Convergence

Convergence- Things could not exist unless other things took place! It has come up with solutions.

For example- one needed to have the internet before the world wide web could come about- one thing leads to another! Example- The first computer looks very different than what they do nowadays.

Charles Babbage designed the first computer, starting in 1823. (google images) 

 



To now we have many different types of computers.
We have advanced in the computer-technology world but it all started with one idea, which turned into a creation which then evolved over time and will continue to do so.

First we had the internet J.C.R  who attended MIT- in 1962- "Galatic Network" concept which then lead to TCP/IP which was built so computers can share. You have protocol which is a list of steps you have to follow in order for things to work. The military and school academy's were the first to use TCP/IP. You have protocol which is a list of steps one has to follow in order for things to work.

The world wide web- HTTP is protocol for the web. With the web came searches and URL's Uniform Resource Locator is the global address of documents and other resources on the world wide web.

There is much more that goes into both the internet and world wide web but it goes to show that in order for one of them to take place the other had to come first! Also it is hard for me to explain in depth since so much went on and it is a little confusing to me still....since I thought the internet and the world wide web were the same thing...!!! There is also so much more that goes into convergence as well but here is my little version of it.

What makes a community and does tech provide?

I feel like a community is where one feels welcomed, part of wholeness, togetherness and friendship. Also a community can be a lot of people or just a few and people who share the same ideas or bring new ideas to the table.

I would say yes tech does provide for the sense of community it is just on-line versus in person. Take Facebook for instants where you can be a part of a group (community) that like the same show/artist/etc. and it gives people a chance to talk with others about it. Also there are some communities on-line that are for people who have lost children and it gives them a place to share their stories and help each other out in a difficult time and gain awareness. 

Also I have heard of people meeting friends on-line and whom they have never met. There is also chat rooms where people go on and chat about either certain topics or a varied of things. So yes tech can provide for a community just as one would think of community in the traditional terms. 

Classmates Presentation

I decided to choose Tim's presentation on  Amazon Drone delivery (Amazon Prime Air)  method to write about because I have never heard of it before and also cause they could potentially get your packages to you in 30 minutes. Now that is some insane business because I know many people say they wait around for their packages to arrive and in the society we live in its all a I want it here and now and not have to wait. (Such demanding! ha!) So I think that this is a great idea and not many people are going to worry about the risk of someone taking their stuff because either they will be waiting for it or have it delivered  to where ever they are at so it would get picked up right then after it drops. Just like nowadays when the post man or ups drops stuff off it ends up waiting outside your house for a few hours till you get home. No one has stopped using those services so this will be no different.

I think the idea is great and if someone is needing something right now its a great way to meet their needs. Would I use it...well that would depend on how much it would cost cause I do not need things right here and right now. I typically pay for the cheapest and longest way cause I cannot justify spending 20-to lets say 40 bucks for something to get here in a day or two when I can pay 5-10 bucks and get it in sometimes 5 days or 2 weeks.

I liked Tim's presentation  because it brought something new to my mind that I had not known about before so now it will be good discussion topic to bring up among friends and get their opinion on the topic.

My Presentation

For my presentation I decided to look into Google Glasses because they interested me and I figured since this is a class about the virtual world it was fitting.

At first it was kind of hard for me to find information on the topic because it wasn't that big of a boom or market for the Glasses as well as when they first launched anything about them it was under the term Project Glass. Even though the world wide web can be great at finding information but at times it can be hard to find stuff if one is not using key words,

I liked the information I did end up finding which was when they first mentioned to the public they were launching the Project Glass April 2012 and then they changed their name to Google Glass a year later roughly. I thought that I seen something about this awhile ago or a few years ago but it didn't seem like anything happened with it. Come to find out they were not available to the public right away and only for people who attended the Google I/O Conferences. Also another thing is that they are expensive costing $1,500 bucks for one pair. The overall concept seems cool; however, I don't know how cool it would actually be to have stuff in front of you like that all the time or that close to your eyes since who knows if that is good for the eye sight. I would like it for the aspect of being able to take pictures like BAM- since I am sure we have all said at one point "If I only had my camera for that" or how many cool/funny things we have missed because we were not quick enough to get our phones/cameras out.

Google Glass has died down as of now but they say they are still working on them and trying to get all the bugs out and all but it is kind of on the back burner for now. I feel like they were a product before their time since I could see this being a big thing in the future (10, 20 years down the road). Just like when the world wide web came about not many people used it or where interested in it but look at us now in 2015 and majority of people go on the web for all different types of stuff. Also I feel like they would have to drop the price as well in order to give everyone the opportunity to be able to purchase them.

Dot.com Boom and Bust

I was in class the day the teacher explained the dot.com boom and bust but I was a little confused just because I did not know all of the companies he was talking about.

He used dinosaurs to represent the different types of companies- he had about 4 to 5 different types. He had a t-rex- that's the only one I knew/remembered the name of!  

Now I am looking back at the slides and I am still a bit confused simply because there was a lot that happened and as far as I can remember and what I see from the slides is that there were a few companies out there at the same time when the big world wide web was only a couple of years old. Some companies went under for the fact that they were bought out or they had crashed due to the other companies being bigger or better than they were. To have your hopes and dreams go up and down in a matter of a year or two is devastating. Going into that type of business one doesn't not foresee into the future and know what will make it big or what won't. Some of the companies that were around then are still alive today which must break the hearts of those that did not make it.

Some of the companies were CompuServ, AOL (which bought CompuServ), InfoSpace, Yahoo NFL, Pets.com (which went bust) and many other ones.

My overall opinion is that it was pretty crazy and I would be completely pi$$ed if I had a company that did not make it after all the craziness that went on and to see other companies thrive even though you were trying to as well. A lot of money was in the market but if you didn't make the cut you were sol. To those companies that did make it kudos to you and thank you for your services!

Guest Speaker: Erik Hanberg

We had a speaker in class who's name is Erik Hanberg. He talked to use about what it was like for him and the technology world when it came to writing books and other things such as bit con which is virtual money.

A quote that Erik (the quest speaker) and Mr. Fry (the teacher) came up together with was " The amount of privacy you have right now is probably the most you will ever have".

He started off by a quote he enjoyed by Seth Godin which was a really good quote. I forgot what he liked about it though since I was busy coping the quote and not making side notes as to what he enjoyed about it.

In 2006 he started a theater called Horatio- How much services you had to pay- a lot for one or virtual which was cheap or free.

He wrote for Exit133.com which is a website Eric Young started and it was a site about Tacoma. Erik wrote the Friday Satire.

Suite 133- 2007 he sold out in 2009. Suite 133 is an office space to release to those who were free lancers who wanted to work but had no office. So people rented out a chair to work out of instead of sitting in coffee shops. It was a co-working spaces and it reached an international level. It was office no mad, wifi, an outlet as well as tables.

He and his wife created side x side which is a consulting on marketing.

Erik has written many books over the course of about 6 years. Publishing has been his side job but as of now it has been is main source of income.

Here is a list of books he has published and one that will come out in 2016:
'09- He wrote the book a Little Book of Gold which was an info book on (drawing a blank) and it sells for $9.99. This book only took him 100 hours to do :)
'10- He wrote another book called Saints Go dying and he sold a lot of those books which then put him as number one author above James Patterson for an hour!
'11- The Marina Murders
'12- The Con Before Christmas
'13- The Little Book of Likes
'13- The Lead Cloak
'14- The Little Book of Boards
'14- The Queen of Neptune
'16 he will publish a book called The Iron Harvest

He has had book launches and that is where people show up to hear about the book.

He then proceeded to tell us about a site called storybundle.com which is a site where you can go by books and you decide how much goes to the author and how much goes to the site. At times if you buy x amount of books you can get 5 (give or take) for free! I thought that was pretty cool and I need to get back into reading so I am going to check this site out.

The cave and the stream- The best artists and entrepreneurs can master both!
The cave: Is where you go to to do work
The stream: Is where you go to promote- twitter, blogs, update.

The downside: Erin Kissane: stated that the downside to going on line is what you say can be taken out of context on twitter/internet. The more you share the more criticisms you'll get.

He then ended with saying "Great things online should help your everyday life".

I liked what he had to say and I found it interesting that one can publish books by themselves. I always felt like one had to have a big team working for them in order for a book to get published. He also ran for elective but did not win. He had good insight about the internet and I enjoyed him coming to class to tell us what he knew.

3 things I would not buy on-line

We were asked to list at least three things we would not buy on-line. I may have more than three things!

1.) I would not buy shoes/boots on-line because sizes may run differently and I would not want to have to take the time to return them.

2.) I would not buy food on-line (blue apron and such) because I would not be able to see the food before hand and what if you end up with some bad stuff?

3.) I would not buy a car straight up on-line. If I was able to test drive and all I would reconsider but if it was a bring money here no return type stuff I would not.

4.) I would not buy pants on-line for the same reason I would not buy shoes/boots on-line.

So far the things I have purchased on-line have been books, sweatshirts, toys, jewelry and that is abut it. I still prefer to go to a store and see what I am buying before I actually buy it. The only reason I do buy stuff on-line is because it is not sold in stores or it is a really good deal (on certain items).