We're not top dog anymore!

It is amazing how much the internet influences our lives. I was shocked when I saw there are 1.7 billion users on the internet. Professor Drake had the link in his power point to Internet World Stats and what was even more shocking was how much internet usage there was in Asia. When I think of the internet, I would of definitely thought the United States would have been the leader in usage. Not surprisingly, China is the largest country in Asia for internet usage counting for almost half of Asia. China is also the largest country in the world for internet usage, and in turn has the largest telecom market in the world.

Even though China has the largest internet usage, only 26.9% of the population have access. Just imagine how many more people would be on the internet if the Chinese had the same market as the United States. That would put the Chinese internet to almost one billion users just in that country. Since the Chinese government has such an influence on the internet, the Chinese telecom market has fallen behind. However, in recent years, the Chinese government is allowing the market to flourish and many economists see China to dominate the 21st century.

iPad

iPad


IdeaPad U1 Hybrid

Last week, Apple Inc announced iPad. Apple believes iPad will be the best way to experience the web,email, photos and videos. Hands down!
When I was searching about iPad online, I found the other interesting PC product. That's Lenovo's IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, which Lenovo showed off it in January.
I haven't used either of them. For most people, I think they will prefer iPad to IdeaPad. After Lenovo mergered IBM's PC products, I'm looking forward to the new IdeaPad .

Anna's 3rd post

I'm really interested in the subject of e-commerce and have first hand experience shopping online. The internet has revolutionized trade in many areas including retail and entertainment.

Netflix is a great example of e-commerce. Netflix is a relatively new way to receive movies. I get two dvds at a time for a ridiculously cheap price paid monthly. I never go to video stores anymore. They can no longer compete with Netflix, which delivers at a great price with no late fees. This is just one example of online commerce replacing face to face trade.

Traveling has changed as a result of the internet as well. I cannot imagine taking road trips without sites like Google Maps and Map Quest. GPS is now available on phones making traveling by car extremely easy. I fly all the time, and it is so nice using the online site Orbitz. It is really simple finding flights to fit your schedule, and they can even call you to update delays or gate changes. It makes flying less stressful.

The most obvious examples of e-commerce are retail websites. Whether it's an auction site like Ebay or a store's site like Urban Outfitters' they are becoming more and more popular. In class we learned that e-commerce now accounts for 4% of retail purchases. This isn't a surprise at all considering the convenience.

Innovation

Up to this point in our IS 215 class. The topic of innovation has been a constantly reoccurring talking point. We started the course with the first two days being completely devoted to the history of information systems. In those first two days we learned a lot of information. The first thing that I, and many other students must have realized is that information systems were the result of methods and ideas, that were constantly being innovated. In this statement I am basically trying to illustrate the fact that, our current technologies were built over a period of time, from people constantly upgrading and improving their current technologies.
Another thing I have seen to be consistent with innovation in our studies, is the actual process that enables it. Throughout the course I have seen many examples of a technology being suggested, many companies/countries/people try to create or improve the technology for their own purpose, and then survival of the fittest (in this case usually most intelligent) sets in. The example in Wednesdays class with the telephone companies was a perfect example. When the telephone was first invented, there were thousands of telephone companies competing to become the best. However, after a while it was trimmed down to only a couple major competitors, with at&t having the monopoly on long distance, which was even government sanctioned for many decades.
This is only one example of this process as it has been instituted on many technologies, products, and services. Even if you look at the history of computers, there have constantly been many companies trying to develop them, but only a few have been able to create and develop computers that consistently push the limits of technology. Other examples in our class go back to computer language, the spice trade, measurement standards, nuclear weapons, logic, and even business. In fact the only example the I can think of to counter innovation, is when we discussed the collapse of the Roman Empire, and how it set society back intellectually for a few hundred years, on the first day of class. Throughout this course, and in my life in general. I have learned the value of innovation, and its life applications.

Business Performance Measurement Systems

We talked about measurement earlier this week, and it really got me thinking, why is measurement important to business?

Vince kellen, the CIO of Depaul University in Chicago says that Business Performance Measurement Systems have grown in use and popularity in the past 20 years.Its no suprise is it? As the global shift looms ever closer firms must maximize efficiency to stay competitive. Measuring success, or failire is the first step of that process. Firms/companies may adopt BPM systems for a variety of reasons, but mostly to gain a level of control over the firm that was never achievable before.

However wonderful BPM systems are, they can be very difficult to implement. Issues range from great amounts of diversity of fields of study in the workplace,lack of affilitation with strategy, poorly defined identification process, etc. Learn more at:http://www.kellen.net/bpm.htm

Kellen goes on to explain how you can prevent these problems by first identifying "a minimal set of four criteria for designing successful BPM systems, along with 12 BPM system factors to be considered." By defining what you want in a BPM before hand, you can head off many of the most frequent problems.

The Textbook Industry

So, having spent thousands of dollars, at this point, on textbooks over the years, our discussion about how the internet is changing many industries including the textbook industry really peaked my interest. I researched an article by the The Cornell Daily Sun entitled, “Changing Textbook Industry Forces C.U. Store to Adjust,” that discussed the decrease of textbook sales at Cornell University’s bookstore. Just like every other business, it has been deeply affected by the economy as well as by the growth of e-commerce. Professors are both assigning less textbooks to save the wallets of their students and students are also finding alternative ways of getting books.

Textbook sales are down due in large part to the availability of cheaper books on the internet. Many students use sites such as Amazon or eBay to both buy and sell used books, avoiding bookstores all together. The advancement of the internet has also inspired some textbook companies to go electronic, selling electronic textbooks as opposed to hard copies. As producing electronic textbooks entails very low production costs, this is an ideal medium for textbook companies. University of Toronto Computer Science professor Paul Gries feels that “e-books” are necessary for students of this generation.

“The way students study has drastically changed,” Gries opined. “They now only skim their textbooks — the e-book is much better suited to today’s student.”

Another advantage to e-books is that professors no longer have to choose one book to teach from, but can instead mix and match books, tailoring the students’ required textbooks to better fit their curriculum.

Upon reading about these e-books, I have to say that I really wish that they were available when I started school, as I am about to graduate and will not benefit from the lower costs of these books. I’m happy though for future generations, happy that they might not have the same financial burdens as I have had in buying textbooks.

Abbreviations, Slang, and Other Shortcuts

Communication is a very essential tool for any group to share ideas, concerns, requests and many other things. A very key component to communication is having a language that is universal among everybody speaking it so that everybody understands each other. What I see happening more and more is people coming up with slang or weird acronyms and abbreviations that they expect everyone to know. This brings up the question, are we becoming more efficient communicators or lazier ones?

When I got hit with my first "lol", I had absolutely no clue what that meant. Then it started popping up everywhere until somebody finally explained to me it's meaning. Then came brb, lmao, fml, and all kinds of shortcuts to combine three or more words in one tiny acronym. Another thing that I'm sure would boggle the minds of some would be when we say something is "sick". When something is "sick" it can either be horrible or incredible depending on the context. We have a whole bunch of slang or terminology that can mean more than one thing, causing a lot of confusion.

So when the question is asked if we are becoming more efficient or lazy communicators, I would have to say that we are becoming lazier. The language is becoming less universal and this means that you have to stay up to date on the newest slang to stay in the communication loop.

Communication

Communication is something I generally take for granted. I have never known days without a organized language. I have always taken having a standardized language for granted. Growing up as a child it had never occurred to me that a country would have multiple languages I figured they all had 1 language. Now I realize this is not the case. India for example once had many different dialects spoken in almost all different regions. Communication between different areas for the most part did not exist until the merchants developed a standard trade language. The merchants needed a standard language in order to conduct trade amongst different villages. The need for standardizing languages dates back for centuries and now is the foundation of today's information era.

Computer programmers much like the merchants in India realized a huge need for standardizing their programming language. IBM for example made had made a few different computer models that all ran on different operating systems. These operating systems were all written with different computer languages. This made it impossible for the computers to exchange information. Programmers knew that there was a need for these machines to work together in order to increase the work load and make upgrading the systems a more reasonable option. This is not much different that needing a standard language for people to communicate and increase their workload and this can in a sense upgrade your life by making you more money.

The need for language standardization dates back for centuries and continues to play a roll in society today. Initially it was as a means to survive and trade and now has become the foundation of technical advancement. I knew end user computing would give me a basic concept of how a computer works and the foundation of its history, but I never realized it went this deep. I don't think I would have considered the development of a society, and technology to be so strongly based around standardizing languages .

the New IPAD, phone services, SPAM

Hey guys

I was checking on some news yesterday and found out that Apple just released their new product called IPAD. I started reading about and totally was interested with this product. but is it worth it? from what I read in this article it looks like the IPAD is the same as the IPOD touch and the IPHONE but alittle bigger with more computer like programs. you can get the IPAD as low as $499 for a 16 GB. if you want to read more about it, check this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad

In class we talked about Phone companies in the 1900's. I was amazed on how many phone companies were developed during those times. these phone companies may not be as big and powerful as now but they did exist and wanted to make communication alot better and more effective. Also I think many governments funded those companies because during those times, war was happening and everyone needed an advantage.

if spamming is illegal, then why do we keep getting spam mail all time?? comments anyone?? Can someone catch spam users?

Do we really have privacy?

We have our privacy to a certain extent. Yes the government passed a privacy law, but it didn't mention the government retrieving out information from second and third parties. For example, I was watching a tv special about Google. Google saves every search that a person writes in the search box. If they see a trend of terrorism based searches from a certain address, they have the authority to inform the government Not just terrorism, but any suspicious searches. Matter fact the government, suggests that they tell them.

Also, other companies can benefit from gathered information. Based on searches, you may receive more ads that relate to your search topic. In simpler terms, if a individual searches dogs everyday, that person will start to see more dog ads. "Big Brother" sits back and analyze everything we do. Whether it's shopping, driving, martial status or etc...they know. They know more than you think.

There is so much information that we don't know about our government. To me, it's kind of scary that they can find out anything and everything about a person. Their intelligence is beyond our knowledge. The bad thing about that is, there isn't no privacy. The government does not want to fix that problem.

Lets Blog About IS 215

In this weeks blog, i am going to focus on Communication. Communication is commonly defined as the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs according to the dictonary.

The first form of communication that people used to exchange thoughts, opinions, and information were signs and symbols. Writing was another major way of communication.

When the alphabet was created, it made it much more easier for people to communicate. It help develop language for the people.

To learn more about communication, you can visit this website:

Internet Addresses

It was amazing to hear in class that we are running out of (IP) internet addresses. There are only 4.2 billion internet addresses to go around right now. Not sure who came up with the 000.000.000.000 - 255.255.255.255 system for internet addresses, but I would like to know who had the first IP. Currently I have 3, so the way I see it I'm part of the problem. But from what Drake was saying in class, that they are about to come out with a system where we will most likely never run out.

It was also nice to learn about the path and packages of how emails are sent. It just something that you never think about. Im just used to clicking send and waiting on a response. Im sure there are millions of emails and text messages being sent daily, Im surprised that there isnt a traffic jam of some sort and everyone's emails are delayed.

With the introduction of VOIP (voice over IP) and Skype, eventually everyone will be using these new services to save money. VOIP is a way of talking long distance on the phone and using an internet connection. A lot of businesses are using these to save money on long distance phone calls. This helps a lot when you do a lot of overseas business or you have a branch thats out of the country. Skype is a software that allows you to have a phone conversation through a PC and over the Internet instead of using a separate phone connection. When using Skype you can call any mobile telephone or any non computer based landline free of charge. Skype is also good for video conferencing, which is being used a lot in the business sector and board rooms across the globe.

Technology and Society

In contemplating the impact of technology on society, it is easy to quickly come up with several dramatic improvements. Life expectancy and quality are the two primary headings under which we could place many examples of technology's positive influence on the lives of mankind. And as we progress unabated on an exponential path toward an unknown point, perhaps an asymptote, it is easy to get swept up in the glorious rush of new technology. The business cycle has gotten so short that a device that you've purchased in a fit of "gotta-have-it" could be made virtually obsolete while its still in transit on the UPS truck. Well, perhaps that's a bit hyperbolic, but we're getting there!

There is a problem, I believe, in the direction we are headed. This problem is certainly not with the expansion of technology in general, but probably more localized to consumer electronics. The problem is two-fold in my estimation. A society that values PS3's, iPods, iPads, iPhones, Google phones, etc. as strongly as ours does is in danger of losing sight of some of the more important aspects of what it means to be a member of a society. I'm talking on the small scale about things as simple as the reduction in human interaction brought on by video games and the like. The iPad, which came out yesterday, seems to be a perfect example of this. This device appears to serve the sole purpose of being another shiny way to pump content into our minds. Another revenue stream for the consumption of entertainment via the iTunes store. Another bridge we can use to further shut out the rest of the world in favor of what appears before us on our screens. This, not specifically the iPad, could have grave consequences for our society going forward. To limit human interaction in this way is to progress the ease of dehumanization. Respect for our fellow man comes from our getting to know him. It is shown time and time again that irrational fear or hatred can be dispelled simply by sitting down and talking to one another. I fear that this process will grow increasingly rare as we are increasingly tethered to machines designed to distract us.

The second aspect of this problem is perhaps tied to the first, insofar as the dehumanizing process of decreased interaction can have grave consequences for the particularly vulnerable among our society. While we live relatively charmed lives that find us capable of clamoring after the newest gadgets or keeping up on the latest trends via intense blog study, the members of society who cannot afford such luxuries are pushed even further to the edges. Some may point out that the amount of money raised for Haiti was an example of the opposite, but I would say that such an outpouring was made easier by technology, and it made it easier to keep the reality of the situation in Haiti at arms length. The earthquake was just the last of a long line of terrible hardships brought upon the people there, and no number of millions of dollars is going to fix what is at the core of the problem in that country. And even within our own country, the disparities between rich and poor grow, undoubtedly to some extent because of a difference in technological access.

Ultimately, I don't want to come off as sounding overly pessimistic about our society's future. But I do think that we would benefit from finding moments to liberate ourselves from the constant stream of media that is finding new ways to enter our lives every day. And find a way to liberate ourselves from the revenue stream that counts all of our wallets as tributaries. Think of what else could be done to make our society a better place with even a fraction of that money. Stop and smell the roses if you will. And, equally important is to take a moment to reflect on the plight of those that have not been given the type of opportunities that we enjoy, and try to figure out a way to help, no matter how small.

Boy Do I Love Texting!!

This week in class the topic was brought up about texting and sending emails, and how much we sent in relation to the number of phone calls we make. I wasn’t surprised that almost all of the class said the text more than they talk on the phone. I’m also guilty of texting more than I talk on the phone. But the question is why we do it.

For one, texting is a way of communicating when you want to avoid an awkward situation. If someone has something to say but can’t do it over the phone or in person, they would most likely send a message. Sending this message will allow you to get straight to the point without having to worry about how the other person will feel until after the damage has been done. Other reasons people text more than they talk is because texting is faster, some people don’t want the conversations to be heard, and it just seems like the right thing to do when you can’t make a call. Regardless of where the person is, a text message can be sent to them. Some people may be in class texting, some people may be at work, and some people could be driving. (FYI: There has been a ban on texting while driving…effective immediately)

Because of this huge phenomenon, many cell phone providers have come up with different cellular plans that include unlimited text messages. I have a Metro PCS phone, and I can text all I want for $40 a month. This includes unlimited talk and web also. Metro PCS was the first phone company to do this, other carriers soon followed. According to an article that was posted on wcco.com “A typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends or receives 357 text messages per month, compared to placing or receiving 204 phone calls.”

Production

Before the printing press books were printing by hand. The Printing press improved the production of books and resources; improving costs, speed and accuracy.


When books were writen by hand it could take a year to write a book. Could you imagine having to sit there and write out an entire book? It takes long enough to just write a paper by hand. There was no such thing as speed when it came to writing a book. If you took the time to hand write an entire book, how much would you charge someone for it? I would make sure I got a out of it what I put into it; and that's exactly what the scriptors did. Books were expensive before the printing press!

Not only did books take a long time to publish, and were expensive; when you books were writen by hand, there is more chance for error.

Today in society, we have seen many advances in technology. The advance that has improved production of books is computers. computers made it faster and eaiser to write a book. You can type when you want and press the save button and not have to worry about a stack of papers. Also with computers there is now spell check; though it may not always be know what you meant, it helps with the accuracy in writing a book.

With the announcement of the iPad yesterday we are seeing another advance in production of books. Even in text books you can now order it and have a subscription to your class book online. Now books are quick and easy to get; and writing a book...just type away.

The Evolution of Communication

1. Communication has evolved through centuries of technological advancements. In class we learned that the telegraph was the fist real way to communicate at a fast rate. Even though it takes a long time for the telegraph to be delivered. Over time communication between long distances became easier through the telephone and the internet/via email. Over time the world wide web advanced and people were able to surf the internet faster. Now a lot of people no longer communicate through emails and people use social networking websites like facebook, blogger, and myspace.

Another way of communicating is through text messaging and instant messaging. Majority of teens and young adults communicate through text messaging. I personally like to text message, but I think that it is consuming a lot of peoples lives when calling someone to have a conversation would be so much easier. The reason I like to text message is because you can save the time of trying to use your minutes and going through that greeting that you must always do when you're talking through a phone. It is also a lot more convenient to send a text message because people never leave their house without their phone and phones are very portable to carry around.
Cell phones have taken a large toll on peoples lives today. They are peoples life lines when it comes to staying in touch with other people. If I didn't I would feel lost, and naked without it because my cell phone is my life line. I have a blackberry phone and it does everything for me, and it is something that i love to use and can't live without. I think that communication technology will only improve and soon it will be a part of everyone's lives.

The Leap of Speed&Capacity

In last class, I knew the production of computer. The speed and the capacity are increasing very fast in recent decades. I can see changes when I changed my computer every two or three years. CPU keeps significant status inside a computer, which also helps to increase the speed.

CPU currently is running very fast. It operates the whole system very frequency and it has been close to four GHz. The core has reached two to four, which looks like a good management office of a computer. But if a computer has good factory, it should have a strong warehouse to support the factory, the warehouse is called hardware. However, long ago, the speed of hardware is very bad. People can assume that the CPU handle 2 0 GB per second and the number of capacity of hard disk can store per second, but the warehouse of hard disk could only provide 120MB. It means that the power of calculating has been greatly wasted, which predicates that CPU is often in unnecessary waiting state. With the time flies, someone comes up with a good way. Because the warehouse is so large, so they do not increase the speed, and then they can build a smaller-capacity transition. The transfer station is located between the factories and warehouses. Preparation of summary of the transfer is faster than a more hard disk can be ahead of CPU resources that required temporary deposit, which can effectively enhance the system processing speed. This is the most basic idea of the generation of memory. Because the contradiction between CPU and the two hard devices drive are different in huge performance that they can’t be reconciled, so it just simply set up a transfer station to meet the requirement of CPU.

The benefits of experiencing into memory and the memory particles are all designed on the motherboard by many of the system developers immediately. However, it still brings the problems, for example, the capacity can’t be expended. In order to solve these problems, technical experts eventually made the memory parts independent, and they were designed to be splat, through a slot for the motherboard, and finally the memory was also born. The increasing of speed and capacity are achieved.

Information Systems and Production

In class on Thursday, we talked about how information systems relate to production. Information systems increase the accuracy of data being processed. They also allow users to interact with that data quicker. For example, accounting used to be done in paper journals. It was more difficult to find and fix errors with this method than it is with modern accounting software. The accuracy of information was also dependent on human calculations. Now, we can utilize programs such as Excel to create spreadsheets that are easy to read (not dependent on the quality of someones handwriting) and which allows the utilization of formulas to make calculations and changes quickly and easily. Other software, such as Quickbooks and Peach Tree, allow users to easily assimilate mass amounts of financial data pertaining to a company's performance. This information can then be easily sent to stakeholders any where in the world almost instantaneously via the internet. With the use of information systems, the possibilities for increasing a company's productivity are nearly endless.

telegraph

The telegraph completely changed how the United States communicated with each other. By speeding up the means of communication, it eliminated the total reliance on the postal service, and pony express, as well as enable even the most illiterate people to communicate across the country with out having someone else write the message.

By also having the telegraph wires go across the country, it helped to fight crime as well. By being able to send out a description of the people responsible for lets say a bank robbery, it enabled the law enforcement in neighboring towns to be immediately notified that such a crime happened, and to be on the look out for these people. This helped end the run of large gangs that ruled the "old west", and was ended by technology, or at least aided by it.

The telegraph was not the end all be all of technology, but it helped to bring on technology that we still use today, mainly the telephone, but also including the wire transfer.

IP version 6

For the first time I learned in class that we are running out of IP addresses it shocked me but at the same time it did not. The internet grows too rapidly, and there are only so many digits in the IP version 4. In doing some research on IPv6, I found some interesting things. Originally an idea thought of in 1995 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Instead of just adding numbers, they found the only solution to redesign the internet protocol itself. What it does is it increases the size of the address from 32 bits to 128 bits, which should create enough digits to satisfy the near future. This new IP design is aimed at connecting subnet routing prefixes, (basically the goal to connect to other computers) instead of just providing a substantial amount of IP addresses. Here's an example of a new IPv6:3ffe3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf. To keep things simple, they are combining letters with numbers, but it gets much more complicated than that. With this new version in mind, we don't have to worry about trying to preserve IPv4 addresses. Another cool thing is that modern desktops operating systems and servers already support IPv6 protocol, but it really hasn't been established yet. I'm glad this problem has already been addressed. We'll see what the future holds.

Google Hack

In post number two, I mentioned the events that have been going on between Google Inc. and the nation of China. Seeing as we've been covering technology's impact on society this week, I thought it would be a great chance to talk about some of these international events. Earlier this month, Google announced in an online blog that it had been the victim of several electronic attacks around the week of New Years. These attacks comprised the security of 34 related technological firms linked with Google and originated in China.

The details of these attacks have not been divulged to the public however we do know a few things. First, Google has said that the attacks were mainly aimed at stealing corporate source codes from these companies. Using these source codes, hackers could essentially write their own version of programs already used by these firms and sell them for huge profits. Along with the economic advantage, stolen source code could give hackers valuable insight as to the weaknesses of said programs. For these companies, most of which are in Silicon Valley and are highly electronically oriented, this is a huge problem. After these attacks, Adobe reported that it had been the victim of a security breach itself. It is not known if these events are related however the circumstances are eerily similar. Someone was able to identify a flaw in the programming of Adobe's software and attempted to infiltrate it with a virus that would deposit on someones computer every time they opened a PDF file. Luckily a catastrophe was averted and Adobe sniffed out the attacker and managed to fix the flaw.

The last attack I would like to mention was also aimed at Google. Details of the attack have been kept quiet however we do know that they are separate from the first attacks and that gmail accounts of several Chinese human rights activists have been comprised. We also know that these attacks stemmed from China itself. Every single program, file, webpage, and online interaction has whats known as a digital fingerprint, composed of a string of binary digits. Every fingerprint is completely unique. If two files have 10,000 binary digits exactly the same but one that differs, they have different fingerprints. Using this premise, investigators have been able to trace the security breach back to its own source. This source was a Chinese server and the virus was built using a unique algorithm published only in Chinese.

Anyway, this post is getting kind of long so I will post again before the weekend with updates as well as to discuss some societal connections of these events.

Communication

Communication is the ability to give information as well as recieve it. We do not think about all the skills that are required for communication, but yet we do it everyday. The skills require are intrapersonal and interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating. It's really amazing how humans can learn this skill in a few months. What make our species so amazing is even though we know how to communicate you can still learn new ways to communicate. On Earth there are many society which there are different ways they communicate with others.

In a society everyone has to speak a language that everyone in the society can communicate to. In a class discussion I learn that if a country do not have communication as an example was given India noone would be able to communicate which kills any any trade among the country. India soon made a language everyone will be able to speak which open the door to trade for the country as a nation. Being able to comprehend communication is the only thing that separate us from any other species on Earth. In every society from Arab to Spainish the ability to communicate play a major role in everything we do.

Communication play a very major role with people technology is no different with their standards. When it comes to standards computers must be very exact which they use TCP and IP so their standards are met. TCP which is known as Transmission Control Protol are data send as packets and recombined at their destination, which is a clear detail about emails that are being sent. IP which is known as Internet Protol is connected to every computer that has the internet. this process uses four numbers each one is between 0-255 which also show us that the internet must use a lot of skills that we do not even think about.

IS as a Type of Production

In class last Thursday we discussed productivity. With that came the idea that IS in itself is its own type of productivity.This idea intrigued me as I had never thought of IS in that capacity. One way in which IS has impacted productivity is through video conferencing. Video conferencing has the ability to affect the business environment drastically, this being the focus of today's blog.

Video conferencing is the ability to simultnaeously connect two or more people through two-way video and audio transmissions. In the business environment it is commonly used to connect two or more offices. Whether these offices be on opposite sides of the city or the world poses no threat. The ability to see other offices and have on-line meetings has greatly increased time productivity.

Before video conferencing the ability to have phone conferences was available, however, the sense of sight was lacking. If materials were to be seen they would have to be manually transported from office to office, greatly increasing the time and foresight that had to be put into conferences. The ability to e-mail photographs was also available, the downside here is correlating e-mail with the telephone conversation and making sure everyone is quite literally "on the same page".

Furthering video conferencing is the introduction of Skype. Skype is software that allows access to video conferencing at no charge. It has greating increased the popularity of video conferencing. Due to the low or no fee policy of Skype, it has allowed business to expand without the financial constraint it once had. For more information on skype you can visit Skype.com.

The idea of IS as its own type of production was new to me this week. After some investigation on the subject, I have discovered that although IS has been around in business for decades, we are still in the infant stages of using it to its full capacity. Through resources such as video conferencing and Skype society is slowly moving forward in IS productivity.

Skype

I recently became familiar with www.skype.com through my friend, former State Represenative Judie Scranton. While serving in Lansing, Judie met a couple of legislative assistants named Pan and Sue. They worked many years together on different issues, and became lifelong friends.

A few years ago, Pan and Sue left their jobs in Lansing and joined the Peace Corps. Pan is serving in Romania, and Sue is serving in Moldova. Judie uses Skype to communicate with Pan and Sue, because of the no-cost communication benefit that it provides. When I say no-cost, it is for the use of Skype only. They still have to have a computer and an internet service. Also, they need a microphone. A camera is an optional device that allows them to see each other, while they talk.

Judie is able to talk to and see Pan because Romania has high-speed internet service. However, because of Sue being in a much poorer country, she is only able to talk to Sue because of the dial-up service available.

In my father's lifetime, he is 85 years old, he has seen communication go from a crank phone on the wall, to being able to talk and see the person at the same time. My dad says, "I still remember that crank phone on the wall."

Communication UPGRADE.!!!!

Communication is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs. Communication plays a MAJOR role in today's society. Weather it's the alarm clock waking you up in the morning, your new born baby crying because he/she needs their diaper changed, or the Jehovah witnesses knocking at your door on an early saturday morning demanding your attention, if you think about it, it's definitely communication!!!

Considering the fact that I was born in the 90's, it's only fair I talk about personal experiences I've encountered with communication devices. When I was five or six, my mom bought me a pager (don't laugh) for my birthday. This was for emergency purposes. Now that I've gotten older and have really thought about things, giving me a pager wasn't really the smartest thing to do. Whose to say the page was really going to get delivered fast enough in an actual "emergency"? And if my mom had paged me 911, how was I going to return her page if I wasn't at home?

My first social networking page was on Blackplanet.com. No one really had profile pictures because scanners were not "in" like that. This was a good way to chat with my school friends after school or during computer class (hoping not to get caught by the teacher). Rating's on Blackplanet started rising after members were allowed to customize backgrounds, add music videos, pictures, and animations to make profiles unique. Then I was forced to deactivate my page because I started receiveing messages from pedophiles.

Those two types of communication were the most importantto me because, now, today, in 2010, if you're still utilizing these, you're viewed as being wierd or old school. Today we have cell phones, which plays a major part because it's the most domonate source of communication used. If you don't have a cell phone, let along an "up to date" cell phone, why? how do reach people in case of emergencies? Do you actually talk on the house phone? Blackplanet still has great numbers of ratings, Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter have taken over. Facebook is operating in more than 30 countries. Although media claims these social sites to be dangerous, I highly encourage them because it's a great way to keep in touch with old class mates, friends, family, and current events.

So what's your communication Upgrade???

IP Address

Until today I never really understood what an IP address was, and now, I am fascinated by it. I never understood how data got from one place to another; I just knew it got there. The IP address is a label assigned to devices in a computer network that uses Internet Protocol for communication between nodes (connection points). Internet Protocol (rules for communicating data) delivers packets (data in blocks) from the source to the destination based on the address. "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how to get there." (1)

IP was designed as a 32-bit number, and it is now known as the IPv4. In 1995, the IPv6 was developed, which uses 128 bits for the address. It had to be developed because 4,294,967,296 unique addresses that the IPv4 provided (2^32) were not enough. The IPv6 has about 2^128, or about 3.403 × 10^38 unique addresses, which should get us by for a long time. IP adresses are stored as binary numbers, but to make it easier for us to read, they are displayed in "human-readable" notations. An example of this is the IPv4 image to the right. The top numbers are displayed in dot-decimal notation, which are the "human-readable" notations. These numbers can range from 0 to 255. Below those are the binary numbers that IP addresses are stored as. Each section of numbers are 8 bits, so this means that this is an IPv4 adress because it only has 4 sections.

While researching IP addresses, I came across the cartoon below (2). It is from a news story about how federal government agencies had to transition their network to IPv6. They needed to do this to support rapidly evolving needs in real-time e-government transactions and services and to enhance data transmission capabilities. Also, there was a strong demand for more IP addresses in general. The headings on the cartoon (in case you can't read them) are Destination, IPv6, and IPv4. I like that under Destination it lists wireless mobility, limitless space, auto configuration, and sensor network. Supposedly, the IPv6 should be capable of all of these. So what do you think the meaning is of the "spaceships" in the background? Does it mean that IPv6 is going to give us capablities in the future that we never dreamed of?

Sources:

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address#cite_note-rfc791-1

(2) http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/display_story.cgi?number=1143127680

The Fuel of Communication

I found the Lord of the Rings example in class very interesting so I started thinking. There are so many ways that we communicate in society. The simple glance that means come here or go away, or the pound and explode handshake that signifies comradeship. I find it very interesting that we can all interpret these simple gestures. However, when there is that one time that we don't it's extremely embarrassing. Such as, when you see someone waving at you but they aren't really waving at you or when someone you have seen once in your life says hello and you don't recognize them until they have gone. These are simple mistakes in communication but why is it that we feel so out of the loop when we miss a simple gesture?

Communication has definitely evolved since the days of the smoke signals. I mean it is amazing how far we really have come. We can send texts and receive them within seconds of them being sent. Also, it is crazy how we can have almost a complete computer in our phones. That is another issue entirely though. Imagine how excited people were when they could send letters in the mail or send a telegram. It would be a really difficult bridge to cross if there were no computers. How would any communication have been made faster if there weren't computers? There would be no email, texting, or facebook.

On the other side of the coin there is the fact that this advancement in technology has made communication less personal. Question: If there was a computer in front of you and you had a question to ask your boss about what would you do?
1. Send an email?
2. Go ask in person
I would assume that many people would just send an email if their question wasn't that urgent. Does this change in communication really benefit our generation? When we have families of our own are we going to be texting our ten year old children to come to dinner or IMing them to clean their rooms? How far do we have to go?

Proliferation of physical data storage

This week in class we covered important inventions that have allowed our society to evolve. One such invention that has been paramount to our success over the past thirty or so years is that of the ability to physically carry large amounts of data. Our methods of physical data transfer are one of the most evident signs of the times. We were first able to do this outside of conventional methods of physically punching holes in tape with tape drives.

Economies of scale and improvement in technology led to the birth of 3.5" floppy disks. Floppy disks began in the 1970s and quickly proliferated during the '80s to become the method of choice for storing data. Eventually, the vast amount of data created during the '90s required some installation packages, such as Windows, to require a dozen disks or more. CD-ROM resolved this inefficiency, since it was able to contain much more space.

CD-ROM was developed by Sony and Phillips in 1985, and have had the most influence on us out of any sort of storage medium. CD-ROMs have also improved and are a precursor for the DVD. We've also been able to make double-layered CD-ROMs and DVDs, which have enhanced our capacity. Flash drives have most recently been our new preferred medium, since they are not only spacious but also compact. Larger quantities of data, however, might be required to use a new medium in the future. Perhaps a BD-DVD?

Remember the lesson from the '79 song: "Video Killed The Radio Star"

Post 3 - Innovations

In class this week we learned about innovations. Innovations come from great ideas that come from innovative people. One great innovation that we learned about in class was the jacquard loom, which was a mechanical loom.

The jacquard loom was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801. what this new innovation did was very complicated textiles with a machine. These types of things may have taken someone a very long time to make on their own, because of the complexity of the patterns that they may have been working on. With the machine, The manufacturers did not have to worry about taking a long time to create these things when this machine was invented. For someone like Jacquard to create such a machine is amazing to me, that he can just think of a great idea for a new time saving a less expensive over a long period of time. The Jacquard loom is a great example of how computers came to be what they have become to this day. after researching a Little about this machine,i learned that this invention was very similar to the idea that Charles Babbage had with using punch cards as a way to run a machine. according to wikipedia " The jacquard loom was the first machine to use punch cards to control a sequence of operations. Although it did no computation based on them, it is considered an important step in the history of computing."

The Printing Press

One of the greatest inventions of it's time was the printing press. The printing press was a huge invention because it made copying or printing a book take way less time than before, which had to be done by hand. With this invention, more people were able to find books, so they were able to learn to read. The printing press happened because of innovation. Johannes Gutenberg first made the printing press around 1440. He decided that something had to be done about how long it takes to get a copy of a book or text, which was about one year when written. He used innovation to take his idea and make it something that would be used world-wide. He really changed how lives were lived in that time period and years to come.
Not only was the printing press much faster than copying the book or text by hand, but it was extremely cheaper. Instead of paying someone to hand copy the book, people were able to pay a printing company to make a copy of the book that they wanted. It also offered books to people who before, were not able to afford someone to copy it for them. Books and other texts became spread out over time, so many more people had access to the texts from around the different parts of the world eventually. At the time, the printing press also created more job opportunities. Now, the person who was copying the book didn't need to know how to write well, but just how to operate the printing press.
Over time, the printing press evolved into something that is widely used today. Back in the time of Gutenberg, the press was faster than a person, but not as fast as books are being made today. Now, if someone publishes a book, then there are thousands of that book made and it is all over the country if not the world. This has been all made possible because of innovation. Over the course of the last couple hundred years, people have been thinking of ways to improve the idea of the printing press. And that, over time, has morphed into what we use and have today.

Communication...

To my surprise, I've actually enjoyed our last couple of conversations in class. My favorite thing that we've talked about was communication. All the conversation we had about our new forms of communication was funny. I wasn't surprised when more than half of the class said they text more than they talk on the phone. Most peoples minutes don't start until 9pm so they prefer texting during the day over talking on the phone and wasting minutes. I myself am an advocate of texting, because I enjoy texting people during class when I'm bored.

Western Union being established in 1851 wasn't suprising to me, but what was is the fact that they denied buying the patent for the telephone from Alexander Graham Bell. I know whoever was in charge and actually denied the offer is rolling in their grave. Western Union would be unstoppable right now if they had taken that deal! I guess Bell & his associates got the last laugh since they started what is now one of the biggest phone coverage provider in America [AT&T].

My favorite form of communication is social networking. Everyday more people are hopping on the internet and creating new pages to help keep them in contact with all their friends and family. Twitter, Facebook, Instant Messaging and Skype are infectious and I see them sticking around for long time. I mean, who needs the phone when you can talk to someone in a different country for free via the internet. Communication has really come a long way, and with the creation of new IP address and even more modern technology we will have more and more ways to keep in-touch and in-sync.

Production

My blog today has one main question and some research to go behind it. My question is why do we as a human race need to work to survive? Is it the fact that we now as instinct that if we don’t work then nothing will progress? From childhood I have always wondered what would happen to society if there were no economy, consumers, production, supply, demand etc. Would our world fall just because of the simplest things won’t be done anymore or will we as one continue to live on with things and not worry about it.

Most of our nation does revolve around these elements in order to survive. For a good example we as Americans strive off of economics and without our country would be a huge disaster. We can basically use anything to make a profit from it. Raw materials to chemicals that are made from scientists. Overtime we as a generation evolved greatly .

Another thing that kind of got to me is the fact that our society relies on technology and the amount of production we produce daily. If all these things stop a lot of people wouldn’t know what to do.

Aristotle

Aristotle was one of the most influential people that ever lived. He was known for many different things, but his thoughts on logic are still looked at today. He was also known for his influence on many powerful people of his era. Friedrich Nietzsche also used a lot of Aristotle's teachings when developing his own teachings on philosophy. Aristotle's teachings continue to influence us today.
Aristotle basically created formal logic. He created a lot of ways of organizing and define everything we see around us. The first classification of five basic elements was created by Aristotle. These were fire, earth, air, water, and aether (the stuff god's are made of). He also attempt to explain existence and the reasons we know we exist with his four causes theory. His four causes are material cause, formal cause, efficient cause, final cause.Aristotle had a big effect on the evolution of society, but a lot of the negative teachings of that era are shown in his thoughts.
Even though Aristotle was very influential, he was stuck in a time where intolerance was thought as fact. Aristotle thought that women were colder then men and therefor a lower life form. Aristotle believed that woman could not fully be human. Even though he didn't think much of woman he did advocate the equality of men and woman's happiness. Aristotle was the begining of many things. Without him socity wouldn't have been the same.

Email vs. texting

Today in class, we started to learn about communication and how we communicate effectively with one another. We discussed all of the different possibilites such as face to face, email, text messages, telephone. and so on. In todays society people are all about technology. Whether it be business related or personal, communicating through text messages are growing rapidly.

Before there was such thing as texting, people communicated over the internet through the e-mail system. They still do, but I think e-mailing is becoming less and less popular as society learns about all the new things that keep coming out in the technological world. People are getting e-mail on their cell phones which is good to have, that way in case they don't have access to a computer, they can just hop on their cell phones and recieve e-mail. But what about the people who don't get e-mail on their phones? Texting is a very simple and easy way of communicating without actually speaking with the person. When a text message is sent, it goes directly to the recievers cell phone and they can view it right away. When an e-mail is sent, it doesn't go directly to that person; it goes to their inbox. They have to log onto their email and open up the message rather than just click view on their phone or have it pop right up. If you are just looking for a quick response, texting is usually the way to go. Not all people have text messages, but it has been a growing trend and more and more people are joining the 'texting' world. Another point to go along with e-mails is that sometimes, if people don't check their account frequently enough, the sender could go days or weeks or however long it takes the person to check it, without getting a response. If you send a text, there is usually a better chance of getting a quicker reply.

People also use texting just to inform somebody whatever it may be that they want that person to know or if they just have a simple queston. It's alot quicker than calling them and having a conversation, when you can just send them a message and have them respond without all the extra talking. Texting also comes into use when it is not a good time to be on the phone or if it's a situation where you can't really call someone. Such as if your at work and just need to find out something at the moment and you can't call them-just send a quick text or if your in the movies, you can't really talk on the phone. and so on. My point is that texting is alot easier to use than the email system. Its almost always handy and it is alot quicker and more efficient for the user.

2nd post

One of the most interesting things to me, that we discussed in class were Aristotle's 3 laws of logic, or thought. Which is the study of reasoning. The first and most obvious is: identity. This is interpreted as: a subject is equal to the sum of it's predicates; or everything that is, exists/is. If it looks or feels like something, than it is that something.


The second is: non-contradiction. No predicate can be simultaneously attributed and denied to a subject. This is the law saying that nothing can both be and not be, in other words. If a flower is a rose and dead, it has to be that. If something is untrue, it will never be true. And the third is: excluded middle. Of every two contradictorily opposite predicates one must belong to every subject; or in other words, each and everything either is or is not.



Those are the three law's of logic, or thought. Logic was described as the art of non-contradictory identification. These law's lead to two thought categories. One is Induction, and the other is Deduction. Deduction basically says all men are mortal. And induction is like the sun always rises in the morning, therefor you know the sun will rise. I found a picture of the equations to go with Aristotle's laws:

Anna's 2nd blog

This week I was really interested in the information because it relates to my other classes. Right now I'm also taking computer science 101 and we're learning about the binary system. Honestly, I'd never heard of the binary system before two weeks ago. It is amazing that so much can be said through all 0s and 1s, but I think it would drive me crazy trying to convert everything into binary.

We also learned about measurements and their use in the business world. Measurements are used to make decisions in the business world so we thought of different measurements used in different business careers. I especially understand how important measurements are in accounting because I'm taking an accounting class right now. The link describes different measurements used in accounting, such as assets, liabilities and expenses.

The information about logic was familiar to me because I've taken a few philosophy classes. It is funny because computers and philosophy seem to be nothing alike but they actually both apply the rules of logic. I always like when my classes intertwine because it shows that what we're learning is applicable in many ways, and it helps me understand the information better.

Business Measurements

In my post today I would like to talk about business measurements. Measurements are very important in running a successful business. Some fields of business such as accounting, are almost completely composed of measuring financial data. All fields of business are centered around measurements even if it does not seem like it. For example a cook has to know how much of any particular ingredient he has before he can make a dish. Another would be the a salesman would want to know the demographic of their target customer base in order to cut out people who most likely would not be interested in his products. Almost all information is relevant in business even many of the obscure facts.

For a business to be considered successful it has to be profitable. In order to achieve this status, a business must use measurement to find out where they can be most efficient in the use of their capital (money, resources, labor). Without these measurements most businesses would be sure to fail, because they would have no way to determine how they were doing, and information would be inconclusive as to whether they were making money or not. Also without business measurements in place it would be very easy for people to steal from a business, as they could not prove that they were missing anything.

Measurements are important for more than just for their own good however, business measurements are also for the good of the stockholders and the customers. A stockholder always wants data on a business before they invest money into it. also a customer may want to see how a business is holding up financially before buying a product or service from that business. Especially if they think they might want to return a product that they buy, or in case they need replacement products from that company. In conclusion business measurements are a fundamental part of business, and are important for the growth and longevity of any industry.

Number Two

Last week I introduced a rather daft theory about Google possibly taking over the world. I would like to talk more about this as there have been some very interesting developments regarding Google's relationship with China in the past two weeks. However, since part of our last lecture was about measurements, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to discuss one of the most advanced systems of business measurements.

A great deal of Google's success as an advertising giant has been their unwavering commitment to measuring internet usage. No matter how important or irrelevant a person or piece of information may be, Google Inc. has taken it into their hands to ensure that no data slips through the cracks. At the beginning of our class, Dr. Drake posed a question; how do we determine what is important to our business? At one point in time Google executives probably asked themselves this very same question. In response, they deduced that Google aims to be the most elaborate internet company in the world and therefore any piece of information that uses the internet medium is relevant to their company. From click throughs on billion dollar company websites, to tracking search engine inquiries, to how many times "kittens inspired by kittens" is viewed on YouTube, every piece of data has its use in some way or another. (I am a firm believer that the extraordinary view count of the "new haircut" video was the main influence leading to the conception of the hit TV show Jersey Shore, but thats a discussion for another time and place.) This logic is what took this innovative company from a mere search engine to a technological giant. By taking responsibility for measuring every single aspect of how people use the internet, Google has positioned itself as one of the most powerful corporations on the planet. Their amount of intellectual property is second to none. However what is most impressive about all of this his how Google has managed to utilize this data. It's not just sitting around somewhere in a computer archive but rather it is being recorded, analyzed and applied to business decisions around the world. If a company wanted to launch an online marketing campaign, it would likely ask Google where its ads would be most effective in reaching their target market.

The problem inherent in all this is that if Google can obtain information from us electronically, certainly anyone can obtain info from them the same way. It seems that people are starting to recognize this. People are also starting to recognize the value of the data that Google has been able to amass. Proof of this notion lies in the recent attacks on Google stemming from Chinese hackers. They have been able to utilize extremely advanced programming language and algorithms to circumvent some of Google's safety measures. These attacks have caused a tremendous backlash and I will talk more about these events in my next blog.

Post 2, Language

(The picture comes from http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2009/12/brushing-up-on-navi-the-language-of-avatar.html)

The professor talked about language this week, which reminds me of the language, Na'vi, in Avatar. It has a grammatical system, limited vocabulary and it becomes popular among humans.
It just created for a movie. That's so amazing!

Well, let's go back to our common life. I'm a Chinese speaker, and Engish is my second language. I don't know about what other people think about English. For me, it's not easy. Although a lot of my friends say English is the easiest one, who learn English as their second language,too.

Different languages have different characteristic. As I know, Chinese uses a logographic system for its written language, instead of an alphabet one. When people learn Chinese, they should learn hundreds of Chinese characters, Hanzi. I think the reason why Chinese people think English is harder to learn than the European do, mostly because of the total different language systems.

By the way, if you are interesting in learning Chinese, EMU has the program. :) And you can apply to Office of International Students for a conversation partner as well.

Communication Innovation

Communication is the way an individual may share information. It doesn't necessarily have to be verbal communication. For example, in the video we watched today showed a man setting a fire to get someones attention. Back then, that was one of few types of communication. This would be critical in relation to a business. So to get away from setting fires to communicate from a distance, we would need a much faster and reliable communication tool. (I'm just using fires as an example).

Many factors go into making communication more efficient and faster. One is cost; it has pros and cons. A positive is that, you will have to employ less people to get in touch with other businesses. Many people have to communicate with others companies, not just the head of a company. With less people, less stress and potentially less money spent. Another positive is, the speed and precision of communicating. We now have what is called the Six Sigma. Which is described as .999999 accuracy. Also with the innovation, we now have sms text, email conference calls and etc...

Innovation is finding a new way to do things better. The world continues to get better in communication. We are at the point where we can communicate through video conferences and this is a never ending continuum of innovation

"The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it." -Edward R Murrow









 

Bits and Bytes

When hearing about the bits and bytes in class I didn't really understand them too much, so I did a little bit of research on my own. I will share with you a few things that I learned. Bits work in decimal and binary. In binary bits hold a place value that goes up by the power of 2 each time, from what I understand. It looks like this:

0 =     0
1 =     1
2 =    10
3 =    11
4 =   100
5 =   101
6 =   110
7 =   111
8 =  1000
9 =  1001
10 =  1010
11 =  1011
12 =  1100
13 =  1101
14 =  1110
15 =  1111
16 = 10000
17 = 10001
18 = 10010
19 = 10011
20 = 10100
When you see a bit it usually is never by itself. They are usually packed together in a set of 8 bits. This is called a byte.
The good thing about bytes is you can hold more place values with them. They look like this:
 0 = 00000000
 1 = 00000001
 2 = 00000010
  ...
254 = 11111110
255 = 11111111
There are a few neat things about bytes and bits. A byte can make up to 256 characters
Standard for bytes to hold is 127 characters. These codes are used a lot of the time
in text documents that are both stored in memory and stored on a disk.
All of this stuff is important because this is how we do many of the things we do on
our computers. If the bits and bytes where never found out or created then we would
not be able to do the things that we do like write papers on the computer. Bits and
bytes may seem complicated but when you look at the system especially for the binary
system it all really makes a lot of sense.