9/25/13 Current Event

In the future, commuters may not have to pay tolls.  People in Indianapolis can use an app called ParkMoblie.  It remembers a driver's space number, alerts them when their time is up, and allows them to add more time and pay the fee directly from their smartphone.  HOT lanes, or High Occupancy Toll lanes, help reduce highway congestian.  They replace old HOV lanes allowing commuters to maintain a minimum average speed.  It adjusts the cost to fdrive in that lane accordingly.  Marlyland residents are reducing travel time by opening the state's first all-electronic toll (AET) road, the Intercounty Connector (ICC).  The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) is in the process of implimenting contactless payment methods.  They will allow riders to tap their bank card or wave their smartphone to board trains and busses.  Tap-on tap-off cards are being offered on Florida's Southern Rail.  New technology will greatly improve people's commute.

I obtained most of this information from the lovely website of http://www.forbes.com/sites/xerox/2013/09/25/5-ways-technology-will-improve-your-commute/. 

9/18/13 Current Event

Hello my friends.  I would like to speak of the newly released iOS 7 of Apple.  iOS 7 has a whole new color scheme.  The new design has bright, saturated colors, and the app icons are flat.  Now the iPhone has multi-page folders that can hold an infinite amount of games and apps depending on the number of gigabytes.  Now there are blurred shapes throughout the design.  This gives users more of a variety for how they want to personalize their iPhone.  A sense of depth is given to the home screen by moving your wallpaper based on the tilt and angle of the device using the motion sensors.  This exceptionable new feature is, though, able to be disabled.  Control Center is a new dropdown interface that that enables you to adjust many of the most critical features.  Siri can now draw information from Wikipedia, display the most recent tweets from a specific account, and can survey nearby restaurants much more specifically.  The new improved Siri can detect inquiries faster and more accurately.  A double tap of the home button pulls up  a redesigned app switching view.  iOS 7 can airdrop, or wirelessly share a file with any nearby user.  iOS 7 is iTunes Radio capable.  The new camera can take slow-motion video, burst photography, and square photos.  iOS 7 is available for iPhone 4, iPad 2, and iPod Touch (fifth generation), and above, though it is slow on iPhone 4's.  iOS 7 is free and magnificient.  iOS 7 is a new operating system for many newer Apple products.  It is one of the products included in the Product Market in the Circular Flow Model.  People in households Apple products with the cool, new features of iOS 7 and contribute to the Circular Flow Model.  You're still here?  It's over.  Go home.  Go.

I have obtained all of this wonderful information from my brain in my head and http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/18/apple-ios-7-review?scrlybrkr=13e16bff.   

9/12/13 Current Event

This week, we have discussed market economies, Karl Marks, and Adam Smith.  We paired up in groups and researched the two philosophers.  Afterewards, we wrote a dialogue of Karl Marx and Adam Smith having a potluck in Weserville to discuss their individual views on what kind of economy is the best and why.  The next day, all of the groups presented as everybody had a real potluck.  The activity helped us to step into the beards of the two men.  I would like to focus on Karl Marx and Adam Smith.  Karl Marx had a very strong opinion that an economy would run more smoothly if it was a command economy.  The people would be provided homes, food, and many other essentials.  Nobody would be homeless.  Everybody would have a job.  Adam Smith saw it differently.  He thought that if everyone worked for themselves, everyone including the state would be better off.  Julia and I had two endings.  In the first, Mr. Marx and Mr. Smith agreed on crating a primarily market economy with some command economy run parts included.  They called it America.  The alternate ending was not as promising.  Adam Smith did not want that economy.  He wanted a complete market economy.  Karl Marx and Adam Smith settled it like men, arm-wrestling.  Karl Marx won because of growing up in the working class, and a command economy rules to this day.  I really enjoyed presenting Julia and my dialogue.  This week has been pretty fun.  o:-)      

9/4/13 Current Event

This week we talked about the three different types of economies.  There are Traditional, Command, and Market Economies.  Out of the three, I would like to elaborate on Command Economies.  Born of Karl Marx's ideas, Command Economies function with the government as the leader.  The government supervises allocation of resources to the factories through central planning.  The advantages of such an economy are that funds and time are allocated for advertising, and marketing can be used for other purposes.  Socialism and Communism are two types of Command Economies.  I understand why a nation that has been starving or in need would jump at an economy that provides them with everything, but overall it is not good for them.  There is little entrepreneurship because everything is provided.  For the same reason, the quality of goods is lower.  There is hardly any motivation to use resources wisely because there is no private property.  In class we have discussed what economy we think would be best for Weserville.  I believe that a Command Economy would be a poor choice for Weserville because the residents would almost surely take advantge of being provided for.  That is all for this weekly evaluation.  Live long and prosper.