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By now most people have heard of Facebook’s  issues with their privacy settings when they upgrade the site and cause people’s profiles to become public despite users specifying they want their profiles private.  They have also made chats public, for a brief period of time and Facebook has also been trying to control more web content by connecting to other websites and publishing other content on Facebook, they do this through Facebook Connect and by having other websites adding Like Buttons to many sites on the web.  In the most resent update, they also make you connect your interests (Music, movies, etc) to fan pages, which is something that everyone doesn’t want to connect to. This has caused a major out cry in the community of journalists and standard users as well. These issues caused Leo Laporte to delete his Facebook account live on his TWIT Live video stream. People have established May 31st as “Quit Facebook Day”, but today Facebook has crossed the line in another way.

This afternoon, a radio station posted links to a Wiki How article on how to permanently delete your Facebook account, and video of Leo Laporte deleting his Facebook on TWIT Live. Minutes later, Facebook decided to censor them disable the station’s Facebook page. When Leo found out on while he was doing his live radio show he told the audience to post the link on their profiles and about half of them reported that the post has been removed! Facebook eventually stopped deleting the posts but, just the idea of Facebook deleting content because it was anti-Facebook is wrong, espcially when there are already plenty of other anti-Facebook pages on Facebook.

Facebook has been involved in less than ethical activity in the past month and need to change their privacy and censorship issues. Facebook needs to make their privacy intentions clear and regain the trust of their users. Facebook is also trying to forcefully connect all your web activity to your Facebook profile, which some people don’t want because they want to keep some privacy with their web life. The  privacy settings they should implement is that everything is private unless the User chooses to make some content public. They also absolutely need stop censoring people’s content on Facebook, yes it’s their site but, it is our right to freely criticize things we find unjust. If Facebook doesn’t change this quickly, they will loose the trust of their users and many users will quit Facebook.  I like using Twitter for public updates but, it is also nice to use Facebook for private c0mmunication with friends.

The internet has been the home to humorous videos of people covering songs, commenting on celebrities, playing lightsaber and other entertaining videos for many years, but, there has also been high quality programming made for the internet as well. People  have been making television-quality programming for the internet like Revision3, and many other production companies making content for the internet like Blame Society productions who make Chad Vader. These shows have become very popular and have made web series a common thing for people to watch.
I think that in the future all video will be distributed if not exclusively, at least as an addition to other distribution methods. Another trend that will be growing is video produced specifically for the internet because it allows people to watch h their programming whenever they want asnd whereever they want. One thing that has  happened recently, is that is Hulu, the popular video site has begun to distribute  independently films and series which provides them a platform to share their content without having to go through a film distribution company. This will continue so more people can produce and distribute their content easily and get their work out!

With the internet, video is becoming easier to produce, and distribute and making content available for the whole world, on-demand! This makes  it more possible for independent producers to distribute their content especially with video cameras becoming as inexpensive as they are now!  There are also many video sharing sites like Youtube that let users post content and share it with the world.

Previous to the internet, pre-production and planning would have to be done with everyone in the same room working on the show and if they had consult people not there, they would have to mail materials causing a major delay in the production process. Now, through email, cloud computing and video conferencing production can be worked on by people around the world and collaboration can occur over the web instantaneously.

It used to be video could only be broadcast over television and could only be seen when it was being broadcasted and only on a certain viewing area. This both made it hard for producers to get their content out to be seen and it made it difficult viewers to watch what they want to because they would have to schedule their time just to watch a particular show. Now, producers can make their content , and edit it on a computer and upload to a video sharing site and advertise it online, and have a worldwide audience instead of just the broadcast area of the channel. This is also much less expensive than producing for TV!

The internet has changed the way video has been made and distributed and has opened the opportunity for anyone to be a movie producer.This also provides access to a much larger viewing audience and lets the viewers see the show anytime. This also provides a better oppertunity to make money and to make money creating internet content like Revision3 has done. This is an exciting time both for producers and viewers to get the content they want when they want it!

In the early days of the internet, email newsletters were the best way to spread information and news to interested people. This was great to inform people because any news you want will be delivered directly to interested people’s inbox and directly to the target market. This was great in the early days, however, now we have RSS feeds that send articles to a RSS reader that you can access anywhere and doesn’t clog-up people’s busy inboxes. This new technology is much easier to access and not only that it keeps your imformation more organized, and  easier to read than newsletters. Although people read their email a lot more, I think that newsletters are past their time and need to switch over to RSS and I reccommend unsubscribing from email newsletters because they will soon become a thing of the past.

In the late 1990′s a few pioneers began to experiment with stream live video over the Internet. Although the video quality was poor, this laid the groundwork for the live webstreaming of today where, because of services like Sticcam or UStream anyone with a webcam is able to stream live with very little technical skills at all! This has developed the idea of “Lifecasting” where people like Leo Laporte, Chris Pirillo and many others stream themselves continuously throughout the day.

However entertaining this is, I am not sure if Live Webstreams will be able to compete with standard broadcast like Television and Radio in the current state because as of right now, it is mostly people just sitting in front of the camera and giving information. I think inorder for webstreams to compete, people need to produce entertainment streamed live. I think this can be achieved in two ways: first, independant producers creating live entertainment and secondly, for big production companies to live stream their shows in simucast to broadcasting over the air. This would be great because for now at least, to watch TV shows online, you have to wait until the next da. However, the big trend in viewing right now is video-on-demandso that people can watch what they wnat whenever they choose but, if they combind a live web stream and then have a on demand version after the  live webstream then the viewer can get the best of both worlds. I still prefer to watch video on demand however,  many people like watching content live and for things like news live is nessesary but, I think Video-On-Demand is the more popular trends still and will probably remain that way.

Micro blogging allows it’s users to post quick bytes of information on the internet and lets people share information with the whole internet. The most popular micro blogging platform is obviously twitter, and has made a major change on how people can get information all around the world.

Not only do individuals utilize micro blogging for announcments and personal messages, but, many businesses use it for marketing and public relations because it is a direct link to potential customers. In fact, many companies use iot for support so people can ask questions and get answers all over micro blogging. People can use micro blogging anywhere from computrs, cell phones and PDAs so it allows people to send information from anywhere in the world. This makes micro blogging a universal communication method that can spread information anywhere and everywhere! This makes it an extremly powerful tool because it is extremly flexible and I believe it will be crucial for sharing information and spreading news of major events like natural disasters. In fact, during the last tsunami, in Southeast Asia, one of the first ways people got word of  the tragic evennt. This will be a rising trend in the future because major news outlets are evn using Twitter asnd other services to blast news headlines.

In conclusion, because of how micro blogging can be accessed and updated from anywhere in the world, and from a wide variety of platforms, it will be a new major part of how people gain informaztion and can become a great early response system because posts are instant and can be viewed by millions of users.

There are numerous websites that allow a user to stream music over the internet and listen to more music than the azverage listener owns. However, with the current technology we have I do not think this will become a standard method of listening because most people like to own their songs and albulms.

This new model would allow people to listen to as much new music as they want for a flat fee. However, what if people are somewhere whee they cannot get online then they are without music and that does not work for me. The issue is that the iunternet is not accessible  everywhere yet so there are places where people would not be able to access their music, making this subscription model not feasible right now. For now the subscription model only works if you are infront of a computer or connected to WiFi. I believe the only way that this could work is if music players havebuilt-in cellular radios that allow them to access the internet over cell phone towers however, there would be latency and buffering so, buying music is still the best method and makes listening to music simple and enjoyable

In the early days of the computer and the internet, before the emergance of instant messaging, blogs and socail networks there were fourms, where people could discuss  anything the want with anyone in the world. It was a great consept because people could help each other,  share ideas and have a discussions with people around the world! However in this new web 2.0 world these general-use, are no longer the best method of communicating with people on the internet.

In these modern times,  people use social networks to communicate and micoblogging. For example, if I wanted to know what program I should use for Twitter on my Mac, I could just put it out on my Twitter feed and then assign a hash tag #twitterappmac and then search and find everyone’s results. This is much better than having an additional web account, and  having to go through a confusing forum interface. People now live on social networks that allow you to do many things and make them think forums are no longer worthwhile.

The only type of forum that I believe still has some merit is a forum with a very specific purpose, like a specific piece of technology or a specirfic operating system. This is in fact how the Linux community communicates because development of Linux is very community driven and it also serves as community-driven support because they allow users to help each other troubleshoot. One of the best forums is Internet Tablet Talk which is a forum all about the Maemo Internet Tablets made by Nokia. This is a thriving community of Maemo users and still keeps itself viable.

The forums that let you talk about what ever you want are now a thing of the past and the only type of forum that will be able to become sucessful is one that focuses on a single product and because of that has a very focused topic and has more potential of getting a dedicated user-base because they are using it to learn not just for simple entertainment.  Forums for the most part are no longer valid and are better replaced by social networks.

With all the amazing web services available now there are some that I do not think I can function without now and these are the services that I need to continue to remain productive online:

Gmail:

Gmail is probably my primary web tool because I live in my email and gmail makes it very easy to check all my various email accounts with ease!

Google Calendar:

Google Calendar is not only what I use to organize my life but, also what I use to organize my blog posts and I have it sync to my Nokia N800 because it keeps my busy schedule organized.

Facebook:

Although Facebook is much more of a fun network, I find it to be very userful to communicate with friends and kep in touch with people far away!

AIM:

AIM is a great instant messenger and makes chatting great and a major communication asset.

Flickr:

Since I have been taking so many pictures recently and I want to share them with my friends and family Flickr is the best site to share pictures over the internet and Flickr Pro is an even better service!

Google Docs/Spreadsheet:

Google Docs is a great basic Wordprocessor, Spreadsheet and Presnetation tool all based in the clouds and lets you collaborate with other users. Although it is as not as powerful as Microsoft Word, which I use for more formal purposes, it is great for planning with people and planning out projects.

Google Reader:

Google Reader is my favorite way to read all my RSS feeds and get news. It provides a nice “River  of News” that makes reading news anytime easy and elegant.

Twitter:

Twitter is a great social tool that I use not only to keep my friends up-to-date with what I am doing but, I also use it to market website I am workingon and it is an extremly valuable marketing tool.

If any of these services went down I would have to make major augmentations to make web life and adapt to live without them but it will certainly not be easy.

Technology has become more and more crucial to people’s daily lifestyles however; buying gadgets can be expensive if you do not know what sites give you the best deals. In this post, I will list you the websites that give the best deals online which also happen to be the sites that I check whenever, I am in the market to buy a new gadget. I buy the majority of my gadgets by ordering them over then Internet because I can save a lot of money as long as I don’t need it right away. For example, I ordered a 16 Gigabyte SDHC memory card and it was only $30 from Newegg while if I went to a retail store with the same $30 I would only be able to buy a 4 GB memory card. I find it ridiculous that I get ¼ the capacity for the same price just because it is slightly more convenient.

It is for this reason that I recommend buying technology online because as long as you do not need it immediately, you can get an amazing deal and maybe get even more for less money! The following websites are the websites that I personally use when I want to buy a new gadget:

1.    Newegg
Newegg.com is usually my first stop because they usually have the best deals and they have a wide variety of products. In addition, they have great customer service and their deliveries usually arrive within three days! Newegg also has bargain deals and a recommendation engine that recommends products based on what you bought and what you looked at.
2.    Tiger Direct
Tiger Direct is usually my second choice and although the prices are not as affordable, they are still better than most retail stores. Tiger Direct has most of the same features that Newegg does and is a great option if Newegg does not have the product you want or you are looking to see if the price you found is the best option.
3.    Amazon
Amazon.com is one of the biggest online marketplaces and not only sells their own products but, also allows anyone to sell their own property. It has the same features but, because of the fees vendors usually need to increase the cost of products because they want to make a profit and cover their fees.

The process that I usually take is I look for the product on all three sites and then buy from the website that has the best price. I hope that everyone who read this article uses my suggestions and get better prices on the technology you want.