The blognonomous project was a very different and interesting project. I found it to be very user-friendly, and open-ended with clear outlines. There are a few times where it is easy to forget an assignment, but I managed pretty well. I definitely learned more about the internet and privacy. I've always been big on privacy, and I am careful about what information I place online. I liked the secret identity theme. I've created multiple identities before, I think it must be the "secret agent" feel that I like most. From the class reaction, I would say most people, myself included, were able to keep our identity a secret. Now that we have revealed ourselves, let me tell you a little about my names. I got the name Jacques Clouseau from the Pink Panther movies. Clouseau was the clumsy French detective, played by Peter Sellers, who somehow solved the cases. The pink Panther series is a comedy classic I recommend. The name of my blog "The Shadow" was an old time superhero who could become invisible and had psychic powers, basically a dark, mysterious hero who has natural super powers like Superman but cool like Batman. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow (check it out) There was also a movie "The Shadow" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_%281994_film%29 (this was a good movie) The user name on my blog, Pu Ping, is one of my favorite prank names, it looks normal until you say it. I like posting the assignments online so everyone can read my work and review, even someone not in the class can get information from my blogs. I plan to continue posting blogs as thoughts come to me. I had a lot of fun in this class, I learned a lot about technology, and had fun looking back on old technology I remember. I wish my other classes could be like this class.

iPod

iPod is the worlds most popular portable digital music player and Apple has sold 15 million since it was launched in 2001. Digital cameras, camcorders and organizers were flooding the markets, but digital music players weren’t user friendly, had very low capacity and didn’t have a good design until the iPod was created.
The main designer Jonathan Ives led the team (which included Jon Rubinstein, Anthony Fadell and Stan Ng) that was working on the iPod and the iMac when Apple was in trouble, but it was Steve Jobs who made the iPod marketable. Jobs was good at looking at technology and knowing what would sell.
“iWoz (Steve Wozniak) said the iPod has changed the world it was a new revolution is Music “Unlike other MP3 players that were coming out at the time, it had its own software that Apple designed (iTunes) and it treated your computer as the center of things. The computer, your main computer, is where all the music can really be stored. The iPod is really a satellite and that turned out to be the perfect way to do things.” (iWoz, by Steve Wozniak, page 298-299, 2006)
The early iPods, released in 2001 was the 1st generation. They were larger than a deck of cards and the mechanical scroll wheel physically turned. They had from 5-10 GB for $399-$499. The 2nd generation in 2002 had a touch sensitive wheel and the FireWire port had a cover. These were 10-20 GB and cost $399-$499. The 3rd generation in 2003 had a dock connector port that became standard for all future iPods and came with touch sensitive buttons. They were from 10GB-40GB and cost from $299-$499. The 4th generation in 2004 had buttons that were integrated into the click wheel. It would be hard to carry around 500, ten song CDs, but my 20GB iPod does this and it is slightly smaller than a deck of cards. Color display was introduced with a photo viewer. These were 20-60GB and cost $299-$500. In October 2005 the 5th generation was released and it had a slimmer design, larger screen with video player. It was introduced in white and for the first time in black. It has 30-80GB and cost $299-$399. The 2006 revision has brighter display, longer video battery life and a music search function.
The iPod can play MP3, AAC/M4A, protected AAC, AIFF, WAV, audiobooks, MPEG-4, purchased music, TV episodes, some TV movies and as of September 12, 2006 it can play full length movies, with prices ranging from $9.99-$14.99. http://en.wikipedia.org.
I think the future of this technology is here to stay because Apple designed it right and succeeded where other MP3 players did not. One of my issues with MP3 players is the fact that the user is tethered to the computer. This is one of the reasons I still favor mini disc. The mini disc also features an optical input. An optical input allows CD quality recording using a fiber optic cable .They are trying to catch up to the iPod, but in my opinion they will never match the iPod. We can now take music, photos and movies with you wherever you go all in your shirt pocket. Maybe in the future we will be able to download and watch on another TV source, they will improve battery life and have faster recharging abilities, have higher capacity memory and decreasing prices while improving technology. In my opinion, there are some things I think should be incorporated into future iPods like having upgrading ability for older models and the ability to record from any source. A voice command maybe a convenient future option.
Bill Gates doesn’t think the success of the iPod can continue in the long term, but Bill is the competition and he is also basing that on Apples previous business problems. If Apple is smart they will not make the same mistakes they made in the past with the computer business. Steve Wozniak felt that the reason they had past problems were because marketing ran the company not the engineers. In an ideal company the engineers would build what they loved then the marketers would market them. But Wozniak loves his iPod and is happy to see Apple doing well again.
Apple designed the hardware and software to work together and there is consistency which makes it compatible and user friendly. The amount of information you can carry around with you is astounding. The iPod is a good product with a bright future.

Review of Felicity Smith's blog. The most recent article I could find was about online classes.
Smith makes the point thatonline classes cheapen the learning process. I don't think thats entirely true. If you have a bad teacher in a regular class, then you will not learn anything there. And when it comes to basic or pointless required classes, an online course can make it easier.

I believe the biggest issue is probably the internet. I remember the early days of the internet, and am amazed at how big it has become in such a short time. The internet has completely revolutionized communication worldwide. Small businesses can now sell worldwide. If there is a hard to find item, look it up online. We can read news from any country. The internet is a truely amazing marvel of technology that has affected every aspect of our lives. As with any technological advancement, there is going to be some bad things, but I think the bad things about the internet are small and easilly outweighed by the good. The one problem of any technology is, how dependent are we on it? My philosophy is: if something can go wrong, plan for it. Modern conviences are great, but how many of us know what to do when it does not work? If we have no power how many people will be trying all day to push a switch on a can opener to open a can of food while the rest of us simply use our swiss army knife and enjoy a meal. There is nothing wrong with technology that makes life easier, we just have to know what to do when it does not work.

Are we happy yet? The digital age has without question put the world at our fingertips. I am always amazed at the flow of information from around the world. Life is faster, check payment for example used to take at least a week to process, now it takes about a day, before computers banks and big businesses would hire accountants to file through all the paperwork and do the calculations overnight, now as we saw in that triumph of the nerds video, a spreadsheet program can cut hours or days of work into a few minutes. Currently, we are still in transition to digital tech, but things are improving, especially as the bugs are fixed. Life is becomming easier and more efficient thanks to technology.

Review of Frances Hoffman's blog. Hoffman's main concern with electronic voting is the risk of hackers. I like how he brought up the point of paper ballots and a biased recount. Again, with any new technology, there are going to be problems, if these can be worked out then there will be no cause for concern. Hoffman expresses his concerns about electronic voting, but still takes an optimistic look at the technology.

Electronic voting advantages and disadvantages. Can electronic voting be hacked? Yes, anything can be hacked or broken into, nothing is foolproof. The question is how likely is it to happen? I do not feel hackers are as big of a problem as system errors are. A simple solution is to have the results in each voting location printed on a single sheet, like a receipt, into a locked box, (to prevent tampering), in addition to the results on a harddrive. This will also help reduce use of paper, trees and flower children everywhere will thank us. My experiences with electronic voting have been nothing but positive. Electronic voting is new, so some initial errors are to be expected, but these will be worked out. Looking back on the 2000 election, with so many counts and recounts that you'd think The Count from Sesame Street (who loves to count) was in charge, And lets not forget all the jokes about "hanging chads", do you really think paper ballots are so great and error free? This is the 21'st century. I feel its about time we use computer technology in voting. After all, how can computers improve lives if we don't use them. Where I used to live, I voted on paper ballots where you use a magic marker to connect a line on the canidate you want to vote for. The one old voting style I find laughable in the punch cards. I don't know how many people remember punch card computers, but this technology was phased out in the 1970's, I remember learning a little about them in the '80s, but most of the machines had been replaced with newer, better equipment. Yet 25 years later, this long outdated technology still appears in some voting districts! I worked a lot with the Apple 2 many years ago, its a great machine, but I think it would be a little hard to post this blog, or do a lot of other required assignments today. I would love to see the look on a teachers face if he/she asked to turn in assignments and I hand them a 5 inch floppy disk. I think the electronic voting machines are very easy to use, and that most of the people who complain have computer phobia. (out of curiosity, anyone know what this is called?) I know a few people who are not really computer literate, who have no problem with the electronic voting machines. So why is there so much debate about newer, faster, and more accurate voting technology, and no solutions to the few problems with current electronic voting in the government? That my friends, is a little thing called beaureauracy and politics.