Tech Article 2/28

Cute icons, wicked witches: How Line reached $15bn

Line created a $15 billion company that gives their primary products away. This company was started by the Japanese.They get people with smartphones to pay for icons such as teddy bears and rabbits and game with running cookies and pudding. 

Since 2011, when the line started, it has gained more than 370 million subscribers. Line had a record of getting 2 million users in 24 hours. 85% of the users are not from Japan and most of the users are from Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, Mexico, and Chile. According to the BNP Paribas SA, the value of Line is estimated about $14.9 billion. About 60 per cent of Line’s revenue comes from games, in which users can pay money to enhance or add features, and 20 per cent comes from “stickers”, emoticons and cartoon characters that users can buy and include in messages. On Dec 31 Line's revenue was at 12.2 billion yen. Click Here to learn more.
 

Tech Article 2/24

Apple issues fix for security risk

Apple had a hole left unfixed which could allow hackers to read private communications sent over Apple devices: emails, instant messages, social media posts and even online bank transactions.Though Apple believes that is unlikely for hackers to see anything since they released a security patch over the weekend. It was issued for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touches, but not for OS X software. This lets hackers view the communications, such as bank deposits or Facebook and see other username and password. 

Tech Article 2/14

GoPro plans IPO

GoPro filed its IPO secretly, because they did not want to reveal their financials until later on. GoPro appointed Jack Lazar as chief financial officer on Tuesday to prepare for the IPO. GoPro is famous for cameras that are small, waterproof, or mountable video cameras that take great quality pictures and have a long battery life span.  Felix Baumgartner use GoPro camera to record his free fall from space in 2012. It is really thought to be used by action and extreme sports enthusiasts, but others still have found new ideas to how to uses for the compact video cams. Click Here to learn more.

Web 2.0: Multimedia Blog Posting

World History (Ms. Garvin)

Everyday 2nd period I have World History with Ms. Garvin. Though it is her first year teaching World History she is not a bad teacher. She went to Purdue University for a bachelors degree and now studies at Columbia University. Ms. Garvin maybe strict but I learned a lot from her. Her grading polices are 45% for projects, 45% for tests and, 10% for homework. 

When I first started that course I expected to learn about history starting from the being, but we started from the Renaissance and are going up to World War II. Though I was quite disappointed at first but I still really like what I am learning now. It may be better than learning about cavemen. Up to right now we have learned about the Renaissance all the way up to the Industrial Revolution. I am really looking forward to going to the Metropolitan Museum.  

In class, Ms. Garvin likes to use technology to teach us about what we are learning. Many of the times we work in groups to create to wiki-dots blog. There we post our projects or research on what we were assigned. We also made Prezi and Power Points for projects for review or a project grade. 

Tech Article 2/7

    HTC hints it will release an Android smartwatch in 2014

HTC,Taiwanese Smartphone Maker, is going to make a new wear gadget for customers in 2014 to compete against the Samsung Galaxy Gear. During an interview, co-founder Cher Wang said with the struggle in the smartphone circle they have come up with smartwatches. The smartwatches are said to be finally solved the issue of battery life that plagues other smartwatches such as the Samsung Galaxy Gear. This device is suppose to feature the same design as a regular HTC One but will offer improvements in display, processor and camera specifications as well as likely arriving with a built-in fingerprint sensor. Click Here to learn more.

Intro

Welcome!!

Hi my name is Catherine Huang. Just turned 14 in January. I am a freshman in high school. I like to play the piano and sing. I dislike meat, onions, and pickles. I live with my dad, mom, and a 8 years old brother. My parents decided that when I was in 6th grade it was a good idea to send me a boarding school in Taiwan to polish my Chinese. I am currently taking World History, English I, Italian II, Biology, and Geometry.