A Social World

Eons!

2006-12-05T06:54:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-30T16:16:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-17T16:52:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-11-14T20:14:00.000-08:00

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!

2006-11-14T19:41:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-09T14:10:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

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."

JotSpot joins Google

2006-11-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

JotSpot, the first application wiki, has joined the Google line. Joe Kraus, the co-founder and CEO of JotSpot, announced this merge Tuesday, October 31st on his blog. Kraus states:

"As we [Graham Spencer and Kraus] built the business over the past three years Google consistently attracted our attention. Joining Google allows us to plug into the resources that only a company of Google's scale can offer, like a huge audience, access to world-class data centers and a team of incredibly smart people."

If you want to join JotSpot now, you will have to wait until they re-open their registration. The company states that they have closed registration "to focus on migrating to Google's systems." Also, if you want to find out why this deal has been made, Jotspot has provided a "frequently asked questions" webpage for your information.

Oprah, Bono, and the iPod

2006-10-30T20:43:00.000-08:00

Celebrities Oprah Winfrey and Bono are promoting the new red-colored iPod to help the fight against AIDS in Africa. The music player and several other "red" items will go on sale in the upcoming weeks. Portions of the sales will be donated to The Global Fund. "Apple will contribute $10 from the sale of each new red-colored iPod nano." The Global Fund is expected to raise millions of dollars just with the selling of iPods. Last year, 14 million iPods were sold during the holiday quarter so the organization is expecting a similar result this year. Apple "also plans to donate some proceeds from a $25 iTunes Red gift card to the organization." The company's CEO Steve Jobs is delighted to see that something is being done for this cause.

China=Real Name for Blog

2006-10-29T13:45:00.000-08:00

Would you use your real name for your blog? While mandating other Internet laws, China is pressing for this requirement in its blog industry. Blogging is very popular in China, along with the use of discussion forums and bulletin boards. The Xinhua news agency reported that "bloggers anonymously disseminate untrue information on the Internet" which has brought about a negative influence on society. If this rule comes into effect, users will have to register their blog under their real name, but they will also be able to write under a pseudonym.

Here are a few other interesting facts about China and its Internet laws:

1. China's search engines monitor content by keyword and remove offending Web sites. "When people request banned content through Chinese search engines like Baidu and Yisou, the filtering system disconnects them."

2. China uses most of the Internet services that extend from Western corporations. Interestingly, Yahoo! and Google agreed to alter their search engines to comply with China's filtering system.

3. The Chinese government blocks any Web sites that it feels is politically or socially harmful. If China residents want to find information related to Taiwanese and Tibetan independence or the Dalai Lama, they will find nothing.

Last but not least...

4. "Every Chinese person who signs up for Internet service must register with his or her local police department within 30 days." This is mad serious.

Want to be a painter?

2006-10-27T23:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a cool website that takes interactivity to another level. You may think that it looks plain at first, but with a few clicks and jumps, you are on your way to creating your very own abstract painting. It is like you are the next Jackson Pollock. The flash design was created by Miltos Manetas.

Happy Birthday iPod

2006-10-23T05:53:00.000-07:00

Apple's portable music player_the iPod_ celebrates its 5th birthday today. With the various functions and capabilities that it feeds to users, the iPod has "revolutionized the way people buy and listen to music." The benefits of the iPod are evident in the rise of Apple's stocks over the past five years. "Apple dominates retail sales of digital music players with more than 70 percent of the market," and iPod sales have increased the sales of Mac computers. The iPod has also been an enemy for other companies such as record stores and other music vendors. However, Apple still faces competition. Microsoft's Zune is expected to make its debut next month, and Sandisk has already featured products to battle the Nano iPod.

Stanford Study

2006-10-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

I did a Google search to get additional information on why people use the Internet. The second hit I received was a study done by Stanford University that includes several reasons for Internet use.

They found that people use it for various reasons including email, a public library, entertainment, social networking, and business transactions.

The webpage is not as detailed as I think it should be. There is not even a link to the main page of the study.

No Myspace at School or at Home

2006-10-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

Myspace...the popular venue for social networking is being banned in schools and at home. It is understandable why school administrators would block access to social networks at school, but the weird thing is why is Myspace being banned at home. No, it's not the parents who are banning this social network. It is the school! " Some private schools ban students from even HAVING an online profile, prohibiting the use of Myspace, Xanga, and LiveJournal -- even on their own computers at home," stated Bob Rankin, the editor of Internet Tourbus. This is in response to some of the activities that students have engaged with on social networks.

There was one case in which "a high school student was suspended for 10 days after posting a parody profile of his principal on Myspace." Several other cases have been recognized that include students harassing teachers, administratorsrs, or peers. Students feel that this restriction infringes their freedom of speech and expression, but private schools are being backed with legal support to limit this access. There are laws that stand that define libel, slander, and harassmentnt. Therefore, students (or anyone) who post degrading comments on social networks should not be surprised if school administrators come knocking at their door to notify them of suspension or expulsion.

As a wrap, if you use social networks, be aware of what you post.

Digital Divide

2006-10-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

While doing research for a paper on the digital divide, I came across a report done by the Consumer Federation of America titled Does the Digital Divide Still Exist? The introduction of the report gives several reasons why the Bush Administration feels that the digital divide has been closed, but this just goes to show how out of the loop they are. There are several detailed charts that explain a lot of the issues.

Good source for the topic that we are reading about.

The New Microsoft

2006-10-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

Say goodbye to Microsoft XP...the new Microsoft Vista is making its way through. Customers can try a pre-release verison of the program now.

Directly related to this announcement is an article by Charles Cooper of CNet news.com that tries to dig deep in the subject and find out if Microsoft is still relevant? The European Union's Neelie Kroes has warned the company not to design Vista in ways that would screw the competition with other software sales. Interesting article.

Political Video Blog

2006-10-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

A British politician, David Cameron, starts a video blog to "embrace the political possibilities of the social web." His first blog features him washing dishes in his kitchen while trying to talk over his screaming children. During the recording, he forgot the name of his blog and he lost his train of thought a few times. However, Cameron insists that Webcameron, the name of his blog, will give viewers behind the scenes access of "what the conservative party is doing, what they are up to."

Want a good blog?

2006-09-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

Blogging has obviously become apart of our culture so if we are going to use it, I assume we should use to it to the fullest. Lyndon from Flockblog has given ten tips for writing a good blog, but he included one more, so it is really 11 tips.

1. Make your opinion known
2. Link like crazy
3. Write less
4. 250 Words is enough
5. Make Headlines snappy
6. Write with passion
7. Include Bullet point lists
8. Edit your post
9. Make your posts easy to scan
10. Be consistent with your style
11. Litter the post with keywords

Readers of his blog posted comments, and many of them appeared to agree with Lyndon's tips. Maybe it does work.

Informational Meeting

2006-09-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

I believe we all can attest to the fact that our social world is getting larger by the day. I received an email from my residence's governor informing residents of an informational meeting. It was definitely a warning about the social networks that we engage with. Everyone is using these programs, and it just may jeopardize one's chance for a job.

The email read:
Job and Internship recruiters are now using Facebook, MySpace, and even Google to scan applicants. What you have online could be the YES or NO to getting an interview. Find out how to keep your private life just that, and learn some tricks to limit access without having to take away all the fun!

09/27/2006, 7:00pmRam Village 1, 2nd Floor Lobby

I don't think I can make the meeting, but I'll try to find out what they talked about.

Funny cartoon

2006-09-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

If you think that cell phone usage is getting out of hand, this cartoon just may confirm it. (click on the picture to go to the original page)

I think most of us feel that if we lose our cell phone, the entire day is ruined. It is true_the cell phone has many uses. We use them for everything from simply talking, to texting, to conducting business matters, to using the Internet and much more. They are definitely handy systems for most of our transactions. An article by Sandy Berger pretty much sums it up.

Cell Phone Usage
by Sandy Berger

Cell phones are becoming an integral part of our daily lives. It is no surprise that a groundbreaking study just released says mobile technology has permanently changed the way we work, live, and love. Commissioned by Motorola, this new behavioral study took researchers to nine cities worldwide from New York to London. Using a combination of personal interviews, field studies, and observation, the study identified a variety of behaviors that demonstrate the dramatic impact cell phones are having on the way people interact.

The study found cell phones give people a newfound personal power, enabling unprecedented mobility and allowing them to conduct their business on the go. Interesting enough, gender differences can be found in phone use. Women see their cell phone as a means of expression and social communication, while males tend to use it as an interactive toy. Some men view the cell phone as a status symbol - competing with other males for the most high tech toy and even using the cell phone to seduce the opposite sex. The study found two types of cell phone users- "innies,” who use their phones discreetly, and "outies,” who are louder and less concerned with the people around them.

The report, titled On the Mobile, has labeled today’s teenagers “The Thumb Generation.” Cell phones are often used by the younger generation to send text messages by typing with their thumbs on the phone’s keypad. Believe it or not, this has had a profound effect on the way teenagers use their thumbs. Thumb dexterity has improved so much that some teenagers now point and even ring doorbells with their thumb instead of their forefinger. The use of these two-way text messaging devices has also resulted in "generation text," a language of abbreviations that is understood by the young all over the world.

Yet cell phones are not just for the young. The cell phone has made long distance communications easy. GSM phones that place calls worldwide have turned the universe into a global village. They are helping people from all generations cross cultural and physical borders. Mobile technology, specifically the use of cell phones, has become an internal part of today’s life all around the globe.

Wikipedia- Good or bad?

2006-09-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

After reading some tech stuff, I ran across an article by a student intern for CNet who feels that Wikipedia is a bad thing. Is it really? She confessed that she waited to the last minute to write a paper, and therefore, her only resort was the famous Wikipedia. (I wonder what her grade was on that paper since she has told the truth.)

Even more, Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, has asked students to "stop citing Wikipedia as a source of academic resource." Check that story out right here on the Media Blog .

2006-09-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

I read an article on CNN.com about a specfic blog called "houseblog.net" The essence of the blog is that people post stories about their home renovations anywhere from the color of paint they have chosen to the type of furniture they picked out. The bloggers have created their own community, and therefore, no one believes that another blogger is crazy when discussing things like trimmings or paint selections.

One blogger stated that "This is where you can really vent, find commiseration, find motivation... and you get such great ideas from people!" From this comment, we see that this specialized blog uses the community as a place to express inner thougths, and even further, the thoughts are focused on home renovation.

Houseblog.net is a blog that homeowners use to escape from the world as they talk about their homes. If you would like to read the article, please follow the following link:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/09/20/house.blogging.ap/index.html

So, do you think you can spend _ amount of time posting messages to a blog?

2006-09-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone! I have been placing my posts to another blog for several days, but I prefer to separate the things that I want to discuss with our class from the rest of the world. So, here is the beginning of my new blog, and hopefully, through our interaction, we will find out what entities make our world so social.