SocialXYZ – Page 13

Google Refunds

January 30, 2014 SocialXYZ

In the past I have complained about Google’s customer service. I viewed the company more like a algorithm rather than one that actually has employees who views its customers as people.

Recently, I was issued a refund from Google Offers for a play I never attended, which I found very surprising because I never requested the refund. If anything, I accepted full responsibility for not attending the show. But I will gladly accept the refund… Thanks Google!

On a similar note, I’m awaiting a refund from Amazon Local Deals for oil changes I never received. I went to Midas with my fully-paid voucher and was told that I need to make an appointment 48 hours in advance, as stated on the voucher. Oh, the voucher makes no mention of that, by the way. But I won’t hold my breath for that refund…

I guess the moral of the story is to be wary of those Internet coupons… I haven’t purchased one since… But maybe that’s my loss.

CHMOD 777

December 26, 2013 SocialXYZ

I am long overdue for a travel laptop. My Dell Latitude, which has done me wonders finishing my PhD, launching an internet startup and being the computing power for numerous academic articles, is pushing five years old. Consequently, boot-up times and multitasking suffer greatly, making the most trivial tasks, arduous, such as launching WAMP, a task I perform quite often.

My first choice for a new portable companion is Google’s Chrome OS, which would fit most of my needs (email, office and basic mysql / php). But I am terrified about finding out, at an inopportune time, that its limitations for document creation (slideshows, excel) and software construction (C++, java) are the reasons for missing some golden opportunity down the line. Unfortunately, this is also my fears when it comes to building a machine and running Linux’s Ubuntu, my very close second choice. Which brings me to Windows…

I have been a longtime Windows user and Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 7 have provided me with great abilities to use software such as Adobe, Visual Studio, MS Office, Oracle, and too many multimedia applications to count… However, for the more serious computer user, the fancy interface Windows retrofitted on-top of the OS in Windows 8, has me frustrated in recent months. I really like their move towards integration of components and services, which might work for the ordinary user and help foster greater adoption of their mobile devices, but it fails for power desktop users. And I was largely leaning towards the Lenova IdeaPad or Samsung Series 9 for my next travel laptop…

Instead, I am going down an entirely different path.

I recently purchased Apple’s 13″ Macbook Air, which is due to arrive before the new year.

I have been a long-time dissident of the Apple regime. And I still am. I do not like their closed-source policies and the fact that they do not adopt industry standards such as micro-usb, when just about every device from tablets to phones use this technology. They are also very costly machines and, for an academic, are often out of my price-range. But there are also many redeeming qualities, such as their attention to detail when it comes to hardware, using Unix as the underlying OS and the fact that anti-virus software is not required (I cannot wait for that).

I feel I should make it clear that I have no interest in moving back to its mobile platform again. After owning an iPhone, and now an Android, the Android OS is way better. Nor do I plan to purchase any products in the iTunes store. I like to shop around a little too much. Instead, I am largely interested in the laptop for its portability and ease to travel with, the quality hardware and the reliability of Apple products. And thanks to the interoperability of Google products and cloud computing, I will not suffer in this experiment… Or maybe only financially.

Anyway, we’ll see how it goes…

New York Comic Con 2013

October 15, 2013 SocialXYZ

This past weekend, Oct. 10-13, was New York Comic Con. And I had the wonderful opportunity to attend since I was chaperoning the Gaming and Anime Club.

In one word. Wow!

Friday was probably the most overwhelming for me. I have never attended such a large scale convention. I am more used to systems conferences with much smaller fanbases.

When attending such an event there are several things to keep in mind…

1) Cell service is limited. I had to walk blocks (and this is NYC mind you) to receive any data. And I have Verizon.

2) Map your itinerary before you go. Since it was my first time inside the Javits Center, I had a hard time finding what it was I wanted to see.

3) Prepare to stand around waiting and/or walking a lot. With the exception of panels, show screenings and main events (which you still have to wait in long lines for), there is limited seating at these events.

4) Get on line early, if there is something you wish to see. I can’t tell you how many lines I was on where the event filled up. The one event I made a point not to miss was the X-Files panel, which I made. In fact, I was so early for the show, I had the opportunity to see some other interesting panels including Dr. Who, a screening for Chozen and the Pete Holmes show. All of which were great.

5) Last and most important… Take Pictures! There are so many interesting cosplay costumes that they are worth capturing. And those in cosplay love to pose. My favorite by far was Gandalf, but there were so many fun ones to capture on disk.

I am Superuser

October 5, 2013 SocialXYZ

One of my favorite movies is the 1978 Superman. Back in June, I purchased the Samsung Galaxy S4 through Verizon, which, for the most part, is an excellent device. After a 19% discount through my work, I pay $89 for 450 minutes, 1000 text messages and 2GB of data. While I reach 75% of text and talk, I must remain extremely parsimonious with my data usage, which means no streaming movies in the park while eating a slice of pizza and limiting my Google Music streaming during my commute. While I could certainly upgrade my data plan to 5GB for an additional $20 a month, I am happy seeing how 2GB suits my needs. For the most part, since I work from home and/or school, 2GB has sufficed.

However…

As a subscriber to Google Music, I have become very acquainted with the pin feature, which downloads and caches music directly to my device. This is a great feature, especially when I know I will be travelling as I was last weekend. However, due to the exorbitant amount of bloatware that comes preinstalled on my device, I can only cache so much at anytime. To combat this issue, I purchased a 64GB micro SD card (60GB after formatting) only to find that Google Music does not allow for downloading to external storage. Really guys? I think if the music applies DRM, then it shouldn’t matter where the data is stored, but I guess we’d have to take a closer look at what the publishing houses say about this. Nevertheless, I found an adequate workaround, but it now requires my device to be rooted.

Hence the title I am Superuser.

Although I always wanted to root my device, I was largely hesitant for two main reasons. First, I felt I didn’t have the time or patience to fool around with the device. Second, I was also somewhat worried about breaking (aka bricking) a brand new $600 device. But I was determined and ultimately successful and it took maybe 10 minutes to accomplish. As a result of rooting, I am now able to modify application configurations to cache data directly to my SD Card. As an added bonus, I have been able to remove much of the unnecessary bloatware installed by the manufacturers. C’mon, do I really need Yahoo News and Finance and HP Print Service? And some of the other apps ‘permanently’ installed are just ridiculous. But I am Superuser now, adios…

Education and Information Technologies (2013)

September 22, 2013 SocialXYZ

The following tag cloud was generated from research I performed using Twitter in the classroom. It was an interesting study that allowed students to initiate conversations via Twitter and continue the discussion threads in the course management system. I plan to use a similar approach in an upcoming project management course, so we’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, below is the tag cloud and abstract for the paper, which was just published in the journal, Education and Information Systems.

Abstract
In this research we present a new design component for online learning communities (OLC); one that integrates Twitter with an online discussion board (ODB). We introduce our design across two sections of upper-division information systems courses at a university located within the U.S. The first section consisted of full-time online learners, while the second section met face-to-face twice a week. Guided by a working theoretical model for how individuals learn and interact within OLCs, we measure student perceptions of learning, social interaction and course community before and after our intervention. Initial findings were largely positive and students across both sections experienced high levels of learning, interaction and community. Our results pave the way for more integrated learning environments that incorporate online social networking (OSN) technologies.

Citation
B. Thoms, E. Eryilmaz, “Introducing a Twitter Discussion Board to Support Learning in Online and Blended Learning Environments,” Education & Information Technologies, v20(2), pp. 265-283, 2015.