Jibberish

To conclude my days of blog-posting, I will sum up my first semester at Penn State as an IST student. I have divided this post to four sections: Housing, People, Courses, and Activities.

Housing
Thompson Hall 2nd Floor. That says a lot. Being in the IST Special Living Option has so far been a great experience. Because a lot of the guys on the floor are in my classes, I sometimes seek them for help in programming assignments or SRA labs. It has become convenient to meet up in SRA groups and IST groups for meeting/planning. Also, there is a lot of gaming going on late nights. My all-time favorite, Counter-Strike, thrived at first, scheduled to be played every Thursday on the IST floor. However, that died out once Team Fortress 2 was released. Now, there isn't much gaming. Even though gaming can be done online, it is a lot of fun gaming w/ other people on the floor when u can hear other people yell curse words after being killed. Being in the IST-House has also really helped me make new friends and stick with them throughout the semester.

People
Knowing one person leads to knowing 4 others. Then it leads to 16, and so on. I have met a wide variety of friends, and some of my best friends live on my floor. They include Matt Maisel, Harry Miller, Kyle Dodson, David Recker, and of course, my roommate Garrett Miller who was featured in a previous post. I'm really glad that I've met these people, and I'm almost sure that I will stick with them for the rest of college.

Courses
Classes this semester, in my opinion, are ridiculously easy. My toughest class is economics (micro), mainly because there are about 700 students that fill up 100 Thomas. It's hard to stay focused, with my friends next to me and the freedom of doing whatever you want (or showing up whenever you want). The result of not paying attention became apparent when i got a 54 on the second exam! I still didn't pay much attention after that, but studied hard the night before the third exam and only got a 84. The IST 110H course was not cake, but it was definitely unlike any other course I've taken or expected to be. It was a lot of fun just being on the computers for the entire class, because that is basically my life. I liked how there was no textbook or tests but still a lot of work. The work done for this class was meaningful, and it gave me a kick start into Information Sciences and Technology. The SRA class was somewhat poor. The new professor was not 100% of what he was doing, and relied on Gerry Santoro to come up with class projects and assignments. Quizzes were 6 questions, and technically you only need to answer 4 to get a 100. The last question was always a Penn State question that has nothing to do w/ SRA, and a 5/6 would automatically be a 100. I don't remember learning much during class. The textbook was technical but did not really help us with what we were learning in class. We learned more about terroristic threats and emergency plans instead of encrypting and viruses and hackers. Comp Sci was a joke. My music classes were fun because I got to meet people (especially females) outside of IST.

Activities
I joined Club Tennis and Sinfonietta, which is one of Penn State's three orchestras. I am also in SRA club. Club Tennis is pretty useless; it is just a way to get court time on the varsity courts. They do not really run anything, except tell you to go out there and hit. Sinfonietta was brutal. It was an orchestra that had 100% acceptance rate and was intended for music grad students to gain experience in conducting. Also, it was aimed for those who are not music majors. Every Tuesday night for 2 hours. I have already played the pieces we played. I did not meet anyone, because there was no time to talk to anyone and I knew no one in the orchestra. I will try out for the Philharmonic Orchestra next semester, which will be much more intense. SRA club was a lot more fun that I expected. Capture the Flag was a lot of fun, and I met my roommate for next year Justin Brooks from SRA club. There were also some good speakers for the club, such as the lady from IBM and Joe Koletar, who wrote the FBI Career Guide.

Today, someone just decided to spill his/her Slurpee on State College. The roads were so horrible that my 9am music prof AND my SRA prof both cancelled! w00t. It's amazing that even with the technology today, we can still not defeat mother nature's forces. We use satellites and emergency systems only to be pwned by Hurricane Katrina. The cover of a TIME magazine actually emphasized how we have not improved our natural disaster technology since then. Although there is not much to do about the forces of nature, I find it fascinating how we can build hybrid cars and super computers but still cannot find a way to counter-act nature.

It may seem impossible to completely block a storm from affecting a population, but technology these days can do so much better to clean roads and transport commuters faster. However, I am not complaining. I didn't go to a single class today!

I am completely dedicating this blog post to my roomie, Garrett. Just saying the name Garrett Miller makes this post technology-related.

The following outline is based on a typical M W F for Garrett's first semester.

8:30 a.m. - Both of our alarms go off. I hit the snooze button. Garrett sits in an upright position for 2 minutes, then heads to the boy's room. He comes back and turns on the PC. I'm still in bed. I awaken from the sound of the loud beep of the computer booting up. He quickly logs onto Gmail to see if he has any new e-mails, such as a class cancellation. He also preps himself for the day by looking at his calendar on Microsoft Outlook.

9:05 a.m. - Garrett's computer science class begins. I am just about to lock the door and head out to my 9:05 a.m. class. During the class, Garrett can become curious sometimes and browse the Internet. He must stay connected all the time.

10:10 a.m. - Garrett goes into English class which he hands in another paper that he spent hours on the computer typing up.

- LUNCH BREAK (occasionally Garrett brings his IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad to the Commons) -

2:30 p.m. - Garrett goes to Security and Risk Analysis class.

I'm sure by this point, you've all heard about this. The blood rushes in my body and my heart beats faster as soon as I read the instant message from a friend saying "there was a shooting tonight, there are 10 cops outside of my dorm." The police stormed through Atherton Hall to search for a murderer on the loose. Especially after Virginia Tech, students are frantic about a shooting here at Penn State which hopefully will not happen. Click here to read the full article from the Collegian.

If there was some sort of shooting rampage on campus tonight, I would have been very, very lucky. Although I was not in Atherton Hall, I was in Simmons, which is right across the street (Shortlidge) and left right before I heard about the whole deal.

Although this blog post is very, very Penn State related, how can I relate this to technology in order to make blog post count? Well, honestly the process of tracking down criminals these days is far more advanced than it used to be, thanks to TECHNOLOGY. Communications devices, navigational devices, vehicles, weapons, and security devices can help capture criminals faster than back in the day. The actual equipment of police officers has improved over time, but really has not made that much of an impact. What equipment the police have, criminals can get hands on. One of the biggest changes in technology that has improved security are security cameras.

Interviewing people can be tedious. But recorded evidence on tape is unbreakable. More importantly, webcams have improved security greatly by providing live-feed for security officers. Although in this case, the suspect was not spotted on a webcam, he would be busted by now if he was.

My household has 3 hi-definition TV's. What is the point of them if you don't use the Hi-Def feature? For Christmas this year, I want to buy either a HD DVD player or a Blu-Ray Disc player. The question is: which one?

Blu-Ray

Sony's Blu-ray disc is probably the better choice for me. Mainly because I am tempted to buy a PS3. I know its big and bulky but the graphics are spectacular. How nice would it be to have a built-in Blu-ray DVD player also? However, this does not prove the fact that a Blu-ray DVD player is better than an HD DVD player. Supposedly, http://www.blockbuster.com/ has chosen to use Blu-ray discs instead of HD DVD in their stores. (read more here)

HD DVD

HD DVD players are cheaper (from what I know) or tend to be on sale compared to Blu-ray players. I also like the selections for HD DVDs better. The first draft for HD DVD has been cracked. This means that HD DVDs can be ripped and copied illegally. They will not be able to sell as well as Blu-ray. For the Xbox 360, there is a $180 add-on HD DVD player. Now this debate has turned into an Xbox 360 vs PS3 debate. I guess this just comes from my gaming-filled mind.

My recommendation for those of you who also can't decide is to go by the titles. But you also have to take in consideration for the long run. Eventually, one will die out. It is still vague at this point, but if it were me, I'd just try to decide between an Xbox 360 and a PS3.

for more rumors/debates between Blu-ray and HD DVD:
http://www.hddvd.org/hddvd/

The Second Life Dance party tonight was a lot more fun that I expected. The lights and lasers looked really awesome, and props to you, Steve Dodge who made this event possible. The glow sticks were a cool idea, so props to u Pat Mulholland.The bar was fun to sit on, since I have always wanted to do that in real life. I liked seeing Prof. Tapia in her red gown! That was pretty cool. The only thing I was disappointed with was the outcome of number of people. I was hoping that it would be packed and a ton of people dancing on the pretty dance floor. However, the music selection, which was basically techno, was great. It was a cool place to chill and end the IST 110H semester.

Tonight, I learned how to salsa dance. Me and a group of friends went over to Tony's on Pugh St. and salsa danced for 2 and a half hours. I have gone only once before, and this time I improved a lot. As I stood by the side to take a break, I noticed the intricate music equipment that the DJ was operating. It was a laptop. Isn't it amazing how we evolve from disc records to 8-tracks to cassette tapes to CDs? Now the ultimate way of storing and even playing back music is a computer.

This picture is from the movie "Along Came Polly" when Reuben (Ben Stiller) secretly takes private salsa lessons to impress the girl Polly (Jennifer Aniston).

The only other forms of technology in a salsa dance club are lights and speakers.
Below is an instructional salsa video for beginners:

Here are a few links that can help people interested in salsa to get started:
http://www.salsabootcamp.com
http://www.ballroomdancers.com/Dances/dance_overview.asp?Dance=SAL
Some good salsa songs to get you started

One of my favorite movies of all time is Transformers. Action-packed and hilarious, this film is the perfect movie for the ultra nerdy IST/SRA student. I would say that it would attract more SRA students than IST students, mostly because it has a lot of hacking involved. The three cyber security analysts in the movie seemed really young and clueless. I wonder if that is what I will be like after college. I also have to take into consideration that it is, like every movie, unrealistic. Every single movie that involves hacking or code breaking looks ridiculously fake. In Transformers, decrypting process looks more unrealistic than the matrix. Also, how is it possible for a cyber security analyst to look like this?

Optimus Prime is the most technologically advanced Autobot in the movie. He took only about 10 minutes to fully transform from a Truck to a robot the very first time you see him. He also has an energy sword that pwns. He is larger than the other Autobots, and is the leader. I still can't get over the fact that he picked up Captain Witwicke's glasses with his 2 fingers without crushing them.

So...I recently beat Street Fighter II Turbo for SNES. My roommate and our IST 110H classmate Garrett Miller gave me the emulator for Super Nintendo including every possible game out there. To revive my childhood experience with SNES, I've been playing a lot of Street Fighter II Turbo. It is probably the game I played the most, because the other games I had were boring once you beat them. Other games I had for SNES was Donkey Kong Country (1 and 2), Batman Returns, and of course Super Mario World. Street Fighter was more like an arcade game. It never got old. It was also playing against my sister until we had blisters on our thumbs. Playing these SNES games on my computer got me thinking how much video games have improved and how old games can be popular to relieve gaming veterans' nostalgias.

My favorite fighter was definitely Ken. So much better than Ryu.

The emulator that I have, with all the games, is less than a GB. It is only 658 MB. That is so surprising that all of the games and the system can fit in my 1GB USB drive, instead of hundreds of cartridges and a 10" x 8" x 3.5" box. If the SNES system was .1" thicker (height), you could fit 4 of Garrett's IBM Thinkpads in the volume of that SNES system. Each of those Thinkpads can process over a thousand times the speed of a SNES system, based on clock-speed. That is how much technology has improved since 8/13/1991, the release date of the SNES. Although you cannot compare gaming systems with a computer, nowadays, Xbox 360s can run as a PC very well with a triple-core processor at 3.2 Ghz.

For the dance party, my roommate Garrett brought up the idea of having music and even speakers for the party. Since I am interested in music selection (which according to Garrett will be techno) and speakers, I thought of designing/building the speakers in Second Life. Discussing this idea with Garrett, I came up with the idea of the speakers vibrating to the music by analyzing sound waves. This could be difficult, but it was just a possibility. Would anyone know how to script something like that?

Here is an image of a dance party i found on Google Images. The party seems to have a glowing dance floor, but it is awkward being outdoors under daylight. This party was for the Michigan Library Consortium. The picture belongs to their blog. There are more pictures on that blog for those of you who seek ideas about the dance party.

I recently watched a series of classic films all of which were re-made with digital remastering. These films would be the Star Wars (Episodes IV - VI), and Jaws. Matt Maisel and I spend 2 days watching 3 Star Wars films. It was quite the marathon. Over break, I watched Jaws for the heck of it. Digital remastering really improves the experience of the classic films that have effects that just don't quite cut it. So how do they make old films into mind-blowing theatrical eye-candy? Heres how: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitally_remastered

The wikipedia article mostly refers to audio remastering, but also references to video remastering. Basically, there is a master copy which is the recording which experts state will be definitive copy that is duplicated for before being provided to the end user usually into other formats i.e. LP records, CDs, DVDs, etc. The mastering is the the process of creating a master. This might be as simple as copying a tape for further duplication purposes, or might include the actual equalization and processing steps used to fine-tune material for release. The latter example usually requires the work of mastering engineers.

Libraries in Second Life do not serve the same purpose that libraries do in real life. Physical libraries nowadays serve little purpose except as an outlet for those looking to seek a quiet environment to either study or relax.

Penn State's Pattee and Paterno Libraries are an excellent place for students to crank out their 10-page papers or study for a killer exam. It's also like any other library, with a wide selection of resourceful books and a coffee place.

Penn State Investment in Second Life Library

Purchasing an island in Second Life is an expensive proposition. Therefore, it would be imperative that those with the capitol to purchase said islands to populate them with something useful. Many ideas spring to mind to do something useful with the virtual space of Second Life but it seems that those with resources to implement them are too busy with other noble endeavors, like populating the world with more and more complex hookers and other nefarious types of porn.
Second Life has many potential uses. Libraries are not and should not be one of them. Every library in second bears almost no resemblance to that of a real life library. Libraries in Second Life are the bastard offspring of real libraries and MySpace due to the fact that is absolutely no substance to the virtual libraries. Much like MySpace, a social networking site that offers absolutely nothing useful to society, libraries in Second Life do nothing to further the evolution of real libraries. There are not more efficient, not easier to use, and definitely do not offer the same level of selection of even the smallest county libraries. They don’t do anything at all useful. The following pages and paragraphs will go into detail about why Second Life libraries are useless.
All of the libraries that we found during our adventures in Second Life did not resemble their real life counterparts to any great extent. Libraries in Second Life contain a lot of vanity; for example, the Cleveland Public Library consisted of chessboards. Yes, chessboards are the best thing the Cleveland Public library could come up with for their virtual library.
Here is an article about Cleveland Public Library's Second Life project:
http://www.cpl.org/?q=node/2311
After reading the article it becomes apparent that calling the virtual library a library is really a misnomer. Cleveland Public Library's goal in creating their virtual presence seems to be showing off their chessboard collection. In their defense, they do have largest collection of Chess items in the world but we do not feel that they should market their library as library. There are no books to be found anywhere on their space. One would think that libraries in Second Life would work much like digital books, only instead of browsing for new books in a traditional sense a user has the opportunity to traverse a space that resembles that of the real thing and actually look at and borrow books. This would be very useful, because there might arise a situation due to weather, emergencies, etc that would prevent someone from going to an actual library.
This is not the case, however. Second Life libraries do not have books, and if they did they would likely charge linden dollars for their rental. This is turn goes against the concept of a library and defeats its purpose, which is to provide free information to students in the form of textbooks, articles and magazines.
The problem of not having books in Second Life libraries is not limited to those libraries ran by cities and private individuals, university libraries are lacking as well. After exploring Stanford’s library in Second Life we were left extremely under whelmed.

Here is some information of Stanford's Second Life Library:
http://speaking.stanford.edu/library/SULAIR_in_Second_Life.html

We felt that the best chance of finding a good use of a virtual library would be in the academic sector of Second Life, but we were proven wrong. Stanford’s library provides links to its real life library operations and other Stanford related things.
What is the point of this? Most college students, especially those enrolled at a prestigious university such as Stanford probably know where to find their library. How likely are average students to be influenced to go to the library, which they already know of, by a virtual space that they are likely to never visit throughout their entire academic career? This is the number one knock our group has with Second Life activities. A lot of them can be done much better and have been done before on a traditional two dimensional web space. Who wants to spend the hours needed to become proficient with Second Life and its terrible interface to find information that can find on their university's website? Why do something in an hour that could take 5 minutes with a simple search of the Internet via Google?
There are a couple interesting things about Stanford's place that could prove interesting and useful, however. Inside the library there are virtual study lounges. These could be useful for group projects when members of the group are out of town for various reasons. Second Life does provide a more personal interaction than that of instant messenger. We feel that this sense of realness that Second Life provides cannot be matched by traditional means of communication. Stanford's study rooms in library would be useful to have but we do not feel that would be used by most students. Technology is only useful if the users of the technology know how to use. We do not feel that a randomly assigned group at Penn State that has an Economics General Education project to do could pull off the virtual meeting. Even if the group had the technical knowhow to meet up in Second Life it is likely that Second Life would crash, slowing down any progress the group has made.
Instead of forcing users to find their answers to their questions scattered about the Internet on YouTube and Google the maker of Second Life made an island known as Information Island. The Second Life Information Island Library actually provides a useful service, and probably does the best job that a library in Second Life can possibly do. This library provides links to useful information about Second Life. We found out a lot from Information Island about how to manipulate the world of Second Life. We feel that it is much easier to learn how to accomplish various tasks in Second Life via a source of reference inside the world itself.
Information Island works by being separated into different section that deals with different aspects of Second Life. From building to movement it has it all. Most of the click able things inside of the library provide note cards that give users the information they seek about the world. If the answer needed cannot be answered by just a single note card then the user is directed to a website that goes into more detail. This concept works, in our opinion. People want this information while they are in Second Life and it is readily available to them. This is the problem with most of the other library applications in Second Life. They do not do anything better than their real life counterparts. Information Island provides more information faster than one can find it on the traditional Internet.
Second Life shows a lot of promise for the future, but in its present state it is just not useful for very much of anything besides forwarding people to a more official entity on the world wide web. This is not really the fault of the idea of Second Life but rather the current technology of today and poor design. World of Warcraft handles almost 10 million active subscribers while Second Life handles 200 thousand relatively poorly. If a company with the money, time, and technical knowhow decided to make their own version of a virtual land it could prove to be useful and become a new way of organizing information. We are looking at you Google Metaverse. There a lot of things in Second Life that are just inefficient. There is no tangible advantage to doing some things on Second Life that can’t be done in a more traditional. Is it really more of an immersing experience to have a low resolution and polygon count avatar in a meeting than it is to have a video conference? The same principle holds true with libraries. What is the point of having a library in Second Life that just points the user of it toward the real life counterpart? There isn't one. The main thing that Second Life libraries do today is point users at information on the web. This is not a good use of Penn State’s resources. The money would be much better spent getting more books for the stacks of Paterno and Patee. In the future, when the average computational power of the average person increases to an acceptable level companies may be able construct new more efficient versions of what we have. For example, a company like Amazon could have a virtual library that allows users to preview different books by clicking them in their virtual aisles. If the user is intrigued they could then check out a virtual copy of that book for free and read it at their home in Second Life or in the lounge of Amazon's library. If they like the book, they could then by a real life copy of the book through the library and have it shipped to their real life house. This sounds great in concept, but again there is a lack of interest for the tremendous investment required to make this happen be returned.
We feel that Penn State should not invest in a library in Second Life, for many of the reasons already stated above. To conclude our points, Second Life islands are disproportional in cost to the amount of use the University would get out of them. It would realistically cost thousands of dollars a year to own a library in Second Life. This does not include the time and money that would be spent on creating a quality library system in the virtual space. Throwing that much at a project that will at best direct students to an official website about the Paterno and Patee library and show a little bit of Penn State Pride seems like a bad investment at the time. This is not to say that it may not ever be a good time to invest in a virtual library, the time is just not now. There are not enough people in Second Life and there are definitely not enough students at the university that would even attempt to use a Second Life library. The final issue with investing in a library is that there is no chance of making any money back on the investment in a traditional library sense. Libraries are public services that provide free access to information. How could the university make money back on an investment for something that is inherently free and nobody wants to use?
The island of Istania already provides the same amount of use that these so called libraries in Second Life. It provides links about the University, just like Stanford's does and Cleveland's provides links to its physical location. It is the opinion of Team Skynet that Penn State should not invest in a virtual library at this time as they do not provide any tangible use that cannot be accomplished with a traditional library or with current forms of communication.

Here's the link to our Powerpoint:
Download file

Yeah, this would be the flying motorcycle incident that happened in class. I deployed my chopper in the sandbox the day we were in Second Life as a class and I drove it over to the mass group of IST 110H students. A few fellow members hopped aboard my motorcycle and as I drove off of Istania, the bike kept going infinitely. It was also flying.This is one of MANY errors that occurs during Second Life exploration.

This picture would be myself somehow stuck in the ground of Dell Island. I was doing my assignment and flew to Dell Island. As I landed, I went into the earth. How cool. Not. I had to reboot Second Life for the millionth time..

I wonder if anyone else has been as frustrated with SL as I am right now, and I hope Linden Research, Inc. makes updates and improvements soon and at a regular pace.

Being a Dell user for my entire life, I chose to critique Dell City for this assignment. On this organization's islands, there is a factory, Dell Museum, and conference center. Pictures and more information can be found on Dell's Websitewhich describes their Second Life Island shows users how to visit and what can be found there.

Being on Dell Island is similar to being in a real town. The center of the buildings is like a town square with small "shops" and stores to visit. This central area is accented by a large rotating Dell logo. I first went up to the Dell Museum. There was a large auditorium that played a video. Then I proceeded up the stairs only to find a dead end. I suppose the museum was that auditorium.

One very interesting thing about the Dell City (there are multiple islands) is that there is a white pod that can transport your avatar from island to island. I used this to go to the Dell Factory and the Dell Large Computer, which is a large scale Dell XPS computer. It was pretty fun walking around in a desktop PC. It was set up so that it was like a tour, with directional arrows and a staircase. The Dell Factory was really cool, however it is probably not really what a Dell factory looks like. It served as a place for SL users to build their own Dell computer by selecting a processor, memory, hard drive, and operating system. It can then be purchased online. The factory also has a lot of advertisements for Dell products.

The only thing that frustrated me while I was visiting this presence was just Second Life being difficult and freezing up or moving infinitely. The first time I visited Dell Island I was flying and when I landed I was stuck in the ground. Only my head was revealed. Also, I do not like how Second Life does not load buildings/structures until you are very close to them. It would be helpful to see where you are going. At the central "hub" of Dell Island there is a model-map of Dell City and I tried using that to find places I wanted to go but it was difficult because i couldn't see anything at a distance.

The Dell City is amazing, but could still use some improvements. It could be more of a concentrated place. I found Dell City to be extremely large and a lot patience was needed to explore every aspect of this space. They could've squeezed their locations a little bit closer. Other than that, I think Dell City is doing great in advertising and keeping users interested.

If I knew of a Second Life user who is looking to buy a new computer, I would definitely recommend Dell City. It is fun, interactive, and informative. Dell makes their Second Life presence a new and interesting way to shop and explore products.

I then visited IBM Business Center to compare with Dell City. First of all, I had trouble finding the exact IBM location for consumers and regular Second Life shoppers. When I searched IBM in the map, I found a lot of different company "solutions" and labs. One or more of the places were for specific users, which I'm guessing are IBM workers. At the Business Center Teleport Arrival, there was a 4-way sign giving directions to the Business Center, Conference Center, Info Trail, and Briefing Center. This is similar to Dell City, being navigational throughout the space. Along the sidewalk there were many displays allowing users to go to other IBM places in Second Life. This is something a little different from Dell. I liked Dell's transporting pod a better than this. IBM did not have a factory or museum, like Dell City.

I found Dell Island to be a beautifully-designed and interactive place in Second Life. I think Second Life users who visit Dell Island will be impressed with what they've done and would be interested in their products. I would choose Dell over IBM mainly because of the design and look of the place. They are both equally interactive and fun. Dell City was a little more user-friendly and easier to use.

Second Life is going to be an interesting experience in IST 110H. With all the frustration and inefficiency from the bugs that the "game" or "online world" encounters, it will be difficult to get through this unit. I added Second Life a while ago when the motorcycle event was up for extra credit. I spent a total of about 4-6 hours on modding my sport bike. It had dual exhaust pipes, and was red and black. However, I missed the motorcycle event! I had no idea what time it was going to be and never got a chance to find out. Oh well. It was fun interacting with some friends and strangers on Second Life. It was also fun customizing my avatar, which was of course the sexy male avatar. I even persuaded my friend from high school, Tim, to download and install Second Life to play with me. After passing the tutorials, we were free to roam. I showed him Istania and the different buildings in it. There is even a Stadium in the sky somewhere! Second Life was fun for about 2 weeks. I haven't touched it since then.

This entry in the blog called Harvard Extended highlights the problems in Second Life.

Video Link

We all worked on our own parts individually and put them together to make this project successful. First, we composed a list of games from decade to decade to talk about. Then, Kenton wrote the script for all of our 30-second informational briefings. I then used the script and list of games to come up with a storyboard, which included ideas such as having a small box in the corner to show gameplay of each game being described. Josh worked hard on getting our paper done. Tim had the most responsible and fun job of editing our footage. Working on this project was fun, considering it was the first video I have ever made or been involved in.

My new keyboard:
Logitech G15

The Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
I recently bought and received this blue-lit gaming keyboard. It has an LCD display which can show the performance of the machine, an analog clock/ date, media display, and a countdown timer. Underneath the LCD display there are media buttons and volume control. There are two USB-in ports and eighteen programmable buttons with 3 separate modes.
I bought this keyboard from NewEgg.com where it was a bargain. Originally $71, the price dropped to $67 and then an additional $20 mail-in-rebate, bringing the final price down to $47. My keyboard, 22" widescreen monitor, mouse, TV tuner, and printer are ALL plugged into a tiny Dell 1520 Inspiron laptop hidden in my drawer where pens and pencils are supposed to be stored.

College Humor

I put this video up from College Humor after searching for videos that contained "penn state" in them. I saw this and just laughed, mainly because I just saw the Penn State Startrooper last night at Alpha Gamma Rho's costume party.

College Humor started out as a way for two high school buddies to stay in touch by sending videos, pictures, and links when they were separated for college. They would send funny links through e-mail and IMs originally, and thought of making a site to archive all the media. It is obvious that College Humor is intended for college students, hence the name. In fact, 68% of College Humor users are college students (information found in the About section).

There are different ways to share a specific video that is on College Humor. Below each video there are links which allow you to either post the video on Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, e-mail. Also it provides the embedded code and URL link for bloggers to post the video.

College Humor's long Terms & Conditions Use list restricts for the use of Connected Ventures Technology. In that section, College Humor co-founders list 14 distinct restrictions which include reverse engineering, decompiling, reverse compiling, translating, adapting, or disassembling or accessing the Connected Ventures Technology. Also, copying, distributing, displaying, transmitting or reproducing the Connected Ventures Technology or any part of it is restricted. This is only one small part of many restrictions of College Humor. Others include private, illegal, or any content that conflicts with their terms of use.

Since the site is heavily updated daily and viewed by millions of users, advertisement comes in to play. Besides the Home Page, there is an advertisement at the top of the screen and one to the right. The 2 ads are usually corresponding and coming from the same corporation. They are ads from College Humor's sponsors, which include Proctor and Gamble, Sony Motion Pictures and Home Video, Ford, Rockstar Games, Jose Cuervo, Virgin Mobile, CBS Television, Miller Brewing, Comedy Central, Paramount Theatrical and Home Video, Durex Condoms, Warner Brothers, MTV and others.

Dailymotion

I have heard of Dailymotion before because I have watched movies which can be streamed through Dailymotion. Dailymotion is similar to YouTube, in which users can upload videos they personally recorded or any video of interest. It can be used publicly to distribute videos and links to anyone in the world, or privately to friends and family. It is also a way for viewers to learn and enjoy their own interests or explore other subjects. Viewers can post their own opinions on videos and uploaders can get feedback. The most useful part of Dailymotion is the act of sharing videos and spreading them by posting on social networks, blogs, and personal websites.

Under the Terms of Use in Dailymotion, it is clearly stated that no child pornography, dangerous or illegal acts (violence), unlawful, obscene, defamatory or libelous material, images of rape, images of bestiality or any sexually explicit content can be posted. Dailymotion also does not allow copyright infringing and infringement of intellectual property rights and will delete any content and notify that such content infringes on another's intellectual property rights.

Stupid Videos

I was very impressed with this video. I was so impressed it made me laugh. This is what Stupid Videos does. It amazes users by showing funny and ridiculous videos. I remember looking at StupidVideos a long time ago, freshman year of high school during class. This site is for people who are bored and need a way to kill time. It is recommended for those who have a good sense of humor and enjoy laughing.

StupidVideos, located in El Segundo, CA, is part of a larger company PureVideo Networks. Its purpose is to give users a variety of different funny videos. Forget about Funniest Home Videos, StupidVideos has them all. Different video categories include Just Plain Stupid, Stunts/Crashes, Animals, Sketch, Comedy, Sports, Commercials, Song/Dance, Standup Comedy, Webcams, Science & Technology, Politics, Holidays, Video Games, and StupidVideo Originals. Most of the funny content is original and "home-made." Viewers can comment and upload videos onto Digg, Del.icio.us, Facebook, and StumbleUpon. URL links and embedded code are also available for bloggers.

With all the stupid possibilities that people can think of, StupidVideos is very careful about what users can and cannot put out there. The Terms of Service Section thoroughly explains what StupidVideos restricts. First off, they absolutely do not allow any user under the age of 18 to submit content without a parent/guardian's certification. StupidVideos does not allow not content that inflict emotional distress, humiliate, assault/threaten, enter private property without permission, and engage in any activity that may result in injury, death, property damage, and/or liability of any kind. If StupidVideos feels that any video display these characteristics, they will reject/remove the submission.

These three video sharing sites are very different, but are all used similarly. The type of content in each of these sites are completely different. Besides the content, the lay-outs, and organization of data slightly varies from site to site. CollegeHumor, compared to the other two is a bit more explicit. It has a "Girls" section and displays a "Cute College Girl of the Day." This is not organized in the other sites. Dailymotion is a more general video sharing site, compared to the other two which specialize in a specific type of content aimed for a specific audience.

The three sites are similar in the way they are constructed. There is a home page, a link/tab to the video section, different video categories, and a commenting feature. At the main Video section there is always a section of newly posted videos. All of these sites also allow users to share the video in different ways such as Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, and includes URL and embedded code. All of the sites include a few ads which can attract users when viewing videos. Members can join groups and communicate in forums/communities. They all also include a "featured" or all-time best category. All sites also feature a rating system (5-star) which can give users feedback and also help viewers find good-quality videos.

CarDomain
CarDomain brings the same people of the same interest, cars, to the same place. It isn't about what kind of car you can get out there, but it's more about what kind of car you can turn yours into. Instead of boring stock vehicle parts and factory presets, car enthusiasts customize their car's engine, suspension, body, interior, paint, and wheels. CarDomain is a way for those hotshots to show off their works of art. It is also a way for them to see what other people have done to their cars. A way for people to find other people is by finding their car first. There is a browsing page on the home page where the car is narrowed down by make and then by model. To communicate with other people in CarDomain, people can sign other users' guestbooks. There is also a friend requesting system in CarDomain.

Features in CarDomain include Rides, Events, Groups, Video, Blog, and Store. The Rides section is used the most and it is the way of finding cars, view the top rated cars, the showoff of the week, the newest rides, and recently updated rides. To find the people with the same interest in a specific type of car (Import, Muscle, Exotic, etc.), there are groups made for them. That is a way to find other people of the same interest. To stay updated with car shows, the Events section is the place to go find out about them.

CarDomain is well-made and organized. Being a car fanatic, I like to just go on CarDomain to look at what people have done to their cars. I'm very interested in customized cars and CarDomain can provide pictures and specifications for those who are not even members. For those who are members, this social networking website keeps people proud of what they have done. Although it its purpose is not to find other people or keep people connected, it can be used that way. It would not be too hard to stay in touch with someone through CarDomain.

MySpace
MySpace is a fun and creative way for users to present themselves. On the profile page, users can list basic information such as interests, favorite music, movies, TV shows, books, and heroes. People communicate by commenting on their friends' MySpaces. There is also a private way of sending messages which works the same way as e-mail. Finally, another way of communicating is using the Bulletin Space. In Bulletin Space, users can post their thoughts, events, ideas, or anything they want to for all of their friends. Usually people post silly pass-it-on poems or stories.

One of the best things about MySpace is its Music section. The main Music page is the start place for those who want to navigate through MySpace browsing artists. There is also a search bar for those looking for a specific artist. Almost all famous artists have their official MySpace where users can add their songs, view tour schedule, see upcoming events/news, and potentially click on advertisements. There are still the basic MySpace functions, such as friend requesting, commenting, messaging, and the artist can post on the bulletin. The convenient part about having a musician MySpace is that any musician can sign up for one. That means local bands, solo artists, and general musicians can post their recordings online and try to be shown in the world. For example, the famous Jamaican pop artist Sean Kingston became a successful musician through MySpace. Other sections include Film, Mail, Blog, Favorites, Forum, Groups, Events, Videos, Music, Comedy, and Classifieds.

To find a person of the same interests or some type of similarity, users can join groups that are made specifically for that interest. There is also a browsing function in MySpace where people can find other people by narrowing down certain aspects such as age, sex, relationship status, what they are looking for, and geographic location. A way of finding someone you know is by using the search tool.

In my opinion, MySpace is more suitable for middle schoolers or young teens. It's way of meeting people and staying connected is not very organized or professional-looking. It is more of a way for users to express themselves and find interesting people, media, and general teen fun. It doesn't serve as a formal way for older people to stay connected. It also has a lot of media content and advertising involved, especially with the music section.

Facebook
We all know what Facebook is. Very few college students, especially ones in IST have never seen it. The main purpose of Facebook is to connect people within a school network (college, high school, graduate school), or a geographic location (Harrisburg, PA). It becomes very helpful for those who are distant from each other. It becomes easier to keep in touch than e-mail, IM, phone, or any other type of communication. It is also useful for people to contact each other who aren't really friends. For example, John and Jodie are in the same group for a project and need to meet at a place. John can contact Jodie and another members by messaging or wall posting. There are more functions and other ways of communication in Facebook that do not come in the form of a text.

From my personal experience, people do not "meet" random people on Facebook. Usually there is a connection between one person and the other through one or more friends. People can search for their friends, or find people in the same network. People usually add friends who they have talked to or share the same network. Friends are typically found by viewing current friends' Facebooks and seeing recognizable names. There are ways to meet random people of the same interest, birthday, major, political view, religion, activities, and other categories. Each field listed in your Facebook is a link that takes you to a list of other people who have listed the same item in the field. Names are also tagged in pictures, which also serve as links directly to their profile (if not private), or to the portable viewing page where you can add them as a friend.

The most used function of Facebook is wall posting. It is the primary communication function and is visible by friends of the person who's wall you write on. A more discreet way of communicating is messaging, which is not visible to people outside of the recipient(s). This is used to give phone numbers, private/personal information, or to large group members. A way of informing those who have not kept in touch in a long time is Poking. All it does is send a notification that you have been poked by so-and-so. It can get very intense and people engage in what are called "poking wars," which are just endless poking back and forth. A part of Facebook that I just started using is the Marketplace. It is a way of browsing or searching items for sale, put up by other Facebook users within your network(s). I started with this to look for Penn State Football tickets.

There are many optional applications that users can choose to add. They are required to use if you want to perform an action on a friends Facebook who has that application. They add more spice to Facebooking and tend to waste a lot time. An example of an application would be the Graffiti wall. In this add-on, you can adjust colors, brush size, opacity, and undo actions. It's fun to draw images on your friends Graffiti wall but can be very difficult at first. Most drawings are sloppy and writing is even worse. Some people are very skilled and do shading by adjusting the opacity. Another application is the iLike music application, where users can put up their favorite songs and dedicate songs to their friends. There is the SuperPoke! application where pre-configured funny actions can be performed in place of regular poking. The same goes with the X Me application except ANY possible action can be done.

In my opinion, Facebook is the most organized and formal way of social networking. It can be fun and silly at the same time with the optional applications. What makes it more formal than MySpace is the inability to change or customize your profile. It only allows you to change your information (contact info, personal info, education/work info) and add applications. In MySpace, users can play around with different themes and backgrounds and add auto-playing music. Facebook is far more organized in finding friends than MySpace, mainly because people use their real names in Facebook. Also, there are search bars within viewing a list of ppl, as opposed to MySpace where you have to look at a page of profile pictures one page at a time.

"Why Facebook Is the Future"
by Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine

Why is Facebook appealing? This article starts out by referring to the hacker Virgil Griffith, who unleashed the WikiScanner. This program scans Wikipedia entries and finds who is making changes to the entry. Author Lev Grossman goes into explaining the anonymity throughout the web and concludes that this is the reason why Facebook is appealing. Facebook's history was then given, mentioning how the network began in Harvard as a tool for meeting. Being formed from an Ivy league school could be why Facebook has such a classy or upmarket feel to it. Also, people usually use their own identity and do not misbehave on Facebook. If there was any annoyance, people could easily remove pests or hide themselves. The article ends with a good statement: "the most important function of a social network is connecting people and that its second most important function is keeping them apart."

This article was a basic and informative publishing. It does not go in-depth with facts or opinions at all. This would be a good article for those who do not know what Facebook is. I, however, happened to be a dedicated Facebook user. Reading this article was basically reading stuff I already knew. Grossman did mention a few facts I did not know, such as Yahoo! offering to buy Facebook for one billion dollars to get turned down. This article was written before Google bought Facebook, and Grossman mentioned that it would be a good move for Google to buy them. The article was fairly short, so that could explain the lack of details. It gives a reader the gist of how Facebook is changing the online world, and how it functions as a social network.

"Social Networking Goes Professional"
By Jessica E. Vascellaro, The Wall Street Journal

Michael Tomblyn, an oncologist radiologist at University of Minnesota Medical Center, was confused when treating a patient whose eye was coming out of its socket. He was not sure of what disorder this could be, so he sought for help on Sermo.com. Sermo is a social-networking website where 25,000 doctors log on to diagnose diseases. Other doctors suggested Tomblyn that it was fungal infection, which sparked Tomblyn's answer. The disease was a cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. Social networking, popular among teenagers, is now starting to become useful in the business field. It is a good source for advertisement. Also, many professional workers can exchange contact information and other job recruiting details. There is also the need for communication to all workers, which can be used by online forums. A more personal way of business working is currently under way. Sermo is an example of one. People in the business field can have their own personal pages or blogs, share links to other users, send online even invitations, and instant message. Sermo and other professional networking websites are free to use and authenticate users.

I thought this was a well written article. The length was just right and it focuses mainly on social networking in the business field. It uses Dr. Tomblyn's example throughout the article, and refers to Sermo by using it as an example. I got a better understanding of how social networking can be used other than writing on walls and poking each other. Sermo seems like a very useful tool for doctors who don't know what they are doing, but for the most part I think it is not mainly a "professional" social network. Instead, I believe that it is more of a social network for people of the same profession. People of the same field can share ideas, opinions, and suggestions. Although it is probably a reliable source for medical answers, but people will not use it for that purpose. From the article, they made it seem like Dr. Tomblyn was relying on it, which is realisticly not the case.

My Sony Ericsson w600i Walkman phone snapped in half last week. I have discovered that the swivel system was not meant to last forever. The screws finally came off and the phone was detached. After going home, I traded with my mom since she does not use her cell phone very much. The Sony is still usable, but it is rubber-banded together so the keypad is not accessible. That leaves me with a pink Motorola Razr v3. Wow.

I ordered an orange housing for it the next day off of eBay. I didn't want a cover case that snapped over the phone, because it would make the phone bulky and the pink would still be revealed. The seller was offering tools as well, so I figured I could fix it up myself. I found a set of instructions and disassembled my pink razr yesterday. Then I put the orange housing on. I picked orange not only because it's my favorite color but also..who has an ORANGE RAZR?? no one.

Before the housing arrived to University Park (it was shipped from Hong Kong, and took about 9 days), stupid me bought a Sony Ericsson w810i Walkman phone from a friend for only $50. His phone was stolen and he paid $50 for a brand new replacement (of the same phone). Recently, his stolen phone was returned and so he had 2 w810i's. I really liked Sony's OS and interface so i bought it. It is an excellent phone, and can play music at a high volume without losing quality. It's very small and beautiful. I like the candy-bar style phones, instead of flip open, swivel, slider, or any of those other ones that break easily.

I will most likely sell the Razr, or give it back to my mom. I really do not like Motorola's cell phone user interface. The biggest flaw of their interface is that you cannot store multiple numbers to the same contact. For example, if I had John's cell phone and John's home phone numbers, I would have to store them into John Cell and John Home. How unorganized! The Sony's contact system is much more organized and multiple numbers (home, cell, work, fax, other) can be stored to a single contact. Also, the Razr is SO SLOW. It takes twice the amount of time to boot up, and if you do not use it for a while there is lag when pushing buttons. The overall look and font in the Razr's OS is also poor. The Sony Ericsson's has a much higher resolution screen. Finally, w810i has a lot more functions than the motorazr v3. The w810i can play music, record video, edit video, edit music, has an FM radio, much better games, photo editor, bluetooth remote control, a very bright light (I found this very useful in the dark when I had my w600i), and has software to transfer files such as music, video, and pictures.

The old phone: Sony Ericsson w600i Walkman phone.

Orange Razr, baby.

Yes, that is my hand.

baby got back.

Sony Ericsson w810i

2.0 Megapixel camera, 3 micro speakers, and dual LED lights

I took these pictures (except for the first one) in my room with my digital camera, and then uploaded them on Photobucket. It's a good way of hosting your personal pictures if you ever need the picture in the form of a link.

I am an avid tennis player. I played the #2 singles position my senior year of high school, and was the captain of the team. I started playing in 6th grade (I guess that would be 11 or 12 years old) and took lessons in the Hershey Racquet Club. (I don't know why the spell check is correcting the word Racquet, because it is another way of spelling racket.) I joined Club Tennis here at Penn State, since I would have to be a God to play for the Intercollegiate team. Intramural would be pointless for me, so I found Club to be a happy medium. The plus side of playing Club Tennis is that members get to play on the Sarni Tennis Facility, where the Varsity team plays. The courts are extremely nice, as I played on them on Monday. I was happy to find that the other players were pretty good and about my level.

I also love to watch tennis. In professional tournaments, the courts the pro players play on have all types of technology. First, there is the device that clocks the speed of the serve. Also, there is a sensor on the net to detect if the ball nipped the net on the serve. Most of these two technologies are made by IBM.There is also what is called Shot Spot. When the ball is very close to the line, and a player thinks the line judge made a bad call, they can challenge it. Shot Spot shows the exact movement of the ball and re-enacts how the ball bounced on a large screen display. It is displayed in 3-D simulation by using an application called PointTracker which was created by IBM. Shot Spot works by using 4 high-speed cameras on each corner of the court stadium. This technology is also called Hawk-Eye, which was developed by Roke Manor Research Limited engineers in 2001. Another technology is the MacCAM which was named after the infamous John McEnroe, who always yelled at the chair umpire and line judges for bad calls. MacCAM is a system of slow-motion cameras developed by FastCAM Replay LLC and Del Imaging Systems LLC. Unlike Shot Spot, the footage recorded by these cameras are shown to viewers only, and cannot be used to make judgments.

An image of Shot Spot

John McEnroe

Links:
Shot Spot
MacCAM
PointTracker

I shared something interesting about myself to my friend, Matt Dinkel yesterday. I never realized that it was so weird. It might show a similarity of low-level Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) which I am pretty sure I don't have.

As I walk up and down stairs, I keep track of whether certain sets of stairs are even or odd and memorize them. I do this because I walk up and down stairs by 2's and if it's even, I will take them two at a time all the way through. If the number of stairs is odd, I will take the first one a single step, then the rest by 2's. I guess I do this because I don't want to take an extra step on the even steps. It's pretty weird, but may have to do with my mathematical mind. Some movies that are similar in this way but much more miraculous are Rain Man and A Beautiful Mind.

In Rain Man, Dustin Hoffman plays an autistic adult who has incredible counting and calculating skills. For example, he was able to accurately count a box of toothpicks when they fell on the floor. This movie is actually based on a real person, Kim Peek. In psychology class in high school, we watched an interview of him and he could actually calculate the day of the week of a certain date in a certain year, which is just miraculous.

Learn more about Rain Man: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095953/

In A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe plays schizophrenic mathematics professor John Nash. To tie this entry into technology, John Nash was a guru at encrypting in his mind. Encrypting is a huge part of Security and Risk Analysis. Nash had hallucinations that he was secretly encrypting data for the government and sent in his hard work in a mailbox. His wife found he letters and showed it to him, and he lost trust with everyone. He had to go through severe treatment, but could not fully recover. He would still continue to see the same imaginary people, but he would have to force himself to ignore them and pretend they are not there.

Learn more about A Beautiful Mind: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268978/

I recommend everyone who reads this post to watch these two films. They are very interesting and show a relation between mental disorders and mathematical skills.

Although I had to leave in the middle of the presentation, the speaker from Nepal got me interested in his country yesterday. Prior to his presentation, I had little knowledge about Nepal's geography, culture, history, government and technology. In fact, I thought Nepal was in Africa. This blog post will cover mostly about the country of Nepal, and not about what Manohar Bahattari talked about in his presentation.

Nepal is a landlocked country located between India and China. It is very mountainous, including the world famous Mount Everest, peaking over 8000m.

Multiparty parliamentary democracy was introduced by King Birendra in November of 1990. Then, King Gyandendra ruled an absolute monarchy since 2002.

The population of 18 million belong to dozens of ethnic groups. They are roughly divided into 2 groups: Hindu and Buddhist. The Hindus mainly live in lowlands while the Buddhists live in mountain villages close to the Tibet.

From yesterday's presentation, I saw some shocking photos that reveal the need of improvement in technology in Nepal. I saw a picture of a native climbing on a telephone pole to fix the lines.

Great websites that includes different facts about Nepal:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107820.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/country_profiles/1166502.stm
http://www.geographia.com/nepal/

After leaving the presentation, Matt Maisel and I went to Rec Hall to lift. As I was bench pressing, I thought about inflicting pain to myself to get stronger. I thought about "doing what I normally wouldn't do." Thinking this to myself helped me push myself. Thanks Professor Tapia!

The three sources I chose to research on were IBM, Sun Microsystems, and BBC. They all had similar policies or guidelines. IBM states that blogs are allowed as long as they are used for learning and contributing. Sun's guidelines emphasize on being interesting and blogging with quality, but still states the dangers of inappropriate blogging. BBC reiterated that if there was any trouble or concerns then the blogger should consult with his or her manager and was formatted in a professional style.
One thing I found interested among these three corporations was with Sun's guidelines. They pointed out the importance of being interesting and writing with good quality. This almost seemed unusual in an informal way to me because I would not expect a large corporation to write about the good and benefits of blogging. They said that making a blog interesting will make you popular to the people who understand your specialty. The Sun guidelines also mentioned that a successful way of blogging is by expressing yourself and exposing your personality. I suppose it is a good way for Sun Microsystems to attract more consumers and get them interested in a worker's blog.
Companies like Facebook and Myspace do not need blogging policies. That is because they are small companies and they do not have any secrets to hide. Apple does not have a blogging policy, and this site goes more thoroughly into why they don't: http://chuqui.typepad.com/chuqui_30/2006/10/why_apple_doesn.html

"Best Practices":
+Always consult with your manager with any concerns about your blog. (examples - someone offers you pay for blogging, media/press contacts you)
+Do not reveal confidential content.
+Do not attack/abuse any colleagues in your blog.
+State the fact that your opinions on your blog are NOT the corporation's opinions.
+Write what you know.
+Think about consequences (Blog as if your manager was reading every word you wrote).

I have done my research on corporate/professional blogging policies on the 3 following websites:
IBM
http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html
Sun Microsystems
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2004/05/02/Policy
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/advice/weblogswebsites/index.shtml

Attending the Pro Expo as a freshman....(I will be careful and not say 'sucks') ...is difficult. Basically there is no hope whatsoever of being even considered for an intern and any company. I accepted this and admitted that I would not be considered to each booth I approached. I used this experience as a way to learn for next year and get connected with recruiters. I also needed to discover on my own what type of company I would want to work for. The first station I went to was the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, which only accepts juniors and above. I was semi-nervous talking to the lady, even though she was doing most of the talking. I found myself awkward staring into her eyes so my eyes drifted away a couple times....which shows you're not interested/confident. I fixed this when I talked to the next 2 companies, GEICO and MetLife. I suddenly became more engaged in the conversation and felt more comfortable looking at the recruiter in the eyes.
I am glad that I went to the Pro Expo this year, otherwise my first meeting next year would have been more difficult. It was also very beneficial to have a free dinner at the Networking Reception.

Greg Cosikyan http://www.costik.com/weblog/
Cliff Bleszinski http://www.cliffyb.com/

Both bloggers posted random instances of things they thought interesting. They each posted very light-heartedly, giving the reader time to laugh with their casual writing style. Both mentioned small things about their company, but not in any great detail or of anything too sensitive. Each has a bio section where they talk about themselves. They don’t go into much detail about personal information anywhere else. Both post links to other resources within their blog.

Cliffy used more loose language throughout his posts while Greg kept a bit more language control. Cliffy is a more infamously known person with high profile games. He is the boss of his company and Greg leads a smaller organization. Only with Greg uses tags, but not very often. The only tag we found was “humor.”

Desperately searching for an interesting person on vox.com, I came across Rob. We are both interested in tennis and the similar movies. Here is the link to his blog:
http://moghandavid.vox.com/

The purpose of Rob's blog is to provide users with facts about recent movies, novels, and events and followed by honest and realistic opinions. He only lists his entries about the things that he enjoys at the given time. Many of his interests and opinions about those interests are similar to mine. In all of the entires of his that I have spent time reading, I have not found one that I would disagree with. People besides myself can use Rob's blog as a guide discover what they do and don't like.

I am pleased with the format of Rob's entries. He makes it very clear for readers (grammatically and comprehensively) and does not use profanity. He also provides a picture of his topic in each of his entries. Rob writes his entries as if they were meant for other people to use as a source of some sort. Besides giving readers facts, he shares his personal opinions similar to a critic. Instead of reading the newspaper or watching Entertainment Tonight, Rob serves as a good source for people who need something to expect from seeing a movie.

We know what people can use Rob's blog for.....but what does he use it for? I think that Rob uses vox as an outlet to help others. If he likes providing information for people as well as sharing his opinions, he would want to do it on a large scale. The easiest way for him to do this would be blogging. In his first and third posts ever created on his blog, he explains why he chose to create a vox blog account. He previously used a myspace, but seeked a better way of blogging and less social networking. He also chose to use vox so that he can upload his own photos, as he has stated that he does not like linking from other people's pages. With vox, he does not have to use a third-party site, he can upload his photos via his flicker account.

In conclusion, Rob's blog serves as a useful way for anyone to find something to be interested in. For example, if someone who may not have known about women's beach volleyball and when it was being broadcasted, Rob's blog would provide that information. He helps other people know what to expect from different movies, music, books, and events. He also keeps his information very easy to understand. People who want information about some form of entertainment should stay updated with Rob's blog.

I began using the Internet at the age of about 8, the year 1996, when my older sister introduced AOL Instant messenger and MSN Hotmail to me. At that time, the only purpose of using the computer was to play old school computer games. While thinking that screen name creation process was exciting, I was not aware that these two services could impact the rest of my life. The Internet has and will continue to have a drastic impact to my life. Except for special occasions (vacations, family emergencies, or illness), I have used the Internet about every day of my life. Besides using the Internet for leisure, it is also a resourceful tool for education and personal curiosity. The Internet will never be extinct in the future and I will always be connected to it every day for the rest of my life.
Since there was no real need for internet in my childhood, I used it for only these few purposes. The largest impact the Internet had on my childhood would be fulfilling my personal curiosity. If I had a question my mother or father could not answer, I would find my answer online. I learned many facts that I would not have learned without the Internet. Another impact would be communicating with others. In my childhood (up until high school) I used AIM as a primary communication device, since I did not have a cell phone. It was a way to build my social and communication skills, while developing my typing accuracy at the same time. E-mail was another way of communicating with my friends. Although I did not use it that much, I still checked it daily and primarily used it to receive account confirmations for certain registration activations. Usually, I was not only on the computer to be connected to AIM or Hotmail. I would also be surfing on Internet Explorer, playing Math Blaster, and maybe typing on Microsoft Word at the same time. Because the Internet opened another computer task for me, it had a slight impact in developing my multi-tasking skills. When researching, multiple windows of Internet Explorer were open as well as Word. Research was the most important use of the Internet in my childhood. It was the only tool for me to find information about Siamese Twins when the dreadful eighth grade research paper came. E-mail and online-researching had a greater role when I entered high school.
In high school, I created a Gmail account and used e-mail more seriously. E-mail was used for communicating with teachers, family, organizations outside of school, and employers. The largest impact of the Internet in my high school career was joining social networks. I first had a Xanga, which I updated almost every day. Having a Xanga has really helped me become more comfortable expressing myself. At first my blogs were short, consisting of a few sentences. Later on, my posts were more lengthy and included pictures. I also enjoyed commenting on other people’s Xangas. After Xanga, I created a MySpace account. It did not do much except allow me to express my creativity. Also, I played with HTML code in order to edit different background colors and styles. MySpace was not too helpful in socializing with other people, since it was so disorganized. It was difficult to find a specific person even if that person was your friend. Then came Facebook. The only social network that I still use is Facebook. It was a huge impact on my life because it gave me an urge to get on the computer and check it constantly. Also, since notifications of wall posts, friend requests, photo tags, photo comments, messages, group invitations, and event invitations were sent via e-mail, I started to check my e-mail a lot more often. Facebook has helped me socialize with people and communicate with them even when there was nothing important to say. Also, it was a good way to organize my photos and make them viewable online. I also had my cell phone number and screen name on my Facebook so people could contact me in other ways. Social networking was not the only use of the Internet in my high school years.
Even though dial-up internet was the only connection in our household, the lag and slow speeds did not prevent me from experiencing online gaming. I found a Half-Life CD-key online and began playing Counter Strike version 1.6. It was very difficult at first but that was what made the game addictive. I immediately fell in love with this game and played it for hours every day. It was the very first time I had played a video game with people I did not know over an online connection. I enjoyed the possibility of playing a multiplayer game whenever desired, instead of getting a group of friends together.
Researching was obviously a big part of high school papers. Information could be found easier and quicker than searching in a library. I remember that there would be a minimum requirement for certain research papers for physical sources. I would find the minimum amount of books and list them in my bibliography but would never use them. The Internet was so much easier to use and had much more information. Not only was researching on the internet used for educational purposes, but I also researched for my first car. I compared car after car, looking at engine specs, performance specs, prices, colors, miles, and wheels. Even though I never shopped online, I never needed to look around in stores. I would do all the research and comparisons of different products and make my decision prior to purchasing in the store.
One of the most important uses of the Internet is applying online. Online applications are quicker, more convenient, legible, and ensures no missed fields. I applied for my first job at the Hershey Lodge on the Hershey jobs website. I also applied for Penn State online. I would also apply for other schools online, but Penn State was the only school I applied to. I applied for other jobs online as well. Also, all job applications will be online at one point in the future.
The Internet in the future can be unimaginable. I can see myself using the Internet for reasons I would have never thought of. In the future, instant messaging, land phones, letter mail, e-mail, and chat rooms could all be dead technology. Video messaging, video chatting, and video mailing will take over and could be processed in a newer type of display. If I work for a business, meetings and conferences could all be done in the comfort of my own home. Video transmission can send all the members into a single display. The Internet will always be a tool for the same reasons from using it in the past. It will only be more efficient, faster, and convenient in the future.

This is my very first entry of my very first blog. I am very excited to experience this form of communication and learning.