iPad Ban

If you're thinking about taking that iPad to Israel, think again!

The Wall Street Journal released a report recently stating that Israel has banned the iPad. The Apple product's wireless technology is said to threaten interference with other technologies. Reasoning behind this ban has said to be because the iPad was developed in U.S. standards and does not converge with European or Israel standards. This is because U.S. standards allow stronger signals than that of other countries. 

"This device's wireless strengths violate Israeli law and will overpower other wireless devices in Israel," ministry spokesman Yechiel Shavi said.

Apple argues that the iPad has been created in compliance to international Wi-Fi specifications.

People have been flying into Israel for years now with other devices with the exact same configuration. Why is it not that Israel is putting a foot down? is there something fishy going on here?

"Mr. Shavi, the ministry spokesman, said anyone who brought wireless devices configured to U.S. standards into Israel in the past should have declared them to customs officials and could have had their devices confiscated."
Those flying into the country are being denied the ability to keep their devices and are being asked to leave them with authorities in the airport at the cost of a storage fee. At the time of their departure from the country, they may pick their devices back up.

This may be seen as an extreme inconvenience for those who use their iPad as their main source of organization, communication, and information. Those on business trips may want to arrange a different form of technology and return back to their laptops.   

There is a theory that Israel feels that the technology of the iPad undermines their status in the technology industry as a high tech country and influence. Another speculation is that it could possibly interfere with Israel's military "communication technology".

Once Apple has released a version of the iPad that is in accordance with the standards of Europe and Israel, the ban will be lifted.

Re-Cap St. Edward's University 2010 Homecoming Weekend!

2010 Homecoming Celebration Video 

This year marks the 125th Anniversary of St. Edward's. As so, the university wanted to make this year's homecoming celebration extra special for student, faculty, and alumni as it launches a year full of celebration. This video chronicles the events that occurred over Homecoming weekend Feb. 19-20 2010. One of the most exciting contributions to celebration was the welcoming of the class of 1970 for their 40th year reunion! I know they were proud to see the university buzzing with excitement and celebration.

This film starts out with a view of our main building from East Hall, our all girls dorm. It then hit all the highlights of the weekend. The Homecoming Tailgate was a huge success this year. Last year it was canceled due to high winds. The tailgate included, music, vendors, and tons of food. Everyone was there including our unofficial school mascot, Pax. His unavailing was a huge success; students, faculty, and alumni alike were all enthusiastic about his attendance. The tailgate was the opener for a great game! The St. Edward's hilltoppers men's basketball game against UT Permain Basin was a nail bitter. With the support of the huge crowd, the toppers beat out UT by a single shot. It seemed the school had a glow about it for the rest of the evening. After the game, our Mr. & Mrs. SEU were crowned. Fireworks capped off this fairytale weekend. Everyone joined together as fireworks lit the Austin Skyline. It definitely a weekend to remember and hold close.

Ask Lynda

This week I spent a lot of time working on my personal learning project for my social media class. The personal learning project was designed to provide students with the opportunity to tailor an assignment to their own learning needs and course related interests. During the brainstorming process, I was given the opportunity to work with CHIQ and create a digital media kit for the website.

As I began researching how to make a digital media kit, I discovered that it required me to know how to navigate Adobe InDesign (CS4). Prior to this project I had never used a CS4 (Creative Suite) before. The situation became immediately overwhelming. I had never taken on the responsibility of working with an actual company to make a real product. I was terrified that I would fail. Luckily for me Chiq spokesperson, Christina Hall, was very willing to help me learn. She gave me the web address to a site where I could learn all the CS4 programs and much, much, more. This site is  www.lynda.com.

Lynda.com provides training videos on a variety of software from Access to Garageband to InDesign. You can search for what your looking for by subject, vendor, software or author. Users have access to over 42,000 video tutorials with anytime access. Lynda is not a free service, but it is completely worth it if you want to learn a program from top to bottom fast. Lynda provides updates on the latest software and videos.

Not only does Lynda provide thousands of useful tutorials, but the tutorials are easy to navigate and follow. Take InDesign for example. The InDesign "essential training" videos are broken down into sections:

These section are broken down into several videos. Lynda provides how long each video is and how big each file is. It also lets you know which videos you have already viewed just in case you leave the site and come back later to continue your lessons.

Along with each video you can access a description (overview), exercise files, so that you can follow along with each video, and a transcription.

I will not only use Lynda's help for this project and product but for future projects and products. Learning this material could help me in my future career. Learning all the CS4 software could give me an advantage in the work place.

Myspace: Reaching an End or a New Beginning?

I don't talk a lot about Myspace. I haven't held an account with Myspace since spring 2008. When I graduated high school in May 2007, I was reaching an end and starting a new beginning. Myspace seemed like a high school trend. I wanted new friends, a new network and a fresh start. Facebook soon after become the new social media must have. I deleted my Myspace account, along with my photos and my friends and created a Facebook account. I started a new life at a university, made new friends and took new photos. Facebook seemed like a more mature, organized, and user friendly way to network on the internet. Unfortunately for Myspace, this was the case for many users. Either users made a clean break like I did or slowly became less and less obsessed.

Today, I have very few friends who utilize Myspace. It seems to be a dying trend. so how is Myspace dealing with the retention of  users? Are they going to turn things around?

As Myspace's president steps out, Co-Presidents Jason Hirschhorn and Mike Jones step up:

As Hirschhorn (pictured, right) describes it, MySpace’s trajectory moving forward is about the “pillars of broadcasting, discovery, self-expression, and making content a part of all those experiences.” He spoke to quality, usability and engineering as major focal points: “We want as many people here to be people who build, and who create, and who have top-notch engineering talent.”

-Mashable.com

Myspace is looking to go back to it's roots and figure out at what point strayed from it's goal. They believe it's not only about the content or only about the social networking, it's about both. It's about pop culture. it's about what's new, what's hot and what's not. it wants to be the center of pop culture news, music, etc. 

So what about Facebook?

At Myspace, they don't see it as a "winner take all" scenario. They believe there is amply room for more than one dominating social networking site online. Think of Myspace as a phone service, like AT&T. There are many phone service networks in existence, more than a few dominate and thrive. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are just a few. People choose different services for different reasons. Myspace and Facebook are just two of those services. People will choose them for different reasons. They all co-exist and are successful.

Myspace plans on making user profile's more structured (like facebook) but still give them the freedom to customize their ow look. They will also add some new tools. Users will be able to follow stats on how many people view their profile, listen to their streams, watches their videos, etc. Users will also be able to earn badges. Further, Myspace will keep track of hot trends overall, the most popular music, videos, and topics. Like Facebook, Myspace will be able to recommend friends, music, etc. to users. Apps and games will also undergo future changes. According to Mashable.com:

Currently in testing now is a change to the former status update tool into an explicit publishing tool, allowing users to simply add videos, photos, links, and other types of content. Within the next month we should expect to see a new feature that allows cross-posting to sites like Twitter, Facebook and Digg via a simple dropdown. “Why not? Publish once, go everywhere. If you increase publishing, you increase engagement,” said Hirschhorn of the upcoming feature.

Users should have to wait too much longer before see all these new changes. Myspace is taking swift action in improving the user experience.

I  commend Myspace for staying strong. Although I dont plan on becoming a user of Myspace in the future, I recognize the changes they are making and the effort they are putting behind the site. I can see a possible comeback in the distant future. First you make changes, and then you have to pull your users back in. 

so demise or survival for Myspace?

Survival

Google Coming to Austin!

I just heard the news in class today! Google is coming to Austin! According to the Austin Business Journal, Google is looking for "30,000 square feet [of] downtown [space] for a [new] software engineering satellite office". This is great news!

Everyone has been up in arms lately regarding the economy. When will we recover? Graduation is only a short 13 months away for me and as a soon to be graduate here in Austin, I have been told it's going to be tough to find a job. I believe it.  I have been told to keep my connections open and continue networking because it's going to be all about "who you know".

Everyone has been suffering lately. You can see the evidence all over. Even the City of Austin itself  had to go through some serious budget cuts this year. One of the city's most iconic events, The Trail Of Lights, was cut short due to funding. Yes, Austin has felt the sting of the recession.

Luckily, for Austin natives, Google has decided to open a new office in Austin. This Austin based satellite office will employ more than 100 people. This is a great economic stimulus for the city. Google will generate jobs and therefore income. The more income generated in Austin, the more spending locally. This is also a great opportunity for those looking for employment after graduating one of the many universities in and around Austin.

Austin seems like the perfect place for a new office too. "Google is known for its youthful work-as-play culture, with employees navigating hallways on scooters and offices equipped with candy dispensers, pool tables and video games." Sounds like it would fit in perfectly. Austin is known for its creative, playful, and colorful atmosphere. We welcome innovative thinking. Further Google has quite the talent pool to choose from with the University of Texas & St. Edward's University just down the street.

What an honor to have Google choose Austin as it's next big step! It really says something about our great city when such a tremendous company chooses to move in. It helps keep Austin fresh, new, innovative, and creative. I'm sure Google will feel right at home in the liberating Austin atmosphere. 

Podcasting: Tips & Tricks

Now that I have posted my first podcast I ever worked on, I want to share some personal tips on podcasting. 

My first personal Tip #1: I f you have the option to use either Audacity or Garage Band, use Garage Band. Garage Band was much more well behaved than Audacity. It was more user friendly and it was more fun to use. 

Personal Tip #2: When you are recording your podcast material, make sure there is no background noise. Background noise is annoying and an extra burden on you later. Take the time to find a quite place to work. It is well worth the payoff to do it right the first time. Editing can be very time consuming for us rookies. 

Personal Tip #3: Get close enough to the microphone that the recording is of good quality. At the same time, don't get too close! Getting too close to the microphone can create a muffled sound. You also don't want to make your listeners ears bleed. 

Personal Tip #4: Save, Save, Save. Save your files everywhere. Back up your files. Re-doing editing that has already been done can be extremely frustrating...I know. Be aware of when you need to save. 

Personal Tip #5: Add music and sound effects. It makes your podcast much more interesting and engaging to listeners. It's hard to hold someone's attention for an extended amount of time, which brings me to my next tip. 

Personal Tip #6: Be precise. Don't beat around the bush and run off on tangents. Stick to the subject. It's hard to hold someone's attention without a visual aid, don't bore and confuse them. 

Personal Tip #7: Make sure people can hear you. Make sure you post your podcast somewhere people can get to it. Post it to your website or blog. Post a link on your Twitter, facebook, and Myspace. was a pain! If you get to choose between the two, pick

Podcasting is an exciting activity. It is a great feeling to have the freedom to podcast about whatever you want to. It is a liberating feeling that gives you the gift of creativity and a voice. My experience was both interesting and frustrating. I had fun playing with the equipment and learning to do new things. The down side to podcasting is, for sure, the editing. It can be tedious and time consuming. On the other hand, It is sun adding in your own sound effects and music to your podcast. I encourage anyone interested in social media to at least learn how to podcast and try it once. You never know how much you may learn and how much you may enjoy it. I would do it again.

St.Edward's University's 125th Anniversary Service Challenge

St. Edward's University is Celebrating it's 125th Anniversary this year! Among many of the events on the agenda to celebrate this exciting year is the Service Challenge. The 125th Anniversary Service Challenge is  asking the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of St. Edward's to dedicate some of their time to service the year 2010. Service is a huge part of the St. Edward's mission. The goal of this challenge is to get as many people to participate in service and log a total of 75,000 hours.  The university reached a total of 63,000 hours last year, and it would be amazing to see the university community come together to go above and beyond last year's numbers. Currently, the university has 177 registered volunteers and about 1,500 hours logged. The university provides an abundance of service opportunities for the community to participate in together, but service outside the university community is encouraged as well. There are hundreds of service opportunities in the Austin community. 

I, myself, am a participant of the 125th Anniversary Challenge. Not only do I participate with the university community in service but I also serve with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Central Texas and Capital Area Food Bank. I hope to help the University achieve their goal of 75,000 hours. I am participating in this event not only to benefit the university but to also challenge myself and learn more about the university and the Austin community. 

I, Erin Bach, and a classmate, Meghan Anthos, came together to create a podcast on the 125th Anniversary Challenge. We interviewed Pete Erickson, the Senior Assistant Director of Student Life. Pete is on the 125th Anniversary Committee. He is also in charge of the service segment of Student Life. He talked to us a little bit about what the service challenge is and what it's all about. We also interviewed Ashley Ortega, a participant of the Anniversary Challenge. Ashley shares her thought on the challenge and why she has chosen to take part in it. 

Show Notes:

:18 -- Welcome to St. Edward's University 125th Anniversary Podcast Series

:26 -- Introduction

:45 -- Interview with Pete Erickson, Senior Assistant Director of Student Life

3:48 -- Introduction of Interview #2

3:57 -- Interview with Ashley Ortega, Challenge participant

5:09 -- Closing remarks

If you are interested in learning more about the St. Edward's University community please visit www.stedwards.edu