Week 11 EOC: The future of the internet

When we look at the internet and where it is going it is probably an unknown quantity. I could make some kind of a prediction and that’s all it can be, a prediction. In 1970 an author by the name of Alvin Toffler wrote a book called “Future Shock”. In it he shares his interpretation of the future and what it might be.“he anticipated, long in advance, today’s computer revolution, as well as cloning, the fragmentation of the family, cable television, VCRs, satellites, customized products, the speed-up of daily life, niche markets, virtual agents and the rise of the "knowledge economy. “(http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnists/toffler/toff05.htm). He said that if technology increases to fast that society would suffer from what he called “Future Shock”. He said that people would be overwhelmed. If you take a look at his prediction you can see that he was limited quite a bit. I think that people have actually dealt with it quite well. People are not overwhelmed if anything I think that are next generation are growing up with too much data in their face. My nephews who are all under the age of 8 all have iPhones and know how to use them. But I fear that all of them could grow up with “attention deficit disorder”. “Now we not only shop, bank, work and meet people online; but we share what we are doing at any given moment (e.g. Twitter), and even keep statistics on daily minutia.”( http://sixrevisions.com/web-technology/6-predictions-for-the-future-of-the-internet/). But back to the internet, I think that with new technology like HTML and the improvement of the backbone from IPv4 to IPv6 more exciting things will be possible through the internet. Just think what it could do with education, it has already begun to transform the print industry.“You can buy books from Google and read them on your Android, iWhatever, e-reader, or the Web; authors and publishers can upload their own books, with or without DRM; and it’s all been expertly implemented.”( http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/18/google-ebooks/)

Week 10 EOC: 3 Things that scare or inspire

To scare or inspire that is the question. It really depense on whether you are out for good or bad. Or in other words is your intent is to create a product that is meant to help others or are you just going to create havoc. From the book “How the internet works” one topic I find to be quite scary. That topic is “War Driving”. Its sounds scary because of the fact that “War Drive Hacker” does not need to be even close to a open “WiFi “ network to capture the data that he needs to have heyday. But o tell you the truth this sounds like fun to me. Now don’t get me wrong I just want to try this not to do evil but to just to see if I could get it to work.
Another is the “Evil Twin”, where hackers finds a local coffee shop when it is at its busiest and create a duplicate SSID or “WiFi” to trick internet users to use instead of the coffee shops. Then of course they can collect all the data they need to get started. But the thing that I kind of want to go out and try is both. I think that that would be interesting. Of course this is only for academic purposes only.

Week 9 EOC: What is Cyber Monday?

Before we can talk about “Cyb-er Monday” we should first mention “Black Friday”. Black Friday is considered to by a lot people to another holiday, a holiday meant for shopping that is.“The Black Friday as we know it today (long lines of people outside stores at 5am or even midnight) didn't gain popularity until the end of the 20th Century. “(answers.com)(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_did_Black_Friday_start_in_the_US#ixzz18Q7SGakr). After Thanksgiving, most Americans, storm the stores in pursuit of incredibly low prices that are typically good for only that morning. For example big chains like Wall-mart will offer deals on big screens TVs and other electronics for sometimes up 50-75% off. The crazy thing is that customers will line up the night before or early that morning to try and take advantage of these first come first serve bargains. Comscore.com reported on last December (2009) “...spending for the holiday season from November 1 through Christmas Eve. During this period, approximately $27 Billion was spent online, which represents an increase of 5 percent over the same period a year ago.”(http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/12/E-Commerce_Sales_Rise_by_5_Percent_to_Reach_27_Billion_for_the_2009_Holiday_Shopping_Season_through_Christmas_Eve).
This is pretty incredible for a holiday that was invented by the industry. But “Cyb-er Monday”, also known as “Black Monday” on the other hand is a pretty much the same thing but accomplished via the Internet. You would wonder why is it that after big shopping day like “Black Friday” would people still be shopping like that and especially online.“One theory suggests that people see items in the shopping malls over the weekend and wait until Monday to buy them online, where they can compare prices, avoid lines and/or take advantage of free shipping or other offers.”(answers.com)(http://www.answers.com/topic/cyber-monday). Or it might be some other reason.“Another theory states that people have faster Internet connections at work and, therefore, wait until then to make online purchases.”(answers.com)(http://www.answers.com/topic/cyber-monday). For what ever reason this day way to nuts and you find me out there. I’ll be home sleeping off my turkey hangover.