newinternetwhodis

[newinternetwhodis]

Just for laughs, I will miss this class. ❤️

[newinternetwhodis]

(10) Internet of Things & Future of Technology

Hello everyone and welcome back to the final installment of Introduction to Internet! 

Even though this is the last installment for this project, I will be blowing your mind today with the topic of the week: Internet of Things (IoT) & Future of the Internet!!

WHAT IS INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT)? 

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical things embedded with electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity which enables these objects to collect and exchange data with one another.

IoT can also be known as Web 3.0, which in turn is known as The Semantic Web!

From the image that I have provided:

Web 1.0 is the publication and creation of content

Web 2.0 is the interaction via social media and the automatization of machines

Web 3.0 is the inter-operation, Internet of Things as well as the Smart Cities and other Smart technologies that come together with it

You will be amazed at how many things in our everyday lives are actually part of IoT! So let me introduce to you the different types of connections IoT have in our daily lives (See what I did there? Heh)

CONNECTED INNOVATIONS

Connected Home

You can see from the diagram above that on a connected home, alarms, security systems, lightning and heating as well as remote activities such as coffee machine is able to work effectively with just some pre-customization and the touch of a button. How convenient!

Connected Car

In a connected car, one will be able to get information on the go about road and traffic updates, parking availability as well as auto parking their cars as and when they want. Everything will be well planned, and they will be able to reach their destination on time, without any extra hassle or accidents.

Connected Doctor 

In connected doctor, patients will be able to get in touch with their doctors at the touch of their fingertips. With analysis technology and machine learning involved, personalized diagnosis, treatment and outpatient care will be made available 24/7 with a more accurate predictions and shorter waiting time.

Connected Business

For connected business, companies will be able to work way more effectively and cut down on the extra admin costs when everything is digital now. Posts, email responds, invoices and contracts can all be done online, and this helps reduce the waiting time and allows competitive pricing and service levels for their consumers!

So, after mentioning all the Connected Innovations that we have in our everyday lives, you can check out more about other Connected Innovations by visiting this link here: IoT

FINAL THOUGHTS

Internet of Things is the future. With movies and television series such as the Matrix and Black Mirror depicting IoT concepts predicting the future of technology, I believe that it is nearer than we thought. However, the technology surrounding IoT must be affordable before we can implement it nationwide or even worldwide.

Personally, I have a Connected Home technology, but it only applies for the Washing machine and the Air Conditioning systems. I am able to connect to these systems with the touch of a button on the application on my phone and it is convenient as I do not have to manually set the settings of a wash cycle or the temperature. All I have to do is to click on a button!

ENDING OFF (FOREVER)

I hope that you have learnt a lot about how the future of the internet is going to be like as well as how IoT has already been integrated into our daily lives without us knowing! It is interesting right?!

I really enjoyed learning all these knowledge and sharing them with all of you and I will end this here.

[newinternetwhodis]

(9) Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality

Hello everybody and welcome back to my 9th installation of Introduction to Internet! 

I will be talking about the different types of multimedia that are available on the Internet today, but I will only be focusing on the interesting ones; Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality.

I have learnt that there is a difference between Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). So, let me try and explain the differences and show you some amazing examples on how VR and AR is used for today!

WHAT IS VIRTUAL REALITY (VR)

Virtual Reality (VR) is a three-dimensional computer-generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person. That person will then become a part of the virtual world and is able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions using specific gadgets provided.

For VR to work, we would need the most important gadget; 

Head-Mounted Display (HMD)

These VR HMDs ranges from the cheap cardboard-ish from Google at only $30 to high end ones such as the PlayStation VR that costs over $600.

Without further ado, let me show you a parody video that shows us how VR works!

There are other gadgets and technologies that is branched out from VR too! Let me introduce you to them!

Binocular Omni-Orientation Monitor (BOOM)

This technology includes a head-coupled stereoscopic display device and uses high resolution display with built-in tracking for our convenience. This VR technology is bulky, but this allows the user to engage in the full VR experience.

Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE)

This technology provides an illusion of immersion by projecting stereo images on the walls and floor in a room. The head tracking system will then adjust the stereo and visuals according to the current position off the viewer. The user will then be able to interact with objects in the room by moving around or just simply grabbing them.

Data Glove

This technology is fitted with sensors throughout the whole glove and can track and get real time data such as hand gestures when the user moves their hand to grab certain objects.

This technology is also further developed into more portable ones and then commonly used for gaming or experiments.

WHAT IS AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) 

Augmented Reality (AR) is a form of technology where computer generated images are superimposed onto objects as a form of enhancement. They improve or augment what is already there in the real world.

Is this confusing? Fret not! Let me explain further by giving you some examples.

I am pretty sure that you have played PokemonGo or have heard of it in your life!

Yes! PokemonGo uses AR technology for us to be able to see the Pokémon that are in the vicinity with the help of the application PokemonGo!  We are then able to catch these Pokémon with our Poke-ball and gain points to level up our game avatars.

You can see from the gif above that it uses the current surroundings it has and superimpose these pokemon onto them as a form of enhancement. 

Augmented Reality is also used in many different industries such as in the medical field, in entertainment or even in the military. However, let me just show you this interesting AR technology that allows us, the common folk to use for our horrendous parking!

This AR application is called Air Measure and you can see from the gifs that it uses AR technology to accurately measure the distance from the cars and how it calculates if the car is able to parallel park into that spot over there.

Here is a video for a closer look:

FINAL THOUGHTS

While it is true that the VR and AR technology is relatively different, I feel that it allows us to explore and do many other stuff with it in the future. With various industries getting to know and adopting these technologies, it won’t be too far off in the future to see everything being Virtual or Augmented Reality-ed. Honestly, I am stoked to be able to play with my new Play Station VR headset that I recently bought!

ENDING OFF

I hope that you had learnt plenty from this week’s instalment about the different types of multimedia and how VR and AR work generally. I also hope that you will be as open as me with regards to embracing this multimedia of the future!

Till then, and I will see you next week for our final installment!

[newinternetwhodis]

(8) Hack or be hacked; HBO

Hello everyone and welcome back to my 8th installment of Introduction to Internet.

I will be talking about security on the internet in this post. I am pretty sure that when it comes to hack, you will either think of the series of HBO hacks that happened in August earlier this year or all the hacking done by Elliot Anderson on the hit series Mr. Robot.

We learnt about the dangers of the Internet, the different forms of cyber-crimes and how we can prevent ourselves from falling victims to them this week!! 

So, without further ado, let me introduce to you the different kinds of cyber-crime that we are vulnerable to today!

CYBER-CRIMES 

There are plenty different forms of cyber-crimes. However, I will only be listing the common ones that we always fall victims to.

File hijacker (Ransomware)

Hijackers hijack files and hold ransom until they get what they want. This cyber-crime is on the rise in the recent years.

Keylogging

Criminals obtain passwords and personal information using what we type on our keyboard.

Screenshot manager

Criminals can take screenshots of computer screens illegally with a software

Ad clicker

Criminals will create online ads look alike to get access to their victim’s computers

Hacking

Criminals will be able to gain access to a network, causing damage or to steal data

Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS)

Criminals will render a network or website unusable to get what they want or just to disrupt businesses

Honestly, I have fallen victim to Ad clicker and I think that it was the silliest thing I have ever done. I couldn’t use my laptop after and had to get a new one due to that stupid mistake of mine. But I am now aware of it and it did not happen to me ever again. Hehe

MONTH OF HACKS; HBO 

HBO is also known as Home Box Office and it is the oldest and longest operating television service in the United States. It started operation in 1972 and till today, HBO have tons of multiplex channels that caters to people of all ages. They are HBO Comedy, HBO Latino and HBO Family just to name a few.

HBO is known to host a couple of blockbuster series like Game of Thrones, Room 104, Trueblood and The Deuce.

However, winter came early for them when they were hit with hacks and date leaks in August this year.

August 2nd

HBO shows, and scripts were leaked, and unknown hackers managed to infiltrate into HBO’s servers to get the upcoming and unreleased shows and scripts. Hackers also threatened to release more information in the weeks to come. Episodes of shows such as Game of Thrones and Ballers were released to the public.

August 9th

The same hackers, now known as Mr. Smith released more data and information to the public but this time, they added a ransom note, demanding HBO to pay them in Bitcoins for their silence. This data dump included more unreleased episodes and scripts of Game of Thrones and Ballers and other more sensitive information such as internal emails and documents like employee agreements, marketing strategies and financial balance sheets.

HBO paid the hackers $250k in total for this ‘bug bounty’.

August 17th

With HBO strengthening their internet security on their servers and accounts, their social media pages were hacked by OurMine. 

OurMine gained control of HBO social media accounts and this was the tweet that they posted below:

This is obviously a dig towards HBO as they had mentioned that they had their server security improved. HA! The series of hacks did not end here though……

August 19th

It is reported that many of the cast on Game of Thrones got their personal information such as their personal emails, phone numbers and addresses leaked, and they had to change and improve security because of harassments from strangers.

August 21st

This whole month of hell for HBO is finally coming to an end when hackers threatened them for the last time that they were going to leak the finale of Game of Thrones to the public mentioning any ransoms.

Here is the whole timeline of the series of HBO hacks that I have talked about!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Honestly, I feel that the hackers might have saved the best for last after they got their ransom of $250000. Because they eventually still leaked the episode and I have seen it when my friends sent it to me. Also, this also teaches everyone a lesson on internet security and that they should check their internet security every few years and upgrade it to prevent such hacks from happening.

Till next week, my lovely readers!

[newinternetwhodis]

(7) Black Mirror; Nosedive

Hello everyone and welcome to my 7th installment of Introduction to Internet. 

We did not learn anything new this week due to midterms and I gave myself a few days off after the tough midterms to catch up on the television show ‘Black Mirror’.

WHAT IS BLACK MIRROR

Black Mirror is a science fiction anthology series that centers around dark and satirical themes that examines the modern society. Each episode has a different cast, a different setting and a different reality that depicts the way we are living now and the problems that we might face if we abuse or steer away from our own principles.

So why am I sharing this with you guys?

As this module, Introduction to Internet is all about the internet’s origin, the present and the future, we did not talk much about the future of the internet yet and thus this is really interesting for us to know.

NOSEDIVE

Nosedive is an episode in Season 3 of Black Mirror and it talks about living in a society where one’s social rating with others actually influence their lives literally. Lacie, the protagonist, is a young woman that is overly obsessed with her ratings due to her ambitions and her being the maid of honour for her childhood friend Naomi, who is of a ‘higher’ social standard and Lacie has to do whatever it takes to match up to her friend. With disasters circling Lacie due to her blind chase for fame and better ratings, she ended up learning that ratings is not what it seems in the hard way.

This is a short feature by Netflix:

Looks good but scary isn't it!

Here are some gifs that I made from the show itself: 

If you are interested in this television series, Black Mirror, please watch it on Netflix legally or you can contact me for other ways to watch it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This is a very interesting television series as it really depicts the way we live in today. Some of them horrific and it is our reality in the future if we do not have any restrains or limits. This series made me look at my internet or social media use in retrospect and I realised that I was so dependent on it that it got unhealthy. It is time to cut down on this dependency and start living life better.

Till then, I will be seeing you guys for our 8th installment next week!

[newinternetwhodis]

(6) Spicy enough for you?  (Self-edited video)

Hello! and welcome back to the 6th installment of Introduction to Internet. I will be showing you the video that i had edited!

So kick back, relax and enjoy this masterpiece! 

THOUGHTS & EXPERIENCES 

This vlog is shot with both of our iPhone 7s. Cinematography is definitely way difficult as compared to photography. As i am used to photography due to the tons of photos (experience) i had on my Instagram account, cinematography is certainty one of the tougher things i had done. 

As this vlog do not have a fixed location and we could not control the lightning and shadow, i am really glad that it turned out pretty great. 

I actually took hours of video clips and i had to choose the best among them before compiling them together for this vlog. 

I used VSDC Free Video Editor to edit this video. I combined all of the final takes for this video, added captions and some soundtracks. I would say that the pasting and the flow of this final video is the most difficult thing as compared to the rest. This is probably because we have to be very precise to the millisecond in order for the transition to flow properly. 

ENDING OFF 

Honestly i am really glad with the outcome of this video. Even though it took hours of my time trying to film and edit it, i really enjoyed the process thoroughly. It was my first video editing experience and i would gladly do it again! 

I hope that you enjoyed the knowledge on the different types of spices and Silk Road Spice Trade!!

Till then and i will see you guys next week for our 7th installment of Introduction to Internet!!

[newinternetwhodis]

(5) E-learning VS Authentic Learning

Hello and welcome back to my 5th installment of Introduction to Internet. We will be talking about the wonders of e-learning that we are all familiar to.

EVOLUTION OF E-LEARNING

E-learning is a type of learning that is facilitated by the use of digital tools and content. Typically, it involves some form of communication and interactivity which may include online interaction between the learner and between the teacher and/or peers.

E-learning has evolved from using old school projectors to using a computer based projector to mobile learning and eventually the virtual reality and augmented reality of today.

From: 

OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

TECHNOLOGICAL GADGETS

VIRTUAL REALITY & AUGMENTED REALITY 

FUTURE OF LEARNING 

You can also see from this gif that everything is digitalized into the comfort of a laptop for lessons. This is also the reason why we only bring a laptop for lessons in school.

When everything is online, we, students are able to learn anytime, anywhere at any time of the day. We are able to do our assignments and attend courses in the form of videos or others whenever I want to. With so much convenience, flexibility and accessibility, performance in students is bound to increase due to such efficiency and effectiveness of e-learning.

I would like to touch on the idea of Authentic Learning; Bloom’s Taxonomy.

AUTHENTIC LEARNING; BLOOM’S TAXONOMY 

Bloom’s Taxonomy divides educational objectives into three major domains

1. Cognitive

This domain is further split into two parts, lower order thinking skills and higher order thinking skills. In lower order thinking skills, we must first remember our facts, followed by an understanding of it and then apply it to situations. In order to reach higher order thinking skills, we must use our acquired information from lower order thinking and use it to analyse, evaluate and lastly, to create new ideas or knowledge.

2. Psychomotor

Psychomotor refers to the ability to physically manipulate a particular tool or instrument. This refers to hands-on skills that we use in our daily lives.

Such as hammering a nail into the wall, driving a car or even navigate a plane.

3. Affective

Affective domain is the awareness of attitudes, emotions and feelings. Skills in this domain describe the way people react emotionally and their ability to feel another living thing’s pain or joy.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Even though there are plenty of advantages when we engage in e learning, however, it must fulfill all the learning objectives in Bloom’s Taxonomy in order to benefit us as humans. Therefore i feel that e learning has a long way to go in order for it to meet all of the criteria and for us to use for its effectiveness. 

ENDING OFF

 I hope that you understand more about bloom’s taxonomy now and how e learning actually requires a lot more improvements for it to be beneficial, according to the learning educational objectives by Bloom. 

Till then, and i will see you next week for my self-edited video for our 6th installment! 

[newinternetwhodis]

(4) Mind your own (e)-Business

Hello and welcome back to my 4th installment of Introduction to Internet. We will be touching on the topic on E-Business this week! It will be a little wordy as we will be talking about the different types of business models i have learnt in class! 

E-BUSINESS? E-COMMERCE? 

E-commerce is the process of buying and selling of goods and services electronically 

E-business is the use of internet and other digital technologies for performing internal business processes and coordinating with suppliers and partners together with e-commerce.

I believe that we have learnt about the different types of e-commerce but let me refresh your memory! 

The different types of e-commerce are classified into two groups.

Classified by nature of market relationship

-Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

-Business-to-Business (B2B)

-Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)

Classified by type of technology used

-Peer-to-Peer (P2P)

-Mobile Commerce (M-commerce)

However, we are not going to go into details on the different types of e-commerce as we’re already familiar with it

BUSINESS MODELS ON THE WEB 

Prof Abel choy mentioned something interesting in class regarding the different types of business models that businesses adopt for their e-business. Let me share this mind-blowing chapter on ‘Business Models on The Web’.

I agree that business models are the most discussed at the least understood aspect of the web. You will hear people talk about their own business models for their own companies, but you will never know the details or the specifics of it even if they explain it to you. This is probably because there are simple and complex business models depending on their competing factors.

So, let me start on the 9 basic categories of business models on the web!

1. Brokerage Model

Brokers are market-makers and they bring both the sellers and buyers together to facilitate transactions. A fee or commission is usually charged by the broker for each transaction. B2B, B2C and C2C are common types of markets this business model is found in.

PayPal is a third-party payment mechanism for buyers and sellers alike to settle a transaction online securely. A fee is usually charged per transaction.

2. Advertising Model

This model is an extension of the traditional media broadcast model. In this case, the web site provides content and services together with advertising messages in the form of banner ads. The banner ads may be the major or sole source of revenue for the broadcaster. Volume of viewer traffic is monitored to see if this model works.

This is a very common business model and one example will be Carousell where people are able to list items for sale or wanted for purchase for other fellow members to view and approach them for their listed products.

3. Infomediary Model

This model used the collected data about consumers and their consumption habits to be analysed and used to target marketing campaigns for businesses. This helps infomediaries assisting buyers and sellers understand a given market.

One example is the Nielsen Ratings where they track the online audience market on streaming sites when people view certain videos or movies.

4. Merchant Model

Wholesalers and retailers of goods and services. Sales are based on list prices or through an auction

One example is the Apple iTunes Music Store. They deal with digital products and services and conducts both sales and distribution over the Internet.

5. Manufacturer Model

The manufacturer reaches buyers directly and compressed the distribution channel, allowing better efficiency, improved customer service and better understanding of customer preferences

One example is Dell Computer. It have its own main manufacturer company and other shops who wants to sell their products have to get a license from them to be authorised (to sell their Dell products)

6. Affiliate Model

This model offers financial incentives to affiliated partner sites and the affiliates only must provide purchase point click-through to the merchant.

One example will be Amazon.com where there are plenty of banners placement among its own webpage.

7. Community Model

This model, together with the rise of social networking, is based on user loyalty. Users will invest a lot of their time and emotion and revenue can be based on the sale of products, services, voluntary contributions, contextual advertising or premium services.

Social networking services use this business model generally. So they actually include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Friendster etc….

Another example is Wikipedia where openly accessible content developed collaboratively by a global community who work voluntarily.

8. Subscription Model

This model charges users a periodic fee for their subscription to a service.

One example is Netflix, where subscribers have to sign up for an account before they are able to use the services and view the movies and television shows available to them.

9. Utility Model

This is also known as a ‘on-demand’ model and is based on metered usage or a ‘pay-as-you-go’ approach. This charges user based on actual usage rates, which is similar to electricity water and telephone services.

One example is Slashdot. Which allows subscribers to purchase access to content that they are interested according to the number of pages viewed.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON E-BUSINESS

Even though there are so many different types of business models on the web for companies to choose from, they have to choose the most suitable model based on the different types of goals that they prioritize. With that, companies can attract the attention of any reader by using large, professional quality photos, loud colors, fun phrases, attention grabbing fonts, and strategically used business models. 

ENDING OFF

I hope that you have learnt so many things this week. This is a relatively important chapter as we might be having our own business in the future and we must remember that in order to choose the best business models for our own company, we have to put our goals of the company in mind. 

Till then, and see you next week for our 5th installment. 

[newinternetwhodis]

(3) Social Media Icon; Starbucks

Hello and welcome back to my 3rd installment of Introduction to the Internet. This will be a continuation from our 2nd installment and we will be talking about Social Media in Businesses. I hope this will blow you mind so enjoy it folks!

SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS

I believe that we have addressed the question on ‘What is social media?’ in the 2nd installment.

‘Social media is a form of communication based on the Internet and there are many forms of social media that people engage in’

Social media is also proven to be so successful and addictive to us users and hence some businesses took advantage of this ‘weaknesses’ of ours and manipulated it to suit their business model to rake in more profits.

There are plenty of businesses that uses social media networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and even Tumblr as part of their social media management. They used a wide variety of social media platforms to cover more market bases where consumers are at as the medium of the message is very important.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES 

Businesses have their own social media marketing strategies.

1st: Businesses have to set the type of goals according to their priorities

2nd: Determine the type of audience according to demographics

3rd: Choose they type of social media platform that their targeted audience will most likely be using

4th: Create their own marketing content for their products and implement it on their social media platform

5th: Track and measure progress and the type of audience that visited their social media accounts or physical stores

6th: Lastly, they will have to adjust if they decide to improve on the results or change any specific goals

As social media needs time in order to get the word out and to attract consumers successfully, it will usually take up to a few weeks in order to get the whole marketing idea to the public.

This is very interesting, right? 

Without further ado, let me dazzle you with this case study of Starbucks and how they successfully established their social media presence.

STARBUCKS, THE SOCIAL MEDIA ICON

Starbucks was first founded in 1971 in North America and it slowly took over the world. With the help of Internet, Starbucks turned into a household name and I bet almost 98% of the world will associate coffee with Starbucks.

Starbucks have a very strong online presence, and this is backed up by the millions of followers Starbucks has in various social media platforms.

So, let us talk about the top 3 most popular social media sites that Starbucks had totally owned it!

1. YOUTUBE

Starbucks uploaded a video titled ‘Starbucks-A Year of Good’ on their YouTube channel to thank their everyone for their support for the past year. This is a very good campaign as it allows their customers to feel appreciated and valued.

This is the video, ENJOY!

In addition, Starbucks also included a few ‘How-To’ and ‘Recipes’ videos for us to try them at the comforts of our own home.

2.TWITTER

With the famous drink that Starbucks has; Pumpkin Spice Latte, they created a twitter account just for that drink and it was so popular among their fans and customers. People engaged with that twitter account and they also knew about the news on when Pumpkin Spice Latte was introduced again. 

(It was an annual thing, only available in fall)

Take a look at how cute and customer-centric this account is!

3.INSTAGRAM

On Starbucks’s Instagram page, you can see the various picturesque images and how each of them are actually carefully arranged to suit the seasons and festivals that is happening all over the world. From the second photo, you can see how Starbucks actually engage with its consumer base and hype them up for the upcoming drink for Fall season. I really admire like how Starbucks really capture the attention of people all over the world and how apt all of their caption is.

ENDING OFF

A brand is a collection of ideas and Starbucks really made full use of social media to get the full reach of all its customers all over the world. Personally, I do not really drink any of their coffees due to me being lactose-intolerant, I really love how they capture my attention, from someone who do not even patronize them.

[newinternetwhodis]

(2) Social Media Dependency

Hello my lovely readers and welcome back to the 2nd installment of Introduction to the Internet. We will be touching on the topic of Social Media this week and i hope you will be able to take home some juicy tidbits on how dependent we are when it comes to Social Media. 

SUCCESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA 

According to Professor Abel Choy & our best friend Google, social media is a form of communication based on the Internet and there are many forms of social media. This consists of blogs, social networking sites, photo-sharing sites, podcasts, instant messaging, virtual worlds and even widgets. You probably only thought of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but you are wrong! They are only a subset of a larger category, SOCIAL MEDIA!

Well, since the dawn of time, social media has been the bane of my existence. Our love-hate relationship stems from a source of distraction and even though I do not want to admit that I use social media as a form of procrastination, I shamelessly admit it. Sigh......☹

So, what makes social media so successful and addictive and also makes us want to waste so much time on it? This does not only apply to me but for so many different people of various demographics all over the world? One can say that this is just an internet-based communication, but it is the idea of building social relationships with others without any limitations that makes it addictive and attractive. 

So, let us analyse this interesting infographic that I’ve found on the Internet with regards to how addictive social media is in the many different social media we use daily all over the world.

From the infographic, we can see that the most popular social media is the usage of emails and using the search engine Google. It is no wonder people like to tell others to ‘Google it yourself!’ Haha.

Also, i am sure it frustrates us when some terms or items cant be Google online. This is the ‘condition’ that we will suffer from: 

There are definitely plenty of other social medias that people use every minute of the day but from this infographic, you are already overwhelmed by the millions of shares on Facebook and millions of searches on Google.

So, what makes one social media more popular than the others?  

MEDIUM OF MESSAGE 

With the whole list of mediums of social media for us to choose from in order to get our message across, we will be choosing the best social media platform that actually target the kind of audience that we want. With the difference in power and outreach between social media platforms, this causes some social media platforms like Emails, Twitter and Facebook to be way more popular than the other platforms such as Pinterest or Skype. So, we can either choose which social media we want to consume, or, just eat them all! No problem at all! 

FINAL THOUGHTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA 

Even though it is hard to admit that social media is actually affecting our lives in many more ways than one, there is actually a legit reason behind it and with the proper time management and the occasional ‘social media detox’ that I actually engage in, I have a better control and less dependency on social media as compared to the vast majority.

ENDING OFF

I hope that you have learnt through the numbers that we as human species are actually very dependent on social media and even though we might not notice it, it is important to take a break from social media every now and then to relax our physical and mental health! 

Till then! & see you next week for our 3rd installment!

[newinternetwhodis]

(1) Power of Internet

Hello my lovely readers, and welcome to my blog for COM125.

INTRODUCTION

I’m Weiling and welcome to my crib i mean blog!! 

The main agenda for this blog is to provide me with a platform to share my weekly reflection and discovery of the Internet. I hope you will be able to enjoy yourselves here and to learn new stuffs and interesting knowledge tidbits about the Internet too!

EVOLUTION OF INTERNET

The Internet play an important role in our technology evolution. It has revolutionized communication, information accessibility, as well as being a convenient storage platform for us to keep our memories for (possibly) forever.

With the easy access of internet in every parts of the world, we are able to see the exponential increase of Internet users. 

(Its nearly half of the world’s population to date)

As the Internet evolves together with mankind, lets take a look at how us, as consumers, hold the power and fate of the Internet. There’s a noticeable change of personal preference that Internet Explorer is no longer our 1st choice for Internet browsers starting from 2008. You can also see the rise of plenty other browsers, of which are more technology advanced and having better user interfaces. 

This reiterate the point: We control the direction that technology is evolving towards and that the Power of Internet boils down to our decisions as consumers.

RISE OF THE POWER OF THE INTERNET

‘What is the similarity between UBER, FACEBOOK, ALIBABA & AIRBNB?’ 

I’m sure some of you will answer that they are the leading brands of today, brands that have a huge consumer base. You're not entirely wrong! 

Take a closer look and you will be able to notice that these companies have platforms where consumers are able to take up active participatory role in giving their personal information up. 

UBER: World’s largest taxi company that owns ZERO vehicles

FACEBOOK: World’s most used social media that creates ZERO content

ALIBABA: World’s most valuable retailer that has ZERO inventory 

AIRBNB: World’s largest accommodation provider that owns ZERO estate

EMBRACING THE POWER OF THE INTERNET

‘If you cant beat them, join them’ - Experienced ancestors

Instead of resisting change, why not make the best out of it right? 

Innovation, entrepreneurship and creative ways of thinking carved paths for better, more innovation creations that are able to help in people’s everyday life. Capital is no longer a problem as crowdfunding websites such as kickstarter and indiegogo is the next IN thing! You will be surprised at the overwhelming support of fellow innovators and sponsors who believes in your product, even though not all prototypes succeed. (Like this robot prototype lmao) 

Communication between individuals via letters has been replaced by emails, SMS and even video calls. 

Memory storage such as the old family photo album has been replaced by storage cloud services such as iCloud and Mega, as well as video streaming sites such as Youtube. 

Information providers such as newspapers, books or even magazines can be considered endangered as people are more into the paperless, hassle-free smart devices today.

ENDING OFF

I hope that you are inspired by the endless possibilities that the Internet provides! So jump on the bandwagon and start embracing the future, the Power of Internet!

So long, and see you next week for the 2nd post!