Damn viruses and hackers

Soooo apparently my Gmail account was hacked and went berserk sending emails. everyone now questioning me why did i send them an email about viagra. Guys it wasnt my intention, some hacker trying to ruin my life lol. Oh well no hard feelings i guess everybody out to do what they want to do

The Next New Thing

I cant think of the next fresh new thing but I know something that will be the next thing many many moons from now. Has anyone ever seen the matrix?..........That would be the final new. No one would EVER leave that virtual world, at least I know I wouldn't. I say the final new because society would crumble after this technology comes about. The idea of ditching your possibly sad, pitiful, imperfect life for one that you can script yourself, live how you want to live and even look how you want to look. Why would anyone want to disconnect!! Especially if you can defy the law of physics...........because in a virtual world gravity is nothing but a code. It may sound like i'm kidding but I am seriously sure that someone some where is currently researching this. Just need a large enough server to load this virtual world into and a giant transmitter to ur brain/spine to make the experience feel real.

Privacy & Confidentiality

It doesnt exist.....the internet has destroyed the idea of privacy. Anything you do, it will be recorded and stored, anything done will be known. It is a trade off we all have agreed to for access to the world at our fingertips. It can get creepy though, such as when people begin to stalk you. Going on a less malevolent track, Facebook just announced a change of having buttons placed in many websites throughout the web where a person can mark the page as "like. With this information, personalized ads will flood you and everyone will know exactly what you are into, not necessarily a bad thing but could get annoying. Even though this transparency in identity has led to some good things. Plenty of criminals have been caught because they have foolishly bragged about what they have done. But the whole idea of businesses looking at our profiles and deciding who to hire........thats just grimy homie.

About My Term Project

My presentation for my new media class is on video games, but not a presentation on the industry itself but a focus on one of its effects on our society. Im speaking of video game violence. There has been a lot of debate going back and forth ever since blood has been able to be digitally represented. Research aims to one answer but there is too much criticism on the research methods. As far as im concerned there is not much to worry about, i play games all my life and im yet to get into a violent rage...... i do get frustrated though. Brain washing into violent criminal and frustration are completely different things. My frustrated rage comes about from puzzle games.....they are ever so annoying.........damn you professor layton with your impossible puzzles about to make me break my DS

Advice to Baruch College

Hmm what suggestions could I possibly give this wonderful (ha!) school of mine. Well lets see, this first one is more of advice for all of CUNY. Fix Blackboard. I dont mean just fix, I mean rebuild it from the ground up. It is terrible the way it functions now, always crashing and never behaving how it should. I would also like a central system in which a professor can post if and when they will cancel a class. Also, implement a system in which students could check their financial aid online. I cant think of much since a lot of what we do is now through a computer. Possibly a system in which we can hand in all of our written work through a computer. I would save so much paper, ink and staples. Sometimes in lecture classes if one is sitting all the way in the back, the slides are a little difficult to see, so perhaps set up some sort of central network in which all the computers connect to and the professor has complete control on what the students see, almost like a monitor hijack. But also have leave some monitor space open for us so we could open Word or something and take notes as well.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds seem to be what is going to be new "it" thing when it develops to a completely immersing level. Right now it is all looking at a bright screen at 3 in the morning, clicking frantically at whatever the heck is going on. Maybe a little exaggerated but not THAT far from the truth. One that can be talked about is the game World of Warcraft (WoW for short). When you boil it down it may just be a game but the level of dedication some people put into it definitely makes it qualify as a virtual world. Let me say ahead right now that my opinion towards WoW is heavily biased, I hate that game with a burning passion of a thousand suns. People spend hours upon hours playing the game, all they do is repetitious boring stuff. Spending hours mining for in game currency, hours traveling from one destination to another for a job. Spending hours training your character to be stronger. It never ends. Its life but in a different context. Sure there is social interaction in the game, but if that is what you are looking for, then you should really try going out a bit. There is another Virtual World that is more true to that aspect. That would be Second Life. Some people consider it a game but really it has gone too far to be that. One can do anything there that can be done in real life and then some. It gives you access to do virtually anything you want in the comfort of your computer. You want massive gardens? You got massive gardens. You want to fly? Done. Want to open your own store? You can start planning today. Or as IBM has shown, you can train for your real life job in the virtual world. There is only one MASSIVE problem with the whole virtual world scene. Its not real. What I mean by that is that your brain is fully aware that it is not real. It is lights projected from a screen. At the end of the day, you were just staring at a monitor the entire day. One may feel emotional and psychological things when interacting with the virtual world but nothing physical at all. This is the next big leap the virtual world has to make. Where the only reason you know that it is a virtual world is because you consciously know you got into the machine or plugged in. Other than your prior knowledge of entering, your brain has no CLUE that it is not the real world. If you fly, you feel the wind as you zoom across a field. If you go for a swim, you feel the coldness of the water and that refreshing feeling when you do it on a hot summer day. That you feel another persons hand if you were to touch it. That virtual world is the world i would not mind exploring. I hope that the virtual world becomes like the matrix, only with more ability to manipulate and less dying.

Social Networking

Social networking technologies have a wide array of uses. There most obvious use is that of an interpersonal nature. Its a great way to keep in contact with many people quickly and efficiently. The person doesnt have to be immediately available and they can respond when they have the time. It can be used to organize events and to quickly deliver information to people. The corporate world has also thought of ways to use social networking. As seen in the CNET article "AT&T Uses Twitter During a Service Outage" When service was unexpectedly cut from certain parts of California, At&t decided that the best way to keep all of their customers updated on the situation was to use their corporate twitter account and post all of the info in the situation. But that of course is just one corporate use. Not only can it be used to keep the people updated when a problem arises, corporations have developed ways of using social networking to make money. All the games on Facebook are a perfect example. All of these games are indeed free to play but not only do they tend to have advertising, all of these games have way of a player using real world money to purchase things for the game. Things such as exclusive items and other such advantages. The only problem I see with this is that I feel that soon enough I am going to be asked to spend my money no matter where i go online. Sites that were once dedicated to keeping in touch with those a bit too far to reach are becoming ways for the media to brainwash you and kindly ask for your money. Maybe not directly but of course, the name is pushed enough and next thing you know they are taking all your money. Corporate always finds a way to put its greedy hands in anything new and innovative that comes out, because really that is their job. The only thing I could think is using these services for good, but that is already being done. What I see is that as the younger generations take charge, they will bring more of this new media into light and incorporate it into every aspect of anything done. So we would see fund raisers being organized in a much larger scale, rallies and protests could reach potentially millions of people in minutes. I see it quite possible for revolutions to be launched from the click of a button. Sounds ludicrous now but I would not underestimate the power of Social Networking and at the very least it is plausible