Befunky Review

Befunky is an app I first downloaded when doing my photography A Level in sixth form. I noticed it in the app store on my iPhone and thought I'd try using it, ever since I've been using it to edit photos on a weekly basis. It now has 2 different apps, one free and one which costs £1.69, and also has a web app. The web app gives you a choice from where to upload your photo, allowing you to upload straight from your computer or from other websites such as Facebook which is handy and easy to do. It provides you with a range of tools including the crop tool, a sharpener and even allows you to add text to your photos or make a collage with them.

Befunky also lets you do things such as turn people into cartoon sketches, give black and white images colour and you can you're then able to save the edited images in .jpg or .pgn formats, being the most popular of internet usage. Unlike some of the other apps, Befunky doesn't require you to sign up and register before being able to do anything, within a click of the "save" button you're able to upload your edited image to many different social websites or save it in your photo album. Everything about Befunky is simplistic and easy to understand. Whether you just need a quick crop of an image or a more elaborate presentation, Befunky can achieve your needs. Here are two images I made using the web app.

http://www.befunky.com/create/

Question Poll

History of Technology and Education

In the 1700's Chalkboards and blackboards were used, allowing the teacher to display information with the classroom by writing or drawing. Children were given boards themselves but would have to clean them after they were filled to be able to write more which meant erasing information and having nothing to keep it in other than their memory. In the 1800's books were introduced, not only allowing children to keep written information on different pages, but also enabled teachers and pupils to read and follow information provided in them. Between 1920 and 1990 electrical devices such as radio's, projectors and TV's and computers were developed, bringing visual and audio presentation and demonstration to schools. Towards the end of the 20th century was when people were introduced to the internet, allowing them to gain from others' knowledge and experiences, participate in chatrooms, share ideas and solutions and learn about the many diverse cultures out there. The idea of the internet was then developed in the early 2000's producing more and more interactive services and making social sites such as YouTube, promoting online popularity. Shortly after the success of the internet, development was taken further and the internet was put onto different devices such as iPads and smartphones. Providing facilities such as search engines and thousands of available apps, the internet has become a part of everyday life for students, providing information as and when it is needed. These days, use of mobile phones for internet purposes has become a routine.

The Newspaper Clipping Generator

This is an online app called 'The newspaper clipping generator'. It allows you to name the paper, choose a headline and then type information. This can be useful for displaying information in a different context.

Dangers Of The Web

When you surf the web, your computer is constantly downloading files and in some cases other software so you can use the web to its full capacity. However, sometimes these files or programs are written by people who want to steal your information or harm your computer. This is called Malware or Malicious Software. There is also a danger when using online social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, these sites can put children at a much greater risk to receive a message from a stranger which could then lead on to meeting with a stranger. Other concerns of social networking sites can consist of a lack of age-verification mechanisms, access to provocative pictures and videos, and easy access for predators and cyber-bullies.

On the Internet, cyber-bullying takes various forms. It includes sending hateful messages or even death threats to children, spreading lies about them online, making nasty comments on their social networking profiles, or even creating a website or profile to humiliate their looks or reputation. Cyber-bullying differs from school-yard bullying as teachers can't intervene when it's on the Internet. Another issue with cyber-bullying is that the bullies don't witness their victims' reactions as they are not in their presence. A woman named Mary Ellen Handy experienced being cyber bullied due to a girl being jealous after she'd dated a boy. She'd receive messages such as "I hate you, leave the school." from the girl, and Mary stated herself "she'd call me every name in the book." The jealous girl managed to get up to 20 others to join her and to send messages of abuse to Handy,  This case went on for a few months making Mary nervous to go to school, making her feel physically ill and even had a negative effect on her grades.

To make sure your child is safe using the web, make sure they know that they should never give out any personal information online such as a phone number, address, or any private information such as passwords or credit card details. Your kids would not give their address to a stranger on the phone, nor should they divulge it online. Teach your children to come to you and let you know if they have any trouble or anything which they have not seen before and might be dangerous. A parent can also use a parental control software for an appropriate reason to make sure their children don't go on dangerous websites.


References;
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/4-dangers-internet
http://www.internetsafety101.org/snsdangers.htm
http://www.surveilstar.com/top-5-dangers-of-using-the-internet.html

TED Talks

I decided to use this video from TED Talks as my subject because I sometimes fear preforming in front of people when playing rugby or the drums so 'How I beat stage fright' caught my eye and I felt a sense of good will after watching it. The video is about Joe Kowan, a songwriter who didn't have the confidence to show anyone his songs until the age of 30, when he decided it was time to put his fears behind him and show people his work. He uses humour to entertain the crowd but still gets his point across and I found it very inspiring on how he overcome his problems and fears, becoming a new confident person which allowed him to do what he wanted to do.  The song he uses to give his story is very funny, and you can tell that the audience are all intrigued.  His positive attitude inspires you to believe in yourself, and no matter how hard you may think something can be, you can still achieve it if you put your mind to it.

Blog Review - A New Approach

I've decided to write my blog review on "A New Approach". I decided to read and review this blog as I like to be up to date with all the new gadgets and believe that technology is going to have a massive impact on education in the future. Technology is used so often that people need to be educated to keep up to date with new changes and new techniques. Although this blog was initially made in 2007,it's still updated very frequently so there's always something new to look at and the information is up to date. It has plenty of tags on the right hand side which can be useful if you're looking for certain posts and even has a radio which you can turn on whilst scrolling through which adds a nice touch. Each post tends to have the same font style and similar size, with headings being bolder and larger to make the layout clear and easier to read. Each post contains media which is relative to the blog whether it's a video, app or an image, keeping it interesting whilst giving information at the same time. There are also has some fun and interactive applications available to use such as voting polls. The blog helped to give me ideas for my own posts and I would definitely recommend it to others that are interested in technology or are thinking about making a blog. A blog provides you with tools and method of uploading almost anything you need to display information and is a great way of creating a project of work, a good way to represent a business and also a useful app to use for making a diary or a page for your own entertainment.

Here's a link to the blog that's been reviewed; http://mandy-newapproach.blogspot.co.uk/