I was amazed by this new app on the iphone. Students at the University of Michigan are learning how to make and perform music on the iphone. This technology is helping society change their perspective on what can actually make music. We no longer need an actual flute or piano to make beautiful sounds. It's now all possible by just turning on the app on your iphone. I think this is quite interesting because it's really such a creative way to create new music than we are traditionally used to. This may change the way that music is composed. No longer will students have to buy extremely expensive instruments, it will all just be an app on a mobile device, which is much more cost efficient and could result in more beautiful sounding and creative music.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/michigan-mobile-phone-ensemble/#more-29084

http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/touchsmart/#

I've been seeing a lot of ads for the new HP touchsmart PC's. I'm not sure if I understand what the hype is all about yet. From what I've seen, it's a pretty regular computer with touchscreen capabilities that allow you to navigate the screens by touch, zoom in and out as you would an iphone, and move around content. But to me this all seems like more work that just using a mouse. In my opinion, the big hype about this computer is that it is more like the iphone, where you can touch the screen and move everything by hand. This really shows that people would rather go with what's popular, which is now touchscreen technologies, rather than what is more efficient and useful. I'd rather stick with what works and is quicker, my mouse.

I really like the new google homepage. Instead of only having a search bar, igoogle now adds a touch of customization. It is very interesting and useful. Google is now not only a great search engine but has the features to really be peoples homepage. The new features are really going to put google as one of the premiere and most useful homepages and search engines on the word wide web. I know it will be my new home page.

www.google.com

I had a fun time during the geocaching activity we did during lab. It's an interesting idea and I would like to be able to try it someday on a larger scale. During our time, we only had to walk about 150 feet. I'm very familiar with GPS devices, so it was very easy to lead my team to the selected point. After we found our way there, we looked for the clue. It took a few minutes but we eventually found it under a bench. The clue was easy to figure out and sent the information and pictures back to the students putting it all together.

I didn't find geocaching as much fun as the guest speaker made it sound, but maybe it would have been if we would have done it on a larger scale.

NY Times Article

This article explains how ads on the iphone are successful with most demographics expect for women. Women are ignoring the small banner ads because they are too busy using the actual apps. These women tend to be task oriented and don't have time to click through the ads.

I find it interesting how men and women use technology like the iphone differently. This may be the end result that women are a little more task oriented than men, especially when compared to those men who buy iphones. Men are using these new technologies to play and women are using them to navigate through their busy lives.

Ad agencies must find a new way to market to women. Kraft has done a great job by creating a useful app that helps users plan meals.