Effect of ICT on the way we communicate

Effect of ICT on the way we communicate

ICT has had a big impact on the way we communicate in every day life. It has effected how the majority of businesses and young people now communicate. SMS, email, chat and digital voice and mobile videophones have now become the way to communicate. Because of ICT and these communication devices it is now possible to keep in touch with people anywhere aswell as being able to work & play anywhere aswell.
ICT has improved and devloped so much and we are now very forunate because of the amount of ways we can easily communicate with people all over the world.

Phones are one of the biggest effect ICT has had on the way we communicate. The mobile phone allows you to communicate with people wherever you are. All phones can now easily send texts because of sms and mms, and the majority will take videos and pictures. Most phones will also now connect to the internet, you will be able to use video calling, and things such as skype. Other apps such as IM on phones have also become very popular as you pay a certain amount to get the app, and then can talk to your friends as much as you like for free.

The 'blackberry' has become the phone for businesses to give their employees, they are a revolution in smartphone technology, making staying connected in business and personal lives easier than ever before. It allows people to check their emails and reply to them whereever they are, whether its travelling to/from work or just at home. Other phones such as the 'iphone' allows people to commuicate with others via the internet, facebook chat, whatsapp, ping, video call and lots more wherever you are. This use of ICT has meant that many people can easily talk to family and friends and most of the time this is for free as these apps come free with the contract you pay for.

 Important dates for mobile phone history:

The first commercial telephone calls were made in 1912

1946- The first mobile phone weighed 76lbs (34kg).

1985 saw the emergence of shoulder phones which operated with more than 20kg worth of batteries… which is why they were used mostly in cars.

The first call ever placed on a commercial GSM (Global Standard for Mobile) phone was on 1 July 1991

SMS - the Short Message Service - was launched in 1994

April 1999 saw the emergence of the first mobiles able to send email and use the web.

Today we have picture phones, multimedia video messaging and 3G handsets. Mobile phones have become a massive part of our lives, so much so that you sometimes wonder how you got by without one!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-463162/MPs-log-laptops-sit--Commons.html

This article talks about how MP's are allowed to access their blackberrys or laptops to send e-mails and texts while in the Commons chamber.

Computers are used by most people everyday, and have become a part of our everyday living, they are used for so many things that living without them now would be bascially impossible. There are many different ways that the internet on computers makes communication possible, it can be done via email, IM chats such as msn, social networking sites, e.g. facebook, blogs e.g. twitter being a main one for communication and many more. This wide range of choices means that it is possible for anyone and everyone to talk to people via the use of computers/internet. The advantages of this is that it allows you to speak to family and friends in countrys abroard, whether they live there or are on holiday, it means you can keep up to date with what people are doing, and it saves alot of money that you would normally spend texting or via phone call. Via the computer Skype and chat rooms can be used, skype allows you to video call people and chat via a live webcam, chat rooms are where you can be involved in a chat with a group of people. Skype has also now become available on the iphone as one of the new apps available.
The first electronic computers were only constructed around 50 years ago and were used during the war to calculate firing tables for field guns and to crack German codes. They used glass tubes called valves and the machines filled large rooms. They consumed huge amounts of electrical power and their processing power was tiny by today’s standards.

Laptops are now extremely popular especially for businessmen or travellers, they are small and easy to cary and their are many bags that now mean your laptop will fit easily inside. Laptops are another way that people communicate with others, and it is sometimes easier as you can take your laptop wherever you want. Laptops mean that communication with people is possible wether you are on a train, in bed, watching t.v or away at a hotel. ICT is making communication easier all the time as new things are being invented, smaller laptops are always being invented, and apple are always developing new ideas- apple mac and now even the ipad.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1229106/The-week-I-tried-unfriend-Facebook-Could-log-entire-online-life.html

This article is about how Lily Allen tried to leave her 'online life' for a whole week to spend more time with her boyfriend, which was hard as it meant she could no longer easily connect with the whole world.

ICT has given us the internet which is the main form of communication, it can be used via phones, computers, games consoles, ipads and now virtually everything we can think of. Where ever and when ever it is not possible for you to access the internet easily. Internet on phones and hand held devices has made it easy for businesses, employees and friends to chat, it is a device which now means people spend even more times on their phones as they have everything they need- the ability to text and use the internet: facebook & emails being the most popular uses.

Games devices have become extremely popular especially since people can now use the internet to either chat with friends or to play against friends or anyone who is online.

ICT has had mainly a positive effect on the way we communicate, as it has made it easier & cheaper. The only drawbacks would be that now because there are so many different ways of communicating without meeting face to face, a lot of people tend to just communicate over the internet or by texting as this is now easier than arranging to meet up.

Topics

the effect of ICT on:

-the way we communicate
-the way we bank and shop
-their personal and social life
-the way people work
-the way we entertain ourselves

Online Education

There are many types of online education now available for students which makes independant studying, revision and all work easier because of the range of sites.

Mymaths

Mymaths is an online maths site providing you with resources, including online tests and lessons, and maths games. Often schools make set online homeworks that can be done on this website and you also have your own 'portal' where you will find the work you've been set. This site includes the four main headings 'Number' 'Algebra' 'Shape' & 'Data' which will include all of the work covered in GCSE and Alevel maths.

The picture on the right is what the site looks like once i have logged into the site using my schools login.---->

<---This picture shows what my 'portal' looks like and shows the homework i have got left to do and the amount of days left i have to do it.

This is the type of site that can be used in everyday life as a way of learning and revising maths as well as testing yourself using the online tests/homework. It is a good site to be used often because it offers such a range of maths resources and useful exercises.

When clicking on 'results' it comes up with a list of all the tasks i have recently done and how long i have left on them and what percentage i got when i did them. A green face means i scored a good percentage, an orange face, means i did well but should try again and a red face means i got less than 50% and i need to try again.

The site offers a newsfeed where any news about courses, games, worksheets and just about maths is posted for students, parents and teachers to read about. This offers helpful notices as it is useful for the students to check to know any extra points about the website.

The games on the website are useful as they are a fun way of learning and often help make you understand a certain topic more. The are a great range of games to choose from, ones that both girls and boys would enjoy.

The image on the left shows the list of games that are offered and for each subject there are about 3/4 games.

The image above shows 'bearings snooker' one of the games used for the algebra topic

There are many advantages to this site mainly as i've said it offers students many maths resources all relevant to what they are learning. The lessons are useful as they take you through step by step on how to do something as if you are being taught by a teacher. It is good to use if you have missed lessons or didn't understand something in a lesson. It is one of the most popular online maths resources. There aren't any disdadvantages to this site that i have come across as it does and offers everything you would expect it to, the only thing is sometimes the lessons aren't as detailed as they could be.

BBC Bitesize

BBC bitesize is a very popular site for online education as it offers revision, tests and games for all of the subjects studying KS1 up to higher levels including GCSE and A-Level revision.

This is an example of a 'test bite' for practising geography

For some subjects there are also videos and audio clips available, for english they offer summarys of plays in video clips to help you learn. These are very popular as students often find it easier to watch and listen to something rather than just reading it.

This is a view of a few of the available audio clips for english

The games and activities for the subjects are also popular as they allow the students to learn by doing, which often helps people to learn easily. It offers games for both boys and girls and they are fun and easy to understand but relevant to the given subject.

This game 'bingo' offers 6 differnet subjects that you can learn whilst playing a game

Another thing bbc bitesize now offers is the application to get revision and tests on your mobile so that you can learn on the go, whilst traveling, or at night in bed. This is popular amongst students as they get to revise whilst using their mobile phones.

This type of website is used in everyday life as a revision and learning tool both at home and school and has become very popular with both teachers and students.

There are many advantages to this site mainly it being free, easy to use, and offering a huge range of revision resources on all lessons. The only problems can be that it may not cover a particular topic in a subject and it does not cover all the examining boards so you can end up looking over the wrong sylabus.

Social Networking

Social Networking. . . It's the way the 21st century communicates today.

Although social networking is possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most popular online. Social networking is used my the majority of people and there are many types of popular sites: 'facebook' 'myspace' 'bebo' and many more.

Early social networking communication began in 1994 and this began in the form of generalized online communities such as Theglobe.com.

Facebook

Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.

It was launched in 2004 and is the world's largest social networking site with more than 500 million active users which is about 1 person for every 14 in the world. It allows you to view other friends page, chat to them, write on their 'wall' and chat via IM on the website. This site is very popular as it allows you to easily communicate with friends and family for free, this can either be done by posting a comment on their 'wall' which is there profile page meaning it will be public for everyone to see, you can instant message them via the chat application in the right hand corner, and you can also send private messages if you do not want people to view what you say. Facebook also offers a range of games you play via facebook, there are simulation games such as 'farmville' where you can run your own farm, by looking after the animals and cutting the crops.

This shows how you can comment on someones 'wall'

                             This is how the IM chat appears.

This is what the private message looks like

It is used by people in every day life as a way of communicating, as it is free and very simple, it is also now a popular way of socialising online. Also people can keep up to date with what other people are doing via people's status updates, which is where you can write anything you want about what you are doing, your feelings, or anything you like. 

There are many advantages to facebook, it allows you to search for new and old friends, it could be that you are trying to get in contact with someone from your primary school. It can be used as a way to make new friends, to find someone to be in a relationship with so as a form of online dating, or just keep in touch with friends and family. Can make it easy to find people with similar likes and dislikes as you can join groups on facebook, this can be a good way of meeting people with similar personalities. The best advantage is the fact it is a free easy way of communication. With any site as well as advantages there are always disadvantages, stalking is possible on facebook as people can see what you are doing, and even now can see where you are via certain applications. Your account can also be hacked and people can pretend to be you, security on facebook is getting stricter but it is possible for this to happen or for people to impersonate you. The fact people can see what you are saying and doing means that it can often cause arguments and conflict between people and groups of people.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1189143/Facebook-forced-lift-ban-theyd-imposed-breast-cancer-victims-sexual-abusive-mastectomy-scar-photos.html

This story is about  how a women had talked about how fight against breast cancer and had also uploaded photographs of her scar, but these photos were later removed as facebook claimed they were 'sexual and abusive'

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/.../Teacher-killed-boyfriend-post-naked-pictures-Facebook.html

This story is about how a teacher killed herself due to her boyfriend posting indecent photos of her on facebook.

Bebo

Bebo is another type of social networking site, it is a free easy way of communicating with people, and was set up in 2005. Sign up to Bebo is easy and only takes seconds, you have the chance to edit your profile saying about yourself and adding photos. Their are many similarites between Bebo and facebook like you can easily to talk to people by message, but it does not have an IM application on the page but you can link your windows messenger, aim and skype to your bebo page so that people can add you and talk via one of those services. On bebo you can create a timeline where you add pictures from each month adding comments about them and it creates your own personal timeline. Overall on bebo you can create your 'life story' using this timeline, talking about yourself, adding photos and lots more!

 Bebo is used in everyday life as a way of communication between people. Some people also

like using it everyday so they can update their profile as a sort of way of blogging. It is a very popular way to communicate and it because part of peoples daily lives as it is something they need to always check like you would your emails.

The picture above shows your profile and will talk you through how you can edit it and write about yourselves.
The picture on the right shows the 'timline' that can be created.

There are advantages and disadvantages to Bebo as with all sites. One of the main advantages is that it is great for socialising and it is a free way of communicating with friends and family all over the world. It is an easy site to use and there are many different applications to use including games, music, viewing people's sites. It is also an easy site to maintain and is a secure and safe site, which means you don't have to be worried about your information. The disadvantages of this site are that it can be quite slow, and sometimes things don't always work. Also people have said that sometimes strangers do add you to their friends lists without your permission, which can be quite scary. Some say that it is trying to turn into facebook but have more to do but at the moment it is found by some quite boring. Overall it seems like a good and interesting site to use and an easy way to communicate and share & view photos and profiles.

Social Networking

Social Networking. . . It's the way the 21st century communicates today.

Although social networking is possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most popular online. Social networking is used my the majority of people and there are many types of popular sites: 'facebook' 'myspace' 'bebo' and many more.

Early social networking communication began in 1994 and this began in the form of generalized online communities such as Theglobe.com.

Facebook

Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.

It was launched in 2004 and has more than 500 million active users which is about 1 person for every 14 in the world. It allows you to view other friends page, chat to them, write on their 'wall' and chat via IM on the website.

Entertainment

Entertainment

There are many different types of entertainment online and this keeps on growing as new things are being invented.

Radio has become very popular to listen to via the internet on your computer, you can use radio via itunes or online. If you type in 'radio stations' into google, a huge list of different stations will appear, once clicking on these you can then choose what station you want to listen to e.g. if you go on 'BBC Radio' then a list of there stations will appear.

Another good thing is that you can listen to blogs and podcasts aswell, including 'business daily' and 'radio 1 chart blog' which can also be accessed through your mobile phone due to the use of internet on mobile phones now. There is also BBC iplayer which allows you to listen to 'radio hightlights' and other songs/radio you may have missed or want to listen to again.

Aswell as BBC, there are many other radio sites 'Heart' 'Kiss' 'Classical' meaning there are different genres to suit everyone.

There is now the opportunity for people to watch tv online, live and repeates. This includes channels such as 'BBC iplayer' 'ITV' and 'Channel 4' all of which you can watch live tv on or programs you have missed and want to catch up on. On ITV player you can catch up with any programs shown in the last 30 days, this is a good advantage if you have been away on holiday and have missed a week of episodes, this website includes ITV 1, 2, 3 & 4.

BBC iPlayer allows you to watch the BBC channels, live and repeats. It shows you lists of the past 3 days programms and allows you to watch these.The advantages of this site is that it is easy and free to use, the sound and picture quality is good and it allows you to resume programmes. The disadvantages of this website is that it only allows you to watch the past 7 days worth of tv and some are not shown at all.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1234860/Popularity-online-radio-soars-UKs-adult-population-tunes-internet.html

The popularity of online radio is soaring with one third of the UK’s adult population listening to radio via the internet. 

YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. It is the most popular video sharing site and is used world wide by billions of people. Due to the range of videos and how popular it is you have more chance of finding the video you want. Youtube is an easy site to use which makes it available for everyone to use, you can make an account so that you can keep track on certain videos but it is not necessary if you do not use it often. It is free and easy to sign up and once you have that is then your private account where you can save certain videos. The good thing about youtube is the huge selection of videos, including tv shows from all genres including 'comedy' 'drama' 'sport' 'reality & game shows' and many more. Once you have chosen a certain video or clip to watch you will get a list of suggestions on the right hand side relevant to the clip you are watching. This is useful as you may want to watch other vidoes that are related to your search. It is very easy to upload videos to youtube and you can even do this straight from your mobile phones. There is also the option to share a certain video on youtube straight to your social networking site e.g. facebook, as a link so that your friends on facebook can view the video, they can also then comment on this post. Youtube has 4 main catagories: 'Music' 'Film' 'Videos' & 'Shows' which is why the site is so popular with a variety of people. If you set up your own account you have an 'inbox' where you can keep in contact with other people with an account, there is 'my favourties' which will be videos you have starred as your favourtie, 'My channel' which is your own profile on youtube. There is also the option to 'subscribe' to other peoples pages whose videos you like so when they upload a video it will let you know and give you the option to view it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-545794/Man-bailed-YouTube-happy-slapping-video-children-goaded-fighting.html

A man told two boys to fight and videod them as he told them to hit harder and to stop hugging like girls. One boy, the weaker of the two, was headbutted and kicked hard several times. The adult responsible for getting these two boys to do this was bailed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1039880/MPs-slam-YouTube-doing-protect-children-dark-internet.html

The video-sharing website YouTube is failing to do enough to protect children from the ‘dark side’ of the internet, MPs warn today.

Consoles such as 'PS3' 'Xbox' and 'Wii' have become very popular uses of internet entertainment recently. Playstations have been around for a long time but recently the PS3 has become more popular, and FIFA 10 has become a game many people challenge eachother to online via their consoles. There are many advantages to playing online, one of the main reasons being that you will always have someone to play against, as you aren't always with your friends. A main disadvantage can be the connection between the two players as the signal will not always be strong and sometimes the other player can pause the game and you don't know how long there going to be. With Wii you can also play people online and surf the web online, aswell as accessing other online games and entertainment. If you go online while using the Xbox you will have access to online games, films and music as well as playing against your friends and other people online, going online is fast free and easy to do.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3403605.stm

This story talks about how Multiplayer game worlds such as EverQuest and The Sims Online look set to generate more than $1bn for the first time in 2004.

http://search.bbc.co.uk/search?go=toolbar&q=multiplayer+gaming

The UK's biggest ever multiplayer game convention took place over Easter. It is now a yearly event, where all gamers can get together with eachother

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-368088/Gaming-world-mourns-girl-virtual-funeral.html

A girl died after playing online for 3 days in a row without a break. An online funeral was held for her, and hundred of gamers attended the virtual funeral.

'Love Film' is a website that allows you to order films that are sent to you, just like getting films from blockbuster, but you don't have to move. Sign up to the site is free and it is quick and easy to do, when signing up the site gives you a free 30 day trial which is a big advantage as you can see how good the service is and how it works. When ordering your DVD's, games and blu-ray will be sent first class post, so you can get them for the next day. Love Film offers britain's largest range of films and games - 67,000 titles and counting, which means you have a huge selection to choose from. On the homepage of the site it says there are '4 easy steps to online DVD rental' 1- Make a list of the films you want to watch, 2- we rush your discs straight to your door, 3- watch them for as long as you like, 4- return a disc to get your new one from your list. It shows how simple it will be for you to easily rent dvd without searching round the shop for the one you want, you can do it online. But although this site does sound very good there are many advantages and disadvantages, some of the advantages being you get a huge range of dics, rapid support and they are all competitvely priced. The disadvantages are sometimes damaged discs, lost discs and dodgey postal service, these disadvantages would give your concerns over paying money for something you may not even recieve, or that you could recieve faulty and have no proof that you have not damaged the disc.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1179936/Nights-home-Lovefilm-com-boss.html

This article talks about how more people are now buying films from lovefilm.com due to wanting more nights in and less nights out. The number of its customers soared by nearly 20 per cent in the first three months of the year to 1.2 million, which shows that it is a popular and good service and it is giving people what they want.

The internet has now made true mulit-player gaming possible, it is now possible to play strategy, adventure, and card games against real players. This is possible without the use of a games console, just through your pc. This includes games such as racing cars, having fights, playing football, all which are very realistic because they are graphics based, and because of higher speed connections and faster computers. There are also virtual games online now such as 'baby dow' where you look after your own baby online, and there are others where you can have pets, and virtual lives online. Baby dow is free and easy to set up, it allows you to create you baby, saying its name, gender, skin colour, hair colour & eye colour, once you have done this you sign up which takes a few seconds. Then you can just monitor your baby online and watch and help him/her grow. Sites like this are good as they allow you to enter virtual worlds and make believe lives online.

Entertainment

Entertainment

There are many different types of entertainment online and this keeps on growing as new things are being invented.

Radio has become very popular to listen to via the internet on your computer, you can use radio via itunes or online. If you type in 'radio stations' into google, a huge list of different stations will appear, once clicking on these you can then choose what station you want to listen to e.g. if you go on 'BBC Radio' then a list of there stations will appear.

Another good thing is that you can listen to blogs and podcasts aswell, including 'business daily' and 'radio 1 chart blog' which can also be accessed through your mobile phone due to the use of internet on mobile phones now. There is also BBC iplayer which allows you to listen to 'radio hightlights' and other songs/radio you may have missed or want to listen to again.

Aswell as BBC, there are many other radio sites 'Heart' 'Kiss' 'Classical' meaning there are different genres to suit everyone.

There is now the opportunity for people to watch tv online, live and repeates. This includes channels such as 'BBC iplayer' 'ITV' and 'Channel 4' all of which you can watch live tv on or programs you have missed and want to catch up on. On ITV player you can catch up with any programs shown in the last 30 days, this is a good advantage if you have been away on holiday and have missed a week of episodes, this website includes ITV 1, 2, 3 & 4.

BBC iPlayer allows you to watch the BBC channels, live and repeats. It shows you lists of the past 3 days programms and allows you to watch these.The advantages of this site is that it is easy and free to use, the sound and picture quality is good and it allows you to resume programmes. The disadvantages of this website is that it only allows you to watch the past 7 days worth of tv and some are not shown at all.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1234860/Popularity-online-radio-soars-UKs-adult-population-tunes-internet.html

The popularity of online radio is soaring with one third of the UK’s adult population listening to radio via the internet. 

YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. It is the most popular video sharing site and is used world wide by billions of people. Due to the range of videos and how popular it is you have more chance of finding the video you want. Youtube is an easy site to use which makes it available for everyone to use, you can make an account so that you can keep track on certain videos but it is not necessary if you do not use it often. It is free and easy to sign up and once you have that is then your private account where you can save certain videos. The good thing about youtube is the huge selection of videos, including tv shows from all genres including 'comedy' 'drama' 'sport' 'reality & game shows' and many more. Once you have chosen a certain video or clip to watch you will get a list of suggestions on the right hand side relevant to the clip you are watching. This is useful as you may want to watch other vidoes that are related to your search. It is very easy to upload videos to youtube and you can even do this straight from your mobile phones. There is also the option to share a certain video on youtube straight to your social networking site e.g. facebook, as a link so that your friends on facebook can view the video, they can also then comment on this post. Youtube has 4 main catagories: 'Music' 'Film' 'Videos' & 'Shows' which is why the site is so popular with a variety of people. If you set up your own account you have an 'inbox' where you can keep in contact with other people with an account, there is 'my favourties' which will be videos you have starred as your favourtie, 'My channel' which is your own profile on youtube. There is also the option to 'subscribe' to other peoples pages whose videos you like so when they upload a video it will let you know and give you the option to view it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-545794/Man-bailed-YouTube-happy-slapping-video-children-goaded-fighting.html

A man told two boys to fight and videod them as he told them to hit harder and to stop hugging like girls. One boy, the weaker of the two, was headbutted and kicked hard several times. The adult responsible for getting these two boys to do this was bailed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1039880/MPs-slam-YouTube-doing-protect-children-dark-internet.html

The video-sharing website YouTube is failing to do enough to protect children from the ‘dark side’ of the internet, MPs warn today.

 

Consoles such as 'PS3' 'Xbox' and 'Wii' have become very popular uses of internet entertainment recently. Playstations have been around for a long time but recently the PS3 has become more popular, and FIFA 10 has become a game many people challenge eachother to online via their consoles. There are many advantages to playing online, one of the main reasons being that you will always have someone to play against, as you aren't always with your friends. A main disadvantage can be the connection between the two players as the signal will not always be strong and sometimes the other player can pause the game and you don't know how long there going to be. With Wii you can also play people online and surf the web online, aswell as accessing other online games and entertainment. If you go online while using the Xbox you will have access to online games, films and music as well as playing against your friends and other people online, going online is fast free and easy to do.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3403605.stm

This story talks about how Multiplayer game worlds such as EverQuest and The Sims Online look set to generate more than $1bn for the first time in 2004.

http://search.bbc.co.uk/search?go=toolbar&q=multiplayer+gaming

The UK's biggest ever multiplayer game convention took place over Easter. It is now a yearly event, where all gamers can get together with eachother

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-368088/Gaming-world-mourns-girl-virtual-funeral.html

A girl died after playing online for 3 days in a row without a break. An online funeral was held for her, and hundred of gamers attended the virtual funeral.

'Love Film' is a website that allows you to order films that are sent to you, just like getting films from blockbuster, but you don't have to move. Sign up to the site is free and it is quick and easy to do, when signing up the site gives you a free 30 day trial which is a big advantage as you can see how good the service is and how it works. When ordering your DVD's, games and blu-ray will be sent first class post, so you can get them for the next day. Love Film offers britain's largest range of films and games - 67,000 titles and counting, which means you have a huge selection to choose from. On the homepage of the site it says there are '4 easy steps to online DVD rental' 1- Make a list of the films you want to watch, 2- we rush your discs straight to your door, 3- watch them for as long as you like, 4- return a disc to get your new one from your list. It shows how simple it will be for you to easily rent dvd without searching round the shop for the one you want, you can do it online. But although this site does sound very good there are many advantages and disadvantages, some of the advantages being you get a huge range of dics, rapid support and they are all competitvely priced. The disadvantages are sometimes damaged discs, lost discs and dodgey postal service, these disadvantages would give your concerns over paying money for something you may not even recieve, or that you could recieve faulty and have no proof that you have not damaged the disc.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1179936/Nights-home-Lovefilm-com-boss.html

This article talks about how more people are now buying films from lovefilm.com due to wanting more nights in and less nights out. The number of its customers soared by nearly 20 per cent in the first three months of the year to 1.2 million, which shows that it is a popular and good service and it is giving people what they want.

The internet has now made true mulit-player gaming possible, it is now possible to play strategy, adventure, and card games against real players. This is possible without the use of a games console, just through your pc. This includes games such as racing cars, having fights, playing football, all which are very realistic because they are graphics based, and because of higher speed connections and faster computers. There are also virtual games online now such as 'baby dow' where you look after your own baby online, and there are others where you can have pets, and virtual lives online. Baby dow is free and easy to set up, it allows you to create you baby, saying its name, gender, skin colour, hair colour & eye colour, once you have done this you sign up which takes a few seconds. Then you can just monitor your baby online and watch and help him/her grow. Sites like this are good as they allow you to enter virtual worlds and make believe lives online.

topics

The topics i'm doing are:
-Entertainment
-Online education
-Blogs
-Email
-Social networking

thursdays work

Email - 'Electronic mail'

is a method of exchanging digital messages across the Internet or other computer networks' - Wikipedia



2 Email Services:



Gmail priority inbox:

'Gmail is a free, advertising-supported webmail, POP3, and IMAP service provided by Google'- Wikipedia

Gmail is good because it finds the important messages and sorts them in order of priority for you. It does this by looking at the emails you read quickly when first logging into your emails and also looks at the emails you reply to, these are then put at the top of your email list when they are recieved. This is useful to the majority of people as it saves a lot of time and is much easier. The main aim of Gmail is to make people enjoy using email and to make it stress free by sorting the emails for you.

It has one of the best spam filters on the internet, which is very important as it wastes less of their time and deletes the files that could cause harm to the computer. There is a 'star feature' which means that if there is an email that you want to read again you can put a star on it and then it is put in a special folder, meaning you can go back and view it at any time.

The gmail filters allows you to say which emails are most important to use, as they are recieved a star will automatically be put on this email and it will be placed in a special folder, making it easy for you to straight away find it.

You can also manually say if an email is important or not so that if they have chosen the rong order of priority this will be changed. This type of system works effectively over time, so the more you use it the better it gets and sorting your mail.



Windows live hotmail:

is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group-

Wikipedia

Hotmail is UK's most popular email service ('Comscore September 2009'), due to the fact it is free, easy & safe to communicate over the internet. Hotmail has 'ever growing storage' this means that you start of with 5 GB of space but as you get more emails and your inbox and sent box become full your storage space expands with you. This is a useful feature to has as it means you dont have to constantly be going through sorting out messages to delete, as you can keep them all. You can now 'instant message from your inbox' meaning that when in your hotmail just log into your windows live account and see who is availavle to instant message, this is just an easier option than having a conversation via emails.

A new thing that hotmail offers is the application to have hotmail on your mobile so that you can read your emails on the go, this is a good feature to have for business people, and busy people who don't have time to sit on the computer.

A good reason to use it is the fact it has a 'personal spam bodyguard' this means that it filters your emails and puts all the spam and junkmail into a seperate folder, stopping you from having to search through unwanted emails and from getting virus's.



Benefits and problems of email:



Benefits of email:

-It is easy to use and it helps us to manage our contacts, send mails quickly, maintain our mail history, store the required information, etc.

-Speed: The e-mail is delivered instantly, anywhere across the globe. This means it is easy to communicate with friends & family all of the work and get quick replies. There is no other service that matches the speed of email

-Easy to prioritize: Since spam blokers and filters on email systems it has become easy to prioritize them and ignore unwanted mails

-Reliable & secure: As more things are being done to improve the security of emailing it means it is becoming a safe way of communicating

-Advertising tool: Many individuals and companies are using e-mails to advertise their products, services, etc.



Problems of email:

-Viruses: These are computer programs having the potential to harm a computer system. Ones you open certain emails there is the potential for your computer date and software to be harmed.

-Spam: E-mails when used to send unsolicited messages and unwanted advertisements create nuisance and is termed as Spam. This becomes annoying to recieve as it takes time to delete these emails and so it has become necessary to block or filter the unwanted e-mails by means of spam filters

-Hacking: The act of breaking into computer security is termed as hacking. After the e-mail is sent and before it is received by the desired recipient, it "bounces" between servers located in different parts of the world. Hence, the e-mail can be hacked by a professional hacker. This becomes a problem when someone else can access your personal files & information

-Crowded inbox: Over a period of time, the e-mail inbox may get crowded with mails. It becomes difficult for the user to manage such a huge chunk of mails.



News stories concerning 'emails':



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1279396/Jealous-barrister-Aisha-Bijlani-lost-33m-race-claim-sent-alarming-abusive-emails-ex-lover-model-girlfriend.html

A barrister who referred to herself as the sent abusive emails to her former lover after he started dating a German model





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1171350/Cyberstalker-threatened-rape-ITV-newsreader-weather-girl-jailed.html

A 'cyberstalker' who terrorised a newsreader and TV weathergirl with sick emails including threats to rape them was today jailed for four years.

Twitter

'Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service, owned and operated by Twitter Inc., that enables its users to send and read other users' messages called tweets' - Wikipedia

Twitter allows you to do many different things including 'following' recieving and sending 'tweets' and generally keeping in touch with friends all over the world easily and for free.

It is a free site and very easy to set up it takes only a few seconds, by going to twitter and clicking on 'sign up' you fill in a few simple details including: 'name' 'username' 'email address' and 'password' and then your done and a member of twitter.

The tweets are text based and can contain up to 140 characters, as where originally designed for use on phones. The concept of 'following' is that you can subscribe or invite other people on twitter and then there page will appear on your list and it is easy to see what several people are doing at once. It isn't only friends you can follow either it is anything from your best friend to your favourite celebrity.

All 'tweets' posted on twitter can be viewed unless senders restrict message delivery to their friend list, but this does mean most things you post are not private.

As with any site there are both pros and cons: A big advantage of twitter is that it is easy to navigate & update, link to and promote anything, which makes it suitable for anyone to use. Good communication settings and icons means that rapid response is available making the process of talking to friends easy and stress free. The fact that it is a worldwide site means you can talk to people all over the world and keep in contact with friends you meet on holiday or ones that have moved, or even just reach beyond your inner circle of friends. Another good thing is that it is easy to find friends and also people that you may know that have been recommended to you.

There are few disadvantages to twitter, the main one being that there is limited functionality, as you can simply: find people, send brief messages, direct replies, which after a while becomes a waste of time if done too often. Also the fact that there is a limit of 140 characters per update limits some people on what they want to say.

I think it is clear that overall twitter is a good site to use and it's easy, the fact you can see what celebrites and famous people are doing makes many people enjoy using it. It isn't really a private way of communicating with friends but it is a fun, easy & free way to.

Twitter does often appear in the press for many reasons, especially for famous people saying abusive or disrespectful things on their post which are then picked up on before they have time to delete them. Also many stars use the site to promote themselves or to defend themselves.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1276739/Twitter-hacked-Glitch-leaves-celebrities-zero-followers.html

In this story it explains how it discovered that there was a techincal flaw which allowed any twitter user to force another to subscribe to their ‘tweets’ without the ‘follower’ giving permission, which meant thousands of stars found themselves following complete strangers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1156136/Children-exposed-pornography-prostitution-drugs-Twitter.html

This story shows the problems twitter finds due to the fact it has no way of monitoring the age of users or what they are viewing. The failure of this security system means that children signing up for twitter can receive advertisements and messages from pornographic websites and escort services.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/election/article-1269847/Election-2010-Labour-candidate-reported-police-putting-postal-vote-results-Twitter.html

In this news article it explains how a labour candidate is facing a police inquiry after she revealed the results of a sample of postal ballots one week before the General Election.