Week 6 Question 3: A Simple Swipe on a Phone, and You're Paid

This article entitled "State of the Art-- A Simple Swipe on a Phone, and You're Paid" was from CNET.com. I was really interested in this article when I read the title and saw the photo because it is for iphone, ipod touch, our ipad users. I have an iphone and I have always thought of a product like this being invented but was not sure if it would ever come to pass. But it is 2010 and it finally has. Basically this product called the "square" is a device that lets you pay for things on your phone, or have others who owe you money for something just swipe their card on your phone. It is the same process as it would be if you were to buy something at a store or any other credit card merchant. Plus, there is still a paper trail so if anything is done unauthorized you are able to contact your bank or credit card company. The company who invented the square collects 2.75 percent plus 15 cents of the total purchase which is actually not much at all. I foresee myself purchasing something like this in the future because it is very convenient and much safer than putting your information online or giving it to someone else. This article relates to our class because we are learning about how much media and technology is changing and advancing.

Week 5 Question 3: Emergency Bra

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20017344-247.html?tag=topTechContentWrap;mostPopular (the article)

http://ebbra.com/ (where to purchase them at)



**I made a mistake the sizes actually range from 32B-40C (sorry!)

Week 5 Question 1: Computer Power and Human Reason

There seems to be a theme in all of the articles we have been reading as far as the connection between humans and computers (technology). Weizenbaum talks about how the people who criticize "new media" only do so because of there lack of knowledge on it. He seems a bit of an extremist regarding technology and new media as his main point and debate was "computers, can should, and will do everything." (This sounds a bit like Licklicker's Man-Computer Symbiosis) Going back to ELIZA, this program was created to replace psychotherapists. Although computers have no human thought or emotion, this program was used widespread as its responses were very much like those of a psychotherapist. It was very shocking to Weizenbaum at how quickly this program was talked about, used and accepted. But with this, he believes that technology will continue to advance so much over time that it really will do everything.

Although it is evident that computers are do practically everything nowadays, I do not agree that they should do everything. But who knows, they may one day at the rate we're going. I discussed similar concepts in Man-Computer Symbiosis week 2 article. I still feel that computers should be used to aid us in our daily (want/needs) however it should not handicap us to the point where we should, need, and have to rely on it for everything.

Week 5 Question 2: Uses and Gratifications

Concerning the article, "Uses and Gratifications", discuss 3 interesting things about this article you did not know before. Can you relate to this article? Why/Why Not?

Uses and gratifications was an interesting article because it made me think about the psychological reasoning behind Social Networking Sites (SNS) in a whole different way. According to Katz and Gurevitch uses and gratification is focusing on "the social and psychological origins of needs, which generate expectation of the mass media or other sources, which lead to different patterns of media exposure resulting in need gratifications and other consequences." (as cited in Rubin, 1994, p. 419)

The media sites are used for cognitive and affective needs such as personal and entertainment. These three concepts interested me the most.

1. Personal Identity

2. Escape

3. Self-Presentation

As far as personal identity goes, this article showed through research that many people use SNS to be seen. In other words they like the popularity they get out of having a lot friends and having people view their page. Also people like to escape their problems and also face-to-face communication and SNS is an easy route out. Lastly is self-presentation. Self-presentation is all about how you want others to view you, based on your pictures and online posts. It could also be from who you are associated with online. But overall I believe this article really helped me to see that SNS users really are seeking personal gain, usefulness, and gratification. After reading this I started to realize how selfish we really can be without even noticing.

Week 4 Question 2: The Technology and the Society

Williams covers three sections in this article about technology and the society and that includes:

1. Cause and Effect in Technology and Society

2. The Social History of Television as Technology

3. The Social History of the Uses of Television Technology

Of each three sections he discussed, I thought the cause and effect in technology section (the first section) was the most interesting. He talks about technological determinism which basically means society's technology is what shapes social and cultural values. Basically technology is very predictable and pattern based. As technology changes, the society changes. It is much more in depth than that but that is the basic overview of it.

This interested me a lot because I never thought about the cause and effect technology had on the society. Although it has been clear to me that we change overtime, I never really associated it with the significance of technology. But this made it very clear to me as I started to apply it to my personal life. For example when I was in Elementary school, Internet was very limited so most people hung out and talked in person. Now it is so easy to connect with people online that our society has shapes itself around that and is slowly replacing face-to-face communication with the Internet. This is just one example but there are several more that can be seen from this article. It was very eye-opening and a great read!

Week 4 Question 3: Justin.tv App

From the New York Times articles, I chose to read about a Justin.tv new app for iphone/ipod touch users. The reason why I decided to read this one is because I used to always go to Justin.tv online when I was at a place that didn't have television and I wanted to watch a show. Also I would sometimes watch people randomly posting what they were doing. But in this article it is explaining how we can now watch television and do online stream with this app from the touch a few buttons from your iphone/ipod touch. This made me think about vlogging in this class. We will be vlogging pretty soon and because I just downloaded this app to my phone, I am thinking about trying this out. If not I still have my webcam to use but regardless, I think it is very amazing that the company is offering TV and live streaming access to iphone/ipod touch users for free!

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/justin-tv-releases-iphone-streaming-app/?ref=technology

Week 4 Question 1: Requiem for the Media

From the article Requiem for the Media (The New Media Reader p. 278) the three concepts that I will be discussing are: Enzenberger: A "Socialist" Strategy, Speech Without Response and The Theoretical Model of Communication.

1) Jean Baudrillard basically helped me to look at Enzenberger's articles and concepts in another point-of -view. Baudrillard basically critiqued the article and talked about its many contradictions. She quoted from him in his theory that "in the present order the media are purely and simply means of distribution". She helped me to see that is wrong because of the many different uses of the media: phones, social networking, etc. Other than this, she broke down how she disagreed with a lot of what Enzenberger had to say on his "socialist" strategy article.

2) Baudrillard explains the mass media as fabricators of non-communication and "speakers in such a way as to exclude any response from anywhere". (Baudrillard, 1972, p. 281) She says that they have the power since they make it in a way where no one can respond. But she also agrees with Enznenberger with the fact that mass media for the first time made it possible for mass participation in a social process.

3) The formula of the communication process (formulated by Roman Jakobsen) is as follows:

TRANSMITTER-- MESSAGE-- RECEIVER

(ENCODER-- MESSAGE-- DECODER)

This formula shows the process of how the message is transmitted, its content, and its audience. We decode the message based upon how it is set-up to us. When dealing with the media, it is very easy for them to relay a message to us and have us believe whatever they intend for us to believe.