Week 11 EOC: The Future of the Internet

Five years ago, who would have thought that the Internet would be here? In Alvin Toffler's book, "Future Shock", he talks about how we as society have been overloaded with information. Since the Internet first came out, technology has been advancing faster than expected in a short period of time. The speed of technological evolution is so fast, it is hard for society to keep up. This is where Alvin's shock theory comes into play. He believed the accelerated rate of technological and social change left people disconnected and suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation"—future shocked. (http://izquotes.com/quote/185697)

 “In only a few short years, electronic computing systems have been invented and improved at a tremendous rate. But computers did not ‘just grow.’ They have evolved… They were born and they are being improved as a consequence of man’s ingenuity, his imagination… and his mathematics.” — 1958 IBM brochure (http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/08/11/the-future-of-the-internet/)

In my point of view, I can see where this is all coming from. I noticed that as soon as a new technological product comes out, it becomes obsolete within a matter of weeks or months. Everyday my computer is constantly asking me to update software for different programs. As soon as I install an operating system on my computer, a new operating system comes out. I remember going through Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista, 7, and 8 like candy. So what does this say about the future of the internet? What this means is that by the time we reach another 5 years, we may double, triple, or even quadruple the technological productivity we have accomplished over the first 5 years. With this much power, there are pros and cons. The pros include more job openings in the technology industry. Another pro is that we will be so far advanced, that common difficult tasks will no longer be difficult. The cons include society becoming so reliant on technology, we may become dependent on technology alone. By the time our grandchildren become adults, they may become completely helpless without technology and won’t have the physical work ethic that older generations have learned in the past. Will our society be able to recognize these issues and quickly adapt to the changes as fast as technology is changing? For our children's sake, I hope so.

"Eventually, the average consumer will be able to download a high-definition movie in a second or play cloud-based video games without a hint of lag." (http://www.howstuffworks.com/future-of-the-internet.htm)

Week 10 EOC: illicit the dark trade

With advancing technology in today's world, there have been many benefits created for us in order to make our lives easier. Today, we are able to communicate with other people across the world with the click of a button. However, there have been several people that have taken advantage of this technology. These people have used our technology in order to expand dark trades from the streets to across the nation. One of the dark trades I found was www.napsgear.net. It is a website that provides online sales of illegal performance enhancement steroids. The website has everything from testosterone boosters to red blood cell modifiers. After looking at the website, I found that the process was a bit complicated to purchase the supplements. I assume that this was a security measure used to cover the online criminal's tracks. The way it works is that the user scrolls through the different performance enhancement steroids until the person finds the one he/she wants. Once the online submission goes through, the user will be put on "pending" status. At this point, the user has a certain time frame to place a western union on their own convenience with the prescribed name, address, and amount that was listed on the website. Once the western union is complete, the user will log back into their "pending" status and type in the western union confirmation number. www.napsgear.net will then use that confirmation number to ensure the money went through and change the user's "pending" status into "shipped" status. The user will have a couple weeks waiting time until the shipment arrives at their doorstep. I found it hard to believe that customers felt comfortable with this process because the entire thing seemed kind of shady.

Week 9 EOC: Setting Up A Domain Name

In order to set up a domain, the first step is to find a web hosting service. A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. The two most popular web hosting services are www.godaddy.com and www.yahoo.com. GoDaddy typically goes for 12 dollars a year, while Yahoo goes for 9 dollars a year. However, there is a catch when it comes to Yahoo. It only starts off as 9 dollars a year, but will jump up to over 30 dollars a year. The advantage of using Yahoo as a web hosting service is that they are known to be very protective from spam. Once you decide what web host to use, the next step is to figure out your domain name. You do this buy typing in the name you want in the host's search engine. There are several domain names that are already taken, so this process can take several minutes to find a domain that will satisfy the user. The reason why choosing the right domain name is important, is because it is a crucial factor in driving traffic to the website. If a person cannot remember or spell the name of a complicated domain name, that is one less person that will go the website. Chances are that there will be other people that will experience the same problem. I learned today that it is important to keep the domain name short and memorable.