Top of the Tweets 2013

Social media giant Twitter recently revealed the most tweeted topics of 2013 after analysing the Twitter habits of 15 million active users in the UK.

Sporting events were found to have caused 7 of the top 10 Twitter moments of the year with Manchester United’s defeat by Real Madrid provoking the biggest Twitter reaction as the club was knocked out of the champions league. Narrowly beaten by the predictable rush of New Year tweets, Andy Murray’s historic Wimbledon victory also made it into the top 3 as Britons shared their joy and disbelief at the first British singles win in 77 years.

Celebrity deaths also featured heavily in the national debate with British users commemorating the passing of former poet laureate Seamus Heaney, author Iain Banks, Lady Thatcher and James Gandolfini, best known for his leading role in the Sopranos. The recent death of former South African president Nelson Mandela also caused an outbreak of tweets around the world.

Worldwide the most popular and retweeted message of the year went to Glee actor Lea Michele, thanking fans for their support over the death of her co-star Cory Monteith with 408,000 retweets. Fast and Furious star Paul Walker's shock death followed closely with 400,000 retweets.

Other popular tweet topics included the birth of Prince George in July and those by the boy band One Direction who claimed the prize for the most retweets globally. 

For the full article, visit http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/11/one-direction-top-tweeted-topics

The Big Red British Telephone Box

One of the many quirky attractions in Britain is the big red telephone box.  They were introduced in 1924 and were the result of a competition to design a telephone kiosk that would be acceptable to the London Metropolitan Boroughs. You can also find them in many of the current or former British colonies around the world. You can even find one ensconced in the beautiful countryside of the Isles of Scilly - please see below photo of goat in phone box in the Isles of Scilly.

There are still quite a few in Oxford, too, and tourists like nothing more than to get a photo of themselves piled into one, or pretending to be on the phone. That's about the only use they have these days, though, as due to the increase of mobile technology, people are using them a lot less. Many of them are now even up for sale to the public! If you are interested and have a spare £2000 to spend, why not splash out for one in your sitting room?

How to tell your boss how you really feel!?

After many years of resisting temptation, Joanna, OISE Oxford's anti-technology veteran, has finally caved and bought herself a smart phone. Many times she would argue, "why would I need to check the weather?" or "I don't want to be able to check my emails on the go!". Not any more - the Gmail application is well and truly downloaded, along with Whatsapp and a few other beauties. Before long these apps will be in fierce competition for a place on screen numero uno.

I, on the other hand, think smart phones are amazing. Apart from the obvious advantages of being able to connect to the internet, some of the applications are just brilliant. My favourites have to be Ebay and the Royal Cars app. The latter, an app created by an Oxford based taxi company which you can use to order taxis that pick you up from either a pre installed 'favourite address' or they locate you using the phone's GPS signal. Of course, you could just call them, but if you're in a noisy place or just plain lazy then then the app is great. Oh, and the BBC News app definitely deserves a mention, too.

For the managers and company owners out there (or at least for the ones that are concerned about the happiness of their colleagues/employees), why not have a look at Tinypulse. Tinypulse sends out a survey every week to the company employees allowing them to express how happy they are, anonymously of course. 'It allows bosses to gather weekly surveys from their workers, and provides a channel through which workers can raise issues and communicate with their bosses. Employers can tailor the surveys, and can also give positive feedback straight to workers.' Click on the image below to read more:

 

Next up on Google's Agenda - Project Glass

Google have recently unveiled information about their latest technological invention, Project Glass. From afar they look a bit like normal reading glasses, but the lenses are far from normal. When wearing the glasses you can see various commands hovering in front of  your eyes. 

The user can perform tasks commonly handled by smartphones, such as scheduling meetings, taking pictures, checking the weather, getting directions, and placing a video call. The information simply hovers in the user's field of view, and the interface is controlled by voice or other inputs.

While they are still in the process of gathering feedback from users, Google recently released a video of how it would look when wearing these glasses. Click on the image below to see this video.

To Print, Or Not To Print...

The cost of printing is something that can make a big difference to the outgoings of any business and organisation, not to mention the damaging effects it has on tree numbers and wildlife.

The question is, with all the technology that is available in this day and age, do we actually need to use paper? Surely everything can go digital. If not to save the trees and wildlife, to save money!

BBC reports that 'a school in Bolton is pushing the boundaries of education by putting away pens and paper and giving all pupils and teachers their own iPad [...] it helps students and has cut costs, including reducing the school's £80,000 photocopying bill to just £15,000 a year.'

What are your thoughts? What are the advantages of going paperless? Could new tax incentives be introduced to encourage businesses follow this school's example? 

Digital Media - The Way Forward?

Fact: Vinyl, tapes, cassettes, discs and mini-discs are slowly becoming extinct. Who needs them when you can simply download whatever kind of media you need online. Obviously some of the older stuff is harder to get hold of, but you can bet your bottom dollar that if they're not available online already, even your dad's most boring black and white films will soon be uploaded.

The big worry is that people are downloading media illegally (i.e. not paying) and then you have the obvious knock on effects of this resulting in less money for everyone involved in the industry. But as Internet controls becomes more advanced, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to get away with illegally downloading media. Only in 2011, British student Richard O'Dywer was extradited to the US for hosting a website which provided links to downloadable pirated films and TV shows. This sent a clear message that things were tightening up.

With increased Internet controls and harsher punishments for those involved, the public are now starting to think twice about download illegally. This change in mindset, along with the extinction of physical media, is being reflected in the increased sales of digital media. 'In 2012, digital sales increased by 11%, breaking the £1 billion barrier.'1

As we all know, YouTube is a great resource, and legal, too! The advertising is getting a little aggressive, but still, it's free, and with '48 hours of video uploaded every minute, resulting in nearly 8 years of content uploaded every day',2 there's myriad songs and videos available.

Listening to music is a great way to improve one's language skills. Even if you don't recognise/understand all of the words, it's a great way to get used to their different sounds. There are thousands of songs with subtitles on YouTube, too. So if you're a foreign language learner, why don't you give it a go? 5 minutes combining language learning with pleasure. 

Here's one for all of you English learners out there:

Technology gone bonkers!

More and more people are becoming dependent on their mobile phones. Whether it be for checking their emails, tweeting nonsense, buying plane tickets or taking photos of their favourite OISE Oxford teachers. 

We have reached a stage now where it is hard to tear people away from their phones. It's actually quite difficult to have a conversation with someone between the age of 15 and 50 without them getting out their mobile telephone to check the weather or to take a peek at the latest Facebook updates.

Technology is developing at such a rate that it's hard to keep up. Next thing you know they'll be bringing out a bendy phone that can project films and TV documentaries on their friend's foreheads! Wait a second, I think these kind of phones may already exist!

Click on the image below to read more about some of the new technology coming our in 2013!