Steve Jobs

I decided to write an extra credit blog about Steve Jobs since he was mentioned in class earlier in the quarter. It was very interesting to me that Steve Jobs was forced out of a company that he helped create.  I wonder if it was his actions that caused them to want him gone, or if it was someone’s jealousy or greed. I can imagine that you would get a different story depending on who you talked to. My personal opinion is that Steve Jobs was a brilliant man. I think that it is great that even after he was canned from his company, he was able to completely show them up. He used the Next computers to help create the World Wide Web and Pixar. We all know how much the World Wide Web has impacted our lives, but even Pixar. Where would we be without Toy Story and the many movies that followed? The best part is that he was hired back as CEO of Apple after they purchased Next computers.  I think they should have fired him again just to see what genius thing he could have created next in order to get rehired. I hope that if I ever get let go from a company that I help create, that I am able to pull a Steve Jobs and show them.

Convergence

I am not really sure what I am supposed to be writing about convergence. I have a somewhat good understanding of what it is. I know that it is multiple smaller technologies or networks working together to create on new form of technology that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. ITunes was an example that was given in class. ITunes needed the World Wide Web, the artists and Apple all merging together in order for it to exist. Now because of this people have IPods with large amounts of music they can listen to. I think that Pokemon GO might be another example of convergence. Without GPS, Pokemon the game, smart phones, and the portable Internet capability, people wouldn't have the ability to engage in that game. Even with all the controversy surrounding the game, I still believe that it is a good thing. I think that convergence is necessary for greater things to emerge, that can make a huge impact in the world.

What makes up a community?

The most important thing that makes up a community are people. Without people you can’t have a community. I also believe that the people in the community need to have personal connection and interact with one another. I do believe that this can be accomplished online, as well as in real life. I believe that any community needs to have laws for every individual abides by. Asides from the laws, I think that every person needs to attempt to treat each other with respect. I also believe that each community needs to have a designated space, whether it is a neighborhood or virtual space. The neighborhood I live in is a community. It contains people who connect and interact. It also has rules that everyone in the community must follow, such as no trespassing or letting your dog run around without a leash. Everyone, most of the time, treats each other with respect and respects each other’s privacy. Facebook also has communities. I belong to one called Port Orchard Facebook Group. It is an online community full of people from my Port Orchard community. It is full of people who interact and connect. We give each other advice and recommend places to eat or shop. There are laws and if you violate them you can be reported. We usually treat each other with respect and don’t bash someone if they say something we don’t like. If there is bashing or something disrespectful going on, then people may be kicked out of the community.

What Scares Me About Technology? A.I., Robots and Privacy, Oh My!

Privacy! That is what scares me the most about technology. Artificial intelligence and robots don’t concern me near as much as my privacy and the privacy of my family. The way that things are going, nobody will have even a shred of privacy. There are people hacking into other people’s computers and stealing their personal information on a regular basis. There are facial recognition cameras in multiple stores and even on computer websites, like Facebook. I understand that being necessary in some cases, like in order to catch a criminal, but it still violates privacy. The movie Fast and Furious 7 they have a program called “God’s eye” that taps into every device on the planet to seek out particular individuals. It wouldn’t surprise me if we were capable of that already. That means that people can access your phone, computer or any other technological device at any time. That scares me a little bit. I can only imagine if the wrong people were able to tap into everyone’s personal information like that. What if I had a stalker and all they had to do was be a little tech savvy and be able to figure out when I was alone based on my phone or computer. Or even worse spy on me through my webcam on my computer, which I know has happened to people in the past. Thinking about all of this makes me contemplate getting rid of all technology and moving away to live in the woods, off the radar. The only problem is, nowhere is off the radar anymore. Plus, I am way too dependent on Facebook and constant human interaction anyways.

Dot.com to Dot.bomb

From what we learned in class there were 5 stages in the dot.com boom. In the first stage called the innocent beginning which took place from about 1992-95, the internet was becoming very popular with millions of users. Many companies emerged in this time period including compuserv, free range media, and spry inc. The next stage referred to as the Boom, took place from 95-97 and this was where companies either needed to get with it (the internet) or get out. Yahoo.com and Amazon.com emerged at this time. Insanity took place from 1997-2000 and is when things went nuts. Infospace, an online phone directory, goes public and is worth more than Boeing. The Bust took place in 2001, the was when multiple companies went bankrupt including Exodus, Dr. Koop, and Freezone. The crawl back from it all, happened around 2002. This is when AOL bought Times Warner and Amazon was making tons of money against all the odds. It is crazy to think that all of this happened within a 10-year period. I am really grateful that we were able to watch startup.com and see kind of firsthand what happened during the dot.com boom and bust. I can’t imagine having a company worth millions and then losing it almost overnight. I wonder if suicide rates were higher at the point in time when the bust was taking place. On that cheery note I am going to conclude this blog post.

Virtual Scavenger Hunt

Unfortunately I wasn't able to post a blog message during the scavenger hunt, so instead I am going to write about my experience participating in it. When I initially read through the questions, I thought there was no way that I could figure any of this information out. There was one question in particular about our instructor's middle sister's married name. I was sure that nobody in the class could find that information out, yet someone did. That is really scary to think about. Me and my partner were about to find his wife's maiden name and even that I shouldn't be able to find just by searching someone online. It is crazy to think about how much information the World Wide Web contains. Much of that information isn't even intended to be there. There was a question about what music the Tacoma chickpeas something liked and it is amazing what you can find just by googling it. I was able to find blog posts with recommended songs. There were a couple that stumped me. I was trying to book a trip to stay at the Aulani Disney hotel but it wouldn’t let me book anything for the foreseeable future, so I wasn’t able to answer that one. I think that this assignment was useful in allowing people to realize how much information is accessible and available on the web. It also helped us become familiar with different search tools and methods, as well as allowed us to become more familiar with our classmates by working in groups.

Something I would not buy online!

So after thinking long and hard about this, I decided that the one thing I would absolutely never buy online would be a dog. I am a dog lover and I believe that when you consider adding a new member to your family you have to meet them and see if sparks fly first. Prior to bringing a dog home I have always met them and introduced them to my kids to see how well we all mesh. There have been times when I have not taken a dog home with me because something wasn't right in their interactions with me or my children. That is something that you can't determine online. Somebody can write about the dog and say how great they are with people and children but you can't possible know that for sure until you meet them in person. I look at buying a dog online the same way I look at dating someone you met online. You don’t really know what you are getting yourself into unless you see with your eyes and spend some time with in person. You could read this wonderful elaborate review and think that you have found the perfect one, and then you get Catfished. This is why I put so much emphasis on the meeting and the connection being a must. On a side note, I am a big fan of rescuing dogs from the local humane society rather than buying from a breeder anyways. So based on that as well, it would be very unlikely for me to ever consider purchasing a dog online.