Things to consider when buying a Laptop.

Buying a Laptop can be stressful and daunting. There's just so many to choose from, all with different features and programmes that I don't even understand. Here's just a few things to consider when buying one.

Size: Size is of extreme importance when purchasing a laptop. Our course requires spending alot of time on the computer and lugging around a huge, bulky, heavy laptop in and out of college is quite simply just not ideal, especially for those who commute. A good up to date laptop with a large screen would be of great benefit in our course for modules such as ICT and Meltimedia design as well as others as there is alot of time spent on laptops required in these modules.

Battery Life: A long battery life is a necessity. The main appeal of a laptop is that its portable so battery life will play an important factor in choosing which computer you buy. Our course contains modules that are very computer orientated and therefore require alot of work on the computer. The college does not house many available plugs for your laptop so a long battery life is essential. All note and assignment briefs are posted on Blackboard.ie and so a computer is essential for the course. Most laptops will last 3 to 4 hours but there are some ultra-portables available that can often offer seven hours although these are quite expensive.

Processor: When it comes to the processor the faster the better. Intel's Pentium M CPU line offers speed while enabling great battery life and therefore a great choice for our course.

Video RAM: Lots of RAM lets you run more applications simultaneously, which is great for our course as I tend to find myself with numerous different applications open, such as Blackboard, Photoshop and Microsoft Powerpoint etc. Sufficient RAM is also necessary for graphics work and image editing which we use in our Multimedia Design module. RAM is not essential for our course although it is useful.

Ports: It is assumed that any modern laptop computer has numerous USB ports, as well as VGA, DVI, serial, and parallel ports.Unfortunatly this is not the case as some budget notebook computers may not have any of these. These are hugely important for our course as work done on your own laptop is required to be brought into class and onto the college computers. The handiest way to do this is through use of a USB key.

AntiVirus Software: Antivirus software is a must have for all computers and laptops. If it's not included in the price of the laptop make sure you get it. Norton and McAfee are two companies that sell this software but you can also download ones for free off the internet such as Avast and AVG. Antivirus software is an essential for this course as you are always on the internet and required to plug in your USB key into many different computers where a virus could easily get onto your key and then into your laptop when you plug it in.

These are just a few key factors to consider when buying a laptop for our course.

Apple iPod Nano Recall.

Article Summary

This is an article for the Guardian website published on Wednesday the Sixteenth of November this year. Apple is offering a replacement first generation iPod nano over fears that it's battery may over heat and catch fire.

 The iPod was first released in September 2005 and sold up until December 2006 when an updated version was then released. It was discovered that the battery could potentially go on fire which could be more likely of happening as the battery ages. This has been traced to a single battery supplier that produced batteries with a manufacturing defect. Apple has encouraged owners to stop using the iPod and avail of the free replacement.

This replacement scheme will cost Apple millions of pounds as the sold just over sixty million iPods that year, although it is not known how many of those are the nano version. Owners of this first generation iPod can return them either through a store or via a courier. Apple has stated that no other apple devices have been affected in the scheme. The iPod nano has been hugely popular over years with sales increasing from 8.7 million in the third quater of the year to more than 14million after it's introduction; but has recently fallen out of favour with buyers in favour of the iphone which also has a built in mp3 device and the iPad.

This article states that this is not the first time there had been a need for device recall over battery issues as other companies such as Sony and Dell have also had to make them in recent years.

My Opinion.

This is only a recall of the first generation iPod nano which was initionally released in 2005. I wonder how this problem was not recognised before this, if it is such a big issues and how they discovered it now after 6 years of being released. Apple are constantly updating the nano every year, so why would they go back to the first one after all these years and discover this battery problem now? Apple are replacing theses iPods, not with a current model of the iPod nano but instead with the same first generation model. I personally think this is to disincourage people who own the nano to send it back as most will have broken, lost or replaced theres and simply will not bother if the replacement is the old, first generation version. Therefore saving Apple more money than if the ipods were replaced with the most recent model.

Link to Article.



Article Link: Apple iPod offer over safetly fears.

Father Sues Facebook Article

Summary of Article

This is an article from the siliconrepulic website that was published on the seventh of September this year. It is about a man from Northern Ireland who is sueing facebook after suggestive photos of his daughter were posted on the social networking site.


 His daughter who is twelve years old is under the stated age of thirteen which all members of Facebook must be to join. The man stated that Facebook failed to recognise this and is not strict enough when it comes to privacy or decency on the site. He is looking for compensation and for his daughters account to be shut down and that she can never make a new one. He stated that if Facebook does not comply then he would "seek an injunction to stop Facebook from operating in Northern Ireland."

Facebook then made a statement which is included in this article, emphasising that user safety is its top priority. There are many quotes from Facebook spokespersons restating this. One stating that they are working with "law enforcement agencies across the world, including CEOP in the UK, and employ world-class technology to help keep child exploitation content off the site."





My Personal Opinion.

My opinion on this issue is that yes, Facebook should have higher security measures to insure that no one under the required age can access a facebook account andthat inexplicate photos should not be made possible to upload onto the site, but I also believe that the father also has some responsibility in the actions of his daughter.

 He claims that the photos of his daughter were "sexually explicit" and that she "appears heavily made up" in a "provocative pose" and looks "much older than her twelve years." It was not Facebook who made her look like this or Facebook who made her upload the photos. It was herself that intentionally did all these things. There is enough warning out there to parents to moniter what their children are doing online at all times and yet this father failed to do so. Does this not make him partly guilty and not completely innocent in this case? His daughter clearly had access to various media to be influence so much by these types of images that she is portraying. She was also "heavily made up", most twelve year olds I know, their parents would not let them near make up. This girl obviously was allowed which all factored in and influenced her actions on this site. She was reportedly getting text messages from adult men asking her for more suggestive images and messages. Everyone knows theres perverts out there and she made herself victim to them. I do admit that Facebook needs tighter restrictions and better user safety but they are not wholely responsible for the actions of this child.

Link to Article.



Article link. 'NI father sues Facebook over suggestive photos of daughter.

Youtube's College Usefulness.

Before I came to college the only main use I had for youtube was to watch music videos or random funny clips for entertainment. It wasn't til I came to college that I found it's educational side. In majority of my lectures there are always many links to Youtube videos relavent to the topic being discussed in class, making Youtube a very useful to not only my course but many others. A few videos we watched in class.....
Operant conditioning in the big bang theory.

Pavlovs Dogs get Conditioned.

Relevant Psychology Site.

Psychological Society of Ireland.
With all the latest news, publications and events relevant to psychology. Good stuff. Worthy of joining.

Anti-Smoking Ashtray.

I'd love to know why I haven't seen one of these before! If only every ashtray everywhere, in pubs and clubs were like this. I think it would be way more effective than the warnings on cigerette packets that everyone chooses to ignore. This, I find would be hard not to have an impact on everyone. People are always devastated by the news of someone with cancer, so why would anyone chance ever getting it?

Inspiration.

"I'm learning how to drown out the constant noise that is such an inseperable part of my life. I don't have to prove anything to anyone. I only have to follow my heart, and concentrate on what I want to say to the world. I run my world."



Poweful, Inspirational, Confident, Respected.