future of the Internet

The Future of the Internet has gone far beyond its intended purpose. The rapid progress technology and the internet has been making is insurmountable. So what will be the future of the Internet? Are we going to be walking on virtual land? Is our daily mode of life going to be transformed in to something we can hardly comprehend?

We won't have to use tangible sources to conduct our lives anymore because everything will be digitalised and it will be a "touch" screen away. we can map out what we would like to do and where we would like to go in thin air and we will get there. How amazing will that be?

According to Vin Cerf : Future of the internet

- Internet’s going off planet, which means it will be going terrestrial:

- More application on the internet as more and more people will be pouring in more info

- Left unregulated so that more ideas can be generated and innovative ideas can spread around the world

- Domain name system: can have multilingual names (Japanese Chinese, Vietamese, Indian, etc): making it accessible for many people around the world.

- *IP Version 6 :More and more technological advancements are going to integrate with the internet (riding on web 3.0- semantic web). There will be an increase in speed of accessing information

- Integrating tv and mobile? We will just have to wait and see for the future to unfold itself.

Movie Making 101

Here's my amateur attempt in making a movie. Thank you Windows Movie Maker. (:

Digitize your Life?

Digital media is capitulating our lives. From 3D images which once fascinated the world came AVATAR an escape to the virtual world of reality.But what has the digital media done for us all?

Here's a video to quick start you guys on the importance of digital media and how it has transformed lives and made it accessible to many, starting with the young and has fueled through our learning process.

E-Commerce

When I think of E-commerce, online shopping comes to mind. Many shoppers out there frequent online blog shops and purchase online merchandise from fashion stores such as ASOS-an online British fashion store, Victoria Secrets and H&M just to name

a few. Just like shops from shopping malls, online stores too have their annual promotions and rebates for regular customers.

But why would anyone buy off the screen when you can't even try out the clothings one may ask. It takes me eons to choose clothing from a physical store with a GAZILLION try outs and still indecisive in picking one. Can you imagine the trauma I'll be experiencing during on a virtual shopping site? That's exactly why I do not have merchants calling me up to pick up delivery nor have I increased my wardrobe collection in my war

drobe because indecisiveness can be a pain in the neck :/

Enough of the ranting, now back to series BUSINESS, pun intended, online business have been gaining immense popularity and pocketing a lucrative sum a

nnually. So, with ample online stores around the world, from Europe to Asia, the internet has made it far more accessible and reliable a platform for online transactions to take place. It has been around for some time no doubt with E-bay, Amazon.com and other popular online sites, online shopping has definitely captured the attention of avi

d shoppers and regular shoppers alike. How do these companies stay in the competition and maintain their profit globally?

I'm going to be talking about one of the pioneer companies that embarked on an e-commerce that is still in the lead, DELL computers. DELL computers is one of the first companies to allow its customers to custom configure and purchase computers online. It is one of the first companies to start a just-in-time production, where middle-men are completely excluded from the business transaction. This means that DELL will correspond directly with the customers via online or through direct purchase at IT fairs.

DELL has been a leading desktop and laptop producers and I had the privilege of working with them as a Sales Consultant. I was posted at a store in Suntec City where customers can physically see the computers before making an online purchase with us. Due to the absence of middle-men in the company, the manufactured PCs fro

m Penang, Malaysia will be directly mailed to the customers where simple set up of the computers will be done and should the customers surface any difficulty, we as Sales Consultants will be handling the matter at hand.

The customers are taken to the website through our guidance where we will guide them through the process of customizing their products; from the colour of their cover to the specifications they require to run their PC efficiently. Everything is listed on the website without much complication and it is by far one of the easiest online transactions one could ever do. Purchasing a computer is definitely a task at hand and could even be a chore. DELL.com has made it very easy and simplified for the less tech savvy to maneuver around the website and select the computer of their choice. With a simple click, one can not only purchase a computer but bring home their own created one! Sounds like a sales pitch much? A long overdue one? My apologies.

With much rave about Apple computers and its products, people might have well forgotten what they have started out with? Windows. Therefore, to pay a tribute to one of pioneer computer companies that started a cost effective production motive for their clients, here's an interview with the founder of the DELL computers Michael Dell and his two cents worth on aspiring entrepreneurs who would like to start their own small businesses.

In conclusion, E-commerce has brought about many benefits for the customers and businesses alike. If there is an idea or a bright spark, capitalise on it and put it out there and make some money.

In the wise words of Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple products,

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected, Steve Jobs.

Internet and Journalism

Journalism is the practice of researching and reporting of events, concerns and trends to a broad audience. Although there is much dynamism within journalism, the ideal is to inform the citizenry. Besides covering organizations and institutions such as government and business, journalism also covers cultural facets of society such as arts and entertainment. The field includes jobs such as editing.

Journalism has come a long way. From traditional media (which we still use now) such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines, journalism has paved its way in to reaching out to the masses (public) substantially. Although much can be said about the lack of immediate feedback from the readers as these adopt less of a transactional form of communication. However so, traditional media is still the prime source of information output. Viewers still turn on the television set or read the morning papers to catch up on hard news and breaking news coverage.

With that being said, there has been a shift towards online news coverage. From online forums and news channels to citizen journalism, news reporting and writing has been geared towards the tech savvy and the generation of people who are pretty much dependent on the new media for news feeds.

According to an article written for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, author Kendyl Salcito has drawn positive and negative viewpoints on the shift to online journalism such as interactivity for one whereby there has been an increased ability of the public to source out information and interact online with new websites in search of news. This apparently encourages the exposure to greater diversity of content.

However, there were some negative views drawn such as the lack of journalistic credibility. As much newsworthy and noteworthy the articles these online journalists write may seem, they may not be journalists in real life. Furthermore, the strong opinionated articles written by journalists could come off as propagandistic and this may significantly alter the perceptions of the readers.

So which is better? The question is not to compare and choose one over the other. It is to sieve through and be discerning with your choice of news medium you would like to use. There are some news we would like to find out through traditional medium as the trust is already established with regards to credibility and news source. Other more entertaining news could gather more viewer-ship from the online sources. Here's a video discussing the prevalence of internet journalism and how it is affecting information generated from traditional media. They speak of mergers of social media and traditional media and so forth.

S'pore General Elections 2011

One should never underestimate the power of the social media. Social media by and large has proven to be not only influential but at the same token proven to be educational and informative. We use social media every day of our lives, especially the youths as our eyes'll be perpetually stuck on Facebook or Twitter pages.

With that being said, with the coming general elections 2011, it will be of no wonder to how social media will be used as a platform to engage, inform and "spread the word" of how good or bad a particular candidate is and how this affects the perceived views of the public and 'netizens'. Facebook, Twitter, online news sources and blogs will be particularly of interest for many!

So everyone's waiting for the 7th of May- The Polling Day for the General Elections 2011. This will the first time after so long that every citizen of the nation, above the age of 21 of course get to vote for their favoured candidate standing at the constituency. There has been a series of walkovers for the past number of elections held here in Singapore. Therefore, it will be of a monumental significance for Singaporeans who would like their voices heard.

Personally, I do not know much about the elections nor have I been following up with the past election campaigns. I also do not have a strong distaste towards the 5-year ruling of the People's Action Party (PAP). It'

s reign has thus far served the nation well with regards to setting the foundation right for the development of our country, which has undeniably progressed from once being a fishing village to a now global enterprise, paving way to building greater international rapport and recognition. I could say that I am fairly apathetic towards politics simply because for me, the country has been well served for, in terms of security and safety. There has been a growing acceptance towards what once known as taboo topic of discussion such as homosexuality or other controversial issues. That being said, it does not mean that I am fully accepting of the astronomical rise in transport fares, educational fees and food pricing in eateries. But le

t's not get carried away by my topic at hand here.

So, there have been young candidates contesting for a place in the parliament as every other year. But what is so special about the 2011 general elections is the women electorates that are standing for their political parties. I am going to be talking about the two most talked about, one of the youngest candidates standing in so far, Miss Tin Pei Lin from the People's Action Party (PAP) and Nicole Seah from the National Solidarity Party (NSP). Both are representing two opposing political parties and coincidentally contesting at the same constituency.

So, we have two equally credible candidates, both with the same type of qualifications and grassroots experience. But how will these young women, aged 27 and 24 respectively, be able to face up to the public scrutiny and challenges that they might have to face once elected as the member of the parliament?

Social media Facebook, Twitter and Youtube have been providing coverage to the intense scrutiny both Nicole and Pei Lin's been under for the past week and gives us updates on how each plan to make a difference in the country's well being. Social media does contribute a fair share of its power to inform and educate the public about the candidates and the various viewpoints from the public. What is good about the social media is that they are able to publish videos and blog posts from the public and encourage unbiased, viewpoints which may or may not influence the public at large. However, given that amount of freedom to do so in its content, the public are better aware of the extent to which each politician's credibility stand.

Here are two videos and a link to a blog post that informs viewers of a certain viewpoint that may spark off a controversy, nevertheless, intended for sharing purpose only. I find the read and the videos fairly reflective of the intended purpose of the content and the personality featured and it did serve its purpose of injecting some form of reaction or response from the readers.

Multimedia

The amazing work of technology and its advancements has not only astonished us but its speedy progress is making headlines on consumers' expectations of what they are going to be exposed to. It started with "Walkman"- a media device that enabled people to listen to music, progressively Compact Discs took over (CDs). Now, dominated by the demands of the consumers to watch everything in high definition and micro pixels, it is of no wonder why technology experts are in the quest to satisfy that insatiable hunger of the tech savvy.

With blu-ray technology and high definition (HD) aesthetics, consumers are scampering to keep up with the latest multimedia device they can find.

worms, viruses,Trojans, what's next?

Having learnt about viruses, worms and Trojans during my last lecture, there are things I never knew existed. Trojans? What are those. The last time I heard about Trojans was at the movie theatres during the screening of Troy. That too I harly paid attention to because with one of the most gorgeous creations on your screen (Brad Pitt), nothing else seems important enough. ;)

So, back to talking about viruses, there are many types of them and are still menacing at lightning speed and destroying our computer system, our sincerest appreciation to hackers and virus senders! ._. Trojans, one of the more recent developments in the "malware industry", is baically a "mean ware" that disrupts your computer system and inhibits your work and surfing process. Trojans attack the various administrative functions of your operating system. Just like worms and viruses, Trojans manifest themselves as a form of program. They are highly destructive but masquerades itself as a harmless, benign and aesthetically appealing. They go byt the name of "kiddo", "Clampi" and a few other "harmless" sounding names. Just how freaky and deceptive is that?!

I'm about to share my personal experience with you with little Mr. Trojan. I am pretty much a "Miss know it Nothing" when it comes to computers. My friends call me "technologically disabled". So, you can probably imagine my trauma as soon as I found out that my computer was attacked by a virus.

So it was a stay home night. I was using the computer as per normal. There was an anti-virus program that is downloaded in to my system and it was running its daily checks. MacAfee its called. But apparently, there was another by the name of "spyware". It certainly did not strike a chord and it sounded like an anti-virus program for the most part. So, I just left it at that.

However though, the illusive "spyware" keeps prompting for a sign up. Anti-virus programs do advertise themselves no doubt, but this is was little much to the excessive part and still, this "noob" did not suspect a thing. Seconds later I couldnt access my navigation on the internet. I was interrrupted by "spyware" and until I purchased the program, I wouldn't be able to continue with my surfing. Frustrating much?

I did not know what to do! I could have bought the program in a heartbeat to save myself from all these trouble but that was when I felt that something was amiss. It was almost a week then and I still could not get pass that "spyware a dvert". That was when I realised that "spyware" wasn't an anti-virus program, but a Virus itself!, Trojan, to be specific Thanks to Google, "Spyware" had over thousands of search results and I could not believe that it was a virus and it attacked my computer. What was my existing anti-virus program doing on my computer if it wasn't doing it's job!?

Apparently, Trojans are unable to be detected by all anti-virus programs, unless these programs are installed with extensive protection such as 'malware' protections. I had to install a anti-malware program in order to prevent myself from getting attacked again. I had to do a little 'reboot' and thankfully it was done with help from few of my friends.

Trojans, however deceptive and easily attackable, they are removable, if done as quickly as you can. There are prgrams available online to teach and guide you through the process of removing Trojans. Here's a short video to assist you with the process. Here's a video retrieved from Youtube to show you a simplified version of Trojan removal. There are ample more detailed ones available if you need them.

In any case, watching the video and following the steps might be a little tedious, so purchase of anti-trojan software or an anti-virus with exensive coverage will be a lot easier, with a little added cost however! :p

PATHway to a more connected network?

so we have heard of how people use social networking websites for superficial reasons. For one, showing and comparing the number of friends they have. Users don't really care about who they "add" or "friend request" them, but they simply need the numbers. For that reason, social networking sites may not seem to have well established the connection of many facebook users and their friends. Afterall, according to Oxford professor of evolutionary psychology Robin Dunbar, 150 is the maximum number of social relationships anyone can handle.

With that in mind, a few geniuses came up with Path- a social networking site where you microblog, share pictures, blah blah but you're only restricted to a maximum of 50 friends on your network. This plans to ensure that you are closely connected with the people in your friends' list/network and in a way, sharing of files and photos seems more private and intimate.

Although Path is restricted to only I-phone users at the moment, it has gained popularity pretty quickly with hundreds of thousans of users across the globe. Creator Dave Morin even rejected Google's offer of $100 million to buy over Path recently.

Other than social networking, food networking-a new interest has been tantilizing our senses online has fast grown into the likings of many. From blog postings for food reccomendations (Iron Lady Chef) to recently emerged Foodily- a food networking site engages people to share their food recipes online and reccomends healthy food recipes for users who are looking to satisfy their palates. This concept has brought about foodies and non-foodies alike to to be able to not only create their own food but also to show an appreciation for food ingredients.

In collaboration with Facebook, Foodily aggregates recipes from renown chefs from retaurants and food channels and works as an online catalogue for food lovers to compare recipes and even organise potluck dinners with Foodily members, similar to the concept of a 'Book Club'. How cool is that?

Stop FOLLOWING me!

We've got Facebook, Twitter, messenger and many other social networking websites. What used to be accessed only through computers can now be easily accessed through mobile phones. The revelation of the internet and technological advancements have been astounding!

Social media is new media that interacts with the public. It is transactional in nature, where feedbacks and comments are simultaneously exchanged amongst people while accessing a certain media content. The existence of social media has proven to be far more significant than functioning as social networking websites, where making relationship/network connections have been highly sought out for.

Recently, the dispute in Egypt has caused a mayhem amongst the people and for the first time in the history of Egyptian governance has such a raucous been created. Bloomberg, popular television network recently had an interview with a representive of Facebook website and complimented on how social media helped in rendering assistance to the many injured in the Egyptian dispute. Extensive footage and pictures from the unrest were readily available on the social media. As social media lacks filtering, news are reached way faster than captured through traditional media such as newspapers, press releases and even television news coverage. Help or assistance could be readily rendered to the people in need.

Hence, with the updated coverage of news and social issues, the social media is said to have been an asset in catering to the needs of the needy and people in general.

However phenomenal the internet and social media are, one should not turn a blind eye on the banes of social media. The issue of privacy and addiction to be more specific. Are we convinced that our privacy is protected based on clicking on a "restricted view" button or "customising" on who should view our profile on Facebook for example? What has the new interface of Facebook moving towards other than its perceived "cool" exterior?

The revamped Facebook interface shows conversations or comments exchanged between friends viewable to all who know either of them. What was there as "so and so commented on so and so's profile" has become a little more detailed for everyone's viewing pleasure. Now, the comments could be viewed. What was left as a choice to choose our interface, on whether we should stick to the original or update to the newer one has been effectively been looked after by Facebook itself! They have changed for us, automatically.

There is more, where comments written on Facebook wall cannot be erased because no matter how much you want to 'delete this post', email notifications doesn't stop the update to be released. So you say something mean, out of a fit, you can erase it immediately on the wall and it doesn't appear but the mean message is sent to the friend's email address. Escaped much.

The issue of privacy is feat for almost every online media as information gets passed on very very quickly and hackers are sticklers for some spam fun. We receive tonnes of spam mails on our email accounts, in different forms and this is no different on social media/ social networking sites.

According to Eric Qualman who wrote Socialnormics mentioned about Facebook privacy issues and how Facebook is still struggling to address the issue of privacy despite its accerated growth in popularity. He quoted, "even though Facebook is trying to give their users the freedom to set their privacy level, most users want something that is safe and easy to use". With the millions who are using Facebook at this juncture, they are convinced that they are being protected and do not find it an absolute need to set their privacy settings to an advance level.

Twitter, a microblog, another popular creation has caught the attention of many celebrities and we ardent followers/fans have the privilege of 'tweeting' them and they 'twit', I mean 'tweet' you back. How awesome is that right? I have a Lindsay Lohan fan for a friend (I know, shoot me) and she freaks out when Lindsay replies her tweets. "OMG! Lindsay replied to my tweet! and so did her then- partner Samantha Ronson!" Fascinating.

Jokes aside, but Twitter has although drives people to insanity, updating their status every milisecond, "oh, i just saw a fat woman trying to get out of the bus" or other frivolous updates, much of their privacy is compromised. Although it's in the control of the Twitter users to what they say/do, their very reason in subscribing to Twitter is to give every of their friends a live update of their whereabouts or happenings. Why another when you have Facebook already? Oh wait, you can follow celebs around!

This brings me to share a little 'Tweet' from famous celebrities famous Lindsay and her then-partner Samantha Ronson. Apparently they were having an argument on Twitter and it got blown out of proportion. Vulgarites were hurled and exchanges became a little toxic and uncomfortable. Everyone knew about it. It was explicit enough, thanks to Twitter. The privacy of public figures has been intervened and the notion of protecting the image and reputation of users and icons is easily questioned. Have we found new assistants to TMZ and paparazzis?

We cannot deny how the revelation of the internet and social media has brought about amazing benefits. However, as technology becomes more advanced and society progresses, new features of social media are too cool to reject but one must be aware of the extent of their involvement in them. Apart from the breach of privacy, addiction is another social concern that seems to prevail. What's next? The video just summarises it all (:

The founder

We are so familiar with the world wide web. We log on to www. wherever you want to go.com. You can access practically about anything. What used to be done back in the old days by the name of web 1.0, such as emailing and plainly reading informations on websites, has now been invaded by web 2.0, where there us much emphasis on service oriented arichitecture (SOA). this means that we can create our own communication methods through blogging spaces and enable a more service friendly approach in maintaining your created site or program.

Web 2.0 has been extensively used amongst IT geeks as you may have known/heard from. It is basically uploading of your various videos and penning down your thoughts and opinions about issues in a blog style. It is a far gone conclusion that technology will prevail, looking at the types of advancements created and perpetuating. Long gone the times where people still wrote letters and emails. Evertything is simply a click away and is of no doubt that time conservation is highly sought out for.

What do think? is technology by any means interferring with how we conduct our lives, and

Seriously, I am such a 101 on Technology and technologised ideas/ opinions. Writing a blog on this is not only an unimaginable feat, but also very entertaining to see myself struggle through the process of calling myself a communications major while I'm desperately trying to salvage the simple, less tech savvy means of living life. Un-contradict me.