Popular Mechanics

I found a video explaining what the Microsoft Surface is all about. My professor in my architecture class showed us a really awesome video on it in class but I haven't been able to find it. When I do though I'll for sure post it. Until then you can watch this, get educated, and be amazed all at the same time. It makes sense that they would sell this to casinos for sure.

http://video.popularmechanics.com/services/player/bcpid932579976?bclid=932553050&bctid=933742930

Let me know what you think.

Boom Boom Pow

I'm obsessed with the Black Eyed Peas new song, Boom Boom Pow.

Take note of the touchcscreen computer/coffee table in the very beginning...

Check out this cool Website and Logo Brand Design Co. 

They have a pretty creative way of marketing themselves online.

http://www.studio7designs.com/

Twitter's Amazing Growth Rate

Check out these two graphs I found when putting together a slide show presentation regarding Twitter and its ever-growing popularity. Believe it or not, it's largest age group is 35 to 49 year olds. Crazy! I guess I can believe it after discovering my dad joined Facebook, my mom wants to, and my siblings who are in their early thirties are on social networking sites as well - still seems crazy to me! 

(On the top is its number of new members between June 13, 2007 and July 18, 2007. One below shows Twitter's growth rate at 1,382% in a year's time!-According to Nielsen.)

        

Twitter

I have to admit, I finally broke down a couple of weeks ago now and created a Twitter account. All of the hype about Twitter is pretty ridiculous. I'm not saying it is a bad thing at all, it's simply the talk and buzz about it is pretty crazy. Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iglWyCGFTts

It is awesome to be able to follow those you look up to, your idols, or follow a company, group, news channel, or your friends. The thing I struggle with with being on Twitter is that a lot of people say it is for a more "professional" use. I think it's hard to justify and separate the two- maybe it is because I'm a part of a generation that grew up online so I along with many others are just used to being so transparent and natural, showing all aspects of your life from social life to volunteering to posting your work information.

The capabilities of Twitter are astounding: to deliver a message to the greater public, to promote a new product, to network, to post your scholarly thoughts, to keep in touch, or to write about the sunny day. With so many different modes of Tweeting, what's the future going to look like? Will it change at all? Will it be divided with different sectors depending on your purpose for Tweeting? We'll see. For now, tweet on!

Privacy Issues and Web 2.0 - Are you safe?

The following is an entry from a personal blog entry by Mike Valentine on the subject of matter:  

“Now we all have reason to fear what might be called "Baby Brother" as more powerful tools are becoming available for free to any script kiddy hacker or truly junior bad guys and mischief makers. New open source snooping software is now available to anyone to easily mine your data and invade your personal, financial and medical privacy.”

            It doesn’t take a company releasing their database of client information to other companies for that information to fall in to the wrong hands.  Just like was stated above, it is possible for nearly anyone who knows the basics of the computer and functions of the world wide web to get a hold of private information.  Such private information may be attained by simply knowing a person’s phone number.  From knowing just that, people are able to do a search to find their personal information such as your address and information gathered through a simple background check.
            It pays to be safe and cautious, especially when considering the information hackers can gain about you through getting in to files on your computer.  An article from Forbes.com talks about how easy it is for hackers, like 35-year-old Roelof Temmingh, to use software and attain knowledge on users over the Web by scanning “open data repositories.”  More interestingly, the article points to a website that searches databases to find information on various people.  This website, spock.com, is advertised as a people finder that finds hiding pictures and profiles.  I searched it myself for my name and location and was shocked.  The website came up with my name, e-mail, and cell phone number through the American Red Cross database.  Finding this floored me.  I make certain to be sure that my information is kept private, because you do not know who is going to want to look and search you down.  As the article closes on Forbes.com, “When you look at hacking, it's about either getting control of something or getting information. The information part is always more interesting.”
            You may not think it could happen to you, but be weary and cautious as to whom you give your information to.  It is sad to think that we can’t trust companies to keep our information disclosed.  But the reality is that with the development of the Internet, programs, and Web 2.0, it is easier than ever for anyone to obtain information on you.  Take this as a learning experience or word of warning: not every database is on lockdown and fully protected.

creating my own website

This process has been pretty stressful. It's challenging know how I want to portray myself and my work and on top of that picking the appropriate colors, pictures, and text to display just that. I'm creating an online portfolio for a course of mine - you fail if you don't do it, pass if you complete the site, you pass with flying colors if it's outstanding. The process is really pretty easy once you  know what you're doing. So far I feel that mine looks sharp and professional. 

The only worry I have is that the content I put on it lives up to potential employers' expectations. And along with that I don't have immense amounts of samples to put on quite yet due to my lack of professional experience. I know by the time this semester is done, I'll have a solid handful of samples to put on my website - I guess I will just have to wait until then. 

I'm hoping my online portfolio will help to launch me in to the workforce and out-beat the competition. It helps to have that edge, that technology advantage over others. I'll keep you posted and let you know how it has come along! This blog will actually be linked to my site, so that should be pretty cool. Until later, peace!