My Relationship with Limewire

I currently use Limewire to break the law. I've deleted the application several times from my computer because I know that regular ol' people everywhere are getting sued for downloading Britney Spears albums and such. But each time I delete it, my desire for new music and the emptiness of my checking account drives me to download the application again and continue in my criminal ways.

I think the piracy ads they put out a while back are pretty scary. That and the news of 11-year-old teenyboppers getting subpoenaed for downloading the latest Hannah Montana movie.

But I guess I'm not scared enough because I keep on downloading. I'm not sure how this dilemma can be solved. By punishing the music-giants we also keep the up and coming artists starving. Maybe there should be ads that focus on the up-and-coming artist and appeal to our moral sides a bit more. Maybe we can boost the drive to donate, or is that me just being optimistic?

I thought this was interesting, and I'm sure all my eco-friendly classmates will too.

Leaving Computers on Overnight=$2.8 billion a year

No Thanks Dell

Apparently Dell attempted to create a smartphone but found out that their design wasn't up to par.

iPhone takeover

iPhone sales hit 17 million... yikes! Nearly 14 million of those were sold in 2008 alone. Check out the article.

Google is ALWAYS watching...

Check out this article about Google catering your online ads to your previous browsing history...

P2P

Remember when Metallica sued Napster in 2000? That's when the world took notice that P2P file sharing was becoming a big problem. But before that, the Internet was a download haven, where you could get copies of your favorite music/movies/software for free! So much so, that for a long time, I, along with many others, thought the Internet was a place to download stuff. Many years down the line, I know of its infinite possibilities, but to me, then, it was all about limewire, torrents and other such sites. The authorities finally caught on, but I don't think it has stopped the process. But downloading is a lot lesser than it used to be. But why would you download when you can stream? Try to bring the hammer down, and people will find ways and means to beat the system. Its a human trait! Like it happened with Kazaa:

On a January morning three months after the suit was filed, Amsterdam-based Kazaa.com went dark and Zennstrom vanished. Days later, the company was reborn with a structure as decentralized as Kazaa's peer-to-peer service itself. Zennstrom, a Swedish citizen, transferred control of the software's code to Blastoise, a strangely crafted company with operations off the coast of Britain - on a remote island renowned as a tax haven - and in Estonia, a notorious safe harbor for intellectual property pirates. And that was just the start.

Earlier, in India, I used to download a lot of music. Then one fine day, Limewire gave my system a trojan. With my hard drive completely erased, I had to get music from my friends. P2P, anyone? I then started working for a music magazine where I had access to an insane amount of music. By then, I had completely stopped downloading.

Why would I when I can stream? For free? The other day, I wanted to watch Gran Torino again and it was not running in any theaters. Also, it was not out on DVD. So I just went to OVGUIDE and keyed it in. Sure enough, more than 20 sites allowed me to watch the film. Again, for free! Also, with sites like Youtube, where high definition is now a possibility, I can go to sites like www.zamzar.com, that allow me to convert files. This file conversion software is totally legal and provides me with a loophole to get a song that I want. Since I am almost perpetually online, I listen to online radios like imeem and pandora - all sites that provide clear, high quality music.

So although I agree that it is totally pointless to bring the hammer down, what can we do to give people the credit they deserve?

Google Chrome

I have never used Google Chrome but it does not sound too bad. The thing about the article that really peaked my interest was the ability for only one tab to close instead of all of them when the search engine is slow. I hate that!! It is so annoying when you're searching for something and the computer starts acting crazy, having some type of temper tantrum. I think I might give Google Chrome a try eventually, but there are so many mixed reviews it makes me a little nervous. Maybe I will just stick to my search engine having random temper tantrums and completely closing down.

Now this is just creepy...

Check out this article about an earphone set with infrared that allows you to blink, wink, or stick out your tongue to operate your iPod.

Open Source

On his website, Josh Reisner writes why he thinks ‘Open Source Rules.’

Just to follow up on my earlier debacle/discovery with PostCommitWebHooks, an Italian PHP coder seems to have picked up the script I posted to the Google thread and added to it considerably!

The script I wrote listens for updates from Google's server and maintains a record of those updates. This coder's script takes those updates and gets the actual changed files and maintains a local copy.

I can already think of a nice way to extend his update: write a script that presents that local cache of files as a single ZIP you can download. I suppose the reason they don't offer that is because they want you to connect over SVN. But I think a lot of people might want to use the code but don't want to bother checking it out, at least at first.

Anyway, moral of the story: open source is great.

I Agree. Like Reisner, many coders write scripts/codes to help improve the Internet experience. Now, it is not just browsers, but also Operating Systems like Linux, games and applications for technology like the iPhone that are Open Source. In the case of Firefox, several coders helped make it a bastion of Web browsers. From the time Internet Explorer took over much of the market share, to what it is now, Microsoft has nothing to blame but its laid-back approach and the many open source coders.

In a blog post, I had said that Wikipedia works because it is a labor of love. And I guess what makes Open Source work, is that it is also a labor of love. Although both have very socialistic concepts backing them, they are both democratic in nature – being run by, for and of the people. With the many nicknamed, faceless, characters that make this concept work, multinational corporations like Microsoft have had to take notice and improve themselves.

I wonder if there will be a time when we don’t have to buy software.

Yahoo, Monster.com, Google Boost Newspapers' Ads Online

Here's an article from TIME that talks about these big companies creating big partnerships with print publications to boost their online ads.

Because, "Contrary to popular belief, newspapers aren't dying. Newspapers are making tons of money." --Mark Cuban

Internet Explorer

Today I can say without a doubt, I believe Firefox is much better than Internet Explorer. I know that there are mixed emotions regarding both, but I actually believe Firefox is faster and less hazardous. I don’t know how true it is but my boyfriend would tell me all types of horror stories about Internet Explorer and people’s computers being tampered with through this gateway. I don’t have any proof except my own feelings, and using Firefox just seems safer. Although there is the occasional problem, like my computer freezing, but this does not happen often. One thing I really like about Firefox is its ability to restore sessions; I think that it’s neat.

What does Google not control?

http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3590756

This article really makes me wonder how much control Google has in our technological lives. I didn't realize that even the non-profit organization, Mozilla Firefox, is being paid by Google.

Open Source: Novels

So in one of my rhetoric classes we read this book Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

It was released under the Creative Commons Licensee and can be downloaded for free online

Open Source

The concept of open source is very interesting. I love the idea that information is readily available to use but there is a big issue of trust and whether or not the people creating this free content is reliable. Wikipedia for example hosts millions of posts about anything in the world but it can be edited by anyone so when researching and browsing, you have to acknowledge the lack of substantial proof in the material.

There has to be some sort of system where contributors must have some sort of expertise or a way of controlling the flow of bad content on these open source sites because without it, open source is just an easy accessible medium that exploits our laziness or apathy toward searching for the right answers.

For my J315 class I covered a lecture that an engineering professor from Rice gave about free, open source textbooks on the computer contributed by professors and experts in their fields. Connexions is a site where people can contribute, edit and put together their own course material from information provided by other people. The speaker was very adamant that this was the way of the future because it would cost students less and the ease of gathering information would be prominent.

OVerall I think that open source is the right step for a world based on technology and information if we can manage to discourage bad contributors and create some way to legitimize who contributes.

firefox does not work well in Korea

Several months ago, I had this little debate with my sister about firefox vs. Internet Explorer. My loyalty lies with Internet Explorer while my sister had just started using firefox. I have been using the Explorer since I was a child. So I guess I got attached to this browser even though it didn’t offer any memorable features. I had to use firefox whenever I used a Mac for lab purpose, but the interface was confusing because I have completely adopted my browsing habit to Internet Explorer.

My sister’s argument was that firefox has more convenient interface and has fewer errors. She said with confidence that once I get familiar with the browser, I would surely love firefox. Of course, I didn't listen. I just kept using Internet Explorer.

Few days later, my sister told me she went back to using Internet Explorer. I asked why. It was because of Korean Web sites. She could not surf most of Korean Web sites properly with firefox. Considering that very very few Koreans use firefox, some Korean Web sites malfunction when people access the Web site with firefox. For example, when she clicked buttons on several Web sites, it did nothing on firefox whereas it directs users to certain link in Internet Explorer.

Perhaps, this is why so few Koreans are using firefox. I don’t think firefox will ever catch up to Internet Explorer in Korea. Also, percentage of Mac users compared to PC users in Korea is very lower than the percentage in the United States. This could be why firefox hasn’t reached a level of getting attention in Korea.

Fabulous Firefox

Until college, I had never hear of, much less used, Firefox. Growing up with microsoft on our family computer, I was only familiar with Internet Explorer, and frankly I didn't see the reason to explore or try anything different.

I found out my freshman year that with one of my classes, my homework could not be uploaded through Internet Explorer but only through Firefox. I downloaded Firewfox, and soon began realizing the difference in the browser.

In my opinion, Firefox does a better job at opening and running more than one tab at a time. I also have found that there are not as many popups with Firefox. I like using the FTP programs on firefox as well

The Spark in Firefox

I am not the most technologically savvy person. Usually I just go along with the trend, or what is the most popular piece of technology. Unlike some people in our class who must have the newest, coolest edition of a gadget, I just follow behind at my own pace. For example, I didn't purchase an iPod until years after it was released.

As for web browsers, I continued along my same pattern with technology. To be honest, I had no idea what the difference was between one browser from the next, except for its initial appearance. Now, I have become enlightened from reading "Face Value: Firefox swings to the rescue." It is all starting to make more sense!

I started using Firefox last year. Before that I used Safari as the default web browser that came on my Mac. I really didn't know otherwise. Firefox is all I use as of now. A couple of its features that I love are the most visited web pages placed under the url, and the ability to open separate tabs. As of right now I have four different tabs open ranging from our blog home page, to Wikipedia, to looking up flight plans. It is so nice, because there is less confusion and it saves space on my desktop. Plus I don't have to minimize everything and play the guessing game when I try and figure out which site is which. I also love that Firefox is a non-profit organization, and that it is countering the Microsoft monopoly!

Before this class I didn't realize the abilities of the technology I have been using right in front of my face!