy's (Plus it doesn't really interest me) but I happen to be on Twitter while the Grammy's was airing.  For 2 hours most of the Tweets I saw was about the Grammy's and winners.  I then saw a few Tweets about Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's appearance on the Grammy's singing "Same Love".   I then went to my Facebook feed and saw that a few of my gay friends had posted about the video.  I didn't take the chance to look it up, but it did spark an interest.  The next few days I heard (read) more and more about the performance.  Finally I decided to check it out and see what it was all about since several of my friends had mentioned it.

Another example from last year when Facebook was covered in red all around the nation.  What do I mean by that?  When thousands and thousands of people changed their profile pictures to the red equals sign.

People put this image as their profile picture for days letting other people know that they supported marriage equality.  After a few short days this went viral.  People that were not familiar with the sign, questioned their friends about it and brought more awareness to equality.  Facebook helps to keep us informed and aware about whats going on.