The Technology Quiz
Roger Fidler a fellow at the Reynolds Journalism Institute and Clyde Bentleyan an MU journalism professor, spend much of their professional time trying to figure out how newspapers and magazines can thrive, or at least survive, what Fidler calls the transition from ink on paper to the digital world.
Fidler, who specializes in applications for e-readers and tablets, and Bentley, who is researching applications for mobile phones, spoke to magazine publishers from around Missouri last Monday in a forum organized by the Missouri Association of Publications.
Rather than rehash their presentations, the CBT decided to use the information they provided, along with other sources, to put together a technology quiz. The answers are at the bottom of the page.
1. True or False: This year, Amazon.com has sold more e-books than printed books.
2. The first demonstration of a tablet computer was:
A) Microsoft chairman Bill Gates unveiling a tablet PC prototype in 2001
B) An astronaut in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey
C) Personal computer vendors HP and Lenovo at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1999
3. Consumers are expected to buy X million iPads this year and XX million tablet computers in all next year, with an estimated 60 percent of them being Apple’s iPad.
A) More than 9 million in 2010 and 40 million in 2011
B) Less than 1 million in 2010 and 10 million in 2011
C) At least 20 million in 2010 and 66 million in 2011
4. What made the Kindle so popular?
A) It was the first e-reader with Internet connectivity
B) It is the only e-reader that has a color display
C) It can still work after getting dropped in the bathtub
5. Wired was one of the first magazines to sell single copies of its editions to iPad users. Wired sells them for $4.99 each. How many of Wired’s first issue did iPad users purchase?
A) 600
B) 60,000
C) 600,000
6. What is a trackback?
A) The track before the song you’re listening to on a CD
B) A method for tracking when someone links to your site
C) A way of improving the odds that your site will come up on a search engine
7. Name the founder of Wikipedia.
A) Jimmy Wales
B) Mark Zuckerberg
C) Larry Page
8. True or False: According to a recent article by The New York Times, 6 percent of parents plan to buy an e-reader in the next year.
9. What was Apple CEO Steve Job’s salary in 2009?
A) $298,436
B) $863,091
C) $1
10. What is the percentage of people in the US with a mobile phone?
A) 95 percent
B) 90 percent
C) 100 percent
11. Nearly a third of people browse the Internet using their smart phones. According to Gartner Research, what year will smart phones eclipse traditional computers as the most common Web access device?
A) 2013
B) 2015
C) 2020
Click to see answers