http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/25/wikileaks-google-staff-emails-us-government



Google took almost three years to disclose to the open information group WikiLeaks that it had handed over emails and other digital data belonging to three of its staffers to the US government, under a secret search warrant issued by a federal judge.

• Search giant gave FBI emails and digital data belonging to three staffers
• WikiLeaks told last month of warrants which were served in March 2012.
• She accused Google of helping the US government conceal “the invasion of privacy into a British journalist’s personal email address. Neither Google nor the US government are living up to their own laws or rhetoric in privacy or press protections”.

I believe privacy is an issue and you cannot even trust the biggest industries and WIKI leaks is undercover and this isn't good for them as their employees are getting exposed. 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/16/buzzfeed-public-chat-messaging-app-viber


This article is about Buzz feed and there new feature that is on the APP and play store. Online news site BuzzFeed’s initial growth may have been fuelled by social networks Facebook and Twitter, but its next frontier is likely to be messaging apps like its latest partner, Viber.

• BuzzFeed has launched a “public chat” channel within the app, which is owned by Japanese internet giant Rakuten, and which has more than 209 million monthly active users.
• We’re always looking for new channels to expand our reach and public chats is a great opportunity to give Viber’s worldwide audience a way to discover and engage with BuzzFeed’s latest news, lifestyle, and entertainment content,”
• BuzzFeed has also been ramping up its efforts on YouTube, with its main BuzzFeed Videos channel ending 2014 with more than 4.2 million subscribers, and 1.3bn video views in that year alone.

I think this is good idea as the business is expanding and getting bigger and this will only lead them to getting more users which is more advertising revenue. 

1. The language and the selection of images creates a bad representation of young people and a negative effect. The mis-en-scene creates a bad environment which isn't a positive for young people. 

2. Owen Jones said: there is a new modernised Britain and working class have become an object if fear rises within the media and this is why David Buckingham mentions him 

3. Results showed that 40 percent of articles that included or mentioned young people primarily focused on violence and not their positive achievements. Also, 71% of the overall articles presented them in a negative manner.

4. Moral panic can be applied because the coverage created a fear representation of younger people. 

5.  The things that were blamed were: rap music as they have a undisciplined nature there were many other causes e.g. the Tottenham shootings 

6.  I believe this is when social media had a massive effect and a big break through and the government got involved. BBM and Facebook were blamed as they were used to organise shop looting. However the arab Springs was a new democratic change. 

7. This can be linked to the 2 step flow theory because people were listening to opinion leaders and their followers relied on them for answers and views and news. 

8. This just shows how people know have the chance to express their opinion and don't fear what they say because of digital media. 

9. The right wing had a negative response and mainly the people were saying these people cant be controlled. 

10. Left wing were blaming society and looked at the big picture. 

11. The riots had many different causes, the biggest that triggered the anger of the people was the shooting in Tottenham, however people then had to motive to get free items. 

12. Capitalism can be blamed as we now live in a materialistic society and many individuals believe their worth is characterised by their possessions.

13. People that were involved in the riot didn't have the chance to voice voice their opinions. This had continued the representation of young people because society have injustice. 

14. I have sympathy for the people's whom shops got destroyed as they done nothing and this took time to replace and effected their local businesses. More people kept on following the ones already doing it therefore i don't have sympathy for the people who rioted. 

Learner response

WWW- Some good quotes and examples 
EBI- You need reference the question with keywords. For each paragraph re-write the first and last sentence that links to the question- democracy/ democratic

1st paragraph- A recent study , which supports the point of a democratic space, concluded that majority of households have internet connection. 

3rd Paragraph The Arab spring shows that the development of digital media and supports the democratic space. 

2nd Paragraph- However, A Marxist would disagree with the idea of a more democratic space which states consumers are getting more power. 

4th Paragraph- Lastly, User Generated Content shows that consumers are allowed to participate equally 

A Marxist would believe that CCTV cameras shows that the current society is hardly democratic and institution use CCTV cameras more that UGC. 

The development of new and digital media has allowed consumers to participate equally. 

This shows the development has not enhanced the power of the consumers and the likes of sky are dominating which doesn't allow consumers to participate equally. 

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/19/-sp-thousands-britons-claim-benefits-eu

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This article is about how the brittons are on benefits all over the Europe which is very interesting and the amount of numbers is incredible. 

•  At least 30,000 British nationals are claiming unemployment benefit in countries around the EU, research by the Guardian has found, based on responses from 23 of the 27 other EU countries.
• The research shows more than four times as many Britons obtain unemployment benefits in Germany as Germans do in the UK, while the number of jobless Britons receiving benefits in Ireland exceeds their Irish counterparts in the UK by a rate of five to one.

I find this interesting and I didn't expect the numbers to be as high as what they already are. I find this article quite interesting as the numbers were very hard to believe and this is something that I didnt think about.  

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/07/whatsapp-growth-700m-users-facebook



This article is about instant messaging service Whatsapp about how they are breaking records everyday. They have been very popular for a long time and have put BBM to second best. 

• Smartphone messaging app WhatsApp has reached a new milestone: 700 million monthly active users, who are sending 30 billion messages every day
• WhatsApp’s last public milestone was 600 million active users in August 2014, so it has added new users at a rate of around 25 million a month since then. Previously, the app grew from 200 million active users in April 2013 to 400 million by December that year.

Whatsapp is very popular and this is what I use as my main message service because its free and easy to use. I'm not surprised about the records that have been broken because most people use it. 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/08/apple-10bn-payouts-ios-apps-2014



This article is about how much money developers made from IOS app and shows how much money could be  made if you have a good idea about something you like and something you want to share. 

• Apple’s 30% revenue share of all apps spending means it earned an additional $4.3bn from sales of iOS apps in 2014, plus sales of its own range of iOS apps.
• Apple said that billings on the App Store rose 50% in 2014, although its corresponding figures for 2013 suggest the growth in spending on iOS apps was smaller than that in 2014.
• apple paid out $10bn to developers of apps for its iPhone and iPad in 2014, taking its total paid out since its App Store’s launch in 2008 to $25bn.

I think this is great news that apple are paying the right amount of money to the people who make their app store and make their IOS better for consumers. The developers derseved every penny because they are the ones who made the ios for iphones fun. 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/15/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-charlie-hebdo



This article is about Mark Zuckerberg defending facebook about censorship. as defended his decision to condemn the recent terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine on free speech grounds, despite his company’s willingness to censor some content.

• it wasn't just a terrorist attack about just trying to do some damage and make people afraid and hurt people. This was specifically about people’s freedom of expression and ability to say what they want,” said Zuckerberg.

As the owner of Facebook I think he needs to be more sutle in his approach about speaking about major issues in the media as he has a massive user base containing all races and people will be opinionated about what he says. 

1. Why are respected news brands good news for Twitter?

This will give twitter a good reputation as major institutions use their source to spread news and this will only make twitter make more advertising money as they have big institutions with high amount audience to spread their news and twitter could use this to advertise. 

1. Why in turn is Twitter good for respected news brands?

Twitter is fantastic for the brands that are using it as this will allow them to gain a higher amount of audience and a higher reach of people as people all over the world use twitter and this can gain them more people. These brands can also do marketing on twitter for free as they can spread their promotional offers via tweets and many people can retweet and spread the word. 

1. The report suggests that old and new media “are not, in fact, in direct competition, but often work extremely well together to enhance both the media eco-system and the consumer experience”. What evidence do they provide to support this idea? Do you agree with it?

 This would then be viewed by they followers and if they were watching the same thing at the same time they would be able to join in the banter as they are able to comment.The example provided is that of twitter and the ways users can experience an enhanced consumer experience for example one of the ways this can happen is through gossips or banter. A viewer of a TV show may find something funny and 'tweet' it to the 'twitter verse' that will join in the laughter or 'banter' and will create their own version or be involved in the gossip and/or banter.

1. On page 24/25 of the report, the focus turns to gossip or banter. What example tweets from journalists are used to illustrate this? 

Kim kardashian being to big for her pants. 

Sales figures of arsenal toaster. 

1. Do you think the increasing amount of gossip or banter is harming the reputation of news and journalists?

Journalist pay so much money to study to become journalists and they could get destroyed online by trolls and this effects their reputation which is bad for them as they may not be trusted. 

1. What does the report say about trust in Twitter and journalists (look at pages 34-39)?

New and digital media developments have had a positive impact on traditional newspapers as it has bought the traditional newspaper industry a new format to portray their news and in new styles and create a more regarded connection.

"Almost half of all Twitter users, and almost two thirds of news brand users, say it is important that news on Twitter is verified by a respected brand. This helps build trust in the content." 

1. Finally, do you think new and digital media developments such as Twitter have had a positive or negative impact on traditional newspapers?

This has had a positive and negative impact on newspapers as they cannot sell the same amount of newspapers as before however they have the licence to advertise more as more people use the newspaper online 

L/R

25/48 which is a C- so one above your target grade and gets you two credits!

LR (do this on a blog posting, with the feedback I've given you)...

• Conclusion is weak and contradictory – rewrite with a clearer response.

• Not enough on a pluralist perspective – add a paragraph which argues that audiences

In some cases the consumers are empowered by the developments of new and digital media. A pluralistic prospective will argue that audience have been empowered as they are able to conform or reject as gurevitch argues.  This shows that audience have a wider range of choice and they can believe which ideology they want, as before they were only the certain big players and the gatekeepers could include whatever they want, however this isn't the case any more as they are the likes of twitter where you could follow or read whatever you want. However the likes of Murdoch believe that the word is changing and the world has to adapt and this shows industries are look at audiences in a different way and shows that they have been empowered from the early days when his companies had the final say. Broadcasters like sky and BBC allow consumers to have a say, as in question time you can send you questions in via twitter and the politicians answer the selected answers, also Sky allow consumers to send in their footage to back their story and this occurs very much in the modern day. 

In conclusion, I believe that audiences have become more empowered switch what they consume and believe since the developments of new digital media, however they still are the big players the institutions which consumers rely and believe their institutions. Both sides have solid arguments which back the theory and for both arguments they have good points and there isn't a right answer for which has more power.  

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/23/ebooks-affect-sleep-alertness-harvard-study




Reading a light-emitting ebook before bed is bad for your health, according to a new US study. It warned that use of the devices affected both sleep at night and alertness the following morning.

• Harvard researchers say light-emitting ebooks negatively affect our sleep and lead to next-day grogginess
• They point to a recent survey which found that 90% of Americans use an electronic gadget at least a few nights a week before going to sleep. 

This article shows that technology isn't the answer to everything and sometimes you may have to go old school and technology doesn't work in some cases and here it is the case. 

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/01/st-louis-man-arrested-twitter-threats-police



This article is about a man in St Louis has been charged with threatening to kill police and cause an explosion at the city jail in Twitter posts that referenced Ferguson, the nearby town where an officer’s fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old led to protests and rioting.

• Jason Valentine faces 10 counts of making a terrorist threat
• Several tweets referred to New Year’s Eve as ‘kill a pig night

This shows that the police are trying to tackle crimes and this shows that you're not safe from the police even on line as the police will track your IP address and arrest you. This shows that you need to behave online. 

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/sep/04/snapchat-message-valuation-technology-bubble

Evan Spiegel 

This article is about the snap chat which has really taken off in the last year and know has a 10bn dollars evaluation. e photo-messaging app that enables users to share pictures and videos with designated contacts for less than 10 seconds, was valued at $10bn, despite concerns that it might promote underage sexting – texting with sexual images – and that its media content may not genuinely disappear from users’ devices, but just be hidden from them. Even the valuation of profitable companies seems exorbitant: Facebook, a 10-year-old company, has been valued at $192bn; that’s 128 times its profits and higher than Coca-Cola, Toyota and Bank of America.

The company has a 10Bn dollars evaluation 

Facebook have already tried to buy the company for 1bn dollars

43 per cent of the money has been made from Advertising 

I think article is very good and brings up most points concerning the problems in recent years. I believe Snapchat is just helping sexting as this is app where you send pictures and they have a limit on them. 

ttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/29/facebook-apologises-over-cruel-year-in-review-clips

 

The social network apologised after it showed one user a photograph of his recently-deceased daughter in its ‘Year in Review’ feature; many others had similar complaints. The company’s latest blunder stems from a seemingly innocuous feature it rolls out to its users shortly before Christmas every year, called the Year in Review.
 it lets users automatically select photos, wall posts and other content from a user’s past year, offering those which gained the most responses in likes or comments as “highlights”. Facebook users can then piece together a scrapbook of the past year, and experience instant nostalgia.


Many complains made after this feature was enabled. 
The feature has already been tweaked following feedback: it initially ended the slideshow with the words “It’s been a great year! Thanks for being a part of it.” It now uses the more neutral language “See you next year!”
I believe Facebook aren't in the wrong for this as this is up to the consumers if they want to watch the video. Also this shows Facebook do care about their active users as they made a whole section for their consumers 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2894191/Sony-extends-PlayStation-Plus-memberships-gamers-affected-Lizard-Squad-hack.html





 Gamers who had trouble accessing their PlayStation Plus accounts over the Christmas holidays are set to get an extra five days added to their memberships. The gift is only available to people who had an active PlayStation Plus membership, or who had already activated their free trial, on 25 December


This article is about how the major gaming industries got hacked by lizard squad a hacking group.

The consoles rely on an internet connection for many of their functions. 
Parents were so angered by the issues with the machines, that they wrote hundreds of messages to both companies on Twitter accompanied by the message '#christmasruined'.
Ros Bruce said her ten-year-old son had spent weeks planning what games he and his friend would play together ahead of receiving an Xbox One for Christmas. 
The boy was sorely disappointed when he tried to download a game and was still unable to play it more than 15 hours later.  
A Twitter user from Scotland also called for a refund and said: '£450 later and the kids have an expensive plastic paperweight.'
I believe what Playstation has done is very good as they have extended playstation plus for its consumers which extends their online gameplay which is a benefit to everyone. 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2014/dec/24/viral-video-chart-the-best-on-the-web-in-2014

This article is a special new year article on the guardian website which shows the best viral videos. 

1. devil baby attack
2. 10 hours walking as a NYC women 
3. Famous tech ice bucket challenge 
4. Mutant spider dog
5. My cat saved my son 

Out of these 5 videos my fav video has to be the devil baby attack the way this is scripted and acted out is fantastic. The most interesting video was the second highest rank 10 hours of walking as this is reality and has a message behind the video. 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/02/apple-lawsuit-storage-space-iphones-ipad-ios8-software-advertised-capacity



This article is about Following complaints about the large amount of storage that Apple’s latest software iOS 8 takes up on its iPhones and iPads, the US tech firm is being sued for the alleged misrepresentation of the storage capacity of the devices.

• who claim to have bought iPhones and iPads in the last year advertised with 16GB of storage but providing less to the user. The pair, who hope to turn the complaint into a class action, are seeking $5m (£3.3m) in damages and a trial by jury
• “Each gigabyte of storage Apple shortchanges its customers amounts to approximately 400-500 high-resolution photographs.”
• Customers had to remove their photos of their device to get  the update. 

This problem has occurred for me as I hardly have no space on my Iphone left as of Ios8. I believe apple have to sort this problem out otherwise profits will drop and people will move to android as they don'y take up as much space as the iphones. 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/05/intel-google-glass-vuzix-investment




This article is about how intel want to make an Google glass investment he latest is Intel, paying $24.8m for a 30% stake in US firm Vuzix, which has made its name with devices aimed at consumers and workplaces – for example hospitals, warehouses and call centres – alike.

•  the company reported revenues of $664.6k in the third quarter of 2014, up 96% year-on-year.
• The investment came ahead of the CES show in Las Vegas, where Vuzix will show new products including its V-720, a pair of video eyeglasses that ships with Intel rival Nvidia’s Shield handheld gaming device.

This will be fantastic if inter and google come together and potentially this good be product of the year if the partnership works and it will be profitable for both businesses.