Reading Report 5

                This article made a lot of really good points about the growing concern of privacy on the internet.  The introduction with the “Star Wars Kid” was a good way to get captivated into the article, and it made the point of how scary an invasion of privacy can be.  I personally think the point about the gossip websites was somewhat unimportant; if anyone has spent five minutes on these websites they would realize how ridiculous they are and not take them seriously.  Likewise, worrying about information on Facebook getting out is self-inflicted.  It is obvious that the internet has enabled a lot of information to get out to the world; however, most of that information is openly put out there by the person it is about.  While I know many people put jokes on their social network sites where their friends would know they were not serious, we are constantly told that employers look at these pages who would have no idea the statement was a joke.  Things like this are what give things like Facebook and Twitter bad names.  If people used these sites with common sense, the privacy of them would not be such an issue.

                A lot more good has come from the internet then bad, and many times people forget to look at that as well.  It has been a great way to get out information, yet it is a shame how easy it has made to copy copyrighted materials.  While I am sure it is only a matter of time before the US starts to pass privacy laws related to the internet, I think most of the privacy issues people deal with are self-inflicted.

News Report 5

“Aiming for Bronze, Blekko Gets a Million Searches a Day”

By, Ryan Singel

November 9, 2010

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/11/blekko-first-week/

                This article is about a new search engine available to the public, Blekko.  It is reported to be the top third most popularly used search engine, behind Google and Bing.  Blekko became available only eight days ago, so it is not nearly as large as Google, however the creators are trying new ways to run their search engine.  Blekko’s main goal is to cut down on the spam that appears when using a search engine.  They are attempting to accomplish this by using humans to edit the best sites to search for different topics.  Basically the queries search through hand selected sites rather than the entire web index.  Blekko’s biggest test will be if the people who used the search engine in their start-up week will return, yet Google has noticed its competition, and they have already tried to steal Blekko’s engineers.    

                This article interested me because although Google is a great search engine, sometimes it can be extremely frustrating when you are ten pages into your search and still have found nothing relevant.  I am always looking for new search engines to use, and I really like how Blekko’s goal is not aimed at getting the largest return number on a search, but getting the most relevant items instead.  Essentially its founders are more concerned with quality then quantity, and in the end, that is typically what people want from a search engine, otherwise, what would be the point?        

News Report 4

"Putting Employees' Smartphones To Work"
By Marguerite Reardon
October 27, 2010
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20020818-266.html?tag=topStories2

This article takes an inside look at Harrah’s Entertainment, however the ideas presented more than likely affect many other companies as well.  In an effort to cut costs, Harrah decided to let employees use their personal cell phone for work use, instead of supplying them with a separate work only cell phone.  At first employees were happy about the change so they only had to carry around one phone.  Eventually, while this did indeed cut costs for Harrah, it also made a huge security issue among Harrah’s employees.  Many wondered how much access the company would have to their personal life, and what would happen if the employee decided to leave the company, would the company clean everything off of their cell phone?  Harrah decided to put together policies stating exactly what information the company could access on its employees cell phones, meaning that only corporate emails and business-related apps would be back on the company server, therefore if something happens to the phone or if the employee leaves the company, only the corporate data will be wiped.  RIM and Good Technology supply the software to Harrah for this solution.  Although this technology costs money, the company is still saving in the long run by not paying the cell phone bill.

While I understand the nuisance of having two cell phones, I would personally like to keep my work and private life separate.  If my personal cell phone was also my work cell phone, I would always be “on call” and expected to respond to emails.  What happened to normal 8 to 5 work days or when taking a vacation actually meant not working for a week?  Unless the job required constant traveling, I would not want this.  However, I think it is great there is now technology to ensure the company is not overstepping their bounds into people’s private lives by keeping the data separate.

Reading Report 4

"The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google"

              We are constantly told as kids of this generation how lucky we are to have every bit of information at our finger tips.  In reality, this is true only to a point.  Although I personally seem to use Google at least once every day for some question that comes about, I am beginning to see there is a wealth of information I did not know that existed.  Although the obvious question many adults may wonder about our generation is why we do not just ask a librarian for help, but in our minds, who would waste their time when they can probably figure something out that is “close enough” to what the teacher is looking for.  Upon taking this class, I expected to get an easy A and not learn much.  Now however, I am learning how to actually utilize my library and what to do when Google does not respond with the results I am looking for, rather than trying Yahoo or turning in half-quality work.

                Learning how to use databases through UNCW’s website is something completely new to me.  I agree with Bell’s article that these databases could definitely stand to be a little more user friendly like Google, yet I am sure they become easier to use with practice, just like anything else.   Now that I am about to graduate, looking back I feel that universities, teachers, and students could get a lot more out of their college experience (and beyond) if even some of this information about databases and online library catalogs was taught in a freshmen seminar or English class.  Even if teachers expected better information from us, like Bell suggested, instead of their only limit on information being to not use Wikipedia, would help motivate us to get better quality information.  The RedLighGreen project sounds hopeful, and although I am sure technology will eventually find a way to get better information to the public besides their current methods, I am enjoying learning about it now and only wish I knew sooner.    

Reading Report #3

            I thought the article about librarians being “up and coming” was very interesting.  It was a different way of looking at librarians and the library that many people have not thought of before.  The first point of libraries being “scrappy” was not only funny, but a seemingly valid point.  It seems as though libraries have the best intentions, yet they have to constantly fight for funding.  Also, it is obvious being green is the newest trend throughout the US and world, so the library would make sense to be the number one place to easily obtain this environmental friendly point of view. 

            Likewise, I thought the second article discussing the future of libraries was also interesting.  I agree that libraries are going to need to change with the future and the easy access to all kinds of information online; however, I am not sure I think that they will change to the extent as portrayed in this article.  Although information is easily found online, I know many people do not like to read long articles or books on a computer screen, and would much rather check something out in the library.  While the article views a library as a fun and exciting place to be, which is great for children, many older students need to view a library as somewhere to concentrate and get stuff done.  With hot dog venders and concerts going on, writing a paper seems unlikely.  I personally go to the library when I need to focus and have no distractions, and this new way of a library seems like it would only distract me more.  I love the idea of making libraries more trendy so people want to come more (and hopefully get more funding), I just hope it is not taken out of hand and the original purpose of a library does not disappear. 

News Report 3

Flying Robot Swarm Takes Off
By Olivia Solon
September 27, 2010
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/robot-swarm/

Switzerland is developing flying robots to have communication networks for rescuers.  These robots are called SMAVNET, standing for Swarming Micro Air Vehicle Network.  SMAVNET’s can wirelessly communicate with one another.  The desired turn rate, speed, or altitude is sent to autopilot by the controllers running Linux.  During the swarming of the SMAVNET, the robots react to wireless communication between other robots or neighbors instead of GPS or positioned sensors.  Technicians came up with the idea to create SMAVNET by copying the ideal of army ants.  While army ants lay and maintain paths leading from their nests to food sources, the flying robots are programmed to lay and maintain communication pathways between a base node and users in the environment.  As of the date of this article, Switzerland had experimented with ten robots flying together, which is believed to be the most robots to swarm together.

I think this is a great idea.  Although I have many questions left unanswered by the article, and I have never heard of such a thing before, it seems like it can only help.  I do wonder what happens if weather is bad, or what the robots will do if an actual plane or helicopter is in the area; however, I am sure that I am not the only one to have thought of these questions.  Also, although robots are not really a huge part of life now, I will be interested to see what comes from these advances, and how robots may start to become a part of everyday life one day. 

News Report 2

'YouTube Instant' Creator Finds Instant Fame

By, Michelle Meyers
Sept. 13, 2010
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20016172-93.html?tag=topStories3


Last week a news article about Google Instant was discussed in my group. This week, as I searched online for an article, the most common article I received was about YouTube Instant. A student at Stanford, Feross Aboukhadijeh, tested Google Instant Wednesday as it made its debut and was so impressed he decided to use the same concept, only for YouTube. Only taking him three hours, Aboukhadijeh came up with a site that lets viewers search YouTube videos in real time. This allows people to type in what they are looking for, and the engine guesses what that video is and immediately plays it. Of course through his discovery, he received an offer from the CEO of YouTube for a full time job. Aboukhadijeh just finished up an internship with Facebook, and says he wants to finish college before accepting any job offers.


I think this is a good idea, but it needs a little work. If a user knows exactly what video they are looking for, it may be frustrating to have another video keep coming up. Also, it makes search words more important and valuable in finding a video. Likewise, what happens if the video that YouTube “thinks” you are looking for is not in fact that video, how do you search through the list of others available? While this site is already created, I feel like there needs to be ways around using YouTube real time if its needs do not fit the user. However, for someone randomly searching a video, I think this sounds like a very intelligent idea, and it does not seem like it will take long to have “real time” for everything available on the web.

Reading Report 2 "Is Wikipedia a Victim of Its Own Success?"

I think this was a valuable article. We are always warned in school that Wikipedia is not a reliable source, and that a lot of its information is false, however it is still useful. I think that it is interesting how fast Wikipedia grew at first, and how all of a sudden it practically stopped growing. Although it is unfortunate, it makes sense. How much information can we really add to it? Every time I search something online, Wikipedia always comes up with some kind of answer to my question. So far, I have not searched for something and not found an answer on Wikipedia.


Also, there are different kinds of people that probably get a rush from adding their knowledge to the website, and others, like me, who would never really think of doing it. Getting information and feedback from developing countries and people that do not have access to computers or the internet will always be a challenge for any website that is not likely to be overcome over night. While it may be nice to think of eventually everyone having the opportunities that we have in the USA, it is not realistic. Likewise, gathering information from diverse people is not an easy task, especially when there is no physical reward for writing online. Most people have better ways to spend their time then to share their knowledge with others. I believe that Wikipedia will probably be around for awhile, however, how often it is used will depend on the accuracy of its information, and of course whether or not someone comes up with something better.

Reading Report 1 "Web Hoaxes, Counterfeit Sites, and Other Spurious Information on the Internet"

While we all know that everything on the internet is not real, this article made me think twice about how I consider websites to be “real” or a hoax. The underlying details of Martin Luther King’s website, although I may have thought it sounded fishy while reading, it probably would not have occurred to me to check out the email or web link design to verify its truth. Many of the websites this article sites as fake are websites that many students could use for school purposes and research, making it even scarier.


Likewise, I personally would think of the news as pretty verifiable information. The part in the article about news professionals reporting false information found on an Associated Press report that ended up being a spoof also will make me think twice when hearing the nightly news. I think it is disgusting to think of people scamming money off of others asking for “donations” in times of crisis; these websites only make people more cautious of giving away their money to those that really need it.

As for the medical hoaxes and misleading information, I do not listen to any medical advice online, no matter how credible the source is. Although I have looked up medical questions, if it was an issue I was seriously concerned about, I would most certainly go to the doctor for clarification, not the internet. In the end, I think it is very sad that the internet has the potential to be a great wealth of information, and instead has become something to be constantly questioned and misused.

News Report 1

Virtual Farm Games Absorb Real Money, Real Lives


August 27, 2010

By: Josh Lowensohn

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20014817-248.html?tag=topStories2

Many people save their extra money on vacations and other luxuries. Now gaining popularity, people are starting to spend their money on keeping their online games alive by buying “crops” in virtual farming games. Besides spending money on frivolous online games, these games are also highly addictive, where people tend to “play” anywhere for at least once a day to hours at a time. While this may seem fun at first, it has now become an obsession. For example, last year it was reported that social games generated more than $725 million in solely the USA, and it is projected that three times this figure is expected in 2011.

These games, such as Farmville, are free to play, yet they count on people getting addicted and spending on money to enhance their farms. While Farmville ran the online gaming market in 2009, a new game called Mojo, which is available only through the iPhone and iPad, is beginning to make a pretty penny. The most anyone has spent on Mojo thus far is $12,000. This article discusses whether this new fad is a hobby or addiction. In my opinion, this is frightening and somewhat repulsive. Although it could be argued in spending money on games is reasonable (if someone has the money to spend, who is to say what they spend it on?), however the amount of time people spend playing these games is obscene. I know people who upon getting on a computer automatically log in to check their Farmville. I think Farmville is just one example that shows what America’s culture is turning into.