"Things Don't Have To Change The World To Be Important"

The above quotation is one from Steve Jobs, former creative genius behind Apple. When attempting to delve into this week’s topic, I thought what better a starting point than Steve Jobs, he is known for revolutionizing the technologies we have today, after all.

So what exactly is the Internet of things? To be honest with you, I still am not entirely sure. We are surrounded by technologies in our everyday lives that communicate with one another, and with us; and we are okay with this, until we are asked to explain the phenomenon. Which is a lot harder than it looks! Steve Jobs, in one excerpt I read on his vision of what’s to come with technology in the future said, “We're going to be able to ask our computers to monitor things for us, and when certain conditions happen, are triggered, the computers will take certain actions and inform us after the fact.” It’s an interesting concept that every ‘thing’ around us will speak to one another and to us as well.

The ability of RFID tags to transmit information from one technology to another is something will change the way that we experience the world, and that it experiences us! The only issue that I can see with this new technology is people’s privacy: with RFID technology we lose a massive sense of privacy as our actions are consistently being reported back to a greater ‘thing’ that is then processing that information and reporting it to another ‘thing’. It’s all quite mind boggling really!

After delving into the Internet of things this week, I am excited to watch this technological revolution occur around me, and I hope you are too!

We Love Apple, We Love Apple Not. We Love Apple, We Love Apple Not.

Warning: Do not take offence to this blog if you are an Android fan. At the end of the day, I just love Apple.

What do we want? iOS 5 software. When do we want it? Well, soon. And if Apple don’t act fast they’ll be losing their beloved brand-loyal customer base, and Android will be taking the cake, and eating it too.

The Apple- Android competition has been a long and heated debate with consumers seeing pro’s and con’s in both brands. Forget about the other competing brands, at the end of the day it all comes down to who has faster, simpler, more aesthetically pleasing software and technology between Apple and Android.

To be honest, I never considered anything but Apple once the iPhone was on the market. I’m the kind of person marketers probably hate. Once I like a brand, that’s it for me. Apple swept me off my feet at just the age of 8 when my family bought their first Macintosh computer. And ever since then, it’s been smooth sailing. But what do we really look for when choosing between these brands? We all say it’s the technology, but I think it’s more to do with the design and aesthetics. I mean, who doesn’t love the slim line design and clean, cut of an iPhone?

Ted described Apple as a closed ecosystem, and Android as a free and open platform. This is an interesting point to consider, but for me Google has always been a way of searching the Internet, and Apple a tangible product to run Google on.  

All competition is healthy, but it will be interesting to see whether one of the original creators of mobile phone technology such as Nokia or Siemen are hiding in the background for a reason, to come out with an even better version of both Apple and Android systems. Well, one can dream.

Social networking sites may just be the sharpest tool in the shed.

Facebook stalking. We can all admit to doing it. And those of us who deny it, well, we all know you do. Does this scenario sound a little too familiar: You’ve just heard one of your friends has had a fight with their boyfriend, you don’t want to be the friend who calls and asks if any life-changing events have just happened to the person, nor do you want to be kept out of the loop if there’s news to be told. What do you do? You jump on Facebook, of course. The way you see it, any worth news can be found on your newsfeed. Well, it seems that when the news is escalated from a friend dumping her man to a village going up in flames, Facebook and Twitter are the go-to tool for the majority of events, worldwide.

Morozov describes Social networking sites a “tool” for which individuals communicate globally. They allow images, locations, documents and information to be exchanged globally. Their worth is so great infact, that not only are they being used as evidence in a courtroom, but there are subjects taught on them at universities. Mahfouz’ clip on Youtube is a prime example to the extent to which we should be thankful of the Internet and it’s capabilities to let us see the truth, not just what the media outlets want us to read.

Social networking sites were not the reason that political backlash and protest events ever occurred, but they have most definitely provided an outlet for news and information to be exchanged during these occurences.

I can’t completely agree with Morozov when he calls social networking sites a “tool”. And if they were, they’d have to be one of the sharpest in the shed.