I-pod Cheaters

Come on....we all saw it coming. Cheating has evolved over the years. People have used cheat sheets, written answers on the brim of their caps, programmed formulas into graphing calculators. Cheating is always around and there will always be new and innovative ways to do it. So what's the newest?



IPODS!

Yes students have begun using Apple's most famous product and putting answers or formulas into it's memory. Many U.S. schools have begun to ban Ipods and other MP3 players because of the problems that have occurred.

Schools across America are targeting iPods and other digital media players as the latest way in which pupils are cheating in exams.

The increasingly tiny devices can be hidden under clothing, with just an earbud and a wire snaking behind the ear and into a shirt collar to give them away, said officials.

Some students are using iPod-compatible voice recorders to tape exam answers in advance, hide them in the machine's "lyrics" text files, and then secretly play them back.



Source: US Schools pull plug on Ipod


Well you can ban a way to cheat.....but you won't end cheating. Students will find another way and another way and another way. It's the same thing that's happened in the past. I just found it funny.



Speaking of technological problems.....for some reason whenever I post on this laptop the blog says I post at 9:42 a.m. Weird.....but that's life.

Play Money Review

Well I can honestly say that the book "Play Money" by Julian Dibbell was my favorite of the course. I've long been aware of the world of MMORPG's because a ton of my friends play World of Warcraft or Everquest. Personally I never got into it because I didn't see the point in paying MONTHLY for a video game. Either way I never really knew about the intricacies of this world and how so many people can use it for financial gain.

It was really interesting seeing Dibbell start out as a noob in the world he really knew nothing about. He starts off just as a journalist trying to learn more but slowly he gets addicted. At first it's purely gaming. He enjoys leveling up and fighting monsters. Soon enough though....he's getting into the world of money making. He meets a few people who help him out and get him started. Teach him the basics. Show him the ropes. That helps greatly and eventually Dibbell becomes somewhat of an important guy. He's got big towers, nice houses, a steady income.....but it's all virtual.

That's one thing that really got me interested in the book. I thought it would be boring but following his character and hearing his thoughts throughout really made for a cool read. Him having a blog was a smart move and really helped his claim that this was all an experiment.

It was funny reading about "Radny" the kid who began to live in Dibbell's virtual home. I liked reading about the parts where Radny was asking the adult Dibbell on advice or bothering him with other childlike things.

Basically the book felt like I was just learning about a player and the world of gaming. It didn't really have many slow parts. It was eye-opening to learn about the people who use bots and cheat to get ahead. That really bothered me. I was also a little confused as to why people would just buy whole characters rather than start from new and build them up - isn't that the point of the game?


Anyway....good read. I'm glad we were assigned it.

Hawking in Space?

COSMOLOGIST Stephen Hawking soared into weightlessness today on a zero gravity flight that allowed the leading expert on gravity to briefly escape from his wheelchair.



"It was amazing ... I could have gone on and on," Hawking, 65, said after riding for two hours on a modified jet that flew a rollercoaster trajectory to create the impression of microgravity.

"Space, here I come" he said at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The British professor, who has spent most of his career studying black holes and gravity, hopes the flight will be a prelude to a 2009 voyage into space.



Source: Hawking Escapes Gravity


All I can say is WOW. That's awesome. Dr. Stephen Hawking is among the smartest men alive and many people know his contributions to the study of space. He's been famous for quite some time. One thing to note though, is that he is almost entirely paralyzed and has to use a computer in order to speak to others. This fact has pushed Hawking to want to venture into outer space. This trip that he's just gone on is seen as the first step to an eventual trip to outer space.

Going so fast that he was able to get about four minutes of no gravity really lifted Dr. Hawking spirits and has made him excited about the possibility of venturing into the stars that he has only talked and theorized about. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Video Project

Well the project is still in the process of being finished. We were assigned with the task of making a 3 minute video on just about anything related with technology. Our group (Jessica, Jessica, Steve, Andy, and I) chose to make it about the advancements in technology from the original inventions. Our ideas came from the advances in telephones from old ones to the current cell phones that are like mini computers. We also mention computers, video games, and televisions and the advances that have been made in all of those areas.

It was a cool idea and I'm hoping the project turns out great. We are editing and plan on having it done soon. It's a good thing that I have experience with the type of software used for editing and also camera work because nobody else in my group really knew what to do. Overall the project was a fun experience and we'll probably dicuss it in our last podcast.

Lonely Gaming

I always find it weird when I see a hardcore gamer get lost in the virtual world. I've tried talking to my friends when they are in the "zone" and they just completely ignore me. Focused so intently on their game they don't even realize the world around them. So I couldn't help but wonder just what Julian Dibbell looked like during his 3 week vacation from reality. On pg. 145 of "Play Money" he writes:

Yesterday I put my wife and two-year-old daughter on a plane and watched them fly awawy for what will be three weeks apart. I haven't had real solitude like this in a while, and I like my solitude in general, but to my surprise this has so far been as much fun as a puch in the gut.

It's weird that he would have the opposite effect and actually miss his companions rather than dive right into the game. Eventually he gets into some hardcore gaming and has a goal to reach before his family returns - gain $1000 (or the equivalent of it in gold pieces). That's a hefty goal for a three week rush but in the end he just reaches his goal. Of course.....afterwards he's more intent on gaining more income.......and the addiction grows.

The Gold Farmers

Julian Dibbell has written a very interesting book about the world of online gaming. Specifically MMORPG's and his ability to make money out of playing them. I had encountered people selling "virtual goods" online in high school. A student in one of my classes told me about how he was selling stuff on Ebay for the game Diablo II. It interested me because I couldn't believe someone would pay real money for a sheild or sword for their video game character.

Now I get to learn about the ins and outs of the business. Dibbell starts off by selling maps that show where to mine gold in a game he begins to play. He says he starts the game to do more research into the mind of gamers....but then he quickly gets addicted. He wants the pride and the honor of being looked up to in a video game. So when he starts talking to Bob Kiblinger....a pro at the game.....his luck starts to change.

I liked how friendly some people were to him. They weren't mean and were able to help him learn the game and what sells and what doesn't. The thing that gets me though.....is the fact that Bob was using programs to run the game as many different characters. He wasn't controlling some of these characters and was essentially cheating in the game.

Should he really be able to make money like that? I disagree with it......but we'll see what happens in the future.

Religion in Second Life

Seeing as Passover has started and Easter is right on it's way I figured i'd post up a little news about Second Life that I read the other day. Now I can't believe this is happening.....but it's just one example of how Second Life is starting to become more and more of a social place like the Metaverse (from Snow Crash).

So what's been going on in Second Life? Here's a brief summary from the article:



In the real world, Palm Sunday began the Christian holy week that leads believers into the Easter story of salvation through Christ. Monday night, Jews celebrate Passover's ceremonial Seder meal, retelling the story of God freeing the Israelites from bondage in Egypt.

Meanwhile, in Second Life, avatars (animated characters that serve as users' "in-world" identities) will join in online prayer and praise.

Wherever the human imagination goes, so goes the spirit. Second Life is now also opening windows on religious and spiritual expression. Theologians and philosophers may debate the authenticity of religious life online, but out on the Internet faith frontier, believers are too busy to listen.

This week, Second Life will feature Easter events and Passover celebrations, as well as the usual meditation meet-ups, Muslim prayers and legions of gatherings for spiritual freelancers.

To me that's pretty interesting. I can't believe people would celebrate a religious holiday online with internet buddies or pray in a digital mosque.....but it's happening. Soon people will be spending all of their time on Second Life and be focusing more on that than the real world. I hope it doesn't happen soon.




source: USA Today article

Would anybody reading this try praying online?

Adult Proof Ring Tones?

It's true. Many students across the world are downloading and using a new ring tone that is so high - pitched that most adults can't hear it. Apparently I can't even hear it. I tried. It's pretty weird to think that there is something out there that only a portion of us can hear. The article I read about this new technology said that as people age they lose the ability to hear certain frequencies.

I think that this will just bring problems, as students are using it to hide the cell phone calls and text messages in classrooms. If you're interested at all check out this news story

A New Ringtone Teachers Can't Hear


It's pretty amazing to me.

Viacom .vs. Google - The Easy Explanation

So apparently Viacom (among others) are suing Google and Youtube for the copyrighted videos that have appeared on the site. Here's a video from the Daily Show where a pretty funny guy, Demetri Martin.....explains the case.





I found that video to be funny...dunno if anyone else did. It's dumb to sue Google/Youtube for the copyrighted videos in my opinion. Youtube has complied by taking off any copyrighted material when there is a complaint....it's just that more and more people post up the videos so it's hard to keep track of it all. The companies should embrace youtube and the technology and work with it. NBC.com streams their t.v. shows and offers special clips and previews on Youtube. It seems like Viacom is just looking to cash in on Google's income. I mean....how much money do they lose when a t.v. show is aired online?

Wikipedia in Trouble

I found this article kind of funny. It just goes to show that Wikipedia really shouldn't be a trusted source for information. Sure, a good amount of the facts are credited legitimately....but according to this news article one of the top Wikipedia contributors who was believed to be a college professor turned out to be a 24 year old college dropout.

You can read the article here.

I love how he got this far without being found out. I know I won't be using Wikipedia for papers anytime soon.

The Deliverator and The Pizza Mafia

Getting through the book "Snow Crash" is turning out to be a lot easier than I had anticipated. After the first few pages it gets a lot easier to understand and has turned out to be really interesting. I wonder if life will eventually be like the author describes. The "Metaverse" sounds really interesting and the way that we are advancing I can definitely see something similar to it being created. It's just like the internet but actually being able to walk around in it. That kind of reminds me of an episode of Futurama where the internet is very much like the Metaverse. People can walk around and actually visit a bunch of different places. Instead of writing the codes themselves, however, it's all there ready to be viewed.



That's for all you people who don't know what i'm talking about. Anyway the book is getting interesting and i'm wondering what's going to happen with Y.T. in the book. She's in jail the last time I read about her.

Facespace

Myspace and Facebook are creating a whole new generation of computer users. These networking sites have already made a whole online community full of people that can stay in contact or just make friends over the internet. Personally I never got into the whole Myspace craze. Plenty of my friends have got accounts and are on it everyday, but I never really saw the point. I did sign up on facebook as a freshman because it was a good way to get to know people or just find out information about events, but that was back when facebook was only for college students. They've since opened the doors to the public so now it's just another peer network that anyone can join.
There are positives and negatives of this transition. On one hand, they are probably trying to be more like Myspace because of the popularity that has grown out of the site. The creators of myspace recently sold the rights for a butt-load of cash and I can understand that Facebook creators might want to get in on that action. When you get to thinking about the potential dangers of allowing anyone and everyone to have contact with young adults and teenagers then you start to see a negative aspect of these online communities.Anyway, i'll be doing a NeoVox article on these sites in the near future and i'll try to cover most of the issues.

Crashing in the Snow

What an appropriate time to begin reading the book Snow Crash. I'm glad we got the day off from school (SUNY Cortland finally canceled classes!) so I could get a jump start on the reading. Like i've heard from some people...it was a little confusing at first but I enjoyed it. It's pretty cool reading about "The Deliverator" and all his tools and environments. They also make some pretty cool notes about life in America in the future. I'm still trying to get a hold of it all....there were so many things being introduced like the mafia. I really thought it was clever to have the mafia using all different types of technology in this representation of the future. It seems to make sense to me.

I'm really looking forward to getting further in....it seems interesting so far. Hopefully it gets a little easier to understand as I go.

The End of Smart Mobs

No....I'm not talking about smart mobs ceasing to exist. Instead i'm referring to finishing the book "Smart Mobs" by Howard Rheingold. It turned out to be very interesting and i'm surprised how easy the reading went. It was cool to learn all about the different types of technology and how close we are to some really revolutionary stuff. Innovations that stick out in my mind are the attentive billboards and e-squirting devices that were discussed in one of the chapters.

The idea of a billboard knowing who is next in line and getting an item or type or merchandise that they'd possibly interested in ready to advertise is amazing. I've been thinking a lot about that....just how close we are to the future. It's like something out of the movie Minority Report. Anyway the whole digital culture could really benefit from things like e-squirting. Just imagine when whole cities are digital and you can connect with anything in the area. It boggles my mind.

That said.....i'm really looking forward to our next book. It should be a nice change of pace reading a science fiction book. As much as I enjoyed Smart Mobs.....I think i'll like Snow Crash. It sounds pretty interesting from what i've read about it. Better get started on that.

Digital Polaroids?

In two different classes this semester i've learned about a new type of technology that has amazed me. A new type of digital camera that is also a printer. It's like the old polaroids that would spit out the picture and you'd have to shake and blow on it to get it to develop. With this new technology we'll see special paper that has color crystals on it and the camera just instructs what colors to show.......or something like that. Either way, it's pretty interesting and I thought i'd share it. Check it out.

You can find more info here:

http://www.phonemag.com/index.php/weblog/read_more/20070204zink_imaging_unveils_zero_ink_printing_technology_at_demo_07/

Stupid Lars Ulrich

When I read through the third chapter of Rheingold's book "Smart Mobs" it was like I was travelling back in time. I remember a few years ago sitting in front of my computer and downloading song after song after song. Napster was huge and everyone (or at least I thought) knew about it. I can't recall exactly how I found out about it....but I definitely remember when all the debate and controversey began.

Peer to Peer networks are a good thing, in my opinion at least. They allowed me to discover new music and find out how a band sounds before buying the CD. I understand why most people would be against these programs....but that doesn't change my view of the topic. When Rheingold talks about "killer apps" I completely agree that Napster WAS the killer app for p2p software. It was the number one. Napster was a household name.

They (Lars Ulrich & others) complained enough to get the courts to make Napster change and become a pay service with limited songs.....instead of free and limitless. After Napster was being forgotten about, multiple similar programs began to takeover. Morpheus, Kazaa, BearShare. They all had unique names but all had the same purpose. To allow people to share. With every technology there are problems.....but Napster was something that should have stayed free.

Technologies of Cooperation

This chapter (ch. 2) was actually more interesting then I anticipated. I enjoyed learning about game theory (a word which i've heard before but never knew what it actually was). The different games that were created after WWII were cool and I never knew that the game of "chicken" was actually something that had been discussed by some top scientists and theorists. It's amazing to learn how some people act and react in certain siutations.

Prisoner's dilemma was something that stood out most to me. I've seen plenty of cop movies and television shows to understand the concept. Police separate two alleged criminals and try to get one to turn on the other by offering prizes or threatening punishment. It really makes for some good entertainment....but I never thought that it would apply to technology in any way.

There was also talk about social networks.....which were very popular in the early internet days. Now it's starting to make a comeback (in a way) with Facebook and Myspace. Social networks like these that allow people to connect, chat, interact, and keep in touch are becoming more and more popular with time. It's something that we should keep an eye on for the future

The Learning Begins

After getting through the first few chapters of the reading...it's easy to see that I will be learning a lot more then I originally envisioned. The first chapter of the book "Smart Mobs" focuses on mobile phones and the popularity it's been recieving in countries outside of the United States. It's amazing to find out that there is a whole culture out there who use text messaging in a totally different way then we do in America. It's almost like we take the technology for granted.

I guess it makes sense that mobile phone use in other countries is much higher and has some different innovative uses. I didn't think about it before, but when Reinghold explains how in certain countries it's not as common to have a computer in your home as it is in America. There are other factors such as privacy from parents or wanting to fit in with your friends, but I never considered using a phone as much as I use my computer.

Maybe it's because I don't have a great phone and my attempts at surfing the web with it haven't been greatly succesful, but it amazes me how big a thing like text messaging (or SMS as it's called in other countries) can really get. It brings up the question of whether this technology is hurting or helping social interactions. Some may say that it is an easy way to communicate and that they ARE being social when they are just typing words into a mobile phone. It's easy to see how involved the people who are part of the "thumb tribes" in their practice when the author states that when introduced to certain people, they raise their head for a quick second to be polite and then just dive right back into their mobile phone world.

What intrigued me the most about the chapter titled "Shibuya Epiphany" was the topic of internet/cyber villages. A completely connected community that could help make things much easier in the future (at least in the field of communication). While we may be a little while away from that type of technological leap...it's an interesting idea and will play a big role in the future.

That's it for now....i'll be back to post responses to other parts of this chapter as well as the next one.

Introducing.....Me

I'll use this time to post my introduction for the blog. My name is Sean and i'm a junior at SUNY Cortland. The blog is part of Professor Reid's class , "Writing in Cyberspace". I've never used any type of blog in the past so this is all a learning experience for me. This won't be the first time i've seen my writing on the web, but it's the first time that i'm doing it for a class.

I'm a New Communications Media major with a minor in Computer Applications. Also, i'm interested in becoming a better writer so this class seemed like a natural fit. My advisor suggested it and I was interested from the get go. I'm still a little unsure of just exactly what I need to post when & where......but i'll get used to it soon. This class should be fun.

First post

Just posting a sample to test it out. Seems pretty simple. I need to go buy the books for this class, so i'll do that.