Kento's Blog

So I currently have a desktop here on campus, and a large 23" TV at home. Instead of trying to make a place for the television, I am considering allowing my computer to view television and also allow an RCA input so I can hook up my Nintendo Wii. I looked at Tiger Direct's website and found in intreguing item, though I only have Vista Basic. This would most likely pose a problem trying to run this PCI device. Here is a photo of the item I'm looking at:
(The image is clickable to the Tiger Direct listing)
This certain one is for Windows XP media Center. I need to keep searching for one that will work for my computer. My dad said I should look around at www.hauppauge.com I will make an effort to look there.

With regard to detail, Myspace has less depth compared to Facebook in privacy policies. Compared to the article we read today, Facebook has stepped up in its security. Myspace says upfront that many different types of activity are monitered. Facebook leaves an impression to the user that data is much more secure. Still third parties are hard to monitor on both sites, but limiting access on Facebook works better. Both sites still distribute and sell personal information to other places.

"Web of Risks"
"Colleges warn about networking sites"

The first article talks about how even though Facebook may seem to be for your friends, anyone who has the time and effort can access your Facebook page. When obscene or other problematic things are found, it can ruin a person's reputation. The articles warn the reader to be careful with how they handle themselves by giving stories of those who wound up with harsh consequences.

The second article explains that colleges all across the nation are informing students about the risks of how one handles themselves on social networks. Like the first article, instructors are telling students to understand how public the things they post really are. Colleges do not want to kick students off social networks, but instead want them to understand the risks.

Both articles stress that college students need to be actively concerned about how much information and photos are posted of them online. Though it may seem to be private, the truth is that it still can be accessed by virtually anyone. Once someone understands that, he/she can do the correct things to keep the site in moderation. It's true that future employers are checking social network sites to find the real you. It's your responsibility to keep your page moderated accordingly. As the first article says, your page should be like your résumé. Then you can be confident that nothing on it will get you in trouble.

Because we love technology so much, there are some pretty neat pieces of clothing to show that. I just ordered this shirt from Errorwear.

I find it amusing to be able to wear the old blue screen of death as a shirt. Just one more way people are getting more interactive with their computers.

Thanks to the helpfulness of NBC.com, I am able to watch Heroes anytime if I can't at the regular 9 PM Monday showings. For those of you who have never heard of the show, it is about people around the world who inherit unique powers and discover what their destinies are. The only downside to watching episodes online is the high quality video sucks up much of our precious 2 GB bandwidth we are offered each week. This means I can't have too many shows I want to watch online each week. It's not too late to start watching Heroes! Just by watching the first few episodes of this season or renting season one can get you caught up!

Photo of Heroes from Season 1

Xanga
Myspace
Facebook

For the three social networks I chose to explore, I chose Xanga, Myspace, and Facebook due to myself having much personal experience using them on a regular basis at some point in my recent years. They all have many methods to find friends who have also joined your social network.

Xanga makes it very easy once you have at least a few friends who are very connected. All you have to do it look through who your friend's subscriptions. These subscriptions are by username so it takes I bit of searching sometimes to make sure you find someone you actually know personally and not just someone your friend happens to know. Regardless, any Xanga page is visible to anyone, even those without a user profile. Guests can even post comments to an entry. You can also join a Metro, and you can easily view anyone else who is part of your metro in the possibility that you know them as well. The final way to find friends is a blogring. There are interest groups that can be joined by anyone who searches for them.

Myspace is not very deviant from Xanga. Myspace does have groups as well. In addition, there are many bands that have created band pages. This lets people use the music they post to play on their own profiles. Anyone who friends a band's Myspace is indirectly making an interest group of the band within their friend list. With Myspace, though, just because you can view your friends' friend doesn’t mean you see everything. Instead, that profile can easily be private and only allowed to be viewed once you are friends. Xanga only allows one username where Myspace allows you to change your profile name whenever you want. This can make finding friends a tougher challenge.

Facebook is the easiest to find someone you know. Almost everyone has their actual names as the profile, so a simple name search can find who you are looking for. In addition, searches can be by network (high school/college/city) or by interest groups also offered by facebook. Similar to myspace, you can find friends through other friends. Many will not let such people see an actual full profile until a friend request is approved. This means a good deal is banked on the profile photos people upload in order to distinguish them.

It is clear that all of these social network sites make sure to include a few common ways to find friends. Since site wide searches can be a bit tough to find an individual, they promote finding friends through other friends and also through interest groups. Facebook does to best though when it comes to the last resort of site wide searches. Not only does linking name to face profile really help, but common networks are of more priority than relevance in the search term. Overall, utilizing the few popular networking resources help people easily find each other.

On tuesday I created my own ning social network called the Penn State Gaming Society. I thought there needed to be more connections around here for people who like to play video games in order for them to find people who have similar interests. This could possibly let them arrange matches of the same game with other people that they would have never met otherwise. I'm excited to see how well this site works out. I get to be in the power position as the creator of the site and see everything that happens.

Our group visited the Digital Ethnography site from a Kansas University class. From the videos we watched, we found out that their goal is to study how people on YouTube use the site for its digital media: What genre, what type of people, etc.

Article: MySpace to Launch Casual Gaming Space
Relating to our group's interest in gaming, Myspace has made a public announcement to link players interested in playing games with eatch other online. This is just one other way to interact with the thousands of Myspace members, hopefully to spice up the site and interest in it. Casual gaming has been noted as one of the most popular internet activities today, so Myspace is just keeping up with the hot items of the day.

Gary Brolsma because famous after posting his video depicting him lip-syncing to "Dragostea Din Tei". After his famous video, he appeared in news programs such at Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, and VH1.

In 2006 he came out with a video announcing the New Numa contest where he invited people to submit their own videos. Gary is now in a band called The Nowadays.

YouTube
Albino Blacksheep
Putfile

These are three video sharing sites that I have visited myself in the past.

First off is YouTube. It allows anyone to upload videos to the website with a simple username fill out or login. You can put whatever relevant tags you like onto your video in order for searchers to find your uploaded content. Then, all the videos your username uploads are put together on your user's personal page. With your login, you can favorite other videos you like on youtube and let them appear on your page. This is a way to network with other users that you like for their submitted videos. Like other social networking sites, you can "friend" other people you know. You can search the site and comment on what any youtube user uploads. Youtube has obviously been the most under fire with copyright infringements being the most popular and well known of video sharing websites. Viacom's scrub caused the most controversey, but mostly what needed to be removed was.

Putfile is also a video sharing site with a search engine. Compared to the other sites, this one had the most advertising. Putfile has been increasingly growing as a site. The layout has been changing to meet the growth. Putfile also requires a login to upload media. Also, both YouTube and Putfile let you sort videos not only in a search but by recently added, most popularly viewed and top rated both recently and all time. Unlike YouTube, Putfile also lets a user host photo albums through their site. If a user wants to host other types of files, the user is directed to use putstuff.com- a one-click webhosting site that does not require any kind of username.

Albino Blacksheep is a more selective video hosting site. There, members create all types of media for the website including flash animation, videos, games, and many other types of media. Once submitted, the moderators decide if they want to post the video by following their criteria. It has been named one of the top blog sites currently online. There also is a nice search engine to find media, but it is not as robust as the other search engines, as it is a simple google-powered search of the website.

There are good things that can happen. After watching today's episode of Webbalert, they highlighted how a student's video of the iPhone made him big bucks. After Nick Haley posted his video, Apple executives saw the video and decided to use it as a big selling commercial instead of slapping him with a copyright infringement. This video will appear during the World Series. Talk about quick fame!

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