Unlocking Word
Meanings
Read the following words/expressions found in
today’s article.
1. status
(n.) [stey-tuhs] – refers to a current condition
Example: Not much has improved in the status
of the business recently.
2. shell
out (v. phrase) [shel] – to pay, contribute or to hand over, especially money
Example: The employees shelled out part of
their salaries as donation to the homeless.
3. fortune
(n.) [fawr-chuhn] – a great amount of wealth or any material prosperity, especially money
Example: It will be worth a fortune to
purchase that house.
4. speculate
(v.) [spek-yuh-leyt] – to think or reflect when formulating a guess
Example: The supervisor speculated that the
employees’ frequent absences must be due to health reasons.
5. mediocre
(adj.) [mee-dee-oh-ker] – poor, inferior, or not satisfactory
Example: The dancer’s mediocre performance
bored the audiences.
Article
Read the text below.
Although most smartphones now have GPS features
to track location, only about half of US smartphone owners use it to help
them get directions.
This finding from the Pew Internet and American Life
Project research reveals that 55% of smartphone owners in the US use GPS
built in their phones to get maps, directions, and recommendations based on
their location. These services are provided by applications such as Google
Maps, Bing, or Yelp.
Besides GPS, only few smartphone owners also
avail themselves of other location-related services, namely geosocial
services and location tagging in social networks.
Geosocial services, like Foursquare and Gowalla,
allow users to "check-in" at a certain place using their
smartphones. It also enables them to see where their contacts are. According
to Pew Research, only 12% of smartphone owners use these services, while only
14% of smartphone users use location tagging. This allows them to include
their location when posting status
updates on their social network profiles like those on Facebook and Twitter.
Mobile technology writer Amy Gahran finds it odd
that although these people shell out
a fortune to own a smartphone,
only few of them take advantage of location services. Gahran speculates that since smartphones
have mediocre battery life, users
would rather turn off the GPS when not specifically needed so they can
stretch out power usage.
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Viewpoint Discussion
Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.
Discussion
A
·
How
can GPS be of help aside from getting directions?
·
How
do you think GPS can be further improved?
Discussion
B
·
Why
do you think some people would want to post their location online?
·
Would
you like to share the places you’ve “checked in”? Why?