What's Next?

WEEK 13.

The Future of the Internet.

The Gist.

this week, in channel COM125, tech whiz Mr Abel Choy took the class on a tour of the future. the future of the internet. what he went through were 1) trends and any notable changes, 2) the HUGE waves of innovation that is engulfing the entire world, 3) the dynamite that is the World Wide Web, 4) using the internet as a business model of the future, and last but not least 5) the death of the internet!!! WHAT!!!!??????!!!!

So What Else.

the class also went through a series of YOUTUBing, but perhaps the most important and memorable one was the video on the prediction of the future of the internet by none other than the father of the internet, Mr Vinton Cerf. in fact, i admit i do not know too much about this dude until this revelation. i went to check up on him and his CV is pretty impressive. besides winning a lot GRAMMY Awards of the science field, he's actually quite a funny dude. being the vice president of Google isn't bad either. but that is besides the point. what he predicted in the video is that in the future, almost everyone will have some access to the internet, and that they'll be billions of applications invented, much more than the global population. more and more businesses will be done online, in fact, perhaps everything else will be done online!

Why Should We Care?

i would like to think that Vint Cern's prediction to be rather scary. perhaps he may be overestimating or underestimating, but i guess he didn't get a PHD (not permanent head damage) for nothing. nonetheless, imagine having BILLIONS of application running around the net! of course there'll be a cause for concern. we're already complaining about the lack of time, people are even suggesting having more than 24hours per day! but don't you think that we have been spending a bit too much on the net already? we shop online. we facebook, twit, or poke people. we watch movies, animes and dramas online. we even read online. news online? check. downloadable music and podcasts? check. basically the internet is taking over our lives. i recall the class discussing about having an avatar, or some hologram replacing us at certain occasions so we can NOW be in 2 or more places at the same time. or even see the future like the movie Minority Report. it may sound cool at first, but i shudder (actually chris was also scared) to think that it'll be a possibility rather that an improbable thing. sure, having an avatar to replace you in class is really useful, but what if one day the avatar actually takes over your life? A.I.? like the Matrix? that'll be seriously scary. thus we should really watch out for all these tell tale signs that might be harmful to us than beneficial. and as usual, i'll leave a parting quote. cheers!

"never bite off more than you can chew"

(don't let the internet consume you!)

An Ode to...

before i sign off for the very last time, i would like to extend a hand of gratitude to the great grandmaster Mr Abel Choy. Ever-smiling, ever-positive, and taking things in a light-hearted fashion, YOU have been a bright spark in what was a compelling semester. hopefully the coming exam is QED, and i wish you all the best in your future endeavors. cheers! and yes, press on with learning!

TWIT, TWIT, TWIT!!!

WEEK 12.

Social Networking and Online Community.

The Gist.

this week focuses on social networking sites, the types of sites, the advantages of having an account and the pitfalls of owning one. besides that, there's information on online identity, privacy concerns and, the possibilty of using social networking sites for business. i'm also happy to see 2 wonderful presentations, one of which pointed out an interesting point that i've always been interested to know.

So What Else.

it is quite interesting to note that mark zuckerberg of facebook.com is only a year older than me. what is so amazing is that he is worth to a tune of US$300million, while i'm not sure if i'm worth a MacDonald's Happy Meal. anyways, it is thanks (or no thanks) to people like him that the globe has a gazillion social networking sites like facebook, twitter, myspace and yes, even friendster. perhaps it is human's unerring desire to want to have a sense of belonging within his culture or society. there are people who want to find their long-lost friends but are unable to do so. some need to kill time playing FREE (yes we love free stuff) games. some have an addiction to camwhoring (taking pictures, just that it's going overboard) and have an urge to share. most just want to communicate. mind you, it is different from the post on communicating on the internet. this is where social networking sites come into the fore. they're the answer to everything that i've just wrote.

Why Should We Care?

what we should look out is the perils of too much social networking. identities online can be fake. worse still, is when such identities are use to harm. one such case is the video on where a boy commited suicide because he was constantly taunted online. it is these cyberbullies that we need to take note, and those who seek to scam others of their money, identity, or perhaps lead to something worse like date rape. otherwise, social networking sites are fine overall, as it can make one more sociable, especially people who are more shy reported more confident after using such sites to aid their social skills.

"there's more than meets the eye"

(of social networking sites)

Reporter Reporting Reports

WEEK 11.

Journalism and the Internet

The Gist.

hi there! this week, Mr Abel "Tom Cruise" Choy takes us on a tour of online journalism. how the internet is shaping up when it comes to newscasting, how the online community can participate in news reporting and, just how much can we benefit from extracting these sources.

So What Else.

newscasting has undergone a new facelift. we don't just see newspapers, news on television and the radio. we see, and even hear news online. what's more interesting is that it's no longer the presenters and journalists that are hogging the headlines. it is the online community that has taken the globe by STOMP, er storm. over the past few years, we have seen the sprouting of rogue sites, and random news reporting from all over the net, much faster than you can say bean sprout. armed with jus a camcorder or a simple digital camera, one can report an incident or newsworthy event at the push of a button. of course, it would boost your credibility if you have steady hands, a nosey (kaypoh) personality, peter parker's spider sense and last but not least a credible website where you can post your findings.

Why Should We Care?

in the wake of the september 11 attacks, people become more aware of the term terrorism. after we witness such a monstrosity, i'm positively sure that no one wants a repeat of such heinous acts. it is up to people like you and i, and not the usual suspects the government and police to handle it. we can play a part by flipping our handphones to catch any misdemeanours and post it on STOMP. i'm half-kidding. online journalism can improve one's reporting skills, writing perhaps, as more and more people jump on the online journalism bandwagon, we could even put timothy goh out of job.

"there is always someone stronger, better than you"

Googlitics

WEEK 10.

Politics and the Internet

The Gist.

welcome to week 10! just a few more weeks and the sem's over! my group presented on the internet and politics, and it seems that both are more related than ever as the years go by. besides that, the class also learnt about political advertising and campaigns, and also touched on countries which restrict internet access for various reasons.

So What Else.

it seems that not every country has internet access. it is not because the country is poor, or don't own a nuclear powerstation. it's is because of how the country is shaped, the political shape of the country. it appears that countries that aim to protect their citizens are more wary of the internet than the disease a rodent could bring. you see, the internet is more than a disease. just like fire, one could be a master of it or else become a burnt matchstick. the wonders of the internet are for all to see; the abundance of information, as well as junk is quite apparent. the internet is a tool where one can set a forestfire, or create applications like Cooking Mama (a cooking game).

Why Should We Care?

however, certain countries know of the backlash if they unleash the restriction. the internet can be used to fan the flames against the governing body, and thus create instability amongst the already unhappy people. statistics have shown that a mere relaxation of rules, then restricting them again can cause a serious backlash against the government. because i'm not qualified to speak out or speak against the political agenda of such countries, it is perhaps better to put ourselves in their shoes and ask why they chose to resrict in the first place.

"to understand one's feet, one should wear their shoes first"

WEEK 9.

-OUT FOR MIDTERM-

BRB.

I TUNE IN, I LIKE...

WEEK 8.

Entertainment and Multimedia on the Internet

The Gist.

wow. what can i say. my favorite topic of the module. in the world full of electronics, it seems that the world of the internet knows that in each human there is a child within them. the plethora of games and other entertainment is almost infinite online. as such, the class sstes out on a conquest to find out more about internet gaming and entertainment.

So What Else.

online gaming is too big to ignore. generating billions of dollars yearly, gaming companies are gradually directing its resource into the virtual world. i meant creating a virtual world. and generating real cash from it. online gaming, downloadable music and animation works are the cash cows of today. becoming bored is virtually a thing of the past. now we have the iPhone, iMac, iRack (pun to america's pronounciation of Iraq) and its ever-growing number of applications (mostly gaming). we've facebook games, we even have advertisments that lets you play a mini game. of course, games can't do without their developers. animation companies like PIXAR and SquareEnix help produce our Nemos and Final Fantasys. wheareas itunes are the powerhouses in terms of storage, platform, medium, and downloads music-wise. throw away the CDs and DVDs, we just need a hard disk drive to store our downloaded stuff (not porn). do away with radio and donate it to the museum, now we have podcasts!

Why Should We Care?

we should care because there's a high chance that we'll be working in the "infotainment" industry (the rest just work at the IRs). everyone, from young to the elderly, play games. if we transmute the pick-up-sticks and chinese chess into the virtual world, soon we would have the entire world connected like how the Avatars do with their pigtails. games bring people together. but of course, some may argue that such online games may bring about addiction, and an over reliance to technology. barring some A.I. takeover ala the Matrix, we should know when to unhook such people when gaming becomes actual life and death.

"which will you take, the red, or blue pill?"

What's Your PIN?

WEEK 7.

Security and Protecting Yourself on the Internet.

The Gist.

hello! what i've today is going involve a can of worms. that's right. worms, viruses, spywares, phising and hacking. ugh. the dumpsters of the internet. the bane of computers. Norton, save us please!

So What Else.

fortunately, there's no need. what you need is a good dose of COM125 from sensei Abel Choy and your computer is going to be fine! to learn how to remedy a viral-infected computer, we need to know the problem. a computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself to infect a computer. things like malware, spywares, worms, trojans and rootkits are different from viruses. these things instead exploit vulnerabilities in the computer's security and may harm data and hinder performance. so what is the prescription? firewalls, anti-virus, surveillance and parental control are just but a few of them. although they do not immediately remove the dirt totally, at least they can minimize the damage caused by the worms and viruses.

Why Should We Care?

as mentioned, worms and viruses may hinder performance or cause a loss of data. some data could even be stolen and be forever gone. unless you want to be an instant celebrity and lose some naughty photos, you be warned to put some preventive measures. also, prevention is better than cure. if you got a suspicious email claiming it's a relative from Nigeria, go look yourself in the mirror, then report the mail as spam. ditto for surfing. try not to surf websites that are not protected. verify, verify verify! and of course, have passwords that are as long as the Great Wall of China.

"if you think that it's going all wrong, then you're probably right"