Amazon Kindle, What's Cool!

     The great thing about having an Amazon Kindle is the ability to access millions of books from a small, lightweight device that can be easily read no matter where you are. With the use of its electronic ink, (E-ink) the Kindle's screen is very similar to an actual book page and will not show a glare when used in an outside setting. With the more recent development of the Kindle app, Whispersync, and Amazon Cloud, users can access their entire Kindle library from Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Mac, and PC devices and have their bookmarks saved no matter where they last view their books. Each Kindle is given its own email address so users can send and save important documents directly to their device with ease. The Kindle can also last over three weeks on a single charge.
     Books available from the Amazon Kindle library are often cheaper than traditional books, and E-book sales surpassed traditional book sales for the first time in December of 2009. Amazon has also started publishing Kindle singles, which are short stories that would usually be rejected by book and magazine publishers because of their non-traditional length. There are also millions of free books available for download, such as those books published before 1923 with expired copyrights. Kindle even offers E-book check-outs from 11,000 local libraries and textbooks for buy or rent.
     The Kindle has added features that enhance the overall reading experience, such as text-to-speech capabilities which will read the text aloud or optional professional readings that can be downloaded. This feature can be extremely helpful for weaker readers or those with poor reading comprehension skills. In Maryanne Wolf's Proust and the Squid, the author states, "...in the first three grades a child 'learns to read,' and in the next grades the child 'reads to learn.'" (Wolf, 135) The use of Kindles in school settings as a replacement for traditional textbooks is becoming more commonplace, and these features can be extremely helpful in developing comprehensive reading skills in children.  Amazon Kindle will define difficult words on the screen allowing the reader to better understand their book quickly and efficiently. Kindle's E-books also include background information on key characters and events in the book that are downloaded automatically to the device, negating the need for an internet access and eliminating search time. 

Amazon Kindle Youtube Channel

 
This is a great technology that is useful for people of all ages, occupations, and interests!

Kindle - What's Not Cool (Anna)

The Kindle is a relatively new technology; it is a device on which people read e-books.  While most people see only the positives of e-reading devices, there are more than a few negatives.  Some of the more basic problems with the Kindle include cost and durability.  An average paperback novel from a bookstore costs between ten and fifteen dollars.  The price of a single e-book may be the same, if not less, than the real book; but this price must be added to the seventy-nine dollars that the Kindle itself costs.  Durability is another issue to think about.  A Kindle is nowhere near as durable as a book.  As Nicholas Carr says in his The Shallows, you don’t have to worry about a book falling off of your bed, whereas a Kindle would most likely break if dropped.

            One problem with the Kindle involves Communities and Connections.  Many people lend books that they enjoy to their friends.  With a kindle, a person can only lend “eligible” books to friends.  Eligible books can be lent once for a period of fourteen days.  If this person does not finish the book within the fourteen days, or if another friend would like to borrow the book, the whole Kindle would have to be borrowed. 

            There are many more negative consequences of the Kindle, and these are less trivial.  In Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows, he quotes Jacob Weisberg, who said that, “printed books, the most important artifacts of human civilization, are going to join newspapers and magazines on the road to obsolescence.”  This is a problem related to Human Development.  Historians have learned invaluable information about the past from the records that past peoples left behind.  If written books become obsolete, this will rob future generations of the important artifacts that can show how people today live their

lives.   

            Another problem arises from the use of the Kindle, and this one falls under the Education and Learning category.  This problem is also addressed in Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows.  He mentions that it is very easy to become restless and distracted when reading an e-book on the Kindle.  Many e-reading devices can now hold hyperlinks, making it easy to forget the task at hand.  With the increasing popularity of buying textbooks and other class materials on the e-reader, serious problems arise.  Students today have an increasing problem with ADD and ADHD, which may make it hard to focus on things like reading a chapter of the textbook.  Partner ADD or ADHD with the increased restlessness and difficulty concentrating that comes with reading on a Kindle or other e-reader, and many students will have a huge problem.

Kindle

The Kindle is Amazon’s e-reading device.  The Kindle can hold 1,400 e-books and has a battery life of one month.  Newer Kindles can also hold movies, television shows, magazines, music, and games.  They range in price from $79 to $379.
Amazon Kindle

Your Posts

Okay, again thanks to Tyler for his help figuring things out, it looks like we can't actually post to those pages. They are 'static' meaning only good for things like the schedule... SO, go ahead and post on the main page. I'll see if I can "archive" each weeks, but for now, just be sure to LABEL your post NEW TECHNOLOGIES so we can search by topic. Isn't this interesting!?! I'm so happy to be learning all this new stuff! :)

Xbox Kinect - What's Not Cool (Tyler)

    While the Xbox Kinect has a wide variety of uses, it ultimately limits the user’s experience physically, mentally, and socially.  The Kinect can only receive signals in a certain area and needs to operate in an open space.  Many households simply cannot provide ample space around the users; an individual must stand eight feet from the device and have an additional six feet of free space on every side.  This is further complicated with the introduction of another player.
    Another problem with the Kinect is that while it promotes some physical activity, is it a substitute for natural outdoor activity?  Why limit yourself to a piece of carpet when we have the entire world to play on?  An open field does not present as many safety hazards as a confined space surrounded by furniture.  Individuals have more materials to interact with and a larger range of motion outdoors; they can engage in games of soccer, swim in a pool, or jog around a block.  One can certainly expend more energy outdoors and burn more calories, a standard measure of exercise for many people.
    The Kinect only allows two users to interact with it at one time.  Even in the presence of others at a social event, users are engaged in the game and have little social interaction with others.  This takes away from the social connectedness of a group or family, a consequence of many forms of modern technology.  The book Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam shows strong correlation between the use of technology and the decline of social groups.  Socially, individuals might benefit more if they were members of a fitness club, soccer team, or community organization, all of which provide similar entertainment to that of the Kinect.  People should be “kinected” to others, not a camera or microphone.
    Finally, the current age of media and technology has heightened some functions of our brains, but dulls others.  No longer can we focus on an activity for an extensive period of time.  No longer can we read a book cover to cover with the same level of comprehension, even if we do finish it.  In Maryanne Wolf’s book Proust and the Squid, she claims that the rush of information and accelerated thought processes caused by technology isn’t necessarily a good thing (213).  Her book takes a look at the reading brain, how we engage and process information, and the continuing development of our mental systems and structure.  The brain is set up with dedicated “‘delay neurons’ whose sole function is to slow neuronal transmission by other neurons for mere milliseconds” (Wolf 214).  This allows us time to make inferences and compose new knowledge.  With the wealth of signals we are receiving from the Kinect and other sources, has technology injected itself into these moments, limiting our ability to think and comprehend?  Have the Kinect, and all of technology, created “a society of decoders of information, whose false sense of knowing distracts them from a deeper development of their intellectual potential" (Wolf 226)?  The Xbox Kinect limits us in more ways than one.

Xbox Kinect - What's Cool (Claire)

    The Xbox Kinect has begun to shape the future of gaming technology. With voice activated technology, a RGB camera, and ability to recognize depth and 3-D perceptions, this device allows for a hands free experience. By playing hands free, players are able to be much more interactive in the game. Instead of pressing ‘A’ or ‘Up’ to have different actions, they can now physically jump or move around and it will be emulated on the screen. This gaming device also supports connections with Pandora, a popular music site, Netflix, and all TV channels to get a complete experience. In comparison to other gaming devices, this Kinect is great for social events. People can get together to play these interactive games together, as well as watch movies and sporting events in a whole new way. Also, this device is connected to Xbox live, which connects users with players from all around the world. This creates an even bigger social connection that would not be possible without this technology.  In terms of physical activity, the Xbox Kinect allows much more mobility than the average game. Players can even perform fitness regimens and have virtual personal trainers. Instead of sitting on the couch, the Kinect inspires players to at least get minimal physical activity. Some parents may be leery of the safety hazards of connecting with strangers worldwide, which is a common concern of much technology these days. However, parents can disable the Xbox live as well as limit shows or movies with inappropriate ratings. This can ensure parents that they can at least take the proper steps to protect their children from strangers. The Kinect technology was hacked and Microsoft used that bad situation to turn around the future of the Kinect. The SDK, or Software Development Kit, is now available for consumers, who can use the technology of the Kinect to adapt in to their own environment. For example, it can now be used as a simulated instrument or for creating avatars. In the medical field, doctors are using Kinect technology to work machinery located outside of the operating room while remaining sterile inside. Also, games have been developed to work with children during physical therapy.  The future of the Kinect is headed in the direction of the creators; the options are limitless. Currently, the future is headed towards educational situations. In February 2012, the software will be available for Windows compatible computers to even further be implemented in the school and work force.  Children can get great views of parts of the human body, and can even use their bodies to simulate things like an analog clock.
    In Maryanne Wolf’s The Proust and the Squid, she urges her readers to understand that

We must teach our children to be 'bitextual,' or 'multi textual,' able to read and analyze texts flexibly in different ways, with more deliberate instruction at every stage of development on the inferential, demanding aspects of any text. Teaching children to uncover the invisible world that resides in written words needs to be both explicit and part of a dialogue between learner and teacher, if we are to promote the processes that lead to fully formed expert reading in our citizenry. (Wolf 226)

In simpler terms, she is stressing the importance of not only teaching reading comprehension but also analytical reasoning. Although video games are not the best for learning to analyze, the Xbox Kinect is something totally revolutionary. Since it has begun to be implemented in the classroom, the technology can be used to teach children how to analyze. Therefore, children will not think of just video games when they think of Xbox. Oppositely, they will think of learning, expanding, creating, and, therefore, analyzing. There is no doubt that the future of education is changing. Thankfully, wonderful programs like Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect are changing education in a positive way.

Xbox Kinect - Intro

    The Xbox Kinect is an innovative piece of technology that is just beginning to make its mark on the world.  On November 4, 2010, Microsoft released this device, and on February 1, 2012, the Kinect will be available for Windows.  At a current price of $120, the Kinect offers controller-free entertainment.  The device received a Guinness World Record for the fastest selling consumer electronics device ever, with 18 million units sold in the past year.  The Kinect’s camera is capable of face recognition, which allows users to sign-in just by presenting their face.  Also, the camera’s gesture recognition makes it possible for users to manipulate the Xbox interface and interact with games.  The Kinect’s depth sensor allows it to see a room in three dimensions under any lighting conditions.  The Kinect even receives audio signals; its multiarray microphone enables voice recognition and headset-free communication with online users.

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Xbox Kinect
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