The NextMind Brain-Sensing Wearable is a sensor that goes on the back of your head. It aims to let users control devices with their thoughts. It translates data from the brain’s electrical signals received from the visual cortex. Using machine learning, NextMind translates the electrical signals into an action. It is currently available to the public for development at about $500. It was invented by Sid Kouider, a cognitive neuroscientist. He is researching the neurophysiological signatures of conscious and unconscious mental states in the human brain, applying these signatures to examine mental states when humans cannot express their own thoughts, such as babies, coma patients, and those without the ability to speak, and founded NextMind. The problem it solves for users is that it removes the need for controllers, allowing a completely hands-free technological experience. Potential drawbacks or dangers are that the artificial intelligence could misread the signals coming from the brain and command the computer to do something that the user did not intend. It could also read signals that the user mistakenly thinks and execute them accidentally.  A way the adoption of this technology may impact society is that it could enable those with limited or complete lack of use of their hands to use the technology to make their lives easier, such as being able to turn lights on and off, write papers with their thoughts, surf the web with their thoughts, and use other smart devices without needing to engage any use of their hands. 

https://sidkouider.com/about/

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191121005757/en/NextMind-Unveils-Worlds-First-Brain-Sensing-Wearable-That-Delivers-Real-Time-Device-Control-With-Just-Your-Thoughts

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191121005757/en/NextMind-Unveils-Worlds-First-Brain-Sensing-Wearable-That-Delivers-Real-Time-Device-Control-With-Just-Your-Thoughts

https://www.next-mind.com/developer/

https://www.crn.com/slide-shows/components-peripherals/25-cutting-edge-technologies-and-products-from-ces-unveiled-2020/2?itc=refresh

One popular mobile app is Pinterest. The way Pinterest is used is as a visual discovery engine. Things that are found on Pinterest are recipes, crafts, home and style inspiration, and other things that contain links for directions, purchasing links, and more. The home feed provides Pins, people and brands that are custom depending on the user. If the user follows a person, topic, or board, then the home feed will also provide those. Pins can be searched by typing keywords into the search bar. Pins are made by users to save their liked ideas.  

 Pinterest’s target audience is extremely diverse in age, with everyone from Millennials, Boomers, and Gen. X using the app. Millennials, however, are the most common users. They make up 36 percent of Pinterest Users. Gen X makes up around 34 percent of the audience, while Boomers make up 18 percent. Millennials use Pinterest to curate their vision of their ideal self. 79 percent of them use it as a guide to life. 

Another popular mobile app is Whatsapp. Whatsapp is used for messaging, and is one of the first mobile apps offering free messaging that is done over wifi instead of a cellular network.  

Whatsapp currently does not have a revenue stream, but plans are to allow users to directly communicate to businesses and obtain money through them. Whatsapp’s target audience is primarily Indians. 24-35 is the most common age group on Whatsapp.  

All about Pinterest. help.pinterest.com/en/guide/all-about-pinterest.  

“All about Pinterest.” Pinterest Help, help.pinterest.com/en/guide/all-about-pinterest.  

Clement, J. “U.S. WhatsApp Demographics 2019.” Statista, 23 Sept. 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/814649/whatsapp-users-in-the-united-states-by-age/.  

Goodwin, Grace Eliza. “What Is WhatsApp? A Guide to Navigating the Free Internet-Based Communication Platform.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 3 Nov. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/what-is-whatsapp-guide.  

Page, Vanessa. “How WhatsApp Makes Money.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 28 Aug. 2020, www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/040915/how-whatsapp-makes-money.asp.  

“WhatsApp Revenue and Usage Statistics (2020).” Business of Apps, 30 Oct. 2020, www.businessofapps.com/data/whatsapp-statistics/. 

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Dropbox is a cloud service similar to things like Google Drive or Icloud. It uses cloud computing as storage space for documents, images, videos, and music files. This system would work without cloud computing, as flashdrives and hard storage are available, however, sharing files would be more difficult without meeting someone face to face. The advantages to having the system on a distributed network are that things are easily shareable between users, and that data is less likely to be lost by either loss or damage, which is typical of hardware storage such as flash drives or home computers. There are definitely privacy issues involved in cloud computing. Since cloud computing is done through a private company, the company can access any user’s information easily and give it to nefarious users, or the government.  

Word online is a cloud service that is much like Microsoft word, but instead of being a program on your PC it is an online version that automatically saves your papers to OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage service. The system can work without cloud computing, as it is an update to the original, which used to be exclusively on home computers, but without the advantage of automatically being saved to a cloud network. The advantages to having word on a distributed network are: documents can be worked on together by multiple users, documents are automatically saved to a data-storage network, and can be shared online instead of having to be carried on hardware drives, which have the potential to be lost, stolen, corrupted, damaged, or destroyed.  Privacy issues with Word Online would be Microsoft stealing information typed out by users, hackers stealing documents, whether through intercepting sent documents, stealing passwords, and stealing other information to gain access to private users’ documents.  

Dropbox: Cloud Storage to Backup, Sync, File Share APKs. www.apkmirror.com/apk/dropbox-inc/dropbox/.  

Rivers, David. “What Is Word Online?” Lynda.com – from LinkedIn, 27 Aug. 2020, www.lynda.com/Word-tutorials/What-Word-Online/2822370/2281136-4.html.  

Whitney, Lance. How to Use Microsoft Office for Free on the Web. 29 Mar. 2020, www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-use-microsoft-office-for-free-on-the-web. 

There are many types of potential digital threats. One type of potential digital threat is malware. It is software that executes malicious tasks on target devices and networks. Another type of potential digital threat is Phishing. Phishing is when a message recipient is tricked into giving out critical information or downloading malware caused by clicking suspicious links in a message. Another type of potential digital threat is Spear Phishing. This differs from regular phishing in that someone may impersonate a family member or other trusted person over the phone or through email. Another digital threat is a “man in the middle” attack. The attacker intercepts message between the sender and receiver and changes things between, confusing the communication between the two. A final type of potential digital threat is a Trojan. It is a type of malware that enters a system looking like a normal program or download, but inserts viruses instead of normal programming. 

One digital function the company may have is drop shipping. Drop shipping is where a company does not hold any products, but instead outsources them to another company for production and takes a portion of sales as profit. This could be exploited or manipulated by intercepting orders and changing shipping addresses, or hacking into the sale and stealing the profit. Another digital function the company may have is the main website. This is where consumers go to view products and purchase them. One way this could be compromised is if someone who received a product asks for a refund and what they ordered is correct and has no issues in any way. Another way it could be compromised is if a hacker attempts to hack into the website and steals customers’ information.  Another service the company could have is advertising and marketing. The company may buy advertisement space through google or any other advertiser to have digital ads on another website. This could be compromised by a hacker either erasing the advertisements or replacing them with something malicious. They could also make the links that a consumer accesses by clicking the ads redirect to a virus infested website, as well as false links that can steal the information that a consumer would submit. The next potential service the company could have would be SEO or search engine optimization. This is where a website uses keywords to be prioritized on search engines like google or a website that hosts products like Amazon. This could be compromised or hacked by changing the keywords used by a website, or making the links on the search engine lead to an incorrect phishing or malware website. The last service a company may use is Social Media. Social Media is used for marketing as well as interaction and gathering feedback with consumers. There are a copious amount of ways Social media could be hacked. A hacker could steal the login information of the social media account the company uses. There could also be fake users that leave bad or good reviews that skew the ratings of a company or product. A hacker could pose as a representative of the company and steal information from consumers, or harass potential consumers and create a bad reputation for the company they claim to represent.  These are just a few of the services that a company may use. 

What Are Cyber Threats and What to Do About Them. (2020, July 28). Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://preyproject.com/blog/en/what-are-cyber-threats-how-they-affect-you-what-to-do-about-them/

There are several things a company may incorporate to keep their digital space safe, secure, and reliable. A security network for any computer the company uses would keep them safe from malware and other malicious software that may potentially infect and compromise company data. Another resource to use would be disclaimers on websites and social media that keep the company from being liable for any false representation that may occur, or claims that a falsely-dissatisfied customer would create to give the company a bad reputation.  A third resource a company should incorporate to keep their and their customers’ data safe would be to keep in contact with any advertising service, website hosting service, or social media service to make sure that their security is up to date and working well, to keep the company’s data and information safe and secure. These are just a few ways that will keep the company’s data safe from potential hackers and malicious people or programs. 

Catia.elias, & Catia.elias. (2020, October 28). 4 cybersecurity threats and how to avoid them in 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from http://blog.getcomplied.com/4-cybersecurity-threats-and-how-to-avoid-them-in-2020/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0n2FNK8sDI&t=2s 

The first tutorial I picked was a tutorial on how to clear up blue sketch lines in a traditional drawing on Photoshop. The information from this tutorial is current. You can do all of the steps in the tutorial with the current form of photoshop that you could do in the 2016 version. The person posting the tutorial is Draw with Jazza, a well-known youtuber and illustrator with a variety of tutorials on traditional and digital illustration. He has also had a career in the animation industry. The types of gatekeeping mechanisms available on the video are the comments section and the like and dislike buttons. The information quality is good. It probably wasn’t pre-scripted as he goes off into other subjects while discussing the tutorial but it is still easy to follow and clear. I will definitely use Draw with Jazza’s tutorials in the future, and am already subscribed to his channel. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2SNeH9v-Ug 

For the next tutorial, Glass Planet Vector illustration, the information from the tutorial is current. Illustrator’s tools have stayed the same since 2018. The person posting the tutorial is named Nate, who runs a channel called tutvid. The types of gatekeeping available are the comments section and the like and dislike buttons. The information quality is good, most likely not scripted, but not great. He speaks too fast and skips over important details like what feature is in what menu. I don’t think I will continue to watch these tutorials as they are too fast and skip over details. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GzumUieDPY  

The third tutorial I picked was Learn Illustrator in 5 minutes. The information in this tutorial is current, posted in 2017. Flow Graphics posted this tutorial, and the author seems to know how to use photoshop, and his branding seems official. The author also seems to know his way around illustrator, so he is probably a decent authority on using illustrator. HIs information is clear and easy to follow. He goes through all details and shows what tools do what and what menus to pick for each feature. The gatekeeping mechanisms include the dislike and like buttons and the comment sections of the video. I will definitely use this resource in the future as it is simple and easy to follow. 

A CMS (content management system) is software that helps manage a webpage without needing to know HTML or CSS. Instead of uploading a coded file into a server, a CMS makes it easier for users to write paragraphs into an interface. WordPress, for example, has a similar interface to Microsoft Word, where the user types into a text box and has buttons to press for formatting. They also typically have options for media uploading as well. 

There are advantages and disadvantages of both HTML/CSS and CMS. HTML and CSS offer an endless amount of openness to your design allowing for infinite amounts of creativity and uniqueness. CMS only allows the options programmed into the website building platform or software; though the options may be diverse, they do not allow the complete freedom that traditional coding offers. The disadvantage of coding is that it takes a lot of technical skill that many who are not skilled with computers lack. The advantage of CMS is that it’s easy to use and accessible to almost anyone that can create an account with the service. The disadvantage of CMS is that it doesn’t have enough creative and unique capabilities that coding offers. 

A CMS can greatly help a web developer in making website publishing simpler, but it does come at the cost of creative liberties. Web developers can also develop their own CMS and design the layouts within them. The main setback regarding the need for web developers is that simple websites with no special coding can now be created by those without web development experience. Web developers still have to create the interfaces themselves and create the premade layouts for users to use in the first place. 

“What Is A Content Management System (CMS)?” Kinsta Managed WordPress Hosting, 21 July 2020, kinsta.com/knowledgebase/content-management-system/.

“Static (Traditional) HTML vs. Dynamic CMS. Which to Use?” Amberd Design Studio, 4 May 2020, www.amberddesign.com/static-html-vs-cms/.