On a Trip to NYC

Over Thanksgiving weekend I went to New York City. During the trip I have noticed some of the advancements that technology has been slowly implementing in the past decade or so.

I've been on a fair number of planes since I was a little kid. On this last flight, I noticed some things that have changed. I used to be afraid of using electronic devices on planes because in my head- keep in mind I was young- I thought it had something to do with how the plane was flying and operating. I found out that it is actually just the radar. In fact, the airline we took offered free Wi-Fi on the plane. To me that indicates that some people cannot last the duration of a flight without needing the Internet. We rely on the Internet for almost everything now, and most restaurants and fast food places offer Wi-Fi to their customers. Wi-Fi is like air to us now; it's everywhere and it's becoming something that is vital to everyone to live comfortably.
When I was young I remember the flight attendants asking the passengers to shut off their cell phones. Then it was electronic devices. Now, after a somewhat long list of items that needed to be shut off (they specifically said cell phones, iPods, laptops, iPads, cameras, and handheld gaming devices) the flight attendants told the passengers to shut off "anything with an off switch." The definition of things that need to be shut off during take-off and landing has broadened significantly since I was a little kid questioning whether I needed to shut off my GameBoy.

The photograph below is one that I captured while in the airport. I took this photo for this post because I wanted to show the dependence on technology that we as a society have developed. These recharge stations were everywhere in the terminal, indicating to me that people cannot go the duration of a flight and cannot wait in an airport without using their electronics.

Times Square is something that everyone knows about. It is one of the biggest tourist spots in New York City and a place where advertising runs the show. But this advertising is not normal advertising, such as billboards or signs. This advertising consists of giant outdoor TV screens that are the size of buildings. The picture to the left is an advertisement for the TV show American Horror Story on one of those giant TV screens. It is actually one big screen, but for some advertisements the pictures are broken up so that it looks like several TV screens. Technology plays a large part in advertising because the more ways that technology advances, the more ways advertisements can appear. Advertisements will always be first to jump on a new piece of technology, and no matter how new something is advertisements will be there. This is also a sign of the times, because 50 years ago, Times Square's advertisements were billboards and not giant screens.

There is something to say even in the type of parking garages that exist in New York City. Because the city is so jam packed with buildings, there is barely any room for cars to park. Parking lots exist minimally there in the way that we are all accustomed to. People who live in Manhattan in particular are known to rarely drive themselves anywhere. When people do, the parking garages are a little bit different. These parking garages use technology to park cars on top of each other, like shelving. I have been to New York City 4 times and still have yet to see one of these parking garages in action, so I am very curious as to what it looks like when someone needs their car from the top level and how fast or slow the machine gets their car.

This last picture below was also captured in Times Square, but in a different area. It depicts an advertisement for the new smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S3, under the phrase "The Next Best Thing is Already Here." This showcases society's need for the next big thing. Samsung used this phrase in their advertisement because they know that people want what's new. Everyone wants "the next best thing." Companies are constantly upgrading things and putting out new versions of their products. Apple is on the iPhone 5 and the iPad 3. This is a newer version of the Samsung Galaxy. What was "new" even last year is "old" now and people feel like they need to have the new products that come out.

New York City is a place that is constantly changing. It is always first to have the newest technology, such as pay pass and debit machines in taxis. Therefore, it is a good example to use when describing the advanced state our society is in regarding technology.

The Simpsons: The Mapple Store

In this episode of the Simpsons, they do a satire on Apple and their popularity. This caters to the idea that everyone believes they "need" Apple products, yet they are very expensive. People want the coolest and most popular gadgets, and the fact that prices of Apple products are this high is an indicator that people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on these things. In this episode Lisa wants to at least look like she has a "Mapple" product, which she cannot afford, but she cannot afford even fake headphones. The idea around this is that everyone is swayed by marketing. Lisa is an intelligent, mature child who one would not suspect to fall for marketing ploys. Yet, she is still desperate to have any Mapple product, regardless of what it actually is. In the video it parodies the Genius Bar as well as Apple brand products.

Below is a photograph I took on a trip to New York City of the Apple Store, which has become famous in itself. I have included this to showcase the spectacle that Apple provides to its customers.

Are you one of those people who has fallen for Apple's marketing ploys? I know I am.

There's an App for That

We live in a world of Apps. There are Apps for almost everything. With the amount of Apps there are out there, I'm surprised there isn't an App that helps you dress yourself. Think about it: you'd add in all your clothes and then mix together outfits based on the database of clothing. Just a thought. Someone is probably working on that right now.

The top grossing Apps at this current moment on the App Store are "Bad Piggies HD" in the paid charts, and in the free charts it is "LostWinds." Both are games. "Bad Piggies HD" costs $2.99. My question is how many people pay for Apps that they never use? Personally, I have a rule that I never pay over $0.99 for an App because I frequently change them up. I find myself getting bored of Apps very quickly and constantly delete them and get new ones. It's a vicious circle, because there are only a few Apps that I can count on one hand that I use on a frequent basis. I tend to get really excited when I see a really cool App, and then download it and forget about it. I did this with UrbanSpoon. I travel often, and I thought it would be cool to have an App like that. I have not used it once.

Are Apps making us lazy, though? There are a lot of Apps that save the user from having to tap a few extra times to go on the Internet. For example, I came across a Google Search App that you can tap open, then search for what you want. It connects right to the Internet and searches for what you typed in. To open the Safari browser, then go to Google, and then type in your search would be an extra 2 taps. Now, is it really that much more convenient to tap the App than to simply go on the website? There are other Apps like this, such as Kijiji or Expedia, which are simply versions of the websites. In reality the websites probably have more information on them in the first place. I have a 16GB iPad, which I am finding has limited space depending on the Apps that I download. So, for me, it's a waste of memory space to have an App that saves me 2 finger movements. Does anyone else see the logic here?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not a hypocrite- I do use many Apps frequently and love them. Some Apps I love are from TV channels, such as CTV or Global, that have the most recent episodes of their shows. Instead of downloading them illegally, or streaming them online, all I have to do is tap the video and it plays that episode. With commercials, mind you. However, it is very convenient for someone who does watch a lot of these shows. There are some other really cool Apps, such as GarageBand which actually lets me plug my guitar into the iPad (through my own connecting cord) and it will record what I am playing. Then, I can put that recording into a song and add other instruments to it. As a musician, this is something I absolutely love and I am guilty of paying money for that App.

So in short, maybe Apps are going too far. What do you think?

UPDATE: I just watched an episode of the Simpsons, and in it Mr. Burns sends a lawyer down his trap door in his office. He then holds up an iPad and says, "this trap door App works like a charm!" As the Simpsons is known to satire popular culture, this is a perfect example of what I am getting at.

An Introduction

Allow me to introduce myself and my blog.

I am a journalism student in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and I've created this blog for my citizen journalism class. The focus of the blog is to keep an eye on the technology community and the advancements that society is making. My belief is that society is taking technology very far and it might end up being the death of us. Don't get me wrong- I do enjoy and partake in technology. I have an iPad, a Blackberry, an Xbox 360, a laptop, etc. Therefore I am not completely biased against technology. I will be discussing the ways that our society's technology is making us "lazy" for one, as well as our destructive nature.

This blog may or may not be slightly inspired by George Orwell's 1984 as well as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. The aim is that our society is not that far off from what is depicted in novels such as these two, despite the novels being written before the current century.

Feel free to discuss and debate on the topics that I blog about. Check out the links I'll be posting. Read my tweets or follow me on Twitter. Thanks!