Life in the Information Age- Entertainment

IT development has had a massive impact on entertainment in today’s society. Many technologies are still developing and will continue to develop every day. Entertainment in today’s society is lot different in what it was before the development of IT. The development of games is huge in today’s society as it contributes in money making business and gives many people jobs. The way we listen to music, the way we watch movies, the way we take pictures and even the way we read books has completely changed due to the fast development of ICT. The way these changes affects us will depend on how quickly we can adapt and how willing or eager we are to learn.

Games
Ever get bored of just playing football outside in the park with your friends or you’re too grown up to play hide and seek? Then the development of games will suit you perfectly. The gaming industry have developed so quickly that there are now 8th generation of gaming platforms, from the Magnavox odyssey platform in 1972 to the most recent one like play station 3, Xbox and Wii. Every year, popular gaming companies like Nintendo or Play Station tries develop their old platforms to a brand new one with new features. Different people have their own favourite platform, some like ps3 and some like Xbox. Both platforms are the most popular at the moment and both have the same ambition, to make gaming more accessible and more enjoyable.

Video games have been on the market for the last 30 years, it is seen as a unique form of entertainment. Gaming platforms firstly started off as for entertainment for children but as it developed, many manufacturers are now also targeting teenagers and young adults. Before most games are children like, for example the Super Mario games, friendly games with little or no evidence of violence shown but today there are now many games that are only available for people over 18, violence are evident in these games and this could affect the way people think. This is a disadvantage of having these types of games. But there are many games available therefore there is also a game that will suit you and due to this, gaming industries makes tons of money. Motion capture hardware in consoles is the new-ish feature that is developed. This requires the gamer to actually control their player and move around, these types of games are gradually becoming common.

Video games make large amount of money each year. In 2004, according to the Entertainment Software Association, gaming in the USA brought in more than $7 billion in sales and this number has doubled in the last ten years. According to the Motion Picture Association of America, the US box office for 2005 was $8.99 billion, this show how gaming industry is keeping up or catching up with the movie industry. Furthermore, one game called Grand Theft Auto: Vice City generated 1.4 million sales in its first 3 days being on sale, this shows that gaming industry was in its peak, but it’s not also been like this, when the Sony PlayStation 3 was first launched, it was actually losing money due to the costs of the parts, the research needed, and development, manufacturing and other. The only profits they were getting came from selling their games. This proves how quickly the gaming industry has developed and that gaming industry is at its highest point at the moment. It also shows that gaming is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in today’s society and how powerful in terms of money it came be.

There is also a big argument about how video games affect social life. Some people argue that gaming improved their social life as they can share or play games with family and friends but some say that they become anti social and their behaviour changes. But for my point of view, I think that playing video games does not make you anti social. It’s becomes a normal hobby for everyone and your friends and family can also get involve. There are also games that help your brain, teach you to cook, dance and others, these games can be enjoy with your friends and families. And with these reasons, I have come to the conclusion that no, it does not make you anti social.

There are also games on smart phones, there is a thing called “Apps” where you can downloads different type of games and forms of entertainment. Apps are now always present if you get smart phones.

Before the development of IT there would no digital games at all; their only gaming entertainment would have been sports, a game of football cricket or rugby. The development of IT shows how much it has affected entertaining people in case of gaming or playing. There are now varied types of games you can play which are gives everyone a chance of playing and being entertained.

Music
The biggest development in music industry is the MP3, MP3 stand for MPEG Audio Layer 3. MP3 is the one that revolutionised the music world; it enabled companies to build many more digital music technologies. MP3 is a format using a form of audio compression that makes music file smaller with little or no loss of sound quality; it’s a common audio formation for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio player. MP3 was designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group or MPEG, MP3 only involves audio compression unlike MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. By using MP3 you can shrink down the original sound data from a CD by a factor of 12, without losing sound quality.

Timeline - History of MP3

• 1987 - The Fraunhofer Institut in Germany began research code-named EUREKA project EU147, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). 
• January 1988 - Moving Picture Experts Group or MPEG was established as a subcommittee of the International Standards Organization/International Electrotechnical Commission or ISO/IEC. 
• April 1989 - Fraunhofer received a German patent for MP3. 
• 1992 - Fraunhofer's and Dieter Seitzer’s audio coding algorithm was integrated into MPEG-1. 
• 1993 - MPEG-1 standard published. 
• 1994 - MPEG-2 developed and published a year later. 
• November 26, 1996 - United States patent issued for MP3. 
• September 1998 - Fraunhofer started to enforce their patent rights. All developers of MP3 encoders or rippers and decoders/players now have to pay a licensing fee to Fraunhofer. 
• February 1999 - A record company called SubPop is the first to distribute music tracks in the MP3 format. 
• 1999 - Portable MP3 players appear. 

Portable media player or digital audio player is a device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as videos, audio, images etc. On the other hand, analogue portable audio players play music from cassette tapes, or records. Often digital audio players are sold as MP3 players, even if they support other file formats.

I can’t imagine us in today’s society listening to music in long playing vinyl records but they argue that vinyl records’ sound quality is much better than MP3s. Over the last few years, the sale of vinyl records has come up.

Doesn’t listening to music always put you in a good mood and cheer you up? Just putting the earphones in and ignoring the rest of the world is the best thing you can do. The quick development of IPod’s and other music technologies is great but there is also a negative side to it. People argue that by putting an earphone you are more likely to have deafness issue. Hearing loss is more common than ever before, an estimated 55 million people have lost some high frequency hearing according to a new study. The question is, does listening to IPods can cause hearing loss? The most common answer you would get is it probably depends on how long you listen to music and how loud it is.

This is an article discussing the effects of listening music from portable music player.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-18532179-ipods-can-make-you-deaf.do

Before the development of MP3, the only form of entertainment available is live, like theatre plays, concerts etc. Many people still enjoy watching live concerts but the beauty of portable music player is that it’s always available and you always have a choice of what you want to listen to.

Video Players/Digital Video
VCR or Videocassette recorder is one of the first forms of video players. VCR is an electromechanical device that uses removable videocassette that contains tapes for recording audio and video from television so that the images and sound can be played back. Most domestic VCRs are equipped with a television broadcast receiver for TV reception, there features began as uncomplicated mechanical but were later replaced.

From VCR, out come VHS or Video Home System. VHS is a consumer level analogue recording videocassette standard developed by JVC. After VHS, there were other successors, the like of VCD, DVD and the latest one Blu-ray disc. VCD is the first one alternative that is in a CD sized disc, the durability of VCD depends on the production quality of the disc and its handling and the data stored on a VCD does not degrade. DVD video formats were firstly introduced in 1996 in Japan and to the US in 1997 and then 1997 in Europe. There is no doubt that DVD’s has better quality than VHS but VHS is still widely used. The commercial success of DVD has been prevent by many factors like it has a reputation for being unreliable, the risk of scratches and cracks and the compression compound , MPEG-2 video compression can result in visible artefacts such as mosquito noise and ringing. A Standard VHS will not suffer from any of these. Blu-ray disc is the newest optical disc format; this is designed to be the successor to DVD. A single Blu-ray disc can hold up to 128GB of information.

Digital video refers to the capturing and storage of moving images that can be display on computer screens. Before the digital era, you have to convert a video from analogue to digital in order to play it on a computer monitor.

Before, there would be no such thing as digital video or Blu-ray disc. Blu-ray disc and digital video makes it easier for us to watch or record something quickly without the hassle of needing to convert it etc. It enables us to watch TV or movies in good high quality. Before the development of all these, in around 1950’s all they have is a TV and it’s in black and white. They also cannot record or play any DVD’s; they just watch what ever in on TV. I think that the development of VHS and all of its successors is really important and it had a massive impact on use. It changed the way we see and watch films and it becomes more entertaining.

E-Book

Does anyone actually read books anymore? Do we think that reading books are just for old people? Well I think you are wrong, you could argue that it’s not technically “reading a book” but they have now developed E-Book or electronic book. I think they made this to make reading more appealing to everyone, teenagers or older people. Electronic book is a book length publication in digital from that consist images, text or both and published through, produced on and readable on computers and other devices.

Compared to ordinary books, e-books have many advantages:

• offers over 2million free books for download, e-book websites can also translate books into other languages 
• an e-book may be readable in low light or even total darkness 
• Have the ability to display motion, enlarge or change fonts 
• The production of e-books does not consume paper and ink. 
• Probably the most important of all is that Compared to printed publishing, it is cheaper and easier for authors to self-publish e-books. 

E-books is kind of a new invention therefore it’s not perfect and it does have its draw backs

• Printed books remain readable for long time whilst e-books may need to be copied or converted to a new carrier or file type over a period of time 
• Ordinary books can provide visual appeal whilst e-books cannot provide the physical feel of the cove and the original printed work 
• A book will never turn off and would be unusable or unreadable only if damaged, on the other hand, e-books battery can switch it off and once you've dropped it or damaged it you cannot use it again. 
• The cost of an e-book is 100th the amount you have to pay for a book 

One of the first e-book readers is called the Rocket eBook, when they created this they thought that they were opening a new chapter in publishing history but unfortunately they were too early. It wasn’t until Amazon tied Kindle to a network and made it possible to browse and purchase eBooks with just a click that is when the new chapter actually began.

Amazon Kindle
Amazon kindle is an e-book developed by Amazon.com; it uses wireless connectivity to enable users to shop, download, and browse. Newspapers, magazines, blogs and other digital media can be read through this. The newest version of Amazon kindle is the Kindle fire.

In the last three months of 2010, Amazon announced that in the United States, their e-book sales had surpassed sales of paperback books for the first time

Nook

Nook is a brand of e-book reader developed by book retailer Barnes and Noble. Nook is based on the android platform. The original Nook includes both Wi-Fi and 3d wireless connectivity; the latest nook e-book is the Nook Colour.

Kobo eReader

Kobe eReader is an e-book reader produced by the company Kobo Inc. There latest e-book is the Kobo Vox eReader.

This article talks about the different type of e-books and its strength and weaknesses. This is good for deciding which e-book would suit you best.
http://www.ebookreadersreview.co.uk/

This is an article discussing how e-books have overtaken ordinary books.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1388779/The-end-paperback-Kindle-ebook-sales-exceed-print-sales-time-ever.html

This show how quickly e-books have revolutionised and how popular it became in such a short period of time. I’m sure in no time at all; everyone would own an eBook instead of an ordinary book.

Life in the Information Age- Employment- Case Study

Over the last 40 years, ICT has changed the world. Employment has been immensely changed due to Life in the Information Age. Many industries had to adapt to use new technologies and brand new industries have developed. Technologies have completely revolutionised the employment or job industry.

How jobs were affected
The introduction of ICT has led to massive change in working hours; some people may now find themselves working at evening, nights and weekends. Customers can now call in the evenings until 3am and obviously someone has to be there to take the calls. Customers can now also buy variety of stuff online at midnight and someone has to be there to make sure that the website is working properly and that there isn’t any problems. ICT definitely changed the way people work, sometimes it’s a good change but sometimes it’s a bad change.

The development of ICT has led in many new jobs being created 

• Network technician 
• Computer programmer 
• Website designers 
• ICT teachers 

Examples

Accounting is a good example of how jobs have changed due to new technologies. Before, accountant would keep track of all paperwork or financial records manually and this was a full time job for most people. They would have found this job very difficult as it involves thing such as counting papers manually, writing financial and keeping track of financial records manually. This was a very time consuming job. All calculation has to be done by hand therefore they could easily make mistakes without knowing. Then the introduction of calculators came along, this helped to speed up the work involving calculations and this also helped reduce some mistakes. 

When computers came along, it has massively transformed the way companies handled their paper work and the way the keep track of their financial records. All of these changes mean that large number of employees had to be re train to use the new technology. The computer made their job so much faster and more reliable.

Call centres was also affected by the changes in technologies. Previously, when a customer needed to talk to someone in a company they would usually be able to phone and they will be put through to the person who could help them but companies did not like this because it means that when an employee is talking to a customer they are not doing their job which basically means that they are wasting their time. But ICT have made it possible for call centres to create a large room or office when the all the staff do is take telephone calls from customers and help them but this also means the companies have to pay more money but they are willing to take this disadvantage as they know that by doing this their other stuff will not get disturbed therefore it’s more efficient to them.

The development of new technologies wasn’t always a good thing. It also has it disadvantages but the main disadvantage it caused was that some people lost their jobs. Thousands of people have lost their jobs over the last decades. We all know that ICT can make jobs faster and accurate therefore some jobs like secretaries, office clerks that count wages etc have lost their jobs. There are people who just don’t want to give up their jobs and therefore have to train again in order to use the new technologies. Although training is expensive, it’ll be worth it in the end as it gives people the chance to keep their job and open up new jobs available for them.

Life in the Information Age- Education- Case Study

In today’s society, can you imagine school without the use of ICT? Imagine teachers teaching without the use of ICT? I guess your answer is no. Education has drastically changed throughout the year due to the change in ICT. ICT had a massive effect on how we learn today these changes the way we live and additionally it opens up opportunity for others to change their lives. Before the changed and development of ICT, education was very different 30 years ago. I don’t think I can imagine me learning without the use of ICT. ICT helps students to have wider resources and it gives different ways to learn.

Advantages of ICT in Education today’s society

• Use of ICT makes everything faster, more efficient and easier 
• You can hold data or information for a long period of time 
• Track students’ records 

Disadvantages of ICT in Education today’s society

• Some teachers/ students not being able to use technologies like computers 
• Some teachers like the old ways of teaching, the use of blackboards etc 
• Cost quite a lot to buy all the technologies 

I use ICT in everyday of my school life; ICT has a tremendous affect on students. With me being a student, I could easily list what kind of technologies or ICT tools we use in school and how these affect our learning. The uses of ICT help the work rate go higher.

Top 5 list of technologies we use in Schools

Computers- currently we have about 7 computer rooms in our schools. We also have computers in every room in our school. This show how important and how much students and teachers are relying on a computer in today’s education. I think that computers are one of the main technologies in school due to it being flexible; you can do many things with it. You can do some research, do some work, communicate and more. Computer s also enables students to communicate with teachers if needed and teachers communicating with other teachers if necessary. Computers also have many software and websites that a student and teacher can use in order to help them with their education. Educational websites like bitesize and mymaths are most used within students. Online registration is also done computers, this saves time and more convenient for teachers which mean more time for lessons. Also a programme called SIM is used in my school, this is used by teachers. This programme contains information or date about students and with just one click all information, report, reviews, grade etc throughout the school years of that student will show in your computer screen. Computers are like the new library, it holds all information a student need.

School today is very different in how it was 50 years ago. With no or little developed computers 50 years ago, the way students learn would be different. They would use different sources like library and books to get information they needed

Interactive Smart boards- instead of black boards, Interactive Smart boards are now the main technology that teachers use in school. Interactive smart boards enable teachers to write and show information that students needs. It has many different features like changing writing colour but the main feature of it is that it is connected to a computer which means that the students are able to see what’s on their teachers’ computer. The documents that are stored in the computer will be seen in the smart boards, which mean that teachers can now plan their lesson in a computer. This also means that you can control the board by using a mouse. For teachers these interactive smart boards are vital for their teachings and are their main tool in teaching.

Smart cards- every lost some money or misplaced them? Couldn’t find your keys? Well, instead of having the danger of losing your money or keys, smart card is used in order to reduce the danger of losing something important furthermore it makes paying in the canteen or paying for trips so much faster and efficient and opening doors/gates so much quicker. Additionally smart cards are very portable and very secure, you can put in your wallet and it wouldn’t take much space at all. This card will have your picture in it when you swipe it when paying which means that nobody else can or could use it apart from you.

Before, students wouldn’t have this kind of cards at all. This is a massive development not just in school but in other places as well.

VLE- virtual learning environment is used in school. VLE is downloaded or a software in a computer. VLE allows student to communicate with teachers through email, allows student to access videos, helpful links are also put in there by teachers and worksheets. Furthermore you can access your hard drive in school computer through VLE when using your home computer or laptop. Additionally, teachers could also set up work through VLE which would save time.

Before, there would be no such thing like VLE. In order for students to communicate with their teachers, they will need to come and find them at school. This just show how easy it is for students in today’s society to communicate and get help from their teachers.

Security Cameras/CCTV/Surveillance- protection and security is a massive thing for and in school. Safeness is one of the most important factors in school and having surveillance camera ensure this. We have surveillance cameras all over my school; this shows how important the school take the safeness of their students and this increase the sense of safeness in school. Having security cameras not just give students peace of mind but the staff too. Reduction in property damages, vandalism would hopefully decrease due to having security cameras and this would maybe cause better behaviour as student knows that they are being monitored.

Before, there wouldn’t be an surveillance camera at all therefore it would have been hard to keep track of what’s going on all over the school. This device is very important and helpful for school now a day. This show how far technology has come and how important it can be.



As a student you get so many advantages in case of using or buying ICT. For example you can get cheap hardware or software like Photoshop etc, you can also get discounts from Apple and Microsoft and more. This show how ICT is being used by students effectively and how companies help students in order to get good deals. This is very helpful for students as being in University is very expensive today, therefore every penny save is worth it and needed.

Overall, all of this shows how much education was affect by the fast development of ICT. It shows the massive difference between student’s life before and student’s life now. Personally I don’t think I would have been able to get through school with the use of ICT, ICT is now very important in students life and I’m truly amaze how students before ICT was fully developed learned and got through their whole school life.

Life in the Information Age

“Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” T. S. Eliot

This is a quote that simply shows or portrays how information has changed our life. Our life has now drastically changed during years as technology and how we can collect and produce information.

Information age is also known as computer age or digital age. Information age is the idea information will be transferred freely and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult back in the days. Information age changed was brought through by industrial revolution or industrialization. Fast evolution of technology in daily life, as well as work lifestyle and educational lifestyle is shaping the modern society today. Information is very powerful tool.

Differences between 1980’s offices to today’s offices

1980

Today

We can see the change that has happened in an office. Throughout the years, offices as well as how we gather information changed. In 1980’s offices, it’s very hard to keep files or documents, offices also use to just have typewriters and not computers. Telephones or phones we’re not developed as much by then therefore offices who does have telephones are very lucky, but they’ll usually be only few telephones available and not everyone would have them in each of their tables. There is also no printer and fax machines etc, therefore it is very time consuming and very busy at all times. But in today’s offices, you can find printers, fax machines, and newly developed computer and other sort of technologies. Even though these technologies are very expensive, they are willing to pay as this will enable their employees to work more efficiently and quicker. The main difference or the big area that has changed is that communication in today’s office is so much easier than before. Today, everyone has their own mobile phones and can contact one another any time, there is also many social networks or other sites that enables them to communicate with each other whilst before communication is very difficult as the main way of communication then was sending letters as few people only owns telephones. This shows how life in the information age is very beneficial.

Some advantages of working in the 1980’s offices

• More people working together
• Maybe the workers are closer, more bonding time together

Some disadvantages of working in the 1980’s offices

• Time consuming and very busy- too much paper work, without modern technologies all information must be done manually.
• Communication with co-workers is quite difficult

Some advantages of working in modern offices

• Easy to contact co-workers- if problems occurs, co-workers or bosses are just a phone call away
• New technologies makes the job easier
• Transport base use root planning software- get to the office faster and avoid traffic etc
• More freedom for the workers

Some disadvantages of working in modern offices

•  Some office sacks their workers if their phones are turn off
• expected to work at all times even in trains or at home

Impact on jobs

Jobs today has been massively affect positively and negatively by how we collect information or how technologies have developed. They way people and how they work has changed. Many managers that are looking for employees are looking for the one who has a good knowledge of how to use computers, so many jobs require computers now this means that people who have low level of computing skill will be at disadvantage. Many jobs today now use technologies to make their work even faster and more efficient. The information age had a massive impact in the workforce. Workers today are gradually being replaced by computers that can do the job faster and more effectively; this is obviously big problem for works in industrial societies. Sooner or later, jobs that are traditionally associated with middle class are beginning to disappear.

Shop assistants now uses computerize till system, they use the system called EPOS and sometimes in some shops you can now pay without using cash, you can use your cards instead. This system is call electronic fund transfer, where you just swipe your card and the shop assistant will then collect the money from there. They can also look up if an item is in stock or not with even checking physically, they can check

Teachers today are also expected to have high level of skills computing skills. They are now expected to use computers, networks and other software. But other teachers like the old version of teaching, the use of blackboard, chalk and textbooks. Car mechanics today also uses different machineries to make their jobs easier and quicker. They said that the best repair or mechanic shop is the one with the best or up to date technologies and machineries, as people would not entrust their cars to a shop with outdated machinery and equipments. Troubleshooting software is one the most popular technology that car mechanics uses. Troubleshooting is software that can detect any problems that’s occurring or will occur in your vehicle. New car mechanic technologies helps speed up diagnosis, this means that the car owners’ would be happy with the hours of work needed with their car and may pay less because of this.

Example
Before modern technologies-John is a sale rep. He’s been selling tools at garden centres for the last 20 years. He is usually on the road every time, he travels thousands miles a week and always carry large diary, address book of his clients, calculator, catalogue and coins for telephones. Sometimes he’s delayed in his meetings due to traffic. Every Friday, he’s on the office checking if his sales are handled properly.

Today/modern- How to make John’s job easier or quicker for him?

• Instead of driving around every time, maybe some other time he could get trains which is faster and traffic doesn't occur at all. Therefore there is no chance of him being late.
•  He could also just carry a small laptop or some sort. This laptop should contain client’s details, address, and catalogues for the items he’s selling.
• Maybe the company should put up a website to get people to buy their items; this could save money and time.

It seems to me that the fast development of technologies is massively affecting our society and having a big impact on jobs availability. Everything today seems to be so much quicker than before, it seems like there is always an alternate or another way of doing something. I’m not saying this is a bad thing; all I’m saying is that we should be careful as sometimes technologies can mislead and sometimes technologies do create more problems than solving them. Life in the information age has changed a lot and I think it will be very interesting to see what else would change and how this could affect our lives and the way we live.

Online Entertainment

Many people now cannot live without their laptop, computers and any other technologies. Before, it can be very difficult to find fun and entertaining websites on the internet. More and more people are now heavily relying on their technologies for entertainment and due to this manufacturers are trying their best to produce the best entertaining product to compete against one another. Many technologies now have different features that allows or able to entertain us, the audience. Features like online movies, social network, sports websites, online games, music, and more.

Advantages of online entertainment

• Online entertainment is just a click away
• Variety to choose from- games, music etc
• Flexibility- catch up on TV programmes is you have missed an episode
• Convenient

Disadvantage of online entertainment

• Can be very addictive

Downloading movies online
Have you ever watched or downloaded movies via online? Did you find that easier than going to the cinema? I think your answer would be yes. There are now countless amounts of websites that allows you to watch and download movies online. Many people now especially teenagers, chooses to watch movies via online instead of going to the cinema this is due to it being more convenient and some offers free viewing.

Advantages of downloading movies online

• You can watch the film numerous times, over and over again
• Some sites are free therefore saves money
• Many films to choose from

Disadvantages of downloading movies online:

• Security concern, viruses can occur
• Audio and video quality in free viewing sites are not always up to good standard

YouTube
Tired of using the old VHS to play or watch your videos? Now there is a site called YouTube. YouTube is another way of entertainment online. YouTube was created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005. YouTube has become one of the most visited website online since its creation. You can watch and posts your own videos on YouTube, share it to everyone and this will then be watched possible by millions of people. There are many varieties of videos available, from funny videos to music videos. One of the reasons why YouTube has become so popular is that, there is always something for everyone due to it having different type of videos available. You can also share your videos and put on your blog etc in other sites.

Advantages

• Share videos to millions of people
• You don’t necessarily need to sign up
• It’s free- watching videos and sharing videos are free
• Great way to be exposed to public- many singers nowadays were first noticed in YouTube

Disadvantages

• Sometimes loading can take a long time
• Internet connection needed
• Can be really addictive- once you’ve started watching videos on YouTube, you’ll be using it at all time

Online or Internet television- (bib iplayer, 4od, itv player etc)
Have you missed an episode of your favourite TV programmes and you don’t know how to catch up with it? Well today, as technologies develop the features within these technologies also develops. Internet televisions cover the delivery of television shows and other video content over the internet. Online television has become very popular through services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4od and more. The availability of internet television is sill gradually growing. Internet televisions allow the users to choose which ever programme they wish to watch. Some online televisions now also offer HD services in order to compete with against others. Online TV guides are now also available in the internet. This allows the audiences to plan their TV schedule ahead. This just proves that technologies are still developing and I’m sure in a short period of time, another great feature will come out and change peoples’ lives.

Advantages

• More convenient- just a click away
• Catch up- you can easily catch up when you missed a programme
• TV programmes are always available- you can watch programmes all over again and again.

Disadvantages

• Internet connection needed
• Sometime people are more use to watching TV on TV and they feel more comfortable doing this
• Comfort- watching TV online is hard as you might need to sit right in front of your computer or laptop whilst watching TV on TV you can sit on the sofa and relax more.

Online games
Need something new to entertain you when you’re bored of playing football, card games or even board games? Then you should try out online games. Playing online games are one of the most popular things online, that people do when using the internet. Online gaming is still developing but even now there are many people who play online. Online gaming is more of a technology rather than a genre; it is use for connecting players together. Online games can now be associated as a social activity as there are many online games that have their own forums, online communities, websites etc. There are many different types of online games, from simple text based games to virtual games. There are now also many gaming websites created which are free but if you do want the best gaming online you going to need to either buy it or download it but it would cost you. Online gaming can also be way to interact with your friends or even families. Online gaming is expanding quickly among teenagers because of its benefits but we should also be careful with his due to its disadvantages.

One of the most popular games right now is World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is a multiplayer online role playing game which allows you to create your own character, take control of this character and develop this character. World of Warcraft was released on November 2004 and as of today; it has 100.3 million of subscribers and is currently the world’s most subscribed multiplayer online role playing game. It also holds the Guinness World Record for the most multiplayer online role playing game by subscribers.

Advantages

• Plenty of games available for everyone that would suit your own taste 
• Multi player- Good way to make new friends or online friends 
• Different technologies can be use, console or pc or laptops
• Very accessible

 Disadvantages

• Cases of addiction- online gaming can be very addictive and this might cause some sort of problems. This could seriously affects people physically and mentally 
• Cyber bullying might occur 
• Some games might be a bit slow or laggy 
• Some people consider as waste of time as you keep investing and you get nothing back

Other ways of online entertainment

• Pod casts
• Online gambling
• Sports- BBC sport
• Books Social network- communication or entertainment
• Download- Music- spotify (tailored to users, you can choose specific music)
• Radio

Online entertainment is still casually and gradually growing and I think in many more years of developing technologies, other ways of entertainment will come up or developed and this will not just entertain us but also improve our everyday lives.

Download Services

Download services have now become an important part of technologies. There are many things that now can be downloaded from the internet. We all use different technologies to download varied things instantly and constantly, whether it is for entertainment, manuals or others. There are now becoming more and more things that can be downloaded and this all due to the fast developing of ICT. But everyone should be very careful of what they download for security reasons as some files could contain viruses that could destruct your technology. These services have many advantages but also have few disadvantages.

Software

Computer stores are still available around, but instead of practically going to the shops you now have the option of downloading software. Software downloads is one of the most important download service. These download are important in ICT world and the simplicity of how to download these are a bonus. Many companies now offer software downloads like Microsoft Office Word, Excel, etc.  Software can be downloaded through many devices, this make it easier to keep your technologies up to date. Being able to update your technology quickly is a huge benefit and it’s now more accessible for everyone.

You can’t just update software on your technologies; you can also add some software into it. You can now download software such as Microsoft office and Photoshop online; this would be much cheaper as you won’t have to pay for delivery, packaging etc.

Advantages

• I think one of the main advantages is that you can now easily download/buy any software from anywhere in the world, it is now more accessible.
•  There is also no risk of losing the “CD”, as the software you have downloaded will be directly into your technologies’ system, it is now much easier to get hold off and there is no way of losing it.

Disadvantages

•  One of the problems is that if you do not have good internet signal or connection, downloading might take a long time or might even get cancelled.
• There is also a possibility that you might be downloading a virus without knowing and some software companies will ask you to give details like address or name in order to download their software, these details might get out and this would be a huge security concern.

Device driver

A device driver is a program that controls particular type of device that is attached in your computers.  There are different device drivers for printers, CD-Rom readers and so on; many device drivers are built into the product. Device drivers are used by the operating system to control the hardware of the system. There are programmes that will automatically check all your device drivers and will tell you when or if you need to update it.

Advantage

• Quick to connect- no adapters needed

Disadvantage

• Sometimes device drivers don’t work as well as intended or conflict with other components

PDF (portable document format)

Portable document format is a file that captures all elements of a printed document as an electronic image that you can view, navigate, print etc. PDF files are useful for document such as magazines articles, brochures or flyers. PDF files can also be downloaded, it allow you to transfer information between devices.  There are many different reasons why PDF files are downloaded from user manual to local rugby results, exam answers, bus time tables etc.

I think that PDF files are very useful and are a great invention. I think in the future PDF files can be develop further more.

Advantages

• Environmental friendly, saves paper- you can get the manuals over the interment instead of getting a box of paper with manual on it.
• Saves time- instead of flicking through the pages, you can just easily scroll down
• Can be downloaded in individual language- instead of having the Chinese, English or Japanese manuals you can specifically pick a language for you

Disadvantages

• Not all companies have PDF files- some companies like the old passion way of sending box of papers instead of putting the manuals on the internet
• Losing your copy- with no paper manuals etc. delivered, you will need to print off another copy each time you lose it

Apps

App is a piece of software that can run on the internet, on your computer or on your phone or other electronic devices. Recently app is one of the most downloaded things; this is maybe due to it having many purposes, for game purpose, entertain purposes to further more purposes. Apps are a really valuable and beneficial addition in the technology world. There is a wide variety of ranges of Apps but Games are one of the most popular types of app available, but there are plenty of other apps to choose from. Due to many Smartphone that are created, for sure many more Apps will develop and many more will be added to millions of Apps.

Advantages

• So simple, easy to get and you can use it many times possible
• Variety of Apps to choose from, some are free

Disadvantages

• If your Smartphone or computer crash, there is a possibility you will lose all of your Apps
• When updating Smartphone, some Apps are lost

Other services that you can download

• Application forms
• Cloud- apple- Icloud
• Open source software

Banking

Online banking

Had bank trouble in the past? Lost some money in the bank unnoticed? Then online banking is the way forward for you.  Internet access is steadily increasing, internet banking has emerged. Internet banking has changed the banking industry and is now considered as a good link with their customers to from a better relationship.

Online banking was introduced in the 1980’s.However in 1994 Stanford Federal Credit Union was the first bank to offer online internet banking services.Internet banking allows customers to control their financial transactions on a website via online.  Online banking has now become much more common; you can access your account quickly and check your records and past transactions. As soon as you have logged in, the online banking site would give you guidance and help on how to navigate around, all sites are customer friendly. And if there are any problems with the site or anything like that, then you can just easily contact the bank to talk to them about it and ask for help.  Online banking makes everything so simple with what you do financially; you can access it anywhere if there is an internet.  Whether you’re just checking your account and reading some information about it, or even making payments. Instead of going to your local bank, you can now do this with just one click on your mouse.  It makes your financial life much simpler to manage.

Online banking is gaining more audience everyday as customers now sees or recognises its full potential and its advantages. There are many banks today that have their own high street branches and also have online services such as HSBC. HSBC is one of the biggest banks not just in the UK but also in Europe. Now there are also banks that are purely online which means that they do not have street branches, one example of this is EGG.EGG banking specialises in savings, credit cards and general insurance but they no longer offers loans or mortgage products.

Advantages to the customers

• One of the main features of online banking is that you can pay anything online, pay your bills etc in the comfort of your own home.
• You can also view your previous transactions; you can check your account history. This is the quickest way of checking your account and looking after it.
• You can also see if there is any unauthorized transaction quickly and therefore you can report about it faster and actions can be taken faster. 
• You can transfer money via online; it’s effective, convenient, efficient and faster.  Because of lower overhead costs, online banks are able to offer more or better rate of interest.

Advantages to the Bank itself

• Banks having online banking also attracts more costumers, and maybe the banks itself may gain more profit.
•  It will make their bank more popular and boost its appearance and trust worthiness.
•  Having online banks also mean that the bank company is expanding its business and its target audience by being used worldwide.
• Some are purely working just online therefore there is no need to buy a land or build your own building etc, you don’t need many employees as normal bank would need therefore this will save more money.
• Annoying mails coming through your doors are also out as online banking will only send emails, this saves time and more convenient.

Advantages to employees

• There aren't a lot of advantages to employees as not much people are needed for the online banking to function well. They only need few employees but this also gives new jobs to other people like web designing etc.

Disadvantages to the customers

• Just like all other sites, online banking has its disadvantages too. The lack of trust is one of the biggest problems and there is no real relationship with the bank.
• Online banking can be difficult and complicated if you’re a beginner.
• Security concerns are also a massive problem that needs solving; we have no idea how secure the online bank is. They always have doubts as they know that hackers are always around.
• Errors occurs frequently especially with online banking. With just one click of a wrong button customer’s money might be wasted.
• One of the biggest problems is also the digital divide. Other people are really good with computers whilst others knows basic skills therefore they are unable to use computers.
• If help are needed, some customers would rather to a person that read something on the website. Customers still like the feeling of having a face to face negotiation with a banker etc.

Disadvantages to the Bank itself

• For the bank itself, if the online banking is a failure then people or the customers would also think that their actual bank would be a failure or is a failure. This would give the bank a bad image and might lose some of its costumers.
• The cost of creating a website and making sure that the security is high is quite expensive.
• Buying new up to date technologies for the online banks are costly.

Disadvantages for the employees

• Some employees who only need basic computer skill will need constant care and constantly need to be train as technologies are evolving every time.
• Some employees will need to gain new skills in order to work in an online banking and learning this new required skill might take a long time

Contemporary issues in ICT

Contemporary issues in ICT

ICT now plays a big part of everyday life. Since its introduction, ICT is gradually improving. ICT are now use in different areas of our life, in school or education, in trains etc and in government too. In the last couple of months or so, ICT has been making noise through the news, bad or good, and I will analyse these news to give more insight about ICT and what it does.

Better hospital IT 'would save thousands of lives'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15340102

In this news, they are arguing that with better use of information technology in England’s hospital, it could prevent 16,000 deaths a year. One of the systems they recommend hospitals need to use is a computer reminding nurses or other member of staff when to give patients their drugs. Evidence suggests that hospitals may miss one dose in every five and I think by using this system, it would reduce errors and the timing of delivering patient’s drugs would be perfect. With the number of errors decreasing, more life could be saved.   Reducing errors is not the only feature this “system” has; it also generates alarms when patient’s heart rates etc changes and more. The hospitals main objective is “to unleash a revolution of information throughout the NHS, so that everyone benefits from a modern, responsive service,"

This shows how ICT can be a good help not just for us well and sick free people but also for people at the hospitals. This could potentially be a big break through on ICT being use in hospitals; this could lead to ICT being use in more variety of ways to help the nurses, doctors and the patients.

BlackBerry Messenger shutdown rumour spreads in London riots

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/blackberry-messenger-shutdown-rumour-spreads-in-london-riots-50004663/

Windows smashed, cars and streets are burned, group of people out at night and people panicking, this is what local people from London experienced and encountered. Riots in London broke out couple of months ago and it spread out so quickly that most shops got looted before the police can do anything about it. The police were wondering how it spread out so quickly and how a big group of people can unite and cause mayhem so easy and rapidly. This is where the use of ICT comes in, the rioters or the leader of these different groups just easily contacted people to join them. By just using a mobile phone, simple text or a simple blackberry messenger text or by a small twit on twitter, people are all together. This show how powerful ICT can be and there is no doubt that ICT is very helpful but in this case ICT has let us down and maybe we should just stop developing and live life simpler.

This is an evidence that ICT, if use badly can cause havoc and big problems in a city. This is just a start and polices and the government should take this as a warning on what could come up next.

Making the London Olympics technology fit together

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15084036

Technology is key aspect not just in a good Olympic but in every sport. London Olympic committee is making sure that technology will not let us down and that it will play its part accurately. Technology is very useful in making big decisions in an event, a close 100m sprint finish and just a quick video review or a photo finish would solve the problem. The way they show the event is also part of the technology or ICT, better quality of technology and more the audience will enjoy it.

This is shows how important ICT or technology is these days and how it can help to improve a particular sport and make it more entertaining and fair.

3D learning tools positive for pupils, says study

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15115059

ICT plays a big role in education and in this news they are trying 3d tools to help students learn. They have found out that it improves test results by an average of 17%. With the test results improving, student’s behaviour also improves and student pays more attention with this tool as it grabs their attention and carries on till the end.

I think this is clever idea that obviously works with the results they’ve got. With 3d, you focus only on what you are watching and nothing else, you cannot get distracted. This helps the students learn, make teachers job a bit easier and this also helps the school to get better results. Overall it’s a win win situation for both students and schools.

Has the iPod made us anti-social?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15066957

IPods are created to entertain and make our life more colourful. By just pressing a button, your mood can change. Music can dictate our mood, calm, energetic, sad or happy. This news argues that IPods are complete opposite of what said. They argue that IPods makes us anti social, which can be true in some aspect. When we listen to music we block out the rest of the world. Listening to music is our time to reflect our life and just be on your own, it isolates us from everyone else and due to this, it does make us anti social but not in a bad way. I would also argue that, does watching TV make us anti social? Does

This shows the good and maybe bad side of IPods. It just depends on how you use it and how you portrait “anti social”. I think sometimes that it’s best to be “anti social” and just to be by ourselves this enable us to learn more about ourselves.

Who are the jail breakers?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15340326

Jail breakers or hackers are common in ICT and this is the biggest problem ICT encounters every day. Hackers are very clever people and everyone should be take notice of them and be aware at all times when using ICT.  Hackers are around 24 7 and this causes concerns to people especially if they are using online banking, buying online etc. These causes the companies to invest more money enable to stop these hackers and guarantee customers that their sites are safe.

This is the bad side of ICT. This shows that ICT is not always a safe environment and that people should be wary of what they are doing at all time. Hackers should also be a sign of warning for big companies that they should invest more on security of their own websites to make sure that no hackers can get through.

Other issues in ICT

Is the internet rewriting history?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15097139

Can train technology reinvent the wheel?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9617577.stm

Web commerce hack attack may 'happen again'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15348821

Radar that can 'see' through solid walls

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15376184

Suspected LulzSec and Anonymous members arrested in UK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14760650

E Government

E Government

ICT have revolutionised not just our life but also businesses and government. The potential of ICT also inspires visions of a more open Government with greater public cooperation.  ICT has grown so quickly that everywhere we go; we can find evidence whether in a new TV, services, internet and more. Business and government uses ICT to reach out to their customers and audience and to show the dramatic improvements in service. Government have the opportunity to adapt ICT to improve the efficiency and effectives of Government’s public services, ICT enables the Government to be more transparent with their citizens, giving them more access to information generated by Government. ICT can also be the missing link that Government needs. ICT could be a great fit to improve the whole city or the whole population.

The main advantage of e government is that it will improve the efficiency of the current system or old system and in return it would hopefully save money and time but this system loses the person to person interaction which is valued highly. It is also easy to make excuses for errors.  They could easily make up excuses like the server has gone down etc.

Governments use of ICT

•  Online tax (Inland Revenue, car tax)
• Online voting
• Contact Member of Parliament
• Electronic application services (UCAS)
• Tell us once
• Statistics (crime info)
• Employment

  5 popular uses

Theory test (driving applications)

 Ever had trouble with your theory test and getting driving applications? You can now book your theory test, pay the fees and other driving applications online. The government has now realised that most people owns a computer or some sort, which where they can get information from. This makes it easier and quicker for the people and this gives the Government a great option to communicate and be in touch with their people. Instead of buying a book, theory revision sites are now also available online, they also makes DVD revision that works on your computer, this make it easier for drivers get information and be more prepared easily.

Advantages

•           more convenient, saves time
•          all information are online and can it get easily

Disadvantages

•            website might be out of date
•           Some information given might not be needed or might not the one you’re looking for

Police websites- Need to report a crime but too scared to do so? Needs advice on how to protect yourself or your child? Police websites can now allows this. Police website gives you more privacy than ever when reporting a crime. You can report the crime anonymously which gives the “reporter” more comfort. Additionally, police websites also allows you people to give them feedback on what you think about your place or city, or what’s your opinion on police’s services overall. Police websites also gives you a map, detailed with where crimes are occurring; this gives the citizen a feel on where they can go etc. You can also find latest news about the area and about crimes which are very helpful and can also be entertaining. Police websites is very helpful for the citizens. This is very clever for them to build websites as it creates a new way to communicate with them and share their opinions.

Advantages

          

• Extra way to communicate police
• A good source of news about your local area
• Can also get advices and careers
• Can get more details about different crimes

Disadvantages

• Internet access is needed and some doesn't have internet
• Knowing the crime statistics in your area might be a bit scary

Petitions
Ever wanted to appeal about something you are not happy about? Need people to join you with this? Do you have issues that you feel very strongly about? Then starting a petition might be the solution. A petition is request for a change or action; usually it is signed by large number of people. Petition is a strong way of getting your point across and very effective as it can get support from thousands of people. Petitions can be requests for or against something. Enable for your petition to be granted you will need thousands of signatures and creating online links, social network groups would easily get supports needed. Creating a petition group online is very easy and you’ll have people joining instantly. Online petition give you unlimited reach and lets your petition to develop and spread quickly. If you are looking to influence some part of society and need help, then online petitioning is a great tool for this.

Advantages

•           You’ll be able to link and share  your petition with others quickly
•           Social networks and others websites can be linked to help your petition
•           You will be able to get signatures quicker with just a click of a button

Disadvantages

•        Take a long time to create a petition or a page for it
•           Money is maybe needed for advertising the petition

Health (NHS Direct)

Ever had a health issues and needed help and advice instantly? NHS Direct offers help and advice, and it’s just a click away!  NHS Direct is a health related website for the UK. NHS Direct only provides its services for residents and visitors in England, Scotland and Wales. They give heath advice and reassurance. As a part of the National Health Service, all NHS Direct services are free. The healthcare should be available for everyone who needs it, whenever ever they need it. NHS Direct was designed to do this.

 NHS Direct firstly started with a 24 hour telephone advice line and from then on, it has developed further.  As the telephone service was rapidly increasing, NHS Direct was then ready to introduce its next phase and that phase is a website. They created this website to build a new approach to healthcare. Its aim was to be a good source of accurate and up to date health information. The website allows people to access clear and straightforward health information anonymously. Since it has been created, NHS Direct website has attracted more and more users.

Advantages

•          Easy access  and just a click away- instead of calling or making personal appearance, you can now get help by just getting or searching on the internet
•           Get a lot of information  in a short period of time
•           Immediate and 24/7 help or advice is available

Disadvantages

•          Not all people has internet connection or use a computer/technology
•           Person to person- Some people would rather go to the doctor than trusting a “website”

Directgov

Directgov is UK government’s digital service for the citizen in the United Kingdom. Directgov is the most exceptional form of e-Government in the UK. It links together many different Government departments and agencies websites. They receive more the 15 million visits a month since it was launch in April 2004. They provide access to public sector information and services. Directgov’s main outlet is via a website although some content and services can be delivered via interactive TV. Government is using ICT more smartly for a change in service delivery, targeting to make public services more effective.

Directgov’s priority is to be the citizen focused digital channel for the Government offering a high quality experience for customers by delivering information and services that meet most of their needs. Directgov will give the citizen easy and effective digital access to all the public services and information they need, when and where they need it. Directgov also gives citizens new ways of communicating and community groups to provide better interaction with the Government.

Advantages

•           More efficient- the sites has links with other websites therefore there is no need to search
•           All in one- all services you need, you can find it in just one website
•           No paper work- most data or when you have to fill up date, you can do it on the internet therefore there is no need of hand writing.

Disadvantages

•           Too much information to process in a page
•           Internet connection needed