The internet has developed so fast! Things we imagined 10 years ago have come and gone within 5 years. We can only fantasize about the future.
People inventing umbrellas in Japan where you can surf the internet as you walk, Microsoft surface where everything moves with a touch. People talk about computers becoming the size of watches. That sounds like fantasy, but maybe in the next 7 years it will reality.
Wireless entertainment available 24/7/365 at levels of quality unimaginable today. Television will be where the biggest changes take place. Download anything you like to any digital device. And of course, more and more of what we do today, but with better systems that provide easier, faster and higher quality products and services. Just like the Automobile revolution, today cars still have 4 wheels as they did at the beginning, but today the go faster, are more comfortable, more secure, more of everything....yet the initial concept is still pretty much the same.
Remote monitoring of health enabling better prevention of diseases.
Maybe, in the future, you will be able to design your own car through the internet. You make an order from a car company, but choose your color, style, any additions to the car, personalized seats, choose your engine: Eco- friendly.
Privacy might become an issue with the internet hacking more and more into people's personal lives and their movements, privacy and one's rights will become very controversial.
Or how about doctors from Moscow, Berlin and New york doing heart transplant along with local doctors on a patient in south Africa. Medicine may become more advanced and more lives could be saved.
Maybe Google will take over the world and we will all become slaves to it's power. Never know. There are so many possibilities the future holds for the internet, some may sound absurd and become real, while others may sound possible yet not come about. That''s why the future is what it is, unpredictable.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Week 10
The internet is a giant slush pile. There's just so much stuff floating everywhere, people's opinions that may or may not count, fake news, unreliable updates, and so many "journalists" out there. You are your own editor, therefore, you can post anything that crosses your mind, no matter how crude or inaccurate it may be, no one is really there to stop you.
I think internet journalism has changed news completely, i find it hard to trust any form piece information i see on the web, unless it's from wikipedia which seems to have sensible people editing it or from scholarly articles found on the web.
However, journalists can now link pages together easily and review old material and reports. But so can readers, so gaps in journalists' stories can be quickly highlighted.
I think internet journalism has changed news completely, i find it hard to trust any form piece information i see on the web, unless it's from wikipedia which seems to have sensible people editing it or from scholarly articles found on the web.
However, journalists can now link pages together easily and review old material and reports. But so can readers, so gaps in journalists' stories can be quickly highlighted.
Most journalistic research is done on the Web. Interviews are conducted over e-mail and telephone interviews have become the norm. Many reporters never leave the office all day.
Virtually every newspaper, magazine, TV and radio station now has an online component, while Internet news aggregators serve up selections from all across the Web. Meanwhile, the rise of blogs and citizen journalism has created a world in which anyone can create their own journalism and get it heard by an audience of millions.
At the same time traditional news outlets are struggling. Perhaps as a result of the internet; audiences are shrinking and profits are drying up. Many are cutting their editorial staffs in response, or asking reporters to become "backpack journalists" who can do everything -- shoot video, take photographs, write stories, the works.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Week 9
It's Friday the 13th! :)
This week's lessons made much more sense to me as we learned about politics and and the internet. I suppose this is because it has mroe relevance to us due to the the US elections and the fresh memories of ads on facebook and on msn with Obama's gleaming face plastered everywhere and the words "VOTE" in bold, capital letters.
I admit after seeing the videos in class, the internet not only has changed the way each individual lives their life or how businesses run, it has or is in the process of changing politics in a huge manner. With the internet being a different world, hard to control with pretty much the entire world giving their wise input on anything from Paris Hilton's new hair style or scandal to intelligent debates about world leaders' rights, wrongs, what they should do and what they shouldn't do.
We no longer live in the traditional era of "Whatever the leader says, we follow."
The internet opens up opportunities for politicians to voice themselves in more ways than through a one hour televised session. Articles about politicians' ideas, speeches, quotes are available to audiences for a more permanent time period and allows them to analyse whatever politicians say. Youtube is great, because you can see the popularity of politicians or political subjects by the number of videos you find and the kind of videos you find too.
All in all, politics has become a more open subject now with the internet and today's technology. It's not just newpapers and news magazines that talk, people can go online, create their own blog specificall to rant or to boast about certain ideas and beliefs on politics which can ruin a politician or make them a hero in other people's eyes.
Week 8
Week 8... we learned about Multimedia and XML..
I'll be hoenst.. even after reading on the web what XML is... i still do not see the significance of it nor do i understand it compeltely. I guess i need to be a computer wizz to fully understand it.. But so far, based on what i've read, XML is not the same thing as HTML although they are both similar. XML was designed to transport and store data, with focus on what data is while HTML was designed to display data, with focus on how data looks.
ONe of the things i don't get is "XML does NOT do anything" ....???
XML was created to structure, store, and transport information.
XML has no predefined tags so the author has freedom to create his/her own tags and own document structure.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Listening- Week 7
Hahaha!! This week has probably been the most useful week, about secruity systems and the kind of viruses, worms, malware, spyware, all the funny things out there out on a serch and destroy mission. It's so evil how people actually adopt an identity as a hacker with pure intentions just to ruin other poeples' systems and steal information; and now a days, moneeeyyyyyyy. Get rich fast..
I am probably the worst person on this planet at keeping my computer clean on the inside. Before this week, i was totally oblivious to the bugs that roamed out there and just as oblivious as to how to protect my personal info. Now, i can probably try to fix my computer on my own rather than handing it to someone else every time. I'll probably not know which security systems to use or what to use, but at least now i'll have a better idea of what's going on, rather than sitting there completely blur and oblivious of what the person is talking about.
The article above is from one of the first websites i looked at after searching "cybercrime singapore". Its pretty scary how a lot of the crime occurs in Asia. So, all the more reason to protect my precious machine!
Friday, February 20, 2009
There For You- Week 6
This week we got an inside look on google! The funny name but the most popular search engine. Initially, to me, it was a search engine. I was younger when i first came out and oblivious to how it worked really other than similiar to yahoo. Now, i've got a Gmail account that works really well and super fast and rarely ever lags!! And i've got heaps of space for it and there are so many other functions i have yet to learn.
Besides Google being the most popular search engine and email account, I wandered around chcking out the other tools it had. Some of them standard like, calendar, blog search, directory, alerts etc, which i didn't find much use for. But i tried out this new tool, Goodle Chrome which acts like any internet explorer and firefox, except, it looks a little more spiffy and its download rate is fast and really simple!! It took only about 2 mins for the entire thing to download and kcik into action and everything i do on it works just as fast firefox. And i thought firefox was really good.
There's a function where when you open Google Chrome, rather than opening to a default homepage of your choice, it displays various websites you tend to visit a lot or the ones you last visited. I personally find this really helpful as i tend to go to the same sites almost everyday. Also, it makes downloading anything form the web much faster and is easier for the browser keeps a history of your downloads and you can open the containing folder.
Other than that it's pretty much the same, but i like it because it doesn't freeze, lag and there are no glitches no matter how many things you are multitasking and no matter how fast you switch between tabs when they are loading.
whoo hoo Google! :>
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Cassie- Week 5
Week 5... we learned about learning!! :)
We learned a lot about Bloom's Taxonomy:
Knowledge: Recall data or information. - reciting or quoting something.
Comprehension: Understand the meaning, translation. - being able to explain the aspects and basics.
Application: Use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Using statistics to evaluate a research experiment's results.
Analysis: Distinguishes between facts and inferences. - compares and contrasts.
Synthesis: Put parts together to form a whole, creating a new meaning or structure. -Design a machine to
perform a specific task.
Evaluation: Make judgments about the value of ideas or materials.- Hiring the most qualified candidate.
The Affective domain (attitude) includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasms, motivations, and attitudes.
There are 5 categories for this domain:
Receiving : Awareness, willingness to hear, selected attention.- Listen to others with respect and remembering newly introduced people's names.
Responding: Active participation on the part of the learners.- Participates in class discussions. Questions new ideas.
Valuing: The worth or value a person attaches to a particular object or behavior. Based on the internalization of a set of specified values. - Is sensitive towards individual and cultural differences (values diversity).
Organization: Organizes values into priorities by contrasting different values and creating a unique value system.- Accepts responsibility for one's behavior.
Internalizing values (characterization): Has a value system that controls their behavior. - Shows self-reliance when working independently.
The Psychomoto domain (skills) includes physical movement, coordination, and use of the motor-skill areas. Development of these skills requires practice and is measured in terms of speed, precision, distance, procedures, or techniques in execution.
There are 7 categories for this domain:
Perception: The ability to use sensory cues to guide motor activity. - Detects non-verbal communication cues.
Set: Readiness to act. Includes mental, physical, and emotional sets.- Shows desire to learn a new process (motivation).
Guided Response: The early stages in learning a complex skill that includes imitation and trial and error. - Doing a mathematical equation as demonstrated.
Mechanism: This is the intermediate stage in learning a complex skill.- Use a personal computer.
Complex Overt Response: The skillful performance of motor acts that involve complex movement patterns. - Maneuvers a car into a tight parallel parking spot.
Adaptation: Skills are well developed and the individual can modify movement patterns to fit special requirements. - Responds effectively to unexpected experiences.
Origination: Creating new movement patterns to fit a particular situation or specific problem. - Creates a new gymnastic routine.
We learned a lot about Bloom's Taxonomy:
- Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge)
- Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude)
- Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (Skills)
Knowledge: Recall data or information. - reciting or quoting something.
Comprehension: Understand the meaning, translation. - being able to explain the aspects and basics.
Application: Use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Using statistics to evaluate a research experiment's results.
Analysis: Distinguishes between facts and inferences. - compares and contrasts.
Synthesis: Put parts together to form a whole, creating a new meaning or structure. -Design a machine to
perform a specific task.
Evaluation: Make judgments about the value of ideas or materials.- Hiring the most qualified candidate.
The Affective domain (attitude) includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasms, motivations, and attitudes.
There are 5 categories for this domain:
Receiving : Awareness, willingness to hear, selected attention.- Listen to others with respect and remembering newly introduced people's names.
Responding: Active participation on the part of the learners.- Participates in class discussions. Questions new ideas.
Valuing: The worth or value a person attaches to a particular object or behavior. Based on the internalization of a set of specified values. - Is sensitive towards individual and cultural differences (values diversity).
Organization: Organizes values into priorities by contrasting different values and creating a unique value system.- Accepts responsibility for one's behavior.
Internalizing values (characterization): Has a value system that controls their behavior. - Shows self-reliance when working independently.
The Psychomoto domain (skills) includes physical movement, coordination, and use of the motor-skill areas. Development of these skills requires practice and is measured in terms of speed, precision, distance, procedures, or techniques in execution.
There are 7 categories for this domain:
Perception: The ability to use sensory cues to guide motor activity. - Detects non-verbal communication cues.
Set: Readiness to act. Includes mental, physical, and emotional sets.- Shows desire to learn a new process (motivation).
Guided Response: The early stages in learning a complex skill that includes imitation and trial and error. - Doing a mathematical equation as demonstrated.
Mechanism: This is the intermediate stage in learning a complex skill.- Use a personal computer.
Complex Overt Response: The skillful performance of motor acts that involve complex movement patterns. - Maneuvers a car into a tight parallel parking spot.
Adaptation: Skills are well developed and the individual can modify movement patterns to fit special requirements. - Responds effectively to unexpected experiences.
Origination: Creating new movement patterns to fit a particular situation or specific problem. - Creates a new gymnastic routine.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Greener with the Scenery - Week 4
So we started week 4 after a nice long Chinese New Year with E-commerce. I've heard of it before, but of course, because i attended class, and watched the cool as videos Abel played in class, i am now filled with knowledge about E-commerce. :)
I just searched on Google (our friend!! >.<) about the top few common failures in e-commerce and this is what i paraphrased from it all. (I did not copy and paste. That would be too much to read.)
1. Weak Website Design
Gaining your buyer's trust is the most important thing to lock down on success yet maybe the most difficult thing to do. The number one thing that customers look judge you by is your website design, it also holds their attention. Things such as navigational structure, product presentation, testimonials, proof and security are key to gaining trust.
2. Inadequate Site Usability
The website fails to perform the function it was designed for. Instead of being helpful an useful, the site's purpose is unclear, does not help users find what they need, has is hidden content and has annoying sounds and blinking ads or animations.
3. Obstacles to Shopping
If the site becomes more of a burden than leisurely shopping, customers will leave instantly. Insufficient structure, demanding too much personal information, long processes to order items, vague content etc.
4. Poor Customer Service
Mistreatment of customers spreads like wild fire by word of mouth, a sure way to loose potential buyers and a direct ticket to failure. :(
5. Wrong Product Fit
Selling the wrong product online won't work as not all things can be sold online. Although i did have a teacher sell her natural red hair online for 500 dollars once...
6. Site Lacks Personality
I suppose no one would take a second look at a site that is as dull as a wall... Never even thought sites could have personality but i guess they do... one of the subconscious reasons i stay on a site.
7. Investing too much into Technology
Some low margin product selling businesses get carried away with high ambitions where some people tend to invest too into the technology and infrastructure expecting a high adoption rate to their product or idea. Eventually, they go bust!
8. Lack of Marketing Plan
One of the most important things in any kind of business is marketing. Many people forget they need to have a plan to attract people to their website therefore their business fails miserably.
9. Lack of Fulfillment
Products need to arrive on time and live up to their descriptions and the customers expectations. If not, bad news spreads like wild fire through word of mouth. Dooms day!
10. Poor Security
Probably one of the most important promises to keep to customers is that their details do not end up flying everywhere and land in the wrong hands- credit cards.
I just searched on Google (our friend!! >.<) about the top few common failures in e-commerce and this is what i paraphrased from it all. (I did not copy and paste. That would be too much to read.)
1. Weak Website Design
Gaining your buyer's trust is the most important thing to lock down on success yet maybe the most difficult thing to do. The number one thing that customers look judge you by is your website design, it also holds their attention. Things such as navigational structure, product presentation, testimonials, proof and security are key to gaining trust.
2. Inadequate Site Usability
The website fails to perform the function it was designed for. Instead of being helpful an useful, the site's purpose is unclear, does not help users find what they need, has is hidden content and has annoying sounds and blinking ads or animations.
3. Obstacles to Shopping
If the site becomes more of a burden than leisurely shopping, customers will leave instantly. Insufficient structure, demanding too much personal information, long processes to order items, vague content etc.
4. Poor Customer Service
Mistreatment of customers spreads like wild fire by word of mouth, a sure way to loose potential buyers and a direct ticket to failure. :(
5. Wrong Product Fit
Selling the wrong product online won't work as not all things can be sold online. Although i did have a teacher sell her natural red hair online for 500 dollars once...
6. Site Lacks Personality
I suppose no one would take a second look at a site that is as dull as a wall... Never even thought sites could have personality but i guess they do... one of the subconscious reasons i stay on a site.
7. Investing too much into Technology
Some low margin product selling businesses get carried away with high ambitions where some people tend to invest too into the technology and infrastructure expecting a high adoption rate to their product or idea. Eventually, they go bust!
8. Lack of Marketing Plan
One of the most important things in any kind of business is marketing. Many people forget they need to have a plan to attract people to their website therefore their business fails miserably.
9. Lack of Fulfillment
Products need to arrive on time and live up to their descriptions and the customers expectations. If not, bad news spreads like wild fire through word of mouth. Dooms day!
10. Poor Security
Probably one of the most important promises to keep to customers is that their details do not end up flying everywhere and land in the wrong hands- credit cards.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Noise and Kisses- Week 2
Whoo hooo!! Social Media!!!
Something i have done before. Social Networking has been incorporated into my life, i really wonder how i survived the days before MSN and Facebook. When a new social networking website is created, i was so "wowed" by it all i didn't think it could get any better than this. But it did.. it got so much better each year! MSN kept upgrading itself, and then there was flickr, then there was friendster (though i never created an account) and then there was facebook, which i created simply just for fun because all my friends were taking photos and telling me to look it up on facebook. I watched as each of my friends got sucked into the facebook world and were ranting about it's wonders. At first i didn't think it was fantstic, then i decided to just give it try.
Now, i am consumed by facebook. I log on when im bored, i go on it when i'm waiting to leave the house even though i know not much could have changed since i last logged on about and hour ago, i scan through when i am waiting for a page to load or when i'm waiting for a friend to reply on MSN. It sounds sad how i have become so absorbed by this once insiggnificant idea of joining some website so people can contact you, but it has done wonders! I have gotten back in contact with people whom i haven't seen or heard from since elementary days, and before i knew it, they were visiting Singapore and we were back in the old days! :> Not to the mention the awesome and cute applications facebook offers. The applications are so fun to us and are great ways of showing affection and care. From giving a friend a 'hatching egg' with adorable baby animals to posting customized postage notes on another friend's profile for the world to see.
One of my favorite pictures taken by Joel on our latest trip to KRABII!!! <3
Another favortie of mine is youtube and the hilarious videos you can find of people doing the stupidest and most random things, yet they are amazingly entertaining. Also, the little clips of shows you wish you could watch but don't have access to are available on youtube.
This is a funny video a friend sent me. It made my day!!! Its a tamil song with English "subtitles" of what the words sound like.
Something i have done before. Social Networking has been incorporated into my life, i really wonder how i survived the days before MSN and Facebook. When a new social networking website is created, i was so "wowed" by it all i didn't think it could get any better than this. But it did.. it got so much better each year! MSN kept upgrading itself, and then there was flickr, then there was friendster (though i never created an account) and then there was facebook, which i created simply just for fun because all my friends were taking photos and telling me to look it up on facebook. I watched as each of my friends got sucked into the facebook world and were ranting about it's wonders. At first i didn't think it was fantstic, then i decided to just give it try.
Now, i am consumed by facebook. I log on when im bored, i go on it when i'm waiting to leave the house even though i know not much could have changed since i last logged on about and hour ago, i scan through when i am waiting for a page to load or when i'm waiting for a friend to reply on MSN. It sounds sad how i have become so absorbed by this once insiggnificant idea of joining some website so people can contact you, but it has done wonders! I have gotten back in contact with people whom i haven't seen or heard from since elementary days, and before i knew it, they were visiting Singapore and we were back in the old days! :> Not to the mention the awesome and cute applications facebook offers. The applications are so fun to us and are great ways of showing affection and care. From giving a friend a 'hatching egg' with adorable baby animals to posting customized postage notes on another friend's profile for the world to see.
One of my favorite pictures taken by Joel on our latest trip to KRABII!!! <3
Another favortie of mine is youtube and the hilarious videos you can find of people doing the stupidest and most random things, yet they are amazingly entertaining. Also, the little clips of shows you wish you could watch but don't have access to are available on youtube.
This is a funny video a friend sent me. It made my day!!! Its a tamil song with English "subtitles" of what the words sound like.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Blue and Yellow
This is my first ever time creating a blog, and how sad that my virgin blog is born because it is required for a course module.
Before this blog, i never really understood the purpose of blogs. People say that you can create it for anything but i just didn't see the wonders of a blog. In fact i thought it to be a tedious, superfluous web page that took up space and time in your life due to the obligation to update it. Plus, i never felt the need to inform the world of my daily activities or trials and tribulations. If people wanted to know, they could always ask. I guess my traditional beliefs of expressing serious thoughts and feelings were best done face to face and exclusively. The closest thing to a blog i've ever done is posting notes on Facebook and that's about it. Yes, some notes are quite personal but they are not exactly direct forms of expression, because only those who know the background stories can really understand what i write.
The first time i recall using the internet was when i was 11, 2001. Even then i wasn't that big a fan of the internet until i started using MSN which changed my life! Now, every aspect of my life revolves around the internet. I use it for everything! I love the fact the internet is a giant encyclopedia for me to use whenever i want or need to. What i love are the generous websites that allow you to watch movies and tv shows almost instantly and listen to songs until you get sick of them.
When flipping through the syllabus i saw the word blog in bold which stumped me.... as i had no idea what we had to do even after reading the paragraph that explained the purpose of creating a blog for the course. I had to admit a little spark of panic lit because i hadn't the slightest clue how to create one let alone know what to write. But i discovered that creating a blog is so easy, but there's still the faintest bit of bewilderment as to how i'm going to continue writing stuff for each week...
Well, now that i've created my very first blog, which i hope does not mess up somehow. Computers and programs seem to be out to get me sometimes.. so i hope this blog will be nice to me. This wasn't so bad and i am slowly realizing why people enjoy blogs so much! :)
Before this blog, i never really understood the purpose of blogs. People say that you can create it for anything but i just didn't see the wonders of a blog. In fact i thought it to be a tedious, superfluous web page that took up space and time in your life due to the obligation to update it. Plus, i never felt the need to inform the world of my daily activities or trials and tribulations. If people wanted to know, they could always ask. I guess my traditional beliefs of expressing serious thoughts and feelings were best done face to face and exclusively. The closest thing to a blog i've ever done is posting notes on Facebook and that's about it. Yes, some notes are quite personal but they are not exactly direct forms of expression, because only those who know the background stories can really understand what i write.
The first time i recall using the internet was when i was 11, 2001. Even then i wasn't that big a fan of the internet until i started using MSN which changed my life! Now, every aspect of my life revolves around the internet. I use it for everything! I love the fact the internet is a giant encyclopedia for me to use whenever i want or need to. What i love are the generous websites that allow you to watch movies and tv shows almost instantly and listen to songs until you get sick of them.
When flipping through the syllabus i saw the word blog in bold which stumped me.... as i had no idea what we had to do even after reading the paragraph that explained the purpose of creating a blog for the course. I had to admit a little spark of panic lit because i hadn't the slightest clue how to create one let alone know what to write. But i discovered that creating a blog is so easy, but there's still the faintest bit of bewilderment as to how i'm going to continue writing stuff for each week...
Well, now that i've created my very first blog, which i hope does not mess up somehow. Computers and programs seem to be out to get me sometimes.. so i hope this blog will be nice to me. This wasn't so bad and i am slowly realizing why people enjoy blogs so much! :)
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