The Nook Color

The Nook Color has the same capabilities as the normal Nook, except it has color. The price is $249 and will begin to sell on November 26^th. The Nook is trying to be both an E-Reader and allow its readers to have Applications. A new program is called LendMe. It allows a person to lend a e-book to a friend for up to 14 days. It is also being designed for kids. It has special books specifically for children.

The Nook uses Wi-Fi which allows the reader to go online and purchase books. Though Apps have not been added yet, email and an App store will soon be available. It’s primary focus is on, of course, reading. A person who goes into a Barnes and Noble will be able to view any book they want, just like you would be able to do in with real books.

A person if they wanted, would be able to download millions of books and the Nook offers up to 100 different magazines to chose from. A few new things happening on the Nook Color are having to do more with sharing books and having children read too. It heavily focuses on communicating with other people. A program called LendMe allows people to share books with friend, and they can have the book up to 14 days. Another program is for kids. Children are able to read and listen to their favorite books.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab!

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is the first competitor to the iPad. It is a touch device that performs all the same things an iPad does. The costs of it are $400 when bought with a cell phone provider and $600 without a cell phone contract. The iPad and Galaxy Tab are pretty similar priced. The size is different, it is smaller then the iPad, two inches smaller. With it being smaller, there is a weight difference so it is not that heavy as an iPad. A person is able to hold it in one hand as well. Even though it does not have the Apps that an Android phone does, the people at Samsung went and redid the Apps used for the Tab and now they work just as well. Unfortunately their Apps are not as specific as the ones made for the iPads. There is no third party Apps, so everything you receive are from Google.

The size is two inches smaller. People may think this is a good thing because they can hold it in one hand and the weight is dramatically different. However the screen is smaller and the reviewer said that it is almost half the screen on the iPad.

The Samsung Tab only allows around 6 ½ hours of playing time. He explained that he made the screen the brightest and played video on it and that it only lasted half on the iPad’s battery life, which is closer to 11 hours. He seemed to be liking the Galaxy Tab since it’s cost was different and the fact that it had cameras and flash capability.

Explaining a Cell Phone to a 12 Year Old

A cell phone these days is much more then a way to call with other people. We can text message, email, send pictures and download things right to our phones. The phones we have now are called 3G, or 3^rd generation phones.

They have more power then phones three years ago had. They also have to the power to be high-speed and the connections we get are much more fast. Certain phones have more capability such as Smartphones or Blackberry’s which allow you to have your emails or messages come on the same wireless device.

They way our signal from our phones is able to reach someone on the other side of the country or the other side of the room are by the electromagnetic radio waves which allow us to communicate wirelessly. These radio waves are received and go their separate ways by radio towers that are located in plenty of

areas. When you receive a call, it comes from the nearest tower.

The Main Impact of the Telecom Act.

The main impact of the Telecommunication Acts are computers, mass media and information industries have grown tremendously in their industries. It was supposed to allow competition and continue technology changes, which would help the prices go down but unfortunately that did not happen and phone companies are becoming like monopolies.

In addition, it was also intended to help smooth out ownership laws and restrictions which would have allowed free markets to do well. Cable providers are offering competitive rates, which do not allow other smaller companies to gain any business. The Supreme Court let cable companies out of an agreement so they can allow other providers the ability to gain access to their network. We will have to watch out for the Telecom Act and hope that it does not raise inflation.

The 4 models of PR

The four models of public relations are best summed up using Grunig’s model. The first is the press agentry and journalism, which simply is telling the public everything. This is an example of one -way communication. The second model is public information and journalism, which sends out the information through different media channels. This is another example of one-way communication but does not really count for communication since the people do not know if they received the information. The third model is two way asymmetric which is actually the most common model used today. People send out information and then doe research to see if the public understands. The forth model is two way symmetric; people gain the most benefit using this model. It involves researching the public to see what is most important to people and how they get their information.

Key Elements for Successful Public Relations

The key elements to public relations are preparation, implementation and impact. People in public relations need to be aware of public attitudes. They need to do their research on the people they are working for. By knowing what a person is going to do is doing and what they are thinking is difficult but it is possible if a person does the research in order to know what their client needs. Working in public relations, you also need to have a strategy of how you are going to work with this person. By taking on smaller tasks and managing your time well, it will reach you higher goal. By making a timeline and deadlines so you can get other work done. In addition, by giving press releases and presentations at special events will help media communications. And third public relations need to be aware of what they are doing or saying is impacting the public.

Functions of Public Relations

There are many specialties of PR. One is publicity relations where press conferences and news releases are formed, another is community relations where groups in a community work together with key interests in mind so they can influence on different policies and attitudes. Government relations are when there is need of assistance or influencing state, local or federal governments involving different activities they may be facing. Then there are special events that involve planning and managing internal and external events like open houses or tours. When informing staff about personal policies or practices and other issues that involves health and welfare of labor force, that is called employee relations. And then there is lobbying. This is when a person works with specific legislators and their aides to influence the contents or actions that the committee does.

Mashable.com!

Mashable.com was a very cool social media marketing website. It offers plenty of articles having to do with social media. Their articles range from Facebook’s new email accounts to their own contests. I liked that it offered different types of articles too, one article had to do with marketing social media that was not on the Internet. It gave descriptions and examples of marketing, along with pictures to show you what they were talking about. One example was a food truck, which had a advertisement saying to find them on Facebook and “Like” them. The website also gave you a list of the popular articles that day. And of course you were able to sign on to Facebook and “Like” certain articles, this of course is the best marketing that social media has to offer because they don’t have to do much anymore except to have it be on Facebook because then you advertise for them.

Surfing the Inter-NED

On November 1, 2010 Ned Sublette came to our Real World class and told his about his life. This man had done almost everything in the media world. He’s written books, recorded a song or two and a bunch of albums, he’s even set up his own record label in Havana, Cuba. The record label was originally supposed to be a film production studio but it ended up being in music, which defiantly sits to his style of life. Along with doing a lot in the music business he was his own radio boss as a radio producer for his own segment. As we quickly learned he loved Cuban music, it was more his passion then anything else. He wanted to experience the deepest Afro-African Music, which translated into Cuban Salsa. He had plenty of issues when it came to Cuban laws; one of the biggest issues was getting around them, which fortunately he was able to do. He also created this website called Ned’s List which people sign up for and sends articles and public appearances. It allows his voice to be heard without outselling himself.

We learned one of his books was about his childhood and growing up in a white supremacy area of Louisiana. It mostly focused on New Orleans, having written it a year before Hurricane Katrina hit. Then calling it “The Year Before the Flood, A Story of New Orleans.” He had some major issues in Cuba when his inventory company in Cuba basically told him he no longer could get his inventory. He explained how in 1997 there was music that was sold back to companies because the public was not buying bad music. When someone asked how he ended up where he is, he told us timing is everything and you have to be aware and on top of your stuff or you may lose it. He also told his media never disappears it just gets repurposed. In radio, as I previously mentioned he worked for National Public Radio where he was able to do his segments on what he wanted, which was music history. This out of everything was most important because he found his voice on live television, which empowered him to do plenty more. I have joined “Ned’s List” and enjoy reading what he writes and articles he sends my way

Books are an obsolete medium???!!!!

Books will never be obsolete, maybe they will become less popular but they will always be around. I argue this with great intension. I can understand why people believe this since new technology makes it possible to have hundreds of books at one time in one place but I still do not think that books will disappear, at least not for a few hundred years or something. I can not imagine being a child and having my Mom or Dad read a book to me on the iPad, it just does not have that nice feeling to it. I understand having electric textbooks, students would not have to carry them around but what happens if you want to highlight something and be able to flip back to a page easily, you would be difficult to do that with a Kindle or iPad. The cost of some books is expensive and I am not saying how nice it would be to get a book for half the price of a hard case novel, but I simply do not like that reading is becoming more technological. I like the idea of a book being a book and a machine being a machine. Imagine reading a book outside on the beach, it may get a little wet but they pages will dry but what happens when your Kindle gets wet? It dies and is gone. I do not agree with the technology I do think it is pretty cool but I just do not know how the world could live without books.

How do conglomerates affect print publishing? Are there positives and negatives?

Conglomerates affect print publishing because now there is more of it. By allowing a large company they have more power over what they publish and have the rights to them. In the past four or five years big companies have taken over smaller companies and have focused on different ideas such as sports, home improvement and lifestyle. It’s positive because people have been able to get what they need without any problem. It creates more money for these companies because they are doing different things and gaining interest from different groups of people. The negative aspects have to do with other companies. They also have to power to be able to put it on television or the Internet since they know that they have viewers who would follow them. With bigger companies comes bigger staff so they are able to make more things happen and get things done quicker. Smaller companies may not be able to handle the competition from these large companies. In addition these other companies may be able to put personal opinions in their print while these larger companies may not like that and cut it out.

New Trends and Main Issues

What are the main trends in book publishing?

The main trends recently have to be E-Publishing. Allowing the reader to get their book electronically, either on their iPhone and iPod or on their Kindle. These electric books have made plenty of money for book publishers. People do not have to wait in line to order a book; they can simply download it right on to their devices in a fast and quick way. In addition, online bookstores can “remember” what you purchased and recommend other books the reader may like.

What are the main copyright issues for print media?

There are plenty of copyright issues for print media. There is such a thing called intellectual property, which means a person owns the right to their creative work that has not been published. People do not like the idea that someone is borrowing their idea or story and making money out of it. J.K. Rowling had this problem when someone claimed that she had stolen her idea, but as we know Rowling had though up Harry Potter on her own. A person must get permission in order to use a picture or an idea that is clearly someone else’s.