Response to Kevin Kelly!

Its almost scary to think about the think about the future of technology as predicted by Kevin Kelly. It almost seemed impossible at first, to believe what he was saying at first, but he gave a good point in arguing that 15 years ago believing what exists now could never be possible. To imagine a world where everything is connected to everything else does in fact "sound" frightening indeed, but I personally fear that we will grow to need the internet, and function very poorly without it. In a world where street lights know how many people are waiting to cross through, and an ice cream machine knowing which flavor to give, it seems people will become dull, even less intellectual as opposed to popular beliefs. It is true that we are learning all the time, but who is to say that once the "one machine" Kelly talks about is created, that we wont just live out our days allowing the computer to do everything for us? This "one machine" raises eyebrows to say the least, but, while such a world may seem like a utopia for a while, its only a matter of time before it crumbles before us.

Visual Component idea!

1. Describe what kind of visual component you would like to create to accompany your essay

Considering my topic was that of invisibility, I might show a sort-of dual image, one of a radar or heat sensor showing a bunch of objects, including a person, and another showing those objects themselves, excluding the person of course. This visual component will help to emphasize the effects of invisibility, by showing the same scenario from two perspectives.

2. What tools/techniques in Illustrator/Photoshop will you be using?

The objects themselves I may create in Photoshop, taking advantage of the ability to draw and erase at precise levels and effectively layer objects. I may use forms of the lasso tool, magic wand, and eraser. The Radar effect I plan to make in Illustrator, as Illustrator can take advantage of line control using the pen tool.

3. How do you envision your completed digital illustration?

I envision my visual design in either of two ways. One way is a simple side by side comparison, almost as if the image were a before and after compilation. The second design would be to overlap the images, showing a thermal outline on all objects, while continuing to display an outline where no people "seem" to be.

Invisibility in the future!

For as long as man could imagine, he has dreamt of the possibilities of invisibility. The concept of vanishing from the visible world has created all sorts of fantastical dreams for many of mankind. Throughout the fictional works of history, we hear of people or beings who could wield such a power, of monster’s who could blend in to the night, or of wizards who cast invisibility spells upon themselves. Invisibility has been used in fictional futuristic war pieces, as well as magical paradises. Such a concept, having been considered a fantasy for nearly all of humanities existence, may, however, brim on the verge of reality.

Invisibility refers to the state of an object in which cannot be seen, Literally the opposite of being visible. Many commonly known fictional works such as Harry Potter, or the Lord of the Rings deal with items in which shroud its wielder with invisibility, such as the invisibility cloak or the ring or power in respective order. With the expanse of super human comics and manga (japanese comic), however, characters with innate invisibility powers such as Invisible woman from the Fantastic Four and Reptile from Mortal Combat begin to appear throughout our culture’s various medias.

Ironically, both Invisibility woman and Reptile use the aid of invisibility to enhance their combat powers throughout their respective series. Similarly, Producing Invisibility cloaks in the real world would dominate in wars where an opposer lacks such a power. Imagine the frontline of the war in Iraq today. How would foot soldier casualties differ if one side had a near 100% transparency? Can you shoot what you can’t see? Surprisingly the answer is yes and no. While it is necessary to “see” an opponent, many existing technologies such as heat vision and radar allow targets to be spotted despite their visibility levels. Nonetheless, nothing can compare to the physical accuracy of spotting a target with the naked eye.

While it seems that supporting invisible troops would drastically favor one side, the simple expenses in utilizing a new technology involving invisibility could possibly outweigh the benefits one would gain on the battlefield. This is partially due to the millions of tiny mirrors that would be involved in making even one invisibility cloak. Covering an entire army with such a technology? Financially, It might not be possible. However opposing forces would also require additional equipment, such as heat sensors to locate invisible units as well, causing war costs for both sides to sky rocket.

Understanding the uses of invisibility is all but practical if man cannot create the effect ourselves, as we have learned that magical rings and super powers are hard to come by (impossible in fact!). One theory to developing a suitable invisibility cloak may be to use the power of millions of tiny mirrors linked together to more or less “bend” the light around the wielder. Such microscopic processing and producing would cost far to much to be efficient on a wide scale. Another method, portrayed in the film The Invisible Man, may be to manually bend lights visible waves around an object, much like a stone in a running river. The water flows around the stone, showing no signs of ever having touched it. While this method may also seem improbably, Scientists are already having success at bending radio waves, meaning light waves aren’t out of the running.

While the concept of invisibility holds most of its market value in war use, There are many other practical uses, many of which the government would be highly interested in. Highway patrol would be much easier to manage. Considering how people slow down drastically upon seeing a cop car on the side of the road, having cop cars built with invisibility cloaks (that could turn off of course, otherwise you’d have no idea you were being pulled over!) could help them in catching many speeders on today’s roads. would such Product-placement be wanted though? At least in todays system, drivers have a chance reduce their speed enough to avoid a ticket, but in a world of invisibility you may never speed, not knowing if there may be cops fifteen feet away.

Invisibility, while a fantastical concept in the minds many men and women today, may not be an option to the widespread public however. Such a technology will most likely be extremely expensive, not within an affordable range for ordinary citizens. Thievery might also escalate if invisibility cloaks were to become widespread. Invisibility cloaks are definitely a future to aim for, but should probably be left government departments such as the military or navy.
With great power, comes great responsibility.

Proposal, Invisibility!

I propose to to write my midterm essay on the future of technologies, specifically in the promising capabilities of invisibility cloaks. To become invisible has been one of mans biggest fascinations since before the invention of the wheel. Invisibility has been considered everything from a futuristic war strategy to a modern day superhero power. Because of the possibilities of such an amazing technology, I have chosen to write about the future in invisibility.

Iphone Vector

Q1 - Homegrown videos

One of many widespread advertising and television techniques used today is that of producing video that looks amateurish or homegrown. Such a technique aims to display it's content as if it were displayed as an online web clip, or some source of amateur film. While it is interesting to see how such primitive video can compete with high end advertisements for valuable air times (such as during the Super Bowl), I personally do not believe it will be able to compete with the professional market in the long run. While professional productions continue to amaze more and more, homegrown videos show very little room to improve, meaning such amateurish videos are as good as their ever going to be. While professional content becomes more advanced, its value should continue to rise, while amateurish content is near its capacity to amaze.

Q2 - News Article, Tag vs Tag

The Article Im taking a look at regarding (2) is that of the upcoming availability of ipads in Australia, found here http://www.shopordrop.com.au/ipad.html.
The article revolves more around the ipad itself than on the availabillity it will have in Australia, leading me to use a majority of ipad general tags, and only one australian tag.

I would tag this Article with the following.
ipad, apple, launch, availabillity, pricing, australia, release

Delicious.com used somewhat similar tags.
apple, apps, app, store, release, date, ipad_apps, apple_ipad, ipad_release_date, ipad_release_date_australia

Some similarities in how Delicious and I tagged the article involved the corporation apple, the product ipad, and it's release.
However, while i stuck to single word tags, Delicious included sentence fragments such as "ipad_release_date", a much more specific term than my chosen "availability"

Q3 - Transparency!

Transparency is a concept used to describe how open information or motives are to an audience. How transparent something is depends on the reasons to creating that something. For example, ever find a facebooker who is constantly updating their page with everything they do? Do they personally enjoy typing up every moment of their life? or is it for social benefit that they make themselves appear to be socially involved. Bloggers may have the same mutual reward as such a facebooker, but is it also possible that career opportunity and/or money is involved with what they say. It is'nt hard to overlook the fact that some online bloggers get hundreds of thousands of views weekly. Many such blogs probably take advantage of such popularity and accept payments for writing about another company or product. It is true that Transparency lines differ from each blog, twitter, facebook, search engine, etc, but is also relevant to the offline world as well. How offline businesses and corporations operate with transparency is also just as pertaining. Say a new coke product launches with a chance for all consumers to win a million dollars. How transparent are the details about such an offer? Some similar items might add your odds of winning in a small text somewhere hidden along the product, but even still is not enough to make it seem as though "If you buy this product, you personally could have over a million dollars. For free." Perhaps such an offer triples the amount of cokes that sell. all the sudden the company is looking at billions of dollars in profit, and the slight inconvenience of having to give away a mere fraction of their gross. Such is an example of the transparent motive behind an offline source. Such motives are not always limited to money, however, and could range from social benefit, cultural benefit, or may even be straight out of good will. Such deeds are rare and hard to come by, however. The way I see it, everyone wants something.

Question 2:

"The Persuaders" starts off by evaluating just how much advertising americans are subject too throughout they're everyday lives. It is in fact an increasingly enormous amount of advertising when compared to that of even 30 years ago, though I personally do not believe it effects us as negatively as we believe it may. It almost seems that as more advertisements become available, more and more become naturally blocked out by the brain, considering them to be just hapless pieces of our environment. In my opinion, advertising today is neither to encroaching, nor too subtle, but instead at a perfect balance that allows people to still make decisions for themselves.

Because of how advertising can become ignored by our brains, businesses are developing new, more personal ways to connect to people via advertising. While it hasn't, in my opinion, reached a critical level, I feel it may soon in the future, What is to say that our brains wont then block out the majority of that content? Advertising seems to be a medium which needs to constantly adjust to our world in order to remain effective. I do not, however, feel that people are pressured any more today than people were 30 years ago, despite the fact that advertising has become much more widespread.

Digital Nations; Analysis 2

One of the most amazing things I found in finishing Digital Nations was how the encouragement of technology throughout the academic day improved the students capability to attend and thrive in class. Normally we are told by the media itself that such technology doesn't belong in the school system. However, the schools of Digital Nations portray such a drastic turn around because of technological advantages. It is important to note that not all technology can be considered harmful in an educational environment. That isn't to say that their aren't downsides to allowing middle school aged students to use laptops in the middle of class, but the pros definitely seem to outweigh the cons.
On another note, but not unlike how technology seems to be benefitting schools, is how how the people who play such games as World of warcraft and Everquest create social worlds in which they can befriend each other without ever seeing one another's face. While many people who play these games can be considered outcasts from normal day to day social groups, it seems that among their own social friends that they enjoy themselves just as much as those "in the real world". It's also interesting to note how these worlds offer distinct, new experiences, that can practically substitute their equivalents from the real world. For example, how companies now can work at virtual meeting rooms on multi-million dollar projects, and never even have seen their partner's faces. One amazing aspect of such a virtual replacement is of the air force using unmanned aircraft to strike enemy targets. Such forms of warfare seem amazingly beyond what has ever been deployed before and is only made more reliable with the fact that US troops lives aren't sacrificed. Such use of technology will only grow with time and will surely only become more amazing with time as well.

Response to Digital Nations

It is true that most children and teenagers in this day and age grow up online. Todays generation of youngsters are connected to the web 24/7 with the technologies brought along in new cell phones. Everyone, to some extent, can access nearly anyone or any pice of information from anywhere. Because of the constant communication between parties today, multitasking has become a large part of the online person's life, allowing them to check their emails, blogs, Facebooks, IM's, and websites while continuing to participate in the real world. I understand how such "living in the virtual world" led to studies of the brain, but as far as the video Digital Nations went, it seemed almost beneficial to participate in this online community.

I also have to agree with the video about how research and studies done on technology can never be 100% accurate. Technologies themselves update faster than studies can be produced, leaving most of what a particular study aims at as obsolete information that only pertains to a prehistoric form of technology.

Asian PC gaming seems to be an interesting problem that not many people in America seem to be aware of. Its difficult to acknowledge nations of people far worse off than our own in regards to virtual living, but seeing how some Japanese PC cafes were run, you can feel a sort of empathy for the kids hooked to the a virtual life. The addiction camps seem a step in the right direction. The emphasis on recovering a lost childhood seems like a good method to reconnect these people to the real world.

Computer Supported Collaboration- Using applications or websites to connect and share ideas with others using the same program.

Web Apps- Applications which are embedded into a users web browser, accessed through websites.

Long Tail- The profitable approach of selling less popular items in smaller quantities.

Network as Platform- Content created via the internet (Website, web app, or other)

Blogs- Web page which is maintained by (generally) one person and is updated with news or information.

Syndication- Process of accessing information from one website through other websites.

Mass Collaboration- Information or media created and/or accessed by a mass group of people.

Mashups- The blending of two or more songs to create a hybrid song.

User Generated Content- Media that is created by anyone, not limited to professionals.

Hosted Services- Business's or companies which deals with online services, such as data storage.

Social Software- Software that connect different users and enables data sharing.

Video Sharing Sites- Businesses, companies, or websites of which anyone can upload videos. Example: Youtube

Wikis- Web pages in which anyone can edit and share information on.

Folksonomy- Organizing online data into groups and subgroups by tagging.

I chose to display the idea of communication through wireless signals. Using two Walkie Talkies (sender and receiver) one can see the content of multiple medias being communicated, though as if the signal were visual images. The picture Itself is an abstract way of viewing the different forms of communication that are often broadcasted wirelessly. This includes talk shows, music. politics, shopping, advertising, stories, and more. For these reasons, I chose to display an abstract visual of that content.

The first media form I'd like to share is that of the Video Home System, more commonly known as the VHS. The VHS was introduced in the late 1970's and became the standard for the next 2 decades in portraying video content to the public. VHS are still currently owned in many households but are becoming scarcer with time. Dvd's Currently control the home video market today, leaving the VHS retired to most.



The Second media I'd like to share is none other than the Walkie Talkie. Walkie talkies, introduced in the early 1940's (though the concept of two way radio signaling had already been in effect) provided a a form of communication between two or more people via radio signal. Without the need of a main server or database, Walkie talkies can tune to a channel and both submit and receive vocal contact between a party. Though somewhat less popular today because of the improvement in cell phones, Walkie Talkies still hold their own in many areas around the world, such as among a ski patrol system who needs to quickly and easily clarify who's talking.



The final form of media, While not digital, is one far more popular than the first two mentioned above. Magazines, having been around for hundreds of years, still remain one of the top forms of communicating information. Slightly different than magazines 200+ years ago, they are now riddled with celebrity "talk" and more interesting news accommodating to the public. Magazines are alive and well today, and certain stores like FYE will even give you a free 3 month subscription to your choice of several magazines free with any purchase over $15.

An example of how even youtube is becoming an interactive media rather than the one way form of communication most online video databases are used. Don't get sucked in though!