Tech Tool Evaluation

Armando Lugo: http://www.stixy.com/

• I like this tool a lot in a sense that it can make posting pictures very easy. The whole website helps people gather a lot of pictures together and post them into a bulletin board which is called a "Stixyboards," which is very creative. Also the tool allows it to be easy to be productive in organizing photos and many other things, and just lodge them onto a simple digital "Stixyboard." The website also  is not used only by big project management experts, it can be used by people all around the globe that freely just want to be productive. Overall, Stixy makes it very easy for an individual in everyday life to have and be productive in organizing family photos, etc.
• Some drawbacks/negative points about this tool is that...NOTHING. This website is very well organized in most ways that it will make it very easy for people to access. Thus following all of the positive points, there are some negative points to the website. The website itself is very messy and could be improved by adding more sections inside the margins and making it easier for people to access some specific parts of the website. The system itself of Stixy may be understandable for most people, thus the system could be kind of confusing for new-users because of the very pact ways of setting your "Stixyboard" and all. The final thing that Stixy could improve is basically the system itself, the ways to use it, website, everything basically into a very simple thing for people to use because for new-comers it seems as a very complicated website that could confuse them; I personally was confused.
• I can use this tool to make a "Stixyboard" about my parents' whole life time to give them to it on their anniversary possibly. Also, I can use this website possibly to make pictures for projects that need a lot of pictures put to it and has a very short time-limit, so I can use this website to gather many pictures together on the "Stixyboard." Overall, the website can be useful for pictures who like to be productive and all.

Rachel Coombs: http://beta.mural.ly/

• This tool is very similar to the tool shown above "Stixy," this tool known as "Murally," is basically a whiteboard that allows you to put infinite amounts of pictures, videos, etc. on it. I like this tool a lot more than the "Stixy" tool because the website is very simple and is understandable to newcomers which will attract them to use it again. The website also shows a video on what the benefits of Murally are which makes it kind of easy for newcomers to basically understand what this website is all about. Finally, Murally is very simple to use by just dragging pictures and videos from your computer or local website on to the website itself which will help you create the board itself.
• Murally, can actually improve many things to the website, starting from the video itself. The video advertises "apple" products too much which can make viewers think about how the website truly depends on Macbooks and the program itself might even be designed for easier use on Macbooks. Another thing that Murally could improve is the user interface itself...under tabs such as Terms of User Agreement, it gives the users a kind of negative view towards the website as it gives facts on how about copyright can lead to jail and all those stuff which could intimidate the users themselves. Finally, Murally can make there sign up program a bit more safe and positive towards the users, because you have to agree to show your email address and your name and stuff which could be uncomfortable towards some users.
• Two ways to use this website can be in situations where you want to give someone pictures of their childhood for their birthday perhaps, and also some ways in projects that require a lot of pictures. Overall, this website is basically just like Stixy but is way more organized and understanding to new users, but this website can be kind of uncomfortable to users that want to keep their identity on the internet hidden.

How Games (League of Legends) Works

What I know about the topic:

League of Legends is a strategy game that matches players from all around the globe to specific matches depending on their skill level, and their "Summoner" level overall. In playing the game itself...there is something called matchmaking in which these "Summoners" are paired with other people depending on something called "Elo" which basically translates to how good you are at the game. All of this match making isn't a very simple thing as there are many people who have a low "Elo," and a high "Elo," which can make a very big difference in choosing which people are paired with which people. Sometimes in the game, when all of the low "Elo," and the high "Elo," players are put together, there might still be some players left that have a high "Elo," that are paired with people with a low "Elo," which makes it very unfair for the players that are less skilled to be matched with someone that has played the game for a long time.

2 questions I have about the topic:

• When there are no people with the same about of skill left, what happens to those people?
• Can the match making system sometimes be corrupted and cause bad playing experience for some people?

Links for Useful information on the topic:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Legends: This link gives an overall explanation on the game itself and also talks about the matchmaking system and the "Elo," which makes it easier for people to understand the system behind this pairing.
• http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/League_of_Legends: This link is the League of Legends Wikipedia itself, and it also explains the different types of games that one player can play, and it also give a very brief explanation on matchmaking just the link above.

Bullet list of things I learned about the topic:

• Sometimes it is possible that a person by himself who is unskilled can face a team of highly skilled players. These events sometimes occur because the matchmaking system thinks that when there is a team that is full and made up of 5 players, that the players aren't so skilled and are friends with each other that want to play together; but actually these 5 players can be very skilled players with a high "Elo," that makes it unfair for some low "Elo" players.
• There are sometimes people who make accounts called "Smurfs." These Smurf accounts are basically accounts that are restarted from level 1 by players who are actually a very high level to just have fun and win against new players. The fact that these very skilled players create new accounts can have a negative effect on the play style and how new players view the game.
• Players with a host who is a level 30, and when they are level 1 or 5 can be matched against a group full of level 30 players. The fact that the match making system only looks at the level of the host can make it unfair for other players that are in the same group as the host himself.
• There are some players that only play OP champions. OP means overpowered in how the company made the champion to be superior throughout other champions. Champions themselves are the types of characters that a player can choose to play, and some champions are harder to get than other characters which makes it unfair for some people who don't have certain champions yet, to fight against others with champions that they have already which are very expensive.
• League of Legends is actually inspired by a game called DOTA: Defender Of The Ancients in which that game has no real matchmaking system because it is a LAN party game. With the fact that DOTA had no matchmaking system, League of Legends had to come up with a system all by themselves which could have been a reason the matchmaking system hasn't been so well made.

How this connects to my life:

I personally do play League of Legends, and I've been playing it for over a good 2 years now. I have reached the maximum level of being level 30, and even have a "Smurf," account myself. I sometimes play with my friends and they are a very low level such as 5 or 10, and I am a level 30 player. With the fact that the matchmaking system looks at the level of the host instead of the level of the general team, the matchmaking system sometimes matches a group like me and my friends, to groups that are all level 30 which makes it very unfair for my friends. Overall, I would personally like to go even more on this whole system of matchmaking and try to come up with solutions on how we can get to make the matchmaking system to become fair.

Questions I still have:

• Will League of Legends (Riot) ever truly fix this matchmaking system?

College Exploration on Naviance

Two Colleges that I'm interested in now:

• University of Rochester
• Princeton University

Two Colleges that I'm interested after the Supermatch:

• University of Washington Seattle
• Washington State University

	University of Rochester	Princeton University	University of Washington Seattle	Washington State University
Location	Rochester, NY	Princeton, New Jersey	Seattle, Washington	Pullman, Washington
Majors	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
SAT Score	1977	2240	1795	1587
GPA	3.8	3.86	3.75	3.4
Ethnicity	Typical	Typical	Typical	Typical
School Size	10,111 students	7,724 students	42,451 students	26,308 students
Tuition and Fees	$41,826	$37,865	$10,574	$10,799

My GPA:

My average GPA was 3.56 on the first quarter. The GPA needed to get into the following universities are University of Rochester (3.8), Princeton University (3.86), University of Washington Seattle(3.75), Washington State University(3.4). With my GPA of a 3.56 I am able to get into the University of Washington Seattle, thus the remaining 3 universities might be quite challenging to get into. To get into the remaining 3 universities of the GPA of 3.8, 3.85, 3.75, I must improve in trying hard to get good grades and attempt to always try the best in everything and end up with good grades. Overall, I must improve my state of mind and focus on trying to be the best I can, and do the best I can.

Summary:

Today I learned how to look up universities that are related to my majors, SAT scores, and my average GPA. From the facts that I researched and learned about today, I realized that getting into colleges weren't such an easy thing, and how you need a specific score for certain scores that are needed to get into a certain college. Now, knowing the scores and expectations I need to get into the colleges that I want, I must work hard and improve my GPA to get a higher than a 3.8, and also try my best to do everything as hard as I can.

Google Day 4

3 Goals for the Day:

• Revise all Pivot animations and correct tiny mistakes, etc.
• Show how a Pivot character can be made.
• Make a figure on Pivot (Upload pictures of the Steps to making a figure).

Useful Links:

• http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-a-Stickman-in-Pivot-Stickfigure-Animat/#step1: Shows how to create a figure on the Pivot animation program.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1H3ATJat8k: This link directs to a video on Youtube that gives a very good explanation and example on creating your own figure on the Pivot animation program.
• http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-FREE-Flash-Animation-Pivot-Animation/step3/Make-a-Stickman/: This website goes into a lot of detail into making a simple character on Pivot, it also explains what each of the modifying buttons do on the "Create Figure Type" tab in the Pivot animation program.

What I learned:

Today I made my own Pivot figure on the program that had a proper set of legs, arms, and a normal head alongside a regular body. Making the Pivot figure wasn't that hard as it was contained regular (basic) stick figure making options, if the figure was to be realistic it would have to be consisted of about 100 sticks for each bone of the human body. The pictures above show some basic steps of how the figure was made and a signature move from Usain Bolt. The signature move was able to be made as when editing the stick figure, you can always move the limbs of the figure to make it do anything.

What I'll be doing during the Presentation:

When I conduct my presentation to show my fellow classmates of what I have made, I will first start off by showing them how to make a simple Pivot figure (for about 3 minutes into the presentation). After creating a Pivot figure on the animation program, I will show them a few examples of the animations (taking up about 2 minutes or so) I have created using different figures that I have made such as the animation of the man falling of a horse, a man walking down an alley to pick up a newspaper, etc. Overall, I will show my classmates that making an animation takes a lot of time when the animation has a very realistic figure and a realistic background, as every frame, the limbs of the figures and the background has to be changed to remain a realistic animation of constant movement.

Google Day 3

What I did Today:

Today I worked on a very detailed Pivot animation in which I used my own created character and even an amazing "alley" background. The animation shows a paper falling down on to the street as a man comes out and attempts to read the paper, however on the way to the paper a ball falls down right in front of him, and he dribbles the ball to soon throw it away. Once he is done with the ball, the man walks towards the piece of paper and picks it up realizing that it is a newspaper, he reads it for a few seconds and carries it with him. The animation took about 40 minutes to make, and required the knowing of how a ball would drop, and how a paper would fall down against the wind to show the animation as a realistic one. The walking movements of the man don't seem so realistic, thus when the man reaches for the paper, dribbles the ball, it indeed does look very realistic. Here are some pictures to show some parts of the animation.

Man reaching towards the ball.

Man reaching for the piece of paper.

Google Day 2

3 Goals of the Day:

1. Research for a file that includes new characters, backgrounds for the Pivot program.
2. Create a new animation that includes the new characters, backgrounds.
3. Practice the use of making characters by myself using the "Create Figure Type" button on the Pivot program.

Useful Links:

• droidz.org: A very useful site that contains packages for Pivot characters, weapons, backgrounds, etc. 
• http://pivotanimator.net/: The main website of Pivot, has a FAQ in which animators can learn more about the program, and how to use it in an advanced way.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCtr04cnx5A&feature=related: This video shows an animation of an animation that is fighting the animator. The video shows how much detail these Pivot animations can go to when a lot of precious time is used. 

Evidence of What I learned:

Animation of Fighting Men

Animation of 3 Men Flying

Animation of a man falling off a horse

Today I learned that making a Pivot animation that is good and detailed takes a lot of time and effort. A pivot animation that lasts about 10 seconds can take up to 20 minutes to make if it is very detailed and well made. Making a Pivot animation is not only about creating each and every frame to be so detailed that it takes 1 hour to make a 10 second animation, it is about using your own effort to create a character, create a background, and organize them all together to make it look realistic. The creation of these animations are made frame by frame as if someone took a picture of each second of an action you did, which makes the animations very long to create. Some of these pictures below show the animations until now that I have created that are still in the stage of improving. 

Things I would like to learn next Google Day:

On the next Google Day, I would like to learn how to make my own Pivot character and actually implant him into one of my animations.

Desmos

Desmos:


Purpose and description of the site:
Desmos, is a site that brings us to a total new level of graphing calculators that doesn't require any download and it's totally free. The graphing calculators can help solve quadratic functions and for artists it can even help them in creating art from curves to lines. The true purpose of this website is to help teachers and students around the world, and provide them with the right tools to create these graphs and improve their understanding on using the graphs to solve quadratic functions, etc. 

How to use the site:

1. Go to desmos.com and click on "Launch Calculator," that is written inside a big red box on the middle of the screen.
2. Let the graphing calculator load until it shows everything that is needed to make the graph.
3. On the top left margin, there will be a number 1 and a small white box under it. Place any expression inside the graph (in my case...y=x-sqaured + 6x + 7). You can solve multiple expression too if you want to by clicking on the "create new expression" button right under the margin.
4. Once you have filled in the expression, the graph will be automatically loaded and the graph will be shown on the middle of the screen.

Example of a Graph:

How others may use this program:
This website can be used by students who do not have any graphing calculators in situations that they can not afford them or it is too hard to use them. Instead of having to go through numerous buttons to get one simple expression, this website can help those students have an easier time by just typing the equation they need and automatically it loads the graph. Also, this program is not worth any money and is totally free, the website can be accessed on any other device such as an ipod, ipad, iphone, or laptop. Overall the website will be very helpful for students who are still confused on using graphing calculators, and want something that can help solve graphs very simply and efficiently. 

DIGITAL NATION

1. Everyone needs internet to communicate with friends:
No one needs the internet to communicate with friends, anyone in the world can hang out with others without any mechanical device, they can play sports or talk to each other or do anything without a mechanic device to communicate with anyone.
2. On the internet you can be crazy because no one is watching you:
If your on the internet and you post a video about you acting crazy, someone is bound to watch that video and say something about it; everyone must know that uploading something on the internet is made so everyone can watch it. So, I believe that you must not do any embarrassing or crazy stuff on the internet as people can always see you.
3. People can Multitask:
People who think that they can multitask believe they can, thus scientifically proven, no one in the world can multitask. With the research it was proven that people who thought they could multitask, they were actually slower than they believed they were at being able to do two things at once.
4. People distracted by social technology:
In my opinion, I believe that people aren't distracted by social technology because you can be social even when you talk to others at school, and in any other way that doesn't require a mechanical device or a computer. 
5. Learning from mistakes:
In my opinion I believe people can learn from mistakes as anyone can always quit social network programs or any video games. Even I personally stopped playing games for 3 months as I felt like I was not doing well in school and in getting grades. So, since even I can do it, I believe that anyone can stop using technology to get around anywhere around the world. 
6. Addiction of Gaming:
I believe that addiction of gaming is an actual addiction, as video games keep on pulling people into the game and keep making them thinking about the game itself. Even I was addicted to gaming about 2 years ago when I didn't even do any homework and just played games all day with ignoring everything around me. Thus I believe that people can quit from games to adapt to other things around them, but I believe that the gaming addiction can harm people seriously, mentally and physically.
7. Kids who grow up with internet are good with internet:
In my opinion, I believe that children who grew up with internet are actually better than people who didn't grow up with it. My dad works at the embassy and he is required to use the computer to do every kind of work that he needs to do, thus he doesn't know anything about the internet and doesn't even know how to look at the history on the internet when I do know. And he has been working with the internet for 20 years and I have only used it for 7 years, so I believe it proves that children who grew up with the internet are good with it.
8. Kids aren't as academic as they used to be with technology:
Kids aren't as academic as they used to be and I agree with it. Kids use the internet as they grow older and their academic skills just disappear and can't do anything. So, I believe that the technology is actually corrupting the children's minds from doing educational work.
9. Too much technology is bad for people:
I agree that too much technology is bad for people just like as too much water can lead to water intoxication and make you basically feint. And with overusing technology people can even die if they play games at a game tournament for a long time, and it is even proven and official that some people have died due to computer games (video games).
10. People don't focus on their work with technology:
With technology, when people are doing an essay or anything that they have to type on their laptops or computers. When I was working with any essay before, I always use to play one match of a game after typing one paragraph and then with forgetting everything related to the essay because I played a game, I would write totally different information which caused me to get bad grades.
11. Games give people a whole new life:
Games actually do give people a whole new different life. When you play any kind of game, you can actually become anyone you want to be, you can say you are anything or anyone on the game but you can't in real life. So, I believe that games can actually change your whole life in what you think you can achieve and do.
12. People can develop relationships in games:
I believe that people can actually develop relationships when you meet someone in the game and after you go into some convention you can actually meet them and do something with them so you can develop  a personal relationship.
13. The virtual world is somewhere where you can have a new life:
The virtual world is basically a place where you can have a new life actually, since you can make an avatar which can do anything that you can in real life, but do even more things. Also with having other people play with you makes these people happy and interested. Thus, it can ruin your real life when you are focused too much on your virtual life.
14. More technology can solve the fact of people being alienated:
I do not believe that more technology can solve the fact of people being alienated, because with more technology you would say that your friends with someone when they are on the other half side of the word. So, I believe that people should try to be social without having any type of mechanics.
15. People can work with others without going to work actually:
I actually believe that people can go to work without going to the office actually because you can actually just get a pair of headphones with a mic and just talk to the other employees and work. Thus, always working away from the office can actually make you lonely and not have any idea on what is going on around the world.
16. Our real lives are moving into virtual lives:
I actually believe that the real lives are being moved into our virtual lives as people are getting more and more pulled into the virtual live as technology is evolving more and more and is being allowed to even make people experience things that they never have before.
17. Virtual life can heal some stress in real life:
I do believe that the virtual life can heal stress in real life as when you play a game people are entertained and happy while playing which gets their brain off of the stress and can have them happy at the end. And even now the military are using technology to actually create the situation that would happen in real life to train.
18. Virtual life is keeping us safer:
I believe that virtual life is actually keeping us safer because even in the military people move drones that are far away from them and can still do their job but are not in danger because they are away. Thus, the people must believe that they are in the fight when they are flying because they could just become careless. So the people must have their mind set in as they are far away from where they are.
19. Virtual life can hurt civilians:
In the military, they use drones to cause destruction to the enemies but sometimes when they fire carelessly, they are not only hurting the bad guys but can also hurt civilians inside the building that they might be attacking. So, virtual life can provide anyone with benefits of being safe, but to the others out there, they are actually in danger as innocent people can be killed. 
20. Virtual life can even make children good at having real life fights:
I absolutely disagree with this opinion, because they are children and they are not supposed to kill other people and they are not supposed to be trained to kill others in virtual life or even real life. The military is making virtual life situations of war for children to help them train but that is totally wrong and I believe that the children must be smarter to understand that the children can't handle it. So, the military should never do anything involving kids in the military.

Game Design

     

- What you know about the topic before you search

Personally, I have had little experience in game design when I was in middle school. I made a short flash game about a little man running through a maze. I love game designing and I love games themselves; I've always played and liked games before and I always wanted to make a popular RPG game when I grow up. There are various programs to use to create a game and I'm not sure I remember the program that I used to make the game in middle school, thus I will search for it.

- What you wonder or questions you have about the topic

1. What game designing programs are best in quality?

2. What kind of games are the most simple to make?

3. Which game making companies are very famous for their work?

4. What kind of games are most popular to gamers?

- Links to where you found your most useful information
Famous Game Companies:

• You need to brainstorm about the characters, setting, and obstacles.

• You can always dream about something inside your head and it might come useful to you when you create a video game.

• Be inspired by movies and videos that you have watched (thus never copy)

• Think about all the different things the character can do, the sound track, what the enemies can do to players when they are hurt, etc.

• Try to have a story related to the game so a character can follow the story and provide the gamers with some entertainment.

• Always double check for bugs, glitches when creating games, as players might abuse them and make the game less fun for everyone else.

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/

http://www.arena.net/

http://www.riotgames.com/

Useful Information about Game Designing:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/designing-video-games.html

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/411/game_design_an_introduction.php

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_113/1385-How-to-Become-a-Game-Designer

- Bullet list of things you learned about the topic

- A short summary of how this topic relates/connects to your life

This topic relates and connects to my life as I truly love to play video games and I really love everything related to video games. Without video games, life would just to plain old boring but video games provide you with entertainment. So, game designing has a true impact in my life as it always has been my dream to create a video game that everyone would love to play.

- Questions I still have

How long does it take to create a decent game?

Google 20&

1. Research on how to make a simple Pivot animation.

2. Make a short animation that lasts about 10 seconds.

3. Save and check to see if it looks realistic.

Today, I learned how to make a short Pivot animation from a short Youtube clip, in which
I made a man falling off a horse that lasts about 3 seconds. The frame numbers were very long,
thus the animation in general didn't last that long, however I am still happy with the results.

Link

Computers & Careers website