Global Divide

Digital divide

Global Divide Poster taken from Google Images

The digital divide within the globe is so vast, there are so many countries that don’t have enough computers to teach their young, in fact, and there are some countries that have probably never heard of a ‘computer’. It isn’t just computers though, the whole of technology including phones, tablets, consoles, net books etc. all these are forms of technologies that most people own or have to have in their lifestyle, what would you do without the internet?

Global Divide

This is the difference between the poor and wealthy countries around the globe that all divides it self by their technology capabilities. Think about it, New York is going to have a vast advantage on technology to say that of a country like Zimbabwe. Why? Simple, they just have more money and more of an income, whereas if you don’t have money or any good source of income how are you going to get the best of the best?

Examples of the Global Divide:

• Internet cafes
• Mobile phones
• E-Commerce
• Shipping goods
• Virtual Globes

In conclusion to all this, they say the digital divide is narrowing quite quickly, in this sense smaller countries are getting the leftovers as it where of the old computer parts and other technology for a small price or in some cases for free. This then means that they can start communicating, however they will always be one step behind as the bigger countries will always have the upper hand of having the better technology.

Local Divide



Speed Test printscreen taken from Google Images



This is all about the different speeds of internet access over the country, and also the economic divide of the various families in the country that have less resources of those who are richer. For example, I get 3 mb of internet whereas my cousin who pays the same for his internet gets 4mb in Bath, how is that fair? There are some schools out there that simply cannot afford computers for their pupils, what impact does this do to their pupils and reputation? Those kids who do not have internet access at home who cannot complete a normal homework task because it’s set over the internet.

Advantages of the local divide:

• Classic ways of teaching stay intact
• Libraries are a lot more powerful and useful

Dis-advantages:

• School children lose out on e-learning – this can then lead to children getting behind work at school and failing – this leads to a bad school reputation
• You wouldn’t be able to enjoy the advantages of e-commerce
• You lose out on knowledge that to be honest is increasing all the time in the information world

Overall, with all opinions aside, if you do not have access to IT, you’re just going to be behind all those who do, think about it, most people these days have a computer, even my grandparents do! But without the internet you lose out on learning/shopping/investing etc. personally this is what I believe in, as IT isn’t contemporary either which makes it even harder to keep up with, and as I do 3 a – levels that involve IT, if I didn’t own a computer or have access to one, where would I be now?

Bridging the Divide

People are always trying to help out those who are lacking IT technology in their communities and homes. And this also involves school projects that send out their old computers to countries in Africa to help them learn about IT. I know that my school is involved in a similar project, sending out old computers to countries like South Africa and Africa. Recycling computers that have no use to anyone helps the environment and helps make the new better computers that get released.

Those are some forms of the act to bridge the divide, however to upkeep this people need to recycle more computer technology, and be more giving to share with the needy. If we do not help those who need it then how to you expect the whole bridging the divide is going to work, it requires motivation and money as well as just sharing.



Poster taken from Google Images



Internet Cafe

How IT is used to prevent crime

Crime is unfortunately a growing problem and one of the most productive ways of dealing with it is by using IT, by doing so, as a whole we have managed to keep a 'controlled' outlook on the situation making it a lot harder for people to commit crime, and for those who do end up commiting crime to eventual get caught out! However crime has a very large boundary, I will be talking about bullying and hacking mainly, and how IT is used to thwart it from happening again.

Dissemination



Thief stealing information - taken from Google images

This is the term meant for act to disperse or the disappearance of something. This act is becoming more noticeable within the cyber world and should really be thwarted; it normally involves excessive stalking and is easily seen as a crime. Here’s a story that involves dissemination within the cyber world… The story goes as, a jealous ex boyfriend allegedly stole some nude photographs of his ex girlfriend along with her new boyfriend, he then blew them onto the internet along with personal details such as their full names/D.O.B/address, the victims actually received e-mails and phone calls from people as far as Denmark. But not only did this take place the man also was filing and updating more details about the couple when found in a police investigation.

So by reading through that story, did you think that was necessary to do to an ex girlfriend? The answer is no, however much you hated that person you are not allowed to do things like that. It is illegal and therefore is a crime.

Ways IT can be used to prevent dissemination:

• Filters for keywords such as ‘nudity, naked & pornography’ - having filters like these will most certainly get rid of images we shouldn’t really come across.
• 

  

  Printscreen taken from Google images

  

  Passwords – keeping accounts secure & safe.
• 

  Databases – keeping all your passwords different makes it harder for a hacker to hack you, so by making a secure database you will never forget your passwords, and hopefully you’ll be the one who only knows.
•  Trust is another big issue – only trust the very few who will keep private information kept private, if the wrong people get hold of that information you are then made vulnerable – security questions can be made on your computer to also ease this situation.

In my own experience, I have never been a victim of dissemination however, I do know of some friends that unfortunately have, it’s not a nice thing to go through, but they did deal with it mainly using IT, this means blocking certain people from social sites, new numbers, reporting to webmasters etc. all this actually cleared the situation and more importantly telling someone always helps! The only negative point is that it is very hard to erase information on the computer as people can save the information elsewhere.

Cyber Bullying

Hate mail taken from Google images

 This alone is a massive thing that unfortunately happens all over the world, and to be honest can be participated wherever you are… cyber bullying means to take part/start vicious acts to another person e.g. verbal language, putting pictures up and getting others involved. This is seen as one of the worse forms of bullying as you can’t actually get away from it, you can be a victim through a site to your mobile phone.

Ways IT can thwart cyber bullying:

• There is no real ‘cure’ to this yet, but by blocking those who are being malicious is always a good thing to do – blocking them obviously makes it harder for them to get hold of the victim.
• Tell someone e.g., a teacher/parent – they can report this and keep an eye on it themselves online.
• Save the malicious content – this means the police can use this as evidence.
• The bullies themselves could be blocked all together from the site if caught out.

In my own experience I have been in a similar situation like most people, and I did indeed follow those steps above to help me see through it, after doing this I felt really good about myself and started to trust people more and how that by doing simple things like print screening the acts could mean I could give it to people who would be able to act apon it.

'Speak up' poster taken from Google images

CCTV



CCTV in action taken from Google images

 Nowadays to catch people and to keep a safe eye over the public, we use CCTV cameras to keep up with everything, first set up in 1994. And with these linked up with IT you can see everything on the big screen, this means nothing goes unseen; well that’s the plan anyway. Although nothing is perfect, CCTV cameras are very useful to the prevention of crime.

Here are some points on how CCTV cameras help:

• You can play back the videos whenever you want to
• Having these cameras put out on the streets/shops means that ‘thugs’ are less likely to act as they are scared they’ll get caught – automatically making the area safer for everyone
• The cameras are always on…
• There’s always a guard in the CCTV operating room taking note of what is happening
• If it is a wired CCTV camera these can only be hacked if the hacker can get to the wiring itself – this then makes it really hard as there will also be other wired cameras around the same area!

In my own opinion I think and believe that these cameras really help! There has been a lot of evidence to back my opinion and without them in this day and age the area you were to be living in would become a lot more run town, and it would be so much easier for thugs and criminals to get away with everything. CCTV is vital for all of us!



CCTV guard looking at the footage - taken from Google images





Entertainment

Introduction


Fifa 12 image taken from Google Images



Over the years, entertainment has progressed from Pac Man on an arcade machine to the all new and mighty Fifa 12 on the Xbox 360/PS3. Jukebox’s are no longer used, instead we use CD players and to some extent record players. Everything entertainment wise has changed in the last century. In the 20^th century most things would be basic, for example, board games such as the infamous snakes and ladders alongside radios that could only stream up to 4 channels! Nowadays we have everything entertainment wise, we can go to the cinema, we can play on games consoles and challenge people online, we can also do this on the PC/laptop! And not to forget our radios are pretty good, but even they are still improving! We now can access DAB radios and receive better quality radio sound. And rumour has it by 2013 will be the end to analogue television, all televisions will display from digital boxes, this will be the 'digital switchover!'.



Freeview box taken form Google Images



 

D.A.B

Otherwise known as ‘Digital Audio Broadcasting’ is a form of digital radio technology used for broadcasting radio stations. DAB was a European research project that took off in the 1980s and the NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) were the very first to broadcast a DAB channel in 1995 June 1^st.  It is used in several countries, mainly in the European mainland. In 2006, 1000 stations used the DAB format to broadcast worldwide!

What can DAB do? Well it’s looked upon to be a more ‘reliable’ and ‘robust’ system… It can apparently offer more channels than a traditional analogue one, and has a better noise quality in hearing.

Advantages:

• 
  

  

  An example of a DAB radio taken from Google Images

  
  

  DAB automatically tunes into all available radio stations (offering a better list of which an analogue would produce)
• Can carry radio text from the station (a real time feature you couldn’t do with analogue)
• DAB receivers can display the time of day as it is encoded into transmissions
• Reception quality is a lot better then analogue (like a vinyl to a CD)
• Less pirating interference

Disadvantages:

•  DAB is sometimes still looked to be in BETA production still, having some minor holdbacks to some people (analogue has a better coverage)
• DAB requires digital signal processing techniques to convert from the received digitally encoded signal from the analogues audio content
• Less pirating can also be a disadvantage… (The music scene I know for a fact that some UK rappers have made it big today through playing their music on pirated stations)



Sound wave taken from Google Images



In my own experience, I haven’t yet used DAB however I rarely listen to the radio anyway! However I am a man for wanting good quality sound in my ears so as DAB is a high quality form of radio, I would definitely give it a go, also there’s a possibility that I could find a radio station that I haven’t yet come across that delivers all of my favourite types of music!  

Games on phones



Snake printscreen taken from Google Images



Every boy would have heard of a type of gaming console, fact is you can also play decent games on your phone!? Crazy as it may seem, you can, you play classics such a ‘Snake’ and ‘Tetris’ and this can be for all ages, although games are seen to be played for teenagers and young children, adults are now joining in to play their old games!

Advantages:

• Some games are free to download
• Easier to pass time by playing a game (if on the tube going to work)
• Some games are educational and can actually benefit your learning
• When you want to be entertained and there’s nothing else you can do you can get you phone out

Disadvantages:

• Drains the battery out of your phone
• Can be seen as a waste of time
• Potential chance to get addicted
• Not as good quality as a proper gaming console

In my own experience, I have had some games on my phone, but I thought they were very plain and boring with really bad graphics as I’m used to HD graphics on a big screen. They also drained my battery life down so fast so I was always charging my phone which is technically bad for its health, so I ended deleting all the games on my phone. So in my opinion I think they are a waste of time, however, others would disagree.

 

Addidcted 'gamer' skit taken from Google Images



Digital Cameras



As a whole, these have a made a massive hit on our way of seeing things through a view finder, and a lot of people use them! They can be used anywhere at anytime. Although, these cameras can produce millions of pixels to produce clear results, some professional photographers still use he old film cameras…. Why? Well, the main reason is that film cameras are perfect for end results there are no gaps of which you would encounter with on a digital one no matter how many mega pixels it has.

Advantages:

• 
  

  

  Pentax K1000 film camera

  
  

  You can see the results on the actual camera screen
• Different modes to suit specific shots
• Averagely priced, so affordable
• Most are waterproof
• Can shoot in night mode
• Total VFM (Value for Money)
• Most can video record
• Some allow you to edit images on the camera screen
• Good face detection technology

Disadvantages:

• Quite temperamental
• Batteries are known not to be the best
• Better digital cameras are really expensive
• Memory card problems are also rife
• Personal preference can also interfere with the photographer



In my own experience, take AS Photography as one of my other subjects during my A level career, I personally  own and use a Nikon D3100 this camera alone cost me a lot of money but has very specific features such as up to 7 different modes alongside 14 auto focus points and 15 mega pixels. This camera has done me wonders so far into my as photography course and I found it not to hard to learn use it, although I don’t know everything about the camera, I will learn as I carry on, learning new camera skills/techniques. But before I got this Nikon, I didn’t really like the digital cameras as I felt the quality was bad and that they were very temperamental unlike my Nikon DSLR.



Nikon D3100 DSLR camera



Education

Education

Within the information age education has blossomed to be one of the many fast and ever growing topics. As you can see the vast technology leaps of main frame computers to wireless laptops alone to help in an everyday average school. In today’s lessons some of us may find instead of using a traditional book, we will be given a hyperlink instead which would lead to an ‘e-book’ to learn yesterday’s lesson of by heart…

But with all this technology growing rapidly in our information age, we are slowly cutting out our normal things to do like note taking and communicational skills towards others. I will be talking about how education is used within the classroom and at home.

Books taken from Google Images

E-Book

An E-Book, otherwise known as an electronic book is basically an online book. Viewed as a webpage, enabling the decoder to flick too and thro from various pages. They can hold all the information that a book would hold and also you have the benefit of crisp/clear pictures within an e – book allowing you to zoom in/out on anything, you wouldn’t be able to do this with a book now would you?

Amazon Kindle 

E – Books first started out in the early 1990s. E – Book readers became apparent, as for today’s most famous electronic reader would be Amazons ‘Kindle’. These Kindles have done amazing with many households owning one. Now in the educational world an E-Book would be perfect for a student/pupil… The user would be able to download certain types of text and books to help them learn/revise. Here are some advantages/disadvantages for an E-Book:

Advantages:

• You can take an E-Book home
• Cuts costs of paper
• They are fairly reliable
• Could save teachers some time
• It’s a new fun way to learn
• Everyone would be in the same position/vote

Disadvantages:

• Battery life can run out when needed (whereas a paper - based system this would be eliminated)
• Very expensive (school would have to pay a lot to ensure that every student had one)
• E-Book formats are not really that contemporary (meaning upgrades would be regular, this could be seen as time wasting)
• What would happen if stolen (not likely for someone to want to still an exercise book)
• They would have to be protected from things that would damage it e.g. water, hot surfaces, snow etc…)

In my own experience, I have actually never lost one of my school revision/exercise books, and although the information may be on a book it isn’t to hard to correct mistakes, whereas if a mistake was made on an E-Book the whole class could be held back a lesson to actually fix the problem, although this may be a rarity it is still in the equation to happen…

Although I am used to paper based systems I would be happy to transfer to an E-Book to learn as its fun exciting and it’s a lot harder to lose. Some students would find it a lot more beneficial towards them and their learning. I would personally back and support the idea if the change were to happen to my school.

SIMS

This is actually a form of technology made to help ease the life of a teacher. SIMS actually stands for (School Information Management System) and is used by more than 21,000 schools in 150 local authorities across the UK. In the sense of education a lot of schools use this to make everything organised and easy to carry out. SIMS can do many things, and can check the following;

SIMS print screen taken from Google Images

Personal details – Having everyone’s personal details means that it is very easy for the teacher/substitute teacher to know how able their students are allowing to make more precise decisions and what is best avoided.

Attendance/Registration – This allows teachers and the school itself to keep an accurate track of whose attending and who isn’t. Having software that keeps up with attendance means you can find gaps and work to improve the statistics of the school attendance. It would also allow you to find who may be skiving or an unreasoned absence, this does happen, and by finding out the school is able to help and try to fix why those matters might be.

Academic performance – Like I mentioned above, this could be simply help a student progress to higher levels as it may also find a student struggling that may need help or moved to a more able class for him/her to benefit.  

Behaviour logs – One of the more beneficial parts of SIMS. As we all know, disruptive pupils can have an effect on a working class. Nipping it in the bud not only means you’ve helped the class itself not to be lured into misbehaving but for them to carry on achieving, and allowing a contract for the misbehaved student means they may pull their socks up too.

Photo – This is a very simple but very beneficial thing for a teacher, having new students and new classes, having pictures for every one of your student’s means that you are then able to see whose who!

Timetable – Not everyone always knows where there going, this isn’t just for students but it can also be for teachers too. Especially cover teachers who don’t really know their way around the school.

Advantages:

• Helps schools manage the whole student construction circle
• Allows you to keep a constant track on students
• Saves paper
• Teachers can access information easily
• Maintains real time information (teachers can edit the information keeping it all up to date)
• SIMS can be accessed from home this means teachers/parents can still be updated

Disadvantages:

• SIMS can fail to work, for example a power cut (this is when a paper based registration could be seen as a better thing)
• If the information got into the wrong hands that could be a big problem as well as a reputational one…
• Very expensive to up keep

In my own experience, my school itself runs SIMS and so far it hasn’t really failed at all, keeping all information intact and up to date. And another thing for me to witness, is for a new teacher to learn its class pretty quickly due to the functions that SIMS can perform. Without SIMS how long would it of taken the teacher to learn the class? This then concludes that it save a lot of precious school learning time. A lot of students complain about situations like these as do the parents, so by having SIMS this could be eliminated down by quite a fair amount.

SIMS logo

Interactive Whiteboards

Whiteboard taken from Google Images

Now this is a very interesting peace of technology allowing the blackboard/chalk boards to come to an end. But on a serious note, these things are incredible, for teaching these are very much a perk to a teacher, why? Simple, having a projected screen of what you want to show to a class means that everyone in the class can see it, and as its interactive, the students can also come up and interact with it teaching others as well as themselves, it’s a real fun way of learning.

Advantages:

• Everyone can interact with it
• Very easy to use
• Very easy for students to decode information from it
• Allows everyone to work together

Disadvantages:

• A very expensive piece of technology, not all schools can afford to have a few let alone one of them.
• Some teachers take more focus on the new technology rather than the students
• Over activity can occur and can then become a downhill pass rather than a successful one
• Lower ability groups can sometimes slow down the process of the whole class trying to learn

Not everyone knows how to use them, and some students would be scared to use them

In my own experience my school again is fortunate enough to have some whiteboards dotted around most of the classrooms, they are very easy to use and make a fun turn to learning. Many presentations are done on these and we also display the work on there to learn by writing all over it. The one thing I’m not to sure about is the calibration, this can be quite a pain sometimes, taking time off lessons by recalibrating it.

Pupils interacting with the whiteboard taken from Google Images

Life In The Information Age: Introduction

Internet interpretation taken from Google Images

The Information Age

The information age, commonly known as the ‘Digital Age’ or the ‘Computer Age’ this is the idea that has a concept to be related to a ‘Digital Revolution’ otherwise known as an ‘Era’. As the era’s have changed so has the information, what started off to be a creation for calculating numbers faster than that ability of a human advanced at a phenomenal rate to now being in most peoples house holds allowing them to do their weekly shop online!

What does a computer even do? It’s a piece of technology that calculates switches to either be on or off at a pace so fast using the binary code to aid/guide it through. The information age properly took of in the late 1970s when personal computer systems were accessible and by the early 1990s the internet took off too, allowing communications across the globe progressing to networks to secure a technological lifestyle with the perks of educational lifestyle too. As technology is increasing it is never contemporary, this meaning that you are always learning within this technology ‘new becomes old’ pretty fast.

What is the difference between offices from the 1980s to present?

An office 30years ago (in the 1980s) would still be very slow and substantial, but for people on those times would think that this would be quite a fast system, in the 1980s operating systems like 86 DOS were very popular within these times, and printers weren’t around at this time, but type writers were popular and up coming. By the 1990s a typical office had been upgraded slightly, printers were now in action and typewriters were on their way out. Operating systems like 86 DOS were not really used operating systems like Windows 3.0 and Linux had entered the scene making a faster way to communicate with the computer, mouse’s were also making a name for themselves creating new wacky designs for them, at the end of the 1990s, Windows 98 was brought into the scene to, one of the many operating systems still used today. At the present time we now have made a vast improvement, with operating systems like Windows 7 and MAC Lion, making most things user friendly and easy to complete allowing multiple windows to be open at any given time.



Windows 7 print screen taken from Google Images



In the last 30years offices have changed so rapidly, an office back at the beginning would be tiny with a few computers and masses of filing cabinets to fie information. A typical office now would have multiple computers alongside many peripherals, and filing cabinets replaced with excel smart database systems.  

Entertainment

This is possibly the broadest section within 'Online Services'. Mostly preferred to as everyone wants to be entertained, if you weren't you would feel bored and have a low sanity level! some of the major hits within electronic entertainment have been the likes of 'YouTube' & 'Call of Duty (COD)'.

To date there are approximately 117million online gamers with this on the increase 24/7... With such an enormous figure almost every household would have a games console/PC. And to date YouTube there are almost 510 million views on Jeniffer Lopez's new single 'On The Floor (Ft. Pitbull)'.



Jlo Picture taken from Goolge Images



And although Steve Jobs has passed away Apple are still increasing with popularity and well thought products... there is now an App for literally everything! From how to cook a bakewell tart to managing your bank account/accounts!


YouTube

YouTube logo



YouTube is an infamous video sharing website, actually its the largest in the world! With around 51 languages to choose from too. It was created in Febuary 14th 2005 by, Chad Hurley/Steve Chen/Jawed Karim. YouTube actually makes most of its revenue through Google Adsense, this allows thier free space to be used to advertise say the new D&G aftershave for men.

Advantages of YouTube:

• You can upload any video
• All formats are supported
• You can watch what you want to watch
• You are able to access the site at any time
• You can make money from this site by 'Monetizing'
• Movies/TV episodes are avaliable

Disadvantages:

• People can upload replicas this can be fustrating
• Your only allowed to upload 15minutes worth of video unless your a senoir YouTube user
• Advertisments can be a bit annoying at times



In my own expirence, I always use YouTube to check out my favourite artists music videos, I also use it to catch up with some TV that I may of missed. I also have a friend who makes videos around the technology/gaming side and get paid for it! Although it may not be much he is getting paid for something he enjoys. I was thinking of creating my own YouTube to promote Kent artists by making music videos for them and putting them up on YouTube for all to see!



4oD

4oD logo

4oD is a service that allows the user to catch up with TV from channel 4. what makes it unique is that unlike BBC iPlayer, 40D is just for channel 4, no one else. 4oD also make their money via monetizing just like YouTube do. This way, fans who have missed their TV channel can view it on 4oD and they will also make some money out of it too.

Advantages:

• Can catch up with channel 4 programs whenever you want
• It's free to do
• Most channel 4 episodes are up to view

Disadvantages:

• On YouTube you can view everything, on 4oD your restricted to channel 4 programs only
• Adverts can be off putting
• Some people have complained about the layout of the site
• There are better sites at times to watch specific stuff

In my own experience I have used 4oD and I did find it easy to use, however, I did feel that the adverts lingered more than other sites adverts would go on for but that was 4oD for me. Without being to hard on critizing it, I would be more likely to use sites like YouTube and BBC iPlayer to view/catch up with my TV programs. However for what 4oD is and for what it is I would say that this service is very good but it very restricted.

4oD printscreen taken from Google Images

RPGs

WOW logo

RPG other wise known as a role playing game, a good example for this would be WOW (World of Warcraft) this an online game created by Blizzard, WOW currently has 10.3 million subscribers. It is actually the largest online game in the world at the moment which is a massive achievement. WOW is also viewed as a 'MMORPG' this is a game that is secured by a server leaching out to all its users.

Within the game you can choose a character, then on you explore the WOW universe making friends joining groups and leveling up to become the most notorious character. Along the way there are challenges, imaginary weapons/animals to collect, and lots more!

Advantages of a RPG:

• Great gaming experience 
• Can create a lot of imagery stuff 
• Meet new people
• Play against people globally 
• Enter championship ranks to earn some money from it

Disadvantages:

• Can be time wasting
• RPGs are all very similar so they can get boring after a while 
• Gaming has been statistically proven to be unhealthy 
• If it's online it could get laggy at times

In my own experience I only played one RPG from what I played I liked it, but I knew that if I got it I would have to spend a lot of time on the game to actually enjoy it... other than that I used to play a lot of games when I was younger, these days I've seemed to of grown out of that stage and focused on more better/beneficial things like sports/mates/school grades. 

WOW random game play print screen taken from Google Images

I do have a few mates who are still drawn into these games., and to be truthful they get obsessed, and all they want to do is play more and more, for example, kids skive school to play the latest game out! I just don't see the point, but that is just my own opinion, and of course there will be people out there that will argue against my views.

Download Services

Download Services



In the word of ICT you are constantly around downloading types of software that being at home to school to work! All this downloading is completed by the use of the internet... it is most commonly known as 'file - sharing'. There are so many sites now online that will allow you to illegally and legally download files such as music/films/videos/books/video games/documents.



Napster logo



The most famous file sharing site of the time would most definately have to be Napster. This site started off actually between a few friends wanting to share thier music files for free, little did they know what the internet could do! Napster naturally blew up! Getting to literally everyone, but unforunately they got sued and were now going thorugh bankrupcy... although it got sued by musicians, some musicains thought it was a really good invention/idea! However due to losing it's battle in court now Napster is an illegal music download site, one of many! And yes, there are illegal music downloading sites still out there trying to seek cover.

Statistically, about 1.67m people download illegally with that increasing in the future years. Making a loss of 45m in thier revenue, whereas, stastically, 5% out of 100% download files legally. Although figures are increasing for illegal downloads, legal downloads are on the increase too!

PDF Files



PDF File logo



PDF file otherwise known as a 'Portable Document File' is an open standard file created in 2003 by the Adobe Systems. It's mainly used to represent the documents of operating systems/software/hardware in a smaller but exact matching file! PDFs are often used on the internet as they are very easy for the decoder to get too and to extract information from the file.

Two types of PDFs exist: native PDFs and scanned PDFs. A native PDF is a PDF that is made from a document that was electronically processed. A scanned PDF is one by scanning a  paper document using a scanner.

Advantages of a PDF file:

• You don't need a certain software to use/open it - therefore it is accessable to everyone
• A PDF is a 'read only' file, so it cannot be altered without leaving an electronic footprint
• PDF files offer Document Level Security
• They open quicker than a word document
• It is under FreeWare
• you can scan compressed images into a PDF File

Disadvantages:

• Difficult to edit
• Quite a fair few types of PDFs... That can confuse people
• the two types of PDF can also be hard to edit into a wordable format - however, there are sites that can work thier way around this problem

In my own expirence, I haven't really used PDF files as I have never really needed too! However if i wanted a compressed word file to be on the internet and to be downloadable I would use a PDF file to do this. In hindsight, some video games now have a PDF manuel to use the game online on thier website so they save money by printing out all these manuels. Only downside to this is that not every 'gamer' has access to be online to view this!

Patches

A patch is a piece of software completely designed to help aid a user to fix their computer problems… this could be from updating a computer program or its supporting data to bugs/viruses other wise known as ‘security vulnerabilities’ as well as the general up keep of a computers life, so things like the usability and the actual performance.



PS3 system upadate print screen



There are also patches for computer games so I could say that most boys would know what I’m going on about when I say ‘the new map in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare needs an update due to glitches’. And without a doubt these patches happen very regularly within computer games.



Although a patch is meant to fix problems, some are poorly designed and can actually but on a load more problems other wise known as ‘software regressions’. To have a successful patch you need a sturdy/reliable patch management, so basically that means the actual process of using a plan of what they should be specifically applied to at a spot on time.

Advantages of Patches:

• Upgrades your game/computer
• Makes your software more reliable/faster
• Newer software means newer perks
• Updates are normally fast and virus free

Disadvantages:

• Software regressions are rare, but do happen…
• Can be time consuming to go through with
• You may actually prefer the older software to the new installed one



I do have some background within patching, as I have an Xbox 360, their games are always getting patched, epically gun games with big party maps. Also sometimes the whole layout of the Xbox 360 gets changed around so you have to download that to play online with your friends. Most updates are relatively quick, but the better bandwidth you have the quicker it will install/download.

Xbox 360 Elite

Software

A collection of data that guides the computer what to do as a task is what software is. Software is intangible unlike hardware where it can altered ad edited to what you want it to do, software you can’t do that. Obviously there are many types of software that are up for grabs within the internet… some will be free to download like ‘Open Office & Anti Virus AVG’ two of the many examples of free software, and some you have to pay for such as ‘Norton’s Security & Adobe Photoshop CS5’.

Software 'user friendly skit' taken from Google images

You can also use software to improve your computers hardware otherwise known as ‘device drivers’ these are very common within businesses/organisations/small companies, because whether it be web designing to photography editing there will be a device driver to enhance these!

Advantages of Software:

• Freeware is available
• Easy to handle
• User friendly
• Can be very beneficial to the user

Disadvantages:

• Malware can sometimes be accidentally downloaded with software
• It’s hard to edit software
• Needs to be regularly updated



Open Office logo



In my own experience I know a fair bit about software. I know trust worthy software as well as malicious software. Before we had Microsoft Office, we actually downloaded the free ware Open Office, this was basically the same as Microsoft Office, but didn’t have as much of the perks and wasn’t as neat, however it did the job, and I could save it to a file where I could open it up at school to work further more on it. Another example me of using software would be using iTunes, within this software I can keep all my music for free, however I also have the capability to purchase new music/books/videos on that software etc…

Without software, I can firmly say that we would struggle and we would definitely not have any device drivers to enhance our hardware, so it’s quite an interesting thought. And new software is been designed all the time, it’s hard for it to be contemporary.