Article Review #5

Video: Is this what Apple's new maps will look like?

Author: Philip Elmer-DeWitt , May 12, 2012, CNN.com

Article Summary:  Apple finished working on their own version of Google Maps, that took them 5 years and is supposed to be highly innovative. The company will replace google maps on its devises with the Apple maps. The long-waited announcement is expected on June 11th. The result are expected to be fantastic since Apple's mapping technology is very advanced and they purchased 3 mapping companies in the last 3 years. The technology used is a C3's 3D famous on YouTube. 

Relevance to the class: The article is posted on cnn.com with many links to external sources. There is a picture of the future map as well as a few videos of the C3 technology. The inline links are color differentiated. The article's sources are a famous blogger and apple news. 

Key quote:  "Apple's homegrown mapping datahas to be great. Mapping is an essential phone feature. It's one of those handful of features that almost everyone with an iPhone uses, and often relies upon."

Article Comparison #4

#1    Facebook's early acquisitions soar in value 

Author: Laurie Segall, May 11, 2012Publication: money.cnn.com

#2    Facebook acquires Instagram for $1 billion

Author: Laurie Segall, April 9, 2012

Publication: money.cnn.com

#3    Facebook sets $28 to $35 IPO price range

Author: Julianne Pepitone, May 3, 2012
Publication: money.cnn.com


#1 talks about Facebook's pricy first acquisitions
#2 is the original post when the acquisition was made
#3 talks about Facebook's share prices
#1, 2, 3 all posted on CNN.com
#1, 2 talk about Facebook's pricy acquisition of Instagram
#1, 2 have the same author
#1, 2, 3 have the same layout with internal links to all 3 articles, with article on the left, paid advertising on the right, as well as related articles
#1, 2, 3 have embedded videos of the founder
#1, 2, 3 have links to Facebook, twitter, linked in, gmail+ or email sharing on top and end of the articles
#1, 2, 3 have only internal links to articles on CNN.com

Article Review #4

• Title: Poll: Majority Approves of Obama's marriage decision

• Author: Kevin Liptak

• Date: May 11, 2012

• Link

       The article was on CNN.com, and it showed how voter's opinions have changes after  the very controversial support from president Obama for the gay marriage. The post is under CNN Politics, and it's a Wordpress blog called Political Thinker. The header of the  page has pictures linking to other related articles. The article is posted on the left of the page, while the right column is a live campaign results per state, and a live twitter feed @politicalThicker, a CNN political update. 

       No links in the article's body but plenty on the header or footer, as well as paid advertisings. There are links to Facebook, twitter on the left of the article.

       The article shows that voter's opinion hasn't changed much after Obama's declaration on the democratic or republican side, but a slight change was seen on the independent side.  

       

        

 

Article Comparison #3

Amazon's Price Check

#1
Article name and date: Should Amazon.com Apologize For App? Jan 5, 2012
Authors: Pem McNerney and Emily Henry
URL: Should Amazon.com Apologize for App

#2

Article name and date: Sheridan: Amazon App “Devious" And "Unfair", Dec 14, 2011

Authors: Paul Petrone

URL: http://waterford.patch.com/articles/sheridan-new-amazon-app-devious-and-unfair

#3

Article name and date: CEO, Amazon.com: Stop the "Price Check" assault on small businesses

Authors: Jasmine Johnson

URL: http://www.change.org/petitions/ceo-amazoncom-stop-the-price-check-assault-on-small-businesses

Notes:

#1 describes the situation that was created by Amazon's Price check app in local communities and on a higher level

#2 describes Sheridan's opinion as the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Connecticut

#3 is an online petition started by Johnson of Brooklyn, a small business owner on Change.org

#1 is in the form of an online news article on Waterfront.com

#2 is also a news article on the same webpage

#3 is an online petition

#1 offers links to #2, #3 as well as Amazon's app and Amazon's offer

#3 doesn't have links

#1, #2 use links as part of the sentences, blue color

#1, #2 are very user friendly and users can upload pictures, link back to the articles

#3 doesn't have installed links to Facebook, Twitter

#3 is a beautifully organized online form to collect signatures on the left, explanation of the cause on the right

#1, #2 are articles on the left, links on the bottom, paid advertising on the right column

Article Review #3

Article Title: Judge stops sale of Tim Tebow Jets jerseys, granting Nike’s request for a temporary restraining order
Article Author: Cindy Boren
Article Publication Date: 3.29.2012
URL:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/post/judge-stops-sale-of-tim-tebow-jerseys-granting-nike-a-temporary-restraining-order/2012/03/29/gIQANngpiS_blog.html

     Nike sued Reebok Wednesday in a NYC court, accusing them of trying to make quick money by selling Tebow merchandize. Reebok's contract with NFL expires March 31st and Nike's contract with them starts April 1st. Also Nike owns the rights to all Tebow merchandize. Since Tebow's contract hasn't been finalized, Reebok had no right to sell. The Court put a restraining order over Reebok's merchandize with Tebow.
     This a great article about rights in the retail business. The article was published by Washington Post online under their Sports posts. The page is split in 3 columns: first with links to other sports articles, second with the actual article, third with payed and not payed advertising. The article uses inline links, highlighted in blue, some of them internal and other's to the NFL store.

“We have filed a complaint relating to unauthorized use of Tim Tebow's name on New York Jets related apparel,” Nike said in a statement Wednesday. “Nike is authorized and licensed to use Tim Tebow's name on products. We have no further comment at this stage.”

 

Article comparison #2

Subject: Pinterest.com

Title #1: How to use Pinterest's pinboard for the Web
Author: Mark W Smith
Publication: Detroit Free Press, 01/17/2012
URL: how to use Pinterest

Title #2: A Lawyer Who Is Also A Photographer Just Deleted All Her Pinterest Boards Out Of Fear
Author: Allyson Shontell
Publication: Business Insider, 02/28/2012
Url: a lawyer who wants out

Title #3: Pinterest gets interesting
Author: April Dembowsky
URL: Pinterest gets interesting


      Pinterest is a social media website that debuted 2 years ago, but went truly viral a few months ago. The concept is that you as an invited user, install a cute bookmark on your browser, and every time a picture draws your attention, you pin it to your Pinterest boards. Based on your interests, they'll recommend people to follow or you could choose yourself. Obviously it links to your Facebook and twitter, and everyone can see your pins. The great part about it is that there aren't many words, just pictures of great designs, art, fashion.
       #1 found online at USA Today is a clear explanation of how Pinterest works, why it is so popular and some insights.
      #1 gives great descriptions to the terms of use.
      #2  is written by a lawyer who had a Pinterest account but after reading it's terms and conditions closed her account. It turns out that while people pin random pictures found online without crediting the source, Pinterest doesn't take any responsability for you. Not only that, but in case of a lawsuit you are responsible for Pinterest's lawyers' fees too.
Here is her statement: "Pinterest writes:

“YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SITE, APPLICATION, SERVICES AND SITE CONTENT REMAINS WITH YOU.”

      #3 is just another explanation of how the site works and why people find themselves scrolling pictures for hours.
     Overall, I found the subject interesting because I just opened a Pinterest account and didn't know that pining all those pictures might costing me a lawsuit...

Article Review #2

Title: New iPad tops 3 millions
Author: Trudy Muller, Apple
Publication: Apple.com
Date: March 19, 2012

 Apple announced this Monday the 19th that, in three days since their iPad 3 launched on the 16th, they already sold 3 million units, the best iPad launch yet. The sales are expected to rise since this Friday, they are launching the product in 24 more European countries.

The new iPad features a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G supports ultrafast 4G LTE networks in the US and Canada, and fast networks around the world including those based on HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA.**

 This is a great example of Apple's great marketing techniques since the iPad 3 is good but not great. In my opinion a 5 megapixel camera in this day and age is weak. My iPhone has a better camera. Meanwhile, I find it hard to take pictures with my iPad. I wish Sprint will join the provider's list since AT&T even with 4G LTE is very weak in signal. After all, the new iPad 3 sounds appealing to me and to the world.

Article Comparisons #1

Article title: Graphic Designers are Ruining the Web
Author: John Naughton
Article publication date: The Observer, Feb 18th 2012
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/feb/19/john-naughton-webpage-obesity

Article title: No, John, it's web designers who are ruining the web
Author: Jack Schofield
Article publication date: Feb 20th 2012
URL: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/jacks-blog-10017212/no-john-its-web-designers-who-are-ruining-the-web-10025448/

Article title: Decorators with Keyboards
Author: Jack Schofield
Article publication date: The Guardian, July 17th 2003
URL: echnology.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,999218,00.html



     I found these very interesting articles published in two British newspapers, about the importance of relevance in web designing. The first two article discuss the idea that many websites lately have forgot their meaning or purpose, by being overly designed, slow loading and lacking in information. This is of importance for me as a web design student because it offers great insight on the practice
     Both writers agree that websites today are too complicated due to the overly designed web pages. Both agree that the true meaning of websites is to inform, and that could only be achieved by creating clean and easy to load web pages.
    However, Jack Schofield disagrees with Naughton on the exemple of proper website. The website that Naughton favors Peter Norvig's, lacks visual beauty even though it displays very useful information. Schofield, moreover, presents his own exemple of well build and airy website Information Architects.
   The discusion in based on the principle that web design was somehow confused with print, and that some websites are poorly build. Schofield's closing argument is very strong:

"website managers/developers/designers/whatever must surely know that bloated designs are costing them readers, because almost everybody quits before slow websites have finished downloading. The desirable response time is 1 second. Any site that takes more than 15 seconds will start losing people at a rapid rate. Even if they stay for one page, it will put them off loading any more."

Article Review #1

Article title: Great Dozen of Advices to the Beginning HTML Coders
Author: Michael Davydenko
Article publication date: Feb 9th 2012
URL: http://www.splashnology.com/article/great-dozen-of-advices-to-the-beginning-html-coders/4598/

I came across on Twitter over this link to a series of HTML5 codes that will improve and renew old web design habits. The article is written by a freelancer. With HTML5 the coding world is changing and so should our outdated practices. I found it extremely helpful and useful, and I am planning to apply it to my website.
There were a few great points touched, as the img src coding, or the footer and header, but also the email submit form. I think it is relevant to our class because as a web architect, one should always use the next generation in coding, and should be in touch with the trends. It is such a great feeling to be able to use a simpler code with the arrival of HTML5.

Key quote: "Now you don’t need to rush in search of correct doctype (and, as a result, the mode of compatibility). HTML5 allows no more worrying about it, and it’s not your headache anymore. If new doctype will meet the old browser, then it will simply remain in the standard mode of compatibility. Start using it and feel the difference!"

I hope you'll find it as useful as I did.
Diana

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Welcome Spring semester 2012

Hello everyone,
This will be my blog for the Website Architecture class. Hope you'll enjoy it and we'll have some great fun this semester.
Diana