Is technology going too far?

The discussion that we had during our last class made me think if technology is getting out of hand. The thought of having a single device that could be your everything--mp3, phone, camera, Internet source, etc freaks me out. Also, I thought it is insane that there are flexible LCD screens out there because I didn't even know they were possible to make. I wonder how popular these LCD screens will become and also want to know what they would be used for.

After learning so much about new technology thats developing I feel that it can definitely make our generation "dumb". We depend and rely on technology so much that it has made a lot of us lazy. Most people I know do not try to learn and memorize information but instead just look up the information when they need it.

If technology keeps developing so much, I feel that it will continue to make people lazier. I hope that at some point we wont continue to develop our technology. I would miss a lot of the traditional ways of living and hope that we can hold on to some of them.

iTweet?

I was chatting with a friend a couple of days ago and while I was playing with his iPhone. I was browsing through all his apps and find some of them very random and crazy. We started talking about the next app iPhone will create that may be worth getting and I thought about Twitter. Twitter is becoming so popular these days and I wouldn't be surprised to see it become an app on phones soon. So, of coarse, I googled it and found an article on it: 10 Things Apple should do with Twitter.

Sure enough, the article states that Apple should make Twitter an app on the iPhone. It states that having this app would start causing more people to mircoblog. I think this would be a cool idea especially for things that were mentioned by Mr. Epstein when he came to speak to us about Twitter. Mr. Epstein said that once Twitter becomes accessible through cell phones, people can use it for live/quick traffic updates, notifications of sales that are going on at your favorite store, and so much more.

Although this may take a while to become more organized and user-friendly, I believe that making Twitter accessible through mobile phones will cause more people to join. Right now I don't think that I like Twitter, but I know that I would reconsider using it if I could have access through my phone.

Posting Class Lectures Online

So I was chatting with my friend from the University of Florida online the other day and she told me that she was, at that moment, watching a video of her chemistry lecture that she didn't attend earlier that day. I was confused and so she explained to me that all of her lectures are video recorded and then put on to a website later that day for students who were unable to attend class to see. She said that she barely goes to class but is always able to watch her class lectures through her laptop.

I think that this is a really cool idea and wished that our school did this. There are so many times when the weather makes me want to miss class but I am forced to go since I would have no way else to learn the material my professor teaches. Posting lectures online would be so convenient to have, especially on days like Monday when it was almost 100 degrees outside! I believe that posting lectures online would improve the grades of many students because so many of my friends skip class all the time and are not able to receive the information needed for exams.

So what do you guys think about this idea? Do you think a lot of students would benefit from this? Or do you think it would cause more students to become lazy? I know that it would be hard to concentrate on an online lecture since it forces you to be on the Internet where there are tons of distractions, but would you guys like to see something like this for your large lectured classes?

Craiglist Killer?

CNN Article - Med Student held without bail in possible Craigslist killing

In Boston, MA a 22-year old med student Philip Markoff from Boston University was arrested for killing a woman that he met through a Craigslist ad. Markoff is charged with killing 26-year-old Julissa Brisman of New York on April 14 at Boston's Copley Marriott Hotel. Police said Brisman, a model, advertised as a masseuse on Craigslist, a popular online classifieds service.

Markoff is also charged in connection with the robbery four days earlier of a woman at a Westin Hotel. In that case, the woman made arrangements to meet a man through Craigslist for a massage at the hotel, but was held at gunpoint and bound. She was robbed of $800 and personal items, and left tied to a door handle with duct tape over her mouth.

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster told CNN the company is "horrified and deeply saddened that our community services have been associated in any way whatsoever with a crime of violence." He promised that Craigslist will evaluate the incident to see if additional measures could be introduced to protect users.

Police traced the Internet communications with Brisman to an e-mail account opened the day before her death. Using Internet provider information, they found the computer was at Markoff's residence. Authorities put the home under surveillance.

This article shows how new media frontiers may lead to new types of crimes and murders. We already know that there is a lot of cyber-crime pertaining viruses and bugs, but this article shows how people can be put into danger by using popular internet websites such as Craigslist.

Also the article shows that using Internet communications makes it a lot easier to track people's actions and thus help solve crimes. By tracking Markoff's e-mail account the Police have a lot more evidence showing that he committed the murder.

Live TV on Cell Phones

I found an article on gsmarena (a website thats about all new cell phone info) about how you can now download an app to your iphone that will allow you to watch live TV. The app, called "TV from Orange", provides users with more than 60 TV channels live in high-def quality. This app runs off of EDGE, wi-fi, and 3G networks from Orange.

This app came out in Europe on April 7th and ranges from 6 to 9 euros for TV access. You can also pay as you go which ends up being pretty cheap.

I think this app is pretty cool. It shows how technology is developing so quickly and how things can change so fast. The app is convenient for people who are on the go and like watching sports or the news. This new Orange TV application shows that media is improving/changing quickly.

The app is only accessible in Europe as of now but I'm sure it will be available in the U.S soon!

Verizon Hub...is it worth it?

My dad is obsessed with getting new gadgets/gizmos and every time he wants a new one, he asks me to do all the research about it and decide whether its worth getting. His most recent obsession has been for the Verizon Hub. He thinks its really cool and would be convenient to have.

Basically, the Hub is like having a cell phone as your home phone. All you have to do is connect it to your broadband and then you can use all its neat widgets: checking traffic, directions, weather, ordering food, and watching trailer movies. Also, the Hub includes all the normal cell phone features such as a contacts list, calendar, messaging, etc.

Everything seems really cool with the Hub and my dad thought it would be real cool to get for my mom. But I realized that my mom probably would not use half the features included on the Hub. Shes very old fashion and does not like having tech-savvy devices. For example, she has my old Sony Ericsson cell phone which has so many cool widgets on it, but she only uses the phone as a phone and nothing else. So buying the Hub for her would be a waste because knowing her she wouldn't use it but to make phone calls. Also, the price of the Hub is $200 and a $35 per month service fee. With that money you could just use a cell phone.

So I was telling my dad all this and then we began talking about how land-line phones will probably not be used in the near future due to all the new technology. I was telling him about Skpye and how Skype is better than using a home phone because you can video chat while talking to the person. He said that he wants to give it a try and use it with my older brother, who is busy in New York with medical rotations. And so after doing all this research, I finally convinced my dad not to waste his time with the Hub and the next time I go home I'm setting him up with a Skype account.

Flock:The Social Web Browser

So I've been using Mozilla's Firefox for a couple years now because its the web browser I am most comfortable with. About a year ago, my older brother kept urging me to try this semi-new web browser called Flock. He said its the new cool thing and its a lot more convenient for me to use since I mostly use the Internet to socialize with people/friends. I gave it a try but didn't really enjoy it only because I wasn't use to it and it was pretty slow, so I went back to Firefox.

However, I was thinking about it the other day and decided to give Flock another try. After being in this seminar (New Media Frontiers) I appreciate Flock a lot more! Its actually a very smart idea to create a social web browser since online behavior is now focusing more on interaction and communication. Flock delivers a more personal experience with the web.

One thing that I really like about it is a special feature called the People Sidebar. This sidebar loads all of your friends and as long as you are logged on to a site (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) your friends will stay up while you travel the web.

The the sidebar you can:

• share with your friends by dragging and dropping photos, videos, and text from web pages


• interact with your friends, jump to their profile, send a message, and more


• load your friends' photos and videos directly into the Media Minibar (another feature on Flock)

I think Flock is a pretty good web browser. If you want to give it a try you can download it from here

a virtual 3-D desktop?

Bumptop is a new way to set up and organize your computer's desktop to make it more realistic. It actually looks and acts just like your real desktop would look: a bunch of crap scattered everywhere. With Bumptop, you can pile and toss documents just like you would on your real desktop. Its a new , innovative way to organize your desktop to make it seem more realistic. I think that Bumptop is a pretty neat idea. It allows you to organize you documents, pictures, music and whatever else in a way that you usually would in real life. The way you can organize everything is really cool. This Video shows how Bumptop is used and explains all of its perks.

Geek Squad's Story of Success

The other day I was helping a friend out with a project that demonstrated teamwork and showed how teamwork could be used to create a great impact on something. I remember reading about Best Buy's Geek Squad one day and how they use teamwork in many ways that are innovative and really cool. I went online to check out a few articles that mention Geek Squad's use of online communities. And what do you know, they use a lot of different online communities to brain storm new ideas, manage projects, help eachother with service tips, and socialize with the workers.

I found an article on Business Week, called the Wiki Workplace, that shows how the Geek Squad uses a wiki page in order to keep in touch. Robert Stephens (the founder of the Geek Squad) explained how the Geek Squad loves using online communities because they are so much more convenient than all the fancy programming networks and not to mention a lot cheaper!

What I found really cool is the Geek Squad's unique use of online communities that makes keeping in touch fun for them. With employees all across the nation, the Geek Squad uses online games (such as Battlefield 2) to keep in touch with one another while having a good time. The game's server allows 128 people to simultaneously fight one another in a virtual environment. While doing this, the Geek Squad members wear headsets and use special software so that they can talk over the Internet. This is a fun, innovative way for the Geek Squad to keep in touch with one another.

In the past 3 years the Geek Squad has grown from 60 members to 12,000 members. I believe that their use of online communities has helped them become a success due to the use of unique ways to collaborate with one another. This article shows a perfect use of online communities that help benefit the workplace.

Digital Health Care Records?

The thought of digitalizing health records seems very risky but also seems almost necessary. With global warming being such a huge issue these days, we need to find every possible way be more green. Digitalization is the most green you can get! With everything done on the computer, there would be a huge decrease in the use of paper in all doctor's offices and hospitals. This is the type of change that we need to see these days.

However, there are many risks included in digitalizing health records. It is a lot easier for people to hack into files that are on the internet. There may be better ways to make it easier to access these health records. For example, inserting a chip into everyone's skin that included all their health records and other things could potentially be a good idea. This would be easy and extremely eco-friendly. Also, it would hard for hackers to get into. Of coarse this also has a downside to it (as does everything else). I feel like putting everyone's health record on the internet can be very dangerous because there are so many good hackers out there, so having some alternative plans (like the chip in skin) should be something that we should think about.

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• Google Health Now Lets You Share Your Medical History With Loved Ones (techcrunch.com)

Can this new form of Media help our Enconomy?

Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia's founder) was on to something when he developed the famous Wikipedia. He innovative thinking proved to be successful--Wikipedia today has over 4 million articles in 2 hundred languages. I find it amazing how thousands of people volunteer their time and knowledge to fulfill the public with information. I believe that Wikipedia can be used to potentially increase the overall knowledge of the public.

This new volunteer of information system may lead to something big in the future. Normally, people are too selfish to give out free information--they want it all to themselves, but new frontiers prove differently. In the U.S, people normally live in a competitive environment and have a competitive mindset, but these new frontiers show that people are willing to work together to improve the community, instead of only caring about themselves.

This new mindset may be what we need to help get us out of this economic crises that we are living in. Hopefully this is what we need to help stabilize our economy in the long run.

Eco-friendly Cell Phones?

I recently just found out about this new Samsung Phone called the Blue Earth that is solar powered. It was designed to look like a pebble (representing part of the earth) and has a solar rear panel which is used to charge the battery. This phone was made completely free of harmful materials. It has an ultra low standby power charger and a recycled paper retail box. Even the handset was made out of recycled water bottles. This phone runs smoothly on sunny days and has a regular DC charger that users can use for rainy days also. The Blue Earth is the first solar-powered touchscreen and it is provoking more people to go green. The phone has many cool applications on it such as it calculates how much CO2 would be released if you were to make a journey by car and it also calculates how many number of trees saved.

This new phone tells me that there is always a way for technology to prevail. I would never guess that anyone would make an eco-friendly phone but its possible. As of now, I feel that technology is always improving which shows that there will always be new media frontiers. Also, I am hoping that in the future there will be more technology that encourages people to go green.

New Media

There is so much new media out there these days and I'm still not sure if its a good thing or bad. I love having access to all these new media but there are times when I feel like some of these new frontiers can jeopardize our safety. With all this new technology (mostly the internet) there are so many ways our information can get out there and it can easily bite you in the butt. When I hear creepy stories about how people get stalked through facebook it really freaks me out. But I cannot even imagine life without facebook now that i have it. I love having access to all the modern media because it makes life so much easier and convenient (wikipedia is a lifesavor).

I just recently start to use skype and i think its the coolest thing ever. Its an easy way for me to keep in touch with my cousin thats studying in the Carribbeans because we are able to call eachother just like a phone without the expensive phone bills. I also have the opportunity to play fun games like hangman and videochat with my close friend from Boston (whom i never get to see). All this new technology makes it a lot easier to keep in touch with people that live miles away.

Having the internet has been one of the best things that has happened to me, but it can also be a little too much. I love being able to check the weather, read the news, listen to music etc, but sometimes its all just too much. The internet has taken over people's lives. Ill admit that i get sucked into it many times. I decide to take a facebook break but end up spending hours on the site. Its really hard to keep control when you know that you have access to so many things right on your laptop. I'm really excited to be taking this course so that i can learn more about the new media and hopefully use it to my advantage in the future!