Voting Machines Could Bring Election Day Glitches

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/30/voting.machines/index.html

News Podcast # 2

Woman in trouble for killing virtual husband

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/10/23/avatar.murder.japan.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

News Podcast #1

Here's my very first attempt at HTML!

The theme of my picture is "summer fun". I used a variety of effects including sharpen image, blur, and changing the saturation/hue. My picture has six layers (five pictures and one text image). I found my pictures using creative commons, flickr, and gimp savvy.

IMS audio

We found a sound clip on findsounds.com and then modified it by adding an echo and changing the tempo. We used our voices to describe the changes/effects to the audio.

Not so fast, junior!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/10/06/ford.teen.drivers.ap/index.html

A select group of Ford’s 2010 model cars will come with some new features! However, these features have somewhat of a “big-brother” feel to them. A chip inside the key to these new models will allow parents to control how fast the car can go (max speed being 80 mph), how loud the radio can be played, and the car will beep every minute until the driver puts on his/her seatbelt. Personally, I have mixed feelings on this. One side of me thinks that this may help reduce the number of crashes and deaths resulting from car accidents. On the other hand, I think that this may be somewhat ridiculous. Setting a max speed seems dangerous to me. You never know when you may need to speed up in order to avoid a crash or some other sort of danger. Also, I think that as a parent you should feel that your child is mature and smart enough to know to wear their seatbelt and to keep the music at a reasonable level. If you don’t have this confidence in your child, maybe they shouldn’t be driving anyways? It should be interesting to see what type of statistics and feedback comes back about how these features and if they are more of a nuisance or a major help to keeping our roadways safe!

Apple's considering closing the iTunes store?!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20081001/tc_nf/62213;_ylt=AuX70l7FUwZxNwap.joSoCUjtBAF

According to this article, Apple may actually be considering closing the iTunes store. Threats from the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) to raise the royalties artists get from digitial music from 9 cents to 15 cents is forcing Apple to consider closing the iTunes store. Being in the business school myself, I found this issue to be very interesting. If the CRB really does follow through and raise the royalties Apple is definately going to be in a difficult position. Raising the royalties will either force Apple to raise the amount of money consumers pay for music (which I'm sure will be met with plenty of controversy, anger, and decreased sales) or Apple will have to take a huge cut into their profits. The article says that Apple has stated that they are in business to make as much money as they can, and either way raising the royalties will decrease their profit. It raises the question of whether or not Apple should just leave the industry on a high note or create some new innovative product that will help them overcome the profit loss they will encounter. Another interesting point is that now that Apple has made it clear that they are considering closing the iTunes store, does the CRB see Apple as too big of an influential company in the music industry to go against Apple's wishes. I'm very curious as to see who will win this battle!