Compact Convenient Cellphones

The first cell phone was invented in April 1973. The person responsible for this invention was Dr Martin Cooper (as seen on the left) who was the systems general manager of Motorola. The mobile phone he invented was called the Motorola Dyna-Tac. As seen in the picture on the right, this phone had no display. Back in the 1970's, this handset would have been considered as breath-taking multimedia. The only features of this mobile were talk, listen and dial. Nowadays, not even grandparents would be caught dead with this handset. The way multimedia has developed over the years has had a phenomenal impact on mobile phones. Almost every single phone made now days has a built-in digital camera. The internet is now accessible on a cell phone and anything can be downloaded. A GPS used to be a luxury which came at a high price…one can now buy a cell phone which has a GPS built-into it which has all the features of a normal GPS. In the old days, people used to listen to music on huge record players. Now days one can download music onto one’s cell phone within seconds and listen to it straight away, wherever you are. The development of multimedia such as cell phones has taken every body by storm. The multimedia which people use is no longer chosen by what the actual product does, but rather how the product makes that person look and how adds to their social status. Mobile phones are no longer chosen for their practicality or features, they are now chosen by which the latest model is or which one matches my outfit. The original point of cell phones has been forgotten.

Streamers!!!

Another area of interest that caught my attention when thinking about downloading is a similar idea of ‘streaming’. Streaming multimedia in contrast to downloading is multimedia that is constantly received by and normally displayed to the end-user while it is being delivered by the provider. There are such things as datagram protocols which send the media stream as a series of small packets. So basically a person will visit a web page hosted on a web server and finds a file he or she would like to see or hear. The web server would then send a message to a streaming media server, requesting the particular file and the streaming server streams the file to the person’s computer, bypassing the web server. Finally the client software on the person’s computer will decode and play the file. People are now able to create their own streaming videos at home…so one can record a video; digitize, encode and compress it; upload it to a server; and then it can be streamed to a other user’s computers where it is decoded. Youtube is an example of one of these servers that allows Youtubers to create their own streaming channel and invite others to share existing YouTube videos.

How ethical or legal is downloading:

These days we are now able to download anything from movies, music and games to actual software. People are no longer interested in buying DVDs or CDs and why would they be? If everything you might want is available on a website at the click of a button and cost free, then why would someone want to save up enough money to buy that DVD you’ve been waiting for or that really expensive software? It just seems so primitive now. So while it might be awesome to think that we are able to download anything we wish, have you ever stopped to think of the enterprises that created that software or the artists that poured themselves into making that movie or album? I’m not sure if anyone remembers Napster? It was a music file, peer-to-peer sharing service (much like Bit Torrent) which had a major impact on university students. Its technology allowed music fans to share Mp3 song files – thus leading to music industries accusations of massive copyright violations and eventually its original service was shut down by court order. Record companies are now seeing the Internet as a place where intellectual property is stolen and distributed and are viewing it as some kind of apocalyptic network of thievery. Sort of makes you feel a bit guilty doesn’t it? However, I recently read an article on the crime of downloading and to what extent it is actually hurting album sales. In this article they analysed the direct data of music downloaders over a 17-week period and compared that activity with actual music purchases during that time and they discovered that downloading had no visible effects on sales. While I initially thought this was very strange, the article explained that even though downloading occurs on a huge scale, most of the downloaders are those individuals who were not likely to buy the album even in the absence of file sharing. If one thinks about it, it is similar if someone offers you a free ticket to see a band. In this case you would probably go see that band wouldn’t you? But if there were no free ticket involved, then the chance of you going to see that band is les likely. So after much thought about this and the ethical and legal complications, shouldn’t bands, actors, or who ever it may be, be grateful that people are listening to their music or watching their movies if it isn’t really hurting their sales? Seeing artists speeding around in fancy cars and purchasing million dollar houses doesn’t seem to me like it has a major effect on them either!

Downloading and the everyday life:

When looking back on the days without the internet, I started to think of how I was able to watch a movie when I wanted. Firstly you would have had to wait for the particular movie to come out on the big screen; secondly, if you happened to miss that movie it meant a wait until it finally came out on video (remember those days?!) and either buy it or rent it; also if you wanted to take the cheap route, you could buy a blank tape and record the movie you wanted when perhaps 5 years later it was screened on TV. Sounds like quite a mission just to be able to watch a movie at the time you want to watch it, not to mention the costs involved. Nowadays with the introduction of the internet, new media and of course downloading you are able to download anything at your hearts content and most of the time for free. This new development has impacted our lives in such a huge way which I had not stopped to realise. The process from producer to consumer has been speeded up enormously. I’m not sure if this is necessarily a good thing as on the one hand we no longer take the time out to watch one movie at a time and have a chance to appreciate it, but on the other we are able to save ourselves inconveniences such as time and money and watch movies that we might have missed waiting for them to come out in the cinema.

See My Pics on Flickr!!!

Flickr is an online photo management and sharing application. It seems, to me, that this is an unknown entity to the bulk of the South African public. This is a shame as I found the site to be an extremely useful tool while exploring it.
Flickr is a basic way to get photos and videos to friends, family or people that matter around the world. I felt this beneficial to me, as was able to look up my friends and family around the world and gain better feeling of what they experiencing. Also it made me show them what I’m up to as well. One is easily able to create one’s own free account and start creating one’s own sets of albums to put on show.
The flickr website also has a link showing newcomers how flickr works and how to operate the application making life a lot easier if you have just created an account.
There are different ways to upload photos onto your account. The first is by using Flickr very own uploader, like Facebook, there is a link allowing you to upload photos saved on your hardrives. One can also upload via email or through iPhoto, Aperture, or Windows XP plugins.
One is able to also group your photos into sets and collections using ‘the organizr.’ A set is grouping photos and videos around a certain theme. Collections are grouping sets together into bigger themes.
You then can share these photos with other by creating groups. These groups have privacy settings meaning that you can, if you want, just show your images to the people you want to by putting them in a group.
The map application allows you to drag a photo on the destination it was taken allowing people to see where you were at that time.
With these photos, one can then create a host of tings such as; prints, calling cards, photo-books, slideshow-DVDs, postage stamps, and much more.
You are able to then keep in touch and add more contacts by finding them through other contacts.

Facebook and its Origins...

I came across an interesting article while surfing the net. The article was by Bobby hash and was Titled, “The Facebook Frenzy, A Social Platform and the Society That Deems It Important.” The article dealt with the origins of this new media phenomena and how it is today one of the most powerful and most addictive communication tools. This post sums up the article but the full version can be found on one the Gobblogger’s links,
Facebook was started by three Harvard students, Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes, and Dustin Moskovitz. It was a small project with the intention being for students getting to know other students in other dorms. He goes on to say that the concept was basically y aimed at helping students find old friends and colleagues and to conveniently send messages and join groups. The concept however started to grow as it was adopted by many other top colleges such as Stanford, Yale, and Columbia.
In the beginning facebook and limited access, only allowing its use to college students as this was its principle use. This reduces its advancement. Facebook was extremely popular as it offered something different. It was more intimate and private as compared to other social networks. With a realisation of the potential of this popular commodity, Facebook finally became available to the public and its numbers grew astronomically making it a mighty social network, over shadowing most if not all of its predecessors.
The full article, The Facebook Frenzy has been linked.

Downloading - where sharing is caring!

I have recently been alerted to a commonly used way of downloading that also allows you to share the files you have downloaded and also obtain bits or pieces of files which you do not have. The peer-to-peer file sharing communications protocol I am talking about here is called BitTorrent (www.bittorrent.com). Users are able to browse the web to find a ‘torrent’ (a movie or a game, etc) of interest, download it, and open it with a BitTorrent client. It is a simple method of distributing large amounts of data but each recipient provides pieces of the data. This way it eliminates problems that might occur if relying on one distributer to provide you with what you want. So basically you are able to sign in to this sight and swop pieces of data and in return you get the pieces you want or may be missing as well. It may sound quite complicated and I am still trying to work with it myself but the best thing about it is that it is free – anything from movies, to music, films, games and software. It is easier if you have a broadband connection rather than wireless when downloading as is minimizes disruptions. So if you have a chance it is one of those things that just have to be checked out!