Things of Internet

First of all: Thanks for the beer Ted! T’was awesome! Had a great time with everybody, debating and what not.

Anyway, Internet of Things eh?

"The Internet of Things brings many vectors together — pervasive networks, the miniaturization of networked devices, mobile communication, the refashioning of physical space as we cohabit and co-occupy space with Things. When the network that has facilitated a profound, unprecedented knitting together of complex, multi-valent social formations seeps into a space — the physical, geospatial world — which was previously void of such, what does it all mean?"(Bleeker, 2006, p9-10)

Yes, whoop de doo basil, but what does it all mean?"

I’m one of those people who believe that an iRobot sort of world is in store for us in the future. A future where we advanced things as far as they could go and we are eventually controlled by networking devices, all humanity woll be gone.

Too morbid? Sorry...
If we got this sort of tech out into third world countries and remote communities, we wouldn’t need volunteers and mercenaries to go back and forth I suppose. There could be regular shipment with exactly what these people need, with realtime updates with algorithms that could calculate disaster.

This sort of tech would have been awesome for the Japanese Tsunami that happened recently. There is definitely potential. But will it get there.

I feel like it will the Upper class move further away from the middle and lower classes, and the gap that it’s also quite large will become even larger. I feel like it will become the lazy alternative, no-one will want to go out anymore, just order in thai via a website and watch a movie through foxtel box office or something.

Also, if you don’t have time to do your groceries then you’re working too hard, simple as. Chillax hombre, sit down and have a cold beer...actually your fridge ordering beers to your house would be awesome.

But that’s not my point. I’m sort of apprehensive as to where this tech will lead us.

I think the only way I’d participate is if all my ‘things’ could have the voice of C3PO, and his humour :D.

Later dudes

Bleecker, J. (2006) 'Why Things Matter: A Manifesto for networked objects' [URL: http://www.nearfuturelaboratory.com/files/WhyThingsMatter.pdf]

Week 12 - VERSUS... KayOh!

Ha! The age old debate! You're either an iPhone or an Android.

First of all, I'm not a fan of Apple. I hate their stupid phones, I hate their stupid "tablet", I hate their stupid laptops (although, they are extremely light), I hate their stupid software. I hate their stupid rainbow wheel of death. HATE IT!!!

And yes I'm quite biased, I grew up with Windows machines, but I've had my fair share of Apple products.

I first started using Mac's in highschool, and I wasn't so keen.

Then, of course, who could forget the iPod? those "Jerk it out" ads had everyone hooked. I had an iPod Mini and was absolutely devastated when one day it wouldnt work. It showed a little dead iPod with a url for apple support. THAT DIDN'T REALLY HELP ME!!

Another thing I hate about Apple products, forced obsolescence. Not only is it terrible for the environment, it is extrememly expensive.

So I got a new iPod around the same time my family's computer crashed and Dad got us a Mac desktop. This was also around the same time as the "Hi, I'm a Mac" ads with Justin Long were out. Still wasn't so kee, but I guess I was thankful because I was forced to know how to use one. A few things I discovered while doing this:

NO PRINSTCREEN BUTTON

NO DELETE BUTTON

AND NO RIGHT CLICK!!!

Fast forward a few years and my parents go over to America and bring me back an iPhone. I wasn't so happy, but it was a present, so I took. Most of my friends laughed, they knew my disdain for the thing. 

Eventually I wanted to get rid of it so much I used my boyfriends old Nokia E63. I wanted buttons, I wanted to make my own rigntones, I didn't want to have to sync my phone with iTunes and lose most of what I had downloaded elsewhere. I wanted the simplicity, and while Apple's main grab is that it is simple, it's waaaaay too complicated!

The only product I actually appreciate is iTunes and Genius. iTunes is funky, and it is easy to use, and Genius is exactly what I was looking for in a music player. I have all my music and if I feel like listening to a particular type I can just click the nucleus and I have an entire playlist.

I think it's funny how there is this Apple vs everyone culture, you're either with them or against them. You're with Apple because it's cool, or you;re a designer, or you're with the others because you like having something that works.

If I were to go with a Smartphone it would be a Samsung Galaxy, because it allows for more changable interaface.

I like this quote from Larry Page "That phone you're carrying around, we think of it as a phone, but it's really a computer, right?[...]We've learned from computers that it's really nice to have complete connectivity, to be able to connect anything in a kind of open way...the phone is your main computing platform. We look at those technologies and say, wow, we could do a whole lot more."(quoted in Roth, 2008)

Page's quote really gets users, it shws what a consumer wants from their device. I find that mostly people buy iPhone's because it's the most popular, they don't really know much about it. If they did any kind of research they would know that an Android platform is a clear winner.

Mainly I hate Apple's because everyone has them, and the paranoid geek inside me envisages a future where we are all controlled through our Apple devices!

I'll leave you with how Family Guy creators feel about Macs

Roth, D. (2008) 'Google's Open Source Android OS Will Free the Wireless Web'. Wired, June 23. [URL: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/16-07/ff_android]

Week 11 - Social networks know no boundaries.

The use of social networking in #MENA and #arabspring is, in effect, what we were talking about in the first couple of weeks with the declaration of internet dependence by Barlow:

“We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks.”

The internet, and moreover social networks know no bias, they are tools for users to do just that, use as they wish. Whether it be to declare we are in a relationship with our cat or to overthrow a government, or to highlight that the %99 are not happy with the 1% we can do that.

There could be an adverse affect of this, mobilising the mob to do bad things, like the London riots. Although they were mostly communicating through the Blackberry chat, (unable to be infiltrated by outside forces) they were notified and inspired by social media. Although it started out as a protest about England’s unhappiness with their current law enforcement situation it became an anarchists playground. Social media did not allow this to be contained.

On the other hand, most of the time you don’t it to be contained. You want it to be as widespread as possible to get the most coverage as possible. Social media can do that.

Barlow, J.P. (1996) A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace [URL: https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html]