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.

Week 8 EOC: Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is a holiday recently established by the credit card company, American Express on November 27^th 2010. It is a day that is dedicated to small businesses across the country. Originally, the holiday was supposed to land on any Saturday. However, this day is now set for every Saturday after Thanksgiving. During one of the busiest shopping periods of the year, Small Business Saturday is the counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. While shoppers were encouraged to pursue big box retailers and e-commerce stores, shoppers now have an incentive to hit the small and local businesses head first. American Express initiated the campaign in 2010 through radio and television advertising. That same year, their Small Business Saturday Facebook page received about 1.2 million Facebook likes in just one month and nearly 30,000 tweets on Twitter. By 2011, the United States Senate officially recognized Small Business Saturday as a holiday. By this time, millions of consumers continued to participate in the event. By 2012, consumer spending on local and small brick and mortar businesses beastly reported about 5.5 billion dollars. What this means for everyone is that the holiday that first started out as an advertising campaign, is now exceptionally boosting our economy while sustaining employment for small businesses and the rest of the country.

“Small businesses create half of the jobs in the private sector. [They] have created 65 percent of the net new jobs over the last 17 years. And so, what small business is all about, is where the individual can help our economy because we need to create jobs. And if people support independently owned small businesses in their community, they can make a difference.”

- CBS Evening News

"Two out of every three new jobs created in our economy are in the smallest small business, the Main Street-type businesses that do our dry cleaning, repair and service our automobiles and often serve us dinner. What’s more, about half of the U.S. workforce is employed there — which means you likely work in one of these businesses."

 - www.desertnews.com

"I think what started out as a marketing campaign has actually grown into a very important "holiday" for this country, in that small business owners now have something they can all rally behind, promote and then (hopefully) reap the monetary benefits of."

- www.boston.com

 

Week 7 EOC: Privacy issues on the web, Two companies that can spy on you

Whether people like it or not, marketers are spying on internet users every single day. They are tracking people’s clicks, activities, interests, etc. The two companies I found out that spy on me are Dictionary.com and Comcast.net. Apparently, Dictionary.com sends my browsing data to 234 different trackers. Here is what their policy reads:

 "Through cookies placed on your computer, third-party advertising networks may recognize you when you visit other sites and properties where they also place advertisements."

While other websites may plant a few cookies in order to browse my data, Dictionary.com has been known to plant over 3,000 cookies at one time. Aside from browsing data, the website can also collect demographic, financial, and health data. All this data may also be kept indefinitely.

The second company that can spy on me is Comcast.net. Just like Dictionary.com, Comcast.com has the ability to collect data such as browsing history, demographic, financial, and health data. Here is what their policy reads:  

"The third parties that provide Web Log services for Comcast may use cookies to uniquely distinguish your web browser and to keep track of the Websites that your web browser visits across the service provider's network of Websites. These companies may combine this information with other information they have independently collected."

The threat at hand is that websites such as Dictionary.com and Comcast.net can send my information to marketers which they can use to spam my phone or email inbox with deals and offers.

Week 6 EOC: There's an app for that

An app that I wish I had would be able to save lives. There are several occasions when I am driving and am tempted to respond to my text messages on my cell phone. Too many people have had the same issue. According to textinganddrivingsafety.com, 23% of auto collisions involved cell phones in 2011. I wish there was an app that would be able to translate my voice into text. Not only would the app be able to turn voice into text, but also respond to specific voice commands. For example, when I am done saying what needs to be sent, the message would be sent out by saying something like "user send". The goal of the app would be to keep minimal physical action from the user and maximum usage through the use of voice. An example of a step by step process would look something like this:

1. User pushes established hot key on phone (Similar to accessing Siri on Iphone)

2. User speaks into microphone, "user messages"

3. User speaks into microphone, "read message from ______"

4. User speaks into microphone, "user response: ______, user send"

Week 6 BOC: 5 Tips to increase traffic to your website

5 Tips for increasing web traffic

1.       Twitter – Use Twitter to pump information to your viewers. With increased traffic in Twitter, will follow increased traffic to website

2.       Join A Forum Group – Depending on the business, a forum group can be a platform where customers can talk about a certain subject matter. This keeps the activity of the website at a higher rate

3.       Shameless self-promotion – It is important to at least have business cards on hand. If you hand out several business cards, and only one customer visits the website, it is still considered a success

4.       Make best use of Google product services – Being able to understand the importance of use of key words in your search will give your website a better chance of being viewed 

5.       Build An Email List – Establishing a good email list keeps a good base of contacts for exposure