Net Neutrality

Well it has been awhile since I have actually made a blog post. To be honest I work full time and go to school full time and had family issues to deal with so I really kinda forgot about posting blogs for this class so I am going to try to get back in shape and try to keep up. We are currently in week 8 and we had about 4 links to look at and could blog about. Well since only one of those links actually work anymore I am going to write about Net Neutrality.

So basically Net Neutrality is the censoring of the internet. Or in basic terms the idea of ISP’s censoring what content can be accessed through the internet that they provide. My first thought on this is NO WAY should they be allowed to do this. If you pay to access the internet then you should have access to everything that is on the internet shouldn’t you? But wait some people pay different prices for the same internet and same internet speeds. Yes but this is something we have to deal with. It depends on where you live and primarily access the internet, as to what ISP provider you can have.

So if ISP’s were to block content how would this fair to people paying money to have their website on the web only to have to censored on certain ISP providers. Plus who would regulate what is censored? There would have to be many many rules, much like television and radio has become today. It would probably come down to certain providers charging more money to have the whole internet unlocked. Which I think is a scam, alot of people are already paying an average of 20-40 dollars for the internet depending on the speed they want. Some may even be paying more…. They would be uncensoring things for more money. Much like you do to have uncensored programming on the radio by getting Satellite Radio.

Bottom line I think the only thing that Net Neutrality has going is for the ISP’s to make more money. Which is what all companies want today. Make more and more money and who cares about the common person.

But one aspect about Net Neutrality I think that could be a good thing is with advertising. Wouldn’t it be nice to pay a little bit more money a month for an internet with no ads? Could ISP’s censor advertising on their internet and charge more a month to those who didn’t want ads? This would be really nice I think, but I doubt it will ever happen because ISP’s make money off of advertising just like everyone else.

New Media Trends

In class we have been talking about new media trends. I have came across a few new trends that I thought where neat.  One new trend I would like to share that I have found is phone streaming video to others. I had to call AT&T to talk to them about my phone service and when I was on hold they were playing ad’s and one of them was talking about how you can now stream live video to others though your 3G phone. First we have talk, then text, then pictures, and now video! This seems very interesting to me because I always wondered why whenever I would go to live wrestling events that they always said no “streaming video” or “cell phones” permitted. But yet they allowed digital cameras, which have the capability of capture video. But now I know that they don’t want someone to stream live video from there phone to the internet and giving away the results of there matches, ect…. AT&T has a site about there new video share service they are offering but as of this writing the site was down for maintenance, so maybe by the time anyone reads this it will be up.

The AT&T site is http://www.att.com/videoshare

Not only is there capability of streaming live video to others though your cell phone you can also stream it live to the internet. If you have a 3G iPhone there already are new things call applications (or apps) that you can download to your phone. One new application is called QIK which allows you to stream video from your iPhone to the internet.

To find out more about this app follow this link http://qik.com/

And if you would like to know more about applications for the iPhone you can follow this link below,

http://www.apple.com/iphone/appstore/

Communication Technology Over the Years

After reading chapters 1 and 2 in our book Communication Technology Update the 10th edition by August E Grant and Jennifer H. Meadows, my reaction to what was presented follows…

Well first of all it took a lot of words to say something obvious. Basically the first chapter is an intro on technology were it came from and were it is leading.  The second chapter talks about lots of different technology and were it is going. From video games to TV and all the way to cell phones. It says basically that as new technology develops more and more people are making the switch to use it. Cell phone usage is up, digital televisions are up. It basically is showing a good trend upward as new tech becomes available. Which to me is obvious. All you have to do is look around and you will see almost everyone with a cell phone. Back when I was 12 yrs old. Which was only 10 years ago, not that many people had cell phones but you still saw them. Just not as much. This chapter also dealt with newspapers, and magazines, ect… Their trend is going down as more computers and other forms of communication are coming about. More people today get there news on the internet than newspapers. This makes me think of how hard it must be for people like my Grandma and Grandpa. My grandpa has a computer but doesn’t know how to use it. He got a tv a few years back and found it has a digital turner and has learned some, but he can’t even program his dvd recorder and gave up to still use his old outdated VCR. Its sad because you try and teach him but he can’t seem to remember how to work it. The technology in this world has grown so fast that it seems some people refuse to use it, or can’t learn how to use it, which is leaving them behind. I’m glad technology is changing everyday, other wise we wouldn’t be able to learn new technology. Because when it finally would come around we wouldn’t know how to use it. Would we still be using our ipods in 2030 if our kids have some new form technology to listen to music?  I think that in 2030 or even 2050 we will know the new technology since it changes faster and faster today and we are forced to use it more, than say our parents and grandparents who got used to something and then when something new finally came out they don’t even have a clue how to use it and  are scared to learn it. Just like my grandpa and his dvd recorder and player.

Sorry Grandpa DVD’s our even out of date and Blu-Ray is here, and your dvd recorder has been replaced by a hard drive…… so why are you still using your VCR?

First Entry

Well this is my first entry to start blogging for my New Media Technology class at Missouri Southern State University. I will try and keep this updated for the class. So check back soon as I will have more to talk about as we start the class and we read more in our books.