Harsh or fair: App laws and un-cooperative company owners

So, pretty much, if you have a mobile device made by Apple Inc., you’re going to be using the app store to download and purchase applications. No problem, right? Wrong. Recently, the government has been opening up more and more information to the public sector, so you can know what’s going on more, or where your bus to school or work is. This is great for us, but for company owners, it opens up an issue. Since we’ve been released this data, it’s now available for anyone to use, even though it’s still owned by our regional, provincial and/or federal government. So people can now create little apps through the App Store to make a quick buck. This, again is great for us, but companies in which the app creators are using data from aren’t making money through the data that they’ve released. It’s kind of like illegal free music download sites, where people who release songs and other data don’t get paid for what they “sold” to the user who downloaded the music. App laws say that any person can make an app for the Apple App Store, so they can advertise a business or make some money. Another person cannot remove an app, which means that the company(ies)  have to get the data away, which means closing it up and not revealing it to the public. One scenario is with a guy made an app called “Where’s My Bus?” that showed the bus routes for OCTranspo and when the busses were expected to reach a stop. This made it easier for many commuters, so they could make the bus on time, but for OCTranspo, they weren’t impresed that someone was making money off of them, and not giving any money to them for the data that was always THEIRS in the first place. OCTranspo had to close up the data again so that it wouldn’t happen. It may be hard for us now that we have no idea when the bus will arrive, but oh well, that’s too bad. What is it that’s causing this? Government that’s gone a little too far with revealing data? Us, the public, who just want to not miss the bus to school or work? Maybe even Apple, or un-cooperative companies and their owners? Should app laws be changed? Or should companies strip away their data from other public? You decide. Post your thoughts in our comments section!

There’s an App For That!

First post of 2011!

Apple has made the term “There’s an App for that” a well-known one. With more than 200,000 apps in the App Store, that term is quite often true. There are apps for creating ringtones, playing the piano, slicing fruit, and thousands more! There’s even a WordPress app!(which I’m using to write some of this) It may seem that Apple has allowed many thousands of developers to achieve their goals, but there’s many others who have been denied. Think you could develop the next top app? Apple is not allowing Windows users to create apps, preventing many developers from achieving global success. They’re even making it mandatory to have Snow Leopard in order to develop.

Apple has become too picky, and needs to become more open to more people.

Can technology be too distracting?

A few months ago, I was in a small US town, and I was looking at a Lamborghini a while I was walking down the street. That was a painful decision. After staring at the car for a while, I got pretty close to it, but I paid close attention to not walking on the road. I walked right into a parking meter. Ouch. Some technology is so distracting that we hurt ourselves, don’t focus and do things without thinking ( like the guy in the Rogers commercial)
This can lead to getting lost, or getting in a car accident. This is why the no cell phone calling while you’re in the car law was instituted. When this law was instituted, phone companies started making new hands free calling devices. The future can really benefit from this, as car accidents scatter debris polluting soils and waterways and maybe, sometimes both! What do you think of these laws? Do you agree?

E-Readers – Which is right for you?

As I said in my previous post, there are many different
e-readers. So, which one is right for you? I will be discussing
four of them; the Kobo, the Nook, the Kindle, and Sony’s e-reader.
The Kobo works in many countries around the world, such as
Canada, the US, and the UK. It is light, and features a 5-way
navigation pad at the bottom left corner. The Kobo comes
pre-loaded with 100 classic books, all of which could be downloaded
for free from many sites. To turn the pages you hit left or
right on the pad, great if you like to use your right hand, but not
so good for your left. Also, some of its buttons are on the side,
prone to accidental pushing. It’s screen is 6″ e-ink. The kobo may be less entertaining than the nook, but is very easy to use, even if you are left handed you wont experience much difficulty with this amazing ereader!The Nook is
for US customers only, and is available at Barnes and Noble stores.
If you are visiting the US and wish to buy a Nook, you can do this,
but you will need to download e-books from a different site, such
as kobobooks.com. Aside from the purchasing, the unit itself is
awesome! There are page turn buttons next to the 6″ e-ink
screen. Below the e-ink screen, there is a touchscreen used to
navigate. Once the screen turns dark, it can be used to turn pages,
by sliding your finger left or right on it. The Kindle works in
both the US and Canada, but it’s store is limited. Also, it doesn’t
support many standard e-book formats, such as EPUB and PDB. You are
pretty much limited to the Amazon store. For turning the pages, the
Kindle features forward page turn buttons on both the right and
left sides, but the previous page is only on the left, as on the
right there is the home button. As with all the others, there is a
6″ e-ink screen. Below the screen, there is a keyboard and 5-way
joystick for navigational purposes. Finally, the Sony E-Reader
features a 6″ e-ink touch screen. The Sony store works in both
Canada and the US, so no problems downloading. The pages can
be turned by sliding your finger left or right on the screen.
Beneath the screen there are buttons used for navigation and
settings. To conclude, there are many different choices, and
depending on your preferences and where you live, the one that is
right for someone you know is not right for you. I personally like
the Nook, even though I need to use kobobooks.com. For Canadians
who don’t want to have to download through a different service, I
recommend the Sony e-reader, but it is more expensive.

E-Readers

In this technological era, many people are using e-readers instead of reading books. These e-readers my be expensive, but if you fly through books, it may be worth it, as e-books are cheaper than regular books. So, what is an e-reader? An e-reader is a device that is normally the size, and weight, of an average paperback book. Most feature an E Ink screen. This type of screen uses energy to move the ink, then turns off, thus using less power than a LCD screen. Though, some do use a LCD screen, such as Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Color. Many manufacturers have their own e-stores, allowing users to purchase e-books through their computers, or on their e-reader if it is connected to the internet.

The e-books themselves come in many different formats. The standard, EPUB(.epub), can be read on many devices. Some others include PDF, and AMZ(Amazon). E-books purchased through online stores will most likely have DRM, digital rights management, restricting what you do with the book. This might forbid you from syncing it to a certain device, reading it on the computer, etc. Next time, I will post a comparaison of the different readers, so you can see which is right for you.