Everyone knows the day after Thanksgiving (or this year the day of) to be known as Black Friday. If you do not know, Black Friday is when you can get crazy deals on this year must haves for the holidays, such as Televisions and gaming consoles. Customers go to the store and wait online for hours just to get crazy deals. This year in some states a fun deal filled night turned into stabbings and shooting. So, what better way to avoid that than take advantage of Cyber Monday! Cyber Monday is when all online sites such as clothing companies... Continue reading

Within the past week a horrific Typhoon has hit the Philippines that has cut off communication in the worst hit areas. Since communications were cut off families all around the world do not know if their family memebers are safe and/or alive. Since cell service has been down for days family members have been overloading social media sites such as twitter to find their loved ones. According to The Telegraph, Many of the appeals noted that there had been no communications from Tacloban, where some 10,000 people may have died, since Friday, when the storm blew in. Families also posted... Continue reading

Customer Service in America is not only very difficult at times but it can cause chaos as well. Many people have decided to take to social media to voice their concerns but even so you have to wait for a response and sometimes you might not even receive one. Especially when you are trying to put something together or figure out how to use a product you just bought. Don't worry, Google has come up with a solution for this! Google Helpouts, this new resource/service developed but Google allows individuals to contact a "real" person through video chatting. According to... Continue reading

If searching Google.com was not enough for journalist and alike, Google has launched a website to better help journalist gather information. According to Marketingland.com, Google has stated this new site is a “Starting point to tap into Google’s suite of digital tools that can enhance news gathering and exposure across television, radio, print and online.” Google is known for being a efficient way to search for anything and everything and they just made life easier for journalist and others that search for information a lot easier. According to Business 2 Community, This hub is a resource where reporters can access... Continue reading

Bitcoin is this new way of purchasing and sending money online. This type of currency is not controlled by the government and the creator has no interest for it to be put in the governments hands. Bitcoin essentially gets rid of the third party company such ass paypal and supposedly makes a secure way to transfer money straight to someone else. For more information on how Bitcoin works follow this link to Tom Simonite's article or watch this video provided by bitcoin.org: What better way to find out how society is reacting to this new crypto-currency than to check twitter.... Continue reading

Twitter and Facebook and every other social media site have been blowing up with user complaints and humor about the recent government shutdown that started in early October. Once again social media is letting citizens express their opinions without any consequences. Individuals have been non-stop tweeting or posting their thoughts on this government shutdown. Some have been negative, some even supporting the shutdown, but of course you have the funny posts that just think it is ridiculous. According to the Washington Post; those posting pulled no punches, calling members of Congress “immature,” “stupid” and “idiots” who need to “grow up.”... Continue reading

Everyday most of us are lucky that we can see the things around us. For some this is very difficult. Braille was invent in the 19th century to help the visually impaired read and be able to live a somewhat normal life. Well, we are now in the 21st century and things have changed drastically. Technology plays a big part in this transformation but for the visually impaired it seemed almost impossible to stray away from the tradition braille. Not anymore, according to The New York Times; advocates for the blind say the devices [smartphones and tablets] could be the... Continue reading

Credit: Business Insider Every time a new Apple product comes out there seems to always be an issue. This time around Apple tried to be one of the first to use fingerprint technology in the new iPhone 5S. Sounds great right? Well what happens to ones privacy if a hacker gets your fingerprint? According to BBC Tech News, Apples website states that there is a 1 and 50,000 chance of two separate fingerprints being alike. So basically they are saying it cannot be done! "Apple does not suggest that Touch ID is a total replacement for traditional passcode security, simply... Continue reading

Social media has become a part of every ones life. We can access the internet almost everywhere we go no matter what time of day. One of the reasons social media has taken the world by storm is because we can offer our opinions and have millions view it within minutes. Twitter and Facebook have been the most used platforms for individuals to do just that. According to Ryan Holmes' article Will Social Media Help Kill Bad Customer Service?, Hasad Syed had flown British Airways and did not think that the service they provided was efficient enough. So he decided... Continue reading

Did you ever wonder what would become of our beloved smartphones? Most of society has seen the evolution into the smartphone era but what is next? Well Samsung has just created the new Galaxy Gear smartwatch. According to the Huffington Post Media section "By tying a 1.6-inch display onto our wrists, Samsung ensures the Galaxy Gear is never out of sight or reach. In turn, that guarantees we’re never out of sight or reach to the people and companies that want access to us." What will this new invention look like? Well The Huffington post added a picture from the... Continue reading

photo: The Drinking Business What is better than beer and ice cream? How about mixing the two together. Brazil has done just that, but their advertisment for the product has received nothing but critisism. Recently, Ambev, a major Latin American brewery, and the owner, Skol, released an ad on Skol's Facebook page that read "Shall we go to the bar to have an ice cream?" This product does not actually contain any alcohol, but since it looks like a beer can, they have decided that the product should only be sold to people 18 years or older. According to the... Continue reading

Facebook and Twitter are used in the United States as an everyday necessity but in the Middle East Twitter is just making a difference and Facebook is getting citizens in trouble. Saudi Arabi and Turkey are two countries in the Middle East that have the most active twitter users. According to Jennifer Van Grove of cnet.com said that "fifty-one percent of surveyed Internet users in Saudi Arabia and 39 percent of Internet users in Turkey identified themselves as active Twitter users" In Palestine, another social media site has been used but in a negative way. In the last couple of... Continue reading

One of the largest appliance retailers, Samsung is looking to expand there business in Pakistan. Although they already hold 38% share in Pakistan they are looking to expand that to 50% by the end of 2013. According to The Express Tribune, Amir Shahzad, Samsung Pakistan's retail and Channel Management Head explains that Samsung is benefitting from the rise of the Pakistani middle class. Shahzad stated “Our latest appliances are relatively higher-end, but we are also targeting the rising middle class. These retail outlets are providing us a wonderful platform to promote our brand,” Even though Samsung wants to expand they... Continue reading

Kazakhstan has had many social issues in the past. Recently, independent media in the country has been under attack. Is this an attack on freedom of speech? Credit: BBC News Almaty a town in Kazakhstan is know as the mining hub of the country. About every family has a member in the copper mining industry. Any company around the globe can have its issues. Many people feel in this mining industry that there happens to be corruptions. Independent media outlets have reported on some issues in this town. According to BBC, some of these media outlets have been banned. Mr... Continue reading

Social networking has taken over the media industry in the past decade or so. China is no different than any other country with interent access. They like everyone else use the most known sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter but they have come up with a few on their own. Weibo is a microblogging website in China that is a hybrid of Twitter. Weibo was a China based social networking site so marketers came up with an idea to go global. In the past two years WeChat has gained 300 million users. Whats the difference you ask from WeChat... Continue reading

Hong Kong, a major city in China has been reporting on suicides as if suicide is a daily occurrence. You can look at a newspaper and see a suicide story on the front cover and while watching the news they give a in-depth look into what "really" happened. According to South China Morning Post, media reports could have an impact on the suicide rate. Suicide is a difficult topic to report on because no one but the individual knows what actually happened. Journalist know some of the facts but do not know everything. Fu King-wa stated “Reporting on suicide should... Continue reading

Recently, Heyah a mobile phone company in Poland recently ran an ad that featured Vladimir Lenin as a cartoon character. This outraged many older polish citizens because they remember the brutal Soviet Regime that Lenin was apart of. Heyah was counting on a younger crowd to love the campaign because to the younger Poles this character was merely a character. They are to young to understand the cultural background of Lenin. According to Luckasz Kaminski the director of the Institute of National Remembrance; "The social effects of this campaign could also be more dangerous because it is addressed to young... Continue reading

Censorship has been a worldwide issue within the media. Poland is no different, except that citizens do not agree with censorship of the internet. Thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest the signing of the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) agreement. "ACTA is a far-reaching agreement that aims to harmonize international standards on protecting the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion, and a range of other products that often fall victim to intellectual property theft." Many feel that this is jeopardizing online freedoms and potentially will lead to authorities blocking certain content on the internet. Also... Continue reading

With the upcoming general election in Kenya, many Kenyans took to social media to express their feelings. The Kenyan government was not pleased with these hate messages and they want to monitor social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Picture: Kenyan Hate speech on famous social media site, Facebook Capital FM, a local radio station in Kenya's Capital city, Nairobi, reports that Kenyan authorities will be closely monitoring social media to take action on individuals who engage in these hate speeches. Engaging in this hate speech can land an individual in jail, depending on the severity of the message.... Continue reading