The Future

Firstly, i'll share with you a video on multi-touch computing.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

The internet is still relatively young and evolution of it is awaiting. The development of the Internet's bandwidth and speed will determine how much changes we can expect. The cost of Internet will also drop, and the quality of audio, images and surfing the web will improve across all platforms. Not forgetting, integration will be the most important factor for the convenience and speed. We will want our phones to be connected to our computer, and everything i guess!

We have seen futuristic scenes like this in movies like Minority Report:

Another video by TED - Sixth Sense

It's still quite amazing and i can't really see myself using all this technology yet. It'll probably be another 10 years and more before we see all this taking place in everyday lives.

In local perspective, our Singapore government has something planned too: iN2015

Experience the future now, here.

Linkedin

I've heard briefly about Linkedin quite some time back, but didn't get down to registering for it. I had thought then that it isn't relevant to me yet, that i wouldn't have any connections there since it's more for people who are working already. True enough, i only have 2 connections now, as compared to my 700+ on Facebook.

However, i believe that as i step into the working world, my Linkedin connections will greatly increase. Number 1, that's the purpose of Linkedin right?

As stated from Linkedin "About Us" page, "Our mission is to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. We believe that in a global connected economy, your success as a professional and your competitiveness as a company depends upon faster access to insight and resources you can trust."

Number 2, i would not want my colleague or boss or business associates to see pictures and videos of my personal life.

And besides individuals, there are also profile pages for companies. That's interesting i would say, with current employees or ex-employees or just hired employees of the companies listed there too!

And now! For the battle between Facebook and Linkedin!

Facebook and Linkedin are so different! One is for personal social networking while the other is a professional networking site. They serve different functions and have different target users. For Facebook, kids as young as 9 or 10 may start using it but for Linkedin, they wouldn't want kids that young to join. Linkedin is like an online platform to search for potential employers or employees, for friends' or business partners' recommendations. Under your profile page in Facebook, your hobbies, favourite song/movie/tv show so on and so forth are listed. But for Linkedin, they're more interested in your specialties, your past education and working experiences. It's an online resume. That said, i believe both sites can coexist and there shouldn't be any rivalry.

How does Internet shape the future of journalism?

It's been said that Internet kills journalism; that people are now getting their dose of news online, whether through news websites or Twitter even. I mean it's true that there is a fall in the number of readership for print articles, but the market is still there. There is a balance between journalism on traditional media and the Internet now.

But i agree that traditional form of articles may not be enough anymore. There is a greater need for the additional features that the Internet can provide: events can be documented live, people can discuss and leave their comments with others, and more information on this topic can be linked directly. These interactions are important to people now. Besides, articles are usually published earlier and faster on the Internet now! We no longer have to wait till the next day for the news to appear on the newspaper. Our curiosity and needs can be satisfied almost instantaneously.

In addition, the Internet has started another type of journalism. It is citizen journalism. The largest and most successful one has got to be Wikipedia. Open publishing, collaborative editing and distributed content are 3 important elements. Twitter and YouTube are also good platforms for this. The famous example is the 2009 Iranian election protests where Twitter played an important role. Real life updates of the situation were published from the Iranians themselves when foreign journalism were restricted.

Why, in general, young adults and youth are apathetic towards politics?

I believe one main reason on why YOUTH are apathetic towards politics has got to do with the legal age to VOTE which is ranges in different countries, but it's 21 in Singapore. Being unable to vote, there would not be any difference if youth are interested or whatsoever. Besides, i'm not too sure if the youths and young adults truly understand politics.

It's like, "if it doesn't concern me then why bother?" Many would gladly take whatever that's being said on face value and not reading in between the lines and all that... I guess it's just a personal interest thing.

Study and write about how Multimedia are used for marketing communication (eg. Nokia, Sony, Samsung, etc. ) – which one impresses you the most?

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Protection and Risk-prevention tools and methods against Virus, Worms, Spyware, Phishing, and other threats

Okay. Everyone knows that computers are prone to viruses. But there are more bad guys than just viruses, there are also worms, spywares or phishing! The solution to all these is very simple. GET A MACBOOK! Alright. There's more to that of cause, as even if you use a macbook, you still have to practice safe behavior while using the computer.

1. Anti-virus Software?

These software supposedly helps to protect you against various threats like viruses, spywares, trojans... As long as it's updated to the latest virus definitions. A firewall is also important. Most of the time, they really work!

2) Do not download unknown files casually

If it's from an unknown source, try not to open or download it into your computer. You never know what it contains inside!

3) Always make sure it's the correct website before you submit your username and password or credit card number. Best if it is made through a secure website that has the "s" behind "http" on the url - https://

Even Barack Obama's team has experienced attack by the hackers. So these threats are real and can happen to you as well. Take a look at this video on Obama speaking on Cybersecurity.

Video Making

I've used Windows Media Player to create a pictorial movie years ago for my friend. Have also tried using iDVD when i switched over to the Mac side. Recently, i'm also in the midst of creating a pictorial movie using iMovie for my friend. It's really easy to create something cool these days. Just click click click! However, i must say if you're a perfectionist, you'll probably take quite a long time! I can do this for hours and not get bored! Haha!

I am in the generation whereby we learn and study with the help of digital media. We use the Internet to help us with our homework, projects and research. It is our main source of information. Research papers, published books and news are available online. Anything that we are unsure of, we can easily find the answer to our questions in seconds.

In lectures, our professors are using digital videos from various sources to aid in our learning. It's definitely effective as it's more interesting and thus easier to recall information. Just like in COM125 classes, we are often exposed to videos from the Common Craft which "help educators and influencers introduce complex subjects".

And now, the latest product from Apple, iPad. We can still waiting to see if it will revolutionize classrooms like we think it would. But i believe, if the right apps are developed for the iPad to be used in schools, it'll be a pretty cool idea. First, if you're still living in a cave and have no idea what's an iPad, let me help you understand it better.

It is a 0.5 inch thin, weighing at 1.5 pounds, portable device with a multi-touch screen just slightly smaller then an A4 paper. You are able to surf the Internet, watch videos, read books with it and many more. The iPad is open to the App Store, meaning you can run almost 140,000 apps that are available.

Textbooks & Worksheets. Save the amount of paper needed for textbooks and students no longer need to lug 4-5 textbooks to and fro school. You just need to bring the iPad, which is few hundreds cheaper than laptops. Worksheets given out by teachers can be sent and returned digitally with possibility of teachers providing almost instant feedback too. Besides, any outdated content or mistakes can be easily updated.

How i wish iPad was available when i was still in primary or secondary school. It would have been much easier to organize my notes! All the chunks of papers... Tsk tsk...

Business on the Internet!

There is a very active community of online shopping in Singapore. Most of the "shops" started out from free blogging sites like Blogger or Livejournal to minimize their startup cost. Therefore, the term "blogshop" is coined.

How do they work? These blogshops will launch collections of clothes, bags and accessories weekly, biweekly or monthly, depending on their sales. These items are usually sourced from countries like Taiwan, Bangkok and Hongkong and sold off at a higher price here. Shoppers can be informed about latest or upcoming collections by joining the mailing list. It's really crazy to know that plenty of Singaporean ladies/girls are clicking the refresh button as they await for collections to be launched at a specific time.

Some blogshops eventually earn enough to host their own domain, manufacture their own designs and open a boutique. Their brands become as well-known as those in shopping centres. Some popular examples are:

Or if the blogshop gets popular enough, certain sponsors may approach for a collaboration.

These are screenshots taken from BonitoChico website. Besides L'Oreal, they also have collaboration with Calvin Klein.

Besides these blogshops, there is a different kind of online shopping available here. They are called sprees (like shopping sprees), usually to purchase items from a certain brand that's not available in Singapore. One person will collate orders from anyone who wants to get items from that brand/website so as to purchase and ship over to Singapore altogether. The advantage of doing this is to save on shipping costs which are too much to bear for a person who just wants one or two items from there.

All communication is done through emails. Payments are usually made through internet banking and it must be paid in full before items will be mailed to you. This is the risk that an online shopper is taking. But of course, if you are purchasing from a registered brand like ASOS for example, payments can be made by Paypal or credit cards even.

Oh my! All these just made shopping much easier since "shops" are forever open now. There goes my money...

In my opinion...

This was something written by me in response to my friend's blog entry on Twitter (in which she compared it with Facebook). But first, this is what she concluded:

"In conclusion, Twitter is not a good communication or social networking tool, its functions are limited, it is also not a good representation of face-to-face communication and I feel that Twitter is not an appropriate avenue to post formal and serious information."

I think i might call myself an addict. I check both twitter and facebook several times a day as long as i have internet access. But i have to say they are very different platforms.
"Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages", quoted from twitter's website.
Hence it's not possible to just compared facebook and twitter directly since they have different purposes.

Personally, i like to keep my tweets private, sharing them with only "approved" followers. Keeping my twitter world intimate with just 35 followers compared to 700 friends in facebook. Facebook for me is to not lose contact with friends/acquaintances i made in my life while twitter is for me to communicate or share my random thoughts (as my day goes by) with only those whom i do not mind sharing my days with. Best, it's free! Most of my followers are my schoolmates and close friends. Sometimes, that's how we know what each of us is doing and feeling when we're not physically together. With a 3GS iPhone, i can tweet any moment of my day - whether with words, pictures or videos!

Lastly, i love the "trending topic" section, search engine and being able to follow news i want and having them on my page. I can easily just click a trending topic and i can see how people feel about the latest movie, latest scandal involving who, what, where, and definitely the latest news. I am able to follow the celebrities i like, get info from them first-hand about their day, their opinions on stuff and how they're feeling. Nothing beats that!

More on Social Media & Web 3.0

In a report done by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project in 2009, it is stated that 72% of wired American teens and young adults now use social networking websites. A study done in Singapore by The Nielson Company found that “95 per cent of the 15—19 age group are using some form of social networking media, while 89 per cent of those in their 20s form the next biggest users.”

Social media is actually a really huge term that takes up many different forms: Communication (blogs and social networking), Collaboration (Wikis and Social bookmarking), Multimedia (Photography, Music and Video sharing), Reviews & Opinions (Product reviews and community forums), and Entertainment (Virtual world and Game sharing).

I've always thought that the most "in" thing now is social media, about the user interface and how content on the Internet are mostly shared by us with interactive websites. However, i recently learnt that that is web 2.0, it has been around for 5 years already! Time passed real quick as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (which all falls within the sphere of Web 2.0) penetrate the mainstream. Web 3.0 will be ready to take over in 2020.

As what many others said to describe Web 3.0, it is like giving Internet a brain. Search engines will be able to read through every sentences in webpages and be able to give you the answer to your question, even when certain sites that appear in the results do not have the original search terms. I quote an example, by searching on the search engine, "Which US Presidents died of disease?", the web results show that the web knows, for instance, that Reagan was a US President, and that Alzheimer's is a disease.

That's 10 years from now! Though it's quite creepy to think of how one day the Internet/Computer will outsmart us (Did you see the movie "Eagle Eye"?), i'm still pretty excited!

Leaving you with 2 social media jokes!

Statistics on Social Media!

I came across these videos last year and would like to share with you.

There are some pretty interesting numbers in there. Not to mention, the videos are pretty cool too!

The age that people start using a handphone just keeps getting younger! Not just that, they have a facebook account at a mere age of what? 8? 9? How many friends do they actually have to keep up with? Well, i guess they're more interested in the games? Haha.

1st Week of School

Unfortunately, I only attended the first lesson of this week on Tuesday. I went to remove my wisdom tooth and was on MC for the second lesson.

For the first lesson, much of the time was spent on introduction to this course. So basically, we had an overview of the Internet, that TCP/IP is the communication protocol for the Internet, and the evolution of the Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 and their differences.

I'm looking forward to learn more in this module as i spend most of my time on the Internet. I like to know and try the latest "in" thing in the Internet so as to keep myself up-to-date with the new technology. Just like how i'm so amazed with Googlewave 1-2 months ago! For those who have not heard of Googlewave yet, you should check out the video!

Do ask for invites if you're interested! :)

On a side note, the content of this module seems a little similar to COM488 E-Commerce module. Shall see what's the difference!