The Next New Thing

My opinion of the next new thing, includes something from the social media perspective, I call it the hook up. I know what you're thinking, another dating site but it nothing has to do with that. Instead, let me ask you this, have you ever been in a position where you felt that if you only knew then what you know now your life would be totally different? The hookup makes thousands of attempts to do this for you by scanning the web for information in relation to your interests. Then it takes that information and sends you this information either by mail or email of all the things to come that you didn't know about but now you do. Let's face it the internet has too much information available to you but who has time to sit in front the computer for 2-4 hrs at a time to research which stores has the best deals between Walmart, K-mart and Costco. The purpose of this is to find inside information, what do people know that I don't and expose it, in other words "whose got the hook up". This can help society in a way that makes us more aware of the benefits that life has to offer and put the people in power that doesn't want us to know to shame.

P2P File Sharing

In the world of technology, multimedia content has always been susceptible to illegal duplication. For example, those of you who were aware of the dilemma heard about a company called Napster. Napster was the first in my opinion to get the word out there to the public about an idea called P2P file sharing. As you might now conclude, you hear very little about Napster - put two and two together- after this secret was out. Since this happened, this raises the question, what exactly is P2P File sharing?
Let me explain first what is file sharing to begin with. File sharing is simply, making digitally stored information (like books, software, music and movies) available for others to access over the Internet. For example, a Web Page is a form of file sharing because it's your digital information and makes its contents available across the Internet . Another example of file sharing, which is also one the most common ways today, by using peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. This raises the next question, what is peer-to-peer file sharing? Peer-to-peer file sharing is a system of sharing files directly between network users, a without the assistance or interference of a central server. What this means in English, is that you and I both have computers, you decided to share a movie (The avengers :)) with me, but your too far away transfer the file from your computer to my computer via USB. So we transfer the movie file by letting our computers talk to each via the Internet. What this means is that it makes your movie available to me through P2P application (bitlord, lime wire, kazaa) and I can download it directly to my computer. A few examples of P2P File sharing includes spotify, gnutella, Skype, VoIP, edonkey and many many more. Many might ask what's wrong with P2P file sharing if I am the owner of the digital file? Well, I can give you 1.5 million dollars worth of reasons, which is the same amount that is being held against Jamie Thomas-Rasset for downloading 24 songs from Kazaa. According to the case, "earlier this year a U.S. District Court judge found the $1.92 million penalty against Thomas-Rasset to be "monstrous and shocking" and "gross justice" before lowering it to $54,000, or $2,250 a song."(Kreps, 2010) - this is still too much in my opinion, given that most songs sold on itunes are for $1.29.

     The moral of the story is this ladies and gentleman, it's wrong and don't be the person in her situation . Pay things the good ole fashioned way, with money and stop trying to cut corners. Be creative and do the right thing.

References

Daniel Kreps (2010, November 4) Minnesota Mom Hit With $1.5 Million Fine for Downloading 24 Songs from http://www.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~rhein/baruchnewmedia/baruchnewmedia.com/w/images/3/35/IllegalMusic.pdf

Privacy & Confidentiality

           Over the past 2 decades, technology has increasingly affected all ways of the modern day professional. We are now at a place where most of our communication is being done through email, meanwhile, the increasing trend of professional journals moving away from printed formats to being exclusively online is staggering. New media has become a new way of life, so to speak. Since nearly all information is stored electronically, whether it's a presentation, phone numbers, sensitive documents, we've become more dependent on upon the technology to "intelligently" perform in a professional environment. However, there is always two sides to a coin and due to the increased speed in communication and information exchange also has great potential for violation of some of code of ethics.

          Let's take a look at Facebook for example, at one point we were able to post any picture or comment to the  public. This proved to be a problem for users because some thought it was cute to let everyone know your entire life story. This is good news for stalkers, groupies, psychos, your exes but bad for the average user like you and me. Facebook is continually making efforts to limit this but my question to you is who is in charge of securing all of our personal profile information. if you think that's scary watch this little clip:

Let's face it ladies and gentleman, Facebook is not  the social media engine you thought it was meant to be. These issues are dangerous and can be possibly used against us. This invasion of privacy is starting to sound more like a wicked plan or trick to use the fear of the public from 9/11 as a way to "fight terrorism". Wouldn't you feel a bit uneasy that someone, somewhere has your pics, status updates, birthdays and places visited on a database. After watching the video, talk to me, honestly,

about how you feel about the direction America is going and what do you think you might do to prevent this future catastrophe from happening. Deuces.

Creativity and New Media

     I created an avatar in Second Life that I was honestly not pleased because I wanted something that is complicated but unique at the same time. However, I did not disappoint, I did find a video that I would like for you to see in tribute to the king of pop Michael Jackson. Then see the Second Life version of Michael Jackson performing my favorite song, Smooth Criminal. It's amazing to look at the details of every move he makes is almost exactly just like the original. Hope you Enjoy peeps!!!

Smooth Criminal Concert

Smooth Criminal Second Life

Creativity

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder? This holds true in the way we think ourselves, whether you look at yourself in the mirror or you see yourself on a more deeper level, it's evident we have a gift creativity waiting to be unlocked. However, how do we develop this sense of creativity that lies in eye of every beholder?
    New media acts as a catalyst in our creative thinking to birth fresh ideas like the iPad, Facebook, Twitter, the Internet and several more. For example, a way new media fosters creativity is through mashups. Let me explain, have you ever heard of remix of a song that sounded sometimes better than the original song? You might have noticed a two or more people in the song especially if they never sung a song together basically "mashed" together to make the song seamlessly sound in sync. Here's an example of a video mashup, the first video is Crank That by Soulja Boy, the mashup is the 2nd video involving Disney characters.

Soulja Boy by Crank That

Winnie the Pooh Mashup

     Although this mashup parody is interesting and funny to see, Disney's legal advisers are tolerating this kind of misuse to their prized characters. Why you ask? In my opinion, it's all politics. This mashup was created five months after Soulja Boy Crank That first came out. In order for people to become more aware of the Winnie the Pooh cast and make more money due to the songs' success and popularity, it's a win-win situation. According to this " the song hot No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this month" (Barnes, 2009) I don't see why not take the opportunity.

References

Brooks Barnes (2007, September 24) Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of it's Critters. But Why? Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

     Have you ever imagined a place that you never been? Or wanted to relive? Maybe, you wanted to recreate that experience for you to reminisce on or to share your experience with others who hasn't been there. If you can relate to this feeling of nostalgia, than your in luck because in our world today, we provide plenty of online software for those users that are interested to have a chance to recreate this "life".
     An example of modeling reality using virtual worlds is a program called Second Life. One of the different ways that this program can be used to create virtual worlds is to recreate a Chelsea hotel involving a murder in room 100 in 1978. "Michael Brown, an Internet technology support manager and singer-songwriter living in rural southwestern Pennsylvania" (Knafo, 2009) came up with the idea to recreate his view of this hotel. Here's his perspective of his reality of the Chelsea:

Michael Brown

     Did you notice the details of even the painting on the right hand side of the picture? If not, it shows a picture of a hotdog-looking dog with "Chelsea Dog" tattooed on it's side. If you think that's something then I bet you wouldn't believe that politicians uses Second Life also. Let me explain, a Linden Labs worker was at a congressional subcommittee hearing that was broadcasting simultaneously in the company's own Second Life virtual world on a projected screen. The reason for them using Second Life in their presentation were to highlight a few questions like: Can Second Life be used to launder money? Is it safe for children? Can you make any money from this world? Basically, politicians are using Second Life as a tool to figure out if it's possible to enact criminal activities without out anyone knowing. Here's an example of a person in Second Life of a political party:

As you may already know there are pros and cons to virtual worlds. A few pros are:

• You escape the realities of this world for something more fulfilling to you.
• You can use virtual worlds to get a picture of how you may want design a place.
• You can use virtual worlds to fight crime by create scenarios in virtual worlds.
• It's a great way to bring people together and collaborate with each other.

A few cons are:

• Security flaws 
• People can become more anti-social by living on Second Life 24-7.
• Subject to terrorist plots by recreating environments and planning how to bomb them.
• Can also be easily distracted while in virtual worlds.
• "Launder Money" (Musgrove, 2008).

     As you already figured, it's something about virtual worlds that has a way to foster creativity. Based on these two images you can see that all you really need to create your own world is an imagination. Even blind people who haven't seen before, too have dreams that cannot be explained. Where does this come from? So as you can see this idea of thinking of something and creating it into existence is something is innate in all of us. I mean God spoke light into existence and we're created in his image are not? So think t your self for a moment, have you ever felt that if you knew now what you didn't know then, boy would things be different. Marrying that man that you knew was wrong for you, not having that child at a vulnerable age (God knows you love them), overcoming the anxiety of people telling you are not good enough, failing that test and the list goes on. One thing I think we all can agree on is that we all have problems and that we've made mistakes as a result of it and only if we had a Second Life I would be better off or so we may think. 

     With technology currently improving year after year after year we have to ask ourselves the question concerning virtual worlds, what will it look like? In my opinion, virtual worlds in the future may have such an impact in that we won't be able to distinguish between the two of reality and fiction because the virtual worlds are being built right before your very eyes. Look at Facebook, we have some people who live on Facebook for hours (You know who you are) and you can't get in touch with them physically face-to-face, only online. Look at reality TV shows as another example, these shows couldn't be any further away from the truth of reality but our minds gain weight on the lies they convey to us and try to implement those same misunderstood principals in own lives. If you ask me, virtual worlds are just the beginning when it comes to what people can think of. People are currently working on a 3-D printer. We are making imagination a reality but is it good for us? Let's see in the next 40 yrs.

References

Saki Knafo (2009, May 1) Chelsea: In Room 100, It's Sid and Nancy All Over Again. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/nyregion/thecity/03virt.html?_r=0

Mike Musgrove (2008, April 1) At Hearing, Real and Virtual Worlds Collide. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/01/ST2008040103032.html

Social Networking Sites

So you’re new to the Internet and you've been hearing a lot about this Twitter, Facebook, networking nonsense. If you want to communicate with your family and friends using one of these sites is essential to your well-being. However, out the bunch that's out there, which one will work for you? Don't fret, I'm here to lighten the load so to speak and shed some light on the 4 networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Google+) I believe is the most reliable today.

      If you're breathing than you've more than likely heard about Facebook. It's become the world’s answer to global networking in a way that is simple but very efficient.  Facebook takes online communication from the days of sending a regular email or an instant message to personal or corporate promoting of one's life. In my opinion, I feel Facebook stole that idea from MySpace but I'll get on that a little later. Facebook is less about "me" and more about "us" with interactivity being the main draw to the community. For instance, take a look at your Facebook profile when you first login, do you notice that the first thing you see is the news feeds of your friends activity? Keep that picture in mind when I introduce to you another social networking site worthy of the title Facebook's ancestor called MySpace.  

      Unlike most social media sites, MySpace was the first site that had such a public impact on the world. It was seen mainly as the as a hangout spot for the young and hip – no one over 30 need apply. And though MySpace gradually has become more popular with those in their 30s, 40s, and beyond, it is still teen-heavy. MySpace is a place to create a Web site that makes a statement about you, with customizable themes and a music player that can load and play a song automatically when visitors hit your page. By default, your MySpace page is viewable by the public, but you can set the page to be viewable only by your MySpace friends. Over time, MySpace has developed a reputation as a “hook up” site and it has struggled with spam disguised as friend requests and hacked user accounts, but the site has worked to overcome these difficulties with tightened security safeguards and enhanced communication with users.

     Looking at both sites I'm sure you noticed you a lot of similarities and the few differences and in reality Facebook is the son of MySpace. Generally, most users prefer Facebook because you can be nosy and search for people, whether it's your ex or an old time friend. It just works!! However, what if you're looking for something more, something that you can get your voice out to the world anytime of the day at any point in time. Guess what? Twitter is your answer to this problem simply because it does just that. You can use it to get out what you’re currently thinking to the public and those who "follow" you. If someone were to ask me, what do you think Twitter is all about? I would tell them, Twitter is what YOU make it out to be. Think about you can follow people you're interested in, have people follow you and monitor what you're thinking as well you monitor what they're thinking. From that point on you decide what you want to from that point on, you can use this information to promote your business like most companies do. You can use it to create a community of people that all have the same interests as you and you can bounce ideas back and forth. It's also used for learning and engaging with one another, check it what Jeanine Walters had to say about that, "I learn every single day from Twitter. Ironically, some of the learning is how NOT to behave. I absolutely appreciate the community I have found via quick tweets or discovered blogs (like this one!) but I also find doofuses who don't get it every day. I use these "role models" to remind me to continue to see Twitter as a village - not a podium." Whoever said you can't teach old dog new tricks, it still takes a village to raise a child ladies and gentleman.

     To wrap this meeting up I would like to touch on a serious issue that has been disturbing me and a few individuals in my circle. What does Google think it's doing by coming out with Google+? Seriously, I thought them trying to come out with Android cell phones every 3 days were enough for them. Now they have to come and capture the social networking too? First of all, its way too complicated for the average social user. They have so much options and different features for someone who’s trying to simply post information. This is why Facebook and Twitter is hot right now --making hard things simple. Also now, granted, Google's redesign turned it into a weird hybrid of Twitter and Facebook's layout, but it still gets the job done. Second there is a chatting limitation that you cannot freely chat with all the users in your Circles; you can only chat with those who are connected to your Google+ account through your email address. This is one of the big lacking features that Google+ need to pay attention to. Because, chatting has now become an essential feature of social networking sites, so, having such limitations to chatting would cause a block in getting people attracted to it. Overall it's a nice site to look at and Google does have a way of things to look nice but everyone knows looks ain't everything.

     Among all these social networking sites my favorite is twitter, not because I can let you and the world know what I'm thinking but I can also follow what other respectable figures are saying about their life. Whether it's a joke from Kevin Hart or an inspirational quote from T.D Jakes, it works for me. How about you, what's your thoughts?

Social Networking

     Over the many years, technology has advanced exponentially to heights that we would never dare to think. Can you imagine? It was just a few years ago, when instant messaging on programs like AOL, Yahoo, MSN were the hottest things next to ketchup. Now look at us, we took that same concept and brought it to cell phones to what is called text messaging. Take MySpace for example, everybody loved the idea of creating their own page that represented who they are, whether it was the background of Chris Brown or it was your favorite playlist that automatically played your music once someone visited your page. It would be an understatement to say that we are becoming more and more like star wars through social media each day. It's more than a phenomenon, it's a way of life.
     Ask yourself this, do you still submit your resumes on company websites? Based on your experience in the job market did you get the absolute best job you can find with your skills? If not, no worries because thanks to a social networking site called LinkedIn this can help you tremendously. This is an example of the direction that we are going in the years to come in job recruiting field such that employers can search for keywords in a resume to pull up a list of suitable candidates for their company.
     If you have a new Nissan Altima or Maxima, you noticed new gadgets and cool equipment the vehicle has to offer. However, has it ever occurred to you how long will it take for Nissan to make the next year model better than this one? Well, social networking for Nissan has helped them develop a way to communicate with other departments and executives across the globe in minutes. An overseas stereo systems job that would normally take easily a month to come up with a decision took only 3 days says Todoroki, 33 "It normally would have taken a month" (Hall, 2006).
     The impact that social networking has had on our lives over the years would make our ancestors curse this technology for being "magic". Which brings me to my final example the infamous Facebook. Literally, everybody has Facebook, from a four thousand dollar Shih Tzu named Napoleon to grandma Suzie in Italy, I repeat again everybody has Facebook. If not, in these times that we're living in at least, you are considered old school, unchanging, expired, anything that is rigid and is outdated. That is the kind of weight Facebook brings to the table. Why do people worship this site so much? It's very simple, if you have any type of computer technology connected to the Internet, whether it's a mobile phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, you can have literally your entire family, friends, co-workers, haters, all in one place. Worst if you have Facebook on your mobile device they not only do you have them with you at home but also in your handbag or back pocket. Much like an 2yr old infant, we like to talk and look at pictures, plain and simple.
     "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other" says Jesus and he wasn't lying. Have we relied too much on social networking sites like Facebook that we hate picking up a phone and saying hello to the family member or friend? Too much of one thing causes us as a society to forget the essentials of what it really means to communicate with one another. Some says it's purpose is dying? In a response to social media giant Facebook, Virginia Heffernan says "Many seem to have just lost their appetite for it: they just stopped wanting to look at other people's photos and resumes and updates, or have their own subject to scrutiny. Some ex-users seemed shaken, even heart broken, by their breakups with Facebook" (Hefferenan, 2009). Don't act like you haven't had a nasty break up or kept looking through a list of photos on your friend's page that after a while you felt even worst about your life, you reading this may not experience it but they people are out there that do. Ultimately, the dark side to this social media boom according to Leif Harmsen is "the commercialization and corporate regulation of personal and social life" (Heffernan, 2009).

     It's pretty clear that they're benefits that come out of social networking like the integration of communication between people, each person has their own individual voice, easier to search for skilled workers, stay up to speed with friends, track down old friends, promote your business, the list goes on and on. These are great, but it leads to the question, how might these technologies evolve in the future? In my opinion, I see social networking becoming more intrusive with little or no input from the user. I believe these technologies will start to think for the user, for example, track the posts I made Twitter in the past, then post a tweet to the page of a person I am following without me physically being there type it. It can get out of control rather quickly but we must wonder as a society, will we let it?

   

References
Frank Langfitt (2006, November 22) Social Networking Boost Job Recruiting. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf

Kenji Hall (2007, October 30) Why is Nissan mimicking MySpace?. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-10-30/why-is-nissan-mimicking-myspace-businessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice

Virginia Heffernan (2009, August 26) Facebook Exodus. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30FOB-medium-t.html?_r=2&ref=technology

Blogs vs. Wikis

     There was once a time when AOL (American Online) was the best way to communicate with one another besides the telephone. Whether it was going to the movies, out to lunch, a business meeting or just saying hi to a few family and friends, it's safe to say we've come a long way rather quickly when compared to technology today. Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Facebook, Skype, blogs and wikis just to name a few, in my opinion has given the meek and shy a voice in todays' networked world. The problem I have, however, is that most of these technologies are so closely related, it gets difficult to distinguish the difference between them, especially, blogs and wikis. Does anyone know the difference? what is it's general purpose? if you've scratched your head asking these same questions (I sure did) then keep reading and I'll break it down for you.
     To start here is an idea of what a wiki page looks like: http://docs.webob.org/en/latest/wiki-example.html, now look at this page carefully and you'll see an example of you guessed it's a blog. To the naked eye you'll notice just a few differences, pretty colors, cool backgrounds to say the least but everybody knows the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover."
     Both blogs and wikis are similar in that both are information-sharing sites. The acts of updating a blog (adding an entry) is called "blogging;" someone who writes a blog is a "blogger" (Gill, 2004) who usually updates the information in which only the blogger can edit. NO ONE else can edit the blogger's work. Sure, other bloggers can make comparison posts linking to yours (I do it all the time), but the author still retains complete control over the content, and ultimately, over the message. Think of it as online journals/diaries maintained by you or a team with regular updates (called as blog spots). They are typically meant for general consumption and are arranged in a chronological manner with the most recent blog posts on the top. Blog posts can also have the provision for readers to leave comments, thus, are usually more informal and chatty.
     Wikis, however, named after wiki-wiki, the Hawaiian word for quick, are essentially web pages that anyone -- or at least anyone with permission -- can create or edit (Goodnoe, 2005). Wikis are usually more about facts and multiple perspectives, while blogs are usually personal writing and from one perspective. Wikis in it's simplest form, can be imagined as a repository of easily editable website pages. Each wiki can have a specific purpose and a bunch of wiki pages that are maintained by the users of that wiki. Wiki pages typically have comments that can be used for collaborating around that page/topic. It can be used for a variety of purposes like documentation, knowledge management or just a team repository of information. Wikis are referred to in a more business friendly manner as "Projects". Projects can have specific permissions associated with them so access can be given in am more controlled fashion. Projects can have any number of wiki pages that can be arranged in a hierarchical fashion to give the wiki some structure. With a wiki, you don't have full control over the content, and attempting to keep control will lead to "last one to edit wins" types of battles. A wiki is most useful when you want to create a community-accessible site, where constructive criticism is encouraged.
     In simpler terms, a blog is far more useful for getting your specific message out, without changes being made by someone else. There's another very large difference as well. A wiki is much more like a "traditional" website than a blog is. once a page is created on wiki, it's just there (unless it's deleted, just as with any other site). A blog is much more temporary. Typically, the main blog page will show the last N items or the last N days worth of items. Sure, everything is accessible via the archives or via search - but it's not just there. The top page of a wiki, with the items it points to, is a (relative) constant. In contrast, the top page of a blog changes with every posting. Thus, a wiki is better for information that needs to be sticky "sticky." A blog is much more akin to the morning newspaper - fresh, but changing.
     Back to the matter at hand, you may ask yourself under which circumstances do you want a wiki, and under which do you want a blog? If you want to encourage input from a community, a wiki is a good tool for that, however, you need to be aware of the limitations. Most people are uncomfortable writing html, and any people will be uncomfortable using wiki markup (most wikis support a simplified markup scheme). If you want to get a personal voice "out there" talking about your products and services, blogs are the way to go. A caveat here though - blog is only useful if the author(s) post regularly on topics of interest to the target audience. It's very easy to start a blog - it's much more difficult to sustain one.
     In conclusion, you are going to want to use wikis for some situations and blogs for others. Either way, commitment is very important. Blogs need regular postings while wikis need maintenance and pruning. If you plan to you use either or both, you need to walk into the venture knowing full well that a decent amount of time commitment is necessary. I just got an idea! What if hospitals used wikis to summarize a patients visit over a time period that updates with each doctor visit. It would be a new way of seeing a patients record for physicians without the limitations. Life made easier. Deuces.

References
Common Craft (2007, November 29) Blogs in Plain English. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI/

Kathy E. Gill (2004, May) How Can We Measure the Influence of the Blogosphere?. Retrieved from http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/www2004_blogosphere_gill.pdf/

Information Week by Ezra Goodnoe (2005, August 5) How to Use Wiki for Business. Retrieved from
http://www.informationweek.com/how-to-use-wikis-for-business/167600331

How Amazon Made My Life Easier (In Progress)

Have you thought of a gift that you know you couldn't physically be at the location to buy it, whether it's for you or your significant other? Let's say you live in a little town of Antarctica, Fed-Ex comes twice a week - three times if you're lucky - and you want that new iPad, what do you do? Take a flight to half way cross the globe to an apple store? This is the problem I want to remind the younger generation that our mothers, fathers, grandmama and grandpapa had to face and how we relied so heavily on Amazon's continuous efforts to make things more accessible for everyone and anyone. I will tackle the before Amazon days, who came up with the idea and what motivated them-what made them say aha?. Then once we cleared that up we'll go a bit more in depth about the failures Amazon had to overcome to get to it's prestige of 2012. I plan to take not the approach of an Amazon fanboy that promotes Amazon in a light of everything went great with this company but an objective view of analyzing all information used from scholarly resources and highly reputable sites. So check it out, coming soon to an Internet connected device near you!!