App Presentation

For our app, MySky, we did a prezi presentation.The presentation may be found here.

48 hour fast

So for my 2 days without technology, I decided to do it over the weekend. I started on Saturday and ended it Monday morning. And let's just say, it was pretty difficult. I decided to turn my phone off and keep it in my backpack along with my laptop and xbox controllers. That way I was less tempted to use any of those things. But that did not stop me from habitually reaching to my side to get my phone and look at it. I realized I was an addict when it came to technology. I had to revert to things I did before I had a smart phone. So I decided to read a book a friend had gotten me for Christmas that I had been meaning to get around to reading. I found that without technology, I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands. I managed to read the entire book in one day. But then I was had nothing to do. So I decided to try and hang out with a friend. But the problem was, I couldn't call or text them to see if they could hang out. So I ended up having to go to their house and knock on their door the old fashioned way. It felt kind of weird and I think when he answered the door, he thought it was some kind of emergency or something because I didn't call or anything before I showed up. After explaining to him that I couldn't use technology, he purposed the idea that we go swimming. So we went swimming and had a good time. Then I went home and tried to sleep. It was actually pretty difficult to go to sleep because I usually look at my phone before I end up sleeping. I felt as though I was constantly thinking about how many texts I probably had or what was happening on facebook. After what felt like hours laying in my bed, I finally went to sleep. I decided to sleep in on Sunday because I knew I would be super bored if I got up early. I also realized that I had no idea what time it was. After doing this assignment, I have decided that I will get a clock because it is bad to only rely on your phone for the time. After getting up, I went to a different friend's house but they weren't home. I felt as though my whole plan for the day was ruined at this point because they weren't home and I couldn't find out where they were. I didn't even know what time it was. It must have been around noon at this point because the sun was in the middle of the sky. I think it was anyway, I don't know for sure because I've never used the sun to tell time. So there I was on my way back to my place wondering what to do now. I wish I had a car at this point because at least cars have clocks in them. Then I decided I would actually put use to the million dollar clock tower the University built last year so I would know the time. I walked to where the clock tower was and read it as 1:30. Great so I still have about half the day left. I wished I could do my homework but was sad that I couldn't use my laptop to write my paper I needed to write for one of my classes. Then I decided I would go home and write my paper the old fashioned way because I had nothing else to do. So when I arrived home I pulled out a pencil and a paper and started writing it. I was glad it wasn't a research paper because I couldn't use the internet and I did not want to go to the library and do research the old fashioned way. As I was writing my paper, my friend I went swimming with the day before, knocked on my door. This time, I thought it was weird getting someone knocking on my door without calling first but I had never been more happy in my life. My friend decided that in order to make it easier for me, he wouldn't use technology either because he was curious what he would do without it. So he brought some board games and we played them for the rest of the day. When he went home I finished literally writing my paper and then tried to go to sleep again. I went to sleep faster this time because I was almost used to it at this point. But I was so happy when I woke up and was able to use my phone.

App Review

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock is an app created by Northcube that allows you to wake up without feeling tired. I found out about this app while in another one of my classes which was at 9:00 in the morning. I am not a morning person and so when I went to that class each day, my friend who sat next to me could tell I was not in a good mood. And it was kind of annoying how energetic he was every morning. So I asked him how he had so much energy and he told me about Sleep Cycle. 

What it Does

Sleep Cycle monitors your movements as you sleep. It registers it as you awake if you are moving, and if you are not moving, it considers you as asleep. Everybody moves throughout every night. And then to wake you up, Sleep Cycle chooses when you are most awake for the alarm to go off. Now, I know what you're thinking, how will I wake up in time if I don't know the exact moment my alarm will go off? Well say you need to wake up at 8:00 AM. Sleep Cycle considers that number as the 'cut off' time. It has to wake you up by then. The user can decide the maximum time before it wakes you up. The default time window is 30 minutes. So Sleep Cycle will wake you up sometime between 7:30 and 8:00. But the reason it's great is because it will go off when you are least asleep. And trust me, it works.

Wake up Moods

Sleep Cycle has a cool feature it calls wake up moods. After the alarm is finished you can choose one of the three moods it has to keep record of what mood you were in when you woke up. I found that the mood I selected was generally the mood I was in the rest of the day. At first when I was using it, I didn't usually select the happiest mood, but the more I used the app, the better I felt every morning so now it's pretty common I'm happy when I wake up. 

Sleep Cycle costs $0.99 and at first I was hesitant because I rarely ever buy apps. But I found that this was completely worth it. The only down side to this app is that it uses a lot of battery so it is possible for your phone to die while it's going. It needs to be on all night for the alarm of course so you have to plug it in when you use it. But I just charge my phone at night so it works out fine.

Sleep Cycle Website

Best Device

People are always wanting the future. They want their cars to fly through the sky like they did in Back to the Future part II. Another big thing people have always wanted is holograms. Yes we have holograms already, we all saw Tupac sing at a concert recently, even though he's been dead since the 90's. Holograms are an amazing tool that gives us that opportunity to experience something after it has left us. But why can't we use holograms daily, just for ordinary tasks? Well, lucky for us, Microsoft has created the Hololens.

The Hololens doesn't exactly project holograms like it's name suggests. But it makes the user feel as if it is. It's somewhat of a virtual reality headset but instead of taking you to a fantasy world, it brings the fantasy to the world that already exists. You can go about your daily life while seeing things projected onto walls such as Netflix or Skype. I think it's an amazing concept. 

This video will more accurately explain what it is.

The Hololens isn't on the market yet and I'm positive it still has a long way to go. Microsoft wants to make sure it works properly. But they have said it will be released within the Windows 10 time frame. Which again, could be a long way away. But when it does release, it will be available to everyone. I imagine that if Microsoft prices the Hololens so that it is more affordable, then consumers will jump at their chance to buy one. And if it's successful, which I hope it is, I think it will replace our phones. Not immediately of course, but sometime after it's release. I think Microsoft will try to price this to be somewhat cheap. Especially after looking at how unsuccessful Google Glass is. All in all, I think the Hololens is a great idea and I hope it works because I definitely want to be using it to help me with all kinds of activities in my daily life.

The Medium is the Message is the Medium

The Medium is the Message is the Medium. To me, I think this means that in today's society, almost everything is a medium. And with a medium, a message must be told. And since everything is a medium, everything is a message. Take for example, this fancy shirt. 

I'm sure you've seen this shirt somewhere in your life. And I would also put money down that you know exactly what it means. It gives a clear message. But from what medium? In the old times back before advertising was this big, I'm sure nobody would have ever thought to put advertising on a piece of clothing. But since today, anything can be a medium, a message is clear.