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Apple Nixes “Baby Shaker” iPhone App

12:09 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · children|Controversia|Games|society|Tech · 3 Comments

23 Apr 2009

Apple probably wasn’t banking on a whole lot of controversy when it decided to allow anyone to add their own homegrown applications to their repository of iPhone applications, the App Store. But banking or not, they are getting it with one application which has outraged people all over; the Baby Shaker app (see video above) lets users shake a crying baby until it dies all in the name of fun. The SF Chronicle reports:

“Baby Shaker,” a simple app from Sikalosoft, was first released Monday for 99 cents. It shows pictures of babies with the sound of them crying and a stop watch. To stop the crying, you shake the iPhone hard and then little Xs appear on the eyes of the baby, who will presumably never cry again.

Apple apparently pulled the app sometime Wednesday afternoon after blogs and sites such as TechCrunch and Cnet caught on to the story. It’s hard to believe that this got through the iPhone app certification process in the first place.

According to The Chronicle, infant brain injury advocates are outraged. As well they should be. Child abuse is not a game.

Saul Hansell of The New York Times’ Bits thinks Apple was wrong to cave into pressure about this application. Read his opinion here.

What do you think? Was Apple right to let the app through in the first place? Or did they overreact when they pulled it? Let us know your opinion.

Via / SF Chronicle

Jueves Jugete : Pantech Matrix Pro

6:44 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Features|Tech · Comments Off

12 Mar 2009

c820-image_5f00_0811101 Oh how did I ever live without a smartphone? Recently I was given the opportunity to try the new Pantech Matrix Pro available from AT&T and now I am officially hooked. What was it about the Pantech Matrix Pro? Well I’ve never had a smartphone so the experience of having a device that let me access my email, check out VivirLatino, use twitter, take pictures to post on twitter and make phone calls has changed me for life even if it is a Windows Phone.

Yes the Pantech Matrix Pro uses Windows Mobile 6.1 pero I got over that quickly besides, Windows Mobile is handy for edting Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, which you can do on this phone.

The Matrix Pro is not a touch screen phone pero it is shiny and pretty enough that my AT&T touch screen phone user hermana wanted to play with it. The steel-blue metallic finish of the phone also makes it susceptible to fingerprints, especially toddler prints, pero the phone comes with a felted protective cover that is also good for wiping off greasy dedito marks.

One of the selling features is a dual sliding backlit keyboard. One is a regular numerical one for all your calling needs. The other is a full QUERTY keyboard for all your texting, tweeting, emailing and surfing needs. A downside to the dual keyboard is that it makes the phone a little bulky and it feels a little heavy in your hand (2″ x 4.2″ x .9″ (WxHxD) and weighs in at 4.3 ounces to get all specific).

The Matrix Pro features a large LCD screen, which produces great images and video if you are surfing You Tube.

Speaking of surfing, the Matrix Pro does not have wifi on it, which worried me at first since I had heard from AT&T users that the 3G network was a little, um, unreliable. Pero, I must say that in the days I was playing with the phone, I never had a problem once getting online.

Other features include a MicroSDHC slot for additional storage, a proprietary USB connector to synchronize and charge the phone, which means yes another cord to carry around. However I must say that the phone charge lasts a pretty long time even with near constant use.

It’s a quad-band GSM and tri-band UMTS phone which means you can use it globally. It supports Bluetooth 2.0.
Oh and it has a camera, a 1.92 Megapixel digital camera that takes good quality pics and video.

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Apparently you can also do video sharing with AT&T Video Share to send live video during a phone call to a user with a compatible phone. Also, the Matrix Pro has GPS support for location-based services such as AT&T Navigator and other online direction programs for the chronically lost.

All in all, I really like this phone for a smartphone novice like me, or for a more experienced smart phone user, it’s a good option.

You can check out an online device simulator for the phone aqui and then buy it here.

You’ll have to drop $179 on a 2 year AT&T contract after a $50 mail in rebate.

Movies made on cell phones get recognition

1:21 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Movies|Spain|Tech · Comments Off

16 Apr 2007

In this age of accessible technology, just about anybody can make a movie, even if you don’t have a camera — just use your cell phone. Spain will be the first country to honor movies made on cell phones with the first ever festival for films made with this medium this June, the Movil Film Fest:

The event, introduced in Barcelona as a part of the Internet Global Congress 2007, welcomes any type of short film made with a cell phone with a maximum duration of one minute, according to the festival’s director, Alberto Tognazzi.

Four awards will be given to the outstanding mobile shorts, in the categories of Best Short, Best Sequence Shot and Best Photography. The four awards will be voted on by the public via text message, and judging will be helped along by several prominent Spanish filmmakers.

Via / 20 Minutos

High Demand for Latino Technology Professionals

5:34 pm By Maegan La Mala · Education · 1 Comment

13 Dec 2005

In order to remain competitive in the world economy the U.S. Department of Labor states that 1.5 million technology professionals will be needed here in the U.S. Furthermore, IBM states that in this decade “…one out of four jobs will be in information technology.” Strangely enough there has been a decline in technology related course enrollment. Of all students graduating from computer science programs in the U.S., Latinos represent 3.9 percent.

Friday, IBM, Florida International University and the University of Miami are to launch a program to encourage young people, especially Hispanics, to consider careers in engineering and information technology.
Called “LA Grid,” the initiative is to work to increase number of Hispanic students entering the technology industry by pairing them with IBM mentors and providing opportunities to work on research and development projects with Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM.
“Currently, there is a great opportunity for Hispanics in the technology industry,” IBM said.

Via / Bizjournals.com

How the Internet Has Made My World Smaller

3:37 pm By Maegan La Mala · Internet · 2 Comments

18 Oct 2005

Today as I sat in Miami, making calls across the US without worrying about my long distance bill and writing blog posts in my living room, I started thinking about how the Internet and technology in its current state has really changed my life. We all know that so much has changed in the past 10 years in this respect, but I thought I’d take a few minutes to discuss what it has meant for me personally.

Back ten years ago, I was a freshman in college taking a computer course, and I received an assignment to find some information on the internet. A guy at the help desk told me about a cool search engine called Yahoo!…I was fascinated by the name alone, and later by what I could find.

Now we switch to current day, where I spend my days in the “blogosphere” talking and working with many people, none of which I have ever met face-to-face. Also, I utilize wireless internet so that I can walk around my house without worrying about cables and connections.

In my home in Miami, I have Vonage as a telephone provider, which allows me unlimited long distance calls across the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico for $25 a month. I also pay another $5 a month to have a “virtual” Mexico City phone number, which means our family can call us without spending a dime (or a peso, I should say). To talk to people in other countries, or others online, I use Skype, which also helped me call family and friends in the US while I was living in Mexico.

Being new to Miami, I still don’t know where everything is, so I’m about to look up Publix grocery stores online to find one close by. And when I was house hunting from afar, Google Satellite Maps teamed with Craigslist posts were invaluable.

So basically almost every part of my life has been affected by this change…I would say for the better. For one, I have been able to be closer with my family; not worrying about long distance bills, we talk every few days instead of every few weeks. I’ve also entered in to a completely different arena “career-wise” than I ever would have imagined.

For Latinos in the US, these technologies can be an incredible way to keep ties to family that remains abroad. Now there is no excuse not to keep in touch!

Latino Startups Outdoing Mainstream

2:41 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · business · Comments Off

28 Sep 2005

Years after the dot-com boom and bust, it seems that start-up businesses are beginning to pick up speed again, and who is leading the pack? Latinos, according to this Seattle Times article via HispanicTips:

Latinos and immigrants start companies at higher rates than white non-Latinos, while blacks increasingly are jumping into business ownership, a new study finds.

…Two surprising results emerged from the study, Fairlie said. The number of Latinos who started businesses jumped to 0.48 percent of the adult population last year from 0.38 percent in 1996

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