It used to be that only lighted magnifiers that are often inconvenient, get in the way, or are just too bundlesome for the patient to use, was about the only way to offer extra lighting.  That is no longer the case since digital tablets have come into existence and can be used as a great reading aid.

Studies have shown that patients who have eye diseases that have affected their central vision can benefit and even regain some ability to read faster and easier by using the digital reading tablets that exist on the market today. It was revealed in the studies that even with moderate vision loss, patients could increase reading skills by as much as 15 words per minute when using a tablet with a lighted screen. The research is being presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology this week, which is great news for tablet manufacturers as well as patients experiencing vision loss.

During the research of 100 participants, Apple’s iPad proved to be very effective when used at an 18pt font and allowed an increase of 42 words per minute compared to reading a print book or newspaper. When testing the same group with the Kindle tablet set to the same font, only 12 more words were achieved.

Due to the difference in the backlit screens, experts believe that the iPads illumination is the key to the significant increase in reading speed for the patients although the new Kindle Fire HD is equipped with a better backlit screen than earlier versions. Contrast sensitivity is improved with the lighting and allows patients to see objects as separate objects and to better recognize shades of gray. When low vision is a factor, contrast sensitivity is highly affected, therefore, the backlit screens of the tablets is very beneficial to people with this condition.

Doctors believe that we take reading for granted until vision loss starts becoming a factor in life when vision is affected by disease. For a minimal cost to the patient, digital tablets are offering improvement to people’s lives, giving them a sense of security, dignity, and keeping them connected with what is going on around them.

Google started releasing what it calls a “transparency report” in 2010. As of Tuesday, it released its sixth report, showing where governments world-wide are requesting more user data then they have done in previous years. These governments, including the United States, are asking Google, among others, to hand the user data over.

In its latest report, Google showed that the number of requests for this data went from 12,539 in 2009, between July and December to 20,938 requests in 2012, between January and June. These figures show that in 2012, government has made almost 8400 more requests than it did three years prior. The question is why.

For the smartphone owners that are never really disconnected from their social sites, sharing personal information in emails or private messages through social sites, this information may trigger some alarm. Although the Google report does show that the requests were made, it does not go into detail as to what specific information was asked for, or whether or not Google had to provide it in the spirit of legal cooperation.

Another fact these transparency reports have revealed is that governments have requested more data be removed from the internet. The requests these governments have made to remove content could fall under the “censorship” category. Google stated in its report that the first half of 2012, alone, garnered as many as 1,791 requests to have 17,746 pieces of content removed.

According to the report, this number dropped from 2010 to 2011, and rose steeply and quickly to the 1,791 requests Google has received in the first half of 2012. Google also reports that it has received, on occasion, falsified court orders. Google says that it examines the legitimacy of the documents it receives, and that it will not comply with any court orders it deems to be false.

Apparently, Google is not the only company governments from around the world are targeting to get personal information on users. Twitter has also released a transparency report that shows where these governments are asking asking for account details on specific people.

Twitter says the majority of these requests are in conjunction with criminal investigations. However, the majority of requests are coming out of the United States, Japan and Canada, with the US making the highest number of requests at 679. Twitter reports complying with around 75% of these requests.

Twitter also reports that it cooperates with around 63% of these requests. Another fact revealed in the Twitter report is that five different countries have made requests for out and out censorship of a particular Twitter account. Twitter says it has not granted any of those requests. Users, beware.

An anonymous person leaked information, perhaps in response to the curiosity this subject has solicited. Under the “Eligible Devices” section for the yet-to-be-released Google Wallet Android application, there is a list of devices that Google says have a Secure Element chip. The Secure Element chip is billed as a smart card chip that resists tampering. It is designed to run with various smart card applications, it was designed to beef up security for all the personal information that is shared and transferred on personal devices such as smart phones.

The list of compatible devices includes compatible carriers, so not every smartphone through any carrier will work. Also, the list includes a section that states Google Wallet does not work with phones that purchased internationally.

The list of phones that was included in the screen shot include, but may not be limited to: Samsung phones Nexus, Galaxy Nexus S 4G and Galaxy Victory 4G LTE through Sprint. The list also names the LG phones Viper 4G LTE (Sprint), and the LG Optimus Elite (available through Sprint and Virgin Mobile). The HTC EVO 4G LTE through Sprint, and the Asus Nexus 7 Tablet, available through Google Play was mentioned, as well.

According to the leaked information, the Google Wallet card will be a physical card that can be used in the place of any other debit or credit card. With Google Wallet services, users can register their cards to Google Wallet for use online, then pull a physical card out for use in person. This system was designed, according to leaked information, for use where the Google tap and pay service is not operational.

According to the screen shots that were leaked, along with information on a confirmation email sent in response to a request for a Google Wallet card, is mention under the Google Help section and under the Terms of Service section.

According to current information, the leaked screen shots and other information confirms the rumors and gives die-hard Google fans something to look forward to.

Readers should be careful, however, to look for the differentiation in wording between the Google Wallet Virtual card, used for sales with no point of contact, and the Google Wallet card, which is a physical card.

Also, although there was a substantial bit of information leaked about this, there is no estimated time of arrival for the public release, so there is no exact date of release for the general public. This leaves interested parties checking back on a consistent basis to get the news and opportunity for their own Google Wallet card as soon as it is available.

Users between 20 and 40 are the most widely tracked users of social media in the US and it is possible for them to influence things like the presidential election. Just think, after the first debate there were some 7 million Tweets on specific comments and the final debate offered up more than 13 million.

Social media, just like traditional news media and programming can change views as its influence tends to cause and compel listeners and users to follow the lead of others.  While some people like to think they have the intelligence and fortitude to listen, educate, and choose their own ideas out of the mess, there are many who will simply follow the lead of someone else, right or wrong.  

Let’s take for example the purchase of a new iPhone 5. There are lots of options, information, specifications, features, and reviews one can find in books and online or from others who may have purchased the unit already. However, it is a proven fact that influence is the number one reason most people purchase a product or service.  Few people actually take the time to research and find the best deal but depend on advertising whether it is online, on TV, or word of mouth.

With that being said, the world of social media is no different.  When you look at Tweets and Facebook comments and ads, it’s no different.  Buyers or voters are influenced by what they see or hear more than they are what they know to be true.  “Let everybody else do your homework for you” is the theory here.  The problem is, you are taking someone else’s word for it and running with it. Ultimately, people tend to make decisions based on influence and today that adds up to social media.

Social media influence offers intelligence and analysis for business professionals that want to learn how to understand and evolve their business in the online world of communication. The presidential campaign was no different than marketing a product. When the last debate took place, there were millions of tweets that went out about Mitt Romney’s comment on cutting funding for PBS and Big Bird.  Just how many families with children do you think marked him off their voting list for that one comment that resonated over the “tweet” channels?  The truth is, why should the federal government pay for broadcasting?  Let PBS find its own advertising and funds to operate just like the other networks, but all because of the influence of those social media tweets to over 10 million people, no doubt many voted the other way because of it and the influence it carried from others who disagreed with Romney’s comment and stance.

The practice has been known to cause parents the world over more than a little frustration. As parents look around for their non-responsive teenagers, they can follow the sounds of a the keys on a qwerty board clicking away, and they will usually find their teenagers looking intently at a tiny screen in their hands, while their fingers move in a blur, completely oblivious to the outside world. Parents that want their teenagers’ attention usually have to send a text to get it.

It originally appeared that there may be some good news for parents that want to talk with their children face-to-face, again. A recent report shows that the trend of texting is at a decline. The bad news is this decline is due to IP messaging, the iMessage feature provided by Apple. The service exploded in popularity due to the fact that it sends free messages over any Wi-Fi or 3G connection. Since these messages are free, parents may have to wait a while longer to see their teenagers’ face again, instead of the top of their heads as they hunch over their phone screen.

With iMessage, users are able to talk to one another on iPhones. The amount of imessages that have been sent and received is mind boggling. According to information released by Apple at its Worldwide Developer’s Conference in June 2012, the technology giant has sent more than 150 billion messages through the iMessage service. As of October 2012, the company reports that it reached 300 billion messages. That averages out to around 28,000 messages being sent per second. Apple estimates that it will have sent 500 billion messages, or more, by the end of December 2012.

This doesn’t look good for parents or carriers that were making good money off the amount of texts a teenager is capable of sending any given day of the week.

It appears the days of expensive texting plans, add-ons and messy overages that could cost the average family a small fortune may be completely over with. The old adage about getting the milk for free applies in surround sound and HD graphics through Apple. With the amount of iMessages Apple has helped send, parents may still have to communicate with their teenagers through their iPhones, but they won’t have to pay their mobile carries for them.

Due to the overwhelming success of this service, carriers are being forced to do things differently. Verizon, for example, is now making users pay for a specific amount of data. Maybe Apple can help in that department, too.

While the unit is not considered economical, we are talking about quality features in a unique laptop, but a basic unit. At a price of about $2200 dollars, the MacBook Pro is definitely a case of “getting what you pay for.”  The release of any new Apple product always causes a riff about the industry and the MacBook Pro is no different, especially with the new screen technology.

You are not going to believe your eyes when you see the unbelievable high resolution screen on the new Apple MacBook Pro. Images and text are clearer than ever before. Boasting a new light weight body design, the components are power-packed with high end features and users will enjoy the USB and HDMI ports and accessibility.

The price tag may be its biggest drawback and the lack of an Ethernet jack or optical drive may be a deal breaker for some. While it is thinner and lighter, it is not a travel friendly unit which is not the norm with laptops which are expected to be fit for mobility.

The HDMI port is the newest and biggest change to the unibody construction. While Apple updates the unit with new processors and features, the external unit will be a familiar sight in offices and coffee shops.

The grand new feature in the new model has to do with the Retina Display. Boasting an unheard of 2880×1800 pixels, it provides an unmatched level of image detail that has never been displayed on a laptop screen before. It even exceeds HDTV! In the beginning, comparing it to a non-retinal display unit may be the best way to see the difference. More useful for heavy readers or Photoshop ad designers it may take a while for other applications to catch up to the point of seeing the benefit of the high resolutions offer by the MacBook Pro with Retinal Display.

The new thinner MacBook Pro is somewhat familiar and yet intensely different.  While it is not an ultrabook, or a full midsize laptop, it is the next generation laptop that takes the features from both sides of the fence. It’s almost as thin as a MacBook Air, but heavier than it looks weighing in at about four and a half pounds. While it may not be the perfect laptop for people who have to move around a lot during the day from place to place five days a week, it is an exceptional Mac unit for targeted users.

For Alvin, a 17 year old living in New York, his smart phone became his only witness as he was stopped and frisked twice in a two block distance. This was done in cooperation with the controversial “Stop and Frisk” program. When Alvin asked the police why he was being stopped, again, he was told it was because he was “a mutt”, apparently referring to his mixed ethnicity. During the second stop in two blocks, Alvin decided to record the encounter. To date, it is the only known recording from any civilian that has been exposed to the “Stop and Frisk” practices of the NYPD.

As 17 year old Alvin was walking home from his girlfriend’s house in June of 2011, he was stopped and frisked, then released. Two blocks later, as he was continuing his walk, he saw a police car pass him, and heard it turn around. He looked back and saw the car heading for him, so he turned on the record function for his phone.

The police were recorded as they repeatedly told Alvin to shut up when he questioned why he was being stopped, again. It also recorded as the police threatened to break Alvin’s arm, punch him in the face and then arrest him. The microphone picked up the scratching and muting caused by a police officer as that officer repeatedly pushed the minor backwards, apparently in an attempt to provoke resistance or assault from Alvin.

The phone also recorded as police officers mention personal information about the youth’s father, and tried to use that to make Alvin more “cooperative”. No doubt, these abuses of authority would have continued for Alvin, except for his smartphone.

The NYCLU has released apps that would benefit a New York citizen involved in a “Stop and Frisk” incident. It includes features that can record, listen and report a “Stop and Frisk” encounter by pressing a single key. Users can shake the phone to stop the recording, answer a brief survey and send the recording to the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The “Listen” function sends an alert when there are other people in your vicinity that are being stopped and frisked. The “Report” feature provides a survey for non-participants that are viewing a “Stop and Frisk” encounter on someone else, allowing by-standers to provide accurate and up-to-the-minute information on that event.

In this situation, at least, the smartphone is invaluable. It’s capability to record an occurrence can provide protection when citizens need it the most.

As for the internal fan components, the thoughts that make up that scenario have to do with device monitoring feedback and cooling components designed to save space rather than having those items function as separate units. Another possibility suggests the intake of air through existing holes of maybe a headset or connector in order to rid excess heat through the same place, also saving space without using two different components.

While cooling mobile devices may not be the hottest idea on the horizon in Apple’s future, it is something that represents their line of thinking about a concern of mobile devices. It remains to be seen as to whether it is something they spend a lot of time on right now at a time when processor efficiency is of the utmost importance and Apple has their engineers committed to making that project their focus.

However, since they did file the patent application, it is interestingly practical to look at headphones that also function as external speakers as a likely invention and one that would not be so hard to create, nor should it expend a lot of efforts or time. The patent describes the idea that one would use on ear type headphones, turning them into speakers with the simple action of rotating the ear pieces.  Another idea has to do with taking internal ear pieces, like the Apple EarPods, and making them capable of the power to allow multiple users to enjoy as speakers. In this case, the headphones would be more technologically advanced and would be able to detect their orientation as well as how close they are to a user’s ear with an automatic mode of operation.

Because of the release of the EarPods as a feature of the iPhone 5, Apple is looking at the evolution of headphone design and seems to have put a focus on it to become a priority in the near future. Accessorizing the electronic devices and components of modern mobile types are proving to be strong performers like the external speakers for iOS devices.  The extremely hard part to the whole concept is how to produce the quality of the accessory and designing drivers that are intricate and small enough while outputting the power to make good sound at varied volumes. The Apple engineers have their work cut out for them on this one. Would you enjoy such an accessory?

The Next Web discovered the newest Google feature, recently, and has opted to post about it. This information will help shorten the amount of time it takes for Android users to access their apps. Instead of having to go through the Google Play store, users can now check their Google + feeds to see if one of their friends has already posted the same app.

Users can paste the URLs for these apps as updates on their Google + feeds, like they would if they were updating their statuses. These updates can help them spread the app around to other potentially interested friends, or just show off their newest app. It is a feature of convenience because it negates the need to go looking for the app through the Google store. It also shows off the newest, hottest thing to make its rounds, all from a social site feed.

This feature doesn’t sound as big as the 700 Mbps Google is currently offering internet customers in Kansas City, Kansas, but the ripple effect could be huge. Google Play has over 400,000 apps, currently, in its store. These apps are always available, but not always easily accessible to busy Android smartphone users. They are good for use on a smartphone or tablet, but in order to get them downloaded, users have to have the time to scroll through hundreds of selections, read about the ones they are interested in, then download them.

Depending on the work load and time constraints, Android users may have a hard time getting to the apps they could be using. With the links posted directly to the Google + feed, users are able to find these links in a more efficient manner. Since Google + users are linked according to common interests, it makes sense that other users would have some of the same interests and post the apps their friends will want to use.

It’s better advertising than Google could pay for, and it takes less time to find and download an app in this manner. Another good thing about this feature is that friends that have posted these apps can give an honest opinion, saving time for friends and family that may be looking for other options.

The release of this feature follows a similar release by Apple, recently. Apple is trying to make it easier for iproduct users to get their apps, as well. The company is making it easier for developers to get their products to consumers with iOS 6 compatibility. While it may look like equal competition on the surface, Google has an advantage with its existing social network.

AMC’s “The Walking Dead” is one of the most popular shows to hit basic cable in quite some time. After it set records for a premier show in a debut season, it went on to break its own records and set more. It is, to date, the only show on basic cable with such an impressive list of makeup artists and executive producers. It is also the only show on basic cable, to date, that has won, or been nominated for, the amount of awards that “The Walking Dead” has earned.

With the amount of action and jaw-dropping moments that viewers and cast members, alike, have experienced, the rest of the season is anyone’s guess on what could happen next. The last episode saw Rick’s decent into mental instability and the loss of three key members of the close-knit group. The only thing that fans know of that will definitely happen sometime in the future is that the Governor and Rick Grimes will meet.

When these two strong leaders stand face to face, it will again be anyone’s guess on who will when that standoff. The Governor has Rick’s group out-manned, out-gunned and at a loss for provisions, should he stage a siege on the prison. However, Rick is haunted by the new death of his wife, Lori, and he has a precious newborn girl to fight for, so there may be some surprises in store for the Governor.

Viewers know something is coming, soon. Andrea has given Merle the basic location on the farmhouse where the group spent its last winter. The prison isn’t that far from that farm house and Merle will be looking for his brother, Darryl, and a little payback for the group that left him handcuffed to a roof. The situation he was left in caused him to have to cut off his hand to escape the horde of walkers that was trying to get through a chained door to eat him. No doubt, Merle has visions of taking his revenge and reclaiming his brother to stand by his side under the Governor’s rule.

When asked about the coming standoff between two of the strongest leaders on the show, Lauren Cohan, the actress that plays Maggie, said viewers should be very nervous. She went on to say the Governor is a very scary character, and that he is bad news for the group of survivors at the prison. She also said with the appearance of the Governor, the group realizes the zombies are the least of their concern.