My Life as a 35-year-old Freshman

Critical Thinking 4 Team Assignment

TYPES OF APPS

Native apps are developed for a single mobile operating system exclusively, therefore they are “native” for a particular platform or device. App built for systems like iOS, Android, Windows phone, Symbian, Blackberry cannot be used on a platform other than their own. In other words, you won’t be able to use the Android app on iPhone. The main advantage of native apps is high performance and ensuring good user experience as developers use a native device. Native apps are very fast and responsive because they are built for that specific platform. They have the best performance. Distributed in app stores. Difficult languages to learn which means you need experienced developers. More expensive.

So-called hybrid apps are mainly website applications disguised in a native wrapper. Apps possess the usual pros and cons of both native and web mobile applications. Hybrid multiplatform apps are fast and relatively easy to develop a clear advantage. The single code base for all platforms ensures low-cost maintenance and smooth updates. Widely used APIs, like gyroscope, accelerometer, geolocation are available. Have access to the device’s internal APIs, can access storage, camera, etc. Faster to develop than native apps because you have a single code base. On the other hand, hybrid applications lack in performance, speed and overall optimization in comparison to native apps for instance. Also, there are certain design issues due to app inability to look in the exact same way on two or more platforms. Less interactive than native apps. Customization will take you away from the hybrid model in which you may as well go native. The performance is also a disadvantage because hybrid apps load in the web view. The user experience is often sacrificed with a hybrid app as you cannot customize the app based on the platform.

Internet Research 4 Team Assignment

SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKING

We’ve search plenty about Reddit before, including a guide for new users; it’s one of the best places on the Web to find a group reddit about nearly anything. It should come as no surprise, then, that Reddit is a perfect place to find all kinds of memes. Reddit, the self-proclaimed "front page of the Internet".

Like Reddit, there are tons of interesting people to follow on Twitter. Even if you don’t make an account; you can visit someone’s page to view all of their tweets; perfect for getting your daily dose of memes. PlayStation Network (PSN) and Xbox Live (XBL) both deserve an honorable mention because they both provide social features for console gamers, like finding and adding friends, sending and receiving messages, etc. But neither is full-blown enough that we’d consider it a true social network. That may change going forward, or it may not.

It’s been a while since we’ve taken a look at ways to find interesting people to follow on Twitter, but in that time, a lot of great new ways have emerged. While you likely have a solid list of people you’re already following, Twitter, by its very nature, provides an endless supply of interesting and engaging Twitter accounts just waiting to be discovered. Another way which Twitter itself offers is right on your Twitter home page. If you launch Twitter on the web, you’ll see a list of recommendations of who to follow. More often than not, these users are followed by people you already follow. You can view the complete list, as well as a list of popular accounts, divided by category. If you prefer Facebook over Twitter, most of these accounts are also on the social giant, and there’s surely many more.

Internet Research 5 Team Assignment

Social media sites have options for users to secure their accounts and increase their privacy. Facebook has many of these options available to their users. Facebook users can change their security and privacy settings at any time. Users can choose to log in with a password or by clicking on a profile pic. Users can access their login history which shows all the devices that have attempted to access their account. They can also turn on alerts about unrecognized logins. To ensure the user never gets locked out of their account, Facebook has an option to choose 3-5 friends to contact in the event a user is unable to login.

Facebook has many privacy settings to allow users to control who can see their content and personal information. There are options to limit who can post on your timeline, what others can view on your page, restrict who can see stories, hide certain posts, review posts/pictures/videos you are tagged in before they are posted, control who may send a friend requests, and many more options. There is also a choice to opt out of other users finding you by name or email. Users can also choose if they want their account to be accessible by a search engine.

In addition to restrictions, Facebook has many options pertaining to blocking. Users may block profiles, messages, posts, app and event invites, app and pages, and more. If a user blocks someone’s profile, they will not see anything you post, cannot search for you, and cannot message you and that user, in turn, can not view the blocked profile. Users are able to block or unblock at any time.

To protect users from potential threats of hacking and/or accessing a user’s account, it is advisable to change your password often. Users should also use caution when turning their location on. Facebook also tracks your location history, so users can choose to disable that feature. Users should check the profile of a user sending a friend request to ensure it is safe. Facebook updates their site often, so users should review the terms often and check to see if any settings have changed with every update. Users can also opt in to require a two-factor authorization code to be sent before making any changes.

Critical Thinking 5 Team assignment

Research tips for increasing security when playing online games.

Phishing is very popular in emails, so never click links directly. If you’re asked to log in by a company, always type in the website’s URL by hand. For complex links, use link checker tools to see if they’re safe before you visit them.

Did you find other threats and security tips in addition to the ones mentioned in this module?

Always have some kind of free antivirus program installed and be sure to avoid malware downloads. Also, scan your system every so often to ensure that nobody is recording your keystrokes.

Have you ever downloaded updates to a game?

Yes, I have downloaded updates to a game

If so, how did you ensure the updates were safe?

I had an anti-malware software program running, so it scanned anything I downloaded or updated. I run scans often to ensure that my computer is safe.

Locate a list of games that are known to cause malware infections.

Single Player Games

§ Call of Duty

§ Star Craft 2

§ Diablo

§ Fallout 3

§ Minecraft

§ Half-Life 2