The All-In-One Machine

    Having to read about VoIP brought my down memory lane, when the Internet first came about. I remember that for a brief time, when the Internet was starting to really come around, there were a bunch of companies that started providing free dial-up service. But sooner or later they found out that you need to make profit somehow if you want to stay afloat, so they either switched over or fell apart. I feel like this is going to happen with VoIP. Right now you have a bunch of free software that allows you do make these calls over your computer, but I think that sooner or later all the big phone companies are going to but in and start forcing everyone to pay for VoIP capabilities.

One thing that I’m a little concerned with is that by moving phone calls over to the Internet and computers, it seems as though we’re starting to put too much on one machine. It’s almost as if it’s going to get to the point that computers will do everything for us (and it’s getting kind of close to that), and so if there were ever some huge power outage or major technical meltdown, we would be sent back to the stone age because everything was dependent on one or two technologies. Kind of like Terminator 3 or those other movies where some machine learns to think on its own and completely screws the rest of the world over, except not so far-fetched. I didn’t  think about the fact that when the power goes off, most phones still work, and sometimes that can be a life-saver. If we start trusting our telephones to not only our computers, but to wireless internet services (which I think is where our country is headed towards), we might run into a lot of dropped calls and bad coverage, which means AT&T will have to keep raising the bar.

It’s kind of similar to how cell phones are becoming this “all-in-one” portable device. I mean, I completely understand the reasoning behind combining a Mp3 player with a cell phone that has internet access, because it allows someone to carry just 1 thing rather than 2 or 3, but at the same time, if you lose that one object, you just a) lost yourself a lot of money and b) lost yourself a lot of personal information/stuff. Combine that with the fact that most cell phones/mp3 players are becoming ridiculously small, and you got yourself a lot of frustrated people.

I like that as of now VoIP is giving people the ability to conduct free long-distance calls. My mom is from France and therefore makes a lot of long-distance calls there to speak with family, so I’d imagine that after awhile the bill starts to get pretty hefty. VoIP will allow her to skip all the expenses while providing her the opportunity to call my grandparents as much as she wants. Now if only she could learn how to use a computer…

Discussion Questions:

1)  Do you think people are more drawn to the reliability of a product or it’s cost?

2) Why does the FCC care about VoIP?

Tacoma Fiber Optic Project

So I did some web searching and here’s some of the links I found:

http://books.nap.edu/html/broadband/ch5_b2.html

http://www.globaltelematics.com/ElPomar/wiredcommunities.htm

Apparently, and hopefully I’m correct, but the city of Tacoma constructed this huge fiber optic system that covered 1,100 miles that would provide Internet and cable TV access.

So When Will Mars Get Gmail?

When I was reading this week’s article, which was daunting by not only the amount of complicated diagrams, but also the big words they used freely within, like”WLAN” and “802.16″, I kept thinking of that guy who won an award this past year by bringing about the concept of micro-loans, in which he lent out little bits of money here and there, in order to help people buy tools to do business.

Just a sec, let me Google this.

OK, found it. Muhammad Yunus, the recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, introduced the idea of giving out micro-credit, which were these little loans that now days average to 200 USD, in order to help other people in Bangladesh buy anything to help them start up their own businesses.

Ah the powers of the Internet and National Georgraphic News Online.

Anyways, the point I’m trying to get to with that little tangent was that while I was reading this article, I was thinking of Mr. Yunus and his idea of micro-credit. I imagined that some entrepreneurs who wanted to do some good in the world were offering wireless networking to all these underdeveloped parts of the world for next to nothing, hoping that this would jump start something huge. Although their Internet access probably wouldn’t be nearly as good as UW’s network or even my Cable connection I have here at my apartment, it would still grant these people access to the Information Highway, which would open a whole new gateway for them to communicate and retreive information to help them develop at a faster rate. What’s kind of ironic (and I’m probably using this term either a) loosely or b) in the completely wrong context) is to think that because we’re giving these countries all of this technology, we’re almost having them skip decades of development in order to catch up to the rest of us. Not that I’m trying to make this seem negative or implying that this is wrong, it’s just interesting to see how these places will react to the Internet compared to us, who were slowly adapted to the technology. They are having this technology shoved in their faces, and I wonder whether all of them will freely accept it, or whether it might be shunned by some.

What’s kind of sad to think about is that as cheap as this wireless service may become, it still may be too expensive for a lot of people to afford. Meanwhile, our wireless companies are throwing away millions of dollars on advertisements and other things that they could easily be spending to help jump start whatever technology is necessary to have their services in underdeveloped countries. Now I’m more than aware that doing this is probably a hell of a lot harder than I’m implying, but I think that being as rich as some of these companies are (such as AT&T and Verizon), I think they could put some of that money to really good use. But we live in a greedy, mostly self-centered capitalistic society, so the chances of this happening are probably slim to none. Such is life.

Discussion Questions:

1) What part of the underdeveloped world do you think will be next to flourish with the introduction of the Internet?

2) If WMAN is made for cities, why have I only seen WLANs whenever I’m around Seattle?

Politics, Ho!

    I’m going to be honest. If there’s one thing I really don’t like talking about, its politics. Maybe its because I think all politicians are corrupt, or because I just don’t find the topic to be interesting in general, but I cant bring myself to care that much about the issue. So you could probably guess that I wasn’t too enthralled to read this week’s readings, because they dealt with, “you-know-what”.

However after reading the two articles, and sitting back in my chair and conducting some deep thinking, I’ve rationalized that the Internet has become a double-edged sword for politics. On the one hand, the Internet has given politics the ability to personalize their messages to certain demographics, which help them to gather more votes. It has also allowed them to communicate with people from all over the country at the same time, and helped to make their campaigns reach every corner of the country without having to be there personally. Furthermore, the Internet has allowed politicians to form their own communities within communities, building email lists that allow voters to connect one another and build a stronger relationship between the audience and the politician.

On the other hand, the Internet has allowed the critics to have an equal amount of  power in distributing their own information. If you go on YouTube, and type President Bush, you’ll probably find more hate and criticism than a Michael Moore film. Not only that, but there have been instances where embarrassing moments have been put up on the Internet and have led to a lot of backlash, like the one guy who made the racist Native American remark while giving a speech (he was referring to the guy who was videotaping, I forget the specifics, but he called him Mackaw or something). Then of course there is the instance that Kathy brought up with the bloggers who went after Strom Thurmond. Not only has viral video led to some embarrassing moments for politicians, but the blogosphere has become a major player in the criticism of most politicians.

I thought it was interesting how Kathy discussed the different critiques of the political websites in her article. I never thought about the fact that these sites should be as easy to use as possible, since the politicians are shooting for the general populace, who won’t want to navigate through complex toolbars or site maps. After looking at the pictures of the two different websites, I found that I was more attractive to the Kerry/Edwards site because I found it to be more simplistic and easy on the eyes, compared to the Bush/Cheney one, which seemed like it belonged on FOXNews or something.

Overall I think the Internet has and continue to change the landscape of the political campaign. I think we will be getting more viral ad campaigns and personalized messages as the 08 campaign continues to rear its head towards us. Furthermore, I believe its forcing politics to rethink their strageties on how to get the common voter on their side, as they now have the ability to talk to people one-on-one without having to step anywhere near their house.

Discussion Questions:

1) Is using the Internet for campaigning cost-efficient for political parties? Or are they still paying about the same for all the advertisements and what not?

2) Do you think elections will ever be moved to the Internet or some type of electronic system in which we won’t have to go to a specific location to cast our ballot?

Podcast Sources – 2

1)      Smith, A.D (2005). Exploring online dating and customer relationship management. Online Information Review, 29(1), 18-33. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (ProQuest Document ID: 826097871).

 2) Valentine, G (2006). Global Intimacy: The Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Maintaining and Creating Relationships.Women’s Studies Quarterly, 34(1/2), 365-393. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from Research Library database. (ProQuest Document ID: 1066955521).           

3)      Stone, B. (2007, March 19). Hot but Virtuous Is an Unlikely Match for an Online Dating Service. New York Times  (Late Edition (east Coast)),  p. C.1. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from Banking Information Source database. (ProQuest Document ID: 1237131881).

        

Music Sources – 2

1. Title: Without Warning

Description: Sweet Mood, Acoustic

Copyright Info: Non-commercial podcasts free 128k download: download the MP3s for this album. Each mp3 will end with a human voice that says “That was track __ from the album __ by the artist __” You can easily trim off the speaking for use in your podcast.

Location: http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/beight-rhythm/free_download

 

2.Title: Romance

Descripton: “Sweet” Mood, acoustic

Copyright Info: Non-commercial podcasts free 128k download: download the MP3s for this album. Each mp3 will end with a human voice that says “That was track __ from the album __ by the artist __” You can easily trim off the speaking for use in your podcast.

Location:http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/savino-mertz/free_download