the blog

the essay

2007-12-06T22:00:00.000+10:00

Microsoft friend or enemy

The following essay will look into the way Microsoft has affected not only the common man but how it has affected digital media, copyright, censorship, internet politics. I will be also providing insight on the development of Microsoft into a multi national which came to dominate the world single handedly. I will also be discussing the advantages and disadvantages arriving from this multinational company. In the end I will also talk about the future of the corporation, and the role it will play in the years to come.

Microsoft was established on April 4 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft was a very promising firm in the start and everyone wanted a piece of it. So they did, the software made by Bill were given out to computer analyst to work on. Somewhere down the line it started selling. It is then Bill Gates decided to charge a price on the software. This is the first evidence we get of how Microsoft will effect the years to come. “THE SKUNK is, like Microsoft, nocturnal and omnivorous. And after millennia of natural selection, the skunk is, like Microsoft, an exquisite survival machine. So, catching moonlight in a pair of scanning eyes, the skunk instinctively knows, like Microsoft, exactly what to do.

Like a skunk, Microsoft is now hissing defiantly into what it mistakes for the approaching eyes of another Digital Research,VisiCorp, Software Publishing, WordPerfect, Lotus, or Novell. This time, however, Microsoft is squirting musk into the headlights of the onrushing 18-wheeler that we call the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.” (Cusumano,M & Selby,R, 1995, Microsoft Secrets)

Microsoft is squirting insults at the Department of Justice prosecutors, Federal judges, expert witnesses, and the computer industry's vast right-wing conspiracy. He is happily taking everyone for granted and does not care anything about anyone. So this essay will show how this has come to happen.

The most recent of these topics is Digital Rights Management or DRM. It had taken the World Wide Web by surprise. Obviously knowing Microsoft it also wants a piece of the action. “DRM technology will enable the author or owner of a document, a music file, a game or other digital content to control access rights to that content or even charge for it throughout the distribution process.”( Darrow.B, 2002). The concept of copyright still stays in the loop but the laws become more stringent and the big businesses call all the shots an command the market.

Microsoft has already got teams to work on DRM projects. According to Microsoft documents palladium which is code name for a set of future window features that when combined with new hardware, will promise better system integrity and data security. It this happens then no one else would be able to create the same software and Microsoft will have supreme authority. From past incidences we have seen after Microsoft gains an advantage it makes its own rules. They will again monopolize the market and set any standards they want. Lot of other companies are also lobbing for DRM to kick in but out of all of them Microsoft will gain the highest advantage. They can also integrate this with their web browsers and make coping of information next to impossible. To access this information you might have to pay a certain amount of money. For example while accessing Microsoft website one has to go through a genuine window check and if the windows software is not original further help on windows is not provided. So people who have been ripped for buying fake copies have to again spend money in buying the original software. ( Adams.S, 2004)

Microsoft has worked hard to avoid the barrage of criticism that Google faced when it launched the Google Books Library project to digitize copyright material. “Microsoft's Clifford Guren, director of partner evangelism, Windows Live Books, said: To be clear, we are only scanning and indexing in-copyright books with the expressed permission of the rights holder. This was certainly taken in positive spirit by many publishers. Gwyneth Jones, vice president of publishing information systems and technologies at John Wiley and sons has expressed interest in this software as search engines would be able to provide important service to end users”. (Fontana,J. 2006)

Next on the issues is Microsoft’s role on the internet. How it has affected the way news is displayed on the media. It plays a big role in censorship too. Due to Microsoft there are plenty of laws which prevent people to see the real picture. This is how these multinationals protect themselves. In recent times there have been several reports in this matter. It is seen that Microsoft has always tried to monopolize the cyber space. For example a report was released on Sept. 24 by seven self-proclaimed independent researchers from the IT security industry that harshly criticized Microsoft Corp.'s monopoly hold on the software industry. That hold is a fundamental cause of security problems that now confront the global Internet community, the report contends. The next day the co author of the article was fired for his comments on the report. The report was ordered not to be published as Microsoft had a big part in the company. This again proves the point that Microsoft tries to keep the people in the dark and maximize its profits in any way possible. (Verton,D, 2003)

Everything is at the disposal of Microsoft and it can do anything it wants to do and get away with it. Microsoft’s action’s affect everyone directly or indirectly. For example one such situation came up when the government of USA put forth a lawsuit against Microsoft calling it a monopolist. Microsoft was accused of monopolizing the market for software and hardware. Microsoft was said to be the gate keeper, deciding how much consumers will pay for the vital machinery of the information age. From this many questions arose which were, “why does the company charge so little for it – typically, just a few percent of the total price of a computer system?.” (Verton,D, 2003) In Microsoft’s defense it had research teams working on the demand and supply of its systems which helped it to keep the prices down and get rid of any competition. Microsoft was asked to submit reports to the government highlighting all the work done by Microsoft in the research work. The case was ultimately won by Microsoft but it was an opening into the dark secrets behind the walls of money making giant.

For a long time Microsoft has fought off every challenge that has arrived on its path. Recently Microsoft launched Microsoft Explorer 7 to answer the competition. Browser competition is becoming even more intense as Microsoft, Mozilla, and Opera ready new versions of their software for release. With version 7 of Internet Explorer, Microsoft's developers have seriously overhauled the browser, giving it popular features such as tabbed browsing, as well as improved security, thus closing the gap between it and its rivals. This has been done to make sure Microsoft has a stand in the market but the true story is that there are a lot of problems with the browser. The browser takes more time to load up and updates are not that frequent. ( E, Jan 2006.)

So there is no doubt the future does not look good. We need to make sure that Microsoft is kept under control and provisions should be made to check the progress of Microsoft. We live in a democracy; it is for the people of the people and by the people. So it is up to us to make sure that Microsoft does not take any unfair advantage over us.

References

Buetow.M The Real Lesson of the Xbox Failures ,Circuits Assembly. San Francisco: Aug 2007. Vol. 18, Iss. 8; pg. 6.

Darrow.B, Microsoft drives DRM CRN. Jericho: Dec 16, 2002. , Iss. 1025; pg. 84.

Fontana.J, Microsoft's antipiracy plan raises concern, Network World. Framingham: Oct 9, 2006. Vol. 23, Iss. 39; pg. 1, 2

Gray. M E & DeVries, M E, The legal fallout from digital rights management technology ,Computer and Internet Lawyer. Frederick: Apr 2003. Vol. 20, Iss. 4; pg. 20, 16

Krap, E, So What About Microsoft?, Business Communications Review. Hinsdale: Aug 2007. Vol. 37, Iss. 8; pg. 10, 3

Larkin.E.Browser Face-Off PC World. San Francisco: Jan 2006. Vol. 24, Iss. 1; pg. 18, 3.

Microsoft hands copyright control over to publishers ,Information World Review. Oxford: Jul 2006. , Iss. 226; pg. 3

Kenneth G. Elzinga, David S. Evans, and Albert L. Nichols, U.S. v. Microsoft Corp.: Remedy or Malady?, Feb12, 2002, vol 13,Iss 10, pg 14

Survival lessons: Skunks, Microsoft, and Bill Gates' 1998 Antitrust Epiphany

Bob Metcalfe. InfoWorld. San Mateo: Feb 16, 1998. Vol. 20, Iss. 7; pg. 95, 1 pgs

Adams.S, Downtime, Computer Weekly. Sutton: Feb 3, 2004. pg. 56, 1 pgs

Digital Rights Managment, Anonymous. EContent. Wilton: Dec 2003. Vol. 26, Iss. 12; pg. 38, 2 pgs

Evaluation

2007-12-02T19:58:00.000+10:00

where do i start. this is the first time in my 3 years of uni that i have actaully enjoyed the lectures. communication with fellow class mates and adam was very easy. the content of the subject is easy to understand. the lectures were done in a very systematic way. the use of clips online really helped me understand and analyse the topic covered in the lectures. the group discussions that were in the class also helped me to put my ideas across and on the other hand helped to me appreciate other person's point of view.
some problems i faced in the lecture was that some people in the discussion took most of adam's attention and they talked too much which sometimes prevented other people from talking. the first week of lectures were a little boring and not very interesting. sometimes during discussions we would loose track of the topics being discussed.
but i must hand it to adam he has really done a fantastic job in teaching this subject. he has done everything possible to make the lectures more interesting. he was always available for help and never neglected any student.

big thank u....

30 november..it all ended today

2007-11-30T17:53:00.002+10:00

i rocked up to the lecture 10 mins before the starting time. just wanted to be there early. the summer semester has come to an end with the end of this subject.
usually in the first semester a review is done in the lecture because the stuff taught in the 12 weeks is lots. what we did in our 10 day course was only 1/4 of it. so we didn't do any kind of review, but there was a little MCQ test that Adam thought we should have a look at..so we did..and quiet a lot of us got at least 65% correct answers. so what that proves to me is that lot of us were paying attention in the class.
after this began the discussion on free stuff on the internet, softwares and what not. Adam showed us many websites where we could get useful information for making the assignment. before i forget, some time was also spent on discussing the various topics of the assignment.
to sum up the lecture today was pretty mellow.....extremely cool atmosphere...something i have never seen in my 3 years in uni...was a welcome change.

finally i write my last words for this subjects lecture summary...hoping that i will keep this blog alive for a long time.
ciao......adios....aasta maniyana (PS means good bye)

the future is here...prepare yourself

2007-11-30T17:53:00.001+10:00

when reporters asked Einstien what would happen after the second war his answer has. "i do not know what will happen after the second world was but i can tell you that there wont be anyone left after the third world war".well my predictions are not that sinister but they are certainly interesting.

so what holds in the future for culture internet. the way things are going on at the moment there will be very less choices left for us too choose from. with all the copyright's and censorship being added on everyday you wont be able to write anything on your blogs, websites before going through online regulatory authorities. all the big companies will make rules and regulations which will prohibit people from accessing information on the web.
for people like us who work on blogs future looks good. you will be able to put your comments in the form of videos rather than writing your comments on the blogs. you would be able to write a blog in many languages. maybe able to change the blog from email. also there would be places where people could rate your blog and this would help to put your page on the web. from there i want to move on to video conferencing. you would be able to send your video feeds from anywhere in world and receive a 3 D video of other people in the conference. this would be very lifelike and exactly similar to face to face interaction.
but there lies one problem , the way google and microsoft are progressing there might be complete domination of the net by them. this kind of rule would be on the same lines of dictatorship and no one would be allowed to rise. free opnion on the web will vanish and this will completely change the way we look for news online. it will be contorted to just suit the higher parties. at the end of the day it will come down to whose pockets are more full. everyone would be forced to sign the terms of conditions set by ruling multi-nationals before they access the net.

no more free movies, songs, softwares and videos will be present online and places like youtube will be long forgotten. there would be serious penalties for anyone who would go against the policies.

so to come to think of it the future does not look good....something needs to be done so that the big corporations know that the real power is in the hands of the people using their services and not them.

what happened today??????29 november

2007-11-30T16:46:00.000+10:00

Okay day number 9. almost reached the end. today we discussed the concepts of Cyber Utopia and Dystopia. to us engineers something that Dan Brown stated in one of his books stands out a lot"For every Matter their is an Antimatter". so we now enter the world of utopia.
we go to the beginning the first media age where the sources and transmission sources were limited. usually their was only one source and many receivers. it was under educational, financial and technical restrictions. this allowed very less growth and their was total domination by one source.
then we went on to look at the internet usage today and it was interesting to see that there was massive growth in Middle east and Africa. it was also good to see that other languages are catching up with English in the domination of the internet.

next up the second media age. this era had many sources and many more receivers. anyone could become a source and put the ideas and thoughts out there for other people to look at and comment on. this is when the growth started. but according to Marshall Mcluhan there were 3 media ages.

oral
literate
electric

next up Utopia Vs Dystopia
utopia is a state where everything is right and there is complete harmony between people and technology. sorry to say this is really far fetched. something like this cannot be balanced. now on the other hand dystopia is a state where technology empowers over people. truthfully speaking we are not there yet but are reaching there.....
so to solve this dilemma one has to get a better understanding of these new technologies. understand the concept behind the virtual philosophy, artificial intelligence. the way man is progressing all these can be proven to be true in time.
to make matters more interesting we got to watch Alphaville. movie set in the early 60's. this movie was a true testament of a society with no emotions. everything was run by a computer which lacked the basic character of a homo sapien sapiens. something like this would make a prefect society where rules and regulations were everything. but it would lack creativity and the most important thing of all 'thinking outside the box'. the growth would be none and this is where the downfall of society starts. in my opinion this society will fall down sooner or later.
so on this notion is finish this blog...

is it truev " old is gold "

2007-11-28T19:56:00.001+10:00

The topic today for the tute's is a very smart one. so lets put the phrase "OLD IS GOLD TO THE TEST" traditional media is something that has been there for ages. stuff has been added to it but the basic principle remains the same. words in black and white on recycled paper. remains the same now but it is colored and has photos in it. the thickness keeps increasing from time to time. you get all the news all from all over the world and from your country and the community. all under one booklet. now the real question do you have enough time to read through or skim through it. best of all are you ready to lug the paper all day long. so came the internet to the rescue.everything is at one place and it's got more photos and catches the eye more than anything else. but some of us still love to sit over the table early in the morning and read the paper while enjoying a bowl of cornflakes, or read it while taking the bus or train to work. so it depends solely on the individual on what he wants out of it.
the only problem that one faces is, because it is open to everyone who do you trust to give you the right information. but this is something we are ready to take leap for. certainly the politicians of today have. for example john howard literally ran half his campaign online. so did kevin rudd. there were numerous polls and discussion threads running all over the place. different news companies had websites completely dedicated to the elections and this helped the common public to make the right choice. so it would be safe to say that the internet has certainly changed the way we look at the news.
indymedia is certainly a good website and has got a lot of information about what is happening in the local community and the state. also covers international news. it is always good to know what events are taking place around us. most of all you get to read about the problems that everyone in the community is facing, and what is being done about it. so it was a good experience going over it.
but the real question is how true is the news being presented to us??????

what happened today??????28 november

2007-11-28T19:54:00.000+10:00

so now we come down to the real thing. internet and cyber-democracy was the topic for the day. something like this requires a lot of thinking. we kick off the lecture with the difficulties that technology poses on democracy...so we are defining the problem...something which is important for a step wise thinking. before i get into anything i need to describe what democracy is, democracy is that kind of government that is of the people, for the people and by the people. so everyone has the say on how their state should be run. was very interesting to see the different views of people on this topic. also prompted to me the gaps in their processing of the idea on democracy.
before i get into the rest of it .read this beautiful quote on the net
"Democracy is a system ensuring that the people are governed no better than they deserve."
by George Bernard Shaw

after this we had a small but interesting discussion on the different issues of democracy due to the internet. something that hit me the most would be the battle between free speech and censorship. free speech being the building element of democracy and often this it pushed down by government's to reduce opposition.

then came the icing on the cake. documentary by Corey Doctorow. his main idea during his lecture was the morals of internet. how we are supposed to use it. what the big multinationals are doing to the independence of an internet user. his speech actually showed me he actually believed in what he was putting out. his ideologies were a little out there but seemed very true. really enjoyed the clip and learned something new ...as always.

what happened today?????27 november

2007-11-27T16:10:00.000+10:00

it is day number 7. we are almost approaching the end of this subject..and it has really started to get very interesting..and todays topic was the one i can talk about for hours and hours....first we saw couple if clips from you tube...very entertaining...from there started a discussion on how copyright has effected us and how it will for the years to come. what is safe use of stuff from the internet...no idea....one thing we all can agree is the idea of creative commons is the safest way to go. the most sickening part of copyright is that it limits the growth of everything associated with it, by preventing the common people from using it....absolutely ridiculous...after this we went on too.ELECTRONIC MUSIC, the minute i heard this term i told myself we are in business and i am going to have fun. there are a lot of cobwebs around electronic music and people think it is not creative. everything is produced in the computer, it lacks the melody and the essence of music..my answer to all that is....bullshit...it is same as other music, like all music it is an acquired taste. it takes time and creativity to make this kind of music. there was a pretty good discussion on this and i found lot of people did agree to what i thought. was a pleasant surprise...people are thinking out of the box for a change.
then we saw a documentary on the birth, the current status and future of electronic music. it was very informative for me and enjoyed every moment of it. we saw how the DJ's in Detroit are trying to improve the style of electronic music. one important part of this kind of music is its dark side..where people think this music is only for drug addicts..you cannot enjoy this kind of music without being high on drugs.. this is something which is becoming true and most of us who are true believers of electronic music fear the most.
then we went to see how electronic music is created and what different Dj's do to become different. there was something missing from this documentary which i think was the influence of Europe in the evolution of trance and techno. it wasn't just restricted to england..there are so man countries in europe who have produced the best Dj's in the world....and they hare responsible for putting electronic music on the map.
rest everything was good in the documentary and was really fun... and that is all what we did today.

the collection vamped up

2007-11-26T22:15:00.000+10:00

this is the collection of the photos being vamped up by using Photoshop. as always these are are sole work of faizaan khalique. the pics have been shot by Nokia N73 armed with a 3.2 megapixel camera.

friends

this photo is something i will remember for a long time. it was sandeep's birthday and india finally won the T20 world Cup so this blue background is basically the color of the indian team's attire. then sandeep won indoor cricket at his place so we took out the flower from his birthday cake and it was presented to him as a trophy.

hi-tech

this is an example of a life which will look if everything in this world was run by machines (computers) big multinationals. there would be strict rules and regulations and things will go on the way they are supposed to go on. it will lack in color, creativity and individuality. life will be plain, boring and completely computerized.

news

this is a photo of another sunset that i took on my way back from Stradbroke island. the picture was really plain and looked very lifeless. this is when i decided to give it a shadow and made the sun shine a little harder. now this picture looks full of life. this is the same way i had felt on my way back. as i had done para sailing for the first time. best time ever.

summer

i have used the same picture but i am trying to
make this look like a sunrise rather than a sunset. i have tried to capture the way sunlight explodes on earth and brings everything to life. i have also tried adding more life to the picture with a shadow in the water. i have also tried to blend the colors in the sky so i can make it look more beautiful and produce the real glory of sunrise.

games

this is a Playstation 2. one of the highest selling game consoles in the world. the old one had provision for only 2 players, but now you can get 6 players at a time. the photo here is a little hazy becasue we do not know what ig going to happen with gaming technology after some time. will people appreciate it the same way they do now. well we have to wait to get the answer.

Successful
this photo is a true testament to the quote"it takes two to tango" . darwin is not doing the tango here but he is pretty successful in blending with the statue of liberty. things people like to do. that is why the human brain is so precious...it makes you funny things.

celebrity
this is a photo of a sea bird called dirty harry. he is a star at sea world, born and bred in sea world. he has been trained to walk around sometimes just before the seal show and entertain people with his funny antics. this photo resembles our mirror images, we are in always trying to run after them and sometimes in quarrel with it. we sometimes do it on a subconscious level too.that is why we walk, talk and fight in sleep. here i am trying to show that this is not just restricted to us.

what happened today?????26 november

2007-11-26T16:20:00.000+10:00

well woke up today with a serious hangover....again told myself i wont drink again....but slowly and steadily rocked up to the lecture 15 minutes late...the lecture today was again about something i am very familiar with. having done couple of computer language's myself like Java and C++. i am always trying to find new websites where i can download free trial versions of many softwares. coming back to the topic...we were explained how the softwares work . the whole idea or codes and compiling of codes and what computer understands from the code. with this comes the copyright and companies now have laws which prevents the programmers to change the source code. obviously Microsoft is leading in this topic too...
next up was the open and proprietary software..lots of programmers work to create softwares everyday. some of it is free to download and use. they cannot be sold for commercial gain. this was all good..you could enjoy all the good stuff...then came microsoft again and stopped the party...they wanted to make softwares proprietary so that profit could be made from them....now in the 21 century there are strong laws on piracy and these big companies come down hard on everyone they catch duplicating softwares...most common example..when you connect to microsoft online it checks whether your system software is original or a cheap copy..if it finds out that the software is a fake..you cannot download a lot of new stuff from microsoft...
but as always there are ways to make sure these big companies do not take any unnecessary advantages of the users..their are certain guidelines which are to be followed which allows us to use information morally, legally and responsibly.
in the end we went on to the concept of EFF and how useful it has been for us. well i guess it has helped us out in many ways...by then i was in a bad shape and had to miss the documentary at the end of the lecture...will be checking out that later...

the collection unveiled

2007-11-23T11:52:00.001+10:00

finally i get to use the snaps i have been clicking since i got my phone. Nokia N73,armed with a 3.2 Mega pixel camera.

hi tech. the helicopter here in the picture is run throughout the day. it is used to fly people around the broadwater and enjoy what the best and cleanest part of gold coast has to offer. helicopter reminds us all how far we have come from the first time the Wright brothers launched their airplane in 1903. this certainly is a true testament for the never ending thirst of man to accomplish the impossible. this truly is one of the best creations of the 20 century. especially in this photo it stands majestic in the backdrop on a rainy evening.

friends. well what can i say about this one. my friend Darwin here is simply trying to be the other half of statue of liberty. it is moments like these you tell yourself that good friends can always make you laugh even if you are a little sad.

university life. this photo was taken 2 months ago at the hinze dam. we were down at the place to have a look at a dam and see how it works. the trip was a field trip which was part of Hydraulics 2. the trip was very informative. my team members helped me take some readings on the site which helped me prepare a good assignment. i guess this is one of the parts of my degree that i will miss the most.

summer. this photo is very close to my heart. sunset at broadwater. i had to set my exposure and the light settings to take this one. sunsets in summer are really something. it is so serene and peaceful. it just proves how beautiful mother nature is. simply love the summer.

news:this photo is for the weather channel. one of the rarest phenomenon seen on earth. two rainbows at one time. i guess got really lucky this time.happened to be at the right time at the right place. rainbows are usually seen when sun rays pass through droplets of water. the droplets act like prisms and you see the rainbow.

unconventional. this photo is of a parrot who i saw during exams in the morning. he was in the bushes and trying to nibble on the flower which he thought was fruit. the best part is he was trying to do it upside down. was looking really funny.

NOTE: this is a sole work of mua faizaan khalique. so enjoy the pics and please leave some comments.

what happened today??????23 Nov 2007

2007-11-23T11:50:00.000+10:00

one of the most interesting lecture out of all the ones we have done till now. for starters no clip in the start that was change. don't mind the clips. it is then i thought the lecture today is different. started the lecture with IM. It is one of the reasons why i got hooked to the internet. we had a very good discussion on the IM software and how they have helped us and changed our lives. Mirc was the father of all this. you could join chat groups and chat with almost everyone in your class. then came the ever faithful ICQ you could chat send smiley faces and sound effects and in the later part you could have an audio chat too. after all this came the revolution by Microsoft MSN messenger. it has certainly changed the face of IM softwares. you can do anything you want to on the latest msn messenger. the discussion there was pretty good and got to hear lot of opinions of other people too.
then after this we jumped on to the portable audio. did not have a lot of information on this so spent the time listening to what Adam was telling us and other bits and pieces being added by fellow classmates.i know a lot about Mp3 players because have been using them from a long time. certainly made my life easier. walk around with music in my pocket. also hear the latest music online.
next on the list was P2P. boy my favorite topic. thanks to this i have heard seen and almost enjoyed anything and everything there is present on the net. we went though pretty quickly with this topic and had brief discussion. P2P is basically one person sharing files over a HUB where other people share and download files from other peers. examples of these can be Kazaa, Morpheus, Direct connect, Limewire the list goes on and on...
next on the list was video games. the world of video games is divided into two parts and they are always in constant clashes with each other. the two different theories are narratology and ludology. the first one says that the all video games are like narrating stories and all their step wise allocation of information, whereas the latter is not concerned with the story elements of the games but the elements of the games. they argue that the story elements are for decorations rather than making them more interesting. after this we had a very informative discussion on the birth , the life and the present value of video games.
this is pretty much of what happened today.....

what happened today???22 november 2007

2007-11-22T17:17:00.000+10:00

we started off with the lecture on a small discussion on virtual philosophy. virtual philosophy stated that virtual world is an extension of the world we live in. it looks the same but it is not the same. it lacks the basic essences of feel, touch smell etc. one can create a separate life for themselves in this virtual world and it can or cannot bear resemblance to the real life.
from there on we jumped on to matrix which is all about the life which is in the virtual world. it works on the principle that the world we live in is the middle world and the past and the future is the virtual world. we live in a world that works in three dimensions but the virtual world takes into account a fourth dimension which is time. this plays a very important role in the virtual world. this enables you to do things you could not dream of doing in real life. something like this was first discussed by Jean Baudrillard. what strikes me most about this is that it is possible. some time in the near future you could put your thoughts in a simulation PC and could live and do things in the virtual world forever.
second life is exactly a virtual platform that works on this principle and gives you what you desire. the only problem is that it is expensive and lacks the basic morals and rules of society which have been there for generations. this prevents it from giving a life like picture. this is something we as human beings all work on....
having said that virtual reality will definitely one day have everything we ask for now...there is no stopping it....because homo sapiens are ever evolving species........

the world in 3D

2007-11-22T16:50:00.001+10:00

The world in 3D..something i did not know about . after experiencing this new program it certainly opens your eyes to the 3 dimensional world . if you have the resources and the time you can make most of it. i have been hooked on these IM programs since the time i have been on the net. IM programs certainly made my life easier, as all my friends were on it and i could get my message across. also i could leave a message even if they were offline. since time internet has grown and more and more things are being launched on it. newer IM programs are being launched which allow you to send different facial expressions and noises to anyone connected with you. this is something personal but the virtual building platform helps you do more than that. you can jump, race walk and to so many activities that are not possible on the im's. in virtual worlds you can create your own avatar's. you can dress them the way you want to and basically so anything to them.helps to bring out your creative side. sometimes also reflects what you want to be and do. But all of it comes at a price. whereas im programs are free to download and use. it takes a lot of time to understand the 3D programs and some of them are also not very user friendly. after some time you get bored of them. some of us go back to the old simple IM's.
given you can get a 3D figure but do you really want it. personally if i want to experience 3 dimension i would walk out the door and there it is. free of charge. less time consuming.
coming down to the basic principle of im and virtual world, one gets to interact with another person. how you want it, depends on our perception of the technology. so both have their plus and minus it is up to you what you want out of it.
IM is the technology of today but Virtual Platforms are for the Future.

tute 3....the answers..

2007-11-21T19:44:00.000+10:00

Onel de Guzman (http://computerbytesman.com/lovebug/index.htm)(askjeeves.com)

Samuel B. Fay in 1867(http://www.officemuseum.com/paper_clips.html)(hotbot)

Ebola is one of the two viruses classified as Filoviridae, viruses made of RNA. filo is Latin for ‘worm’, an apt name, as filoviridae look like worms and threads under a microscope (Oldstone 134). It could be that Ebola is ancient, as RNA is the most basic 'code' of life (Preston 85).The Ebola virus, named for a river near the place of its first outbreak (Tomlinson 1), is divided up into strains, which are variations of the virus.

(http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/Africa/04/burton/burton.htm)(dogpile)

Chile in 1960. 9.5 on the Richter Scale(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/10_largest_world.php)(dogpile)

1 TB = 1024 MB, 1 MB = 1024 KB

So 1 TB = 1024 x1024 = 1048576 KB(Educational background in computers)

Early 1970's, Ray Tomlinson(http://www.livinginternet.com/e/ei.htm)(dogpile)

The leader exercised no military power over its subjects.Douglas chambers was the first white person to be be made a royalty in the NRI government, after he spent time researching on the eastern Nigerian community.(http://iupjournals.org/ral/ral29-1.html)(yahoo)

Send a mail via Australia post:

The address is as follows

The Hon John Howard MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600

(http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm)(altavista)

Black Assassins(dogpile)(http://live-wirez.gu.edu.au/Staff/Stephen/default.html)(hotbot)

Web 2.0 is a second generation of online web communities and hosts. These have been done to improve the sharing, association and creativity between users using Web Blogs. The common examples of this would be RSS feeds, social networking sites like facebook and orkut.

(http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html)(yahoo)

There is no absolute confirmation that these search engines give the right pages for the information required. Having said it should be noted that some of these search engines work on making sure that the pages they cover in the searches have information that is valid. usually the older the search engines the better their results are.hence there is always a 10% chance that the information received is incorrect. this is something almost all us can live with.

what happened today????21 november 2007 part 2

2007-11-21T16:41:00.000+10:00

next on the list what was happening on the other side of the Atlantic.we come to Europe.there were many pioneers emerging during this time and one that i am fond of would be the Frankfurt school which says that the media was becoming too similar to the real life. according to me it should be on the same lines of everyone's life because only then it becomes more realistic and covers pieces of information that are relevant to the common man who is not the smartest man in the world. the other theories developed were by Walter Benjamin, Habermas, Louis Althusser and the list goes on.
now we go on to one of the most important parts of the subject New Media, Cybercultural Studies and Internet studies. these are basically the building blocks of new communication technologies.
cyberculture is basically is a culture that has emerged or is emerging from the use of computers for entertainment, communication etc.
there are many ideologies that have come up from this culture theses are basically contextualizing interactions, discoursing cyberspace , online access and barriers and digital design. as time goes by they will undergo lot of changes. they are certainly the most evolving theories in cyberculture.
new media is also evolving and in many parts of the world there is ongoing research that is trying to answer the long line of questions related to it.
guess this is where i will stop and try to take in what i have understood, but there is one thing for sure -like the continuous evolution of man all these theories will also evolve so that they can satisfy man's need to understand his surroundings.

what happened today????21 november 2007 part 1

2007-11-21T16:14:00.000+10:00

the day started as usual ..nothing out of the blue..started the lecture of with a discussion on the improvement of the net from the time it started and the way it has grown. the inflow and outflow of information. the important thing to see is that we are now starting to move away from the physical phase to the digital phase. we are satisfied by looking at the news, jokes and different ideas people have on the net than trying to look for news papers and magazines.then went on to look at the definition of media and what it is all about.media is the plural word fro medium. medium is the study of the culture that is cultivated from the technology and the different parts of it. they not only compliment each other but work with each other to get the whole picture out. media is different to Media where the latter is basically the people and organizations that work together to get the news out . eventually this is something which captivates us and helps us to understand the world better. this whole concept is termed as the mass media.
after learning about mass media i went on to learn about the origin and history of media. this idea was first launched in the 20 century and several theories came about one that i think still plays a very important role in out lives would be the looking for effects- connection to psychology. this theory said that media directly influences the thinking of populations. it is powerful force and if done in the right way it can provide the results that it is intended to achieve. it works on ideas of advertising and marketing campaigns.some other theories that were put forth were bullet theory which in my thinking would be more authoritative in nature and will have very less flexibility. some other theories introduced were application of statistical methods,minimum effects,Marshall Mcluhan and mixed effects. all these theories were correct in their own standing but they did not have a strong effect because of their unavailability to continuously upgrade themselves with the changing times.

what happened today????20 november 2007 part 2

2007-11-20T18:07:00.000+10:00

after the computer came the internet and the Web...they are not the same....
the internet is basically a network of several networks which are designed to send and receive information from these networks. this concept was first thought by RAND corporation when it was sassing out nuclear was scenarios ..it then thought of a command and control network which would survive the nuclear attack and could reform around communication services left intact. researchers were already working on getting packets of information from one computer to another, this was exactly what the people in RAND were after. they struck a deal with them and internet came into existence. with this came the hackers and the hobbyists.
then came the web where concepts of hyper text and inter networking were used to share and pass information within several computers connected to the internet. languages like HTML and XML were then introduced to make life a little easier for everyone hooked on to the internet. the leading authorities in this phase were Netscape and Mosaic.
after all this a concept of cyber space was introduced which worked with the principles of imaginary and real life with the interaction of software, hardware and logic. cyber space was divided into 3 worlds. it shed light on the common process in the machines and the humans and they way they are linked to each other. after this the internet evolved and many features came out of it like the email,file transfer protocol and the internet relay chat. since then all this has been added to our daily lives and it is hard to imagine life without them.

what happened today????20 november 2007 part 1

2007-11-20T17:23:00.000+10:00

sadly rocked up to the lecture 15 mins late and missed the mac and Microsoft clip..they are very entertaining as they make fun of each other...funnily enough work on the same principle 0 and 1. the binary numbers.the building blocks of every computer.
the lecture licked off with the birth of the computer and its relation to various adding machines. the first one being created by charle's babbage in the 19 century which was nothing more than a difference engine designed to calculate and print mathematical tables. a brief introduction was given on charle's babbage and his dream which now we call a modern day computer. then the lecture gave more information on the people like Ada Byron Lady Lovelace who thought of making analytical engine that would be able to compose, play music and produce graphics that would be used in day to day life.
the concept of a computer was analyzed and finally made a reality by Turing who worked in WW2 to break the codes used by the Germans. he put out ideas of artificial intelligence that would be controlled by a human. the human would interact with the computer and another human. only when the human was not able to differentiate between the results produced by computer and another human being the artificial intelligence was considered to be smarter.
then we entered the production on computers which was done by IBM in the 1950's. they produced the PC for corporate and military use. the old computers were very big and did small operations but it was apparent that there size would reduce gradually. during this period the two Moore's laws were also introduced.
finally in the 1970's a personal computer was launched by the "think tank" in Xerox which added mouse and keyboard to the computer. the biggest problem with the PC then was it did not have a set pattern of codes that would allow its interaction with the user. many people like bill gates founder of Microsoft and Steve Wozniak , Steve jobs founders of apple jumped in to create languages to solve this problem. bill gates made basic and Steve's produced the apple 1 and 2. they were the leading authorities in this field.
IBM was threatened by this move and wanted to get its hand in the matter. it then started the was between Microsoft and Apple which had its Ups and downs which resulted in Bill Gates making lot of money and putting Microsoft on the top. apple on the other hand struggled but finally got up and made its name in the market it too.

new communication technologies

2007-11-20T16:40:00.000+10:00

Before I get into the whole concept of new communication technologies i need to define what communication and technology means. Communication is the means by which organisms can transfer information to one another by several methods. Communication can be verbal and non verbal. Ironically non verbal part weighs 65% of the total communication process. On the other hand technology deals with the species use and knowledge of tools and crafts and the way they are affected by their use. Technology is ever evolving and man's hunger to learn more and make things better in his life has helped him to leap ten folds.
Now coming to the real thing new communication technologies...these can vary from anything like mobile phones, wireless, blue tooth, cd roms etc...The list goes on forever...but he real thing one has to consider is that many of us go on living our lives without even thinking how they impact our lives and what will happen when they are gone.
Personally life without them would be like the one in Stone Age...where you had to communicate using smoke signals...can’t think of doing something like that. as a person who is living really far away from home it is not easy being in touch with friends and family. with no communication with family life can become really very hard...thanks to the mobile phones the internet one is always in touch with anything and everything around them. The flow of information is multi directional and heaps of it can be transferred. Everything is only a finger tip away and it has been like this for many years especially for me. I guess I started using these "New Communication Technologies" when I was 8 years old...and got hooked to it and life was simpler and hassle free. I was in touch with the world and it was with me...especially at that age you are trying to learn and you can consume large amounts of information. So I was able to capitalize on it and be part o f the “in gang"...someone who knew it all. This made me happy and made mom and dad happy too....till date when I have free time I go online to look at stuff which I have interests in and send that over to my friends who like it to. Friends here are not only the people I have met in person but those who i met online on msn messenger, facebook, friendster and hi-5. The list goes on and on...my interaction with them is almost on the same lines as with the friends that I meet face to face. the only problem that i face is they are not in front of me and it seems to be very superficial. it misses the humane touch...

i guess technology has always lacked this from the start...

me "rite here rite now"

2007-11-19T16:44:00.000+10:00

hi it's me again. now i am going to tell u what i am doing with my life.
i am currently pursuing a degree in civil engineering and in am in my third year. this blog that i have created if for my summer subject new communication technologies.
i am looking to learn something new and widen my knowledge on different areas of life. i have done subjects in business, that have taught me a lot about how big and small business run. also how different areas in these businesses compliment each other. i have been able to use this knowledge in my day to day life..it has proven to be most useful in my current work which involves hospitality.
i am currently working in sea world as a food and beverage attendant. i walk around with drink carts all around the park playing and talking to people. it is the best job that i have done in years. my work is very dependent on team work and i am a team player...this helps me to improve my communication with different people in the team. as a lot of them are not from English speaking backgrounds like myself i find a lot of similarities among them and me.
well this is all from my side now....u will hear more from me tomorrow..so stay safe and keep blogging....

about me

2007-11-19T16:10:00.000+10:00

hi all my name is Faizaan Khalique (aka Faiz). i am from India and currently residing in gold coast Australia.i am 22 years old. i have been in Australia for four years ( one in melbourne and 3 in gold coast).
i am an easy going person who likes to laugh and make people laugh. i like to hang out with my friends and they are one of the most important people in my life. my parents are the most important people in my life. i like to party hard and work hard. i love to play sports and have played in school. i love playing cricket which is actually a passion where i come from.
i am an optimist and try to look at everything in a positive way. i like listening to music and watching movies in my free time. i am kind of a movie buff..and don't miss a lot of movies.My all time favorite movie is Armageddon. i am a big fan of Bruce Willis.
i don't like people who are liars or posers. i am a very straight forward person. i believe life is black and white with hints of Grey that make it very interesting. i believe without struggle in life there would be no joy.
my Favorite Quote i live my "life's a Bitch, but i am still standing"
i guess this is it for the blog..next one is going to be abt why i have this blog and other interests.