“To succeed in the digital realm, Hollywood needs to offer total convenience, almost infinite choice, and the freedom to watch any way we want. Instead, we have iTunes, which delivers video you can’t watch on any portable device that wasn’t made by Apple, and Amazon Unbox and Netflix’s Watch Instantly, which feature downloads you can’t watch on any device that was made by Apple. And with a mere 1,000 downloadable movies for rent on iTunes, fewer than 5,000 on Amazon, and around 6,000 on Netflix, none of them offers anything close to the 90,000 DVDs available by mail. They can’t, because Hollywood is determined to protect DVD sales at the expense of electronic downloads. That needs to be fixed — because if people don’t find what they want at online storefronts, pirate copies are just a click away. …The way to stop piracy is to make everything available — easily, legally, and at a fair price.”

He comments that while the music industry missed out on a lot of opportunities, the television and movie industries still have a chance! Rose is right when he says that these companies need to stop spending money to sue their customers and realize the digital trend in front of them. If they neglect to realize it, soon they will lose complete control.

Yet what I have recently realized is the shear control Apple has gained on us by taking advantage of the digital entertainment market that many other companies missed out on. Offering the most music on the web, where else do we really have to turn? In addition, most of us have apple ipods in our pockets and purses that easily are compatible with the itunes store conveniently located in our itunes music organizing and playing software necessary to run our ipods. By buying into this apple trend, the company has gained an almost monopoly over us. Even products of other companies have noticed this trend and actually created their products around the apple ipod…including new televisions with ipod hookups, Bose ipod speakers and Coach cases!

Then there is the control the itunes store has over us. As a large company they’ve begun to exploit their power of labeling some songs as “album only downloads.” Just the other day I was disappointed and angered that Carrie Underwood’s new country song “Ever Ever After” was not available as a single download, instead in order to get the song I would have to purchase the $9 Disney movie Enchantedsoundtrack. …not exactly what I had in mind. And in fact instead of downloading the album, itunes lost my dollar as I found alternate ways to retrieve the song. So just as Rose said, if technology does not provide an easy way to achieve what we want, we will find our own illegal way.

But back to my first point. If the television and movie industries don’t quickly find a way to meet the convenience wants of consumers, illegal activity will only grow stronger.

Yet with all of these bells and whistles one has to wonder if they will stick. First of all the television market is a tough one. With their high price tag and durability, only 25% of American households own a flat-panel HDtv. Many consumers only seek to buy a new television as the old one finally wears out–we have a television in our house that is still working after 20 years. So I doubt that these new ideas will really improve the television market.

Additionally these new televisions are beginning to resemble computers more and more…and i don’t think consumers want that option from their tvs. (While the opposite is true for computers, especially with the new ”Windows Media Center.”) Yet i doubt people are ready for the complexity necessary to enjoy the benefits of a computer inside their family room television. One giant reason: most of the time people like privacy on their computers–whether they’re facebooking, instant messaging or online shopping, consumers don’t want anyone in the room to easily catch a glimpse of their internet activity. After-all how many teenagers would carry on an AIM conversation in the convenience of their family room on a large screen television with mom on the couch? With our current idea of a television’s function, we are not ready to have a computer inside it as well.

In conclusion… my personal opinion: tough luck Panasonic, I don’t think these trends will catch on…

This loss in credibility spans simply from school research projects to journalism articles, and all the way to evidence in court trials. From a student’s viewpoint, in addition to verifying the accuracy and credibility of information retrieved on the web, pictures must also be evaluated as well. In a world where news is immediately available as its happening through informal journalists in their blogs and profiles, image credibility should certainly be considered. Yet photo-tampering can have serious and permanent effects in the court room. As explained in the article, even without photoshopping, simply printers can change the color of a picture and reduce its “honesty.” Such imperfections could include a darker spot which could appear to be a gun upon inspection.

How do we solve this problem? First: Spread the word. If, like the inaccuracy of information on the web, photo credibility is communicated to the public, we can arm our world with the tools and expertise necessary to more accurately judge the photos found on the web. Second: taking advantage of the unique imperfections found in each camera. Like a gun, according to Jesdanun’s article, “all cameras have tiny flaws…like a defective pixel is always dark…[thus] seeing that pixel light up would suggest an alternation.” This forensic approach should be more widely communicated and exploited to help in criminal cases etc.

Well as the saying goes “answers only lead to more questions.” Looks like technology proved this fact once again!

The power associated with research with social networking sites such as Facebook has recently been criticized as invasion of privacy, which brings up more questions about companies such as Social Sample Inc. who use this information users voluntarily provide online to help companies better market their products.

I disagree that this is an invasion of privacy. Companies would be allowed to collect market research through overheard conversations in the park, so why not open blogs and social networking profiles? If users would not like their opinions used, then they should carefully evaluate which websites they use and the privacy associated with each site. …After-all, if you are using a free social networking or blogging site, how can you really expect for your information to be kept entirely private?

It is amazing the new types of information and opportunities that have become available to the science and business world through online user content. It is advantageous to companies and society for individuals to use that information and turn it into new knowledge they can use towards their advantage!

 Now I think this really is a great idea–a database housing all of our medical records could make emergency treatment a lot easier. It would also help hospitals improve efficiency and accuracy when diagnosing problems. But I don’t believe that Google is the giant we want to grant our trust to. How about a government department sponsored website or though your own hospital? Yet there will always be that voice in the back of our minds that reminds us that we can’t trust everyone.

This is a scary reality in a time where hacking and identity theft has become a scary everyday phenomenon. I am afraid that while providing more information online makes day-to-day life easier, it also is opening us up to serious vulnerability. In the end, we have to decide what we’re willing to risk..

But I must admit, I am getting tired of just popular shows available online. I am ready for a cable television network to embark on the Internet. Finally, with just one easy fee, you would be able to watch all of the Bravo, HBO and other premium television shows you want, anywhere you want. This monthly payment would be much more effective and cost efficient for users like me who want to catch the recent episode of Bravo’s project runway while away from home, but are too lazy to pay for the download on a server like itunes.

We can subscribe to online magazines, newspapers, radio…why not television?

Yet with this recent step by NBC to begin to stream older television shows, its becoming clear that my dream may soon become a reality..

I’m surprised that he is the first candidate to really excel at online advertising and promotion. Moreover, to improve the effectiveness of his campaigns his staff should hire a committee to track what the Burson Marsteller Company, calls “e-fluentials.” These are individuals who frequently use the Internet and effect posted content. With the Internet facilitating world-to-mouth advertising, capitalizing on these “e-fluentials” is key. Tracking the various age groups of these users we can determine how to most effectively target and promote any idea.

After-all the Internet is home to a wealth of information, its about time we begin to utilize its advertising potential. But the key to effective online advertising is to understand its users and who they effect. It sounds like Ron Raul grasps this and finally is using it to his advantage..

This is an amazing new technology as it is an outside server and will challenge the way we transport and download all of our files. For example to challenge Microsoft, Google introduced new software mirroring the look of Microsoft’s well-know Excel, Word and PowerPoint. The drastic difference–the software is free and because you save your files on the Internet, you can access them anywhere. Microsoft boasts no such option. But with a software like JuekFly, maybe soon they will. One day maybe the sometimes painstaking uploading will no longer be.

Yet technology such as this obviously brings up serious privacy concerns. Is it really private? Are you really the only one who can access your data? …questions such as these must be addressed.

Recently I heard that the Wii game was also being used by surgeons. With a fake body and wii-like controlers as medical tools, they look at the television and practice surgeries. This has greatly helped as the set-up closely minics that of an actual surgery.

This just goes to show the amazing new advancements we are going to have as a result of this new motion-sensing games. Soon this technology will not only be a fun game but may translate into an actual training device for athletes. This sort of technology could detect minute problems with how an athlete serves a tennis ball and can offer great insight in how to improve. ..and who is to say that it will stop there. This is only the beginning of what a new virtual-reality-like-game is capable of and how it can help us…

This is a great advancement to the popular, Google Earth, which allows its users to view satellite images around the world. This allows students, and the curious alike, to glance at China’s Great Wall, Paris’s Eiffel Tower and then see an image of their own home, all in a few minutes.

I am especially excited about this new advancement because it only proves that soon we will be able to access more information more quickly. Heck maybe soon we will be able to monitor our homes while we’re on vacation, check the traffic before we leave for work or even keep an eye on the front lawn where the kids are playing. Yet technology as advanced as this also brings up serious privacy laws. Who’s to say a criminal isn’t looking online to see when you leave for dinner so he can ransack your home?

Yet either way this technology proves that we are offering more information to our students. Sites such as these only fuel the imagination and generate learning. We are preparing the generation that will one day be running our world.