Class Presentations

The presentations all together were informative in my opinion. I learned some new things about the world we live in from the virtual side of things. I am not a big technology guru so some of the information presented was information that I have never heard of, this made me more interested in the presentations and kept me writing down new information on my note pad. There were some presentations that had to much information that it was like cramming a whole book of text in your head in one class session, others had not some but not enough information. Listening to these presentations made me more alert of my surroundings and more capable in the virtual world. In taking this class I have gained more information about technology and the web that I compete with my brother for the technology whizz in the family. Learning about the virtual world is key now days because that is what most people do now days is do all communicating and such online in a virtual world.

Illegal File Sharing

File sharing is growing continuously because of how many people use the internet to transfer files. Some downloadable programs such as kazaa, and limewire are programs that connect you to a data base of files, music, etc. all the files are shared from people that share their files. File sharing files such as music, and software is illegal because of the copyright law that is enforced in the United States. Even with the law file sharing is still continued and progressing people have been caught downloading music and files, the consequences vary with the individuals circumstances. I myself do not use programs such as limewire or kazaa because I do not want to get in trouble for breaking the copyright law.

There are times when I wish I had a file sharing network, such as when new songs come out that I am wanting. To get them the legal way you must buy the whole cd and if the rest of the cd is not what you like then you are wasting your money. I see people all the time with Ipods listening to all their music. I have noticed that people that use I-Tunes have less music then people that download from limewire or kazaa because its free and I-Tunes charges .99 for one song. So for me a individual that likes a variety of music and a lot of it, the price begins to get expensive. I wonder if file sharing will ever be able to be monitored, because of how technology is progressing so rapidly. I am interested in illegal file sharing because there is a huge population that participates in it, and I want to see what the outcomes are and will be.

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Kevin Freitas & Feed Tacoma

Kevin Freitas was a guest speaker in my living and working in a virtual world class on Monday the 3rd of November. As Kevin was speaking about the website he created Feed Tacoma, I found myself amazed on how he got a website like this to function at all, but to function with such success. The website gets insight about Tacoma from its community and from the people that are interested about the city. The website Feed Tacoma is a really good sight to use to be active in your community and know what events are going on. The website updates with new events that are taking place around or in the city of Tacoma. Feed Tacoma is a website that carries the characteristics of bringing the people of a community together.
People also post about anything they want because it is a communication website for the residents of Tacoma and all that are interested in the city of Tacoma. Kevin Freitas has also created other sites such as KevinFreitas.net, having Kevin as a guest speaker in class motivated me to want to be more involved with my community.

Financing Online

Now days financing online is second nature to most, whether paying for something to eat or purchasing an item of interest most will use either their debit or credit card. When the payment is being transmitted it is sending a message to your banking account to see whether you have enough money to purchase the item. If a debit card is lost there are transactions that can be made with it such as fast food purchases, gas, etc. People have warmed up to the idea of online financing because of how convenient it is. I like how convenient it is for me to just pull out a card to pay for items, rather than having to get money out of the bank everyday for daily needs.

Another form of online financing is banking over the internet, I pay off my credit card and check up routinely on my accounts through my online banking. It is extremely easy and saves a great amount of time. It is very convenient for someone that has a busy schedule, going to school and working I find myself not having much time to waste. That is why I began using the online banking because for awhile I went to my bank and paid my credit card off through a teller. Doing this I found myself waiting in line for a good amount of time to speak with a teller for a couple of minutes. Finally a teller told me about how I can check my credit card status and accounts through the internet, ever since then I been using online banking.

Online financing has become popular because of the appeal of convenient capabilities. I would much rather carry around a plastic card then paper bills, I find it easier to keep track of money because on your online banking account you can also access reports on all the items you have purchased. I check this regularly, because I like to make sure that I am not getting over charged or charged for something that I did not buy. There are many appeals about online financing that is why most are very comfortable doing it today.

Online Shopping, Harmless?

Over the years online shopping has been expanding along with the growth of the internet. As our economy heads for a recession, online shopping will become a great majority of what people will rely on to purchase their goods. The purchase of items online has been modified by the websites such as Amazon, EBay, and Craig’s List to guarantee that the items bought will indeed fill the potential desires of the consumer. If this is not accommodated, the sight guarantees to refund the full amount that the item was purchased for.
I have purchased a variety of items over the web, and I have no complaints. This is because the items I purchased were simple items, if they were not what I wanted I could return and get a refund. Thinking about something’s I would feel uncomfortable buying are things such as a car, because cars are thinks that have multiple things that can go wrong. Plus if you buy a car from somebody online it is usually a final sale therefore no refund available. I do not want to buy an expensive car and only get 100 miles out of it before it breaks down. Then I would have to spend a pretty penny on getting it fixed, so I would feel uncomfortable purchasing anything in the thousands amount online.

Vanity Searches

In my class Living and Working in a Virtual World we talked about how you can just about find information about anybody. This process is called a vanity search; you can do this through a few different search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and intelius. Just entering your name in the search line and hitting enter searches for everything about you that is on the web. I am finding difficulty finding myself in my vanity search. I did indeed find something with me in it; it was a website that kept track of all the competitors of a martial arts tournament back when I was 8 years old.
It is crazy how much information people on the web can find about you just by entering your name. It gets me thinking, is there any way we can enforce privacy laws with how the web is expanding? I believe privacy laws are not going to change anything, because the laws are not helping anyone keep their information private. With technology growing so rapidly it will be hard to remain anonymous at all. I get kind of nervous thinking about how any information about me is on the web even though I can't find it, I am sure someone else will be able to.
I believe in some ways that having your information is good in some cases, such as if a friend I grew up with was looking to get in contact with me, what other place is better then the internet to find information about me. In other situations I would rather have some of the information about me confidential.

Future of the News

The news today is both printed and posted on the web. A majority of people in this generation and in the upcoming ones will more then likely read the news through the web, rather than in the paper.
I believe this because you can find news on the web about anything and everything plus it is free.
Through a newspaper you get the news a day late and have to pay for it. Time is also a factor most of the time for people to read the paper. Most everyone is usually in a hurry and can think of better things to do on their free time then sit down and read a paper. Viewing the news through the web the viewer is able to browse for the things they want to find out.
I believe that papers will still be printed in the future, because it is the original way most people found out about what was happening. The buyers of the prints will decrease drastically in my opinion. I am sure people would rather look online because it is free and you can search for what you want to find information about. The online news is also quicker, and is updated much more then the paper.

E-mail vs. Mail

E-mail is a way to send messages to others through the web. It is remarkably easy to use, and is depended on heavily for many people to communicate. When sending an e-mail the message should arrive to the recipient with in a few minutes from when it was sent. E-mail is used for many different purposes, this is why most people have more then just one e-mail account. When you mail something it is usually a longer process, it has to get picked up from your mail box and taken either by ground or air to the recipient. So mailing is time consuming, but is still needed in certain occasions. For instance you cannot e-mail a box to someone, this is why I believe mail is still around. In other occasions when not sending a box you can usually attach a document to the e-mail so that the recipient can upload it on his/her computer. In my opinion when mailing letters and such the purchase of stamps is a hassle. When e-mailing the worry of having stamps is diminished.