There were 2 very important questions that were asked yesterday. The first one was what is info tech?

So what exactly is info tech? Info tech can be a lot of things, from creating apps for various technology devices to researching content with the use of the internet for various reasons. I think that info tech is a study of everything that relates to the world of internet. Every aspect of this world relates to info tech. How I see info tech in a specific way is learning about all the forms of technology and how they work. However, this doesn't just apply to hardware. Learning about software is also important because you can't use hardware without software when it comes to technology. 

What does it mean to be a developer?

A developer is someone who develops, but the real question is what is the true meaning behind being a developer? Well first, a developer is someone who creates content inside the internet world for people to enjoy. For example, google and facebook are made by developers who had knowledge of the internet language and to utilize them and convert them into information that people are able to learn. To be a developer is to be an engineer of the internet. To help create the internet to be a world where everyone can communicate or play with each other with ease, even though they live across the world, I am able to talk to them at any time in the internet. 

This semester has been a very educational semester for me in terms of technology. I have learned a lot more in photoshop in grade 10 than I did in grade 9 and grade 8. This time, I was taught some of the more advance features in photoshop. For example. I learned about inserting pictures in word. Here is a sample of the work I did under this feature

I was really proud of this work because I was able to work with the actual text itself. I used the fx feature in photoshop. I was able to use the fx feature to play around with the text in order to make it look more rough and bulky. After I finished with it, I was able to insert several pictures and put them into the text in order to make a cool effect. I really liked working with the fx feature to make this look really cool. This could be useful in creating logos or symbols for any other product. 

Even though I learned a lot about the fx feature in photoshop, there were other features I did not enjoy learning. There was a small assignment that included adding colour to a greyscale picture. This was a picture I did as part of the assignment. 


The main reason that I did not enjoy doing this assignment was because all I did in this assignment was just turn this picture to greyscale and then add colour to the bricks. I saw this as a bad project because I was not able to explore this feature of photoshop much, plus I learned these features already. I like learning with some originality. 

There were 2 programs that I was able to choose from: scratch and flash. I had chosen to do flash because I found that it was more advanced in terms of creating animation, which was a goal of mine for this semester in info tech. I had a lot of fun learning about flash and how to work its animation on its own. I was able to create a small scene as my project for my flash by using animation. My scene includes 2 people fighting against each other. But I had to made copies of their body parts in order for me to move them to create the animation. 

This is the project I did in flash. I was able to make an animation in this scene. I also did this project for my genius hour. I was really proud of this work because I was able to create this movie all on my own. I was able to create all the motion tween to make these characters move in my movie and I was able to do the fade in and fade out feature (that was my most favourite thing to learn). Not only was this my best project in flash, this was also my genius hour project, so I was able learn all of this with little to no help from anyone. So this was my best project in flash and in my genius hour session. During my session, my worst project is actually this project itself for many reasons: The file actually got corrupted and I did not make a back up file, meaning half of it was erased, meaning I had to spend time putting in that scene again, not to mention add new parts. A second reason was that I had created a lot of new things, but was never able to insert them into the project. I may have a new video in mind of putting in new features as well, such as the moving cloud background. This goes for both Genius hour and flash.

Another thing I learned this year is avatar creation. I can use an online avatar to represent myself on any website I use on the internet. I can also set an avatar when I play on my consoles. I can create avatars when I go on some social media sites, and also on games to represent myself. I learned that using avatars can be contributed to hiding your true identity, as long as the avatar does not resemble me in any way.

This is my favourite avatar because I liked the design they used to create characters such as this, plus I thought it was cool. 

I didnt like this avatar because I found it really uncreative and uninteresting. first, I was only able to edit the head and add minimal accessories. I like full body avatars, but this is too unedited and uncool for me to use cause of minimal freedom of accessorizing. 

The last thing I learned here is document sharing. Using various websites, I was able to work with other people and I was able to play around with the website. Together, we were able to create several pieces of work under one document together. This is my review on all the document sharing sites I used this semester.

Meeting Words.docx (14073)

I learned so many new things in info tech this year compared to last year. I learned more advanced features of photoshop and I was introduced to flash, where I was able to create a scene using motion animation and the fade out feature. I plan on continuing this and mastering flash and to create a sword fighting game. 

Trello is a program that is used to create and organize schedules. One can create and organize these shedules through calendars, a simple list, etc etc. This is a good way for someone to organize their schedule so they can remember when to do it and that they need to do it. I recently created an account and played around with the program and I was able to create a board for my entertainment and playing purposes. Of course, I can do it for anything. This was just a test. 
 

This is an example of a board I used to list my entertainment to do list. There are 4 columns I used. The first one is called the "To do" list. This is where I show the things that I need to do and I can also put the due dates as to when I need to do them. The dates will be shown below the activities that I need to do. The dates that are highlighted in green show that this activity is due today and it will expire at noon. The second column shows the things that I am currently doing and the third list shows the things I have already done so I no longer need to go back to them. There are 2 extra columns I can also create if I had any other ideas as to how I can incorporate them into my 3 columns. I made a list for games just in case I need to put them in this list somehow. There are 2 arrows on the side. The red one is pointing towards the members side. This is where I can invite other people to help me with my board and see if they have any ideas for it. The black arrow is showing the history portion. This shows the things I have done to the board in order from the first thing I did to the most recent thing I did in this board. This is a list that must be kept on track otherwise its going to end up useless. 

In this picture I did 2 things. First, I added a sticker into one of the games I put in the 4th list. There can be many purposes for this, but seeing that it is a checkmark, it could mean that the task has been finished and it only needs to be added to the done list. The second thing I did was done in the "done" list. I archived one of the things I had done in the done list and put it in an archived list. Even if I somehow lost it, I can just go to my archive list and return it to the list if needed. 

This is the menu list that can be found on the upper right of the board. The first list shows the filter cards, meaning that only certain cards of your choosing are going to show on the board. The second one on the list is the archived items, which shows all the cards that have been archived. The third list shows the stickers, where I can take stickers and add them to cards. The next is power ups, which I found was an interesting part.Here, I can change my board and give it some extra features. For example: I can get people to vote on my cards, I can also reorganize my list onto a calendar so it would look more clear. The last one is settings, where you can change the settings of your board. 

This is a screenshot of 2 calendars.The top one shows all the activites that must be done in that one day. The second calendar is a more general outline of the calendar that shows the first 2 things that must be done in those days. Of course, one can just click the card on that one day so they can scroll down in order to see the activites/ tasks they need to do for that one day.

When I first entered trello today while I was already signed in, this was the window that popped up. This was a a window that shows the board that I have created ever since I made the trello account. The bottom shows all the boards I have seen and/or created and the list at the top shows the starred boards. I had starred my playing/entertainment board as a way of showing what the starred board list does. This can also be used for a different purpose. This can be used as a way to isolate a board(s) from the rest of the list. It can be because that board is incomplete, or it is the board that one needs to work on the most in terms of finishing the tasks needed within that board. On the top of the screen to the right are 3 tabs. The one on the left is a plus sign, which allows one to add a new board and it will direct them to that board once a name has been selected. The second one shows the account name that they have picked and it will show a list of settings that they can do to edit their account and/or their boards. The third one is a notifications tab. This is where they can see new notifications. Like when someone has made a change in their board, or an update of the board or calendar made by any members involved in it. 

This was a new image of the board I created. In this one, The calendar option is shown on the top right. This is where I can turn my board into a calendar if I need a better way of looking at it. When I click on the calendar, this is the image that pops up. 

This is the calendar that will show up when I click on the calendar tab on my board. This shows the cards I have and the days that I need to finish these tasks. The highlighted slot on the calendar shows todays date. Meaning the cards that I have on the 13th of January should have been already done and put on my Done list on my board. Above the cards will show how many cards there are on that one day just in case there are more in there that the person cannot see. The 2 arrows beside the today tab is a scrolling tab. I can use it to advance one month ahead and see if I need to plan anything in the next month. Or I can scroll up one month behind just in case I see any cards that I need to remember that have an effect on this months events on any day, whether I have done them already or not. If i click on the calendar tab, I can just return back to the board that shows the lists. 

This is a more zoomed in version of the calendar, but instead of the month tab being clicked, I clicked the week tab on the top right below calendar. Here I can see a list of cards that I have put in each day of the current week. This is a good way to ease the overwhelming work one needs to do in an entire month, so instead of focusing on what one needs to do the entire month, they can just zoom in to each week and see what cards they need to do. The highligted tab is todays date, so one can focus only on that date and fill the list of tasks or events to do in that date so they dont need to worry about it the next day. Notice how the arrows have changed from going up and down to left and right. In this part, I can just scroll with each week. One week advanced or one week behind. Its a lot more detailed in terms of organizing than the month calendar, but one can only see the days of a week, not the entire month. 

Even in calendar mode, I can still add and remove cards in certain days. Here, I added a new card, showing a new task I need to do for today. On the options below the add card sections, I can change it from something to do, something im doing, and something I have already done. After I wrote my task down, I can just click the add button and itll add on the list. I can also change the order of card placement in that day to list them in a certain way. It can be from most priority to least, etc. This can be done in any slot, even an empty one. 

Meeting Words:
Meeting Words is a site where people can chat and work on one project in a document. Meeting Words allows different people to access one document and work while chatting for ideas or just for conversation. I like how you can make up a name and choose which colour to represent us so we can tell ourselves apart from the others we’re working with. I also like that the words we type are highlighted so we can tell our work apart from others. I also like some of the features it has (bold, italic, bullet list, indentation, etc.) that could change the look of the work we’re doing. We can also import and export to and from HTML, plain text, computer files, etc.

What I don’t like is that other people can also change your name to something that you didn’t want as a name to begin with. I also don’t like that we don’t have many limits when it comes to doing and editing the work.

Sync-in:
Sync-in is not known for me as it is not working.

 TitanPad:
Titan Pad is highly similar to Meeting Words as it has identical features when it comes to sharing, doing work, chat and sharing, and choosing a name and colour. The one difference I see is that TitanPad allows more export and import options. In meeting words, it didn’t allow export from word, PDF, or open document.

Titan Pad has the same dislikes as meeting words for me when it comes to name changing.

Primary Pad:
Primary Pad is similar to TitanPad and Meeting Words because it can share one work amongst  1 or more people. The chat and the people shown online is shown in numerical value (showing how many are on and how many messages have been sent.  I like how the document is large so that we can show more work as the document takes up the entire window. I also like the home page that shows the feature before we start.

What I didn’t like is that it did not show enough features in the home page.

PiratePad:
PiratePad, in my opinion, is my favourite out of all the sites. I like the colour option as it has the most variety. I can also put the document in read-only mode so that no one can edit the work and I also like the full screen version to make it bigger. I also like that you can choose the language to write the work in.

I didn’t like that the import/export option didn’t include word and PDF

I also explored 2 other document sites.

Google Docs

I also explored Google docs and saw that it is an effective document sharing site. I like how anyone in the group can print out the work for whatever reason they have for it and that they can also change the font of the words and the size. I like how they can also organize the wording to make it centered, place it to the left or right.  They can also insert the link and customize the format of the writing

I don’t like that there is no chat box where the people in the group can chat through and think of ideas to write down.


Docs

There is a site called docs.com that can be accessed through facebook. It gives the option of adding more people into working with you on that one website. I also like how I can add tags into it and also download it into word so I can print it out and edit it myself. Maybe that is why the doc sharing itself doesn’t feature the text and format editing like the one in microsoft word.

I don’t like how there isn’t enough features that can change the document along with the people you work with, but I like the unique features it has, like tagging. 

I saw some sites that has live feed to traffic cameras in Surrey and its being updated every minute. I was able to see what was happening at surrey's traffic live cams and were able to see how many cars were at each traffic light i looked at. I could also look at other live feeds through the internet on other places in the world in a feature known as Earth Cam. Earth Cam tracks all the cameras in the world and people can see what is going on. This site gives access to live feeds on various places around the world and people watching can see what people are doing from a different place in the world.

www.earthcam.com/

I don't like how that it is laggy, meaning that it has a few second delay. It is understandable how not all the places in the world are featured in earthcam for security reasons. No one wants to see a stalker looking at people in times square walking about and doing what they do. 

Pinterest is a site with pictures where you can browse for and make boards to organize certain pictures and separate them with others not relating to the picture. I like how you can just go to pinterest and give yourself a good time looking at corny jokes with pictures if you're bored and you can share some of your own pins here and have people follow you and look at your pins. You can also follow other peoples pins if you like what they pin and you can see future pins from them. This is a good way to share pictures that you feel should be shared for the benefit of the people, whether its humour, entertainment, or something else. I like to go on pinterest because I like to see funny pictures and i can pin them for myself so i can just look at them on my profile instead of looking them up again. It's less work for me to just go to my profile and look at the pin instead of looking for them. 
 
Here is a pin that i found funny

www.pinterest.com/pin/389209592767416735/

The sooner we get into the future, the more the future comes to us. I watched several videos on robots of the future and the new houses of the future. The robots are going to resemble humans in actions and attitude. There are some robots that can do commands without instruction and can communicate with others. There are some that can do your jobs for you. For example: I saw this bot that vacuums the floor for you. The best part about that is that the robot has cameras that can see where the walls and furniture are so that it doesnt hit them and that there is also a sensor so it senses when theres a drop nearby and will prevent itself from falling. There are other robots that can do outside jobs.
This video shows a robot mowing a lawn.

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There are also houses that can do jobs as well. Houses that can do your jobs for you in a press of a finger. By doing that simple action, your house is pretty much open to you. I like how easy life can be if people can just relax in their homes while the house does most of the jobs. Its understandable that houses like this would cost millions of dollars because it requires so much time and resources to build and all people need to do to live in houses like these with little jobs to do is to identify themselves with their fingerprints. With all the robotics and electronics as our future, there will be easier lives for people to live in and have a good time. There is a downside to this. When people have become accustomed into living in relaxation, they will become more lazy to do anything for themselves and if the robots and automated house jobs happen to malfunction, they will have no more energy to do jobs for themselves.

Copyright is a form of stealing music and videos online from companies. I learned that Canada wasn't taking the rule of copyright as seriously as the United States. But Canada is planning to bump up the rule and to take it more seriously. There are a lot of people who copyright music and videos just for their entertainment and I don't somewhat blame them for that. However, if they sell it to other people for money, that becomes a problem. Not only to the government, but the artists of that music. They spend lots of time making good music and now people just rip them off and sell them. Now I ask myself, "Should copyright be banned from Canada?" Well, the typical teenager or adult spends a lot of time listening to music. Some of them buy it legit off of Itunes or any other music site thats legal and there are those people who illegaly download them off some other site like Youtube MP3 converter. Music is something people enjoy (myself included) and that right I think should not be taken away from them, but copyright is also something I have an issue with. I think copyright should be illegal in Canada and they should enforce that, but I think Itunes or some other legal site should lower the prices down for music so that people can enjoy listening to music without having to pay so much.

   I've been in this class for 3 years, so I know what to expect from my teacher. However, it is not always a bad idea to extend what I have already learned from computer usage and working with software. What I want to learn this year is animated programming, using Web 2.0 tools for a variety of things, and learning how to make design for clothes, logos, etc. I would also like to know and learn how high paying companies use computer technology to make videogames and movies. I would also like to learn how to make videos for my youtube account and to edit them using a video editing software program.