Reflection & Summary

Thoughts

Initially, having studied Multimedia Technology, I thought attending COM 125 would be the same things again. However, it proved me wrong, I have actually learnt alot more then expected. There are actually so many things I can do within Google rather then just sourcing for information. 

The on growth mindset was really interesting as told us about people either having a fixed-mindset or growth mindset. I feel that this is important in our lives to help us grow as individuals and also to learn more about ourselves. The chapter on viruses has also taught me how to better protect my computer and that having Norton Anti-virus program alone is not enough. You can do more to keep safe your computer. 

Finally, I enjoyed the the class project presentations as our fellow students gave more insights on the chapters that were gone thorough in class. Now what's is our final exam to complete this Journey

The Past, The Present, The Future....................

The Future

What the Future Holds

Well this marks the end of our journey of COM 125. I would like to especially thank Mr Abel Choy teaching us and giving everyone more knowledge of the Computer World. It was this course that made me actually start and blog. Due to this, I have actually learned alot of new things.

So What does the future hold for us all ? Well, everything now is just all a vivid image and imaginations. However, imaginations might just turn into reality like how the Internet took storm on a global scale. What could be next ? With Microsoft coming up with their latest touch screen PC and the Nokia 888 that is just an idea, we may soon be using all these technology before we know it. The video below shows us where we stand now.

The Future of the Internet

Well things are looking good so far. Somehow I am not sure what the future will hold for us. Will new gadgets and advancement of technology be a good or bad thing. I feel that it will actually give us too much power and should it fall into the wrong hands, people may misuse such technology and manipulate it. Already from Facebook or other social network websites are intruding into one's privacy. No doubt it is fun where you have plenty of friends who join, it does have its disadvantages as well. 

Although I appreciate all this convenience that these gadgets have offered, I must say I am not a big fan of them. I worry about the fact that less jobs will be created because everything is simply by the touch of our hands or by the use of machines. 

The Future is a SCARY thought indeed! Mysterious but scary :)

Journalism

The Power that YOU have

During the generation of my parents, they got information and news through traditional media which is newspapers, books and articles. This was their daily source of information as that time and they had to wait till the next morning to receive the newspapers. Now, with the introduction of the Internet, the newspapers such as the Strait's Times and Today have taken this opportunity to post their articles online as well so that people are able to view such information. 

As you can see how information sharing can be so effective now, the power is now with us. We can't really tell which source of information is creditable right now. This is because people now have the ability to write their own news the way they want it to be. They are able to write their own views on a particular topic and also able to give their own comments on other writes work. 

How is this done? Well you're witnessing it right now :) as I am writing this blog. Examples such as Blogspot, Twitter and Livejournals are some example of websites for you to start your very own blogging. Therefore this begins an era of CITIZEN JOURNALISM whereby anyone can write their own ideas. 

The Straits Times Online

Today online

I feel that this is good because it allows people to show their creativity. Moreover, that are so many hidden talents out there. Some may not have the opportunity to shine because throughout their lives they were not given one. They can use this chance to show WHAT they are made of and who knows, a company may be interested to find out more about them.

Video on Citizen Journalism

Let your Creativity Take you To Greater Heights!

The Internet and art of Politics

Effectiveness of the Internet

Very much like President John F. Kennedy who used a new form of medium to get the votes of the people, Barack Obama's preferred choice is to use the power of the Internet to get to the attention of the American people. 

Website for Barack Obama's campaign 

The power of the Internet has proved several advantages:

Firstly, by posting materials on the Internet, you are able to extend your reach not only to the people within the United States but also worldwide. Moreover, most houses at this age have a computer in their homes and people are constantly online. Information can be updated and edited easily and changed online. Hence the information updated is immediate and people are able to view it instantly. 

Another reason why the Internet is effective is because there are many different mediums whereby Obama is able to reach out to the people. For example, video postings on youtube enabled millions of viewers to watch all his previous speeches should they miss any. There are many websites that contained updated information on the latest news and insides too. Moreover, users are able to create blogs, forums and online discussions to interact with one another. 

Obama's Inauguration video

The number of views is enough to tell you how effective the Internet is towards Obama's political campaign. Although we can come to terms that the Internet is indeed an effective tool in today's society, we must realize that it has its dark side as well. We may not know which websites are creditable when they post news that talk about politics. Furthermore, people can give harsh remarks or comments because the name can be left anonymous. 

Finally, we will never know how the next generation of politicians will used the power of the Internet to captivate people like you and me to vote. The old traditional ways are phasing out and there may be a whole new dimension for politics in the future.

Multimedia

User Interactivity Rules

Multimedia has empowered users with the ability to have more interactivity. Multimedia is defined by integrating various forms of media and content. The different integrated forms maybe, images, video, audio, animation and other various interactive forms. A hardware such as the Playstation 3 has many different kinds of Multimedia tools integrated in its system. 

Below is a video that shows you just how advanced the playstation 3 is

Utilizing the features of the PS3

The second video shows you how much interactivity it has for the user. It has a built in DVD and VCD player so that users may watch a movie or their choice. Hence they need not buy a DVD player. You may also play your own mp3 songs and can easily load it into the Playstation hard drive. Basically, the PS3 serves just like a normal computer. The only difference is that it is more for entertainment rather then doing work. You may even attach a mouse and keyboard on the PS3 to even surf the internet. However, perhaps the most impressive feature that it has is its ability to run a game or movie with High-Definition. That means you will view it as an amazing quality.

With so many different kinds of multimedia features installed within the PS3, it is most certainly guaranteed that getting a set will not disappoint you. 

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!

Virus Alert

Keep your computers Safe! 

As we all know the Internet has a vast amount of information and enables the user to work wonders, it has its dark side as well. I am sure everyone knows there are viruses all over the internet. Those of you in our class would have seen the presentation that my group gave on the dark side of the internet. The example was Felicia's video whereby an anonymous user send her a virus file. 

So what then are viruses ? It is a computer program t

hat can copy itself and infect another persons computer. A virus may increase its spread to other computers if it is able to infect files that are from the network file system. 

Viruses are commonly referred to certain types of malware, adware or spyware that are mostly spams that you find in your inbox. Another 2 common files are Worms and Trojan files that are slightly different from viruses. A worm usually g

oes through security vulnerabilities and is able to infect other computers without needi

ng a host to send them. The Trojan horse may

 perform malicious functions that allows unauthorized access to your computer and hence increases the chance of risk to your computer. 

An image that you may see if your computer is as risk.

What preventive measures can we take to ensure that such viruses or spams do not enter our computer. It is recommended that every computer have an anti-virus software to prevent such viruses from entering your computer. The benefits of anti-virus files

 is that some programs are able to do an "on access scan". What it does is that it scans opened files in addition to send and receive emails. Should there be a virus threat, it would remove it or fix the problem.

Well what if the virus has already infected your computer. The best solution will be to reformat the whole computer although there are still ways to recover your computer depending on how seriously affected it is. 

Therefore, the seriousness of viruses on your computers could prove fatal. So start getting those anti-virus and security programs now if you haven't don't so to prevent your computer from getting any further risk of viruses or spam mails. TAKE SAFETY MEASURES AT ALL TIMES!

Play safe

Internet Tools

Internet Tools at your convenience
The power of the Internet can work wonders for us. The all famous Google and their genius ideas have allowed us to use their applications which makes it convenient to share information with others. An application such as the google map has made it possible to look at phone numbers and addresses. All you have to do is just to pan left/right and zoom in to the desired location. There are lots of other things that you can do like sourcing for businesses or even planning a driving route.

Attached is an introduction to the google map

It is so simple that I can even locate my own house in Singapore.
Where my house is located

Able to search the exact location of my aunties restuarant in the US.

Another useful application is Google Doc. which allows you to share your documents, spreadsheets or presentation slides with anyone online. Whats great is that you may edit the document online and it updates instantly.

Here is a tutorial on how Google Doc is used

For more google applications, cnet has reviewed the Top 10 Google applications currently online.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-9239_7-6546759-1.html

Useful Applications for Movie Makers
I've created videos before during my polytechnic days and during free time when I have the sudden feel to do something random.

The first video was a school project that I did with my classmates. We had to do a special effects video using several multimedia applications. It looks a little cheesy so don't mind us. We were still young haha.

Video done in Singapore Polytechnic

Similarly, I did another video and this one was on animation. My groupmates and I used several other programs apart from windows movie maker. We prefered Adobe Premeir as it was more user friendly to us.

Animation video

There are alot of video applications that you may use to do picture collages or a simple video. Windows Movie Maker, Videostudio, Adobe Premeir and IMovie are just several of them. Lastly, if you ever need any help online, just GOOGLE it.

E-learning

E-Learning takes learning to another level

During my primary through secondary school, lessons where carried out classrooms whereby teachers used chalks to write on the blackboard. It was ocassionally accompanied with the over head projector once in a while. Well imagine all that copying that we have to do gosh! Thats alot of notes to take.

After going to the polytechnic and studying multimedia, that was when my eyes to technology and learning begin to take a twist. We had to use computers almost 24/7.
Had to deal with computers in almost every lesson.

















Apart from using the computer daily, we also had to be familiar with the SP E-Learning Blackboard to check our grades or to consult our lecturers online. E-learning takes us to another level of education as more schools and universities are adopting e-learning. Top Universities such as NUS offered to students what is known as the Integrated Virtual Learning Enviroment (IVLE) a web based tool for resource and learning.

The e-learning program named edveNTUve cost NTU S$6 million when it was launched. The online oriented material allows dynamic content to be sent to students at anytime and any place. It is likewise for students like myself studying in SIM. We have the UBlearns Blackboard to check our materials and to send emails out to lecturers as well.

(Check out this link for more information about e-learning in Singapore)
http://www.u21global.edu.sg/PartnerAdmin/ViewContent?module=DOCUMENTLIBRARY&oid=157381

Blackboard on Ublearns














With techonlogy ever changing and improving, schools have be on the alert to think of innovative ways to teach students. With most schools using computers to teach students, who knows what the future holds for us now. Perhaps there will come a time whereby we won't even need to attend classes anymore and everything will be done online. It won't take a long time before everything we use will be Holographic.

It's just a matter of when! Initializing dateline for technology advancement...................

E-Commerce coming your way

E-Commerce Expanding!

Ah Yes isn't the power of technology wonderful ? Companies are now able to sell their products online and get them delivered straight to your doorstep. No longer do you need to drop by the shopping mall to shop for the clothes of your choice because everything can be done online at the comfort of your own home. However, unless you're on a date then of course you've gotta go out ;) 

The convenient thing about e-commerce is that all your transactions are done online. There are several ways how businesses can be conducted:

1) Business to Business - B2B

2) Business to Consumer - B2C

I guess the majority of us fall under the second category whereby we purchase products online. I have fallen as one of the victims into buying products online. It may not that frequent right now but in the long run, as technology evolves further, who knows. 

Some sites that I visit. Which sites do you all visit ? :D

www.undftd.com

www.neweracap.com

There are plenty of other sites that offers other kinds of products or business. The Internet itself has already opened many doors for us. With the introduction of E-Commerce here are a several advantages that it has:

1) Business Transactions online

2) Book your movie tickets online

3) Buy products online

4) Surf at your own convenience online

5) Start your own business online

With these advantages, e-commerce has allowed users to have online fast updating. Users are able to direct "link" capabilities to content information and virtual displays on other client websites. People who have business on a smaller scale are now able to compete with large companies on equal footing. Moreover, it is 24/7 which reduces cost for the advertiser and customers enjoy viewing it at the comfort of their homes.  

Wow! look at all the great possibilities you may do with E-Commerce. Who knows you might be the next Entrepreneur if you have a fantastic idea. All you need to do is to market it well with a little aid from technology. To conclude, here is a little music video about EBAY enjoy :D

Social Media

Generation Online Gaming!

Everyone knows that the most popular online social networking craze is non-other than FACEBOOK. Apart from the many other kinds of social network sites such as Friendster, Myspace and Hi5, online gaming is also another form of social network.

History of Online Gaming

Online gaming was introduced during 1969 by Rick Blomme. Blomme wrote a two-player version of the MIT's famous Spacewar for the PLATO which was one of the first time-sharing systems. The system built during the 1960's blossomed into a system that could host about 1,000 simultaneous users in 1972. From then on, gaming has now evolved to what we now know as Massive-Multiplayer Online Gaming. Games such as World of Warcraft, Maple Story, Second-Life, Dota Allstars and Counterstrike are just several of the big names.

Alot of games are making their way on the Internet to cater to online gamers. For people who do not really play games, you might think that it is a waste of time to log in and spend hours and hours just wasting precious time on a game. However, there is more to it then just gaming online. For example the game forums are a great way to interact with people online. Gamers will usually log on and talk about anything. It may be about the latest game releases or how to solve a specific quest. (Below is a page in a game forum "DOTA").

Heres a video on what warcraft 3 online looks like.

During our lecture, we were shown a footage on the virtual game "Second Life". It allows you to create an Avatar of yourself and basically allows you to do anything you want. Or things that you never thought you could do. There is plenty of social interaction and you are able to break boundaries as well. 

Online gaming is somewhat similar. However, although there is alot of gaming involved, there is also a fair bit of social interaction with people across the other regions. For example, a few years back, I was glued to this game known as conquer online. It is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing game that now features 4 characters and the sitting is in Rendition China. The objective is simple, just keep fighting monsters to get to the maximum level of 120. At a point of time, I was so hooked to the game that I spend almost everyday in my room after school gaming. 

Picture in the "Market place" where characters all over the world come and interact.

Picture of me and one my friends online

On the left side of the screen, there is the list of friends that I made online while playing. In fact, , my character was even married to another character names "June" from Sweden and then to another named "Kwenuh" from the United States. From then on, Kwenuh and myself have been pen pals ever since till now.

Therefore, for gamers such as myself, online gaming is a way of social interaction because apart from being online playing your favorite online game, you may also talk to people from different countries. Online gaming is just another form of social media just like Facebook but just a different style and experience.

Do check out the Conquer online if you're interested to know more :D

http://co91.com

The One Click That Connects Everyone

Do you remember the days when you wrote a letter to a friend be it overseas or living in Singapore ? It would take several days to reach their homes. Or how about looking for clothes? You would have to make a trip down to the mall and spend time trying it on. 

NOW, with the introduction of the 'Internet' almost everything can be done with just several clicks of the mouse. 

The Internet allows you to be in touch with the rest of the world. How does this work ? Your computer acts as an access point to a virtual highway also known as the network. As long as you stay connected on the Internet, you are establishing a line that will reach out to the network. 

With such access, You am able to get many things done and source for almost any kind of information that you want to look for. Many of us are now able to:

1. Chat with our friends online
2. Download songs online
3. Read the latest news about what's going on around the world online
4. To create this BLOG ;) online
5. Book your IPPT test date online
6. Gaming online
7. Meeting new people online

The list goes on.......

Indeed the internet has become a necessity in our daily lives. We can't do without it as we have to be in constant contact with the rest of the world. As Benjamin Franklin says, "Time is money", similarly, people no longer have the patience to sit and wait for a letter to arrive at your doorstep or step into the library to source for a book. Everything needs to be done as quickly as possible. It has even reached to the extent whereby even a web page with a slow loading time gets closed. 

SO now that the Internet has got people like you and me stuck on it for hours, the quest of this technology does not stop here. Humans are always finding new ways to stay connected even on the move. Even the new elect President Obama is using the Internet to get in touch with the people by being the first President to have his inauguration video streamed online. 

Therefore, if you're still wondering what the Internet is all about, I suggest you go to the nearest computer available and let your fingers do the clicking.