Eons!

My evaluation of Eons attempts to examine all of the qualities that make a community a community. Through this examination, we have seen that Eons does represent a virtual community, with certain aspects that are highlighted more than others. In addition to my presentation on Monday, you should find more information in this report.

Let me hear you say it...

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

A student tries to sell himself

A student at California State University at Fullerton tries to sell himself to investors on eBay. Ron Steen put himself on eBay "to pay for his college education, offering 2 percent of all future earnings to the highest bidder, with a minimum $100,000 bid."

Steen described himself on eBay as being "the real deal" and "a very intelligent guy."

Yet, is he really that intelligent? "eBay removed Steen's auction after five days for violating the site's charity policy. Bloggers also pointed out spelling errors in his ad."

More Porn info...lol

Here is an article done by CNN, which confirms the finding that there is only 1 percent of Web sites indexed by Google and Microsoft that are sexually explicit. The article does confess that filters weed out a lot of porn:

"AOL's Mature Teen, blocked 91 percent of the sexually explicit Web sites in indexes maintained by Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN. Filters with less restrictive settings blocked at least 40 percent of sexually explicit sites."

In 2000, Congress passes a law requiring that schools and libraries use filters to block porn sites. "The high court upheld that law in 2003."

Can I get Broadband access?

Since we have been talking about the broadband issue in the US and other countries, I decided to look up some stats. The title of a report sums up a lot: China will pass US in Broadband Lines by late 2006 - Worldwide Broadband Survey - US Broadband Penetration Breaks 65% Among Active Internet Users - January 2006 Bandwidth Report. The report's date is January 2006.

I found the stats to be quite interesting. The US leads in the Top 10 Largest Broadband Countries, but Hong Kong and South Korea lead in the Top 20 Countries with Broadband Penetration.




There are several additional charts that yield significant data. The charts range from examining the speed of broadband connectivity at work and home, broadband penetration per household, and the growth of broadband in the US.

PlayStation 3!

As we have discussed before, the citizens of Japan love technology. From social networks to building computers, they engage with technology in some form. But it doesn't end there. They love to play video games, as well.


At midnight on this past Friday, gamers formed long lines before dawn in miserable weather in front of Shinjuku's Yodobashi Camera to purchase the new PlayStation 3. It was stated that Sony hopes to sell about 100,000 units per week. But this rage is not only happening in Japan. Americans are not too far behind.



In Manhattan, PS3 fans waited in rainy weather, as well, to buy the system. Three engineering students from Cooper Union college made their waiting time productive. They did a little studying during the wait probably because they knew they would not be studying when they got back to the dorm.

Even though the Japanese and Americans both had to stand in the rain to get their PS3, the Japanese still may be cheated. It was announced that out of the 500,000 PS3s that are available at the launch, Japan will receive only 100,000, while North America will get 400,000. Yet, that works for the population ratio.

List of Social Networking Sites

Here is a list provided by Wikipedia of social networking websites. It tells you how many users are registered with the network and if the registration is open or invite only.

Interesting list.

Microsoft Vista coupons

Since Microsoft was too slow getting their new program out, Vista, they are offering an incentive for the delay...Vista upgrade coupons! These coupons will be available to consumers who purchase certain Windows personal computers during the holiday season. Vista is scheduled to be released in January to consumers, but it will be available this month to big business clients. Microsoft claims it's launch date was pushed back due to numerous delays. (No joke.)

Computer companies such as Hewlett Packard, Gateway, and Dell have agreed to partake in the coupon incentive. The coupon value depends on how each company would like to award the consumer.

Let's play politics

A group of college students from California have launched an online political video game, Fantasy Congress, which leads up to this month's U.S. Congressional elections. Andrew Lee, a senior at Claremont McKenna College and one of the creators of Fantasy Congress, initially envisioned the concept of the game as a combination of knowledge and skill that anyone could play while also participating in national politics. The goal of the game's creation is to spark a greater interest in politics just as video games do for sports. The player is able to select a team of actual U.S. lawmakers and then, compete against other teams. Andrew stated that he hopes that this game will encourage "more young people to become lawmakers."