The Ithacan

Getting ahead of technology

By Andrew Weiser • May 3, 2011

In a box underneath my bed, right next to my Taylor Swift limited edition box set, is a small, worn device — my first iPod. Though the battery only lasts 47-seconds into Creed’s “One Last Breath,” I often find myself browsing through my library from 2007, amazed at how far technology has come.

Smartphones are the future

By Andrew Weiser • April 19, 2011

I was crazy about disposable cameras as a kid. I must have blown through close to a dozen on my family trip to the Virgin Islands in sixth grade and another seven or eight during our trip to Hawaii. But that all changed once my sister got her first Polaroid i-Zone camera.

Liking Google’s latest product

By Andrew Weiser • April 5, 2011

I don’t know how many times I’ve “liked” something on Facebook. Most of the time it tends to be an awkward picture of someone falling asleep in class or an inside joke about the past weekend’s shenanigans, but for the most part, my “likes” never amount to anything meaningful.

Newest trend to group text

By Andrew Weiser • March 22, 2011

The first thing all my friends asked me when they found out I got a Blackberry Smartphone was “What’s your pin?”

Google Hotpot rates dining

By Andrew Weiser • March 9, 2011

During my backpacking trip across Europe, I constantly found myself running into a question that none of my four friends could answer — where should we eat? Though my memory is sharp enough to offer directions to the lone Burger King in Venice — just outside the east end of Piazza San Marco — I…

Social media buying power

By Andrew Weiser • February 23, 2011

I’ve always been fairly confident in my ability to convince people to agree with my ideas. In middle school, I could always sway people to play kickball rather than foursquare. And now, I can convince my roommates what the best gun to play with in Call of Duty 4: Black Ops is.

Verizon offers iPhone option

By Andrew Weiser • February 2, 2011

I’ve had 17 cell phones in the past nine years. I’ve had phones that flipped, spun and did almost everything short of cooking an omelet. But until this past summer — because I was on my parents’ contract with Verizon — owning an iPhone was out of the question.

iTunes changes music purchases

By Andrew Weiser • December 8, 2010

At Apple’s Special Event in September, Steve Jobs made a bold statement that not only came as a surprise but also changed the way everyone views music.

Facebook tags on with e-mail

By Andrew Weiser • December 1, 2010

When my father bought our first family computer I was 10 years old, one of the first things that I did — after playing a thousand games of Minesweeper and testing my artist prowess with Microsoft Paint — was create an e-mail account.

Social media alters job hunt

By Andrew Weiser • November 10, 2010

My first job was working in the Gardening Department at Kmart. I rode my bike down the street to drop off my application and landed my first formal job — arguably because of my expert shopping-cart gathering skills and not my nonexistent knowledge of the difference between pesticides and perennials.

Devices balance use with looks

By Andrew Weiser • October 26, 2010

Like every red-blooded heterosexual male who’s seen “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi,” Princess Leia was my first love. While the Millennium Falcon and lightsabers jump-started my techno-lust, it’s Leia’s beauty and bikini that have stuck with me — and had me searching for a something that can balance both functionality and good…

Social media follow Twitter

By The Ithacan • October 6, 2010

I laugh at myself when I read my first tweet, which was sent at 1:07.52 a.m. almost two and a half years ago. “About to become Friday Night,” I tweeted.