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)