Has Apple Reached it's Peak?

This past week, as I'm sure all of you know, was massive for Apple. With the release of iOS8, the iPhone 6, and the iPhone 6 Plus, this would seem to be a time of wild success and growth for Apple. However, it has proven to be quite the opposite.

Shortly after these products became available to the public, problems (ranging from inability to make phone calls on iOS 8 to the rare, but evident, cases of bent iPhones) began to arise faster than they could be dealt with. If unprecedented, this bad publicity could have blown over quickly, but recent events such as the non-consensual U2 download and the iCloud hacking incident are making it difficult. This is not to say that everybody is displeased with Apple at the moment or will be in the future, but how much can one company take before all of it's competitors begin to outshine and outperform?

In fact, ther companies have already taken this opportunity to push themselves ahead by bashing Apple's recent mistakes in humorous advertisements. Some of these companies include Samsung, LG, and even Kellogg (Pringles) and Nestlé (Kit-Kats). 

Although I don't personally think that Apple will reach it's end any time soon, it definitely isn't the star it once was and I don't see them being the at (or near) the top in the US for too much longer - especially with other companies passing them up by beating them at their own game. 

Social Media Can be More Than Just a Distraction

A few days ago, I heard about a new program being tested at Brockenhurst College in the UK that aims to give social media a more positive role in classrooms there, and across the globe. Developed by IBM, this private social media program not only allows students to contact teachers and view grades (like other popular applications Canvas and Blackboard), but also to build a stronger connection between the school and its pupils. 

Before the school year even starts, teachers can prepare using something that IBM calls "predictive analysis." This tool gives the teachers data from their students' previous years so that they may have a better understanding of how each individual learns. And if a student appears to be struggling in a certain class, that teacher can reach out to his/her colleagues to corroborate using data and find a solution. Brockenhurst College Principal Di Roberts calls this "a development of what we already do," as the recorded statistics can provide an additional, potentially more solid analysis than solely the previously relied on human observation. 

Another slightly more controversial side to this program gives the school the ability to monitor students' personal social media accounts (with consent). This would be used to find "keywords" (such as "I'm bored") in posts, tweets, statuses, etc. and use them to track students' stances on teachers and classes.  Roberts states that "students do deserve to have their privacy" but does believe that this tool could enhance the learning environment at Brockenhurst. 

Though it's still just in the trial stages, this program could massively improve the way schools are run around the world, especially as educators begin to integrate more and more technology into their curriculums. I feel that providing teachers with a more solid understanding of how students are functioning can improve the crucial teacher-student relationship and the students' overall engagement in the class. And despite the fact that I might not consent to personal social media tracking, I believe it is a good start to a very successful program. Although social media is often the biggest distraction of high school and college students everywhere, IBM is finding ways to use it to foster a more productive learning environment. 

Is Goodell Really Doing Good for the NFL?

In 1994, after months of mishandled situations, baseball reached its tipping point. Now, twenty years later, is the NFL facing its own?

Throughout this week, deemed the "week from hell" by some, I have heard story after story of abuse performed by well known NFL players, one stand-out being Ray Rice. As many people have heard, Rice beat his wife (then fiancée) to unconsciousness in a hotel elevator back in February. After at first being suspended for only two games, his penalty was increased to an indefinite suspension when the video was released last Monday. Though an appropriate punishment, it may have been long overdue, as a law enforcement official claims to have sent Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, the video in April. In the backlash from this claim, Goodell remains that neither he nor anyone working with him had seen the video prior to Monday. With an FBI agent now on the case, the truth will be out soon enough, but until then, how are we to know who to believe?

Goodell's possible mishandling of the Ray Rice case, the Adrian Peterson child abuse indictment, plus many more recent domestic abuse incidents in the NFL left Goodell under massive scrutiny and  many are asking for his resignation. Nita Chaudhary, co-founder of UltraViolet, declared, "It is time for Roger Goodell to resign, and for the NFL to get serious about its commitment to ending violence against women within the league. "

Banner reading "#GoodellMustGo" flies over MetLife Stadium today

Whether or not Goodell had seen the elevator footage of Rice in April, I feel that it is time for him to step down. With there being far too many (and far too often) NFL abuse stories in the news, how well can Goodell really be handling things? And with doubt piling up as he was a no show for a long-scheduled appearance, how long does he expect to keep up his charade?

A Deadly Tradition

As the school year is still just beginning and fraternities and sororities across the nation are selecting their newest members, the spotlight turns to a longly-controversial topic: hazing. While some rituals can be low-key and potentially less alarming, others can develop to be life threatening. Between the years 1970 and 2012 alone, there were a total of 104 lives lost to unnecessary and excessive hazing rituals.

Earlier this week, I came across a New York Times article detailing the events at Cornell in February 2011. Somewhat different than others, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity's annual hazing consists of having the freshmen kidnap then upper classmen and running things the other way around. After a night of excessive drinking and bizarre foods, sophomore George Desdunes was left tied up and unconscious in the campus' library until he was found there the next morning, dead. Although this fraternity's ritual allows for a pledge to pull out at any time, I still wonder how much choice George had. 

According to the article, "though hazing has been illegal at the university since 1980 and in New York State since 1983, 60 percent of the universities fraternities and sororities were found responsible for hazing actives over the last decade." If this has been going on for so long , what have we been doing to stop it aside from just making it illegal? And what could we or should we have done years ago to make the limits more well known? Being a junior in high school and beginning to think about college and the teams/clubs/sororities that I might join, I feel that hazing is a topic that needs to more attention. However, this is not to say that pledging to a fraternity, sorority, or other club is always a bad thing, especially when you're going into college and looking for a large group of friends or even just a sense of community. As long as alcohol, the root of an estimated 80% of hazing deaths, remains absent or minimal, hazing can be curbed. It's just a matter of knowing how much is too much.