Jason Howarth's Blog

As technology continues its rapid expansion from the sky in the form of drones, to web-searching smartphones in the palm of our hands, the question ever looming this innovative field is often what’s next and who will make it. Amazon has been one of the companies who has built their entire reputation online/through technology, alongside brands like Google are the premier examples of 21st century business at its finest. And now, at least according to Mashable’s Lance Ulanoff and multitude of others, Amazon is getting ready to change the world again with Amazon Go. Amazon Go is essentially  designed replace the grocery store, in particular the human interactions, through the use of the Amazon Go smartphone app, simplifying shopping to a grab, check-out, and leave. In addition to this Amazon is planning on bringing physical Amazon stores to aid not only this prospect, but their online delivery ones too. This all sounds great in theory and I can understand the intrigue and excitement, but this almost feels like a giant lab experiment, one fueled by online data and consumerism, basically bringing to life the things people complain about when using the internet. [Read more →]

Tags: News Story, Personal/Opinion, Tech by Jason Howarth
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Journalism has been one the most affected job fields since the internet became mainstream. While not a new feeling for journalists given how technology has often dictated how their message is spread, and the internet era has been a difficult adjustment for many involved. CBS News’ Scott Pelley is just one of many journalists to offer their take on what journalists can do to ensure the integrity and good standards in their reporting during this transitional era. Pelley referred to American journalism as a house built by others (the previous generations) which modern journalists live in and “it’s on fire”. He notes how this era has made reporters less precise and correct in their stories, something which I agree with as if it is not some misinformation being fed to us to try and beat the competition to web, it’s stories and agencies that have blatant agendas. Pelley doesn’t outright blame reporters and most of the time neither do I, because as he admits their is just as much bad information as their is a wealth of helpful information to aid the accuracy of reports. [Read more →]

Tags: Tech by Jason Howarth
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One of the more interesting tech stories this year is the exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Smartphones. For throughout the three months since the phone’s launch, the media has reported multiple cases of the phones exploding and catching fire, primarily due to the phone’s internal lithium battery. The media did it’s job covering these events, which were too numerous to all be mere coincidence, and as result Samsung suffered for it. According to Parmy Olson at Forbes.com, Samsung’s third quarter profits took a 30% hit and forced them to postpone the release of their Galaxy Note S7, a slimmer, sleeker version of the original Galaxy Note 7. However, it appears the S7 is finally making its way to shelves in times for the holidays, with full assurance of the phone’s quality by Samsung in a press release last Friday. [Read more →]

Tags: Tech by Jason Howarth
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I ask the follow as a very serious question considering VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) technology taking off this year and a recent announcement from Microsoft declaring that next year for $299, the two concepts will be married in a “mixed reality” headset. Yet, in spite of these promotions and reported innovations, I think one thing that has been neglected by most journalists who work with technology in any capacity, which is most of them, is the question of just how VR will impact society or more importantly advance technology. Now the good news is that VR does open plenty of avenues for technology in the future, but one must also consider that this tech is really only new in terms of being available for public consumption. VR and AR have been around in a limited degree in military applications, like training test pilots and science programs. It is only new to us because for the first time, at least when it comes VR, we are now living and experiencing science fact, not fiction. [Read more →]

Tags: Personal/Opinion, Tech by Jason Howarth
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Last week I discussed some of the potential hurdles the internet is currently facing. However, I was writing that piece, a revelation occurred to me: What do people actually use all their data on right here and now? Today, with the help Kimberlee Morrison of SocialTimes and her article “Internet Users Want to Know How Their Data Is Used,” I think have a pretty good idea. First thing to keep in mind this in, that the data represents people who have/use password-protected login required accounts. Second, this has as much to do with password security as it does the most commonly used services on the web. In a world where many are concerned about how their personal data is used by these internet corporations, the numbers of how this information treated is staggering. [Read more →]

Tags: Tech by Jason Howarth
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