Week 11EOC: The Future of the Internet

The future of the internet can be many things some think that it will be good with the inventions that many creative minds will have in store for them and how they will make it a better place, and there are others how think it is the root of many evils and that it should be stopped.  I think the reason why there are these ideas in many people’s head is the fact that some people are afraid to change, while others are not.

The Internet is a medium that is evolving at breakneck speed. It’s a wild organism of sweeping cultural change — one that leaves the carcasses of dead media forms in its sizeable wake. It’s transformative: it has transformed the vast globe into a ‘global village’ and it has drawn human communication away from print-based media and into a post-Gutenberg digital era.

 

There are a lot of people out there who use the internet to communicate with others, an example is all the social media sites that are out there for people to use as well as the news, sports, all of these places have websites so they communicate with their target audience quickly and accurately.

It is still too early to say that theinternet has fragmented into “internets”, but there is a danger that it maysplinter along geographical and commercial boundaries.

No one really knows what the future is going to bring us we can only predict and hope that we are right when the events actually unfold.  Is anyone here really more wrong than others it is hard to say, but the fact that technology changes so fast it is very hard for some people to keep up with what is going on in the world today

In Future Shock, Toffler arguesthat, since the eighteenth century, technological developments have advanced sorapidly that most people experience disorientation in trying to adjust to thesechanges. Toffler cites as evidence of massive “future shock” such phenomena asrising divorce rates, increased drug use, and rising crime rates.

Week 10 EOC: The Dark Trade

When I watched the movie “Illicit,” I was actually found it to be very interesting on things were in the world today.  What I liked the most about it was the fact that it didn’t sugar coat what a lot of people did to make products on the black market.  The movie gave you specific and realistic examples of what some people have done and how far they can go to make money in this world.  Now what I did find rather humorous but yet I could see being very true is the in the movie was stating how most of the people who were behind the black market had lots of money the problem was they didn’t how to spend it without raising questions from others.  This was due to the fact that when you’re that rich you want to do what most people do with that kind of money, you want to show it off.  The problem arises when how to show off that money when you don’t have a job, you didn’t win the lottery, you didn’t come from a rich family, so the question comes up “Where did you get all this money?”  If you think about a smart person can easily make an income off the internet if they know how to do it, there are a lot of people out there who use the internet to help with their addiction whether it be drugs, pornography, etc. and most of the addicts if they get cheated out of their money aren’t going to run to their authorities due to the fact that if they did they would incriminating themselves as well, one thing many of the villains are very well aware of at this point in time.   I also found it to be very interesting but also very true when the movie stated that the bad guy almost always wins in this war against the black market, which is for the most part true.  Now to be realistic I’m sure that the governments and normal businesses have had their share of victories in this, but there is no doubt in my mind they are a lot fewer than the many the villains have obtained.  Now the reason for this is actually very simple it falls back to one statement, “We are our worst enemy.”  What that statement basically means is that we can’t really win due to the fact that there is always someone out there who will buy these products that are built on the black market, because they don’t want to the normal prices from the regular businesses who make these.  Not to mention the fact that the villains are well aware of this and use this to their advantage, and if they were to ever want to stop them from profiting from this, it’s not just going to take our governments involvement in this, it’s going to take all of us to do it.

Week 9: EOC My Domain Website

At first when I started working on this project I felt very lost and didn’t know where to begin, but after I was pointed in the right direction, I found that using Weebly.com to make a website to be very easy to use.  The interface was structured very well and I didn’t have a lot of trouble trying to find the things that I was looking for to make the website.  I did like how they had things like the contact box already made so all one had to do was drag it into place on the webpage and it worked which made it extremely easy on the users part.  Another thing that I liked was how you could put a button which would prompt a call to action and that could be placed anywhere that you wanted in the columns of text if you chose to do so, this was one space saving feature that was helpful to users.  The only thing I wish I had figured out sooner was how to edit the image on the header, but once I had that figured out it was really easy to change to something that you wanted to fit more appropriately to your website.  One thing that I didn’t like was the fact that when you put up a contact form it would span the entire width of the website and I couldn’t figure out a way to trim it down so that makes a lot of wasted space on a website.  Also I was hoping that you fill up the text boxes with filler text like what you can use in Adobe InDesign but that didn’t seem to be the case unless I was doing it wrong.  I did notice that they had several themes to pick from to make your website to be more fitting for what you are trying to use it for as well 

Week 8 EOC: Privacy Issues on the Web, Two Companies that can Spy on You

I had to think for a while so I could find two companies that would spy on you through your computer and this is what I came up with.  First company, would be Google, now their intentions may be legal but the fact is that they are using keylogger software to track what your web history is, this is used in order for them to deliver advertising they feel would be best for that individual.  The more advertising they can deliver to people and get products sold the better it is for Google and the companies that hire Google to deliver these ads.  The software can track users in the following aspects:

All keystrokes including username/password of various programs and websites, incoming/outgoing emails, and online chat conversations, etc.

Websites people visited recently, including URL, site name, page title and time stamp.

Programs executed on the computer, including the user name, program title and time stamp.

File/Folder operations, including create/delete/move/rename actions.

Capture entire screen snapshots periodically andautomatically in the background just like a secret camera directly point at thecomputer monitor.

Keylogger software is not always used by criminals and hackers there are legal reasons that companies can use this software to protect themselves and their products.  Some company's use keyloggers to track their employee's activity and to monitor the use of the company's computers and Internet by the employees.

One of the advantage of a keylogger such as Spector Pro or eBlaster is that they can be used for back-up purposes in case of system crash, it is useful to know that you are always have a back-up of whatever you type.

Keyloggers can monitor all the keystrokes made on acomputer, and some even have the ability to take screenshots, record both sidesof IM conversations, and record audio. When most people think of keyloggersthey think of hackers and malicious usage, but there can be some good reasonswhy people wish to install keyloggers on their own PCs or MAC.

Another company if you can refer to them that way is the United States Armed Forces, I can personally speak from experience that all the branches of the United States military use keylogger software to track to their employees as well as to monitor things that can concern our safety.   This is not just so people can say that big brother is watching, there are some very real threats out there can potentially harm many people that are not just limited to Americans, the programs are in place not just for security but safety as well. I did manage to find a possible that they may use to keep their systems in order

Safebit

Week 7 BOC: Garageband

When I was using Garageband on the computer at first I found the program very frustrating due to the fact that I have no music experience what so ever.  So a lot of the information on the tutorials was completely going over my head.  This is a problem I could see for anyone who is not musically inclined or has no experience with music, so they would most likely have the same beginning with program as  I had at the start.  However, once I figured out the program I found it to be very easy to use and I can see someone who has an interest in music or possibly that is what they enjoy the most, they would find great use out of the program itself.  I like the fact that they did have a quite a lot of choices when it came to background music, someone could choose if they were trying to make their own music with a guitar or piano but were lacking the other instruments in the background to make the additions to make a normal song for themselves or for others.  Another thing that was nice was that you could take those loops and place them anywhere in the time of your song with ease to make the final song you were making a working piece.  Another nice feature about Garageband was the fact that if you wanted to learn how to play an instrument or a particular song with an instrument, there were tutorials with both audio and video to show you how to do it as well as, the ability to slow it down during difficult portions of that song.  When someone got comfortable with that portion, they could then play it back at normal speed with the artist hosting the tutorial making it feel like an even better accomplishment to the person using it.

Video 1

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Week 7 BOC: Obsession

Week 6 BOC: Video Challenge

Here's a video that I made of my friends and myself killing a notorious monster on a MMO that I currently play called Final Fantasy XI

Week 6 EOC: There's an App for That

It toke me awhile to think of something that someone would pay $0.99 when it comes to an app that they can put on their cell phone, and finally I found one.  The idea came from a multi-player online game that I currently play called Final Fantasy XI.  There are a lot of things that one can do on this game but and one of them is something called “Trial of the Magians.”  It is where someone or if so desired a group of people can get together and accomplish the same goal for each of their characters.  The way this works is you would get a certain trial for your character stating for each player to kill a certain number of monsters of a specific type on a certain day of the week in the games calendar or during the corresponding weather.  Since weather can be so random, a lot times it is just easier to plan on accomplishing these objectives on that specific day of the week.  How you can apply this to a mobile device is simple, one needs to make a calendar with the days of the week of the game on it and sync it with the actual calendar of the game, so they are in unison in real time.  Someone could download this app to their phone and see what exact day of the week it is on the game and if they wanted they could search for a specific day and when it would start and end in earth time.  This way someone could plan their day more effectively to accomplish something that they really want on the game without having to log on and wait till the game day needed starts.  There are quite a few people in the world who still enjoy playing this game and if there is something out there that they could use to make it easier for them to get what they want in this game, they would easily spend $0.99 to get it.

Week 6 BOC: Parking Panda

Parking Panda is a website that allows you to find parking anywhere in the United States, whether it is free or paid parking.  As well as how you can rent out a parking space to other people so that you can make money yourself.

Parking Panda is a rapidly growing start up founded during Start up Weekend in Baltimore in April 2011. With three full-time employees and three interns, Parking Panda has grown significantly over the past year thanks to help from some of its investors including Baltimore Angels, Fabrice Grinda, Jose Marin, Neil Kataria, among others.

 To find a parking space, simply enter an address. You can sort by distance and price, and view photos of the spot. You can also see how many others have “liked” or “disliked” a space 

 

The service is especially convenient due to the fact the apps that the service has and how easy it is for their users to take advantage of their services.  Thus allowing a faster way for someone who is on the go to find a very much needed parking spot

Parking Panda users can find available parking spots using the Parking Panda website,either from a web browser or a mobile phone web browser. If searching from a mobile phone, the site will use the user's location to automatically find nearby available parking, or users can enter a location to search. Users can see photos of spaces, and even pay for the spaces directly from their mobile phones.

Also if someone were interested in Parking Panda and how it worked and how the service could benefit them, they could simply go to their website below which contains a video on how everything works.

Parking Panda 

Week 5: What is Mogol?

Mogol is basically a program you can use to personalize your email and make it more attractive to the user, also you can attach it to whatever email program that you are currently using.  It has quite a few nice features that include email forwarding, webmail, two gigabytes of storage, POP/IMAP for Outlook, Mac, Mail, Blackberry, iPhone…. The nicest feature about Mogol is the fact that you can attach it to any existing email account so you don’t have a need to change your email address, which makes it easier for a user to have to let others know what their new email address is etc. There is a tutorial as well so if you don’t understand or are confused on how to do something, you can look it up and figure out how to fix the problem yourself.  From what I’ve read about the Mogol it is owned by Hover and the reviews that I have seen are all very good on their customer service.  The way they have their website set up is very simple, yet appropriate for what they are trying to do in terms of sales, they want you to use their service due to the convenience of it.  To get one it looks like a customer would need to pay a fee starting at $35 per year, which is really not that expensive, approximately $3 a month.  First thing one would do is type in domain name and see if it is available.  Also if one prefers to talk to a human being to figure things and out and can’t find what they are looking for on the website, there is a 1 800 number that you can call to have any questions or concerns.  You can renew your subscription as well, at any time which is convenient for anyone that travels a lot.

Week 4 EOC: Avon

Avon is still used to the way things used to be and because of that and not using the proper social media tools on their website as well as the fact that many more women are bringing in most of the household income compared to men nowadays, most of their customers and possible employees are not at home looking at their products as well as making them known to other potential customers.

Avon was built on theconcept of selling cosmetics door-to-door and recruiting new sales reps intothe multi-level marketing venture. That model worked exceedingly well becauseof the convenience of being able to buy from the comfort of home. But the Internethas made access to cosmetics easy — particularly elite brands like NARS andLaura Mercier, which are sold through LVMH’s (PINK:LVMUY) cosmetics unit,Sephora.

Another problem is the employees they do have that try to sell their products online only get credit if the customer who is purchasing these products identifies them on the website, so there is an inaccurate count on how much the employees may or may not be in terms of sales

“The company's sales representatives still findthemselves left to their own devices when it comes to the Internet. Localrepresentatives get credit for an online sale only if shoppers use a drop-downmenu to identify them. Some sign up for social-media classes, others seek outonline tutorials and many discuss tactics on message boards”

Another thing is when I went to the Avon site and looked at their website I did notice that they have the social media tools on their website, however they are poorly positioned.  By having them at the bottom of the webpage, the user must scroll down to the bottom to see that the company even uses these tools, a simple fix would be to place at the top in between the logo and the search functions where the user will see them almost immediately, also another helpful tip is when the user looks at their menu have a drop down so you can save them a click or even have the icon change color when the mouse hovers over it, this lets the user know exactly where they are and are less likely to become lost 

Avon

Week 3 EOC: Spotify

Spotify is an account that you can sign up for so that you can get access to streaming music to your own personal computer.  When you do sign up, you will gain access to about 15 million different songs that you can listen to anytime that you choose.

This is important due to the fact that it is a cloud music service, Spotify is able to give users access to their playlists from anywhere and also offline. Even if you’re stuck in the subway and there’s no wifi, you can access your Spotify account, so long as you still have battery on your device.

Many record companies are going to feel that their business is going to vastly threatened by spotify due to the fact that this can basically negate the reason to even buy tangible CDs, which could put them out of business or at minimum have a serious impact on the amount of income the company can possibly generate

Some industry watchers see Spotify's offering as the end of the music download business. But Daniel Ek — the company's Swedish-born, 28-year-old founder and CEO — feels differently.

The business started with a few people discussing ideas of how to make something that would cater to people when it came to an htpc machine, they even discussed the issues that came with Napster and the problems it had

What I did find that was rather surprising was the fact they had the soundtracks to the newest movies out on the top lists and based on what I've seen in the music industry which isn't much that the soundtracks unless it's a pop song that everyone likes they tend to end up on the back end of the spectrum.  But I did find a spot where you could listen to the soundtrack for the new movie "Hunger Games"


http://www.spotify.com/us/

Week 2 EOC: Privacy

Privacy is a status wherein an individual can work on his/her information in seclusion, resulting in a selective revelation of one's identity and information. Privacy can mean anonymity in case a person wants to remain unidentified. Privacy can also be related to the security aspect of an individual or information. The definitions of privacy can differ across individuals and cultures. The invasion of privacy can be avoided by the issue of privacy laws.

However, when it comes to privacy on the internet, I think there is very little or quite a bit depending on the person and how they conduct themselves.  You can preach privacy as much as you want, but in all honesty it is up to the person and how much they choose to use.  There are some people out there who are just very open, others are very private, and you have some that just ignorant and/or stupid when it comes to privacy.

Internet privacy is now a hot-button issue; the flurry of media reports about HTTP cookies has raised public concerns that consumers' online activities are being monitored . In mid-May, Vice President Al Gore announced a White House initiative aimed at helping to improve online privacy protections. And in June, the Federal Trade Commission reported the results of its March privacy "sweep," in which the agency visited more than 1,400 commercial Web sites in search of clearly displayed privacy policies. The FTC reported that while 85% of the sites it had visited collect personal information from consumers, only 14% had posted any privacy-related notices, and only 2% had posted comprehensive privacy policies.

At the moment technology is changing very quickly, so that it is difficult for rules and procedures to be established and enforced, as change is the only constant. Perhaps the greatest cause for concern is the unknown. Surfers do not know when and if they are being tracked, who collects that information, how it is done, and for what purposes.

Week 2 BOC: Instagram

Facebook has purchased Instagram for the price of 1 billion dollars in order to use the most popular photo sharing app on their website.  This is so that people who will have more reason to use Facebook or continue to use it even more giving the company a chance to generate more revenue for itself.  “Instagram is a free photosharing application that allows users to take a photo, apply a digital filterand share it on a variety of social networking services.” The company has more than 30 million registered users and is less than two years old and has minimal revenues.  The reason why they want to keep Instagram unchanged is so that no gives the opinion that Facebook is trying to change it benefit them or confuses their existing customers on what they already know about Instagram.  The social network is acquiring a software company that lets people apply filters to photos they snap with their mobile devices and share them with friends and strangers.“Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg emphasized thatthey would not change Instagram in a significant way. “  Instagram's fans, brand recognition and its potential are difficult to put a price tag on. Yet Facebook has — and can afford it. The company is preparing for an initial public offering of stock that could value it at as much as $100 billion in a few weeks. What's $1 billion? A drop in the bucket, really.  “Getting Instagram is a big win for Facebook as it works toharness people's growing obsession with their mobile devices and sharing everymoment of their life. The company's own mobile application is not as easy touse as Instagram, and sharing photos can be downright clunky. Facebook's way,noted Pachter, has always been to buy technology if it's better than what itcan build on its own.”

Week 1 BOC: Sponsored Tags

I found something today that was very interesting about HTML 6, and that was the fact of sponsored tags.  The idea itself is not that bad at all it may even be beneficial to a lot of applications.  But this idea is great it gives the buyer another tool to make the HTML pages more exciting and a better experience for the user, therefore making them more profit and more people will view their webpage.  By giving web designers a tool like this, it will also help them earn a better income.  Therefore, making not only the user happy about how the webpage was designed but also making the web designers job much easier to their employer, which again is helpful on both sides in making things easier for them.  However, when I did read more about this I did notice that a lot people were under the impression of the idea of sponsored tags was a waste of time and effort, but that was only from what few people responded on the page, and not necessarily everyone’s opinion.  The problems though is that when someone sponsors a tag or anything else it tends to belong to the person that is sponsoring it and therefore legality issues come into play.  Seeing this now unless it is handled very carefully can backfire on a lot of people and/or companies just trying to make their way in the world today.  Now they have stated that there are different sponsorship tiers available at different prices, this is most likely so that the buyer may customize it to their needs.  Thus allowing more flexibility and creativity to the buyer and will most likely help with copyright issues. 

“A company or individual may purchase a sponsored tag up until the close of the HTML6 spec process. The deadline for submissions is April 2nd, 2013.”

http://thinkvitamin.com/code/html-xhtml/whats-new-in-html6/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+vitaminmasterfeed+%28Think+Vitamin%29

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

As a web designer, I am currently working on designing and building websites and/or improving ones that are already built in order to make them a better user experience to the customer. I have always been fascinated about the computers and how they work. My interest started when I was a young kid growing up and have always wanted to learn more about them. I am a very much an aggressive person when it comes to doing my work.  I don’t believe in doing work that is not your best and that you can walk away happy with it, based on my experience with jobs I have done before in the past if there is something that you yourself are not pleased with generally speaking someone else isn’t going to be pleased with it either.  I learned this mostly from my experience working as an electrician in the construction industry, and during that time I found out that if you intended to get the job done quickly that type of attitude was almost a necessity.  During my time working as an electrician I learned quite a bit about there’s not many different ways you can approach the task and get the same result, and I also found out that there are some people that you may work for that are very particular about how the work must be performed and some who are not.  Most people would describe me as very persuasive when it comes to getting things that I think would be best for that particular situation.