According to an
Internet monitor, StatCounter, last weekend more people used Google Chrome than
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Before then, Explorer had the spot of being the
highest-used browser in the world. While StatCounter found that more people used
Chrome, other Internet trackers show that Internet Explorer is still in the
lead. On Sunday, Google Chrome received about 32.8 percent of Web page requests,
while, Internet Explorer fielded 31.9 percent. Another company that tracks Internet traffic, ComScore, did not
come up with comparable numbers to StatCounter, but Andrew Lipsman, spokesman, said
that StatCounter's numbers are "consistent with what I've seen." The
numbers show that times are changing and maybe Chrome will become the more
popular web browser for good.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Technology Helping Children with Autism
Sharia was
diagnosed with autism at the age of 2. Because of her autism, she had difficulty
communicating other than crying until the iPad was released. Apps such as Proloquo2Go, First Words,
and ABC’s and me helped her learn to form short sentences. Proloquo2Go was the first real
augmented communication app released for iPhones. Augmentative and alternative
communication, or AAC, is used to help children who have disorders communicate.
Proloquo2Go founder, David Niemeijer, said that 90 percent of AAC
users use an iPad, and more than 25 percent use an iPhone or iPod Touch, and
about half have improved in their communication skills. There are now 764
autism apps for the iPad and 142 of them were released just this year.
Equipment that was previously used for this therapy cost between 9,000 to
15,000 dollars. The apps for children with autism can cost up to $299.99, but
compared to the price of the old equipment, it is cheap. "Steve Jobs did
not realize he was giving a voice to the voiceless," Phoebe Tucker, a
speech language pathologist, said.
Sharia is now able to speak in broken sentences and is more aware of what is going
on around her. Siddiqui said, "I often tell my wife I think of it as
Sharia before the iPad and Sharia after the iPad. It was that significant."
The family is even thinking about taking Sharia to Pakistan to visit their
extended family, because she is doing so well and the therapists think she
might be able to handle that big of a change in environment.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Dumisani Rebombo
Dumisani Rebombo, a man who once raped a girl, is now an
advocate for women’s rights in Africa. He committed the act at age 15 because his
friends said that he should prove his manhood by raping someone. Rebombo and
two of his friends raped her one after the other. Now, he looks back and feels
very guilty for what he has done and has asked for forgiveness from his victim.
He found out how much he had affect her life and that since then she had been
raped two more times. In South Africa it is more likely for a woman to be raped
than learn to read; it happens to a woman every 26 seconds in South Africa
alone. There were 66,166 cases of rape reported last year, and it is believed
that there were many more that just weren’t reported. In attempt to stop the
violence and to start creating healthier relationships between men and women, Rebombo
now works as the manager of “One Man Can.”
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Baby with SMA dies
Avery Lynn Canahuati was born
with type 1 spinal muscular dystrophy in November. The doctors said that she
would not make it past 2 years old, yet she died at 6 months on Monday. Her
death was caused by one of her lungs collapsing because of her genetic
disorder. "I immediately performed CPR on her and was able to bring her
back to life, but only for a brief period of time before she passed away
shortly after arriving at the hospital,” said Mike Canahuati. 3 days prior,
Avery had a doctor’s appointment and was looking good so her death “came as a
complete shock.” The Canahuatis wrote a blog which contained a bucket list for
Avery as if she would live past 2. At first the blog was to keep the family
updated, but now it has 2.4 million views. Some things Avery’s parents wanted
her to experience before passing on included waking up smiling and playing with
Play-Dough. Now two things can be checked off of her list, which was written in
first person as if she actually wrote it: not letting SMA take her smile away
and taking one last breath, then taking one more before going to live with her
Uncle Bryant, Nana Carolyn, Papa George and all her great-grandparents.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
877 Dolphins Dead
In
Peru just this year 877 dolphins have washed up on the shore. Environmental
authorities are unsure of the reason for the deaths and think that there could
have been an outbreak of Morbillivirus or Brucella
bacteria. Some of the dead dolphins have been tested for the viruses, but more
than 80% we unable to be studied because of how much they had already
decomposed. The test results of the other 20% should be ready within the week.
It is has been found that the deaths were not caused by a food shortage,
fishing, or poisoning. "When you have something this large, my gut would
tell me that there's something traumatic that happened," Sue Rocca told
CNN, “More investigation needs to be done.”
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Last 5 bodies identified
More bodies have been
found from the Costa Concordia ship that crashed January 13th. Recovery
teams have been searching since the crash and they finally found the last 5
bodies. Two of the people were American, two German, and one Italian crew member.
Total, at least 30 people didn’t survive the crash. The amount of people on the
Costa Concordia was about 4,200 including crew members. Captain, Francesco Schettino, said that he was told to sail
near the island and denied that he could have been sailing too quickly. He also
claimed that the rock was not visible on his charts. No one has been charged
yet, but Schettino, is still being investigated and is being accused of
manslaughter, causing the wreck, leaving the ship, not reporting the accident,
and hurting a natural habitat.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Mortenson's Lawsuit Settled
On Thursday, a lawsuit against Greg
Mortenson was settled allowing Mortenson to stay with the charity, but he has
to pay $1 million within the next three years. Over time he has used a lot of
the charity’s money to promote and buy his books. The charity spent $4.9
million advertising Mortenson’s books and another $4 million in donations to
schools and libraries. The institute is still allowed to build schools, but
there will be some changes. Mortenson left his position as executive director
but is still an employee, and has paid around half of the funds. Mortenson,
author of "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones into Schools,"
made best seller lists and toured the country to talk about his books and work.
He used the charity’s money to afford the travels. Hopefully with the new
changes, donations to the charity will be used the most efficiently.
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