Parents distrust of internet learning

Here is a article I saw on USA Today that I believe is a growing concern for parents of teenagers these days;

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2005-05-25-teen-blogging_x.htm?csp=34

Its interesting really, because it seems parents concern over their kids attachment over the use of these "new media" might result in them being withdrawn or distach from the real world. Yet many parent neglect the useful information their children might learn while surfing online, or reading other people blogs. They seems to have a natural distrust over many aspects of the internet. I remember when my high school first introduce online learning, where most of the class notes was put online, my mum keep saying how it was a bad idea because it allow kids to sidetrack or use it as an excuse to start surfing the web when they r supposely "studying". Its not like kids can't do they same when they r studying from a textbook (I'm sure some of us hide magazine beneath our text at least once during our school year). It must be the generation gaps.

Hi All,

I am one of kind who values traditional values, technologies, etc. On a personal note I value the old technology rather than the new. I have always been a huge fan of walkmans, the radio, my only alcatel cell phone. After reading other blogs entries on old mobile phones versus new ones, I have to agree with that conspiracy theory too. I have had my alcatel phone for nearly 4years. The battery use to only die out after a week, however now it starts to die out after one day. I am guessing it is to do with the fact that I have been over charging it in the past. Can that mainly be the reason why my battery doesn't last very long the way it use to, despite the conventional thought that it is getting old.

When it comes to music (sure I love music CD's, and I use to try and make a whole collection of them), but I still prefer to listen to the radio. Perhaps it is due to the fact that it is always up to date, with the music, the news about the world and giveaways, competitions, advice given to callers, silly jokes etc. I am liking the fact that More-Fm has bought back the old classic hits. When I heard a few old songs being played back on the radio station, it brings back old memories for example my high school years. Sure modern technology increases sales for companies and makes our life more convenient but I still prefer a simple car as long as it gets me to places, a simple phone where I am able to communicate to others, a simple radio where I can keep up with the music industry and the world and at the same time not forget the old times. Technology to some people may just be technology to them making them hip, but I think it's more to it than just great inventions or convenience in our everyday life it seems also like a marker, an indication of our events, do you get what I mean?

That Gibson is a genius

I have just finished reading "Idoru" by William Gibson, the man that coined the phrase "cyberspace." The science fiction novel raises some very relevant issues of celebrities being the ultimate form of consumer branding. The novel is situated in a highly consumerist society where even celebrities are treated as commodities. I believe that this notion, although raised in fictious setting, can be readily seen within society today. Over the past week the newspaper has been filled with Kate Moss' cocaine exploits (the girl can't even have a sneaky line without it being captured on celuloid and distributed globally!).

I am increasingly finding that the role of a celebrity, like Kate Moss goes beyond her contractual obligations to stand in front of a camera and look pretty, just as in the novel, a fan group decided it is there duty to go beyond listening to the music and buying the concert tickets; they have to get to the bottom of their favourite band member's (Rez) decision to marry an "idoru," which is pretty much just binary code made into a physical (2D) hologram.

This work of fiction substantially overlaps with reality; lives become intertwined and un-reciprocal relationships with people (famous and not-famous) are formed daily. I contend that mediums, such as the internet, are the agents for the formation of such unrequited relationships. The speed at which information travels is phenomenal and the effect of such information is global. Access is unproblematic; vast numbers of people who are somehow "connected" to a person, that they probably would never have known existed without the practically instant methods of communication that are now ubiquitous. I suppose it all comes back to the privacy issue and with being a celebrity such invasion of privacy is inevitable, but I do maintain that the information highway, feulled by instant communication and access invites people to "research" celebrities so much so that they truly believe that they "know" them, and subsequently that they have some kind of ostensible right to that person's private life and the decisions such a person makes.

Charlotte

[NB. Im not promoting cocaine use or anything, and perhaps Kate Moss is bad example because of role model issues and the fact that she is a Mother so that makes the allegations worse etc. I'm just using it as a topical argument]

Great resource for budding screenwriters

Hey all,

if there are any budding screenwriters out there i've got a great resouce. It's a site called WORDPLAYER.

Terry Rossio, successful Hollywood writer, and his writing partner, run the site. The great thing about this particular page is that it does not simply work as a set of typical “how to” guides that seem like they wouldn’t be out of place in a textbook, but instead Rossio writes his articles (that deal with nearly all facets of the technique and trade) using an informal, stream-of-conscious-like, structure.

What’s great about the articles on the site is how varied they are, dealing with topics that other screenwriting resources don’t even cover (the off-screen story, writing a great opening, etc).

So, if you’re a enthusiast screenwriter this site should definitely be in your bookmark list.

DVD vs Video

On my last visit to the video store, a sad fact dawned on me I may be the only person in New Zealand who does not own a DVD player! I have always been a big fan of arthouse, foreign and classic films eschewing Hollywood blockbusters I avoid the new release section. If I ever feel the need for a big budget blow out I head off to the cinema for popcorn and the big screen. However on my last visit a friend and I decided we wanted to see the film Hitch, only to be disappointed when we found out we could only hire it on DVD. For our second,third and fourth choices of movie we discovered we could not hire either because agin, they were only on DVD. I understand that technology progresses it's not like I excpect to buy a cassette tape or record at a CD store, but still- there must be a few out there like me that haven't gotten around to purchasing a DVD player yet- how about a few copies of the latest new release on VHS? The assistant at the video store pointed out to me as I discussed the lack of video in the 'video store' that VHS is more reliabe, apparently far more DVDs play up than old school video cassettes.

HURRICANE!!!

The internet is truly an amazing thing. I was attending a tutorial this morning, when my tutor casually asked me how my family was back in Texas with hurricane Rita heading their way. I was suddenly struck by this question. I didn't even know there was a hurricane coming. Last I heard there was a tropical storm of the coast of Florida.

Directly after class I came to my computer and began searching for answers. With in five minutes I had found out everything I could possibly want to know. By going to Yahoo, I discovered from the APA that hurricane Rita was now a class 5 hurricane. It is likely the biggest and strongest hurrican to ever strike the Gulf Coast with winds upwards near 160mph. Not only that, but it is also more than 300miles accross!

After reading about the severity of the hurricane, I wanted to know exactly where it was predicted to hit. I went to The National Hurrican Center's website and discovered a wealth of information. There are prediction maps and tracking maps of every shape and kind with up to the minute data. I could view the wind probabilities, rain fall charts and the projected path in numerous forms. As it turns out, this massive hurrican is expected to strike the Texas coast some where between Corpus Christi and Galveston. Not only that, but it is also predicted to make land fall on Sat. between 1:00 and 2:00am. Being a Texan myself and having family in the area, I was immeaditely nervous knowing what has just happened in New Orleans and other areas of the Southern coast.

I searched on and found on a government web page and evacuation had already been ordered and people were leaving. I went on to Fox News' website where I could see up to the minute video of people leaving the area for refuge. I could find out the traffic reports and he best routes to take. I could locate free transportation out of the area for people who could not provide their own.

Now that I was fully aware Texas was under a state of emergency and Houston (which is 60 miles inland) I wanted to talk to my brother who lives in Houston and find out what he was planning. I dialed him up on an internet phone service and reached him on the road traveling North out of Houston. Through the internet and his cell phone I was able to determine that thousands were leaving and that he was one of them safely on his way.

Clearly, the internet is a powerful tool. With it, hopefully people will be well informed and avoid the disaster of hurricane Katrina. Nature is a powerfula and deadly force, but with the development of technology and the internet lives are being saved....and my fears are being put to rest.


*******Special Note: To all who are willing, would you please pray for the safety and livelyhood of all those currently being affected by hurricane Rita. Although the internet is a powerful tool, the power of prayer and God cannot be matched. I know all my family and friends back home will appreciate it. Thank you.

Whos that with Jeremy?

I'd heard it mentioned before, possibly in one of the FTVMS classes, but i came across quite an interesting website.

www.whoisthatwithjeremy.com

Jeremy is a three year old boy living in New York with his parents, and since he was pretty much days old he has been photographed with hundreds of different famous people - from actors and actresses such as Anna Paquin, to sports stars and Politicians such as Al Gore and Bill Clinton. The site was set up by his father kind of like a hobby because his mother was going back to work full time, but i think he's kind of taken it a bit too far. From looking at the site it appears that Jeremy has spent much of his childhood waiting in queues or fighting crowds to meet these famous people, and he's even appeared on numerous tv shows.
Jeremy's 'adventures' have generated so much publicity that theres even a note on the site giving contact details if your from the media and interested in meeting him/having him on your show.
It struck me as being similar to The Truman Show - this little boys life, to a certain extent, is being displayed over the internet and other forms of media for anyone to see - the site has had over half a million visitors. Theres even personal photos such as Jeremys first day at preschool and family photos.
The whole set up made me question whether it was ethical for Jeremy's father to use the internet to publicise his childs life in order to fuel his own desire for fame - and even gain revenue from the media attention Jeremy is recieving. Especially seeing as Jeremy doesnt have the ability to make his own decisions. The large number of childrens products that Jeremy is endorsing is also an example of this - lots of his clothing is simply advertising.
When Jeremy is older he'll be lucky enough to have an entire website filled with details of his life growing up, and thousands of emails from complete strangers telling him how adorable he is. Many people like to display their childrens younger years on the net for people to see, but it is in a much more natural context. Maybe i'm being a bit harsh, but I wonder how many personal memories Jeremy will have that will be similar to those of a normal kid? Despite all this however, when looking at all of his photos Jeremy does appear to be pretty happy.

Find help in one place!

Just a quickie but I thought that some of you might be interested in this website. A friend of mine constantly asked me questions about her computer and about the troubles she is having finding a solution to the occasional problem she has.

I have since shown her Press F1 - New Zealand's PC World self-help forum. Its not a perfect solution but tricky questions are quickly answered by willing New Zealander's in relative quick time.

Roadcasting

Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but im posting it anyway...
Roadcasting the latest variation on the podcasting format.

Currently owners of Ipods are able to buy an accessory that allows them to listen to music stored on their ipod on an unused FM frequency on their car radio. This in itself continuation of the trend towards the privisation of media and atomisation in western society.

However, researchers are developing software that would select music from other users of the technology according to their musical tastes, which would be broadcast by wireless technology, which could be seen as interaction of some sort.

The technology will seemingly create a dynamic digital version of a radio station that will find new songs and play them on the go, depending on here the user is, and what music is available to be downloaded from others. Another optential use is for users to broadcast their own "pirate" radio content.

This prospect cleary has record companies and radio stations very nervous, as their entire operations, costing many millions of dollars are being replaced by small portable digital devices, which can do what they do, but even better.

No doubt because of this fact, legal issues are already being raised over the technology which may of course be used to violate copyright laws, though this hasn't stopped technology before.

It seems that traditional sources of media will continue to be less relevant, especially where they refuse to adapt to changing technology and the change in culture that inevitably accompanies it. The standard response, especially from the record industry, is to stop unwanted behaviour through lawsuits, the fierce campaign against P2P networks and its users probably being the best example.

This will not benifit anyone in the long run however.
Old media must adapt or disapear.












P.S Thank-you to all blog posters using paragragh spacing, it is much appreciated.

DVD Virus

For some years now I've known of friends who have gone on trips to areas such as Thailand or Bali and have come back with pirated goods ranging from polo shirts to Rolex watches. Some have also come back with literally hundreds of slim packed DVD's of films that haven't even come out in New Zealand yet, for which they claim they pay the usual $2 for.

While I have always been slightly jealous of their access to this supply of great 'goodies' a recent article I read on a the Digital Digest site slightly helped me in getting over this jealousy. Apparently there is now a ‘DVD virus’ going round that is being put in many of these DVD’s. When inserted the virus loads onto the DVD player overwriting it’s ‘firmware’ (the software that makes it run) rendering it totally unusable. The only way that this can be fixed is if the DVD player is returned to the manufacturer and the ‘firmware’ replaced.

Although this problem will never affect me, as I don’t have access to this method of buying DVD’s, it made me think about the possibility of film studios developing this virus and putting it out onto the world piracy market to get back at those using pirated DVDs. Although this would obviously bring up ethical questions, it would be quite an effective way of curbing DVD piracy, and one that we may see be developed in the future.

Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan

Daily routines exercised by internet.

Ever since taking up this paper, i have found that i have used the internet more than i have ever before. Just general browsing on the internet has taken up alot of my time and therefore has been considered my 'leisure' time. Through my daily surfs through the internet, i have noticed that my world and my daily routines is influenced through the powers that be of the internet. From hotmail to the google search engine, my daily exercises are majority of the time performed within the realms of the internet.

At home, my time is spent of the internet. Browsing websites, links mostly to do with Pacific Island affairs, events and people, my email is my second best friend. I am constantly opening up my hotmail account so much to the point that i feel that my hotmail account is more active than my BNZ account. At Universitiy i find myself repeating the same exercises on the internet that i do at home, surfing the net, however i do feel like i am under some sort of scope watching my every 'internet' move, therefore i find myself sometimes cutting down on the excessive internet surfing just to make it look like i am doing some work.

I have found that through this paper, that allowed me and given me the oppourtunity to search and surf the internet for things that, normally, i would not surf on the net for.

iPod Nano's again...

What do you all think of iPod Nano's?? Im in two minds come to think of it...i mean, as with everything - they have both positive and negative attributes.

Personally, i have an iPod, so the thought of being able to hold less songs doesn't really appeal to me at all, and despite the compacted size of the Nano's, im not sure id change to one!
However, they are smaller, lighter and more convinient to carry around, and if i had the choice, id probably choose a Nano over an iPod mini, but i still like the idea of the regular iPod's with much more memory for songs!

In a short period of time though, the iPod has seemed to get smaller and smaller - so who know where it will stop!!

Atari Flashback

Remember the good old days when you could play arcade style video games with a JOYSTICK! Well now with the Atari Flashback Classic Game Console you can relive those great '8Os days playing classic games that set the standard for the games we have today. The Atari Flashback comes with 20 built in games (so no need to have to change discs etc) that include Centipede, Crystal Castles and Canyon Bomber and also comes with 2 joysticks. Sure the games may look kind of crude and old fashioned in todays more high-tec world but thats the allure of it, it's retro and nostalgic. However the idea of it does make you wonder whether the console may end up being one of those toys where you play with it for a couple of days, and then get bored whereupon it sits in the back of your cupboard for several years until you find it and start the cycle up again, as often happens with these types of things.

good place to download movie trailer

I believe watching movie trailer could give me oodles of fun.A good trailer must absorb essences of whole movie , maximize impression on both visual and audio ways in limited time and at the same time,of course ,it should "hold back" some really attractive stuff...ah, in some degree,it is a "art of tease". Watching a trailer is like appreciating a artistic work with balance, it shows splendidly enough to stun your eyes and ears but not a litte bit overdone to reduce your passion of going to the cinema, this kind of seeking the balance point always amaze me.In fact ,analysing movie trailer could benefit a lot to student who study film,espacially in editing and soundtrack.

I always go to http://www.movie-list.com/ to download trailers.There are tons of trailers in lots of categories ,qualities,old and new. You can watch it in stream or download it .The most feature that intrigues me is the Classics.It has many high-quality trailers of Classic movie ( such as Alien series ,Star Trek, CITIZEN KANE , JFK, FIGHT CLUB ,RAINMAN, etc) They are all exclusive and collectable. It updates everyday for latest movie and every week for classics, both have variable qualities to chose.,if you have a boradband , you can download trailers which have high resloution up to 1024 *768(this would have a stunning effect just like DVD)

Well, if you already know this site,please skip it and dont mind , otherwise please check it out , wonderful trailers are waiting for you to appreciate .

http://www.movie-list.com/

http://www.movie-list.com/classics-alpha.shtml

MasterCard gets clever

I just read an article on The New Zealand Herald website about the new type of cards MasterCard are launching. They are called "pay pass" cards and are expected to be in circulation of 4 million people by the years end. What is a pay pass card? Well they are equiped with a radio frequency chip that allows the user to wave the card at machine readers at till point and petrol pumps without actually having to hand it over for purchases. Definately an interesting concept. Citibank, HSBC, and Key Bank are offering them to customers in America already. But I wonder how useful this will be until the merchants are up and running with the right equipment to accept these sorts of cards. I assume the said banks have changed their retail customers machines over to accept these new and innovative cards. In New Zealand we are slowly starting to develop into chip cards, but they still require inserting into the machine. I discovered this when the EFTPOS machine at work was swapped to be able to accept the chip cards. I am not entirely sure what the difference entails, but I think it is largely to do with safety of cards and the ability to track them if they are stolen? So MasterCard seem to be coming up with the solution to forgetting credit cards in shops and petrol stations by allowing the card to never actually leave your hands. This definately puts one up on MasterCards major rivals such as Visa and American Express, and I do think that this will become the standard form of payment in the future.

Hackers on ATM machines

Hi All,
I am sure that you are all very aware now that you need to be more cautious when it comes to using ATM machines. I was going to post this the other day, anyway according to 3news your money is easily scammed. Through the use of the video camera the scammer is caught (I don't think they mentiond his name), but what the criminals do is they put for example, a match stick inside where the money slot is and wait near the machine for the person to come. What happens is when the person pushes in thier pin numbers their would be a message error, making them the money is not coming out, then they would go into the bank to report that their account is not working, while this is happening the hacker quickly opens the money slot remove the toothpick or match stick and the money would automatically come out. TV 3news also mentioned something like it is best to wait atleast 30seconds because the money will come out, those who already pinned in thier numbers didn't wait and assumed thier is something wrong with thier account or the machine. This is where the hackers benefit and grab the money because after 30seconds and the match stick is not removed then the money would still remain in the account and access is denied. Therefore, just be aware who is around you when you are using the ATM machines and double check things with your account.

Dependency on Technology

I have been having a terrible day because of my dependency on technology. My Laptop is broken, again. For the second time in the last few months it is refusing to go past the blue welcome windows XP screen. Unless I can get into my computer to back up my stuff which I did manage last time, I think I'm going to have to reformatt without backing up my things. Now I have spent most of the morning feeling crummy and freaking out about it. However, despite the hassle of reinstalling everything and the fear that it will happen again this is not actually a big deal, there is one video file i haven't transferd from my laptop to my external harddrvie where all my media is stored and I don't think I have any important uni work on there as most uni work I do at uni. Its annoying that I'm going to have to waste time reformatting and reinstalling however I am left with a deep sense of anxiety of not been able to use my computer, who could be online that i'm not chatting to or what interesting sites could I be surfing. I still wonder how we would all survive if all technology suddenly froze up like my laptop.

Tattoos get smart

Tattoos have gone smart, yes, you heard me right, tattoos have gone smart. In an attempt to shock and amaze you (that or just present something completly different) I came across an article regarding smart tattoos. This was intresting to me becuse of our in class discussions a while back about body art in terms of piercing and machines reading our body and creating a response. Now it is a step down although with a purpose. Researchers in Texas A&M and Penn State have developed a new diabetics testing system using ink in the skin. Unlike a tattoo the ink does not enter the cells of the skin but the fluid surronding to read the glucose levels in the body. This tattoo would change according the glucose thus informing the diabetic of thier status. Now teens all over the world have a valid excuse to get that massive tattoo thier parents where fearing. But in all seriousness, this is a major breakthrough for diabetics if it is succesfull becuse of its painless method of showing glucose levels, its also more accurate becuse its monitering 24 hours a day rather than the once a day needle shot they must currently use for accurate results. The technology is simple in terms. Thier is a fluorescent ink bonded to another chemical inserted in the system with a needle. The fluorescents then change according to glucose level. Simple huh? Its still in early stages so there isnt a large amount of information but its an intresting blend of techology and body and shows how the lines between the two are quickly blurring. I also might check into UV tats. They are invisble to the eye under normal light, they however under a blacklight show up. They are like a normal tat in every respect of always being there, no design limits, and costing a fortune, but you just get the joy of not having to see it when you get old as long as you dont go near a blacklight. Cheers!

Spivey
Refs:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2225404.stm
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/03/001216

Cellphones: Old vs New

Has anyone ever noticed that, while your mum's old Nokia phone is still going strong after five years, your brand new phone is already having problems?
A couple of months ago, my friend's Amena phone (she got it in Spain) died, so she used *dun, dun, duuuuuun*... Her Alcatel One Touch Easy, which is 7 years old! The new phone was less than two years old. It's a conspiracy!
I just got a new Sony Ericsson phone for Christmas, and the 8 key is already sticky, which makes texting a nightmare. I recognise that, with constant upgrades, all of us should be getting a new phone every year, but not all of us are the good little consumers that the cellphone companies expect us to be.
Admittedly, some old phones don't accomodate texting, and in the case of the One Touch Easy (I'm talking the very first one, bought when the network still came up as BellSouth) you can't retrieve numbers from the phonebook when you're sending a text, but the sturdiness of the old phones can't be denied. Why can't we just merge the sturdiness of the old and the PXTiness of the new? If anyone knows a phone which has achieved this, please feel free to tell me.

N.B: The same goes for Discman vs Walkman ;)

Broadband YES! But at a cost!

This time a shorter post but nonetheless something which is close to my heart - the price of broadband in New Zealand.

It was more of an accident that I stumbled across the fact that Question Time in Parliament is available as streaming video on the TVNZ website. For those who are interested and like me are obsessed with politics this is a great opportunity to watch what the House of Representatives is up to. Unfortunately as a part-time student my pockets are not deep and unlike others I sometimes cannot afford to fork out more than $60 for a 10gb plan.

Now that the election is over I hope that Labour (as soon as it gets a working government together) will make sure of one of its election promises. The New Zealand Herald reported on the 12th September, 5 days before the election, that Labour aims for cheaper and fast internet. I especially liked the idea of 1 dollar-a-day access. Its a step into the right direction. As Telecom itself reported only 15% of new broadband connections come through wholesalers. Sure a sign of a monopoly which does not create an open and free market. That this policy was coming from a Labour party made me stand up even more. Labour says "free the market up"? The article compares the New Zealand market to the Australian one where recent changes in broadband wholeselling made broadband more affordable.

Telecom of course is playing down Labour's plans as reported in the New Zealand Herald the next day. "Kiwi share" my a.. Of course wholesalers like Slingshot and Orcon loved the idea. Telecom has two hurdles to face before Labour would move. First it has to sign up 250,000 new broadband users by the end of 2005 which as it looks is no problem at all. But the other hurdle is that at least a third of those connections has to come from wholesalers, which Telecom most likely is not to achieve. Only a healthy competition in the broadband sector would bring prices down and give a better option of plans. At the moment the broadband offering in New Zealand is pathetic at best.

So I hope that the next government is moving fast in providing policies as to assure that New Zealand is not falling behind in broadband internet uptake. Not only this course has shown me how digitalised we have become as a society. Digital Photography, Digital Film, Streaming Video and Radio etc. are fantastic tools for the consumer but I'm not quite sure how you see it but I would like to share large photos, files etc with others without having to post them on a website. But as soon as I hit my data limit I get pushed back to dial-up speed, which I thought I have outgrown, and e-mails take far too long to be sent or received. I sometimes believe that the digital world gives us fast and slick racing cars to drive but New Zealand only provides the good roads to those who can afford it and the rest drives in pedestrian speeds on metal roads.

Give me cheap and fast internet without data limit!! Now!!

wasting time

"Computers are televisions too! Staring into a CRT, be it television shows or otherwise has a similar effect upon the mind. Granted, one interacts with the computer, none the less, it is the same basic medium which involves staring into a flickering light, creating the same addictive illusion that something is continually happening of entertainment value. I am not a luddite, but I am both a television and computer addict who recognizes the stultifying effects of this flickering, elusive and seductively medicating medium. " (source:http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/commentary/tv.vs.computers.html)

I find that when I'm done checking emails/news/cecil I kind of linger around on the computer and do absolutely nothing constructive for a while. I might go to
http://www.killsometime.com/ and watch the video of the fainting goats over and over again or play some flash game like http://www.widro.com/throwpaper.html which is a really silly game to play, kind of like the "hit the penguin as far as you can with a baseball bat" flash game. (can't remember the link). Stick cricket is particularly effective as a time-consuming anti-constructive type game.

Often I do this even though I have other, more important things to do, for instance assignments, projects, washing and dishes etc. I am finding that the argument applied to anti television discourse can be applied to the internet. Anti-television discourse argues that television is basically a non valuable cultural form of society, an unnecessary distraction that invites passive participation. Although it can be argued that control is the main issue in anti-television discourse, that the viewer is being controlled by the sender, and not the individual themselves (Mander '78), I don't agree that the issue of control affects whether or not the web surfer is passively participating in a non valuable form of culture, we control what web site we go to just like what channel we change to. It's just sometimes I'd rather hit a penguin with a baseball than do my readings, much like sometimes I'd rather watch Scrubs over something on the History Channel.

Steve Jobs said "You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on" (Macworld Magazine, February 2004). I don't necessarily agree with this, I think that the mindless entertainment that invades your home through the television set has just been transferred to the computer screen. I can choose to go to informative websites just like I can choose to watch the discovery channel, It doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to.

Digital Film

Last weeks lecture on digital film was really interesting. And I think digital film is becoming more and more the mainstream way things are going to get done. When Titanic came out there was huge oohs and aahs about how good the digital film making was and how real the ship looked. Today that kind of technology is easy to achieve. This is kind of amazing considering Titanic was not long released (1997). The lecturer last week posed an interesting question about whether or not digital media has hindered or helped the film industry.
It would be easy to argue for either side, but I personally believe that it has helped the movie makers of today. So many more stories are being able to be made because there are virtually no limits on what a movie maker can have on the screen. This advanced technology has meant more people have the ability to let their creative juices flow and it means audiences are treated to more entertaining resting movies.
And with the way technology continues to advance movies are only going to get more technological based. In proberly not even 20 years time we will look back at Lord of the Rings and see it as basic technology.

Kung Fu Hustle

I just went to see the new Stephen Chow film Kung Fu hustle and have to say it was a great film. Visually it was amazing, however much like Sin City was there is a strong sense of surrealism because of the CGI and other special effects used. Of course going to see films like these you don't expect reality and complete lack of laws of physics is just part of the story and setting of the film. However it is interesting to notice how blatant the use of CGI and other techniques can be in some films over others. As has been mentioned before, in films like lord of the rings the cgi armies are meant to be seamless, you're not meant to notice that they are not real. Yet in Kung Fu Hustle some scenes just seem blatantly fake. So the use of the new technologies in films varies from trying to create realism to simply showing off.
The worst aspect of my trip to the movie though was a power surge that meant the projector blacked out for awhile, very frustrating for a subtitled action film.
Anyway I found the film very enjoyable, very funny at some points and some neat special effects.

Digital film = file?

Wednesday's lecturer made an interesting comment about digital film, and whether it's more accurate to refer to it as a file rather than a film. What makes a film a film? Although films are increasingly using technology like CGI and becoming digital, I don't think we will start referring to them as files any time soon. Although it is only one letter different, so I'm sure people could get used to it! The article mentions the "fear that digital technologies are leading film into a descending spiral of spectacular superficiality". I think this could be compared to the introduction of colour to cinema, as creating the most spectacle took over from the plot. The introduction of colour into Bollywood cinema was detrimental as style over substance, creating bright and entertaining sequences rather than developing new storylines, still presides today.

I think digital film makes it easier for unknown filmmakers to shoot, edit, and get their films seen.

Music video shot using mobile phones

A QUEENSLAND production company has made what is believed to be the first music video shot entirely with mobile-phone cameras.

The clip, for the pop-rock song Some Postman by quirky US band the Presidents of the United States of America (P.U.S.A.), was made by Brisbane company Film Headquarters.

Get the story here.

Ipod NANO

Another thing to lose in your handbags ladies! Apple released the Ipod Nano about a week ago, about the size of a credit card it holds up to 1000 songs, has up to 14 hours of battery life and 2GB or 4GB of storage. In a society where things are constantly getting smaller and smaller the Ipod has followed suit. I'm pretty sure they arn't even procucing Ipod Mini any more ( its not advertised on their site any longer) A little cheaper than the origional, the 4GB model is priced $419 and the 2GB model is priced at $349.

Just thought I'd let you know!

Check out www.apple.com for more info

Readings

Andrew - thanks for this: I'm glad someone is awake. Sorry everyone for the delay. The reading was sitting patiently on my desktop but I omitted to upload it to CECIL. Week 8 & 9 readings now available. Remaining ones to follow shortly...

This weeks reading

I am probably being stupid but was there a reading for this week? the last thing i found on cecil when i checked this morning was for week seven, did we have a reading for this week? just wanted some clarification.

media

i was reading an article in a magazine the other day about how the media helped a number of people solve really serious problems in their personal lives. for example, one lady realised, from reading a magazine article (i know this is not exactly "new" media) that she had a disease that she didnt have a clue about and wouldnt have had a clue about if she hadnt read the article. the desease she had (i forget the name) stopped her from being able to have a baby by natural means. she found out from the article that a number of other women had the same problem and managed to find a way around the disease and now has a little son of her own and is very happy. a number of people have talked about the blurring of the boundary between the public and private spheres due to new media and this article shows thatits not only new media that blurs these boundaries but media itself. also the article got me thinking that maybe this blurring is not as bad as we tend to believe. i too hate the idea of people being able to see you while talking on the phone and so on...it makes screening calls so much harder and you have have to make sure you look at least somewhat presentable, which can be a pain when you'd so much rather hang around in your PJs..but there are alot of benefits that come along with these new forms of media that maybe we havent come to realise yet...

"Stealth" relies on CGI

On Wednesday night I went to the pre-release screening of the new action flick, Stealth. Directed by Rob Cohen, the film is full of explosions, super-fast aircrafts and action. Because I had gone to the digital film making lecture earlier that day, I was impressed with the visual effects that were used in the amazing action scenes that involved high-tech planes flying through the sky and blowing up whatever could be thrown into the plot (very big explosions). CGI created almost a virtual reality experience and in many scenes I felt like I was playing a huge flight simulation game. One memorable scene was where Wade (the film’s eye candy played by Jessica Biel) was ejected from her aircraft and as she plummeted 20,000 feet towards the ground, she was hit by debris from her exploding plane and her parachute blazed on fire. Another one was where a bomb was dropped on a secret terrorist meeting and the whole explosion kind of resembles the 9/11 twin towers attack. If you see it you’ll know what I mean.
The film attempts to question technological advancements as three navy fighter pilots find themselves alongside a new wingman- an unmanned aircraft controlled by Artificial Intelligence. Unimpressed with the human replacement, the hero says “I don’t want to see warfare become a video game.” But Stealth is hardly as philosophical as it attempts to be.
If you haven’t seen this film yet, I do not recommend seeing it. With Josh Lucas, Jamie Foxx and Biel starring, I was expecting a great movie. However it was an overall disappointment with a predictable story line and a stereotypical cast that consists of the “hero/rebel” (Lucas), the “tough-but-hot chick” (Biel) and the “sidekick” (Foxx), also recognised as the “token black guy” or the “smooth, ladies man”. I don’t think even think Cohen knew what he was trying to say with Stealth except he needed fast planes, bombs and a meaningless scene of Biel in a bikini which resembled a tropical fashion shoot.
The amazing visual effects created by CGI make up for the lame narrative. Although Cohen made use of advance digital technologies while making this film, I felt like the “air headed” storyline and romantic subplot had gone back in time about 20 years. Digital film making was used to assist this film, but the plot was so lousy it RELIED on its visual effects to make it watchable.

I love internet & I love friendster

Everyone must been heard of 'friendster'. Just simply sign it up, and update your personal details on it, such as your location, nationalities, where you studied etc... Of course you can choose to let everyone to be able to viewing these information or not and all these are for free. First when I joined friendship, I just added some close friend, and I thought "oh, it's just something that can meet new people who I don't know..." But never though what's so good about it. Until last time when I was just bored, so start to browsing around my friends profiles and their friends' network. Then something surprised me! I found at least 10 friends that I lost contact with for a quite long time. Not only that, I also found some friend who I never thought will meet again. This huge friendship network amazed me so much. In the old days, if we want to find some lost contact friends, probably take ages to find out by asking others, but now just few click things can be done. All these things I mentioned, many people might knew it before... But since I just had a web conversation with one of the friend that I found on friendster, who I couldn't get in contact with for a while. I'm still kind of in the excited mode. Now I really thank the person who invented these high technologies. It made our life much easier, especially mine!

Future DVD standard

Maybe I’m behind the times but I never realised until recently that there is a new format of DVD on the horizon. So far one single standard hasn’t been decided on and two rival camps are fighting it out to establish themselves as the next generation DVD leaders; the two groups are ‘Blu-ray’ and ‘HD-DVD’.
Blu-ray promise higher capacity DVD disks (up to 50 Gigabytes), which can store high definition films and provide better interactivity and security. However, these disks will not be compatible with current DVD players.
HD-DVD on the other hand claims it has a cheaper technology that IS compatible with current DVD players.
Blu-ray is backed by the likes of Sony, Hitachi, Samsung and Philips, while HD-DVD has the support of Toshiba and Sanyo. I imagine this will have a significant impact on which standard will eventually win out and in turn whether your current DVD player will soon be obsolete or not.
Here I was thinking that our current DVD standard was fine, but Frank Simonis of Blu-ray stated in an article I read, “[current] DVD is not good. It isn't secure, the capacity is too low, [and] the bit rate is too low”. Personally, I find it hard to envision DVD being any better than it already is and I find myself wondering whether the difference in quality will be noticeable to the average person – a bit like those super-CDs or whatever they’re called, which never took off but were meant to sound better than CDs.
If Blu-ray becomes the new DVD standard the next generation players will have Internet connectivity. I’m not sure for what purpose exactly but the article I was reading did mention that if you attempted to tamper with the player’s region coding (e.g. making a Zone 4 player a multi-zone), the player will shut itself down as a measure of preventing/lessening piracy. It’s kind of a weird thought to think that in the “privacy” of your own home you’re being monitored to make sure you don’t try do anything illegal with their DVD players.
While the two standards are battling it out to be the winner there is no date on when the/a new standard will be introduced, so hang on to your DVD player for now. But if you’re thinking about going down to the stock exchange to invest in some current DVD companies, you might wanna hold off on that one.

Yahoo blends Web email with speed of desktop

Hotmail,Yahoo and AOL, which email system are you using currently? There is of course a rather ferocious competition in email service market. In order to survive, they have to try their best to bring customers the best service. Yahoo is taking action:


Yahoo blends Web email with speed of desktop ----by REUTERS

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo today said it is upgrading Yahoo Mail, the most popular Web email program, to make it run more efficiently than other Web-based systems and nearly as fast as desktop email.

The new version of Yahoo Mail works in a browser, just as existing versions of the program do, but Yahoo has developed ways to short-circuit the multi-second delays that typically delay any action taken in Web-based email programs.

It replaces the need to repeatedly refresh a browser to open email, move it into folders or take other actions that require the user to wait for the browser to redraw the page.

Instead, it works similarly to desktop computer email clients, with features such as drag-and-drop organization of emails into folders and a message preview window that displays selected messages nearly instantaneously.

"The process of going through the inbox is much, much faster," said Ethan Diamond, product manager for Yahoo Mail and a co-founder of Outpost, the company which supplied the underlying technology used in the Yahoo Mail upgrade.

Yahoo acquired Outpost in July 2004.

Analysts said Yahoo appears to have a sizable head start over other major consumer email providers such as Microsoft Corp.'s Hotmail, Time Warner Inc.'s America Online and Google Inc.'s Gmail in speeding up the experience of managing Web-based email.

"This is a fairly significant step ahead for Yahoo," said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research.

Yahoo Mail contains keystroke shortcuts that reduce use of a mouse pointer, faster searching through email and an auto-complete feature for addressing emails to frequent correspondents. Yahoo Mail remains free and ad-supported.

Users of Microsoft Outlook, the desktop email program that is the most popular way for office-workers to manage their email, will recognize many similarities between Yahoo Mail and the Web-based version of Outlook.

Golvin said Yahoo is looking to keep existing customers happy more than winning new Yahoo Mail users. "This is more about cementing greater loyalty of customers that might have been casting their eye at (rival) Gmail," he said.

It will be offered initially to heavy email users in the United States and then be progressively offered to all Yahoo email users over the next several months, a spokeswoman said.

The upgrade will become available to Yahoo users in Europe, Asia, and around the world in coming months. During a test period, users will be able to switch between the new version and the existing version of Yahoo Mail to compare features.

The new version of Yahoo Mail is available on the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser for Windows and on Firefox for both Apple and Windows-based computers.

Bibliography:
- REUTERS
18/09/05 retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10345678

digital digital digit it all.

This relates to the last lecture on digital advancements.
Digital effects are pervasive, not just on just big budget movie screens.

I was at work today, putting away cd roms when I came across one intriguing little software programme.
It was titled "VIRTUAL MAKEOVER MANUAL".
This was, as the title suggests, a cd rom which you put into your computer that provides you a virtual make-over.
You take a photo of yourself, either with a digital camera, or scan in a photo of yourself, and upload it onto the computer. Then, using the digital software, you choose different hairstyles, hair colours, makeup options, facial hair(this includes you ladies, thinking about joining a circus anytime soon?). Due to it's private and discreet medium of cd software, the user can choose looks they would otherwise be too scared/shy/embarassed about trying. It's interesting that a piece of digital software, can guide you to your real life choice of appearance.

I am only judging from what I saw on the packaging, but the digital effects looked terrible. Granted, it was quite a few years old, but they did not look life-like at all. The hair was, although having attempted to appear full of life and full of glossy strands, very block like and solid. I'm not sure how flattering any of the effects could have been, and I would hate to think how many people have decided on a hair option having seen the style, had it styled and cut only to realise there is a huge difference in appearance in 2d, and 3d.

It got me thinking to how far animation has come. Do you remember about 7 years back when pokemon first appeared
on these shores? I had a big problem with the animation and the lack of life-like characters(whereas friends I know adored the animation(anime?)). As digital animation came more popular, cartoons became more and more life-like. Aside from the various 'mon' cartoons, which have stayed true to their convention.

Recent animal and human characters in computer generated animation have fur that looks incredibly lifelike, fragile and easily manipulated by the wind. Yet, as much as these characters appear real, I still miss hand drawn cartoons.I can't help but feel that a hand drawn option of the different hair styles/make-up looks for the virtual makeover manual would be more realistic, but would not appear anywhere near as professional. Images on screen and in pixel can be differ so greatly to that of the real world.

The Digital Picture Frame

This is partially a follow up to the previous post, by Josephine about digital paintings and images. Recently Fujitsu developed a plastic film substrate, which is essentially digital paper.
It enables them to save an image on to the plastic film, which will display with vibrancy much like a high quality LCD display. Except you can then disconnect the power source and the image will remain, giving you a portable flexable paper substitute. Fujitsu hopes to create that fabled 'paperless office' which computers were meant to create originally. The technology is still a few years away from commercial application, but in the future I can expect we'll see billboards, signs and magazines with this feature perhaps. Imagine a magazine which gets delivered to you then you plug it in to renew the subscription? (or alternatively send it back for refreshing, but why bother?)
On the other hand Philips Polymar Vision has created an e-reader, with a rollable display, the Readius has been intergrated into prototype GPS units, book displays, hand held computers and more. Philips doesnt plan to make the devices commercially available, but plans to use them to demonstrate to other partners possible business avenues, so the future is not too far away...
The digital painting is not far off!

New Zealand Film

Check out nzshortfilm.com if you haven't already. The site offers an array of short films made by creative kiwis. It is a website that reflects the advantages of technology and the web. With-out the web many of the artists may not have the motivation or the know how to show their work. I think the web is becoming a great place for artist to preview their work and get their name out there.

The site has documentaries, animated films, comedy, drama, as well as 48 hour film finalists. Its worth checking out if you haven't already.

I personally think that we will soon all have screens in our homes rather than paintings. With digital technology you can download images or buy on them on a cd rom, enabling people to change the images to their mood, event or to match different interiors. I don't think displaying digital images will be limited just to the p.c. Apparently Bills Gates has it already!!

The virtual society for professional CGI artists

Hi,everyone.Today,computer generated image are connected more and more tight to our lives .Film director needs CGI technology to render his fantastic idea real ; game designer asks CGI artists to create new character ; air force appeals to CGI artists to make virtual structure of their advanced air fighter and ploice also need help of CGI artists to rebuild criminal process in 3D. The increasing need for so foreseeable that many companies sign contract with good CGI student even they havent graduated .But going to design school is not the only way to become a CGI artists, people can totally do self-study through lots of media and internet is the most popular choice.
When I was studying design in Senior College ,my teacher recommended the site "CG society" to me and loved it at first sight .The gallery collects latest and beautiful CGI work from artists all over the world ; its forum (as it claimed) is the largest and most active online meeting place for the CG industry on the globe ......
I think the best feature that attracted me is its comprehensive ,not only in work(animation , 2D image, 3Dimage) but also in people (from all over the world , professional and amateur .) I remember there is an award-winng work which represents bloodiness of WW2 ,its modeling was done by an Jugoslavian artist ,rendered by a German and a American embellished the whole work. The final work is stunning ,what a cooperation!
It is a good place for all people who love and interest in CGI.

http://www.cgsociety.org/
http://forums.cgsociety.org/

Inspired by Sigur Ros

'Eighteen seconds before sunrise'...（18 sekúndur fyrir sólarupprás）

Enter Iceland's Sigur Ros, whose elemental compositions could find few more apt settings than an 18th-century courtyard beneath a perfect summer's night sky. Half the spectators sit cross-legged, gazing at the intersecting vapour trails above, or letting the music paint pictures on their mental canvases.
Unless their mental canvases are in desperate need of restoration, it's unlikely that those pictures involve four shy, skinny men in T-shirts.

Sigur Ros's nondescript appearance is possibly a deliberate move by a band obsessed with letting the music speak for itself. To this end, the projections flanking the stage are indistinct: two blurred figures dancing, a child running in a heat haze. The lyrics are unfathomable, performed in an invented language called Hopelandish and delivered by singer Jonsi Birgisson in a spine-tingling, androgynous wail that's more alien than human (small wonder that Thom Yorke and Chris Martin are such ardent admirers). Even when they are pretentious - the title of their last album was just an empty pair of parentheses - it is in a uniquely egoless way.
Played at home, Sigur Ros's subtle, intricate arrangements can too easily fade into the background; here they demand, and repay, the listener's attention. Their songs ebb and flow with exquisite precision. At times, they have a mournful, weightless ambience, like music for an astronaut's funeral; at others, they build to a perfect storm of psychedelic noise. Some of the new songs, constructed around a string quartet, are so beautiful they snatch the air from your lungs.
During one spellbinding track, the walls glow pink and orange with the sunset, the projection screens blaze with stars of light, and an awed hush envelops the whole crowd.

Advent Children

"Never before have technology, playability, and narrative combined as well as in Final Fantasy VII. The culmination of Square Soft's monumental effort is a game that will enrich just as it will entertain. Yet, for all the boundless praise it so rightfully deserves, Final Fantasy VII is not without its shortcomings and occasional design problems. These are enough to make some gamers (who are unfamiliar with RPGs, to be sure) wonder just why anyone would bother playing through it in the first place.
This is the most dazzling visual experience to date on any console. Film-quality computer-generated cinematics blend seamlessly with pre-rendered background artwork to create the strikingly realistic world of Final Fantasy VII, both beautiful in its grandeur and terrifying in its detail. The overworld and battle sequences are presented in full polygonal splendor with just a touch of texture mapping for good measure. But you haven't seen anything until you witness some of the more powerful magic spells in the game. Massive dragons heed your bidding, dwarfing your gigantic enemies tenfold; an earth titan tears the ground up from beneath your enemies' feet, flinging them aside like toy blocks. Some of these summoning spells cut to over half a dozen different camera angles as the catastrophe unfolds..." - Review by Greg Kasavin on www.gamespot.com

Final Fantasy VII was the first RPG that I ever had the chance to play, and I must say that even today it still has the ability to amaze me. It was made in 1997 by Square Enix for the playstation. I only had a chance to play it after the Playstation 2 came out, and therefore its graphics didn't look so amazing to me. I was kind of shocked to see those polygon images where characters had no mouths or no hands unless in cutscenes. What held me was the story to the game, and the fact that it was so mind boggling. Since I first played it, I have actually managed to play it about 6 times (yes, I am a little crazy!). Its funny because each time I actually play it, I get a chance to understand more and more to the story. I don't really want to give away any spoilers to the game for those of you who haven't played it, but I think that Greg Kasavin explains it best:
"Some have gone as far as to call Final Fantasy VII the hands-down best game ever made. And if you enjoy a good Japanese-style RPG, chances are you will agree. However, Final Fantasy VII, for all its astonishing features, is not a game with the sort of mass appeal that its massive marketing blitz may lead you to believe. For one thing, you can't finish it in a sitting, as Final Fantasy VII will be a solid 40 to 50-hour commitment for the average role-playing gamer. Otherwise, you might be taken aback by the extensive, text-heavy dialogue; there is no speech at all in Final Fantasy VII, in the interest of letting your imagination do a little work. Though you will make many small-scale decisions over the course of the game, on the whole, the story follows a very linear path. This linearity is a by-product of the plot's complexity, however - certainly a respectable sacrifice."

On September 14, 2005 Final Fantasy Advent Children was released in Japan. Instead of a game, this is actually a film which continues the story where it left off. As soon as it was released in Japan, it was leaked out to the rest of the world through the internet. Hackers even got in and put in english subtitles. While I can't wait to see it in English, we got a copy from a friend who downloaded it, and in super quality, and we couldn't resist seeing it. What began as a polygon game has resulted in an artistic piece of work in which every detail is so important (using CGI).

I just thought I'd show the differences in the images through these screenshots (I just learned how to use the images section, I feel so dumb for not seeing that before (all screenshots from gamespot.com)). Of course there is a great difference in graphics between the two, but all the same the movie only lasted for about 90 minutes. More than the story, Final Fantasy fans were just so fascinated to relive their nostalgia of the FFVII days, especially through the amazing scenes of battles between characters. The movie is set to be released on DVD and UMD (for the PSP) in the next few months (in english) and should be here by January if I'm right.

For all the Final Fantasy fans out there, the movie was amazing. Of course there was such a difference as you couldn't connect with all the characters on such a level as in the game. This time you weren't Cloud, you were seeing Cloud fighting to save the world. I felt rather detached in a way, but I still loved it. Now all I can look forward to is the hope that there will be a remake of Final Fantasy VII on the Playstation 3 (the demo was beautiful, that's the only word I can use to express my awe). You can also see that on gamespot. They are also making Dirge of Cerberus (for all the Vincent fans).

I know this post was more of a fan dedication but what can I say, I am one of those crazy fans of the Final Fantasy series. Its nice to live in a world of fantasy where so many things can happen, and yet leave it in a second and return to ours. As Sony says "Live in your world. Play in ours".

MSN Space

Hello, everyone. I am sure that you guys all know MSN is convenient to communicate with others. But, how many of you have already owned your personal “MSN Space”? Since MSN 7.1 released, I think, everybody who has a msn or hotmail account are able to create his own MSN space. With your own space, absolutely you can create a web blog which means you can write an online journal to describe everything you are interested. Otherwise, you can create your albums in the space. MSN space provides 30M space for everyone to upload the pics. Of course, you can also customize different color, background, and theme to fit your personality. So, what you waiting for? Create NOW!
Click here to check out this guy's space, you'll find lots of useful hints on creating a flash space.

Jxu063

doom - the first person film

now, we are all familiar with the point of view shot and its general application within classical film, but as i have recently discovered, this is going to be drastically altered by none other than an adaptation of the classic defining fps (first person shooter) DOOM. a friend of mine directed me to the trailer and much to my suprise, it makes extensive use of the first person point of view, walking down corridors, shooting the baddies and such. now this is by no means a huge revelation but within the mainstream market this is a big deal, perhaps equivalent to, say, eminems narrative structure in stan. while there are numerous avant guarde films made already which utilize this technique, the fact that it is penetrating into the wider market is an attribute, i think, to our increasing fluency with filmic language as an audience. of course it is aimed at the doom playing demographic who will already have an intrinsic understanding of its merits, but considering the big names involved - the rock, karl urban, rosamund pike and director andrzej bartkowiak (romeo must die, exit wounds) it must also be aimed at the generally curious. having only seen the trailer, and because there are no in depth articles on the topic, i can only speculate as to how much use they make of the technique and how far they stretch our ability to understand the unfamiliar. given its genre, it will probably not take us too far out of our comfort zones.

as the video game to film adaptations pump out of the hollywood orifice, im curious as to how much they will bring to the form of the medium. perhaps they will try a 3rd person style rpg in film format? maybe a strategy style format with a constant aversion to a big brother perspective over the battlefield- surely we havent seen a war movie like that yet..? one thing at a time i suppose.. i hope for now that they do justice to the doom's huge impact on it's platform and genre, though it certainly doesnt seem likely. well, if nothing else, at least it will be interesting in one respect. i would personally like to see as bigfat epics with dense layered scripts- final fantasy 7, starcraft, the legend of zelda
any others?

marC t

Instant Messaging anywhere anytime - IMFree - not anymore

When we think of Instant messaging we may think of MSN Messenger and of course our cellular phones which then stir connotations of brand names such as Nokia and Motorola (and the flashest phones out) and emoticons for MSN (and upgraded versions with all the bells and whistles such as wallpapers) However now there is a new place and space to do one's instant messaging with all the features and bells and whistles and it is fast becoming very popular in the United States. The IMFree Wireless Device allows anyone to instantly message away from the PC using a standard keyboard so no waiting a brief second on your cellphone when you want to type a simple word such as 'NO'. The IMFree device from Motorola (the major manufacturer) allows users to feed off their home-based internet connection and be completely wireless and free to roam about their house and even street (up to 150 metres) without being tied to PC. This eases up your cell phone bill as well and take a standard dial-up Xtra plan for $30 or so and it's relatively cheap unlimited messaging - no $10 restrictions! The possibilities for Instant Messaging and instant communications now mean that our private lives and indeed our privates selves are becoming increasingly mixed into the public world and communications network wish in itself is becoming multifaceted and allowing us to become constantly on-call or on-demand for a chat with anyone. Want lunch with your best friend who lives next door? Why not simply stay in your armchair and IM them - perhaps include a PXT or two of your sandwiches for that extra flavour of virtual reality...Instant Messaging...IMFREE, indeed it seems like an irony - you'll never be free again with this device!
Check out this article at MSNBC @ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8562291/ and Motorola's web-site for the IMFree device @ http://broadband.motorola.com/consumers/products/imfree/

Robots

Recently in my other FTVMS class we watched a doco on computers and robots, and how robots may become a significant part of our lives.
Robotics is being further and further developed in toys, and this is evident through the various products on the market, such as Furbies and Robosapiens. Robotic Dogs in particular are being programed to behave much more like real dogs - useful for people that live in city apartments and dont have time for real pets. Various robots compete at the Robocup annually in Japan where companies battle it out for the title through games such as soccer. Robotics in toys is constantly being developed in order to enable them to further interact with each other, and some of the toys can even be further programmed by owners. Robotic toys such as these retail anywhere from around $100 to $2000.
There are a number of household robots available on the market also, such as the robotic vacuum cleaner. With a number of models available, one of the best is the Roomba Discovery SE. A small circular shape, it can navigate its way around the house, and under small spaces, and when it hits an object it just turns itself around. It also returns itself to its own docking station to be recharged. While saving you the manual time of cleaning the house it has a number of cons - a major one being that you have to keep the robot itself clean, or else you will have problems, and they are known to break down within a couple of months. It also cant do corners because of its round shape, and cant do stairs. The Roomba Discovery SE retails around US$280.
There are a number of other household robots on the market such as the Robomower ($1600), which can be programmed to mow the lawn a number of ways, and can also recharge itself. Theres also Clocky - an alarm clock that runs away from you so you physically have to get up to turn it off. Personally I think it sounds really annoying and cant think why anyone would want one - which is probably why they're so cheap ($30).
To see a number of other Robots available, and an indepth breakdown of some of these robots features check out www.robotadvice.com.
It is predicted that it wont be long until robots play a large role in our homes also - and it makes me wonder about the lengths that scientists will go to in order to make robots as lifelike as possible. Only recently a man was shown on TV being fitted with one of the first robotic arms that responded to signals sent from his brain to where his arm should have been. According to the BBC documentary, the most intelligent robots currently in existance have the intelligence of slugs - in that they know they have to find their power supply (food) in order to keep going. But with the development of robotics - particularly in the military area, i'm sure that it wont be long until robots play more of a significant role in our lives.

Election results on the internet

With the coverage of yesterday's election results on the internet it made me realise just how much up to date infomation is available.

Aside from TV3's Vote '05 being broadcast live on the internet, xtra.co.nz had results that were supposedly updated every 5 minutes, at times it took 10 mins to recieve an update however. With the xtra coverage, you were able to see the allocation of seats in Parliament as the results came in. Also you could change between a map of New Zealand coloured in with either the Party or the candidates colour (eg, Red for Labour or Blue for National). By clicking on an electorate you could get the up to date results for the candiadate or party.

The Elections website had an incredible amount of detail in the results. It surprised me that after all the votes had been counted in an electorate you could access details about the number of votes case at each polling booth for each candidate (not the Party vote however). The website also included results of advanced votes and other breakdowns of the voting.

It made me think about the infomation available across the internet. Anyone interested in the election results could go to any number of websites get results as they are released. For New Zealanders overseas, the internet allows them to easily keep up to date with events in New Zealand.

GPS (golf precision shot? or global positioning system?)

I've herd a little bit bout GPS on the bloggs earlier on in the semester (the one bout "google earth"). Well the same principles apply for the sure shot GPS. As the tittle suggest to confuse the reader, it is indeed both correct of the particular technology by Tee2Green Technologies (a company which bases its inventions on helping the average golfer or pro golfer). The invention is a small device thats bout the size of average cellphone and pretty stylish in design with a colour LCD screen with buttons and a USB connection for the internet. It utilises GPS to precisely translate your position on the golf course and can determine your exact distance from the pin...even including hills,slopes, bunkers, pretty much anything that changes the distance of the pin and yourself. This device is quite handy for golfers who do not know the distance to the pin and have a hard time calculating the distance physically, its a sure revolution for golf and golfers. The USB connection is there for downloading pre-arranged courses that already have the numbers calculated for you and can save courses that you have used and alter them on your computer for notes and futher details.

However if you're quite serious about golf and a uni student (damn it!) then don't bother purchasing the AUS$ 585.00 device, thats how much it'll set you back, unless you're really talented then I guess you wont even need it. I suggest the new PSP for that amount of cash, cos if you your having a bad day on the golf course at least you have the PSP to keep you from smashing your clubs in half. It definelty looks like a neat and handy bit of technology to have so if you wanna know more I suggest you go to www.sureshotgps.com .

Is it possible that a tyrant can become a gentleman?

Microsoft is always an overbearing tyrant in IT market, but what this essay below means? Will Microsoft change its style or it is just another marketing trick? I believe the latter is the answer!


Microsoft offers development tools for Mac, Web

By Martin LaMonica, Special to ZDNet

Even as its steers developers toward the forthcoming edition of Windows, Microsoft is building tools to write applications for the Mac OS and the Web.
At the company's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles this week, Microsoft said it will allow programmers to use its latest front-end development tools to write applications that run on operating systems other than Windows Vista, the forthcoming edition of desktop Windows.
The company introduced Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere, or WPF/E, software to build applications using Microsoft's XAML page layout language in conjunction with JavaScript.
ADVERTISEMENT Until this week, it was thought that Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation, formerly code-named Avalon, could be used only to build graphics-rich applications on Windows. But because JavaScript runs on many operating systems, developers could, in theory, use WPF/E tooling to target several operating systems.
Apple's Mac OS will be one of the operating systems supported with WPF/E, as well as older versions of Windows and Microsoft Smartphone, according to Microsoft executives. And other operating systems are planned, said Forrest Key, group product manager in Microsoft's developer tools division, without confirming plans for Linux support.
"About a year ago, we realised that we needed to have a broad reach," Key said, which led to the development of WPF/E. "There will be more platforms to come."
The Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere software will be available when Windows Vista ships in the second half of next year, Key said. A prototype of the Mac OS edition is running at Microsoft now, said another Microsoft executive, who asked not to be named.
Presentation Foundation Everywhere is a subset of the full user interface tooling available in Windows Presentation Foundation on Windows and, as such, will not enable the same graphical richness as Windows. End users will need to download a "run time" for running XAML code, which will be less than 1 megabyte.
"What we found from a user experience perspective is that the best thing, clearly, is to present a continuum of technologies and highlight how they can be used together," Key said.
At the PDC this week, Microsoft executives played up the importance of presentation design in many ways. Since most companies have public Web sites, they'll increasingly need to differentiate themselves on "user experience" in software, executives said.
To that end, Microsoft introduced on Tuesday its Expression-branded family of design-related tools, which are expected to come out in late 2006. Those products are aimed at easing the process of building applications that incorporate animation and multimedia for Windows or Web browsers.
Part of the Expression line is Microsoft's Sparkle Interactive Designer tool, which uses XAML to create animations and other graphic-rich front ends. The tool is considered a competitor to Adobe's Flash format, which is widely used for Web graphics.
The importance of clean and effective design holds true for both public-facing Web sites and internal business applications, noted Greg DeMichillie, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft. For example, a poor sales application will discourage salespeople from inputting customer information until they absolutely have to, which prevents the employer from getting good information on incoming sales.
Web or Windows?Meanwhile, Microsoft introduced initiatives this week geared specifically at building Web-only applications.
The company handed out an early version of Atlas, a "framework" that works in conjunction with Microsoft's flagship Visual Studio tool for building so-called AJAX-style applications. AJAX Web applications use modern standards such as Dynamic HTML to create interactive Web applications that can tap into server-side data.
In an Atlas demonstration on Tuesday, company executives showed how an application written using the Atlas toolkit, which is built around JavaScript coding, can run unchanged on the Safari browser on Mac OS.
In other Web development-related initiatives, Microsoft introduced "gadgets," graphics-rich components that can run in the Windows Vista Sidebar window or SideShow, a secondary screen that can be attached, for example, to the lid of a laptop or to a keyboard.
For online Web applications, developers can create gadgets that run on Start.com, an MSN incubator site that allows users to combine information from many sources, notably including RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, in a customisable page. Start.com launched a developer centre on Wednesday. Using the Atlas toolkit, developers can build gadgets that act as add-ons to Start.com.
The combination of front-end development options can be confusing for developers, said Paul Colton, CEO of Xamlon, which this week introduced its own front-end tools for building Web applications using Visual Studio.
"There's some conflict there -- on the one hand, you have Atlas for doing cross-platform Windows applications. On the other, you have Windows Presentation Foundation to keep developers on the (Windows) platform," Colton said. "It's not clear for developers, but I think the market will drive it more than Microsoft."
Microsoft executives discount the idea that the company is conflicted regarding presentation technology. Windows Vista "smart client" applications that take full advantage of the three dimensions, vector graphics and animations will set themselves apart from even interactive Web applications, said Greg Sullivan, group product manager in charge of the Windows Vista client.
"We're investing in a wide range of models," Sullivan said. "The new kind of applications ISVs (independent software vendors) can make (with Windows Vista) will be dramatically different from what's possible with the Web application model. I think it's clearly differentiated."

Reference:
author:Martin LaMonica, Special to ZDNet
16, Sep, 2005, retrieved from http://au.news.yahoo.com/050914/16/vyl9.html

Decision '05

While Richard talked about the politics of technology (in his blog on Friday), I thought I would look at the technology of politics; more specifically, the technology of broadcasting the election results last night. I think this example of elections/voting is a good illustration of how technology has changed so many aspects of society.
Firstly, the immediacy of results is a big advance on the ‘old days’ when the tedious mission of counting voting papers by hand took place. It wasn’t until several weeks later that counting was complete and results were aired. In today’s society we have come to rely on technology making things rapidly available. I must admit, the whole pen and paper thing to actually cast a vote seems a bit old-fashioned. But I guess more technological methods would incur risks of people screwing with results.
Secondly, I found the manner of televised results to be very well done. Last night I caught some of TV1’s coverage of “decision ‘05”. Their “virtual parliament” was clever, although I preferred Jeremy Wells (newsboy) and that other guy’s pool table demonstration. The constantly updated information across the bottom of the screen provided viewers with an immediate account of the percentage of votes counted for both party and local electorates, with cumulative results. The sense of liveness was apparent, and the screen layout (composed of several components) was comparable to a webpage.
The whole thing probably bored some to death, but it is refreshing to see the way technology can be applied in such a context as this.
-Shannon Doherty

ringtone through infrared

Some of my friends asked me about how to download ring tones and images on to mobile phone, by using infrared. Usually, people just simply put infrared interfaces on both computer and cell phone into focus, and they think the cell phone and computer are connected and they would be able to send ring tones or images. But this is normally ends up with the warning message from the system, which says no infrared connection provide. The main problem for this is because they don't have complete set of products for connection. That is, they must have linking software for the particular version of their cell phone. For instance, my cell phone model is Nokia 6108. Before I download ring tone, I must download PC Suite 6.5 version connection software. This software is free and available on at least some of Chinese website. People could type their cell phone brand and version on to Google searching engine and specify that you need connection software. Assuming you have already downloaded software like this, you could find the location you want to load your ring tones or images. Then just right click you mouse, to save them to the place you want, say, desktop. After that, we could make connections, by aiming both infrared; the software we download previously will jump out automatically. Then make sure the connection is not disruption, and at the same time you find out where your want the download source to go on that software. After all these steps are done, you could enjoy your favourite ring tones and images just by drag the source you have downloaded (eg. the thing on the desktop)into the place you find on that software. However, be caution when you finish downloading, make sure the software is closed before your move your cell phone out of computers, otherwise infrared radiation will damage your body. Enjoy it!

Perils of Ordering items online from overseas.

I recently ordered a piece of sprts memorabilia from the UK, I wont bore you with what it was because someone will lynch me for supporting the team i do, and the service was fine and the item arrived within an understandable time limit and everything but to my horror when it was arrived it was badly damaged now I am left in the position that I cannot send t back because it will cost almost as much to as the item did in the first place, this has put me off online shopping, not that I bought that much online anyway. And It leads me to believe that online Shopping will not become the norm, rather then going out to a shop, as some people are predicting and rathersomewhat at the core of human nature we want to Try before we Buy. Especially since many people myself included are fundamentally pessimists and are sceptical of what they are truly getting if they do not get to sample the item first.