CNN Week 12

In "Apple unveils iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite" Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday to announce the latest features for iPhones, iPads and Macs.Apple unveiled iOS 8, an update to the operating system that powers iPhones and iPads.

One of the biggest additions to iOS 8 is a new HealthKit application. The app will monitor users' heart rates, sleep, activity and breathing among other health-related information. But other changes are far more subtle than in years past. After last year's complete makeover, iOS 8 includes oft-requested fixes, such as interactive notifications, suggested words when typing and quicker access to contacts.With interactive notifications, iOS 8 will allow users to respond to texts or like something on Facebook directly from the notification even on the lock screen. A double tap on the home button reveals several frequent contacts, allowing you to call, message or email those people with two quick taps. And a new predictive text feature allows you to type, and iOS 8 will suggest the next word based on your typing history.

Design Brief Process

We as students have to design a bridge that is able to withstand the amount of 50 lbs. We must sketch a drawing that is either beam, arch, or a suspension bridge. Our bridge must be 12 inches long and be constructed of toothpicks and Popsicle sticks. If bridges are not strong enough to obtain a certain weight they become a problem to the public due to it being a safety hazard. The bridge also must be the same size as the sketch drawn on the graph paper. Another material we will be able to use is glue. The glue will make the sticks connect with each other in a way that they support on another.

CNN Week 11

In "Plaintiff blasts deal in Silicon Valley poaching case" by Chris Isidore a class action plaintiff in the Silicon Valley anti-poaching lawsuit has asked a judge to reject a proposed settlement, claiming it benefits the lawyers and big tech firms more than the workers who brought the case. "The tentative settlement, if it stands, amounts to big profits for plaintiffs' counsel, insulation from real liability for the defendants and locks in significant losses for the [affected tech workers]," Michael Devine wrote Sunday in a letter to the judge overseeing the case. At issue is a proposed $324 million settlement in the lawsuit against Silicon Valley tech giants. A class of 64,000 tech workers say the companies conspired to not make job offers to one another's employees.The improper anti-poaching agreement significantly reduced wages in Silicon Valley, the suit alleged.

CNN Week 10

In "Bill Gates No Longer Microsoft's Biggest Shareholder" it states that in the past two days, Gates has sold nearly 8 million shares of Microsoft, bringing down his total to roughly 330 million. That puts him behind Microsoft's former CEO Steve Ballmer who owns 333 million shares. Gates reclaims title of world's richest billionaire. Ballmer, who was Microsoft's CEO until earlier this year, was one of Gates' first hires.
It's a passing of the torch for Gates who has always been the largest single owner of his company's stock. Gates now spends his time and personal fortune helping run the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation.
The foundation has spent $28.3 billion fighting hunger and poverty since its inception back in 1997.

CNN Week 9

Hackers have attacked the government agencies, defense contractors, energy companies and banks by exploiting the software flaw in Internet Explorer.Among those still using Windows XP are the Defense Department, the IRS, and bank ATMs. That's a problem, because Microsoft has taken its 12-year-old operating system off life-support, ceasing security updates. It's easy to ignore Internet security scares, especially when there's a deluge of news about them. In the month of April alone, we were bombarded with news about the pervasive Heartbleed bug, a massive AOL hack and the Internet Explorer Glitch. A typical power plant, for example, makes expensive investments on equipment that's meant to last decades. It's common to find 1970s-era software on turbines, Kennedy said. That's a danger.

CNN Week 8

In "Google Stock Sinks as Mobile Struggles Continue" by James O'Toole, explains how Google shares sank 3% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the company posted first-quarter earnings and sales that missed expectations. Of particular concern was a 9% drop in payments from marketers per ad on Google sites.

The challenge for Google is convincing marketers to pay as much for mobile ads as they do for desktop ads, a task that's become increasingly pressing as Web usage shifts to smartphones.

CNN Week 7

In "How Phones Work in Flight" talks about the lack of phone calls, texts or social media postings from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 which raised a number of questions about how cell phones work on airplanes. Despite the urgings of flight crews to turn off all phones or put them in airplane mode, cell phones can continue to work after a plane takes off, but only while in range of a cellular tower.

Cell phones communicate through cell towers, which are located on the ground but can stretch hundreds of feet into the air. As an airplane rises, it gets further from these towers and eventually moves out of contact range. For efficiency, many towers are designed to direct their signal where its most useful: on the ground, not into the sky above.