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Nicholas G. Carr is an American writer who has published a vast number of books and articles regarding technology in both businesses and cultures.

Born in January 7th, 1959

Carr's career first became prominent after the release of his Harvard Business Review article, "IT Doesn't Matter;" and after the release of his book, "Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage." Carr's publishings caused for a number of large information technology industries to speak out. These companies included: Microsoft, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard.

in 2005, Carr expressed his beliefs on how future companies would incorporate the use of information technology in his controversial article, "The End Corporate Computing."

Published his second book, "The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google in early 2008.

in 2011, Carr's book, "The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to Our Brains," was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT -- IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS OF 2008

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT -- IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS OF 2008

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USB 3.0

Universal Serial Bus (USB) became 10x faster in 2008. As we know, USB flash drives are crucial to the world today; we use it to save and share information everywhere. The speed boost makes handling information more convenient and worry free.

Apple

The popularity of the Apple iPhone created a growth of interest for the App Store. The world began to understand just how simple new information technology could make their lives. Today, applications are known to bring convenience to any task imaginable. Little did they know of the possibilities in 2008.

Social Media

More and more people were beginning to get their daily doses of news through certain social medias. The more popular social medias were Facebook and Twitter.

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The last 12 months have been very good for Apple, perhaps some of the most significant in the company's history. From the high-flying iPhone to record sales of the Mac and strong financial results, 2008 was a year of success for Apple.

The iPhone makes its mark

When Apple reported its first quarter results in January, the company left no doubt that the iPhone was a consumer success. More than 2.3 million iPhones were sold in the previous three months-and that was the first generation iPhone, not the faster iPhone 3G. In the last fiscal quarter of the year, iPhone sales were 6.8 million.

Perhaps the most significant announcement surrounding the iPhone in 2008 was the release of the Software Development Kit (SDK) and the App Store. Using the SDK, Apple would allow third-party developers to make applications and sell them on Apple's store.

While everyone thought the App Store would be successful, nobody could fathom the tremendous impact the store would have in the coming months. It started off with 500 apps, but by December, the App Store had more than 10,000 applications and customers had downloaded more than 300 million apps.

Apple also met its goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 three months early, as demand for the device continued to grow.

Apple is rolling in money

How about these for numbers: $1.58 billion, $1.05 billion, $1.07 billion, and $1.14 billion. Those are the quarterly earnings Apple reported for fiscal year 2008.

During the fourth quarter conference call, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company had $25 billion in cash and no debt. However, the company's stock the day Apple reported its fourth quarter results was trading at $91.49, a far cry from the $155.64 it was trading at during the first quarter results.

Mac sales continue to grow

I remember when Mac sales were counted in the hundreds of thousands per quarter, not millions. In the first quarter of 2008 Apple shipped 2.3 million Macs, up 44 percent over the same quarter in 2007; the second quarter was up 51 percent at 2.2 million; in the third quarter, Apple shipped 2.4 million, up 41 percent; and in the fourth quarter Apple 2.6 million Macs, up 21 percent.

That's pretty incredible growth, no matter how you look at it.

Apple's notebooks received the majority of attention in 2008. The MacBook line was updated in February and again in October with faster processors and upgraded graphics. The company also introduced the MacBook Air in January, which appealed to executive-type users who wanted a lightweight Mac for traveling.

The Mac Pro was updated early in the year and hasn't been updated since. The Mac mini didn't even do that well-it hasn't been updated since 2006. The iMac saw its only update of the year in late April.

The lack of updates began to show by the end of the year as analysts said the older machines were in "need of a refresh."

However, research throughout the year clearly showed Apple was onto something really good with its notebooks. According to market-research firm NPD Group, Apple's U.S. retail notebook market share for June 2007 was 17.6 percent, an increase of 2.2 percentage points over the same period last year, when Apple posted a 15.4 percent market share.

Research from IDC (a subsidiary of IDG, which also owns Mac Publishing and Macworld) showed that Apple's continued rise in computer sales put it in third place overall among all computer makers in the U.S. This is the first time since 1996 that Apple finds itself this high on the list of top-selling manufacturers.

iPod and iTunes continue to grow

You can't look at Apple these days without factoring in the success of the iPod and iTunes. 2008 was a big year for both products.

By April, Apple claimed the top music retailer spot in the U.S. It even beat out Wal-Mart, which is a difficult thing to do when you look at consumer spending.

In total, customers have purchased more than four billion songs from iTunes, which maintains a catalog of more than six million songs.

iTunes also gained movie rentals in 2008, giving users another movie-watching option. In the latter part of the year, Apple brought NBC back to the iTunes Store and released HD TV shows from many of the networks.

Apple also used iTunes as the storefront for the immensely popular App Store for the iPhone. What started off as simple jukebox software years ago had become a giant content-selling machine for Apple by the end of 2008.

Apple released a new iPod touch in early February, but it was at a special event later in the year that the iPod would take center stage. It was then that Apple introduced a new iPod touch and a completely redesigned iPod nano.

In 2008 alone, Apple sold more than 54 million iPods. The iPod continues to be one of Apple's most successful product introductions in its history.

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The last 12 months have been very good for Apple, perhaps some of the most significant in the company's history. From the high-flying iPhone to record sales of the Mac and strong financial results, 2008 was a year of success for Apple.

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The internet speeds up the process of research, but dumbs us down at the same time.

In "Is Google Making Us Stupid?," Nicholas Carr gives us the idea that the convenience of the internet allows us to find the information we need in less then three clicks. As we get more accustomed to these quick searches, we begin to presume that all of our research is to be just as quick; though, that's not always the case. More and more people are admitting to becoming more lazy or giving up altogether when it comes to doing more research ( a.k.a. reading a bit more). Carr states that the new tactic people are using is "skimming," where people skim over long articles to get the main points only. Our minds are adapting to the new information technology, but becoming dull at the same time.

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How has the internet become part of your life?

Like everyone else, the internet is able to bring convenience to most of my day. My days start off with use of the internet. All of my classes require me to constantly check online applications, like Blackboard and Google Mail, in order to keep up with my assignments. This is followed by the use of Architecture softwares which, from time to time, require for me to find certain blocks on the internet. These blocks add even more convenience to the design process I go through in certain assignments. The internet has made life a bit simple for me. I am able to find any news in the world in seconds. In Fact, mobile devices are now set to automatically bring news without having to ask.

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This is what the internet does to your brain.