livin' easy

Even though the Harry Potter Book Series has been finished since 2007 and the last Harry Potter movie came out in 2011, the series lives on in fans' hearts ... and on twitter?  

There are an overwhelming amount of twitter sites devoted to Harry Potter, some actors and actresses, some fan groups, and one written by the Dark lord himself. These twitter accounts were labeled the top Harry Potter Twitters for all fans to follow.  

The Dark Lord (@Lord_Voldemort7) - The Dark Lord himself.

Harry Potter Film (@HarryPotterFilm) - HP & the Deathly Hallows Twitter feed

Harry Potter Fan Zone (@HPFZ) - Fan base twitter

J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling)

Tom Felton (@TomFelton)

Emma Watson (@EmWatson)

Matthew Lewis (@MattdaveLewis) - Neville Longbottom

Some of the most popular tweets from the Dark Lord himself are:

#RIPJelena is trending but Justin and Selena weren't actually avada kedavraed? Stop being a tease, twitter.

Yo momma is so fat the sorting hat tried to place in her in Waffle House.

Elections would be more fun if people were chosen to run a country by the sorting hat. #ElectionDay2012

#LiesBoysTell: You're the only girl I have ever let ride my broomstick...

Halloween costume idea: be naked and tell everyone that you're Dobby before he was given clothes.

#ThingsSaidAfterSex: Your Chamber of Secrets has just been entered.

Josh Levs of CNN wrote that this past election has taught us a lot about ourselves as people and as a country.  We have taken steps forward from the conservative country that we used to be.  

Not only is he talking about the re-election of President Obama which showed the "diverse coalition of minorities, women, and youth" who kept in power, but for the first time voters have approved:

same sex marriage in three states 

Wisconsin elected the country's first openly gay US Senator

two states legalized the recreational use of marijuana

A record of 20 women will be serving in the US senate.

A record number of Asian-American and Latino representatives were elected to congress

Levs said that Tuesday's election is redefining what it means to be American.  He said that some "political and social observers say: The country is less conservative than popular belief suggests. It's no longer the same America. The nation has arrived at a "new normal"

What you post on twitter and the hashtags you use can go extremely far.  World news sites have been keeping an eye on twitter during the presidential debates because of its newsworthiness as well as the trends of the tweets which give them a hint at what issues viewers are most concerned about.  

Debate analysts have even said that they can keep up with what's being said and what's happening during the debate by just watching their twitter feed and certain twitter accounts.  There were 7.2 million tweets about the second  Presidential debate, in the 90 minute span that it took to happen.

It shows just how much technology and social media is helping to spread news immediately. You no longer have to wait to here about it in the paper.  

CNN has compiled a list of the Funniest and most relevant tweets of the Second Presidential Debate:

1.Elon James White -- I feel like Obama's staff stabbed him in the chest w/ the adrenaline needle from Pulp Fiction. THAT DUDE IS AWAKE! #twib2012 #debates

2.adamsorensen -- Is there anything more awkward than putting two guys on stools 10 feet apart on a huge stage and asking them to look natural for 90 minutes?

3.Andy Borowitz -- Romney: "Jeremy, if you are illegal, you can get a job working at my house." #debate

4.Brian Braiker -- i hope the guy with a mustache has a spot in line. and i hope he stands up to say "Mr President, I mustache you a question."

5.Dane Cook -- Dear everyone in the town hall #debate. Stop reading your questions off your cards like its a hostage note.

6.Chase Mitchell ‏-- We're about three seconds away from the knife fight from "Beat It."#debates

7.Samantha Bee -- When Obama is talking, Romney makes the same face my Catholic grandmother would make at a Wiccan wedding. #debate

8.Matt Roller -- Before you accuse Romney of not caring about the unemployed, keep in mind he's been trying to get a new job for a YEAR. #debate

9.ditzkoff -- Mitt Romney read very different Mr. Men books than I did. #mrcoal #mrgas #mroil

10.pourmecoffee ‏-- Romney: I am pro-choice, but only for deporting yourself.

11.Jordan Zakarin -- I agree with Romney that we really don't need another 'Fast and the Furious' sequel. Enough, Vin Diesel. Bipartisan consensus!

12.Patton Oswalt -- "Binders Full of Women" is my favorite Motley Crue album. #debate

13.Adam Sternbergh -- "Binders full of women" is what they find in a serial killer's apartment.

"The USA TODAY/ Twitter Election meter is a graphic representation of the Twitter Political Index.  The index is not intended to replace traditional polling, but to provide a daily snapshot of the sentiment of political conversation on Twitter."

It is almost better than traditional polling.  The Twitter Political Index is based on gathering the volunteered opinions of people logging on to Twitter.  Everyday Twitter tracks the hashtags and subjects of users' tweets and records whether they're pro Romney or pro-Obama.  

The results are similar to recording a discussion overheard in a café every day.  This is relevant because the 2012 Election is coming up in November, and this is the first year in a long time that the presidential candidates are polar opposites on all of their policies.  

Monday, October 15, Becki Donatelli and Sam Graham- Felson came to Miami University as a part of the Lecture Series program to give an inside look into social media and the 2012 Election.

Donatelli was the chief internet consultant to John McCain’s two presidential races, and she gave insight into Republican side of the election and how they dealt with social media. One of the main points she made was that Republicans are conservative, and technology and social media are liberal, which did not mesh well for her. When she was working on the McCain campaign she was constantly limited in terms of staffers, and social media leeway. No one believed in the importance of using the internet and they wanted Donatelli to stick to more traditional routes of gaining supporters and funding. This became frustrating because the Obama campaign was doing the opposite, and it was proving to be working for them. She explained that right now is the era of twitter, mobile, and facebook and that the internet has made getting donations and nationwide support ten times more efficient, and it has also increased support.

Sam Graham-Felson was the chief blogger for Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign and spoke for the democratic side of the campaigns. Graham-Felson explained that because he was working with more liberal management he was focused solely on social media, and the internet. The Obama campaign was able to raise 2 million dollars via online, and Graham-Felson said that a lot of the support can be credited to Youtube. He explained that the campaign created 1,000 videos and that millions of people viewed those videos leading up to the election. Another point that he touched upon was how social media allows the campaign to reach people all over the nation in real time. It makes people feel engaged and a part of the election movement. He stated that because of this he and his team were able to portray a real picture of Obama and get his story out there so that they saw the President as more than just a candidate.

This past September, Facebook was able to pass the 1 billion user mark.  This feat proved that even though Facebook is an eight year old company, they are still determined to expand and maintain rule over the social media world.  

This has been surprising to the business & technological world because:

1.  Facebook hit a rough spot in May when they made a mistake by publicly opening Facebook to the stock market.  

2.  Facebook being accessible via mobile devices has shaved more that 40 percent off of Facebook's value.

3.  "In its last earnings report, Facebook said revenue increased by 32 percent to $1.18 billion in the second quarter. But that marked the slowest pace of quarterly revenue growth since the first quarter of 2011 - the earliest data available".

"Finnish video game developer Rovio is teaming with Lucasfilm for the latest expansion to its empire of cranky avians. The new game will take the iconic birds -- now sporting lightsabers, blasters and bad '70s hairdos -- "from the deserts of Tatooine to the depths of the Death Star," according to Rovio's promo materials".

This game mixes the culture of the present and the past by bringing Star Wars into the future and mixing it with out current technology.  The format of the game will also allow for people to play the game on the new i Phone 5.  

What many people don't realize is how much games like this have an affect on our culture.  The game company Rovio has already stated that not only is the game going to come out, but so are "Angry Birds Star Wars" action figures, apparel, plush toys and Halloween costumes, which will hit store shelves starting Oct. 28".  

This is relevant because it is games like angry birds that lead to our obsession over technology.  In today's culture, you rarely see someone without there phone.  Even walking to class there are barely any people who aren't on their phone, looking at their phone, texting on their phone, or playing a game on their phone.  

The app allows you to buy food or sell food in different online communities.  It has already reached 3,161 local food communities 

This past week, online banking was hit with what researchers are saying was the biggest cyber-attack they have ever seen.  Fortune 500 companies such as PNC, JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, have all experienced day long delays and inaccessible websites by their clients.  

The attacks have been labeled as the "denial of service" attacks in which the attackers overload the bank websites with so much traffic that it causes the site to crash.  This strategy outgunned some of the top site securities in the US.

"The volume of traffic sent to these sites is frankly unprecedented," said Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of CrowdStrike, a security firm that has been investigating the attacks. "It's 10 to 20 times the volume that we normally see, and twice the previous record for a denial of service attack."

The attackers were able to carry out the cyberattacks by getting a hold of thousands of high-powered application servers and pointing them all at the targeted banks.  On Sept. 19 they got Bank of America and Chase web servers.  The following Wednesday they were able to get Wells Fargo, and US Bank.  That Thursday they got PNC.  

This article talks about the risks of using your smart phone to pay for things.  Just like PC's and their viruses people have predicted that there will be the same type of viruses for smart phones.  So what everyone is wondering is ... if this is true, why has it not happened yet?

The article says that the reason for this is because cyber thieves are making too much money hacking PC's to move on to smart phones.  One of the most recent cyber hackings was on the Verizon network and resulted in a loss of 20 million dollars.  

"The money is in mobile, and that's where they're moving," said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4, a security training company. "Malware on mobile phones is going to be as prevalent as on the PC. It's inevitable, unfortunately."

The i Phone just came out and abc named the 5 best new features about the i Phone 5 in comparison to other i phones.  The Top 5 were

1) Its lighter thinner and the aluminum back means no more fingerprints

2)it has a bigger screen

3)much faster browsing speeds and faster app downloads

4)the camera now has better low light performance, a new panorama mode, and captures pictures more quickly

5)the new maps app is amazing.