Monday, April 25, 2016

Technology in the Workplace

There are many reason why you should have technology in your workplace. In this blog I want to talk about some important advantages technology provides employers with everyday life tasks and how technology saves money as well. Business technology improves communication between employees and/or business to business. Office workers are not limited to phone calls or face-to-face interaction with each other anymore. With technology, employees can send email instantly without interrupting the other person, even if they are busy working on something else. Meeting are another advantage because with technology, employees can do a presentation on PowerPoint and present a very knowledgeable presentation to other employees. Meetings can also take place online and through skype. Skype is a online video chat that allows one user to video call someone else. For business, technology has help them in the recruiting process so that each potential interview does not have to take place in person right away. Employers can do telephone interview now and eliminate potential people who won't get the job. With telephone interviews, this saves employers time and money. Technology in the workplace practically eliminates space and time with video conferencing technology allowing businesses on any part of the globe to interact with one another. Technology also reduces travel costs because businesses can set up virtual meetings and distribute data without the need to be in the same room. So as you may already see, technology has a huge impact on the day-to-day tasks that goes on at organizations. This process decreases time and cost spent on these tasks and helps the company overall obtain efficiency.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Multiple links to educational sites

http://www.coolmath4kids.com/

The link above is an awesome website for kids who love math! This website has numerous math games that kids can play and spend a lot of time and even learn as they are playing games. So to the parents who give their kids technology devices to let them play, give them this website to actually have them learn something!


Another link is this spelling city where kids can get more spelling practices and to enhance their vocabulary. Kids can play games, watch videos, ask questions regarding different words, learn tactics and much more.


Kids can learn more about thanksgiving and watch videos about the first thanksgiving as well. This site provides photos, letters, teaching resources, and what daily life actually was back then.


If kids or the parents want their kids to have some practice for standardized tests, this is a site they can go on. From English to mathematics, kids will be able to practice and enhance their knowledge in every subject and become smarter each and every day.


If your kid has a question regarding a certain math problem, a question about a word or phrase, or anything along the lines of what they are learning in school, they can go onto this site and ask away. There are also other websites they can go and learn more and more each day. More questions equal more knowledge.

Below are more sites for kids to visit and spend some time on. Each and every site will help kids learn and prepare them for their classes.


Saturday, April 23, 2016

Who is Apple Inc?

Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple was established to sell a personal computer kit. Throughout the years Apple created more and more technology from computers to phones to music technology. Apple has become the biggest technology business in the world just by being more innovated than their competitors. In 2007-2011, the success with mobile devices became known and Apple took advantage of this opportunity. With Apple producing the iPod allowing people to have a handheld device that could hold more than 1000 songs, people soon knew who Apple was. With Apple improving their generations of the iPod, Apple also invented the iPhone, the first smartphone of this generation. Within years Apple became the most profitable technology company in the world. They upgraded their products and continued innovating rapidly. Apple didn't just become an music and phone industry but started expanding and moved into the computer industry as well. The MacBook was first launched in 2006 and wasn't very popular then. It was relaunched in 2015 and since the technology was so popular then, the Macbook was very popular to everyone. There was no specific age to which Apple advertised or made their products for. Their main purpose and goal was to have every consumer to experience the most out of their products. The company also believes in high-quality products that will stay and work for the consumer for years to come. With this type of quality, the consumer has loyalty to Apple and decreases the chances of them switching to other companies/competitors.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Apple iPhone

Today I want to talk about the Apple's newest news about their new iPhone announcement. As many of you may already know, Apple came out with a 4-inch iPhone SE, which is supposedly the latest and greatest processor and camera technology that both customers and Apple will be able to stand by the device for years to come. This phone is for the cheaper folks who want an iPhone but don't want to pay all that money for the newest iPhone and don't want to buy a used one. This is the most affordable iPhone Apple has ever made. The iPhone SE boasts the same A9 chip and high quality 12-megapixel camera as the iPhone series and support for Apple Pay contactless payments. Although, Apple is expecting a launching of their new iPhone 7 this fall, this phone has most of the same features as the latest models but a smaller screen. Why still buy this? The longevity and quality of this phone is same or could be even better than the other models. Consumers who purchase the iPhone SE can know with confidence that it will continue to be supported and operate properly for years to come. Although this phone takes the body of an iPhone 5, the features include Bluetooth 4.2, fast 802.11ac Wifi, and VoLTE. Rumors have also suggested that it could have a 1,624 mAh battery, which is larger than the battery in the iPhone 5s. So if you want an iPhone that isn't expensive but come with guaranteed quality and longevity, this is the perfect phone for you. Click Here!

How to use the iPad

For those of you who have or have been thinking about buying an iPad, you should. The iPad by Apple is a great invention for those of you who like using iPhone who want something bigger, or those who like using a laptop and want something smaller. There are a couple of reasons why people choose to buy the iPad over many other products. For one, you can take it anywhere. The portability for the iPad allows you to carry it in a back or backpack, is easily accessible, and you can go anywhere and have it with you. This allows you to check your email or get on the internet wherever you want, as long as you have data or WiFi. There are many features regarding how you use the iPad. For a college student, they could take notes and do homework on it. Most people also find the iPad much easier to work with and carry around than having a laptop. For the iPhone users, the iPad is just a little bigger. Are you able to call people? No. But everything else, the iPad can also do. The iPad can also have many apps on the device, over 375,000 apps are designed for the iPad, and each of these apps are made to either entertain you in a specific way or make your life easier. And with those apps you can read books, create works of music and art, launch a journal or blog, organize your life, entertain and inform your kids and grandkids, capture and edit movies and pictures, make and receive free video calls, enjoy your favorite music and movies, spend an unhealthy amount of time with Twitter and Facebook, and fling birds at pigs.Click Here!

Desktop vs Laptop

If you are thinking about buying a new computer but can't decide whether to buy a desktop or a laptop, I hope this blog helps you. The cost is very different for both:
Cost:
Desktops can start as low as $400 for a full package (computer and monitor) and still be a pretty powerful system but the prices still have a wide variety. Laptops have a fairly wide variety of component options but they are more limited than desktops. For a more powerful and faster laptop, prices are pretty high and can range up to $1500 or more, depending on the brand.
Portability:
Desktops are large in size and have a separate monitor. While it is possible to transport your desktop from place to place, it could be tiresome. Laptops however are very portable and can be carried to about anywhere and available to use quickly. Due to their compact size, they can be taken from place to place and be carried in backpacks or laptop carrying case.
Ease of use:
Setting up a desktop can be tiresome as well as it is much harder than a laptop. You have to hook everything up, start it up, and then able to use it. Also requires more space to use it. Laptops are built to be easy to use, requiring little time and effort to get running.
Gaming:
If you are a gamer and looking for a computer to buy for initially playing games, then choose a desktop. They are capable of using high-powered video cards that have higher power requirements and require better heat reduction/dissipation. Physical space is limited in a laptop which could limit the graphic capabilities. The heat reduction/dissipation is limited by the space in the laptop case and power is also limited which doesn't allow for video cards needing those higher amounts of wattage to run.
I hope after reading this blog, this will help you make a better decision when buying a computer.

Promoting Men's T-Shirt

Today I want to introduce to you a t-shirt that will have a huge impact on you and also an impact on children using technology in the classroom.This t-shirt for Men is very affordable and extremely nice. The design on the t-shirt is a picture that says digital storybook. We represent an idea to provide a digital storybook to children in the class room to enhance their creative minds and their reading ability. Throughout this story, the kids will be reading along and come up to questions/decisions that will lead to a specific story for the rest of the book. Each question has a alternative story line and the kids can choose whatever story they want to experience letting them build onto their creativeness. This t-shirt is the first step to accomplishing this goal. By buying and wearing this t-shirt, you are able to show others your support for this idea and let other know what this idea is. Here is a picture of the t-shirt along with the details as well.
Men's V-Neck T-Shirt
Sizes include small, medium, large, extra large, 2x large.
The shirt comes in 4 colors: Black, Navy, Heather Gray, Stone Blue.
Other information are as follows:
  • Men's V-Neck T-Shirt
  • 100% ringspun cotton, Heather Grey is 97/3 cotton-poly blend
  • Classic fit
  • Machine wash cold, tumble dry low
  • We want to thank you for time in reading this promotion of the Men's v-neck t-shirt. We hope you make the decision to look more into this offer and hopefully when you buy this product, you will be able to share with other the idea of providing more technology to children in the classrooms.

    Promoting Baseball Cap

    There are many people out there that wear hats for many different reasons. To either look stylish, keep the sun out of their eyes/face, or to even cover up a bad hair day. There are many other reasons to wear hats but we at, Story Tech Inc, want you to buy our product to advertise our name to other people. Here at Story Tech Inc., want to develop a product for kids in the classroom to increase their creative minds and motivate them to read. This digital book or app comes with a storyline which will provide multiple options throughout the story which will allow the child/user to be directed to an alternative storyline depending on the decision he/she makes. So to describe this more elaborately, as the child is reading through a story, a set of questions or choices will pop up at the end of a scene or the start of a climax. These choices will describe a choice for the child or character they are reading about. The child will choose among the couple choices and depending on what choice they will pick, determines an alternative story and ending to the particular subject they are reading about.

    With the background of our company, we want to extend this opportunity to buy one of our products that will in turn advertise our name and hopefully create more followers. Let me show you and talk to you about this product.

    Black Cap
    This hat, also categorized in the baseball hat category, is a simple hat that has many benefits to you other than advertising our name. The product details are as follows:


    • Baseball Hat
    • Unstructured 100% brushed cotton canvas Baseball Cap
    • Permanently adhered polyester patch
    • Adjustable hook/loop tape closure adjusts from 20" to 24"
    • Crown measures 3 1/4"
    • Low Profile Brim with sweatband
    • Hand wash with warm water and mild detergent
    • Hang Dry
    Thank you for taking this time to read through this promotion and we hope you buy our product!

    Promoting Women's T-Shirt

    Today I want to introduce to you a t-shirt that will have a huge impact on you and also an impact on children using technology in the classroom.This t-shirt for Women is very affordable and extremely nice. The design on the t-shirt is a picture that says digital storybook. We represent an idea to provide a digital storybook to children in the class room to enhance their creative minds and their reading ability. Throughout this story, the kids will be reading along and come up to questions/decisions that will lead to a specific story for the rest of the book. Each question has a alternative story line and the kids can choose whatever story they want to experience letting them build onto their creativeness. This t-shirt is the first step to accomplishing this goal. By buying and wearing this t-shirt, you are able to show others your support for this idea and let other know what this idea is. Here is a picture of the t-shirt along with the details as well.
    Digital Storytelling Organic Women's Fitted T-Shirt
    The price of this shirt is $29.99 and the reasons is because this shirt is available to men, women in maternity, and women not in maternity.
    Colors include: Galaxy, Pomegranate, White, Black, Green, and Aqua
    Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, X-Large.
    A link is provided if you are interested in purchasing this awesome opportunity:
    http://www.cafepress.com/mf/103680953/digital-storytelling_tshirt?productId=1734685306
    We would like to thank you for taking your time to read through this promotion and we hope that you buy our product and are able to show others what we mean by digital storytelling, Have a wonderful day!

    List Post: How to use Technology to Learn

    1. You can write blog: If you think about it, writing blogs can help your knowledge of technology to grow which in turn will increase your learning ability. Talking about different subjects or sharing information with people and writing about it will possibly create interaction with other bloggers which will also create an environment where everyone can communicate with each other and learn from each other. 
    2. Looking up information: You can look up practically anything on the internet, whether it would be a location, a word you don't know, or information about a specific subject or topic. There are many search engines where you can look up information as well but the main one I use is Google and once you search for something, hundreds and thousands of search results are available for you to choose from.
    3. You can watch videos: If you don't know how to do a specific task, you can always look it up on the internet such as YouTube and see how you can complete that task. Or you can watch thousands of different kinds of videos and even upload some yourself to show other people.
    4. You can interact with people: There are many sites such as Facebook, blogs, and other web pages where a community of people can come together and talk about a common interest with other people. You can also share pictures, life stories, and much more with this community.
    5. You can use technology to research: Whether it would be for school, work, or if you are just interested in a certain company or topic, you can scour the internet for different information regarding the subject and find tons of lists and other information regarding your interest.

    Analyzing Gizmodo.com

    Today I am going to talk about Gizmodo.com and talk about the successful traits about their blog. This blog I believe started in 2011 and has become a very successful blog to the technology, science, and social media fields. How they caught my attention was when I looked up technology blogs on Google, a link to "The 10 Best Blogs" on InsideTech came up and Gizmodo was on that list. The design of the website is very modern using a lot of pictures and then descriptions underneath. It is very up to date with blogs publishing daily and throughout the day as well. If you do click on a picture/topic, it will take you to that specific blog where the writer goes into much detail about it. There are many people who leave comments and they are simply just concerns or questions they have in the blog product/topic the writer is promoting. Once one person leaves a comment the usual reply comes from another blogger or another fan of the same blog. There are many other topics Gizmodo tries to cover including the shows that are popular (Game of Thrones), popular computer games (League of Legend), space topics, and many other topics that have some sort of technology in them. Although they are talking about some of the tv shows such as The Walking Dead and as well as new movies (Deadpool), they are not talking about the technology advanced companies and information about them and how well they are doing among the technology field.

    Review Post: Apple's iPhone

    I want to talk write a review post about Apple's iPhone. Over the years, Apple has done a tremendous job keeping up and leading the technological advances of the phone industries and the iPhone has become the most popular mobile device. For me personally I wasn't able to get my very own phone till I was a sophomore in High School and even then I didn't get a smartphone. My very first smartphone was a iPhone 6 that I got last Christmas 2015. Why did I wait so long? Phones, especially the iPhone, are very expensive and cost so much just to text and call people and now they cost so much for data usage and using of apps. To me, it was just a phone. Now it has my entire life stored in it. It is quite humorous too, to know that you can have now pay for things with your iPhone, make bank transactions straight from your phone, and even ask a female voice to look something up on the internet just by asking your phone. Whatever happened to just calling and texting people? But I have to admit, it does make my life 100% easier and enjoyable. Why the iPhone is so popular because it combines many technology devices and puts them into one device. What other devices? For example: GPS, internet, music, calendars, alarm clocks, cameras, and many other devices. Why do people need this particular device to live out their daily lives? Why would they spend hundreds of dollars to buy a phone when they can't afford to pay their other bills? I suppose that question can be answered by someone else.

    Promoting Blog Post: Review of Apple iPhone

    If you thought my last post about the Apple iPhone was interesting, below I have attached some more links that talk about why to buy an iPhone and why not to buy one.
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgregor/2014/11/19/iphone-6-the-5-best-reasons-to-buy-one/#2668030353b7
    http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2015/09/10/5-reasons-not-to-buy-the-iphone-6s

    I will now summarize the two links above. The top link talks about 5 reason why you should buy the iPhone 6. 1) the iPhone is an all rounder meaning not just the appearance but also the battery, camera, design, and performance don't just pass the tests but are much better than the competitors and the competitors can't beat it. 2) Apple pay is introduced and says that it will be the next big thing. When you most need it, Apple pay will be there. 3) Swift is a programming language that could have a direct impact on the consumer. For apps today, hundreds of iPads and iPhones have a language know as Objective-C and Swift is now the upgrade. 4) There are a lot more accessories in the iPhone than any other handheld device. 5) Finally the last reason is the camera. With the camera scoring the highest score against competitors, it is obvious that the camera in the iPhone 6 is the best we have seen yet.

    The other link talks about why you shouldn't spend money and get an iPhone. Even though it is the best smartphone on the planet, the earlier models are about the same as the newer ones. There's not much difference but just a few improvements. The site also talks about how you should hold on to your phone longer and not decide so quickly to get a new one when your original phone still has life in it.

    Promoting my own website

    So my blog at the moment covers a technology device that will be introduced to children and to schools to enhance children's learning capabilities and to expand children's creative minds. There are two main ideas about this product and you can find this website at the following: http://storytechinc.blogspot.com/ This idea that I had about introducing a storybook to kids to have them learn from and also to help them read more instead of watching T.V. and not learning or enhancing their minds. So in the classrooms, the storybook is designed to be an interactive textbook allowing the child to watch videos on subjects they don't understand, highlight words and sentences as they are reading along to help them follow along to what they are reading, and also the child can look up terms instantly on the internet.

    The other main idea behind the storybook is the interactive story. As the child is reading throughout the story, a set of choices will be introduced to the child, and depending on what the choice the child chooses, this creates an alternative story. Each choice creates a different story allowing the child to explore their imagination and creative minds. I believe that by introducing this storybook, this will have a positive influence on children's reading skills and also allow them to increase their creative minds. What I hope to accomplish, or what I want kids to do, is to ignore all the television and social media, when they are at a younger age, and to read and read and read!! Reading will help them in school and will provide the skills that television can't provide.

    Link Post: 7 Fun ways to use Technology in the Classroom

    I will be building onto the list above and adding 3 more ways to use technology in the classroom.

    1. You could use Word Office such as Word or Excel for numerous of little activities or learning activities for the kids. You can compose a story book and illustrate it with clip art or graphics. Publish a newspaper or a newsletter or flyer for your classroom and even pretend you were doing it for the local newspaper. You can take surveys and chart the results or collect information about define the difference graphically in Excel. By making a "real world" budget you could learn about income, purchasing, and consumer science that will help the kids out in the early adult years.
    2. The internet is a great tool for kids to explore and find new places around the world they could learn from and learn about. A project could be done about tracking data, such as tracking the weather over time in different places and see if there are any patterns. Students can form research teams and have research projects to teach them how to look up specific information. 
    3. Student could also work with PowerPoint presentation to see how you can put a slideshow together or make a presentation about a specific topic to show the class or even a research project. They could compile information into a common format - "Math Formulas We Use" created by and for students. Teaching kids to use PowerPoint will increase the children's creativeness when they want to present something to the class or even have them play around with the software and see what little things you can do with it.

    Product Recommendation

    To my readers, I want to recommend to you the Apple iPad. Most of you will already know what I am talking about and may already have one but to those of you who don't or if you do have one and thinking about switching to another product, maybe I can change your mind. Below I have attached a link to the Apple's page about their product, the iPad.

    http://www.apple.com/ipad/

    I'm talking to the readers and technological people out there who are looking for something to buy and who are looking for quality over price or to have a product that will last a long time. There are many reasons why you should buy one and I am going to give you a couple of them. The portability of the iPad is very popular meaning you can carry it with you almost wherever you want to go. So if you want to check your email or get on a social media website, you don't have to spend the amount of time you have to, to crack open your laptop, because you can just get your iPad out and check it on there. You will be able to do the above by connecting to the Wi-Fi or you can pay extra to connect to data, just like how you would use your mobile device. If you think the cost of the iPad is too expensive, you can look it up on Amazon or other sites to get it either used or at a cheaper price. But remember that even though it is expensive, if you take care of it, it will give you many years of easy accessibility to technology and apps and many other features.

    Wednesday, February 3, 2016

    Effects of the Digital Storybook

    According to the NEA (National Education Association), children who were read to frequently are also more likely to:
    • Count to 20, or higher than those who were not 
    • Write their own names
    • Read or pretend to read
    • Have better communication skills
    • Learn how to read a book
    • More logical thinking skills
    • Enhanced concentration and discipline skills
    • and the knowledge that reading is fun!
    I show this to you because I want this to motivate parents, teachers, educators of the risk we are taking with kids not reading. Yes technology is advancing and so people must advance with it. That's why having the digital storybook is the best idea for kids to use and learn from! Because it is still up to date with the attractive technology design, much like an ipad, and it will teach the child how to increase their creative minds and how to become adventurous in given circumstances. 

    Along with the other bonuses this storybook provides for children, when children are tired of reading, then they can turn the speaker option on and have the narrator read the story or chapter to them. There's really no excuse not to have this for your children. Kids need to read to improve their intelligence skills and perform better in schools and classes and reading is the biggest key to that! Not only does it help improve their brain and thinking skills but also their problem solving and creative skills as well. We as adults must pay attention to the needs of the children so they can advance in classes and become smarter in life.

    Tuesday, February 2, 2016

    About Brett Baker

    Hello! My name is Brett Baker and I'm writing Digital Storybooks for kids to help children who are bored of reading or don't find it very fun to experience a whole new adventure they can have buy just choosing different choice. I'm also writing this blog to share my ideas for kids to become more interacted in what they are learning. I am a student at Illinois State University and am also engaged to a beautiful women who is also attending the same school. We both volunteer at our church each Sunday in the children ministry, ages 3-4 pre-school, and we love working with the kids and teaching them. Every Sunday after the early church service, we would go back and meet up with our kids ranging from 10 to 25 kids each week, and we would greet the parents and kids at the same time and would play with the kids, teach them about Jesus, and read to them until their parents came back from their church service. I enjoy being with the kids and seeing them at this age solving problems and making decisions. 

    What made me think of this Digital Storybook was the thought of how this technological world is now turning kids minds and attention to televisions and other screens and tech stuff. So why not create something that will be up to date with the other technology but will also teach the kids to learn and become adventurous and creative with what they are trying to accomplish. 

    Monday, February 1, 2016

    Digital Storybooks in the Classroom

    For this blog that I am writing this evening I want to talk about how these digital storybooks will increase learning and interaction in the classroom. For one, kids will be able to read and know where they are in the story because while they are reading, the words will be high lighted for them. As I also mentioned, pictures will be able to be enlarged and shrunk as the kids see fit. If they can't see it, simply put your two fingers on the picture and maximize the picture. Same goes for minimizing it. This digital storybook is also kept up with modern day technologies as well. There would also be videos for different subjects that the kids wouldn't understand right away allowing them to visually understand what is going on and what they would be reading about.

    Along with the Storytelling, as the kids are reading their story and they will come across a set of options they can pick. These options will then, depending on the choice the kids make, will lead to an alternative story. There wouldn't be just one set of options either. Along the way there would be another set and another depending on how many the kids would want. With kids having this privilege in the classroom, this allows them explore their adventurous side and see what different adventures they come across. This will peak their interests in the adventure storybook world and possibly motivate them to become more creative and expand their interests in stories.

    Sunday, January 31, 2016

    Digital Storybook for kids

    I am creating this blog to talk about an idea to relate storytelling and interactive learning to children. This Digital book or app comes with a storyline which will provide multiple options throughout the story which will allow the child/user to be directed to an alternative storyline depending on the decision he/she makes. So to describe this more elaborately, as the child is reading through a story, a set of questions or choices will pop up at the end of a scene or the start of a climax. These choices will describe a choice for the child or character they are reading about. The child will choose among the couple choices and depending on what choice they will pick, determines an alternative story and ending to the particular subject they are reading about. This is just one advantage of this Storybook. 

    The other advantage with this digital book is that it comes with interactive readings for the kids. So as the kids are reading through the book, an option is to highlight the words as the kids read it. This will help kids who are not good at reading know where they are and get a sense of what reading is like. Another cool thing is that kids will be able to enlarge pictures in the book, to view them more closely, and shrink them when they are done looking at it. Overall this is a fun interactive book/story for kids to read and learn while they read and will address their adventurous side, depending how far they want to explore.