Who needs books anymore?

With the launch of the Google bookstore, it appears as if we are truly headed towards the end of the traditional book. One of the most popular Christmas items this year is the e-reader. There are several that have become extremely popular including the Sony Nook, Amazon Kindle, and Apple Ipad. While some devices such as the Ipad offer much more than just your simple E-reader experience, the Nook and Kindle are currently aiming to be just another way to read a book, magazine, or newspaper. To begin with I thought all this new technology was very exciting and interesting. I went out and bought an Ipad shortly after their release. I spent the next several weeks coveting the shiny new device and playing with it often. Then it all came to an abrupt end, and less than two months after buying it, I sold the device to someone at church. I was hoping the whole digital publication thing would just be a fad, but the more I see the more I realize, it is the future. Now that Google has entered the competition, it is officially the next big thing. Looking back now I can see one of the original starting places may have been one of the least expected, the education environment. Two years ago I began having classes offer e-versions of the textbooks. Now nearly half my classes offer the option to purchase the e-books instead of the more expensive traditional texts. While for classes that require little use of the text and casual reading of the news may be convenient on a tablet or e-reader, I find it very difficult to really dig into something more serious without the printed version. For instance when configuring our most reason DDN (Data Direct Networks) storage device, I had to print and read the entire 300 page manual. I just couldn't focus when trying to read through the PDF on my PC. While it's obvious e-editions aren't going away, I think there will always be a certain place for printed media.

Is netflix killing the internet?

As more and more people and devices have begun taking advantage of Neflix's streaming media capabilities, a very important problem has arisen. Who will pay for the bandwidth. Streaming terabytes and terabytes of media constantly, requires quite a bit of bandwidth. Recently a company called Level 3 which is a streaming-content provider signed a contract to become the exclusive provider for Netflix's online content. Shortly after this contract was signed, Comcast (the largest cable internet provider in the nation) demanded that Level 3 pay more money for the use of their network. While normally I wouldn't care that much that two corporate tech giants are arguing over money, this is somewhat concerning to me. The issue is that someone is going to have to pay for the bandwidth, and I don't want it to be me. I use Netflix regularly, and at the end of the day, it's very likely that consumers will be the ones to pay. Where this turns into an internet wide issue, is if Level 3 doesn't pay Comcast, Comcast is threatening to block Netflix content to its users. If this were to go through, it could possibly mark the end of the "free internet" as we know it.

Star Wars in real life?

We may finally get to see some of the amazing technology seen in the Star Wars movies. While I'm not a Star Wars junkie (like Jason), this is some pretty interesting technology. Apparently Japan has put in a bid for the 2022 World Cup that's based off providing holographic video feeds to stadiums in other countries. The way it would work (as I understand it) is the Japanese would use over 200 high-definition cameras to film every match. The cameras would allow for complete coverage of the entire field, including every angle of every player. The camera feeds would then be fused together using technology that doesn't yet exist, to create holographic images of each player that would then be cast onto fields in other countries. This would allow people in the US to go to a stadium and watch a holographic version of a match that is taking place in Japan. This technology sounds really cool, and I would definitely like to see it in action. Unfortunately, the technology doesn't yet exist. I'm not sure I could agree with FIFA if they gave the World Cup to Japan based solely off their promise of a nonexistent technology.

Wikileaks

The Wikileaks fiasco has become one of the most popular stories in the world lately. Over the last month, the site Wikileaks.org has been publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential government documents. This is the largest set of confidential government documents ever to be released to the public. Perhaps one of the biggest issues I have with this is the fact that reports are indicating that people, in particularly soldiers, are dying due to the leaked information. That makes this an issue that must be addressed. I think the issue isn't the leaked information itself, but the policies that have been put in place that allow people to have this confidential information. Information of this level of secrecy should be shared between as few people as possible. In the event that someone in this inner circle is fired or gets pissed off for some reason or another, they should probably be monitored, to make sure something like this doesn't happen. In my opinion, this is the government's fault. One person who is not to blame is Julian Assange. Assange is the founder of Wikileaks. He is being sought for rape and assault charges which he may or may not be guilty of. Many people in the media believe that the charges are fraudulent and are just being targeted at Assange because of his involvement with Wikileaks.

college - a place for lazy people

This has proven to be an enlightening semester. I've had several technology related classes in which I was far more knowledgeable than the rest of the class. Throughout these classes I had multiple people come ask me to help them with projects, homework, and other assignments. While I don't usually mind helping people, it became increasingly annoying as I realized most of these people are just lazy. It's not that everyone in my classes is too stupid to learn how to work with technology, it's that they haven't ever had to actually sit down and learn how to use a new technology. I think if we could find a way to force students to learn that real IT implementation consists of actually having to sit down and figure out how to use something you've probably never used or seen before, we might make great strides towards becoming a top 20 University. Friends I have who've graduated that seem to have this same problem are finding it very difficult to get jobs or promotions. It would look much better for Clemson to be graduating students who are going to be able to actually go out into the workforce and be productive. Very few students get immediate jobs in management. Typically you have to actually learn how to do something first before you get to manage other people who do that particular job.

Facebook slowing down

When Facebook became available to the public it quickly became one of the most popular sites in the world. In a matter of just a few years, Facebook went from being a small site being run out of a dorm, to a website that takes an entire data center to run. Since then, Facebook has steadily gained members at rates that most people never thought possible. Now that most people in the world have or will soon create Facebook accounts, we will soon reach a point at which the number of total Facebook accounts will actually decline. A lot of students (the original Facebook users) are beginning to realize all the risks of Facebook. With everyone you know having Facebook accounts, you are more vulnerable to having information you consider private being exposed to people you don't want to see it. The more people realize this, the more you will see people deactivating their Facebook accounts. Students especially will realize that by allowing anyone to post things on their Facebook accounts, then allowing their employers to see those accounts, they are putting their self into a very risky situation. This in my opinion will be the reason why many people (including myself) will be deleting or deactivating their Facebook accounts.

web 2.0 technologies- google docs

We began talking about web 2.0 technologies in class this past week. Web 2.0 has quickly revolutionized the internet. While the internet (as the general public knows it) was widely an informational tool at it's creation, it has now become an interactive resource that many people and companies depend on daily. One of the most popular examples of Web 2.0 technologies is the google docs suite. This has quickly become leader in both consumer and enterprise office products. Many companies including Clemson University have implemented Google Docs within their IT environment. One of the key positives about google docs is that for the most part it is completely free. To consumers it is completely free. It's also free to businesses, however some businesses prefer to host their own google server which allows for faster indexing within their organization. Not to get off on a side note, but it's interesting to point out that google doesn't actually make their servers, they buy dell servers, paint them yellow, and put a big google emblem on them. Google also makes it easier for people to ensure they keep up with their files. Google takes care of this by storing all of your files in the "cloud." This is basically just a fancy way of saying they host your stuff on their servers. This office suite has taken a huge chunk out of the microsoft office market share over the last few years and is a perfect example of how web 2.0 technologies have become a way of life for most people.