A sneak into the future

This video had totally no relation to the future of the internet, but it does have its funny moments. Ok, the internet of the future. I feel that it will be so ingrained in us that we do not feel it anymore. Take my Blackberry for example, it has a data service and now, my bbm, msn and twitter is like an sms service to me. I can answer emails on the go, I can do my work on the go, I can do almost everything on the go. So, we are already stepping into the threshold of the future.

After what prof. Abel Choy showed us yesterday, I was a little horrified. One thing struck my mind when I watched the video and that's: 'I will have to work 24/7 from then on if that happens.' The internet will connect everyone in Singapore together and I don't really want that to happen. I still want my provate time no? No texts or emails from bosses to tell me to do work. But I guess that is inevitable. With convenience, we all got to pay the price.

I guess, in the future, the internet will not be an internet, it will be an outernet, because no one is excluded. Oh come on, even tomb sweeping in Taiwan has gone into the internet. Just click at your ancestor's tomb and someone will sweep it for you. Thus, in the future, everything and anything can be done with the click of a mouse. No wait, it could be a touch of a finger. Yeah, with touch screens, (think iPad), computers will no longer require a mouse and a keypad, it could be just a transparent screen and using touch technology, everything can be donw with a touch. Say hello to 2015.

politics and the internet

Politics, something I really hate to talk about. But well, it became easier with the internet. The internet was used to promote politics and when used correctly can yield great results. The internet can make politics fun as well. I mean, I definitely won't listen to an entire speech by some political person but I definitely would check out cool videos like the one I embedded and in the course of that, learn something about the current political situation.

Thus, the internet is a powerful tool and a big gateway to the masses. Politcal groups should look toward the internet to expand their sights. Not that they are not already doing it.

The internet though when used correctly can get the political party what they want, but it can also bring it down in the blink of an eye. Thus, proper care has to be used to treat the internet. Use it as a tool to win people over, but watch what it publishes, because it can ruin a political party in a second.

Let us see, in the near future if our political parties will use the internet for their benefit.

Online News.

Straits Times, BBC News, New York Times, what do these newspapers have in common? They are all available online now. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, computers are going to take over the world one day because even newspapers are going to the internet. They provide on-the-spot news. The latest news IS the latest news. This is the power of the internet.

Why is it such a hit? Well, a car crashed and you get the news straight away. For example, in the recent Tom Jones no show, a reporter's friend got an sms from her husband saying: 'I guess you're coming home early tonight, Tom Jones cancelled on you huh?' The power of the internet. Top news right down to the minute.

Not only are online newspapers hot, applications such as twitter are great vessels for on-the-spot news as well. Just an hour ago I received a twit that Daniel Ong and Jaime Teo just had their baby girl. All thanks to Daniel Ong's tweet. Thus, it is easy to be labelled as 'outdated'. We have access to the internet and if one is not kept up to date with the news, that is no excuse.

To top it, perks of news online, besides it being updated every single second, it reduces the hassle of flipping through a newspaper as well. Remember back in the past when we use to get our hands dirty when we flip the newspaper? Well, worry no more! because with the click of the mouse, we can read news right in front of us and with the ease of scrolling, no more dirty fingers!

Though there are perks of online newspaper, people do still prefer the good old printed version as it is somethig tangible and it does not really strain the eyes like the computer screen does to us. Well, maybe we will have a portable online newspaper coming soon, like just s screen and it is foldable but does not strain our eyes? Maybe, in the near future.

Marketing on Multimedia.

One day, the computer is going to take over the world. I mean it. Tell me, how much time does a kid spend on a computer? Compare it to the time the kid spends in front of a television. I can bet, the kid spends more time in front of the computer compared to the television. Even commercials are online! Check this Pepsi ad out:




Cool eh? I found it on youtube. So yeah. Besides media such as Youtube, online games are used as commercial tools as well. Check out product placement. Games have billboards and pop-up ads of commercials. The time people spend in front of the screen, i mean television screen, is slowly decreasing, one will wonder, if the internet is going to take over the world one day, that is why companies are progressing toward advertising in multimedia instead of media.

Cybercrime.

Meet Worm. A little thing that crawls around your computer and WHAM! You won't know what hit you. Every single one of us have had an encounter with a worm in our technological life. I have my own far share. So, what is happening these days? Cybercrime.

Major companies have been putting a stop to cybercrime. Hackers gain access by sending worms, spyware, trojans etc. into their systems. Information can be gathered through these means. Major companies are not just the only one threatened. Ordinary people like you and me are easy targets as well. That is why, internet security is so important. Credit card numbers are too easily obtained. That is why I always opt for ATM transfer whenever I shop online. People are just not careful, hence the widespread of cybercrime.

Thus, internet security has to be strong and like my father always say, 'is your anti-virus and firewall always updated?' I always thought of him as a nag, but he is right, the internet is a dangerous place. Theft in all forms are prevalent in there. Heck, even your identity can be stolen.

All in all, we cannot stop internet crime but we can prevent it from happening to us.

Google Docs.

You are assigned to a group project. However, everyone else is busy and there are schedule differences. You guys can't meet up. So what to do? Email? Man! Our inboxes are flooded with draft after draft after draft of projets, it's so hard to remember which is which! Welcome GOOGLE DOCS, a fun filled and time saving way to work on your project without having to meet up and get your email inbox jammed packed with drafts.

Introduced in 2006, Google Docs combines everything Microsoft office has to offer. It allows users to post a document online share it with his/her team members and everyone can edit it. Cool eh? Nothing is saved on the computer, unless stated but it is available online. In real-time, people can edit their project drafts and input their take on it. Everyone in the group can make changes to the master copy and then a final piece can come out of it. Anyone connected to the internet can access Google Docs and work on it. You do not need to download any software. Just click and you are ready to go.

I myelf have personally worked with Google Docs for one of my modules. It was really cool, but the refreshing part is a little irritating. But yeah, I find it a real neat way to work especially when there is a big group of people involved.

Microsoft Surface Technology

Well, after watching the video on the microsoft table technology, I was really thrilled by it! IT LOOKS AWESOME!!!!!!!! However, it could mean that we have to work on the go. Imagine everywhere there is this table, at home, at the office, in a cafe or a restaurant. Then, your boss called, he said he sent you a file and wants you to edit it now. And he wants it in an hour. What do you do? There is a microsoft table everywhere and you cannot give an excuse you are out because there are tables at the cafe too! So yeah. There goes your break.

That was the down side. On the bright side, it makes interaction more fun! Imagine time spent with kids and you can view your photos anywhere and everywhere! To sum up, I think microsoft has some amazing things up their sleeves.

However, here is what Apple might do to compete. It is just a spoof, do not take it for real.

The rise of.............. Social Media.

"poke", "poke poke", "poke poke poke". Sounds familiar? Meet the "poke" function on Facebook. (I have no idea what is it for other than to irritate people)




Social media, has been around since about 10 years ago? I presume that to be so. I only started with Friendster in Secondary school. Anyway, the rise of a super power, Social Media. So, what constitutes to its rise to power?




I would like to explain base on personal experience. So here goes.


People have needs, to be recognised. Friends, people to people relation. Hence, the birth of social media. Some smart guy decided, 'hey! Won't it be cool to connect with my friends online like in IRC or MSN? But since I don't have the time to talk to all of them, why don't I create a page and put them all in there and I can access them and ta duh! WE ARE CONNECTED!' Genius? I guess so. But along with its rise comes a problem of privacy.


People want people to know what they are doing, well, most of them, they want to be recognised. This, according to Maslow's hierachy of needs, is the social need of human beings. We want to be known, we want to be recognised, I bet even geeks who hide behind the computer needs a social life, be it online or in real life. Thus, social media like Facebook satisfies that. People write on your wall, saying 'hello, long time no see' and you feel good. So, the satisfaction of the social criteria. This is the main reason why it rose to such a great height.



Back to the problem on privacy, well, I myself experienced some privacy issue. I have a twitter account and for a period of time, I connected my twitter to my facebook page, thus the activity bar will show my tweets whenever I tweet. One day, somebody (not my friend but someone I know) saw my tweets and had a misunderstanding. The situation's unresolved even until today. I have since removed my twitter from my facebook.



If such a thing can happen to me, it got me thinking, what about my pictures? What about all the things I say online? It can be seen and it can cause me harm. Thus, my facebook is now a dead zone and I only use it to view other people's profiles and write to people or respond to their wall posts. Nothing else. No more pictures posted. Though my old ones are still there. I have been burnt pretty badly. So I know what social media can do once someone is not careful.



The rise of Social Media can be a double edged sword. My take is that we wield the sword carefully.

The Web Versions.

Ok, so here it is. The much awaited entry on web versions. Well, I didn't know we had so many different web versions until now. So, it was a shocker to learn that we have up to web 4.0 swimming around in cyber space. Nice huh? Well, I will only be explaining up till web 3.0. So here goes:

Web 1.0
Say hello to the simplest website created. A read-only web page that lets you do nothing else except, well, read. It is a website solely for information only which is provided through hyperlinks. Such websites only provides information and nothing else, like, our beloved school websites or Ngee Ann's website.

Web 2.0
Building on Web 1.0, comes a new guy. Web 2.0 which allows people to input information. Instead of just obtaining it, users can now add on information. Like Wikipedia for example, anybody and everybody can share their knowledge on the vast amount of information available in there.

Web 3.0
The baby of the group, not yet entirely developed but still, a good invention. A website that remembers your preferences and gives you options to those preferences. It makes its decisions based on your history of choices. Like Amazon.com reccommends books to you base on the previous genre of books you purchased before. It's something like, you go to a bakery often and orders cinnammon rolls and the next time you walk into the bakery the shop assistant offers a tray of cinnammon related items. Facebook also has the same feature, just look at the bar on your left, it contains advertisements of your preferences, like mine currently shows some blogspots.

All in all, the different kinds of websites have different functionalities, and it is up to us to discover them. Frankly, those blogshop ads on my facebook page is so tempting now.

future of the internet.

The internet, something, we cannot live without. It has integrated into our lives so much that I believe, people will get withdrawal symptoms by not going onto the internet. The very fact this blog is written online is living proof. Well, looking at years from now, I figured we will all be connected to the internet. In one way or another.

Imagine having something on you that is connected to the internet, and that something is connected to everything at home. Your home will know when you are coming home, prepare a hot meal for you and even have your height and weight in it's system, so it will cook a sumptuous healthy meal for you. Won't it be nice? Such Technology has its drawbacks. We will have no privacy.

So, question of the future, are we going to give up our privacy for convenience? Or is privacy just a small issue we can live without? Imagine a computer knowing all about you or even more than you know about yourself. For me, that is a scary thought. Well, the internet is here to stay. And in the future, it is going to get bigger, better and improved.

e-commerce: a nice way to shop.

Frankly, I was a little slow to get onto the online shopping craze. I only started shopping online when I entered University. Hence, I would like to share my first hand experience at shopping online.

Initially, I was livid as I heard about the dangers of online shopping from my Father. However, being the rebel I was, I decided to try it out anyway. From then on, I never turned back. The clothes sold online are cheaper and the designs are nicer then the ones sold in Orchard Rd. As expected, the clothes were imported from overseas.

E-commerce has definitely revolutionized shopping for girls as well as guys! My sister buys branded goods from e-bay and my guy friends shop for clothes online too! On top of that, I have a friend who is a hardcore biker, and he buys his bike frames online as well! He sells his old bike frames online as well. E-commerce has let us experience shopping in the comfort of my own home. There is no need to squeeze with the crowd in town and certain clothes designs are not found here in Singapore. As for my biker friend, he says that bike frames bought from overseas are better and more sturdy compared to those found in Singapore and he won't need to go through a third party to get the desired bike frames he wants.

Though here I am singing the praises of E-commerce, there are some limitations as well. I do miss walking down town with shopping bags swinging in my arms. And the people I meet in town to shop with. It has made shopping too comfortable and has kept me home when I need a dress, all I do is click. Shopping has lost it's meaning. Girls meet up, shop and chit chat with each other. Hence, it does de-socialise us in a way. We do not meet up as often to shop and thus lose contact over time as we all prefer to click our way through shopping and chit chat via msn. We have lost the sense of distance and space and us being physically there.

Overall, I feel that e-commerce has improved our lives by making everything easy and it does improve businesses as it is convenient for both the consumers and buyers.