Jamilah's Life in IST... Watch Me Work

http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/6095/student-papers/fall05-papers/facebook.pdf
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Teens_Privacy_SNS_Report_Final.pdf

I recently worked on a project where I compared and contrasted the information shared on Facebook and MySpace. On Facebook, 80% of users in college disclose which dorm they live in and 84% of High School users disclose which school they attend. For the most part, this is expected. The reason people are on Facebook is to network socially. If user A knows that user B goes to University of Miami, he/she is more likely to network with them user B. 70% posts their AIM screen name and 25.6% post their phone number. On a user to user perspective, this is normal because if someone who can see my profile needs to contact me, I want them to be able to without difficulty. But from a parent’s perspective, this is not okay. I would not want anyone from “the internet” calling my child’s cell phone. 81% disclose which school clubs they are in. Again, this is another way of connecting to people who have something in common with you. On the other hand, this lets harmful people know where you will most likely be after school. Facebookers disclose a massive amount of personal information in order to network. If they didn’t, there would be no use for Facebook.

On MySpace, 82% of users post their first name and 29% include their last name. This is not what I would have expected because MySpace users tend to be more ambiguous. Users names tend to convey the current mood of the user such as: “uR N3w GuRl will N3V3R B L1Ke M3” or “RIP Teddy…we will always love U”. As times have changed more users want others to know their real names. 49% include their school's name and 61% post their city or town. Again, this is the same as Facebookers; people network with others they have something in common with. 79% post pictures of themselves and 29% post videos of themselves. I truly thought this percentage would be greater only because there are 1042 pictures of me on Facebook. Maybe some users don’t like pictures. MySpacers reveal just about the same amount of personal information as Facebookers in order to network properly.

"Real friends and virtual strangers" Summary
The article entitled “Real friends and virtual strangers” shows how social networking sites allow people to expand their group of “friends” but one must have a face-to-face relationship in order to be genuine friends. Although someone may have 200 friends, there is only a handful that they can trust. The point of networking is to make friends that could do you a favor like getting you a job or getting you into a certain program. However, if you have never met these "friends", you can't trust them, and there is no point in networking at all.

"What we need," explained Dr. Reader, "is to be absolutely sure that a person is really going to be there for us. It's very easy to be deceptive on the Internet. What we need are cues that are indicative of investment."

"Facebook eases freshmen fears, fosters friendship" Summary
The article entitled “Facebook eases freshman fears, fosters friendship” gives examples of how Facebook helps college freshman adjust to the new environment. Before they arrive on campus, most college freshman already have dozens of “Facebook Friends” that are attending the same school. Facebook makes it much easier to communicate with new roommates and new people in general, making it easier to blend in.

"Personally, I'd rather meet [people] in person, but Facebook has been a great tool to get to know fellow students before getting to campus," she said. "Without it, I would probably feel much more lost and unprepared about going to Wellesley than I am now."

"There is always the underlying suspense that they are not [the same] in person as they are online. Sometimes it's easier to meet people in person because then you can judge body language and vocal tone."

As you can see, people use Facebook for one thing in general, networking. Knight’s article suggests that you cannot truly create a genuine bond through Facebook. On the other hand, Peace’s article suggests that Facebook can be the starting point of genuine bonds. I think both articles are absolutely correct. For the past 2 years, I worked at GlaxoSmithKline. During that time, I joined the GSK network on Facebook. I would never be naïve enough to think that I could create a bond with an upper level employee and expect him/her to get me a promotion. It just doesn’t work like that. In order for that to happen, there would definitely have to be a face-to-face connection. However, with college and the newness of everything, I created a Facebook relationship with my current roommate and girls on my floor before I met them in person. I think that only worked because we knew that we would be seeing each other everyday for the next but it eased the move in process and the first week of school. There are some people that I am friends with on Facebook but will almost never speak to in person. Maybe it’s a social status thing, I don’t want to be embarrassed while speaking to the “nerd” when with my “cool” friends. Overall, the combined message of these two articles is, Facebook Friends are not people you can necessarily trust, and Facebook friends can only transform into true friends when you meet in person.

Okay, so I usually don't do this but I think everyone needs to know this. My dad is a professional photographer and he takes and sells pictures during community events. He recently advertised his brochure in a PNC Bank in Carlisle, PA (which is a lot like Penn State with more working adults- a lot of white people) So his brochure had a picture of lovely daughters (myself and my younger sister) on the cover and smaller pictures of Caucasian kids. Over the 3 months that he advertised he only received 8 inquires. One of his good friends told him that it was because the brochure was "too black".

At first I was a tad bit confused but then I realized that most of America is racist. It’s not so hard to believe, I guess, because people don’t change, technology does. (That was nice, how I just through that word in there. I have good reason though) I think if all this technology such as the TV, phone, computer, camera, etc. were not invented we all would still mentally be in 1950. But because we have technology, we can't be so "loud" about what we truly think about people who don’t look like us. The fact is everyone, in their mind, acts as if it is 1950. It's crazy, I know but it's America.

For more on Racism and Technology go to:
http://switch.sjsu.edu/web/v6n2/articles/wright.html
http://www.osu.edu/units/research/archive/fractal.htm

1. Model Mayhem - modelmayhem.com

Model Mayhem is a social networking site for aspiring models, photographers, make-up artists, hair stylist, and wardrobe gurus. There are many ways to meet people through this site. Under the browse tab, one can search using many criteria such as: profile type (Model, Photographer, Makeup Artist, Hair Stylist, or Wardrobe Stylist), Country, State, Postal code, and Name. There is a special search criteria for models only. You can search by age, gender, height, ethnicity, skin color, hair length, hair color and eye color.

When the results appear, there will be the picture, name, location, gender, age, height and weight of everyone that met the criteria. You can send a message to whoever appears in the result , view their photos and friends, and request to be their friend. Once you are their friend you can comment on their pictures and post public comments to their page.

2. Travellers Point- travellerspoint.com

"The goal of Travellerspoint is to create an international meeting point for travellers worldwide, whether they are planning their travels, currently travelling or have returned from their travels and want to stay in touch with (or find) those travel friends they met while travelling in the past." The objective of TravellersPoint is " to enrich the travelling experience by offering numerous services, content and products that have significant perceived and added value for travellers worldwide. To travel means to meet other people, experience their cultures and to make, but also to keep good friends. By bringing more people together - albeit before, during or after travelling - Travellerspoint will create more understanding for different cultures and countries and ultimately a better world for everyone to travel in."

3. Vampire Freaks - vampirefreaks.com

Vampire Freaks is a social networking site designed to help “gothic” people interact. After you create a profile, there are many ways to communicate with people. There is an advance user search. You can search by sex, location, age, sexual orientation, currently online, and user with a picture. When the results appear, there is the users’ picture, age, name, and location. You can also search within “cults” by genre such as: music, movies & TV, fashion & beauty, scenes & culture, html & design, support & help, technology & computers, games, literature, sports & entertainment, business & shops, mature & relationships, arts, locations & languages, food & health, philosophy & intellectual, and political & activist. Cults focus on those topics and you can make friends within the cults.

The sites I choose are very different in content. However, the way users can communicate, for the most part, is the same. Model Mayhem’s design is very user friendly. People are able to get around the site very easily. If you want to find a very specific person, you can thanks to its advanced search. This is because the site was designed for artist to find that piece of artwork they need. Photographers, wardrobe stylists, and hair artists need a particular type a person when they work. Therefore, Model Mayhem lets them search for the 5’10”, blonde, 22 year old, female from LA. Overall, the site is very user friendly and promotes connectivity.

Model Mayhem is very similar to Travellers Point, where you can search for some based on what city they where in on what date. Because of the Reunion function, people can find the French man they were in Austria with in 1996. However, that is not the purpose of the site. When I registered for the site, I was confused on how to find people. There is no direct “people search” link on the home page. This is most likely because this site is more for people to browse other people’s opinions on places, not to find people and socialize. Generally, Travellers Point is for peer-to-peer research not networking.

However, Vampire Freaks is made for finding people with similar interests. The design of the site makes it easy to browse through profile and cults. If you want to view the newest member’s profile or the last modified profile, it is really simple. I think this is because the audience has no time to waste. These are angry teens and adults who have been out-cast to their very own social networking site. The design makes them feel more at home with the black background and the red font. Also, instead of the word “group”, Vampire Freak’s uses “cult”. This really makes the audience want to join and meet new people. Overall, Vampire Freaks keeps the traditional gothic style and promotes networking with similar users.

Okay so it's really not a movie but I did create this script in order to inform, somewhat, people on social awareness.

Social Networking Awareness Video Script

Characters
The Patterson Family
Jasmyne Patterson – 16-year-old Facebook junky
Matthew Patterson – 45-year-old single parent with a daughter and son
Mark Patterson – 21 year-old college senior
Online Predator
Ronald Jones a.k.a. Louie – 37-year-old ex-convict addicted to befriending young girls on Facebook
Others
Jill Armstrong – Jasmyne’s best friend that is always online.
Thomas Claburn – New reporter for CMP news
Jennifer Small - New reporter for CMP news

Act One
Jasmyne has just finished facebooking her best friend Jill about a guy she just met through FB. When she hears her father coming, she gets off the computer. Then, she turns on the TV and there is a special report on about a Facebook and predators. Her father enters the room, watches the report with her, and gives her some fatherly advice.

(Close up on Jasmyne’s FB page and the following messages)
(voice over)
Jasmyne: Hey gurl, what chu doin?
Jill: Nothing. What’s up with you?
Jasmyne: OMG you will never believe what just happened
Jill: What is it?
Jasmyne: I just met the cutest guy on FB. His name is Louie. He is so awesome and I really think he likes me. He is in college. Actually he goes to Mark’s school.
Jill: WOW! That sounds amazing. Let’s hope Mark doesn’t find out.
Jasmyne: He won’t. I asked Louie if he knew him and he said he never heard of him.
Jill: Your brother’s school is so small. I can’t believe he doesn’t know everybody and their SS#...LOL…. So what are you naming the kids????
Jasmyne: Damn gurl its not that deep but we are going to meet up during his spring break.
Jill: Are you sure????
Jasmyne: Hold on…. I gotta go my dad is coming.
Jill: TTYL

(Jasmyne, walking to the couch, grabs the remote, turns on the TV and a new report comes on)

(Close up on TV screen) http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202101541

Thomas Claburn: Today in breaking news, Facebook has been investigated for failing to protect users from sexual predators.

In a letter dated September 24th, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said that investigators posing as underage users uncovered evidence that underage users are targeted by sexual predators on Facebook and that there is widespread pornographic and obscene content on the site. Complaints addressed to Facebook staff are dealt with slowly, sporadically, and inconsistently. Within days of setting up fake profiles for 12-year-old to 14-year-old users, investigators "received numerous sexual solicitations from adults sent to several of the underage profiles”
The letter says that the Cuomo has subpoenaed information about Facebook's safety and security measures, as well as its complaint resolution mechanism. In an e-mailed statement to CMP, Facebook said that it plans to cooperate with the investigation.“

(Camera back to daughter and father)
Mr. Patterson: Jasmyne, I hope you were listening.
Jasmyne: Dad, I heard everything loud and clear.
Mr. Patterson: Yeah, okay, well I just want you to know that there are many strange people out there that may want to hurt you. Don’t believe that all of your online friends have your best interest in mind.
Jasmyne: I know, I know, Dad you tell me this all the time…. I get it already
Mr. Patterson: You better be sure you do.

Act Two
Jasmyne leaves for the mall and her father decides to log on to her computer to see what she has been doing. Her Facebook message was still on the screen. He reads it and calls his son Mark.

Jasmyne: See you later Dad.
Mr. Patterson: Be safe honey bun.
Jasmyne: Okay…Bye!
(Mr. Patterson goes up stairs to Jasmyne’s room and opens her laptop. The Facebook message between her and Jill is still open)

Mr. Patterson: (mumbling) He is in college…. Mark’s school…. meet up during spring break.
Mr. Patterson: I can’t believe this. She is only 16, I have to do something.
(Mr. Patterson then gets up and paces the floor for a minute. He pulls out his cell phone and calls his son, Mark)

Mark: Hey Dad, What’s up?
Mr. Patterson: Son, I have a very serious matter on my hands and I need you to be honest with me.
Mark: What’s wrong Dad, is it Grandma?! Is it Jasmyne?! Tell me.
Mr. Patterson: Its Jasmyne, she has started some kind of relationship with someone that goes to your school.
Mark: She what! She is only 16; what could she be doing with anyone from my school.
Mr. Patterson: I don’t know Son, that’s why I called you. You two are close so maybe you know something about this.
Mark: Of course not. How did you find out?
Mr. Patterson: I was snooping through her Facebook account. Look, his name is Louie, probably short for Louis. You’re still Senior Class President, right?
Mark: Yeah
Mr. Patterson: Well look this kid up, find him, and make him leave my daughter alone.
Mark: Okay Dad. I will call you back when I have the answers.

(Mr. Patterson closes his phone and sits on the bed with his head hung low.)

Act Three
Ronald Jones is on his laptop facebooking one of his young playmates, Rose. He then gets up and thinks about what he is going to do to Jasmyne when the meet.

(Creepy Ronald at laptop…close up on screen)

Rose: You’re a freak boy. You better stop talking like that before you get dealt with.
Ronald: Baby girl, you know everything I’m saying is true. So, when are we gonna make this happen? I know you want it.
Rose: You know it. Let’s hook up tonight in the back of the mall at 10. Sound good to you?
Ronald: You don’t even know how good that sounds… I’m going to tear you up.
(Ronald rises from his seat and walks to his bed)
(Camera rotates around the room focusing on the many pictures of young girls)

Ronald: Awe Man! I can’t wait until tonight. But that’s just the warm up. When I get to Jasmyne is when the real party is going to happen. She is just so hott but I’m going to put of that fire when I slit her throat wide open. (Hysterically laughing) Oh, I can’t wait.

Act Four
Jasmyne and Jill are at the mall talking about Louie and Facebook. They compare the personal information they each have ever posted. Jill’s page is less personal, stating only the basic information. However, Jasmyne’s page includes her birth date, her cell number, things she does after school, her address, her home number, her top friends, and a video of her self. Jill tells her about the harm she is putting her self into.

(Girls walking though the HUB or some place that looks like the mall that is quiet)
Jill: So... how do you and Louie meet?
Jasmyne: Through Facebook. One day, he sent me a message acting like he was in the journalism club at our school but I know everyone there and there is no Louie.
Jill: So he lied
Jasmyne: Yeah but then he confessed and said he just wanted to get to know me better. We have been talking ever since. I remember one time he called my house, I was thinking “Oh Shit! How did he get my number?”
Jill: Did he ever tell you how he got it?
Jasmyne: Yeah… I posted it on my Facebook profile
Jill: Damn girl, you really need to be careful with that. What else do you have posted?
Jasmyne: Umm… I don’t know, my birth date, cell number, after school clubs, my address, my home number, my top friends, and a video of myself…. I think that’s it.
Jill: Wow! You just want someone to hunt you down right?
Jasmyne: What girl, I just put that stuff up there because if someone needs to contact me, I want them to be able to without any hassle.
Jill: That’s really dangerous. If someone wanted to they could come to our school on Thursday afternoon, when you’re at band practice, and snatch your little ass up they could.
Jasmyne: Why would anyone want to do that?
Jill: Because there are crazy people out there that LOVE doing just that. How do you know this “Louie” is even legitimate? Have you asked your brother what Louie is like in school? If he is a nerd or a jock or whatever?
Jasmyne: Hhumm… I never really thought of that. Its just that we made such a good connection over Facebook that I thought…
Jill: Don’t think….know
Jasmyne: You know what, your right. I’ll call my brother and ask when I get home.

Act Five
Jasmyne arrives home as her father is screaming into the phone at the top of his lungs. Mark has just told him that there is no student in his entire college network named Louis, Louie, or Larry. He stares Jasmyne down and tells her to go to her room. He turns on the TV, on the news a man has just been arrested for child molestation. He uses the Facebook name Louie Armstrong. In her room, Jasmyne calls Mark and asks him what happened. He tells her and she immediately goes to her computer and deletes Louis from her friend list. She apologizes to her father and goes to bed.

Mr. Patterson: What do you mean there’s no one by that name? This guy is just lying to my daughter. Who the hell is she going to meet then?
Jasmyne: Dad, what’s wrong? Who are you talking about?
Mr. Patterson: Don’t give me that, you know exactly who I am talking to. GO TO YOUR ROOM!
(Mr. Patterson sits down on the couch and turns on the TV to cool down)

(Close up on TV screen)
Thomas Claburn: Tonight in breaking news, local child molester, Ronald Jones aka Louie Armstrong, has been arrested. He was caught raping local teen, Rose Valentine.
Jennifer Small: He is notorious on Facebook for using young girl’s personal information to lure them to him. Parents beware! Has this man befriended your daughter.

(Mr. Patterson goes to Jasmyne’s room to talk to her)
Mr. Patterson: Jazzy, you in here?
Jasmyne: Yes Daddy. Look, Mark told me everything and I deleted Louie as my friend. I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I was going to check his credentials tonight to see if he was true.
Mr. Patterson: He is true for sure.
Jasmyne: What do you mean?
Mr. Patterson: Ronald Jones was just arrested for rape and child molestation. He uses the Facebook profile Louie Armstrong.
Jasmyne: Oh my gosh.
Mr. Patterson: Oh my gosh is right. Do you know what he could have done to you? You could have been seriously hurt and traumatized.
Jasmyne: Yeah this is traumatic enough.
Mr. Patterson: Get some rest sweetie. We can talk more in the morning.
Jasmyne: Goodnight.

Team HAL-9000
Abby Assetto
Jocelyn Ialacci
Jamilah Matthews

Penn State Security and Risk Analysis Students

Penn State University has recently introduced a new major, Security and Risk Analysis (SRA) (B.S.). More and more students are flocking to this major every day, and our team thought there should be somewhere online for students to meet. Therefore, we created “Penn State Security and Risk Analysis Students”, a social networking site dedicated to helping new and old SRA students connect and network. We used ning.com create our site. The web address is psusra.ning.com. Hopefully, all students majoring in SRA will join the site.

Currently, there are 8 members. We are inviting other students from our SRA courses, and peers or mentors in the major, as well. Because the site is new, many people are not joining because they feel that it is SPAM or something that is not important to them. We are sending out emails explaining what the site is, so that they will join and benefit from its purpose. However, the chart below shows how many people have viewed it and have linked to it.

The website is set up so that students in the major (and even students who are not in the major but are taking one of the classes) can communicate about classes, projects, etc. SRA is a fairly new major here at Penn State. We are blazing a new trail, so every bit of information and support is extremely helpful. There is a section of links to other websites. Sometimes they are sites our SRA teachers show us. Sometimes they are things we find on our own. Other times, the website list includes news articles about something involving security or information technology. But the sites can all be helpful in different ways.

We opted to make the site public. This was so that anybody in the SRA major could join and take advantage of the network. By accessing their personal webpages within the network, members can contact their peers or mentors whenever they need to, from anywhere with an internet connection. Students no longer need to worry about looking up information since he or she might not have their personal computer with them at the time. There are options to send members private messages, or a student can write on a certain member’s “comment wall.” Also, the student could start a new discussion or topic in the forum. That way, other members can provide information or their opinions on that topic. When a student wants to create a member account, he or she must answer a few basic questions. These answers can be edited at any time once the student is a member. The official first question is asking for the student’s email address. This is the way he or she will log in to the page, and it is a way of notifying the student of any changes to his or her profile or to the main page. Once they are members, students can go into their settings and customize what they would like to receive notices about. The first required question asks what year the student is. This way, we can keep track of how many seniors, juniors, etc, that we have on the site. Seniors will be extremely valuable due to their higher levels of experience. The next question asks the student which Security and Risk Analysis courses he or she is taking or has taken in the past. This is listed on each member’s personal webpage within the network. If, for example, you had questions regarding the SRA 111 final, you could look through other members’ pages to see who else has taken that class. Not quite as important, but still interesting is our next question. We ask the student what his or her favorite SRA course is or was. Obviously, freshmen will not have so much of a say in this question, since they will have only taken one or maybe two classes in the subject. But for upperclassmen, students will have much more input for a class that they favored than they might say about a class they did not like or were indifferent about. Our final required question is asking students what their career goals are. Eventually, we hope to get this site up and flourishing within the Penn State community. Graduate students (and hopefully some employers) can log onto the site and check out member pages. They can see what the members are interested in and what they hope to do in the future. After students enter this information, they are asked one final question. They are not required to answer it, but it is just a box to tell everyone else in the network a little bit about themself. They did not get a chance to really explain themselves in the previous questions, since those questions focused primarily on the major and courses. So they can give us some other background information that might be helpful.

There is also a section on the website for groups. The website administrators can set up groups. Right now, we have four groups established. Three of these groups are for options within the major. Everyone majoring in Security and Risk Analysis has to choose one of these three options. The first option is Intelligence Analysis and Modeling. This option focuses on developing a more thorough knowledge of the strategic and tactical levels of intelligence collection, analysis, and decision-making. This includes examining the foundations of decision analysis, economic theory, statistics, data mining, and knowledge management, as well as the security-specific contexts in which such knowledge is applied. There is also and option for Information and Cyber security. This option includes a set of courses that provides an understanding of the theories, skills, and technologies associated with network security, cyber threat defense, information warfare, and critical infrastructure protection across multiple venues. The final option is Social Factors and Risk. This option includes the legal, regulatory, ethical, and other theories associated with security and risk. Such an examination is focused on understanding the social factors and causes that are linked to transnational terrorism, investigations and litigation involved in business, and other security-related environments.* On our network, there is also a fourth group, designed for SRA students who have not yet decided which option they wish to pursue. For the first couple of years in the major, students take some basic courses before they start narrowing down what they would like to do. Underclassmen, especially, are most likely to be undecided about this part.

On our network pages, there are options to upload pictures and videos. You can start blogs and forums to pose questions and learn opinions. There is a section that shows all the members of the network, so that other members can easily find each other’s webpages. There is also an option to make a “profile badge” to add to a student’s facebook or myspace account that we can use to promote our website.

In formatting, we selected a pre-made style (in this case, entitled “Los Angeles”). We chose this style because the layout included a picture at the top, and it matched closely a picture that we felt would be appropriate for the website. We used this icon picture as the basis for the website’s colors. A logo was made by modifying the picture using Adobe Photoshop. A specific tool in the Photoshop program, called “eyedropper,” extracted the colors from our original picture, and the program created HTML codes for those colors. We copied and pasted this code into the appearance editor in the Ning website. We shifted and edited the colors until we settled on a visually appealing color scheme. Towards the middle of the page, there is a full, unedited version of our original picture. The picture is pretty neat, and we agreed that having the full picture showing somewhere else on the page would bring the colors together and would clear up any initial confusing regarding the images in the picture. We also organized the website so that related features are grouped together. For example, videos and photos are together, and the features for blogs and forums are together. We put the Latest Activity section in the middle, so that when members sign in, the first thing they see is changes and new content.

Our conclusions regarding the page were positive. Ning was pretty manageable to use, but it was rather slow. Some of this may be due to the Penn State servers not being the most reliable or able to handle so much. A lot of the features are customizable, but it is not the easiest thing to do. If someone in our group was not proficient in Photoshop and designing, we might have had some difficulty in getting our website to look the way we would like it to.
As this is a new website, there is not much activity on it yet. We have a few members, and some of those members have joined groups and left comments for each other. Members of our group have started a few forum questions and discussions, which some other members have responded to. We are in the process of inviting more people to join, and encouraging the people who have already joined to participate more.

Hopefully, during this semester and the school year, our site can grow to include most of the people in the Security and Risk Analysis major. As more students get involved, teachers and professors might get interested, as well. Having instructors involved will greatly increase the information that gets passed around on the webpage. Also, most instructors have colleagues in the field, as well. These people could greatly contribute in their own ways, as well. And if so many established people are a part of something, employers are bound to catch on. Our goal is to get as many people as possible onto and using the network, and that their experiences will only be positive.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Jamilah Matthews actually set up the website. She used the Ning database to create and do some general editing and set up. She added features and created groups and forums. She was responsible for the site’s content i.e. the question, blog posts, forum discussion, and groups.

• Abby Assetto designed the site. She used Adobe Photoshop to edit pictures, create codes, and some underlying editing. She chose the colors and pictures. She added the links. She also worked on the layout.

• Jocelyn Ialacci composed the paper. She explained what the sites purpose is and how people can use it. She also invited people to join and explained to them what the site is about.

*SRA Option Descriptions Borrowed From: http://bulletins.psu.edu/bulletins/bluebook/college_campus_details.cfm?id=29&program=sra.htm

If you are a tech freak like I am, you will love the new tech Over the past 5 years, I have had 5 digital cameras, 6 cell phones, 2 mp3 players, and 2 TVs. Everyday, more and more technology is being developed. Here are a couple of articles with the lastest tech:

Vudu Set-Top Box

Five thousand movies on your TV, instantly: that's the promise of Vudu, a TV set-top box that uses the power of peer-to-peer networking to deliver near-DVD quality videos to your living room at the click of a button, no PC required. I've had about a week to test-drive the Vudu; did it fulfill my dreams of home-theater nirvana?

Microsoft Zune 30GB Digital Multimedia Device

It's brand new. It's really cool. And it's called Zune. When you want more than just another MP3 and video player, get one of these. Giant 30GB storage for music, photos and video ensures you'll never be bored. Ever. Best of all, the large, bright LCD display can go from portrait to landscape mode as you turn the player. Really. So whatever you're looking at always looks good.

Nikon CoolPix S51c 8 Megapixel Digital Camera

The Nikon Coolpix S51c is an outstanding new compact digital camera combining Nikon's distinctive wave-surface design with advanced features that make it easier to take beautiful photos and to share them with friends and family. Built on a custom application of Nikon's innovative EXPEED digital image processing concept and incorporating the precision optics of a Nikkor lens, the Coolpix S51c is built to realize optimum performance and maximum image quality.

Sonic Solutions Roxio MyDVD v.9.0 Studio

MyDVD 9 Studio provides everything you need to create stunning movie and slideshow productions, author DVDs, and produce video for the web and portable devices. Whether you are working in Standard or High Definition, MyDVD 9 Studio offers a hassle-free way to transfer and edit home recorded movies, create compelling motion slideshows, author standard and high definition DVDs all with superb production values.

Ok guys,

I know this post is a little personal but I want you all to know how technology affects my feelings. The other day, I went to the doctor for that yearly women's exam. When the doctor gave me the breast exam, she said "Oh, there's a lump." I was so scared because the first thing that came to my mind was breast cancer. You know how society says "Breast Lumps = Cancer". However, she told me it should not be major. I am going to go to the local hospital to get a breast ultra sound. I'm glad that there is technology to just look through my breast so they do not have to cut it open to see what is inside.

Wish me Luck Guys,
JM

Personally, I am a faithful Chris Crocker fan. My younger sister and I used to watch his videos on MySpace.com all the time. A couple of weeks ago, he was featured in Vh1's Best Week Ever for his "Leave Brintty Alone" video (posted below). 4 BILLION people have downloaded this video, yes 4 billion. Now, make that 4 billion and 1.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Crocker_%28Internet_celebrity%29

Chris Crocker (born December 1987) is an openly gay[2] Tennessee-based[5] YouTube and MySpace[2] personality and self-described edutainer[3] who produces and acts in transgressive videos. According to Crocker, safety concerns over death threats he has received have forced him to keep his identity and exact location private.[1][6] Crocker is his stage name.[7] His work consists mainly of short-form self-directed "monologues about life" shot in his grandparents' home.[8] As of October 2007, Crocker's videos have received a combined 40.2 million plays on MySpace,[9] and his vlog channel on YouTube is the 15th most viewed of all time in all categories, with over 46.2 million views.[10]

Although he has produced dozens of videos, Crocker gained international notoriety from his viral video tearfully defending Britney Spears's "lackluster MTV comeback"[11] with over four million views in two days. The video received international media attention,[12][13][14][15] as well as generating death threats for the androgynous[16] teenager.[17]

Crocker's detractors and critics have accused him of melodramatics,[18] histrionics,[16] and using Spears' personal shortcomings to bolster his own fame.[19] Others have accused Crocker of acting in the "Leave Britney Alone" video,[20] although he insisted that it was a genuine "blog from the heart" on a September 20, 2007 appearance on the Maury Povich show.[21][6] Psychologist Kevin Leman noted in an interview that pointed to Crocker, that voyeuristic fascination with celebrity "says that we live in a morally corrupt society" and that younger people seeking fame, like Crocker, are hedonistic attention-seeking mongers.[22]

On September 18, 2007, Variety revealed that Crocker has signed a development deal with 44 Blue Productions to star in a documentary-style reality television show.[23]

This is Chris Crocker in person on the Maury Show from You Tube.

MetaCafe

• Services they provide – They provide video entertainment that is short, entertaining, and audience driven. They do not provide entire movies, television episodes, or anything over 100 seconds. There are only entertaining videos, no news, webcam feeds, or personal stories. Before a video is published, some 80,000 users review it.

“Metacafe specializes in short-form original video - content that is made for the interactive Internet medium. We don't have full-length television episodes or movies chopped into pieces. The average video on our site is just over 90 seconds long. People come to Metacafe looking for an entertainment break in their day - and we deliver.”

• Technologies they run on – They use the Metacafe Player, which is similar to the You Tube Player.

• Advertisements – There are many ads from 18+ sites such as true.com, truesexysingles.com, worldsdirtiestfilm.com

• Types of users – The users of this site include the users of YouTube and other video sharing sites. These people want something shorter than the videos YouTube offers.

• Restrictions -

“Metacafe hereby grants you permission to use the Website, provided that: (i) your use of the Website is solely for your personal, noncommercial use; (ii) you will not copy, distribute or modify any part of the Website without Metacafe's prior written authorization; (iii) you will not send unsolicited or unauthorized advertisements, spam, chain letters, etc., (iv) you will not transmit any Content which contains software viruses, or other harmful computer code, files or programs; (v) you will not disrupt servers or networks connected to the Website; and (vi) you comply with these Terms & Conditions.”

• “Save The Creativity For The Videos: Don't try to sneak onto top lists by manipulating the results. For example, posting lots of comments on your own video to get onto the "Most Discussed" list won't get you anywhere. (We've got trained dogs to sniff out cheats.)
• Keep It Clean: There are 1,000,000 words in the English language alone, including some cool ones like "nubile," "psychedelic," and "obfuscation." Flaunt your language skills here, and leave the profanity and other garbage talk at home.
• No Haters: Our community has zero tolerance for intolerance, so no defamatory, racist, sexist or homophobic talk. This includes threats of violence or sexual assault against other site users or people appearing in videos. Offenders will be banned forever from Metacafe.”

• Intellectual property rules -

“The content on the Website, including all User Submissions, including without limitation, the text, software, scripts, graphics, photos, sounds, music, videos and interactive features ("Content") and the trademarks, service marks and logos contained therein ("Marks"), are owned by or licensed to Metacafe. Content on the Website is provided to you "AS IS" for your information and personal use only and may not be used, copied, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, displayed, sold, licensed, reverse engineered, de-compiled, or otherwise exploited for any other purposes whatsoever without Metacafe's prior written consent. Metacafe reserves all rights not expressly granted in and to the Website. If you download or print a copy of the Content for personal use, you must retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained therein. You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the Website or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on use of the Website."

SceneMaker

• Services they provide – They let users share their favorite part of an already short video so you will not have to watch the entire video from You Tube, Google, Metacafe, or other video sharing sites. It also lets users tag their video clips.

• Technologies they run on - They are powered by the Gotuit Media Incorporation. They use Macromedia Flash Player to stream videos

• Advertisements - Google has an ad bar at the bottom of each page and on the right side of each page there are ad about free video downloads from various advertisers. Thos advertisers include ourstage.com, freemusicgivaway.com, and columbiahouse.com

• Types of users - Their uses include people who love social video posted on sites like YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe and Dailymotion.

• Restrictions –

“The site is provided to you for your own personal use, and may not be used for any commercial purposes unless express written consent is granted by Gotuit. Use of the materials on this Site for any other purpose is a violation of Gotuit's or other sources' copyright, trademark and other proprietary rights.”

“You agree that you will not copy, reproduce, republish, alter, post, or distribute (except for your own personal, private non-commercial use) any materials (including but not limited to the text, images, audio and/or video) or software (including but not limited to any images or files incorporated in or generated by the software or data accompanying such software). You also agree that you will not decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to circumvent user authentication or the security of any user account, or use any robot, spider, or other automated or manual device, service or technology to copy any materials from the Site. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Gotuit grants the operators of public search engines permission to use spiders to copy materials from the Site for the sole purpose of creating publicly available searchable indices of the materials, but not caches or archives of such materials. Gotuit reserves the right to revoke these exceptions either generally or in specific cases.”

• Intellectual property rules -

“This Site contains material that is produced in whole or in part from material supplied by Gotuit and other third-party sources. The content and software ("Materials") on this Site, except all third-party source video (as defined below), is the property of Gotuit and is protected by U.S. and international copyright and trademark laws. Gotuit reserves all rights not expressly granted herein.”

“"Gotuit" and the Gotuit design, as well as certain other names, logos, and materials displayed on the Site constitute trademarks, tradenames, service marks, or logos ("Marks") of Gotuit or other entities. You are not authorized to use any such Marks.”

“Third-party source video. This site displays third-party source video, which is video hosted on a site that is not owned or controlled by Gotuit. This can include user-submitted video on third party sites. On the Gotuit site, third-party source video is identified by the logo or name of the original content source. The third-party site, AND/OR THE PROVIDER OF THE THIRD-PARTY SOURCE VIDEO TO THAT SITE, retain all rights of such video as set forth by their specific terms of use and governing policies. As such, you should review the applicable policies of these third-party sites.”

CelebTV.com

• Services they provide - “CelebTV.com is real-time entertainment video news distributed exclusively on broadband and mobile channels. Each weekday, CelebTV.com delivers multiple entertainment news updates throughout the day supplemented by breaking news and extended features.”

• Technologies they run on - “CelebTV.com is the destination site for original, television-quality entertainment video news delivered exclusively on digital platforms including mobile, broadband, and wireless devices. Our viewers are passionate about celebrity news and information and CelebTV will deliver real-time updates throughout the day for on demand access by mobile phones, the web, or video iPods”

• Advertisements –They recevie many promotions from cavemancrib.com, geico, nexus, sprint, you tube, comcast, and brightcove.

• Types of users – Anyone interrested in celberities and their wareabouts. There is no place for a user to register or login. celebtv.com post the videos and anyone who wishes watches the videos.

• Restrictions -

“Unless otherwise specified, CelebTV.com is intended for your personal, noncommercial use only. You may not authorize others to use any Materials on CelebTV.com. You are responsible for all use of CelebTV.com and the Materials by you. You also are responsible for all use of CelebTV.com and the Materials by others when you provide access to CelebTV.com."

 "CelebTV.com is not intended for users under the age of 13, and Service Provider does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from users under the age of 13. Such users are expressly prohibited from submitting their personally identifiable information to us, and from using CelebTV.com. Any information submitted by such users will not knowingly be used, posted, or retained by us.

 You must comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations while using the Site. The content, organization, graphics, text, images, video, design, compilation, advertising and all other material on CelebTV.com, including without limitation, the "look and feel" of this website, are protected under applicable copyrights and other proprietary (including but not limited to intellectual property) rights and are the property of Service Provider or its licensors. The copying, rearrangement, redistribution, modification, transmission, use, display, license, sale, creation of a derivative work, or publication by you, directly or indirectly, of any such content or Materials or any part of the website, including but not limited to the removal or alteration of advertising, except for the limited rights of use granted hereunder, is strictly prohibited.

 You may not in any way make commercial or other unauthorized use, by publication, re-transmission, distribution, performance, caching, or otherwise, of material obtained through the Site, except as permitted by the Copyright Act or other law or as expressly permitted in writing by this Agreement or Service Provider.

 You agree not to disrupt, overwhelm, attack, modify, or interfere with CelebTV.com or its associated software, hardware, and/or servers in any way, and you agree not to impede or interfere with others' use CelebTV.com. You further agree not to alter or tamper with any information or Materials on or associated with CelebTV.com.

 Other than connecting to Service Provider's servers by http requests using a Web browser, you may not attempt to gain access to Service Provider's servers by any means - including, without limitation, by using administrator passwords or by masquerading as an administrator or otherwise.

 You are prohibited from using the Site to violate the legal rights of others or harvest or collect personally identifiable nformation about users of the Site;

 You are prohibited from restricting or inhibiting any other person from use of the Site, and from interfering with or disrupting the operation of the Site or the servers or networks used to make the Site available or violating any requirements, procedures, policies, or regulations of such networks;

 You are prohibited from modifying, adapting, translating, reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling any portion of the Site.”

• Intellectual property rules –

“All materials on this CelebTV.com, including, but not limited to text, images, audio and video, illustrations, audio clips, video clips, in all media and formats (the "Materials") are protected by copyrights which are owned or licensed by Service Provider. None of the Materials, nor any of the materials in other websites owned or operated by Service Provider, may be used by you in any manner for any purpose including but not limited to copying, reproducing, republishing, uploading, posting, transmitting, or distributing in any way without the prior written consent of Service Provider except as provided for herein.
Any modification of the Materials or use of the Materials for any other purpose without the prior written consent of Service Provider constitutes an infringement of Service Provider's copyright and other proprietary rights. Use of the Materials on any other website or other networked computer environment without Service Provider’s prior written consent, is prohibited except as provided for herein.
In certain cases, you may be able to obtain a license to use individual video that appear on the Site through online functionality we have specifically designated (e.g. to e-mail a video to a friend or create an RSS link from the Site). In such cases, you will see a link next to the content.”