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That’s right, there are strong rumors floating around from very reliable sources that the iPhone 5 will be available to Sprint in mid-October. For those people with a Sprint contract due to work or location, this is great news! I think it’s about time that Apple is reaching to more carriers. When they started out with strictly AT&T only, I thought it was a bad decision because they were reaching a smaller market compared to if they were to go with all carriers. But I am starting to wonder if adding one market at a time is a good strategy for building up anticipation and making the phone more elite. I for one have a Sprint contract and can’t wait to get an iPhone!

It’s new, it’s beta, and it’s already popular! A few days ago I was invited to join Google +, and already the majority of my friends are starting their “official” transition from Facebook to this new social platform. So, why make the switch? What does Google + offer that Facebook doesn’t?

At first glance, the layout of Google + is extremely similar to Facebook. There’s the main page with a news stream, status updates, photo and video albums, and chat. You can customize your profile and security settings to be in control of who sees what. The feature that I like best about Google + is our first topic for discussion:

Circles

This is your opportunity to divide the people you know into their rightful groups without them even knowing it. All my family members are in my Family circle, all my good friends are in my Friends circle, and all the people that I don’t care to know what they had for breakfast are in my Acquaintances circle. You can choose which circles see your status updates and look at each circle’s stream individually. This way you know for sure when you click on “Friends” that you will actually be seeing news from the people that matter the most to you, chosen by you. And it’s so easy to manage your circles with the drag and drop feature.

Hangout

I love this feature almost just as much as Circles. On Google + you can declare that you are “hanging out,” and then anyone from the circle you have specified will be able to join your hangout. What is a hangout? It’s a popup window with up to 10 video chat participants! Only one person can hog the big screen at a time, and you can choose who that lucky bugger is by clicking on their smaller video next to everyone else at the bottom of the window.

Sparks

This is a pretty cool feature if you just feel like browsing. You can decide which topics spark your interest and Google will do what it does best and bring you different websites and articles that are related to your Spark topics. The results it provides are a constant feed so that you see different things every day!

Overall, I am excited for this new social platform and I have found myself clicking my Google + bookmark before Facebook as of late. Could this be Facebook’s downfall?

By now I am sure you are making use of LinkedIn, an ever growing social networking site for professionals. If not, now is the time to take advantage of the benefits this site has to offer!

According to Jason Seiden, “LinkedIn began publicly trading Thursday, and immediately the stock spiked, rocketing from $45 to $122.70 before retreating to $94.25 at the end of the trading day.”

Take advantage of LinkedIn. As a student, I have had this pounded into my head. As an entrepreneur, friend, and coworker, I have experienced the benefits firsthand. Not only is LinkedIn a great place to keep in touch and connect with acquaintances; but it also has the potential to get you a job!

Check out the new InMaps. In this post you see an image of my own LinkedIn InMap. If you click on the picture it will take you to the interactive version. These InMaps are a way to see your own connections and assess your network of people. Why would it be important to assess your network, you might ask? If you have too many connections that are not relative to your interests, then your network does not benefit you. Make sure that you are easily able to label and recognize the various groups and individuals that you know. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when using LinkedIn:

1. Keep in touch and connect with people that you have worked with and that could recommend you to someone.
2. Do not connect with people that you are not familiar with, as it does not benefit you in any way.
3. Make sure your profile is a complete and correct representation of you.

It’s not as big as Facebook, but I’m excited to see how LinkedIn grows from here on out!

It’s a growing battle: Discs vs. Downloads.

According to NPD entertainment research, discs are still ahead of the game when it comes to home media viewing — but it won’t stay that way forever. The days of physical media are limited. Stephen McGill from Microsoft even went so far as to say that “Blu-Ray is going to be passed by as a format. People have moved through from DVDs to digital downloads and digital streaming…. So, who needs Blu-ray?”

Kaz Hirai from Sony says, “To think everything will be downloaded in two years, three years or even ten years from now is taking it a little bit to the extreme.” There are two sides to this argument.

1. Physical media will be around as long as the generation that used it is still alive (case in point: my great grandmother prefers VHS).
2. The mainstream style of home media viewing could lean in the favor of digital downloads quicker than people think. Just look at how much computers have developed. In 1977 Ken Olson of Digital Equipment Corp. said “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” At the exact same time, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were working on a project that would impact the future immensely with Apple, Inc.

No one can deny that digital media downloads are becoming more and more popular. But there are still some reasons for sticking with disc. Some people argue that quality is better, you can bring it anywhere and borrow them from friends, and what about the special features? These are all concepts that digital downloads will have to address sooner or later.

Click after the break for the top sources of digital media download and streaming.

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It’s getting hot in here, and I’m not talking about the weather! Mozilla released the newest version of the Firefox web browser on March 22nd. Here are four of the most popular features that Mozilla brings to the desk. After introducing the features, we’ll take a look at Firefox’s competition.

1. Interface

The app tab and panorama are newly added to Firefox 4′s interface. Right click on any open tab and choose to pin it to the browser. This gives that tab a compact, permanent home in your browser to easily access at any time. I would recommend only having 1 or 2 of these app tabs because otherwise it will slow the start-up time of the browser, and that gets really annoying.

Panorama is a way to group tabs and organize your web life. Some people have complained that previous versions of Firefox can look untidy and be painful for your eyes. Now here’s an easy solution for the mess.

2. Customization

Add-ons are famously known to be in relation with Firefox. This is a great concept for the post-modern generation. YOU choose what you want YOUR browser to do for you. It really makes it your own and identifiably matching who you are. And everyone is different! Add persona skins to your browser, and now you can have pink flowers and kitty cats bordering your webmail, news, and social networking sites. Whatever floats your sailboat — with this web browser you’ll have smooth sailing into the sunset.

3. Privacy

Mozilla makes privacy a high priority for Firefox. The “Do Not Track” feature sends a message to sites that you want to opt-out of online behavioral tracking. This feature can be toggled on and off. The one issue with this for now is that it only works with sites that are compatible with the “Do Not Track” feature. We have yet to see what sites will be in league with this idea. For the time being, I like the effort that Mozilla puts out to standardize the privacy of consumer data and web users.

4. Extras for Web Developers

The JägerMonkey Javascript engine makes for faster and higher performance of page loads and web apps/games. There are also some fun things to play with involving HTML5, CSS3, Canvas and SVG.

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