More about Technology in the Classroom

Talking about technology in classroom, as hungryonfridaymorning and been talking about using different technologies in class by the teacher, but how about by students? I was just wondering this in class when I saw the wireless nod in class it the square gray box on the right side of room with the two Aerial pointing out, with the two flashing lights. Has any one here used the wireless internet actually in class? And then came to other question why would you have internet access in class, access to the intranet I would understand because you could access ceil or the libraries but why internet access. I know why you have outside of class. Because the number of computer terminals are limited and having a wireless network allows students to access the intranet as well the internet from any where on campus you want to work and numbers can be added easily depending on demand. All you need is a wireless card or function on your laptop.

But getting back to my main question, why would you have internet access in class, so what could check you e-mail in class or surf the net if you need it. It seems more of a form of distraction rather a then productive tool to be used in class. Because if you’re bored in class you could easily just bum off and just surf the net or do other things in class. Take example I was in psych lecture once and there was this guy with his laptop and was surfing the net for info on germen shlappee song you could even msn someone else on the other side of the room. If two people had their laptops in class I had even notice that they have power plugs under near the desk in our class so you can plug in your laptop to save that all need battery life for when you’re outside the class ;). I think the guy in class found the lecture on the functions on the inter ear bordering!! Ha ha. Like hungryonfridaymorning I believe technology in classrooms can be good and helpful for learning, but then some time I believe that sometimes too much technology in classrooms can be counterproductive and like Olivia say that technology can be distracting or not best for good study habits.

Mana-E

Adware and spyware targeting children websites

It seems that advertisers and promoters are once again target the vulnerability of children. But this time, it is not on television during the afternoon children programme slots. This time it is target on the internet. It seems now spyware and adware makers are now targeting children because children are easy to manipulate. If they see a pop-up ad which promote a free iPod offers, they will click on it with out cautious. And unforturnately, adware and spyware makers also noticed this growing trends. One of the biggest makers of adware software such as Claria was alleges by others that the firm "plays on the user confusion, carelessness, or naivete. Including distributing its software in way that disproportionately target children"
One ad for Claria, which was captured by Edelman on his website says, "Your computer clock maybe wrong. Would you like to keep it accurate?" If you agree to click and download this ad, which look like a Window dialog box, it will automatically download and install Claria's advertising software in to your computer. And all these ad/spyware traps are usually placed in popular children website, the most recently found site containing such wares was barbie.com. And now it seems with wireless, children usage of internet are even more mobile and harder to control by parents. This result in further vulnerability to ad/spywares. Forturnately, major group such as American Online and Microsoft offer special anti-spyware tools. And there's also the Safeguard Against Privacy Invasion Act or SPY Act making its wy through to Congress in the State. But most crusially, a reminder to parents to watch carefully what their children view online. Nonetheless, hopefully, with these preventions and many to come in the future, Internet can become a safer for children.

Technology in the Classroom

In an earlier blog entry Olivia highlighted that with the implementation of technology into universities she feels that students don’t have to work as hard for their degrees and in her case it had made it all to easy to leave assignments to the last minute. While this maybe true to a degree (excuse the pun) it made me recall what my 70 year old and obviously veteran Economics lecturer, Gamini , said earlier this semester in relation to the same area.

He was giving a lecture on technology and the Internet and their affect on ‘productivity in the workplace’. As any interesting lecturer does, he proceeded to go off on a tangent, relating the topic to his own experiences as a lecturer. He detailed how when he first started teaching the same 'Macroeconomics' paper in the 1950s all he had in the way of resources was a blackboard and chalk. Because of the lack of technology to increase student productivity it took him a year and half to cover the same material for that paper. He then contrasted this with today’s teaching of the paper where with the help of technology such as ‘Cecil’, ‘PowerPoint slides’ and photocopiers he can now teach close to the same amount of material in as little as 6 weeks and does so three times a year! He felt that student understanding of the material was the same if not better due to the implementation of technology.

Obviously in this case technology has made it vastly easier for students to learn the same material. While in making it easier for students, as Olivia highlighted it is not teaching them a 'good work ethic', what it is doing is enabling them to become vastly more productive and come out as a graduate with a lot more knowledge under their belt than they would have without technology to aid them. If this knowledge it as ‘well learned’ as it would have been in the 1950s, I don’t think the implementation of technology into universities can be viewed as a bad thing at all, but rather as a tool that should be grasped by all students and implemented effectively into their learning.

Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan

Body Art: human body vs technology

is London's first dedicated magazine about underground arts.
SUKA OFF is an artistic group existing since 1995.The coordinator of all projects is the founder Piotr Wegrzynski.Constantly collaborating are: Mirosław Matyasik [music creator],Sylvia Lajbig as well as Maciej Dziaczko and Dominik Zlotkowski.At the beginning the group appeared through a series of single manifestations. With time, after numerous personal changes,the group created their own way of expression placed somewhere between theatre and performance.
After several actions (de-generation, Kar Krash Klan, ID, exterminatoREX) the group has been defined as radical.In years 1999/2001 the Matrix cycle was created, consisting of: Copy I - Copy IV and Matrixes: version Hardxero and Hardware(Grand Prix at the II International Festival of Theatre and Visual Arts ZDARZENIA in Tczew, I prize [best performance and best music] at Łódz Theatre Meetings) and IN/OUT action.
In the year 2000 new SUKA OFF commando was formed - the BlackFleshVideo group - specialised only in audio/video/design productions.SUKA OFF work consists of many kinds of modern art like theatrical performances, happenings, performance, films and music visuals. The group performs in different spaces like clubs, theatres and art galleries in Poland and abroad.

At the beginning of 2004 took place the premiere of "deuSEXmachina"- a performance which fulfills best the idea of theatre and performance art assimilation. After some personal changes, in September 2004 came into being "deuSEXmachina" ver.2, including the first X - RATED 01 BFV video.

half way dyspepsia

I'm watching an article on CNN about the phone operators and emergency service dispatchers who had to deal with calls from people, sometimes children, asking for help, sometimes asking that there nearest be informed of their deaths. In other words the same things were happening as happened during the attacks of September 11th.

For all the technology that seems to have been bought by the Department of Homeland Security and the high tech soldiery beloved by Donald Rumsfeld and the Neocons it still comes down to boots in the water and a lot of pain when people have to be helped.

Similarly most of the really valuable media coverage comes from people who go and look not from satellite views or the CNN Situation Room (cringe).

As far as I can see the major contribution down to the internet is a set of scams aimed at relieving kind hearted people of their money through dodgy emails and web sites. And you thought people couldn't sink any lower, well there you are technology can help.

I suppose I'm feeling disenchanted. But is our dependence on technology like using the emperor's new clothes to prevent frost bite? Do we believe that a phone really is a defense against mugging rather than an invitation to it? If there is a private/public/whatever space we take with us tied to our iPods, then how disastrous will it be when that secret place is invaded or just dissappears? We start using implants, and what happens – no power or a terrorist electromagnetic pulse attack, it won't just kill those with pacemakers?

Then again do we just adapt backwards and dump the tech ... or buy some new stuff?

More on the internet..

After reading what Josephine was saying about computers being essential to the majority of people, it got me thinking. I've kinda taken the internet for granted during my time at uni, and possibly even my later school years. If I didnt have the internet (or the uni intranet) I would actually have to manually search through through loads and loads of books to find any relevant ones when looking for information for assignments. Also, the quick responses to last minute essay questions from tutors, and the other various notices would have to wait until the next class if it wasnt for email or Cecil. My main point of this rant is, 'back in the day' before all this helpful technology, Uni students must have had to work so much harder for their qualifications. I often wish that i could inspire myself to work harder, but the various resources available make leaving an assignment to the last minute so much easier.
Anyway, if you want to procrastinate a bit more about those assignments, have a look at mousebreaker, while the games are really simple, some can be slightly addictive, and theres quite a few : )

Extinction of the free online newspaper???

If anyone else is like me, finding time to eat breakfast in the morning, let alone read the paper each morning, is a wonderful, but seldom experiance. Which is why, when i do have a spare 10 mins or so through out the day i aim to jump online and check up what been happning in the world through on line newspapers. Usually in my case i will log on to The Herald, as with a further 1.1 million people a month. I was startled to read, that this free, everyday experiance for thousands of New Zelanders may come to an end. To charge or not to charge??? Apparently this debate has been going on for a while, ever since the commercial practicality of the internet became the phenomenon it is today. The New York Times announced that come September, it will charge $50 a year for Web access to its op-ed columnists and news archives. However, a week earlier, the Los Angeles Times moved in the reverse direction, removing the $60 annual fee it had been charging for its online entertainment guide to Los Angeles. In the Herald recently an article explained how the internet over the past 10 years has challanged Newspapers as they try to retain the loyalty of not only their readerships but advertisers also. They reiterate that the newspaper still provides the authoriative content, in contrast to the questionable content found on the WWW. APN General manager, says that while viewing news stories will be free, from Septemeber exclusive 'comment or opinion material' will require a subscription access fee of $3 a day or $99 for the year. The much loved Key word search ( for me, anyway) will also change format, so that a payment is needed to access stories more than a week old. He goes on to say that 'people are prepared to pay for print formats, so why would the online format be different?'......... Im not so sure.

Breach of privacy?

I work for Courierpost, which is the main money making enterprise for New Zealand Post. I work in the call centre tracking down packages and the like. When someone calls, a map of New Zealand pops up showing their location with a flashing red dot, and their phone number is displayed on the bottom of the screen. When I quote the phone number back to customers for booking and investigations, people are often somewhat affronted and startled that I have this information. It seems strange to me that here at courierpost we are not allowed to give out the numbers of depots or drivers, yet we have complete access to the location and contact details of our clients. I wonder if this is a breach of privacy? Probably not, but its still dodgey and puts the 'power' in the hands of the 'man' and makes the 'little guy' a tiny dot of money on a pixulated screen (I made that word up but you know what I mean)

VEGES

I am one of these strange people who do not have the internet at home. So over this holiday period I have been lining up at the library. It really is a fight to get to the computer sometimes. While using the internet I have been people watching and have realised that internet has really become part of our EVERYDAY life and something everyone uses. The Internet (highspeed at that), has become an everyday necessity like food, water and shelter...we need information and now! I guess its part of the 24hours 7days a week luxury of modern living.

Anyway the point of my blog was to tell everyone who is looking for ways to make eating veges yummy to go to www.vegetables.co.nz

Bloody Taggers!

Looking over the bloggs Ive noticed alot of talk bout i pods thats cool and all, but im probably taking this blogg left field. Thats right taggers or graffiti artists similiar terms used to define whats seen on the backstreets of alley ways, walls, old trains...bascially anywhere that has space. Bad or Good?, some are some are'nt, some with good intentions some that are puerly disrepecting soceity...but its seen as an art form in some countrys, and hip hop believes graffiti is one of the 4 elements that make up hip hop. However its not bout good or bad. Its bout this website www.graffiticreator.net which allows you to step into to the shoes of a graffiti artist and tag like one. Similiar to changing your fonts on word, the only difference is it looks way better and looks authentic not all tacky.It allows you to take full control and design each word differently or the whole word(s), to your liking with rotation, colours, 3D, styles etc...., simply enter the word you want graffited and it gives you a base to work with and from then on in its all in your hands. You can print it out or use it as wallpaper on your computer screen, and reading some of the forums real artist actually benefit from it and take it to the streets.

SmileCity New Zealand (NZ) - The virtual online city where you can have lots of fun and earn rewards!

SmileCity New Zealand (NZ) - The virtual online city where you can have lots of fun and earn rewards!
I've been visiting SmileCity for a couple of years now, some time early after is started a friend sent me a referral email so I decided to join. Mostly its a loyalty program, but for online shopping. I know I carry around a lot of cards in my wallet for loyalty programs, I have my fly buys card my real groovy card and at least two coffee cards. The concept of getting 'rewards' for doing what you would do anyway is compelling, even if you never go back to a coffee shop you might carry around the card for a long time, well at least I know I do, I have subway cards but haven't had subway in almost a year! So SmileCity is not really a new idea and like many schemes doesn't really award you much, for most 'reward partners' you receive 1 point per $1, one point working out at around 1c. However you can get 5 free points a day, if you visit the site, which will bring users back daily just to claim 5c. Like most schemes I think it's only really worth it if you are already using the places you can gain rewards from.
SmileCity though is more than an online rewards program, it is a 'virtual online city'. Of course there are forums and chat rooms and things, but I find these to be mostly a poor quality of forum, the layout isn't terribly inviting and whenever I've had a look around the conversation seems rather dull or purposefully controversial. I've visited many far more interesting communities on the internet and often communities are more interesting when focused on a topic than just been a general discussion forum. I've found most forums attached to New Zealand sites (such as the trademe.co.nz forums) to be rather uninteresting, conversations are too varied and layouts are never as easy to navigate as other forums.
Although I've found SmileCity to be a rather dull city the concept of an 'online city' is interesting, to have a whole range of goods, services and social interactions on one website. Also the creation of an online loyalty program reflects on the ways we are shopping now, often using the internet to find a bargain or to simply save time going to the shops. As more people do more shopping online it seems logical that those loyalty cards are been replaced by a website, but I can't help that feel smilecity is going to be like one of those cards I never really use, especially as sites I shop from seem to disappear as rewards partners.
And of course like many schemes you get points for referring people into the cult *cough* I mean reward program so help me out there's something addictive about collecting those points.
Even if Smilecity tries to be a community it fails miserably but as another card stuffed into your wallet it really excels.

iPod phone

Following on from Wendy's post (below), today also sees Apple release the first iPod / cell phone hybrid device. What do you think? Does it have legs or have other manufacturers already stolen a march on Apple this time?

See the story here.

Where's my Ipod?

The release of Apple’s new pencil inspired Ipod, which will be able to hold up 1,000 songs and has speakers, headphones and a camera and will be no larger than your average pencil, is another step forward for Apple in advancing the ever increasing technological music industry. However is this really a good thing, no doubt about it, it is very exciting, but what’s the point exactly? At the beginning of the semester Luke talked about mobile technology and that it’s ever decreasing size might one day see us with implanted cell phone chips that is if we as the users wanted to. After a quick discussion during the lecture most people said they would decline because after all isn’t having a cell phone or an Ipod all about showing off? As vain as that sounds most people want everyone else to know they are with the times and well if you can’t really see it wants the point? Besides even though the new pencil shaped “Nano Ipod “ is another step in advancing how we listen to digital music, it is simply that. It will still be like your regular or mini ipod in the fact that in entitles you to download music, so why then should people buy this new Nano Ipod? Because it has a camera, well so do most cell phones and lets face it most of us can’t live without our cell phones!

Online Evolution

With the advent of the internet so comes the next progression in human evolution. Everyday technology is being developed to speed up our lifestyles. Computers, connections, interfaces and all that technological jazz are all becoming faster and faster. How does this relate to evolution? Well it is my assertion that we are this has made people, faster, sharper, more efficient beings- ready to embrace new technology and new changes in our culture. To me that just seems awesome. As Timothy Leary put it “Our intellectual level has evolved from that of hunter-gather to tool user to designer/creator of universal tools (the computer) and metatools.” The next major step in human evolution is occurring now, with the dawn of the digital age…

Talking in Privacy

I just finished having a three hour phone conversation with my friend, who lives four floors below me. Why didn’t I just go down and visit her? It’s the middle of the night and I’m in my PJ’s. I don’t feel like seeing anyone and I don’t feel like anyone seeing me. Thanks to the trusty landline, I was able to catch up on the week’s gossip without having to move from my apartment. During our conversation I was able to do the dishes, have something to eat and even *blush* go to the toilet – all in the privacy of my own home.

This is where I would question the practicality of video phones. Sure the Vodafone ads have a good point when they say the person you’re talking to can now see what you’re talking about. But let’s face it; text messaging and email are a success because we can avoid talking and GETTING PERSONAL. Video calling seems like its taking a step backwards or going in the opposite direction that everything else has been moving towards.

Personally I cringe at the idea of video calling, as it seems to me to be an invasion of personal space. When I’m at home I’m a slob. Even when I’m not at home I don’t like the idea of someone seeing me when I’m not prepared. I’m the kind of person that gets shy when I have to call people I don’t know, let alone having them see me. Come to think of it, like most people, I HATE MY PICTURE BEING TAKEN TOO!!! In my three hour conversation, I was able to relax without feeling self conscious about how I looked or what else I was doing. I enjoyed the freedom and privacy of being alone.

Video calling was actually introduced in the US in the early 60’s and has still not yet taken off. I think this is because of the personal space and privacy issues that can be associated with people being able to see each other during phone calls. Although many people said the same thing about picture messages (which I’m over anyway), I find it hard to see video calling ever becoming really popular. I think that it may be just another technological advancement that will become a short lived phase for those who like to show off their new “gadgets”, until there’s something new out.

PXT Disparity

A couple of days ago, I was talking to my cousin who works for Vodafone, and I asked him why I can't receive PXT messages from Telecom phones on my Vodafone mobile.
This will probably be really obvious to some people, but I had forgotten that, just a few years ago, you couldn't text between networks either! What happens is that the two companies wait for market pressure to build and force them into negotiations - while it may seem very simple, each company should get 50% of the charge for the message, apparently it is much more difficult. If one company's customers send more messages, this would perhaps make them feel entitled to a larger percentage of the profit.
My cousin said that there is no way of telling whether PXT will ever be popular enough to force Telecom and Vodafone into forging an alliance. I suppose that's what happens when only two companies share the entire market in a country, right?

MSN 7.5

Anyone else upgraded to the new version of MSN? Well when i upgraded i thought it would be just like 'meh, nothing has really changed' and at first glanced it hadn't but they have added this really cool new voice clip feature in this update which lets you record 15seconds of audio and then send it to the person you are chatting too, i havn't used Skype but is Skype sort of like that? Anyway i find it interesting because already after just one day, while i don't have a microphone to record audio clips, the people who do are choosing to just send me audio files rather than type out what they are saying, when i asked why they kept doing it they replied "Because i can't be bothered typing it out obviously, can i?"

Now this could just be because it has only been out for a short while and people are getting used to this new feature but i genuinely think that it has the potential to change instant messaging from text based dialogue to voice based. Of course that is assuming everyone decides they are going to buy a microphone too..

Another reason this voice clip thing is useful to me as an individual user is for track identification, say i went to a gig and i heard some tunes that i totally dug.. now i normally take my digital camera with me to gigs and i probably would have taken a video.. so i upload that video and then record the video sound and send it through msn to a person i think would know the tune, say a dj friend or one of my fellow punters who is a bit more of a trainspotter than me.. a very useful tool! saves me from sending the whole 10mb video file or however long it would take. My flatmate has been getting into production lately and i could see him recording little soundbites of samples and stuff and then sending them through to me asking for a second opinion.

Well thats just some ideas off the top of my head for what i could use this new feature of msn, anyone have any others?

Link to the upgrade:

MSN 7.5

Online $hopping!

It seems that so many of our everyday activities, such as banking, can now be done on the Internet. Shopping is no exception, and with its increasing popularity, I am wondering what effects this is having. As well as providing people with the opportunity and convenience to both buy and sell, online shopping has some downsides. I appreciate how online shopping is making life more simplistic for a lot of people, but am also concerned with how such technologies are making us indolent. Being increasingly confined to the home is not something particularly desirable in my mind. When one would once have to actually walk or drive to go shopping, one can now sit at home and get the same result. I personally prefer the traditional method of shopping. The only time I ‘shop’ online is when I want something not available in shops, not available in NZ, or if it’s cheaper online. Fair enough. My concern is that technology will slowly continue to offer us easier ways of going about our everyday lives, to a point that is socially destroying.
The Internet is no doubt a tool overseeing masses of financial transactions. I read that 93.1 billion dollars (US) was spent in the States on online shopping over the past year (Dieringer Research Group). There is a considerably large risk of security when it comes to the exchange of money. Things such as paypal and encoding software make transactions more secure, but there is perhaps still a risk. And there are of course many more drawbacks of online shopping – fakes, not being able to physically see your purchase, postage, legitimate vendors, the impact on actual shops, etc.
Online shopping, along with other aspects of new technology, changes the way society operates. To a certain extent, I do appreciate the way that the Internet has facilitated shopping, especially for people with physical disabilities, for example. I just hope that technology like this doesn’t become too dominant for those who do not necessarily need it.
-Shannon Doherty

Blog-city Blocked in China

Recently, blog-city, a famous BSP is beginning to be blocked in China. Now it was still under filter by GFW, the project to detect key words and block websites . By using proxy blog-city is still accessible in mainland China.
Anti, a prominent blogger who was also a veteran journalist for international news, told on his blog hosted on blog-city that after he posted the protest in China Youth Daily his blog began to be inaccessible. Anti has been blogging about the wrongdoings of government for long time. So many Chinese bloggers are not very surprise to see his blog and blog-city blocked. Now he has shifted to his backup blog on MSN Space.
Gordon, who is working with blog-city supporting team, hopes that this blockage would be just temporary. He also invites other Blog City bloggers in China to contact him .He said that the blog-city team is now working to find a solution.
Now Chinese Bloggers are facing a serious problem of where to blog, especially those who want to speak freely. More and more foreign BSPs are being blocked, such as Blogsome, Typepad and Blogspot. Almost all the BSPs in Mainland China have a rigid system of censoring “bad words” which are considered to be politically or pornographically sensitive. If hosted on independent domain server, the blogger need to register their personal information. For bloggers who want to blog freely and securely, they can resort to “Adoptablog” program.
The Firewall is expanding. Who will be the next?

Great example of Anti-Capitalism!

I would recommend checking out the following site:

http://www.3dluvr.com/ruairi/fiftypercentgrey/#

Go to the "Video" section once you get to the site. I think that it is an awsome portrayal of anti-capitalism and anti-consumerism ideals using digital media. However, the clip is paradoxical as without ardent consumerism it would be unable to exist, which is a common problematising notion for those wishing to express anti-capitalist ideals. How can you reach a wide demographic, with the hopes of educate and enlightening people about the ills of mass consumerism and what it is doing to society, without using the mediums and channels that have been created to promote capitalism or are in fact capitalist themselves?

Anyway, once you let that end of things go this site is a great demonstration about how capitalism permeates society to the point of it being inescapable even in the next life! My favourite part is noticing how the quality and technological advancements pertainting to the TV set correleate to which afterlife the soldier gets to. Hopefully other people will find it entertaining!

Char*

PVR finally arrives in NZ

...not in the guise of TiVo, like in the US, but bundled into the Sky set-top box, like in the UK. PVR is a hard-disk TV recorder for time-shifting (including pausing live TV) and short-to-medium term storage. Click here for the Herald Story. All that remains is for the broadcasters to show enough reasonable content to make 60 hours worth of storage capacity worth shelling out NZ$600 for!

Form vs. Function.

With all this talk about tech devices i.e. cell phones, i-pod and MP3 players, I was starting to wonder about how we choose between the different devices. There is a lot to choose from these days with all the different brands and models out now.

I have come across this observation and this is just a generalization that I made and may not fit everyone, so if you’re offended I am sorry. There is one major difference when choosing which item to buy between the sexes. Women mainly choose Hi-tech device on how it looks and feels. Compared to men where they choose a device mainly on the functions and features of that device. “What does it do mainly?”

Take for example cell phones because everyone is talking about it! Women mainly choose a cell phone by the way it looks and feels. They don’t care too much about the features of the device or any added features, such as the capability and the full range of what the device can do. As long as it does all the things that they want it to do say - making calls, sending/receiving text messages and taking and sending pictures if they want - they are happy. They are more concerned about the look of the phone. Compare to say when man chooses a mobile phone depending on the functions and features of the phone for say, PXT camera, video recoding, synchronizing your computer organizer with the one on your cell phone, video calling or even having a MP3 player on your cell phone, that what they care about more than how it look or the shape of the phone. It’s the capability of the phone that they are more interested in, even if they may never use all the functions, the fact that you could if the possibility arrived is more important!

This may be an excellent example of form vs. function. For woman it’s Form over function. Women care more about the look and form of the phone compared to the functions and the different capabilities of the phone, Compared to man where they care more about the functions and the capability of the phone over the look and form of the phone.

Example of this was: I was watching the “Good Morning “show on TV one morning where I saw they were advertising the new ‘Vodafone simple’. They described all the basic functions of the phone as being accessible at the tip of your fingers. Everything from sending and txt message to even finding out your own cell phone number is one button click away. They say the phone comes in two types - curvy and flat; and in two colures - stylish sliver and fashionable black, to go with any outfit your have! I know that designing or marketing a product to just women is not new, but have they design these phone on this basis. That simplifying a phone down to just basic functions would be good for woman.

This idea is just not isolated to cell phones and high-tech devices. This also applies to watches if you compare common male and female watches, man normally go for a big watch with a lot of functions: water resistances, stop watch, alarm clock, light , dual time zone, count down watch. Compared to women watches, which are normally smaller in shape with fewer features, and a very small watch face that is in my opinion too small that you would have problems seeing what time it is.

Mana-E

Navigation - just how safe is it?

Most of my posts have been aviation related; firstly because I take an interest in aviation technologies; and secondly because it is a mode of transportation that we take for granted in terms of its technological vulnerability. The systems used for navigation by modern aircraft are usually hooked up to a GPS system and aircraft these days do not rely on visual flight as much as pilots and their planes did say 50 years ago when the best visual aid was the night sky. A few years ago on an Air New Zealand ATR-72 flight I was surprised to be invited into the cockpit and was even more surprised to learn from the pilot that the plane was flying itself entirely based on space-based satellite Global Positioning Systems. The ATR is a modern French-built turboprop with a somewhat shaky safety record for being over-sophisticated and allowing too little human input, so much so that back in 1993 when one crashed the on-board computer would not allow the pilots to try and prevent the disaster. So I sat there wondering what would happen if some super-intelligent person or persons hacked into the GPS satellite and deliberately steered our plane off-course, indeed into a pre-programmed target. Obviously this person would have to be extremely competent but it makes you wonder after 9/11 and subsequent threats and actions made by terrorists just how vulnerable some of our everyday technological systems that we take for granted really are. How complacent can we be in the knowledge that some satellite in space is steering our plane to its destinations…or somewhere else. As humans rely more on technology and less on our own calculations and ‘gut’ feelings, it is reasonable to assume that somewhere along the lines the fatal error will be made that sends a plane to places unknown. There are of course many back-up systems on-board which don’t allow technology to mess up too badly but then again how reliable is on-board technology? Very often as in the case of the ATR crash, it prevents a human input and leads to errors being made. Many aircraft today can land themselves at airports and guide pilots onto the approach path using what is known as a CAT III approach, something that planes can lock onto and fly the approach for themselves. This system so far has proved infallible however with new-generation software being created by people sitting at home with nothing better to do (and a sophisticated computer) the world is effectively a terrorist or hacker’s oyster to screw up the safe air systems that the public and aircrew take for granted (older aircraft used to use waypoints which were fictional navigational aides constructed by the aircrew). In addition to that though there is the other aspect that technology is running our lives too much and not allowing for that human touch. So far most air crashes are caused by human error but some of those have had a fatal chain of events caused by computers. So our reliance on technology may be not only impairing our own logical thought processes but also opening up our lives and workplaces to a cyber-age network of computer-happy criminals which if they don’t already exist, are sure to eventuate within the next few years as computers and their users become increasingly hooked into technology. An article can be found here http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0205.html detailing the fragility of technology securities with a mention of aviation as well.

VOTING

The post from Julian the Explorer 'George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People' was a really good one and raised multiple issues in my mind about government and the media. A massive frightening image becomes clear to the world of the problems that exist within America at this point in history. The attentions of the Republican administration are so firmly aimed outside of the US, that a disaster such as this one takes four days to even begin to attend to.

Through the media we begin to percieve why New Orleans represents a major discrepancy between what George Bush preaches, and what his government practises. We all imagine that America and Americans are the wealthiest country and people on earth. The way in which the bush admin publicly addresses its citizens is super polished and much like what we see in movies, words which sound like they mean one thing, but scratch the surface and have a go at reading against the grain and it turns out they mean something entirely different.

Even though Micheal Moore has been hammered somewhat within this university (and around the world) for his hyped up take on the American situation, I think that it is this issue that he was trying to point out. That America has HUGE poverty, that there are hundreds of thousands of trailer parks and millions of people who lack the proper education to do anything but become what their mothers and fathers are or were. This lack of attention to home based issues is reflected in the huge lack of education which gives an idea to the way that new orleans has reacted in the face of this natural disaster.

The billions and and billions of dollars that this administration has spent on wars should have been spent on helping Americans, who in many ways are at a crisis point themselves. Its not that George Bush doesnt care about black people specifically, its that he doesnt have a humanitarian heart, and at the base of things does not really have the necessary equation of a big business mentality balanced out with the compassion needed to care for his people. This is SO relevant to New Zealanders. In this election we choose between a party which represents the big economic vote for New Zealand business, and a party which has truely tried to recognize the complexity within the diversity of New Zealand.

I believe that Americas current situation represents what you get when you choose the promise of money over the promise of a bigger long term goal to care for the people of a nation. Putting money into education, eployment and health breeds compassion in every level of society and in the long term creates a nation of people who have the understanding and therefore the ability to see outside the square, and who, hopefully, come the time when a disaster hits, do not start to murder and rape one another.

I do not mean to say that the whole of America would act this way in a disaster, or that the whole of America is under educated, by all means, i believe that the anti american campaign is out of hand and that people are ready to forget all the amazing things that the nation has stood for and created, but it is natural that a super power is rotten in parts and that it is analyzed heavily and pruned accordingly for health. There is a severe lack of introspection going on within the Republican admin and this is what this disaster has highlighted.

I think Im just kind of ranting away to myself more than anything, trying to work all these hard out issues in my own head !! also, Ive realised that this is a bit of a pro labour speech, which Im not ashamed of - but it has less to do with media and more to do with politics, which of course is all interwoven, but yeah. anyway. thats it. Oh yeah, does anyone else notice how in comparison to the polished dubya and his crew, or even in comparison to the Tony Blaire, how our politicians have this flinch worthy gawkiness on screen (and probably in person too) which makes them seem like wooden puppets?? I personally kind of like it, its like everyone is a farmer at heart or somthing.

"Conker" the videogames

About 4 years ago towards the end of the brief Nintendo64 era, "Conker's Bad Fur Day" was released, and according to some it was the best game on the system (and even the best on any videogame console at the time!). During the development stage of the game the entire concept of the game was changed. Initially it was going to be called "Twelve Tales: Conker 64" and was going to be just another platform game intended for younger gamers. But the final product is the complete opposite, it is a game intended for mature audiences. It features "violence, profanity, drug use and sexual content that is inappropriate for gamers under the age of 18".



The game's appeal also lies in its wicked humor and numerous parodies of popular movies including Saving Private Ryan, Alien, The Matrix and Dracula. For those who own an XBox an updated version of the single player game is available, (named "Conker: Live and Reloaded) This updated version has alot more focus on multiplayer eg: XBox Live. Indeed multiplayer was also a big part of the original game and the 'multiplayer experience' was considered to be up there with "Goldeneye".

The Xbox version has vastly superior graphics and sound due to the superior technology. Although considering the specifications of the N64 the original looks and sounds suprisingly good. Apart from the obvious hardware differences, the only major change to the single player game that I am aware of is the the updated movie reference to Van Helsing as apposed to the parody of Dracula. In conclusion "Conker's Bad Fur Day" is a self reflexive videogame in the way that it borrows and pokes fun at ideas in other platform games and of course popular films of the time.

For those with an XBox I highly recommend you check it out, or for those of you who are into videogame emulation the N64 version is also available to download.

For a review of N64 version (Conker's Bad Fur day) http://ign64.ign.com/articles/163/163960p1.html

or XBox version (Conker Live and Reloaded)
http://xbox.ign.com/objects/490/490304.html

The Home Entertainment Centre That's Small Enough to Hold?

I was talking with a friend the other day about how technology compresses everything, and we were discussing how the laptop/pc can almost replace an entire home entertainment centre.

I knew that a pc could play and burn dvds, cds etc, but didn't know that it could also be used to play radio and tv stations. Basically it can do everything that a home entertainment centre does but in a much smaller package. All you mite want to add is some speakers and a larger screen or projector.

This is kind of funny, because I always thought that the whole idea of the home entertainment centre was to make everything bigger, louder and basically reproduce the feeling of a movie theatre at home. The large screen, the surround sound etc, all function to recreate the feeling of being in the movies. Far from being compressed, the home entertainment centre is usually displayed within a large wall unit or cabinet, with a stack of technology like the dvd player, vcr (although now a little uncool), the stereo and so on. Then there is the huge screen, and the surrround sound wired around the living room. With technology like the pc compressing all this down into one tiny, portable package, is there a possibility that the era of the huge home entertainment system may come to an end??

Bit tired of people using Racism.

In the media people are still divided in to 'races' or stereotypes in order to make the news more easily understood by the people who consume their text. 'Race' is also a useful tool to sway a point of view of an audience member or to push a political agenda. You need look no further than New Zealands Televison One’s bias toward The National Party and their seperatist point of views (Maori vs non Maori, those with families vs those without). It is almost comical to watch just how one eyed the news coverage is. But then people will come across and criticize these media institutions with the exact divisive tools (‘racism’ and stereotypes) that the media have wrongly used to portray people in society in the first place. I would love to know why people, in the 21st century, still refer to people by their non-existant ‘race’.

In the early 20th century, in order to prove inferiourity of a group of people when compared to their own, people would be divided into groups based upon visual ques like hair types, skin colour, crude cranial measurements and even the size and shapes of their noses! Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it. Thats because it is. This typolologically based division ‘race’ is based not on science (DNA, Blood types, Immunisation to disease etc), not on nationality or ethnic background, religious beliefs, or at best a combination of these, but what our ancestors thought looked different. They even had colour and nose charts for ease of classification!

So if you are reading this and you are using ‘race’ as a desription of the people around you just think to yourself where it came from and why it came into being. Then hopefully you will conclude, like I have, that the classifcation 'race' has no place in media institutions or anywhere else.

RACISM IN THE MEDIA

Did anyone see the blatant racism in the media regarding the NO floods? There were two pictures: one of a white man in the water with some groceries and one of a black man in the water with bread and water. The caption with the white guy reads... a man wades in water after finding food. The caption of the black guy reads... a man wades in water after looting through a grocery store. They were Assocatied Press photos and captions which were posted on yahoonews.com. They were taken off the site once people began to notice the transparent racism. I am sorry but that is just sooo wrong and immoral. Sometimes I can't believe how horribly biased the media is in the States. That was just so obvious. I don't think anyone can argue against that... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090201894.html

Blogosphere video

If you're interested in writing or researching about blogging (or online activism), there's a 20 minute video (Quicktime file) which I've placed inside the 203 Resources folder in the Mac lab. The video is an interview with the founder of the Guerilla News Network (GNN) and a discussion of the political and social implications of blogging, its relationship with mainstream journalism etc.

"GEORGE BUSH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE"

I am not proud to come from a country being run by George Bush… Yesterday I had just got back from Tonga and just became aware of the horrible tragedy which happened in New Orleans. I also had became aware once again of how horribly my retarded president has handled the situation. I could go a lot more in depth my extreme dissatisfaction but I will refrain for now. I found out everything about what was occurring via the web, using nytimes.com and other media sites to see how the proceedings where being covered. Once again I will refrain commenting further about how the racist media in the States covered the event (depicting black people like criminals, those bastards…oops). Today though my sentiments where voiced beautifully by my new personal hero Kanye West. My friend sent me this link http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2678975 so I could watch his comments. Kanye made national news by stating on a live telethon that “GEORGE BUSH DOESN’T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE.” Once again I will refrain from commenting upon how accurate his sentiments are. But what I will comment upon is that the Internet provided me with the ability to get different perspectives on current events, it allowed me to become truly aware of what was happening in my home country, seeing the issue from many perspectives. As my heart is struck with grief and despair for those in need of help, I am slightly comforted by the fact that even in a foreign country technology has enabled me to keep up on what’s going on back home…. One last point if you read this, I encourage everyone to please www.redcross.org to help and donate money to the relief fund, thanks.

the pace technology changes

I remember having computer classes in primary school where we got to make a (non-animated) turtle move around the screen. At the time, it was very riveting stuff. Kids in primary school are now doing far more hi-tech stuff (programming, web design, robotics, etc.). By the time year 7 came about, we were all made to buy laptops and bring them to school everyday. This too, at first, was pretty exciting. However the novelty quickly wore off as we got sick of having to drag them around everywhere, and having them crash all the time. Today, I look back at my old grey brick laptop and laugh at how something so amazing can become obsolete so quickly. Remembering my dad's massive brick cellphone is another one. I wonder how long it will be before we look back and laugh at today’s computers, ipods, cellphones, and other devices.
Such memories remind me how far technology has advanced... or has it? Thinking back a decade or so, many people imagined beyond the year 2000 would be a world of people zapping around in little hovercrafts much like The Jetsons (yeah that show was gold). That is sadly (or luckily?) yet to happen. The rate at which technology has changed may be slower than we expected, but we still marvel at the techno-culture in which we live. It would be great to be able to go back in time 100 years and show people some of the devices we use. It would be better to go 100 years into the future to see how old-fashioned these devices are percieved (and of course to see thier new technology). In 100 years maybe they WILL be zapping around in hovercrafts. Meanwhile, we can only imagine.
-Shannon Doherty

Blog, Blog, Blog, Blog, wonderful blog! (To the tune of 'Spam') ;-)

I would like to give a New Zealander the kudos he deserves. He started with a programme called "Hard News" on 95bfm in 1991 and continued to broadcast on bfm for 11 years. He loves Technoculture and Politics and writes or used to write articles for magazines as diverse as Unlimited, PC World and Listener. Hard News has been available in several forms online but is available now as a blog on Public Address. He is of course Russell Brown, the mastermind behind Public Address.

He describes Public Address:

"We'd call it a community of weblogs. As blogs, they are more like columns than some blogs are. No one does more than one post a day, whereas the classic blog has one or two paragraph posts throughout the day from someone who obviously doesn't have a proper job. So, ours tend to be of greater length and more like conventional columns. But still with the links. They are really important."

I have signed up for the daily newsletter when new blogs are available but also use the RSS feed to keep abreast. By the way, I am in no way affiliated with Russell Brown or Public Adress.

Today when I read his blog I followed a link which got me to a website called "Crooks and Liars". I can't believe that I watched the clip available but somehow I clicked on the link of the Fox News broadcast which featured Geraldo Rivera and Shepard Smith. Usually these two gentlemen have a laxative effect on me but I really felt their anger, sadness and disappointment about the happenings in the Mississippi delta after hurricane Katrina. The Video clips are available here. Even the usually Fox News critical "left" has praised those two. Geraldo was crying and Shepard couldn't hold back several angry outbursts at the host Sean Hannity, when this guy (probably under pro-Bush Fox News directive) tried to defend the dire helpings and support from the Bush administration. Katrina, a regular contributor on TalkLeft even went as far as saying
" Geraldo, Shep Smith and CNN's Anderson Cooper are heroes. Tell their networks. We need unfiltered news. We need the truth. And they are telling it."

Which brings me to just a final thought for the day. Why am I allowed to use high-speed Internet only as long as I don't use too much? I caught myself not downloading video clips (like the ones from Crooks and Liars) just to save bandwith. I am already on 10gb but listening to online broadcasts or watching online video eats heavily into my allowance and I DO NOT want to surf on dial-up speed. Thats not surfing, thats getting out the ironing board in the bathtub. I checked Internet providers in the USA and I couldn't find anywhere figures of a data allowance. I hope I can see "All you can eat" Broadband plans soon without providers having to reduce download speeds.

Don't forget to vote!!

over the edge media?

There is a book I read based on youth from being raised by the media (Over the Edge by Leo Bogart, 2005) and how our society is being shaped by the media through domestic technologies. Growing up in an environment of video games, television, the microwave and telephone etc seemed normal to me, but the book enabled me to realise how crazy we are to become increasingly dependant on household gadgets, media and technologies. Statistics show that today, the average person watches over four hours of television everyday, compared to approximately less than three hours in the 1980's and roughly one hour in the 1960's. Bogart suggests that already we have become emotionally attached to our tv sets, similar to how we find it hard to let go of our mobile phones. From this, he also talks about the permissiveness of graphic material and coarse language in films and TV, listing several examples of uncensored material being shown on daytime shows. The lack of morals, and abundance of violence and sexual activity revealed through the media, he believes, has crept into our homes destroying the traditional family image and raising our kids to behave aggressively, decrease academically and to adapt bad eating habits.
With the statistics of increased single parenting, abortions, domestic violence, rape, paedophilia, unwed couples raising children, obesity or health problems, I would agree that our media does seem to be raising our society. The main target audience for the media is of course: youth, which Bogart states is part of the reason why advertising companies, directors etc like to use "taboo issues , visuals and language" to shock and to grab the attention of restless youth who are not normally "allowed" to discover these aspects of life on their own. Endless consumption of this 'shocking' and what many like to describe as 'edgy' material he suggests has resulted in teenage pregnancies, fatherless children, poverty etc we see in today's society setting the platform for the next generation (and a not so traditionally 'happy family' one).

Is David Hasselhoff your hero?

A few weeks ago (or maybe even a month ago now) I was watching another classic episode of Rove! One of the segments in his show is what you could almost call a ‘week in the headlines’ (can’t actually remember the name or if it has a name), where he and his little partner-in-crime Peter talk about recent phenomenon occurring out there in the world of the media. On this particular episode, they talked about the phenomenon that was ‘Hoffmail’: a series of emails being sent to people with super-imposed pictures of the 90’s Baywatch star David Hasselhoff. It was so random and weird, and in return made the masses laugh. Now ‘Hoffmail’ and ‘Hoff’ websites are everywhere, and they’re getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

I decided to take a look at ‘The Hoff’ (as most call him). I’ve never been sent Hoff mail before, as I don’t think it’s so big over here in New Zealand. So I toodled over to Google and typed in different words. David Hasselhoff brought up lots of sites dedicated to biographies and so on. One was called ‘The Official David Hasselhoff Site Of Worship’ www.knight-foundation.com (a site dedicated to his hair on both his head and chest…shudder…). Another was entitled ‘David Hasselhoff Is The Anti-Christ’ http://www.esquilax.com/baywatch/index/shtml (saying that David and television are the devil, and ‘he’s got the proof’ from jibberish such as the devils numbers and bible extracts). You can take these websites as either being dead serious by die-hard fans, or a mockery of ‘the man’ himself. You can’t help but laugh as you ‘gaze upon his beauty’, but some people actually love this stuff!. After having a great chuckle to myself, I typed in Hoff Mail, and the first website that came up on the search was www.binarymoon.co.uk/2005/07/david-hasselhoff-photos/. This site acts as a mini-blog forum where people visit the links provided and give their feedback on ‘The Hoff’ or provide links to other sites. One of the links is called ‘Help David Find His Nipples’ http://uhura.cc.rochester.edu/~jg001g/hassel.htm, where among several pictures of nipples, you have to find David’s. Click on the wrong one and you get abused to try again. Another link was called ‘David Hasselhoff photos @ flickr’ http://www-us.flickr.com/photos/tags/davidhasselhoff/, which has all the Hoff mail pictures such as ‘Desperate Hoffwives’, ‘Harry Hoffer’, and our very own ‘Helen. Hoff’. From these pictures are associated tags that link you to other Hoff sites, and you can even post comments on the pictures.

So what do I think of ‘Hoff’? A techno culture mix of technology, culture and nature? Very much so! Hoff, a 70’s, 80’s and 90’s superstar, has been morphed (with his many natural talents of courseJ) through the technology of computer and internet, and has been globally exposed/mocked/worshiped by millions. Whether or not Mr. Hoff himself agrees with what has happened, the power of new media has re-opened his profile (which can be either a gain or loss for him). I still find it funny how out of all the people in stardom land, they chose to use David Hasselhoff as a target for this phenomenon. Maybe it is because of his failed music career in Europe, or because he used to be a hot stud in his younger days, but now looks like a try-hard old man. It just goes to prove that technology is capable of anything. Beware of pictures you may have on the internet; who knows who can get their hands on them and what they’ll do with them.

New online policy

Tencent Company in China recently adjusts its upgrading rule for its QQ on line chatting costumers. Originally, the rule specifies three levels of grades. That is a star, a moon and a sun. Each costumer must stay on line, including invisible status for 100 hours in order to get a star and to upgrade to a moon, they need to spend 140 hours on line, and for a sun they need about 1500 hours. Those who get the sun could be treated as membership of QQ and could receive lots of online benefits. However, last month, Tencent Company modified its upgrading measurement, instead of using hours to calculate people cumulative on line time, they changed to day measurement. That is, no matter how long you stay on line in a day, even one minute, your upgrade hours will be taken into account. I suspect the reason for this change is because Tencent Company notices that most QQ fans stay on line night and day only for gaining a higher grade. Therefore this situation causes a huge waste of electric energy. Let’s have a simple calculation. Normally, it takes three hours for an ordinary computer to consume one degree of electricity. It is reported that Tencent QQ costumers at the moment already excesses 0.4 billion, and the active user also excesses 0.15 billion. Earning a sun would waste 500 degree of electricity. So, even if only 1% of the costumers stay on line, they would still cause a huge loss. Therefore, by changing the measurement, Tencent Company could change the situation that people stay on for nothing but just to gain grade, and they would save lots of human resources as well.

instant msg

No doubt, Instant messaging in mobile phone is fast becoming a prominent way for communication. This made me thought of something the other day, nowaday in New Zealand, the message we recieve in our mobile are mostly assumed to be harmless by it receivers. Unlike email, we do not keep as much caution when we open it. There are not as much protection against virus or worms attack (please correct me if I'm wrong about this). And common user's knowledge (such as myself) about these attacks are limited, in both it frequency of occurence and the type of attack itself. So really, with all these recent chain mails, ad/promotional messages from both Telecom and and Vodafone, how do we know if they actually contain adware and spyware that could dyfunctionalise our mobile phone? However, with all the with all the SMS related blames so far, I think one of the most vulnerable growing aspects remains from the internet itself. With the many download of ringtones and wallpaper and so on, does our phone actually have the capability to protect itself? And if it does get effected, would we notice it? Another aspects I've been wondering about is, how exactly is our mobile phone safe from potential hackers? Throughout the last decade, security firms have strengthen the security of emails and possibily online hackers. But with the immediacy of IM on mobile (especially with people now can do their banking on the phone. It seems IM might become the new vulnerability to hackers.

The risk of on-line banking

There are some risks with electronic delivery of products and services. I would like to take personal identification number (pin number) as an example. Krimsky states that ‘Security is the single most important thing to look for in the Internet banking project. Customers will be able to transfer money all over the place and if they can access their bank account from their homes, anyone else can.’ With the development of information technology, hackers become more and more rampancy. So Krimsky suggests that it is better to do on-line banking on a personal computer rather than a public, and also have to check if there is any spy software on your computer frequently. Please remember, do not use your birth date as your pin number.

Hot Keys of Microsoft Word

Hi dear,
Microsoft Word is a very important software. It can do a variety of works for you in today’s information society. For example, you can use it to create and compile website text, wirte email draft, or even watch online TV. There are lots of “Hot Keys” which can help you use it more conveniently, such as Ctrl+C (copy)，Ctrl+V (paste)，Ctrl+Z (cancel)，Ctrl+A (find all) and Ctrl+P (print). However, do you know there are a number of other “Hot Keys” which are convenient but strange to many people? I list them here:
Alt+Ctrl+Period
suspension points…
Alt+Ctrl+R
Symbol of brand mark:®
Alt+Ctrl+T
brand mark: ™
Ctrl+B
Bold text
Ctrl+E
Put text in the centre
Ctrl+End
To end
Ctrl+F
Open “find”
Ctrl+H
Open “replace”
Ctrl+Home
To home
Ctrl+I
Italics text
Ctrl+N
A new interface
Ctrl+S
Save
Ctrl+Shift+F
Change fond
Ctrl+Shift+P
Change the size of fonds
Ctrl+U
Underline text
Ctrl+W
Close world
Ctrl+Y
Repeat what you have done above
Esc
Close a window
Shift+F3
Change initials

I hope those can make you use Word much easier than before.

Need a break from study???

Some people gave me some websites the other day to check out (which have become excellent time wasters when I really don't feel like studying over the break.)

The first one someone from work gave to me. It is www.newgrounds.com. There are quite a few 'movies' that are, shall we say, interesting. But are sure to waste time. Some of the movies are quite topical. There was one about the lack of relief after Hurricane Katrina. It is basically a squirrel that goes on a rant about people not helping those in affected areas. Well worth a watch but watch out for the explict language. It is very simple but it gets the message across which is the point.

Another site is www.weebls-stuff.com. Once again there are alot of cartoons to waste away the hours when you should be studying. A couple in particular are BadgerBadgerBadger and Strawberry Pancakes. Be warned these two do not stop! I had strawberry pancakes going for about 8 hours to see what happened (watch the population count and you will see what I mean.) Just so you know and don't have to have it on for 8 hours like me, they turn into zombies. I had to laugh at the fact the the person who made the toon actually decided what would happen at the 'end' just in case some strange person wa to watch for that long. (Just for the record it was playing but I did go away from the computer, I wasn't watching the whole time.)

My recommendation is to do your work before playing around on these sites or you may run out of time to do your assignments!!!!! But great simplistic fun nevertheless.

'Owning' your cellphone number

I've had the same vodafone number since 1999 and even though Telecom's $10 txt deal is a lot better, I can't bring myself to abandon my 021 number that I've had so long. That problem will finally be eliminated on April 1, 2007 (unless this is some April fools joke in advance) after The Commerce Commission recently ruled phone companies have to allow customers to keep their existing number when switching providers. So, admittedly 2007 is a while off, but when it does finally roll around I'll be able to switch to Telecom without losing my original 021 number. Also, the ability to keep the same number whether you are on Telecom or Vodafone means there will be increased competition between providers trying to 'poach' their rival's customers. This is great news for the consumer as prices will come down and better plans will surface in the face of this increased competition.

There is more on this in a NZ Herald article at:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10343458

google earth

Google has recently released a beta version of its 3D mapping application. Google Earth features satellite imagery of the entire planet, and like Google Maps, it integrates Google search results right onto the globe. It allows you to zoom from space right down to your city, take a virtual tour of the globe.

One of the most useful features is layers, which show you restaurants, banks, bars, petrol stations, hospitals and more in the area, all with a single click. You can add or remove layers to suit your search. The tour feature allows you to bookmark and append your own descriptions to numerous places all over the globe.

The free version lacks drawing tools and GPS data import; the Plus version adds these for $40; there's also a $800 Pro version that offers high-resolution printing and emailing of images, up to 2,500 spreadsheet data import points, better support, area measurement and optional add-ons. Also, Google Earth is only for Windows 2000 and XP.

Google Earth is a mapping and research tool that's both useful and highly addictive. It's extremely flexible, even allowing you to create your own layers. As we saw with Google Maps, users were able to hack in features such as crime statistics and housing prices, and with Google Earth's more powerful engine, it's expected that additional creative features will be unleashed.

Camera Phones or Digital Cameras

Camera Phones or Digital Cameras? To my suprise there is no choice between to two. The release of camera phones was thought to led to a decline in Digital Camera sales as shown by the reduction of digital camera prices. It has actually worked in the opposite way according to a study released by research firm IDC . The sale of camera phones with powerful lenses has increased the sales of digital cameras. Due to people learning more about digital photography through the camera phone and in turn people are becoming more interested in the technology and this leds to them buying a digital camera as well as owning there Camera phones. We live in a traditional society and people still feel the need for capturing important family and holiday photos with a regular camera rather than a Camera Phone. This shows the way in which culture impacts on new technologies popularity within society. Though there is a continual increase in the use of the camera phone the digital camera still continues to dominate the market.

movie quotes in music

i just recently 'acquired' an album by dj shadow, a very prominent figure in american cutups. the reason i got this was due solely to track 5 on cd2- stem (cops and robbers mix) which contains a lot of voice overs from the film heat 1995 (dir michael mann) mixed over one of shadows earlier tracks. naturally this can pose a lot of questions on copyright boundaries, but since not a lot has been developed on that front recently, ill stick to the content. The original track resembles the sound of say, moby. It’s a slow melancholic synthesizer which very nicely underscores the content of the dialogue, which is sequenced in an order different to the way it plays out in the film, but creates its own separate unified narrative. The fact that I got the song attributes to the power of the franchise, but like the che Guevara picture in the news today, it means something slightly more that the hard drive its saved on. In my opinion, a good reproduction using the quotes can extend the film’s message and the social circulation of its themes. On the other hand it can be used for dissent, as in the negativland example in class (the u2 one) or parody like weird al yankovic. As long as we have equal access to create and receive all stems of the spectrum, I have no quarrels with the idea of ripping movie quotes into songs. I can only hope that there are more talented people who like the movies that I like, but hey, what can you do?

I am also interested in other peoples recommendations for this kind of stuff- movie quotes cut into or rather, stitched seamlessly into songs. the last track on the fight club soundtrack is another very good example.
so- anyone with any suggestions- hook me up. obviously i only like good movies but hey its a big world so hit me with anything you got, and im not talking negativland cubist distorted static stuff, im thinking more like moby or dj shadow.

marc t

Illegal Downloads

Once again, the constant rivalry between Microsoft and Apple has one again increased with the establishment of British music retail giant HMV . HMV Digital was created in partnership with Microsoft. According to Steve Knott the Managing Director for the United Kingdom, HMV will enter the world of digital media and will predominantly compete with Apple's iTunes's, by allowing users to pay for each song they download or through a subscription service which allows unlimited downloads over a certain period of time. The establishment of HMV in digital music was presumably done to help combat the illegal trading of music of programmes such as, Kazaa, Imesh and Morpheus, which all offer free music downloads. Here however is where the problem lies, HMV like Apple's iTunes and Napster offers a subscription price of 14.99 pounds per month for unlimited downloads, but if your subscription is not renewed after that month all songs are wiped and you are left with nothing. Therefore this is pretty much a catch 22 situation, you can either download the music you want at price whether it be per song which would allow you to keep that song or per a monthly subscription which if not renewed will as mentioned before will be wiped from your computer. This then sort of acts as a simple registration would allowing those who do download through reputable programmes to listen to their music with a clean conscience or on the other hand promote more illegal downloading on other file sharing programmes such as Kazaa?

URL: http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=AP&Date=20050901&ID=5080133

another interesting article

I want to make a quick comment on another article i read in the New Zealand Herald during the week. This was on the development of the Korean version of the iPod, called the iAudio x5. This gives the iPod a bit of competition which is has not yet really received. It has a 1.8 inch colour screen, 20 gigabyte hard drive. This little music player has the ability to be a music player, video player, can tune in FM radio and heres the tricky bit, 'fairly good voice recorder encoding recorded audio as mp3 files'. I am not sure if iPod can do this, but it seems fairly impressive technology to me. The article also states that that iAudio can connect to your computer through a USB 2.0 cable, and is recognised immediately by Windows XP. The iAudio is a tiny device, it shuffles your songs for you. The cost? A little more expensive than iPod at $608 for the iAudio X5 compared to its match in iPod Photot at $528. The other model option in the iAudio U2 version is $352 compared to the iPod Shuffle at $250. But is it not worth it to have the radio tuner and voice recorder as well? This new form of music technology may give the iPod a bit of healthy competition that it well and truly needed.

could online releases spell end of cds?

in the sunday herald i found an article updating the situation- warner music announced it was creating a digital only 'e label' to distribute music without a corresponding cd album release. this would of course cost money and operate much like itunes in the US.

the article outlines their main justifications for the shift
1- it is much cheaper than producing cds, cases, leaflets etc
2- it allows new artists to release a small number of songs and still be heard ie they dont need to release a whole album
3- they think it will nourish creativity by removing the industrial pressures of cd production and distribution costs so that bands wont sell out to become commercially viable
4- they also think it will stop or decrease piracy, though they unfortunately dont say how...

what the article doesnt mention is the format of the file, which of course will be the the key to its anti piracy function. like itunes, perhaps the downloaded song may be restricted to a specific use like a coded mp3 player or computer. they make no mention as to the rights involved when a consumer puchases a song. im very curious- dont we have a right to backup our own files? a cd would be the best way to do that- perhaps it will be only writable as a data file. an mp3 player can be hooked up to any decent stereo system to be played in shops, restaurants, whatever. how would they regulate its use and prohibit copying? surely they must be turning a blind eye at some point with the "if u cant beat em, join em" logic, hoping to simply cash in where at all possible on a platform which has already neutralised their dominance over supply. does anyone know anything about this format they will use, or if they're using a new one at all?

telecom's latest development

I read an interesting article today on the New Zealand Herald website about Telecom's latest plans for their consumers and telecommincations. In 2007 Telecom has plans to begin laying down phone lines in homes to enable 'Voice over internet Protocol' (VoiP). This invlolves joining voice, internet, broadband and video into one. Telecom is expecting that by 2012, 80% of the country will be using this form of communication, and regular phone calls will be a thing of the past. What is more, Telecom say it is going to be cheaper, so that means savings for the consumer and at the same time Telecom says they will be saving 60-80% in their operational costs.
Other networks such as Telstra Clear have attempted to lay the building blocks for VoiP, however the cost is to large. So this has caused an uproar over the possible headstart the Government are giving Telecom, who look set at this point to rule the coming of video communication technology to the mass market in New Zealand.
Another interesting point the article makes is on the issue of cell phone costs, and whether they to will drop? The Telecommunications Commissioner recomended that prices should ideally drop from 27cents to 15cents, from land line to cell phone. This is good news for New Zealand if this does develop, as in many other countries, such as America calling rates to and from cell phones is a lot cheaper than here. Some friends of ours were complaining at the 38cent on peak calling rate until they heard the charges we have here. So after the recommendation from the Comissioner above Telecom announced that they will be dropping wholesale rates by 30% over the next four years, if the Government does not step in and regulate them before hand. So New Zealand is beginning to catch up on the rest of the world, lower calling rates, easier telecommincations access are all in the process of coming about. And is VoiP the way of the future? Possibly yes, it is definately a highly developed form of new technology. Will it be popular? Well heres hoping, I have a feeling this sort of attempt has been tried before and has failed miserably? But watch this space, by 2012 maybe this course and the rest of university will be using VoiP and it will be leading the way into phenomenal telecommuncations development in the future.

Console Emulation Nourishes the Nation

Dayne recently gave an excellent blog on the world of emulation, focusing on arcade emulation, but only briefly touching on the life changing world of console emulation, which I will elaborate in-depth upon.

When I was around about the age of seven the must have gadget was the Sega Master System 2 (to which there is appropriately now an online museum dedicated to- http://alexkidd.com/). My parents made what I now have come to consider their biggest mistake in my upbringing, they wouldn’t buy me one! Luckily, I had a few friends with them, and to me they were the most awesome things in the world (the consoles not the friends). Nothing compared to a spin on Alex the Kidd in Miracle World (which came bundled free on the Master System 2), providing endless hours of excitement as we tried to defeat those evil paper, scissors, rock playing bosses and receive those magical hamburgers that transported us to the next level! They were great times, but at the end of the day I would always be dragged home to my Master System deprived home. As you have probably gathered by now, in contrast to the happiness I felt behind the console, these were very sad times. But a few years back, things were about to change for the better, as I was introduced to the world of console emulation. Basically (as Dayne mentioned in relation to arcade emulation) these are “a program for a computer, that can emulate a video game console, so a computer can be used to play games that were created for that console” (courtesy of Wikipedia). All that is needed from there is downloading of a copy of your favourite console games, which are known as ROMS, and in no time you can be playing those great childhood classics.


For me this was reawakening of my under fulfilled craving for the Master System, and ended in hours of playing Alex the Kidd. I felt like a big gap in my life had been filled and thus a level of fulfilment and happiness was found within me, not seen since the days before I was deprived of my birthright to play Sega. If unlike me you don't feel that the Master System can take you to the level of fulfilment I experienced, do not despair as there are also emulators and ROMS available on the internet for most other consoles including the Sega Mega Drive, Super Nintendo and more recent consoles such as the Nintendo 64, Playstation and Dreamcast. A good place to start your journey into the world of console emulation is Zophar’s Domain(http://www.zophar.net/) where emulators for almost every console that has ever been emulated can be downloaded, including emulators that can be run on Pocket PCs and phones (I downloaded an emulator for the Master System for my Pocket PC so I could have soul nourishing game play on the go). From here a search on Google for your favourite game title and ROM will bring up a list of sites to download the ROMS from.

Obviously with something this great and amazing being available totally free, there is bound to be ethical and/or moral implications. This is because a ROM is basically a direct duplication of copyright material, which is distributed over the internet for free. Those who put the ROMS up on the internet argue that because the majority of the games are no longer available for sale in stores, developers are no longer making revenue off the games and therefore not loosing any if the game is distributed in ROM form. While this maybe true in some cases, it is common practice now for developers to release classic packs for modern consoles, such as the Sega Classics Collection recently released for the PS2 which includes a range of old console titles. In this case the titles are still in use and brings into question as to whether the claim that developers do not loose out on revenue is true. Obviously this is an issue that is not only found in relation to console emulation, but in a much larger way in relation to the file sharing of Mp3’s and films.

Therefore there are ethical and moral issues in relation to console emulation, which is something that we all have to personally analyse and come to a decision on yadayadayada... personally if breaking the rules a little can bring such long term happiness and fulfilment for you as it did for me, this obviously vastly outweighs any ethical or moral issues, and choosing to get involved in the fantastic world of console emulation is a 'no brainer', do it now!

Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan

Reading: Digital Capitalism: Networking the Global Market System

In this book, Dan Schiller provides a richly textured account of the evolution and consequences of the Internet .By using a political economy approach, Schiller properly links the Internet to broader political, economic, and social contexts, while recognizes the degree to which new technologies alter the contexts in which they develop.

Schiller’s focus on the market-driven uses of the Internet provides a particularly significant counterpoint to optimistic accounts of this technology and its potential consequences.He cautions that the increasing corporate hegemony over the Internet will serve to deepen consumerism,
exacerbate social inequalities, and extend market-driven logic and techniques to education.

In the chapter I've just finished reading, on American education, Schiller cautions that “cyberspace lent itself both to an unparalleled market takeover of the learning process and to
a relentless vocationalism” (145). Schiller details how a variety of trends increasingly have shaped American education along market lines. Schiller provides a provocative account of the growing number of partnerships between universities and corporations. Attractive to university administrators because of their economic benefits and because of the threat of corporate education, these partnerships often decrease the autonomy of the university. The New Partnership sought two super-ordinate goals: more expeditious commercialization of university research and a closer match-up between what was being taught to students and labor-market needs.