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.

Week 7 EOC: The Scary Internet

Since the advent of the solid-state microprocessors our lives have become easier to manage. Through the use of computers, smart phones and the internet I think that we are starting to take things for granted. For example if I want to find a recipe that uses bacon, Google and other search engines can and do make the assumption that I am male. And then the next search that I do might include ads at the side that are meant for a man. That might be fine and dandy and can also be convenient. But the one thing that scares me the most about this is when anyone can use this same technology to find out if I am not home and then come over and rob me. Or a future employer might be able to have access to some of my past through pictures of me past out drunk at a party and then decide to not hire me because of that. The list goes on and on and can get even scarier.

Week 7 BOC: Privacy Issues on the Web

When it comes to my privacy and yours, I think that we are all screwed. This last week in the news the story about Google and their “street view” cars has resurfaced. As one of these vehicles drive down the street they would harvest any data off of anyone’s home network that was not secure. Not to mention what was captured by the cameras. “Google insists that the data sweeps were “unintentional” and that they were only viewed a very limited number of times.”(http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1876720) The thing that I find interesting is that that is exactly what Google is in the business of?
Also Microsoft is guilty of doing the same thing. Microsoft just released their product “Kinect”. What it does is enables multiple video games participators to interact with their Xbox without the use of any controllers. It captures your movments via a special web cam that sits on top of your TV. The issue is that it sends pictures back to Microsoft. You can only imagine what they are doing with those pics, right! “Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE do not use any information captured by Kinect for advertising targeting purposes.”(Microsoft) We can only hope.

BOC week 7: How to Beatmix

Week 6 EOC: Video Challenge Tentative Plans

I think that for this new and exciting video challenge, I will need to produce something a lot of people are interested in. The first thought that comes to mind is something artsy. You know something with music that I created in my little, modest studio. I really like stop motion and I have seen some really interesting videos done in that style that I like. As a child, growing up I really liked these short films or videos that where done in stop motion on “Sesame Street” and then music placed on top. And as the beats or melodies played in the music the video responded to that sound, I guess you could say it’s kind of like a “Video Jock” does in a nightclub on video screens hung around the nightclub.