I've decided to take blogging a bit more seriously this year by trying to put out content that's a lot more meaningful, full of quality and thought, and easy to read and enjoy. For all those reasons, I've moved this blog to http://dinaelhanan.com/blog. First post will be up by the end of this month (April 2019) and I know you'll all love it.

Thank you for supporting me so far, I hope I can return the favour this year.

- digitaldina

It's wintertime, and if you're one of the people blessed to live in a country where you get cold winters, you know the dilemma of having freezing hands. Whether it's when you're filling your car up with gas, using your phone, or even just walking around, it's a royal pain.

 

Koreans, however, have found a way around this. Recently, these 'pads' with a plush cloth top and that clip together with a magnetic have been used by people to warm their palm, and did I mention? It also charges your phone while it does this.

 Although gloves that heat using electricity aren't new, these little things you have in your pocket are much cuter, and are a low-tech trend that I find to be a cute gift for the winter time, which is why I thought I might share it. Living in the cold winters that I do, I know how useful something as small and cheap as this can be, so I wanted to spread this! Also, this is definitely not sponsored, although I wish it was :D

Want to buy one yourself? Check this one out on Amazon.

    Looking at the way the news has covered Facebook this year (and even just googling the word Facebook) creates this image of an evil corporate (bordering on monopoly, but I'll get into that later) that has been exposed by the great works of whistle blowers, and good ol' journalism. I'd like to debate that idea.

     I'll start with acknowledging that yes, Facebook has done some pretty messed up stuff this year. But you didn't come to my page for that, because every single tech media has already covered hundreds of timelines of Facebook breaking it's promises. Even myself. The thing is though, and I notice this being done to tech companies a lot more than other companies, you can't judge a group's performance based on it's most elite members.

 

    First of all, and this is a project I followed since it first begin and is one of my favorite projects that I've seen a tech company go after, Facebook has connected almost 100 million more people onto the internet through their internet.org initiative. Internet.org uses low bandwidth services and WiFi hotspots to give people connectivity and (as of April 2018) was testing a solar powered drone which will beam bandwidth down to users in remote areas. Going back to Facebook's privacy issues, this is a bittersweet thing. The areas that they are giving the gift of internet to are usually in countries that have censorship. After what we've seen with Facebook this year, I'm worried that this will just open up another avenue for surveillance, censorship, and uniformity of ideas to people who were so lucky to be free from that before. And on the other hand, people, who couldn't before, can finally get more opportunities whether it be jobs or social connections and enjoy the everyday blessing that the internet is.

    Like, we've got to remember that Facebook has about 25,105 employees as of December 2017, so we can't ignore the hard work and ambition of other people just because the CEO has a bad rep right now. Another initiative they've launched (which might be in an effort to fix their image) has been to provide "independent and credible research about the role of social media in elections, as well as democracy more generally". Being from Sudan, a country with a history of dictatorship and censorship (specifically recently due to more protests) I understand how important freedom of speech on the internet and offline is, and how the internet changes our views to be more on opposite ends of the spectrum. So I enjoyed reading about how Facebook is trying to contribute positively to mitigate these scenarios through a scientific approach with researches.

    There's loads of other examples of Facebook's amazing initiative this year that you could find with a simple Google search. I really just wanted to add this to mix to try and push the fact that we need to look at companies more objectively instead of judging them by whatever rules twitter comes up with. There are real, hardworking employees that get affected behind ever scandal. And that's not to say it's important that we call out companies with executives that have done wrong things, I'm just trying to argue that we need to remember who we're angry with and try to think of who we might inadvertently be hurting. I also want to end off by saying that Facebook is definitely not doing to feel the blow of this year. Unless we have people in government that can question these companies properly (aka people who understand the scope of the issues and have some knowledge about how the tech behind the issues work) and we all try to spread out our usage of social media to things other than FB, Whatsapp and Instagram, Facebook can continue to do whatever it want with our data, because where else are we supposed to get the same services it provides without the strings attached? I argue that encouraging smaller, niche networks (like devRant for developers) is the only way we can try to lessen the grip the Facebook has on the social media market. (see this: "It's time to break up Facebook")


     I hope I've shed some light on a few things you may have not been exposed to before, or at least got you thinking. You can always reach out to me through my blog or on Medium if you're seeing this post there. (If you couldn't tell, you won't find me on Twitter or FB for that matter ;) And remember, I'm just a High School student with too many thoughts so I like venting them out here. I'm not trying to sound like I know everything about all that I write about, I'm just another observer, and I like recording those observations. I've tried my best to cite every claim I make, but if I missed something, feel free to let me know :)

Klout was known for being a valuable Artifical Intellegence (AI) and Machine Learning tool that would let you now how much 'Klout' you had (aka. how cool you were) based on your social media. Most notably, twitter.

On May 25, 2018, Lithium, a Social Media software for "Community [Social Media] management" and "Social Support" has acquired Klout because of it's valuable AI capabilities. They decided that Klout is not "aligned with [their] long-term business strategy". Which sucks because it was such a cool niche app that many people enjoyed. What's even sadder is that it shut down without the knowledge of a lot of people, which is one of the main reasons I and many others like The Guardian and Entrepreneur wanted to write about it.

So the way Klout worked was that the higher your Klout score, the more social media influence you have (based on engagement, followers, fan pages, etc) The average score was 40, 50+ is considered really good and 63 being the top 5% of all users. Justin Bieber was the only person with a perfect 100 Klout score.

And although we are upset to see you go, Klout, there are still other alternatives that we can turn to. However, these tend to be very ~analytical~ and buissness oriented, which shows why Klout was unique, it was simple and accessible to everyday people trying to be cool :/ :D Other ones to use are TwentyFeet, Sprout Social, CrowdBooster ($ paid) But no-one can replace you, oh Klout.com. No-one.

A few weeks ago, my 10 year old little brother was practicing his reading comprehension skills for school using the website Razkids.com. After a while, I'm interrupted from my studies by him telling me about what was written in one of the audio/eBooks on the site that says, and I quote "In 1899, the army paid black soldiers the same as white soldiers- $13 per month. Black soldiers needed to write messages and understand orders and maps. Those who couldn't were taught to read and write. The army provided them with food, clothes, shelter, work and a chance for adventure."

Now, if you have every taken an elementary history class in North America, you know very well that these black soldiers were told to fight in the war or continue being slaves and even afterwards were never given the freedom that they were promised. "Adventure"? What kid should ever grow up believing that war is an "adventure". War is war. You kill people and they kill you and your comrades back. What Razkids has written is an offense to every man and woman serving their countries during wartime and an attempt to re-write the past while taking advantage of impressionable kids.

When I contacted a custom service representative of Razkids, I was given an empty promise. The representative said that he has contacted his development department because "We take great pride in offering a high-quality product" Below is the email I send and the response I received. (I obviously replied that I was "angry face"-ed at the "resolution [he] provided [me] today?")

As of the day I am posting this, Razkids has decided to continue letting that book, "The Buffalo Soldiers" be read by impressionable kids without correcting their facts. This historical archive PDF states that what Razkids has written is a completely warped view of history, but they aren't completely wrong. After a debate that the black soldiers headed, THEN they were able to get equal pay. But still, "a sense of adventure" and getting the chance for education? They spin it like the black soldiers were given the highest honor when really they were given basic needs for the first time. Just because we don't want kids to feel sad and tell them upsetting stories does not mean we get to change history in their favor. I am not able to talk with their media relations because personal blogs do not count. I am writing this as a whisper in the world of the internet with the hope that someone out their with a bigger voice might hear and help.

Mark Zuckerburg, CEO of Facebook, was grilled by lawmakers over Facebook's recent Cambridge Analytica scandal that included collecting millions (Facebook estimated 87 million) Facebook user's data. 

Today, I dusted off my Facebook account and took a look at the new privacy setting and what I found was troubling. I never signed up for this but apparently a marketing company called Inbound was part of the lists of Apps that"Have access to : your friends, your posts, your settings" and more. Suddenly, that number felt closer to home. I knew I had to do something which is why I'm on here to try to break this situation down in a way that is personal and easy to get. Here's a screenshot of the "Inbound Login" app that I found. Disclaimer; I know that I have used things like "Personality Quiz!" in the past on my Facebook account so I knew there were vulnerabilities. However, I did not find any of those apps. My info is probably still out there on those apps OR Inbound Login is where those apps originated from. Regardless, I am putting this out there for whomever reaches far into the internet to find this blog to discover.

The more I looked, the more I noticed the affects of the Cambridge situation in the Facebook settings. For example, the screenshot below shows Facebook boasting about how their "old setting" is no long active. This old setting was the "Apps Others Use" setting that Facebook claims to have removed "because they applied to an older version of our platform that no longer exists." Clearly, they left this auto-disabled setting as a way to showcase how they're "changing" their settings to "give the user more control". 

What I really want control and knowledge over is what the lawmakers wanted the same over too. Shadow profiling. Facebook has denyed any use of Shadow Profiling which, in basic terms, means collecting information about you even if you do not have a Facebook account. According to The Verge, the company still "has a general sense of who you are, gathered through uploaded contact lists, photos, or other sources." When you think about it, this feature is also seen in Instagram. Side note: I feel like Instagram has been kept out of this conversion when in reality, it should be at the center. Facebook is moving towards being predominantly adults while Instagram is more appealing to the younger generations. This is concerning because should this same scenario be playing out there, videos, pictures and messages of under aged kids could be at stake here. And what I'm thinking about is what if a company was to be breached and this information to be collected by someone or people who are not as good willed as marketing companies. Or, like Cambridge, by companies that have no issue with selling it to smaller companies which have much larger security issues due to their smaller size.

The other thing is, although people are starting to wake up about just how severely their data is being collected, Facebook could still come out of this unscathed. When you look at the 3 month stock graph of Facebook as of now, this is what you see.

Although the drop was significant, the price is still rising. And this is clear in the one year graph. Look, I'm no economy expert. But I do know stocks reflect how people feel about a company and are the best way to get the attention of a company about what is agreeable or not about what they are doing and how. Since the below graph shows a slight, almost insignificant dent but a steady rise, it's going to take the younger generation to wake up and get off IG and to promote their parents' attempts to get off Facebook. Also, most companies prefer for people to have Facebook accounts. That pressure to get people to HAVE to have a digital footprint needs to be lessened if we ever want to send a clear, strong messages to these companies. 

I know that this is a bit of a heavy topic for my blog, but I think the more info and opinions are out there, the more the company can see the magnitude of their mistake. I also consider this to be my digital vote for change. If you want to review your privacy settings on Facebook, go to settings and click Apps and Activity to get to this screen. And if you really want to help. Delete your account. You're most likely are more harmed by Social Media than you are helped anyways.

Here's the deal. Every spring, Apple has a keynote to reveal their new products and updates. This year, they decided to break off from Cali and go to a high school in Chicago to talk about Education and what role Apple plays in it. This is all gonna go down on March 27th by the way. Hey, if Android phones are getting better and you start losing the game, playing nice and making cost-effective products just makes sense. Right?

So the first thing I'm bringing up is probably the most important thing to consumers like you and I which is the low-cost, under $300 iPad. Fist off, I'm wondering how they're gonna keep up with the demands of this iPad once it comes out. However, this is great news for people in school that are having a hard time getting their hands on good quality tech that will help them bridge the gaps that they might have between themselves and success. Not only that, Apple has said that the low-cost iPad "will likely" support the Apple Pencil. Also great news because it helps you get notes done and is low-cost because you'll be paying less for paper helping your pocket and the environment. 

I really need to point out though that this all rumor based! However, Apple apparently 'accidentally' released a framework for a "ClassKit" in the iOS 11.3 betas. (WHOPIESSSS) According to Apple firmware hunter Guilherme Rambo, ClassKit will give developers new options for creating educational apps (like being able to have quizzes and tests through the iPads and have the answers sent to the teacher LIVE). Since this was found accidentally and this new Keynote is about education, you better bet you;re gonna see this.

You can also expect things like an iBooks 2 which is supposed to make it easier to create textbooks according to The Verge. Also, we've been waiting for things like AirPower, the wireless charging mat that we've been promised back in September. Or at least give us a specific date! There's also a pretty credible rumor that we could be expecting a new Macbook or Macbook Air, hopefully one that is a cheaper version just like the iPad. If Apple follows through with these promises, they've really got my vote. I do believe in giving everyone the best tech possible no matter what economic situation they're in because without tech in 2018, your ability to work and study is impaired which makes it hard for you to leave the economic situation you are in. 

With the final APIs being released early June and the final release being at Q3 (probably around August), the clock is ticking for developers and for excited users alike!

By now, you've probably seen a million articles about this new Android flavor but before you get too excited, I have some bad news for you. Android P will only be available for Pixel Phones (it might be available on other devices but that's up to Samsung or whatever company created the device. Since this is the case, they probably wont be having Android P on their phones until the next phone is released as an incentive to buyers.)

Also, I'm sorry to have to break it to you but there's more. Android P promised a camera feature that cuts the size of a jpeg about 35% without losing much of the quality. I don't know about you, but I would love to be able to have the same amount of photos that I have with less space (which is all the space my phone has). And forget about androids. Think about having this on PC or for any other things that you usually max out the storage for. Imagine having this for businesses!

Poor, poor photographers and professional camera. RIP knowing that you wont be missed :)

The new Samsung S9 features 64GB of storage AND space for more with microSD cards, a dual lens on the S9 Plus. This new camera has the first mechanically adjustable aperture (a part of a camera that opens up to let more light into the camera sensor and increases shutter speed) for Samsung. The camera also has a 12MP sensor with 30% better low light performance. The rear camera allows you to take 4K video (get those Youtube gains!). 

The S9 also features a new position for the fingerprint sensor so you wont have to smudge up the great camera) and a Animoji copy but with humans and worse facial tracing (hey, they're trying OK?) The S9 will be launching at 719.99 USD and 839.99 USD for the S9 Plus. They'll be coming out in 3 colors, black, purple, blue or grey.

Youtube's second logo change has some people finding each other on different sides of the track. 

On one side, people LOVE the look and think YT's nod to it's old self is the best way to start a new chapter. Others think that in an effort to go back to it's roots, YT's lost itself. 

I honestly think the new logo's great itself BUT the old one was better. My reason is that the logo is a demo of what YOU tube means. It's you at front and tube in the red box which is like a tv works well. The new logo isn't ugly but it's not the greatest or biggest change they could've chosen. 

As for a makeover, Youtube's improving it's consistency in appearance across all devices and adding a black and red 'Dark Theme' that might be less of a strain to the eyes in low light situations for mobile devices since the new look is VERY white. The slow down and speed up feature has been available on desktop but not the app yet and now it is. Youtube says that it's also working on using gesture, like moving the device a certain way, for mobile devices but that's coming out later on.

Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer said “Over the last few months we've started releasing updates and will continue to throughout the rest of the year,” 

“When all is said and done, we'll bring a new level of functionality and a more consistent look across our desktop and mobile experiences.” 

According to CEO Andy Rubin (aka one of the biggest brains behind android) a release date for the Essential Phone coming to retail is going to be released "in a week".

And a few weeks ago we were told that it was coming out in "a few weeks". I mean. LOOK AT IT. How are we just supposed to wait here for this beauty this long?

 Two of the confirmed US retail partners are Best Buy and Amazon. This $699 US android edge-to-edge screen device is expected to launch as a Sprint exclusive in the US and Telus here in Canada. More international carriers are TBA. As of right now, you can reserve an Essential Phone is Black Moon or Pure White. My favorites, Stellar Grey and particularly Ocean Depths are also TBA so watch out on their social medias!

Before I get to the specs, the thing that's having everyone buzzing is the similarity to the iPhone that this has. And the best part is, I'm not talking about the similarity in design. The iPhone and Apple's whole concept is simplicity. The Essential Phone features just that. It comes with the purest form of android. (By that I mean it doesn't have any extras or changes to the look like Samsung or Asus phones usually do) Another interesting feature that sets it apart from most phones is the fact that theirs NO BRAND OR LOGO. It's the sleekest phone for this reason because you can appreciate the quality and look of the phone without judging by a name.

The specs are another thing that are hyping people up. Especially the cameras. The outer camera of the Essential Phone has a feature that lets you attach a 360 camera for now and probably much more to come.The outer camera that comes with the phone doesn't stick out of the phone (nothing does) so it feels like a solid, sleek, thin, brick.(I don't mean that it's heavy, it weights a mere 185 grams. OK it is kinda heavy) The outer camera is 13mp and takes 4k video. The inner camera 2160 p (iPhone 7's is the same). Here's a list of the rest of the boringgggg but great specs. This is a definite BUYY! Love you Digital Divas!

NETWORK	Technology	GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE

LAUNCH	Announced	2017, May
	Status	Coming soon. Exp. release 2017, August

BODY	Dimensions	141.5 x 71.1 x 7.8 mm (5.57 x 2.80 x 0.31 in)
	Weight	185 g (6.53 oz)
	Build	Titanium frame
	SIM	Nano-SIM

DISPLAY	Type	LTPS IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	5.71 inches (~84.9% screen-to-body ratio)
	Resolution	1312 x 2560 pixels (~504 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes, up to 10 fingers
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 5

PLATFORM	OS	Android 7.1 (Nougat)
	Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835
	CPU	Octa-core (4x2.45 GHz Kryo & 4x1.9 GHz Kryo)
	GPU	Adreno 540

MEMORY	Card slot	No
	Internal	128 GB, 4 GB RAM

CAMERA	Primary	Dual 13 MP, f/1.9, phase detection & laser autofocus, LED flash
	Features	Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama
	Video	2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@120fps
	Secondary	8 MP, f/2.2, 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@120fps

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes, with stereo speakers
	3.5mm jack	No
		- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

COMMS	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot
	Bluetooth	5.0, A2DP, EDR, LE
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
	NFC	Yes
	Radio	No
	USB	Type-C 1.0 reversible connector

FEATURES	Sensors	Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
	Browser	HTML5
	Java	No
		- Snap-on accessories (optional) - Fast battery charging - XviD/MP4/H.265 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/Flac player - Photo/video editor - Document viewer

BATTERY		Non-removable Li-Ion 3040 mAh battery

MISC	Colors	Stellar Gray, Ocean Depths, Black Moon, Pure White
	Price	About 750 USD