Mama, It's Overrrrr!!!

I did not really expect to learn a lot from this module initially, as the course description was rather boring. However, I had to take it as it was required for my major. Even though the lessons were pretty dry most of the time, the content that was being delivered was still very interesting.

There were a lot of new things I managed to find out about the internet and the computer itself, which I was previously clueless about, as it did not impact my life directly, or not obvious to be impacting me. None the less, some of the very interesting things, which I learnt, include Augmented Reality, internet tools and especially more about the threats to security, such as virus and hacking.

The show and tells, were especially very educational, as I managed to discover so many cool internet applications and tools, of which I had no idea that some even existed. The show and tell was a great way for the class and myself to actually apply what we had learnt, into everything around us that is associated with the internet.

However, whatever material that was covered in class, definitely is only the tip of the ice berg, hence, I will definitely be looking into exploring more into certain aspects of the internet, which I am very keen about, such as the whole internet security and privacy.

Future of the Internet

Technology advances with every daring step that mankind takes and only his fear of the dangers that tomorrow brings, might hold him back from a brighter tomorrow. It is almost as if the future lies in our hands, for the responsibility lies upon us, to take a step further and venture into the world of endless possibilities. The future of internet is a very exciting concept that is literally filled with millions of possibilities that are only limited by the imagination of mankind. With the ever advancing technology that keeps the list of inventions growing, it makes me wonder: What's next?

First things first, connectivity is going to definitely increase, people from miles apart with even the seven seas separating them are going to appear just standing side by side. This might entail several other benefits, such as with an increasingly connected world, receiving of information can occur almost instantly. When you can literally search for anything information with just couple of taps on a smartphone screen, and receive it literally at your fingertips, what else can you do? The answer isn't entirely clear, but the possibilities are exciting.

One thing that seems certain is that data transmission speeds will increase globally. As time passes, the costs of producing ultra-high-speed networks is decreasing. Eventually, the average consumer will be able to download a high-definition movie in a second or play cloud-based video games without a hint of lag. Or at least I hope that will happen. Cause I am getting very annoyed with the slow connection and how service providers right now are claiming to provide faster connections, but the lag time is still unbearable.

Even as wired connections reach unprecedented speeds, wireless technology continues to evolve. With technologies like LTE that are already giving us the ability to access the Internet wireless at speeds comparable to broadband connections. It has already opens the doors for portable devices like smartphones, laptops and tablets to plug into the Internet without the need for wires. Hence, if the future promises even faster connection speeds, I am really eager to find out how are they going to make them possible, for right now they are beyond imagination.

Also existing technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality are already pretty amazing, but as technology advances, the lines that separate reality from virtual reality are going to get blur. With computer games that are providing the gamers almost realistic features, by allowing them to embrace the virtual world as if it were reality, the future is going to hold even crazier possibilities.

With microchip technology to enable to track out movements, but currently only for certain purposes, such as in sports, I expect the future to be filled with those.  People’s every movement might soon be tracked and we might lose our sense of privacy. This might be something to be concern about though, for privacy might be a fading concept and something that we might only learn to appreciate after it is gone.

Online and Citizen Journalism

Online journalism is defined as the reporting of facts produced and distributed via the Internet. In recent years, the internet has completely changed journalism and it is considered the clearest evidence that this is a revolutionary technology: news editors – and in some cases, the governments that they observe – are no longer the gatekeepers to information because costs of distribution have almost completely disappeared. If knowledge is power, the internet is the greatest tool in the history of the world.

Technology has improved the processes of identifying stories that are newsworthy. Feeds from social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter provide a snapshot of events happening around the world from the viewpoint of first-hand witnesses, and blogs and citizen news sources offer analytical perspectives from the ground faster than print or television can provide. The process that happens before a story is published has also been transformed. The web has become the go-to point for the globe when it comes to getting information; it's the same for reporters. Online, they find a multiplicity of perspectives and a library of available knowledge that provides the context for stories. Increasingly, the stories are coming from the web.

However, one of the biggest grouse with internet journalism is the lack of accuracy that mainstream journalism proves to have. For example, back in November 2011, twitter was flooded with news that David Guetta, a house music DJ, had passed on. This eventually proved to be a big hoo-ha about nothing as David tweeted that he was fine, and that he didn't know where the news had sprouted from. This is not the first instance of death 'reported' on twitter. There have been many others, such as Tiesto, a trance music DJ's supposed death (http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6249901-is-dj-tiesto-dead). This shows how shoddy and dodgy information taken off the internet can be.

Yet, online journalism is the main fuel of citizen journalism. Citizen journalism is when private individuals do essentially what professional reporters do - report information, they report . That information can take many forms, from a podcast editorial to a report about a city council meeting on a blog. It can include text, pictures, audio and video. But it's basically all about communicating information of some kind. The other main feature of citizen journalism is that it's usually found online. In fact, the emergence of the Internet - with blogs, podcasts, streaming video and other Web-related innovations - is what has made citizen journalism possible.

Citizen journalism is increasingly becoming depended upon, in today’s era, with an increase of news agencies displaying content provided by citizen journalists. Even for the case of the Little India Riot that occurred earlier this year, the story was first published via citizen journalism, in the form of twitter updates. People at the scene posted pictures and videos, even before the camera crew of the news agencies reached the place. Hence citizen journalism is indeed playing a vital role by reaching out to places that news agencies do not or cannot and broadcasting news from such places.

However, as useful as citizen journalism might be the question of reliability always arises, for the content is produced by the general public, who has no education on the ethics and necessities of journalism.

Internet and Politics

The Internet is an amazingly powerful tool when it comes to information sharing.

Politicians worldwide (such as United States President Barack Obama, United States Presidential Republican Candidate Mitt Romney, and even local politicians Lee Hsien Loong) have decided to reach out to their supporters across the country/globe via social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Using social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter is a really good way for politicians to reach out to the masses as their supporters worldwide will be able to receive real-time updates about their thoughts and feelings about major events. Their supporters will also be able to ‘share’ updates by these politicians, which can help to bolster other peoples’ respect in them.

Online campaigns help you reach anyone with Internet access. You don't need people's addresses or phone numbers to reach them. The Internet also exposes your campaign to more demographics, particularly young people who have traditionally been difficult to reach. There are many ways to reach people electronically, including through campaign websites, email newsletters, social networking websites and blogs. Online campaigns make it easier to reach out to people, for instance, below is a screen shot of Obama's Tumblr, which was constantly updated before and during his campaign, and he not only updated people he also interacted with users on Tumblr, and personally, I thought that was pretty awesome. 

One of the many ways that the election of Barack Obama as president is his use of a new medium that will forever change politics. For Mr. Kennedy, it was television. For Mr. Obama, it is the Internet. Mr. Obama used the Internet to organize his supporters in a way that would have in the past required an army of volunteers and paid organizers on the ground, “The tools changed between 2004 and 2008. Barack Obama won every single caucus state that matters, and he did it because of those tools, because he was able to move thousands of people to organize.”

Mr. Obama’s campaign also took advantage of YouTube for free advertising. Videos that were put on to his channel were much more effective than television ads because viewers chose to watch them or received them from a friend instead of having their television shows interrupted. “The campaign’s official stuff they created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours, and to buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million."

Honestly, I really am impressed with Obama's style of campaigning. It has foresight and vision to recognize the usefulness of the internet as a platform to reach out to a much wider audience. 

Augmented Reality

This week’s lessons were particularly interesting as they talked about Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR, AR). After Dr Abel showed us videos on Ikea’s AR catalogues and how customers hand to just scan the QR code on the catalogue and were able to actually view the actual furniture being placed in front of them via their mobile devices. He also showed us the AR app, Layar, which I found was extremely cool, but it cannot be used as much in Singapore, for not many things are registered with Layar. Hence, I decide to google more into AR and find out if there were other even more cooler products out there. I then came across the BMW’s AR glasses!

To tackle the fixing process of modern electronics in BMW vehicles, the Munich-based engineers designed a pair of augmented reality glasses that enable users and mechanics to obtain step-by-step instructions on how to fix an engine, simply by looking at it.

The best part is that the highly-advanced glasses can also help anyone, especially those with no previous mechanical experience.

Using augmented reality, the glasses display the guide and instructions to the user through a 3D color display that is laid over the top of the original engine view. Animations explain exactly how to dissemble car parts and to diagnose any trouble with the car itself.

The relevant engine part is highlighted and a written instruction is displayed in the top left-hand corner of the screen. The glasses come with headphones that also read the instructions out loud. In the bottom left-hand corner, the glasses will show a picture of the tool needed to carry out the job.The list of instructions can be recalled by pressing the data button.

When using the glasses, apart from the real environment,  the user can also see virtually animated components, tools to be used and hears instruction on each of the working steps through headphones integrated inside the goggles.

Honestly this is such a cool invention and the future of AR seems to have limitless possibilities.

Fishing or Phishing?

After this week’s lesson on Internet security, I was very interested in finding the whole concept behind phishing. Initially I had only heard about it but I had no idea what it was all about.

So what is phishing? Well phishing refers to any form of scams that attempt to trick someone into revealing personal information, such as bank account numbers, passwords, payment card numbers, or Social Security numbers. These scams can be done by phone, email, regular mail and even via text message. In addition to seeking bank information, phishers may also try to obtain your ATM PIN or any other bits of data that can help them build a more complete profile from which they can operate in your name and “steal” money from you. It is a very elaborate scheme that requires the victims to be caught off guard.

It is highly common for phishers to target unsuspecting users with fake Internet sites or email messages that seem legitimate. This is sometimes referred to as "spoofing." Scammers also may leverage social networking sites, where users are already accustomed to sharing information with others. The website might seem almost similar to your i-banking website, but you have to be vigilant to spot the fake one.

Phishing emails and websites typically use familiar logos and graphics to deceive consumers into thinking the sender or website owner is a government agency, bank, retailer or other company they know or do business with. Sophisticated phishers may include misleading details, such as using the company CEO's name in the email "from" field. Another common phishing tactic is to make a link in an email (and the fake website where it leads) appear legitimate by subtly misspelling URLs or changing the ".com" to ".biz" or another easily overlooked substitution.

Some phishing scams even lure victims by telling them that their information has already been jeopardized. For example, potential victims may receive an email that appears to come from a major bank warning that their account has recently been exposed to fraudulent activity. Users are asked to click a link within the message so they can "confirm" their bank account information. Instead of going to the bank's legitimate website, however, victims are taken to a clever lookalike, where their information actually is routed to the scammer.

If you receive any message asking you to confirm account information that has been "stolen" or "lost" or encouraging you to reveal personal information in order to receive a prize, it may be a form of phishing.

Therefore, I’ve actually become very wary of any emails I receive or websites I visit. I make it a point to be very cautious and not reveal my personal information easily.

Shoot, Shag, Still Must Edit!

This is a video that I shot last year. I’m actually quite proud of this cause I managed to shoot it and edit it with no past experience of doing so before. After reading up on the software online, I basically self-learnt the entire process of editing. Frankly, it is not that difficult.

Here's a sample of my video>>>>>>>>>https://vimeo.com/89086465 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<

We begin by planning out the shoot. In order to that, we need to draw up the storyboard of the entire shoot. The storyboard envisions the entire flow of the video and goes down to details by showing a zoom in on every scene. Every scene is represented by a box and every scene is depicted in boxes in the form of a rough sketch.

Next would be to plan out the props and equipment needed for each scene.

Once the logistics side is settled, next is the shoot itself. Be sure to plan out the length of the shoot and the type of lighting required. You have to plan the order of the scenes to shoot and they do not follow the order of the storyboard. The shooting order of the scenes might be different, according to availability of location and settings.

Be sure to have a proper camera and backup power supplies. Go all creative with angles and take multiple takes for a better variety to choose from during editing.

Then, comes the editing stage, which is the most hassle part until you are very familiar with the editing software that you are using. I used the Sony Vegas Pro 12. After you transfer all the recordings onto your desktop, you start to create tracks on the software. I edited the video by scenes. Hence, I dragged every recording relevant to a particular scene and then placed in on the event arena. Subsequently I edited the videos with transitions, special effects and overlaps.

Only after I have edited an entire scene, then do I progress to the next scene and I repeat the whole process again. Also, be very sure to save after every scene that you edit! 

Learning Without The Whiteboard & Markers

In the face of rapid technology advancement, educators in this age of digital information and technology not only have to be proficiently knowledgeable in the field(s) that they are teaching, but must also be skilled in the technologies that are being used to convey the educational content.

As a result, in the educational arena today, there is an emerging breed of technologically proficient educators who are using the information and communication technology to create a better teaching and learning environment. The marriage of content and technology not only provides the teacher with a more effective way to transfer knowledge and information to students, but also enables them to learn in a more productive way. It is fast gaining popularity as a powerful instructional tool for disseminating knowledge and information to the learners.

In the traditional education realm, the role of the teacher is to provide content and information to students. This can be done in the form of many instructional media, such as notes, diagrams, overhead transparencies, models and more. The information or content that is presented is based on the teacher's curriculum and other relevant information for the class. With technology, especially with multimedia authoring technology, the very same content can be converted into the electronic form and presented on the PC. The multimedia technologies used will transform the traditional materials into an interactive multimedia courseware.

When you think of e-learning, you probably might envision students using computers to take online classes. But online learning can be much more than simply studying on a laptop in a dorm room. Today's e-earning tools go beyond computers to include MP3 players, podcasts, blogs and more.

Net generation students are well versed in technology, often arriving on campus adept at communicating by text message, e-mail and message board and armed with laptops, MP3 players, smartphones and PDAs. Many have years of experience with online social networks, blogging and downloading music and video. They're looking to apply their technology and skills to learning, and schools are finding ways to meet those needs with online courses and hybrids that bring new technology to traditional teaching.

These students can take online classes on their personal computers, but they also can download podcasts of course lectures and professors' audio study notes to their laptops or smartphones to review wherever and whenever they want to. Also, they can check and copy information from the professor's daily or weekly blog, including the course syllabus, assignment changes, study notes and other important information.

E-mail or text message friends to set up study sessions and get answers to each other's questions about the material they're studying. They can even send instant messages to professors with quick questions or to set up a time to talk more extensively by phone.

The list is in exhaustive and here are a few more

·         - Log in to an online forum or visit a private chat room to discuss the topics being studied with the professor and other students in the class.

·        -  Take notes, photos or video with an iPod or smartphone during lab experiments or in the field to use later as part of papers, presentations or test preparation.

·        -  Bring work home from campus, share information for a collaborative project or submit a project to a professor with a USB flash drive.

·        -  Buy and use educational software available for PDAs to review the subject they're studying.

·         - Complete written, video or presentation assignments and hand them in via e-mail to the professor.

· 

With this transformation, multimedia is changing the way we communicate with each other. The way we send and receive messages is more effectively done and better comprehended. The inclusion of media elements reinforces the message and the delivery, which leads to a better learning and teaching environment. The power of multimedia lies in the fact that it is multi-sensory, stimulating the many senses of the audience, which consequently leads to better attention and retention rates.

 As such, many are turning to multimedia as a means to better communicate their message and to foster better feedback on the information exchanged. For many years, multimedia and multimedia developers were housed in selected industries such as advertising, entertainment and edutainment, games and corporate computer-based training (CBT) systems. However, multimedia is now penetrating the education field and changing the way teachers teach and students learn. With the advent of multimedia and technology in the classrooms, teachers can equip themselves with these technological skills and become better communicators of their content materials, and thus enabling the students to learn in a more productive way.

The Secret Recipe Behind Success of E-Commerce

“You’ve got mail.”

Do you remember hearing that? It’s one of those legendary pieces of Internet history formed when the road was still being paved and we were foraging our way through the wilderness of what was the original World Wide Web. These days, we’ve replaced that message with Tweets, likes, and status updates, but that doesn’t mean that our affinity for email is any less. In fact, because of the noise that is social media, one could argue that the inbox has become our virtual dojo, our place of solitude amongst the chaos.

People are inundated with interruption, pitches, and advertisements everywhere they look, and though you might think yours is special, there’s a high probability that to the reader, it looks the same as the rest. This is why it’s important to remember where you are, and use your good manners as a result.

Of course, no email campaign was ever built without getting permission to get started, so first we’ll need to focus on building a sizable email list.

There are many ways you can do this of course. Some prefer to give something away for free while others simply offer a newsletter or product updates.

·         What do I get when I give you my email address?

·         Are you going to spam me?

·         How often will you email me?

·         Will I get discounts?

·         Will I get a first crack at your beta?

·         Will you send me relevant offers or more junk?

These are the kinds of things you’ll need to address if you want to be successful in phase 1. Simply posting “enter your email for updates” isn’t going to get anyone excited to do so. Instead, consider sharing specifics:

Note the Clear and Concise Call to Action in the Examples Above

Email marketing is all about expectations, and it’s up to you to set them. If your call to action is strong, and your follow-up is consistent, then you can count on a positive campaign. However, if you promise to send one email per week and instead send them daily, then you’re setting yourself up for failure. On the contrary, if someone is expecting daily updates or critical product updates and you don’t’ deliver, then they are likely to be just as upset in that case too.

This is why the first follow-up email is so crucial to the success of your email marketing efforts. Almost all email service providers give you the option to create an autoresponder sequence, and it’s imperative that you take advantage of it.

As a rule of thumb, try to use your newsletter as a way to further your relationship with the reader/customer rather than to pitch them. Save the pitch for unique updates, offers, and announcements.

WHAT'S NEW AND COOKING!

Pinterest 

Most of you are probably familiar with Pinterest  by now. Everybody is pinning these days it seems to have become very popular via the mobile platform. But I’m willing to bet most of you had never even heard of Pinterest this time last year. So why did Pinterest go from zero to hero so quickly? If you’re someone like me who hopped on the Pinterest bandwagon in 2012, the answer is immediately obvious:

Pinterest is visual, entertaining, and most of all it’s easy to use.

I myself downloaded it via the Apple Apps store as the features of Pinterest were extremely interesting. However, since most of my friends did not have an account, I eventually left. But now they are starting to get onto it. Hence, I might be jumping back onto it soon!

So what is so special about Pinterest? Well the visual new social network highlights the connection between visually compelling design and user experience. We are no longer in Netscape anymore.

The Internet then…

…The Internet now. 

Where social media sites like Flickr are great web 1.0 photo sharing networks, Pinterest takes interaction and engagement to the next level with exciting design and a dead-simple interface. Of course Pinterest’s uniqueness has been widely duplicated by this point, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery right?

Beyond an exciting UI for end users, Pinterest has also skyrocketed to success because of the natural way brands can promote their products on Pinterest. Pinterest can refer more traffic than Facebook, Yahoo organic search, and even Twitter depending on your niche. No wonder brands love the platform.

Lastly, this video will show you the growth of Pinterest as a social network site, from a marketer’s point of view!

IS SOCIAL MEDIA REALLY SOCIAL?

          Social media has become so intertwined in today’s society that it has revolutionized the way we communicated. Today several social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter, orkut, MySpace, Skype etc., are being used extensively for the purpose of communication. One of the most important advantages of the use of social media is the online sharing of knowledge and information among the different groups of people. Sharing of information online also promotes an enhancement of communication skills among people, especially the students of educational institutions. Online tools and technology has not only mediated communication in countless ways, but that the very ways we communicate and even the ways we talk and think about communication are changing as a result. Social media have the potential to fundamentally change the character of our social lives, both on an interpersonal and a community level. This then brings about several outcomes and then the question arises, if social media is actually an effective tool for group communication.

Social media creates the platform for one to share information with the mass via online. The particular feature alone is extremely beneficial for group communication. It enables an individual’s opinion to be projected to the mass with ease and simultaneously receive feedback with regards to one’s opinion. Several companies and service providers have capitalized on this particular feature of social media to reach out to their customers and it has not only made the companies more attractive, but also successful. The customers are generally pleased with the attempts made by the company to reach out to them as they feel a sense of being valued and appreciated. Companies such as Dunkin’ Donuts have allowed for customers to provide feedback via their websites and this has helped their sales to flourish. Customers feel that their opinions are more valued and they feel a sense of belonging when the companies take action on their opinions.

However, social media can hamper group communication too. Some become too involved in social media that they are often hooked onto their devices and they tend to neglect the other party right in front of them. Hence, interpersonal communication can be impacted and the value of face to face interaction is lost. “Phubbing” then becomes a prevalent action, whereby groups of people meet and there is no form or minimal interaction going on between them as they all are engrossed in interaction via social media. 

Moreover, when it comes to group communication, it is very important to be able to handle any form of conflict that results in a professional level. However, most people choose to handle conflict via social media rather than via face to face interactions. Conflict is extremely important for building group dynamics and if handled properly, it can create wonders. When conflict is not handled properly, it alleviates the consequences of  the conflict and impacts the entire group’s dynamics.

That's Not My Domain Name!

Domain names are used for organizing information available on the web, helping us to navigate and understand the Web. Without domain names attaches words to the numbers that make up URLs and IP addresses. Hence without them, URLs would be a series of numbers, or IP addresses, which would then make it a hassle for us to remember. By attaching words to a series of numbers, a domain name gives us an address that is easier to recall. A domain name is key to doing just about anything on the Internet, from setting up a website, to sending and receiving email, to building an online store. 

Have you ever wondered how does the web function is helping you to retrieve the right website you have requested? Basically, the domain name functions in helping the web in retrieving webpages. How is this done? Well it is got to do with the structure of the domain name. The domain name can be broken down into three parts, which are the top, second and third level domain. The label furthest right represents the top-level domain and to the left of that label is the second-level domain. Any labels to the left of the second-level domain are considered to be subdomains of the second-level domain (sometimes even called third-level domains).

The third-level domain contains the host name, which usually takes the form of "www." However, it is u to the user's preference.

The second-level domain contains the organization's name that is easy for the web users to remember and the subdomain contains the document or file name.

The top-level domains (TLDs) can be split into two categories. The generic TLDs usually take the form of ".com" which stands for commercial websites and ".org" which stands for websites of organizations. the other category are the country code TLDs, which indicate which country is the webpage from. They usually contain only two letters. Examples include, ".my", ".uk" which stands for Malaysia and the United Kingdom respectively.

So how does the entire process of retrieving a website work? Once you have entered the web address into your browser, this generates a DNS query. The query is then transmitted to an authoritative name server via your ISP. The authoritative name server then matches the query with the right IP address by going through the different levels of the domain name. The website with the IP address that matches the query is then sourced out from the site host and displayed on your screen! Hence you are able to locate the right website without having to remember the IP address. Now that's the mechanics behind the web's process in locating any websites you request via your browser.