Contemporary IT News

The BlackBerry Outage

BlackBerry logo

This outage hit us BlackBerry users in October 10^th 2011, literally a week ago.  It started off with people complaining about their BlackBerry’s not being able to send messages and their internet being really slow if not that not working at all... people then started getting angry and expressing their issues on social network sites such as Twitter. However RIM, said that all the services were operating normally, not for long though... on the 11^th, people all over EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) started complaining about the same thing! 

RIM then posted on Twitter that they were experiencing problems with the main server and that the problem would be resolved soon... for a day it was fixed but then fell back down again! And this time even America had issues with the server experiencing all the same problems as EMEA.

Apples 'iPhone' with BlackBerrys 'Bold' taken form Google images

By October 13/14^th BlackBerry were now working again! Overall, this situation had left millions of users annoyed and statistics showed that 1 in 5 BlackBerry users went and got an iPhone... amazing! This shows that one little network breakdown can cost you so much!  And from what’s happened it’s obviously hit BlackBerry hard. The cause was believed to be due to sever problems within RIM’s slough data centre.

RIM & BlackBerry received some very harsh criticism though this was that many of the ‘Corporate’ customers had not lost any signal at all. Obviously this caused a massive up roar and may have been the reason why people left for Apple, as they thought they would get treated better as a customer.

I actually own a BlackBerry so I have a personal experience within this dilemma, at first I thought it was my phone playing up, not noticing other people complaining. However, when I queried it with some friends they said the same thing, that’s when we realised it was BlackBerry themselves! Although I had stable connection for a few days, I was able to complete a lot more school work without my phone buzzing every minute! And it has been heard that all BlackBerry users are getting a free £60 to spend in the BlackBerry app store, so not a bad result.

BlackBerry App World logo

London Riots 2011

Mark Duggan fatally shot by MET police

This was a world wide event, making headline news for days on end, as well as reaching international news. It started on the 6th August as a peaceful march for the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan throughout the Tottenham district. This then lead to rioting that was the catalyst of what had happened to Mark... the rioting then spread to several other districts including Merseyside/Birmingham/Bristol/Greater Manchester/West Midlands. 



These riots had taken place throughout the 6th till the 10th August. Through these tough times 5 people had died, 16+ members of the public were injured (including, muggings, assault, arson) and a further 186 police injuries were endured... A whole nation was but to a stand still for 4 days and 4 nights, the damage was incredible adding up to an estimated £200 million pounds worth of damage was created! Family's home were burnt to nothing, businesses were robbed and trashed, even cars were stolen.

Bus as a result of arson in the London 2011 riots

In an overview, 3,100 people were arrested of which 1,000 had been charged, a total of 3,443 crimes were committed and unfortunately there were 5 people who had died in a result of this result...


People now ask who was to blame? A lot of people blamed it on the 'younger generation' however statistics show that those who have been arrested are all ages and combine a staggering 41 different nationalities. Even school helpers were charged. The thing is we all know how they communicated, and BlackBerry Messenger is the answer to this. A very smart move of those gang leaders, as for 'BBM' connections cannot be traced so they had a 'safe' way to communicate to their youngsters to hit certain places at certain times. People also believe that 'Twitter' was used as well in a similar process.

Jamie Waylett one of many to be charged

It just goes to show that everyone one of all 'classes' were involved. Jamie Waylett otherwise know as a bully in the 'Harry Potter' chronicles has been charged for arson involving petrol bombs to cars, although you didn't think matters could get worse, he was also charged with planting/growing Cannabis in his bedroom, a total of 15 plants were taken from his bedroom. Jamie's actions have left him with next to nothing with disgusted friends and family surrounding him. How did the police catch offenders like Jamie? Well, CCTV played the biggest role, as the riots progressed well so did CCTV cameras... They were planted all over London to catch offenders like Jamie.

All we know is that the debates are endless and those who are getting charged are increasing slowly showing the public that these actions are simply not allowed and that these ruthless acts have left those who did act inappropriately have been left with such a guilty/sickening conscience.

E - Government

E – Government abbreviated to the terms ‘Electronic Government/e – gov/online government/digital government/connected government’. Basically means the relationship of the government itself and its citizens that surround or follow it.

The whole point of having a digital government is so that everyone is able to access it and its news feeds online… You can virtually have every question answered within the subject matter. The e – government deals with a heavy amount of internet applications daily that try to aid in governments , but they also cover a number of non – internet forms. Moreover, e – government can be portrayed through all sorts of multi – media including ‘television & radio etc…’

Sites like ‘Direct Gov & YouGov’ allow you too many things! The public are now even able to participate in electronic voting! And if you’re ill you could check online at NHS using their expert system to check if your symptoms are worth troubling about over your local GP or doctor…



NHS Direct



NHS Direct logo



NHS Direct is an online expert system created by the government for all the public to use. It is a free service which on top of everything has correspondents to aid 24/7 daily! You can also receive medial diagnosis over the phone. It gives that little bit extra security for people to tell them just in case your local doctors has closed and your worried about your health you can double check on the NHS direct ‘check your symptoms’ to find out if something is actually wrong. A lot of people do rely on this service, and if it wasn’t there and someone was in trouble, ask your self… what would happen?

For many people think services like these don’t really work and are a waste of time. Well, there has been many stories on many occasions were citizens of the public have used this to find out that they have a serious health problem/issue or to find out that they were to paranoid and then they were able to rest with it not on their mind anymore.

Advantages of NHS Direct:

• Saves the Government a huge sum of money
• Easy to use
• Someone’s always there (24/7 around the clock)
• You get fast responses to your questions
• Can get diagnosed over the phone
• It’s a free health service
• It’s a polite service
• Loads of information (caters for everyone!)

Disadvantages:

• Nurses/doctors can take a while to ring you back if it is a busy day in NHS Direct
•  Nothing beats face – to – face communication, especially when it is your health in hand
• The answers to your questions are not always right (for example, there was story on the news were a 5 year old boy had been diagnosed incorrectly and told not to come in to see a doctor… 5 days later he died of bacterial meningitis… NHS blamed it on software problems/issues)
• Not everyone knows how to use it the interface layout could be portrayed to be quite off putting or hard to use to some of the public users.



Computer/Doctor skit taken from Google images



In my own experience, I’ve been quite lucky to be a healthy guy, although in the past I’ve managed to break a few bones I have never had to use NHS direct, and that’s being honest. However, I have been on the website to try it out for myself and in conclusion to this, I generally thought it was an easy site to navigate through, and help was always at hand. But, I didn’t like the fact about the overwhelming questions and information; I guess these questions and informational text have to be made clear to us for it to actually have any success.

Job Centre Plus 

Job Centre Plus logo

This organisation is one of the biggest organisations in the global industry that searches for jobs. As it is an international site, it allows literally everyone to use it with access to the internet. Not only is it online Job Centre Plus has been so successful it also has a public site so the citizens can also use the organisation without using the internet... It gives an opportunity to all those who are signed up with Job Centre Plus an opportunity to find the ‘Mr/Mrs. Right’ for the employer.

This site is best for both the employer and the job seeker. Why? Here are some benefits of Job Centre Plus...

Advantages:

• Various amount of search options
• You can block your resume access (Job Seeker)
• You have the global scale itself to look for your perfect job
• It attracts the both the job seeker & the Employer to search
• Jobs are put into categories
• So many online facilities that again both the job seeker and the employer can use
• The site can provide personal service
• The job seekers resume/CV can reach a lot of people... quickly!
• It has a flexible package system too

Disadvantages:

• Not everyone sees everything that is promoted (therefore everyone can miss out)
• Statistically, only 18% use the site on an average scale
• Many people who use it are unemployed and don’t really have a good resume to boost themselves for a job!
• The staff who work at Job Centre Plus can’t always focus on the job seeker they have to average it out so its all fair
• Not many people have the confidence to ‘upload’ their CV/Resume as they either think it’s simply time wasting or... they feel they will get negative feedback which will throw them off even more

Happy working team - taken from Google images

In my own personal experience I have not yet used this service as I already have a job and I am not currently seeking to find a new one. However, I do remember talking to my neighbour who had subjected it to me as it would be a good idea for me to use it if I were to seek for a job. She then went on to tell me that by uploading her CV/Resume she had got numerous amounts of offers. Even if this was luck or coincidence, it still happened. And therefore it gave me a positive attitude to me that there is a job out there for you, you just have to look hard enough to find it! 

Overall, the site has been a very successful part of e - government put I do feel that this site is aimed at the target audience of 18yrs - 49-50years. So being my age at this moment of time I would personally wait till I was a bit older to then go on to use this service.

Direct Gov & YouGov

Direct Gov logo

Direct Gov

Direct Gov is a site that gives you easy access to government information... It uses simple language so that every one of all social classes can understand it. And according to their website it gets 29million hits a month! So it must be trustworthy and very helpful with those statistics! It is a UK site so it’s only any use to those who live in Great Britain (GB). It is also available through your mobile phone! Direct Gov works very closely to the government itself, why? Because it wants to get out every bit of information out to the public so that they know what’s going on and also it allows newest advice to be given out too. It’s aim is to ‘bring the government and the public together in one place’.

Direct Gov can help the public with literally anything; here are some examples of what its site has to offer:

1. Finding a job
2. Paying Tax
3. Booking your 1^st driving test
4. Finding out other local services such as: NHS clinics/Nurseries/Solicitors etc...
5. Reviews on which school is the right school for your children
6. Passport renewal

Advantages of Direct Gov:

• Has a wide spectrum of information
• It’s all legitimate
• The public have an input on what’s to be said as it is effectively a community between the two
• Not very expensive to run
• Peoples wish’s can be seen to as well
• Disadvantages:
• Decision making can be quite hard at times
• Not everyone is appeased
• Disinterest can be common within sites like these
• Not everyone is willing or able to participate in this site
• Some people can be manipulative to some of the information given out!

YouGov

YouGov on the other hand is practically the US version of Direct Gov, however, they have expanded to Europe, the Middle East and Scandanvia.iso with this information I would say it is on a much larger scale to that of which Direct Gov is at... It gives out similar information and its aims are also very similar, their aim as it stands is to ‘deliver a live stream of continuous, accurate data and insight into what people are thinking and doing all over the world’.

For that aim to happen they must have a constant relationship/feed with the governments and the public as well. But seeing as YouGov covers such a vast majority I would say it wouldn’t be as effective and useful as Direct Gov. Why? Well, Direct Gov is only aimed at the GB citizens, whereas, YouGov simply wouldn’t be able to grab all the information as it has to cover so much.

YouGov logo

Advantages of YouGov:

• Again, there’s a wide range of subjects to choose from
• You can get involved
• Has a constant RSS feed
• You can see whats happening globally
• ‘TellYourGov’ is a way to express your thoughts to YouGov by Twitter/SMS/e-mail etc. I see this as a very good advantage, as you can actually interact through social network sites this means that more of the younger generation would be more likely to take interest!)
• The results of their surveys are regularly revealed on media forms such as newspapers etc... (this can help shape your ideal future’

Disadvantages:

• Having information for everyone can be a disadvantage as you have to know everything if you are going to be reliable and successful
• Can be biased to other countries
• The site is hard to navigate as there is so much information
• Not everybody’s interested in it

Overall, Direct  Gov and YouGov are very similar, they both offer very important government information, it allows the public to see what is actually happening, Ini my own experience, I have actually used Direct Gov, I used it to find out where to get Driving lessons, and after that search it gave me some very good results on where to go locally and the cheapest prices! I was very pleased with the results and i would be very keen to share this with other people who are also looking for similar results!

And as the subjects are very wide spread you can find out all the information you want to find out, as well as keeping up to date with the recent government decisions. I think there are going to involve surveys for what should be debated within the house of parliament and this is all down to those who vote, so in hindsight the public actually know that their say is 100% genuine.

Open to all ears picture taken from Google images

Education

VLEs

Otherwise known as a ‘virtual learning environment’ or ‘e – learning’. A VLE is completely web based and it models real – world education by integrating an equivalent set of virtual concepts, such as: tests/tasks/classes/homework/classrooms etc… it also has the ability to preserve other external academic resources.  This bit of software is normally used in schools and other educational establishments, why? Because people believe that sites like these make learning more interactive. This is known as ‘blended learning’ and to date statistically, it has been proving that since 2007 a lot more schools are getting involved with this program, making VLEs come to big rise in reputation and production. Even my school has a VLE!

St. Marks Schools VLE

In an overview of a VLE, a student will work over the internet to reach out to their ‘online tasks’. Teachers are able to upload to this site at any point seeing as they have internet access and space to actually put the work in. once a student has completed a task on a VLE his/her teacher will then be able to mark it and post his results to him/her over his VLE account. Newer VLEs also include perks such as ‘Wiki, Blogs, RSS feeds, Podcasts & 3D virtual learning spaces’.  All of this perks create a multimedia experience not only for the students but for the teachers too!

Advantages of VLEs:

• Accessibility – anyone with access to the internet can use it. Student wise, even children with special needs can use the program. Making life a lot easier for them, and hopefully making them learn a lot more clearly and positively
• As you can repeat the work on the site – you can learn at you own pace
• Can open a VLE at home
• Really easy to revise on there (downloading teachers work examples)
• For students with disabilities: they are very popular with people who are deaf/No need to take notes or have a scriber as you have formats to suite special needs/it also available outside office hours (meaning that the person with the disability wont need help  of the assistant/carer if its formatted for them)
• Can save time for tutors/teachers
• It encourages communication & collaboration
• Signposting is also encouraged

Disadvantages:

• Facial expressions would not be available to do (paralinguistic cues etc...)
• The only communication would be via the written text so poor writing skills could result in a disadvantage to the reader
• Always the chance of unclear/misunderstandings through written text
• Very expensive to set up not every school has the money to set one of these up

Frog logo

In my own personal experience, my school has a VLE and this particular VLE was published by Frog. Now Frog has its advantages and disadvantages in my own personal opinion. It has a lot of free space for teachers to use up and it’s also easy to ‘download’ teachers work to help with your own! However having animated GIF images on their makes it very slow at times and can also be hard to navigate through opening numerous new tabs. Although those are problems, they can be easily fixed! And in time I’m sure I’ll get better with the user face. And I reckon a lot more schools will try their hardest to invest in them!

Online Learning (Revision)

BBC Bitesixe logo

There are many different types of revision sites online, the most well known ones being BBC Bitesize and Sam learning. Learning online has become a very new and successful thing, a lot of schools introduce sites like Bitesize too their students to make them become more ‘interactive’ with their own work. These sites can be good also to those who have short attention spans, for example it may be hard for one of them to listen to a teacher babble on about the science ethics for an hour or so, however if he/she were able to go on the internet to find out what a chain reaction is they would be able to play games on it and maybe even watch a really eye catching video about it!

Advantages of Online Learning (Revision):

• Convenient  (can access a revision site online at any given time)
• Cost (it is free to use most of the time!)
• These sites are normally reliable and give true/honest work  

Disadvantages:

• Personal contact (although it’s learning through an online service, there is no face – to – face communication which in every case is a bad thing)
• Not all sites are professional/correct, you have to be careful with what site you use (check reviews)
• Not everyone trusts them!

Atom taken from Google images

Personally, I have indeed used revision sites on the internet. I used BBC Bitesize actually to revise science in years 10 & 11, I personally struggled with science and found it really boring, that’s when I got told by my review tutor that I should try find other ways to learn around it. I took it upon myself to try out Bitesize only because I heard good feedback. However, I did use it and I found it a lot easier to concentrate with science and watching short clips and playing games and regular Q&A made it a lot easier for me to learn. And obviously I’m not the only person out there whose tried this, I know it wouldn’t  work or fit in with certain people but for me it helped a lot and I even started answering questions with confidence in my science lessons!

School E – Mail

E - Mail picture taken from Google images

Having a school e – mail is crucial to your every day to day life in school, especially in secondary school/college. It allows you have to have a private school e – mail and from which you can access this from home and in school. Having it there means the only e – mail you will get is mail from school evolving around newsletters to homework. Without having a school e – mail not every student would know what’s going on and there will be the people who will be off sick and miss out on work or people missing the football/netball trials. It happens, so by having a personal school e – mail you can catch up with literally everything you need to know.

Advantages of School E – Mails:

• Very easy to use
• It’s a free service
• You can forward messages to other people who might of been missed out by accident
• You can send your school work to your home
• Can be accessed at home
• Normally sends the mail quite fast
• Information at your finger tips

Disadvantages:

• School servers can crash
• Sometimes teachers can be a bit forgetful to send mail
• You can’t really send massive files
• Some e – mails can be upsetting/emotional (otherwise known as cyber bullying)
• Lacks the personal touch
• E – mails are best as an abbreviated form

Homework skit taken from Google images

Yes, I do have my own school e – mail, and yes, I do check it regularly. I do this as my a – levels are more on the coursework side than theory. This means that I am constantly being set work which needs to be done! All it takes is good organisational skills to keep up with it though, and you can organise through e – mail as some teachers will link you to sites where you gather more information or simply give you the presentation that you were presented too in class. I have teachers who do this for me and it is very helpful, they always tell you what you need to of done by their next lesson. And if you don’t there’s no real excuse! This is also a good way to pick out the lazy from the hard working ones!

E - Commerce

Electronic commerce otherwise known as ‘e – commerce’ is known widely to be the action taken to buy/sell products online, mainly this is done by transactional websites such as; ‘Amazon, Asos, Topman/Topshop, Superdry, Franklin & Marshall, HMV’ etc…  You can also use online banking and even auctioning online like ‘eBay’ these are all forms of electronic commerce. There are business out there who only work online! In this section I will give examples of online businesses, online banking & online auctions.

Online Shopping (Brick & Click)

Franklin & Marshall logo

Online shopping (otherwise known as the Brick & Click method) has hit the ground running, with many growth spurts on the way! It is believed that by the year of 2030 a third of shopping will all be online!  A lot of people see online shopping really easy, and I don’t blame them, being on the right website will make you want to spend and spend till you have no more money! It’s a lot easier to shop online then to go to the local town centre or RVP. You have specialized sites too, for shoes you could go to Office.co.uk their selection of shoes is very broad catering for most ages, however if you wanted music you could go to HMV.co.uk, this brand only focuses on music/DVDs. However if you wanted an online shop that had most things then you could go to Amazon.co.uk. There is an online shop for everyone.

Advantages of online shopping:

• You can be involved in special online discount codes/vouchers
• Can collect points in certain online shops (this can then be put towards your next purchase)
• The site is open 24/7
• There is a shop for everything as the target audiences are massive
• You can save items ‘put buy’ online (only in some online transactional websites)
• You can compare items with ease
• The site tells you what’s ‘in’ and what’s ‘out’
• If stock is out then it will tell you

Disadvantages:

• Sites that are transactional need high maintenance to keep going
• Nothing beats face – to – face communication (help/advice)
• Online shops can get hacked… (if the site isn’t secure your details could be stolen)
• P&P can sometimes make the overall price the same as if you were to go down the local shop
• Business shops that are not online lose out on potential sales
• Items can get mixed up, and or lost
• You have to be patient when buying online as it gets shipped directly to you

As myself I do shop online quite a bit, I do this because I can find really good deals online, for example, today  I purchased a fish-eye lens for my Nikon, this cost me £35 including P&P, in Jessops this cost £69, so its clear that I have saved a substantial amount of money! Although I do like the perk of shopping in the RVP as iI can see for myself what is there and I can try on anything I want too, you can't do that with online shopping, so you have to be 100% certain with what you are purchasing if you don't want the hassle of sending it back!

Online Banking

One important perk of e – commerce is online banking, this has slowly been evolving to be something great. This basically means that you can access your bank as exactly how you would do it in person. You can do all the same things, and you can transfer money to other accounts and create branch accounts with step – to – step guides. However there are people who would argue ‘is it safe?’ in answer to this FAQ, I would say that a vast majority are very safe, yes you have all your details on there, but so does your high street branch… there’s no real difference apart from you can access your bank online. You can make it more secure by adding questions that only ‘you’ would know, a lot of people do this, yet loads don’t bother as they feel more trust for the online banking systems.

Egg logo

There is actually an online bank that is only accessible online… this online bank is called ‘Egg’. Egg banking PLC is a British internet bank owned by Citigroup, and was established in 1996, it was properly launched in 1998 and is now the largest online bank system. They specialize in savings, credit cards & general insurance. Although it used to offer loans and mortgages it now longer does not.

The key to online banking is simple, its trust, without these the  systems simply wouldn’t function as no one would want to use them, luckily for us security is always improving. Without security these banks wouldn’t exist...

Advantages of Online Banking:

• Having an online bank means you don’t have to travel to the high street
• Can check your statements whenever you wish
• Accessible 24/7 unlike high street banks
• You can save the actual business itself from printing costs as they can send you information direct to your e – mail or bank account itself

Disadvantages:

• Hackers are always trying to break into online banks
• Security checks can be off putting and can be time consuming
• As it is a fairly new thing not everyone really trusts it
• Unlike a high street bank you can ask away, with an online bank it’s very hard to seek help

I myself don't use online banking, why? I'm not the biggest fan of it, although I would trust the service, I prefer face - to - face communication, where as if I do get in a sticky situation I know that help is only down the road. However I can see why others would use online banking, especially those who don't have access to a local bank.

Online Auctions

eBay  logo

Sites such as ‘eBay’ have bloomed! Everyone has heard of it, and to be honest, most people use it too! Anyone can join too, you can sell and purchase, the reason why people use it is to get rid of unwanted goods this is when the quote ‘another man’s rubbish is another man’s gold’ comes into place, it really is true. This site also works off trust too though, without trust this site would not function properly. And this is when ‘feedback’ comes into action, after every purchase you will review the service and the product. And that is honesty. If a seller receives bad feedback  buyers will then think twice to use them, however it would be a completely different story if the seller was to receive good feedback!

To aid the process most ‘eBayers’ use something called ‘PayPal’. PayPal is an e – commerce business allowing payments/money transfer to be made over the internet. This gives buyers on eBay more security because if the seller lies or is dishonest about his product you then have the right to claim your money back, and his reputation will go down. So it’s a win – win situation.

Advantages of Online Auctioning:

• You can see whose bad & whose good
• Wide/broad range of products
• Can make money from anything
• PayPal is really safe
• Something for everyone

Dr. Dre's Beats headphones

Disadvantages:

• Fake products are rife (for example Dr. Dre’s new beats headphones have been copied and sold online causing great distress to the buyer!)
• People can be dishonest
• You don’t always win an auction! So you must be patient 

I haven't yet used eBay, but I have wanted to use it for a while! I know of many people to have had great success with it, stating that you can get really good deals/purchases, and you can have fun selling stuff that you know longer need! I personally believe that because you have access to PayPal of which offers amazing security eBay will keep blooming and other online auction websites will join too!

Real - Time Media

Real time technology is one of the biggest forms of media technology to date. Why? easy,  real time technology can be used for the of  order tracking/navigation, also as a form of communication such as; RSS feeds + news, weather such as satellite imaging and web-cams, and, things in our everyday lives such as public transport. There are many things real time media can be used for. An example could be using a Tom-tom sat nav to find the most efficient/fastest way to get to Brighton from Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Rizzle Kicks Album Artwork 2011

Order Tracking

Many transactional websites like Apple and Amazon have a tracking device which allows their customers to check out where their products are. For example, if you brought the new Rizzle Kicks album from Amazon and hadn’t yet received it or just simply wanted to find out whereabouts it is then you could track it down by simply going on your Amazon account and search where your product was.

Advantages of order tracking would be:

• Better service as the customers/suppliers can check their progress of their products by themselves
• Cost efficient for companies as you can reduce stock wastage
• Defines trust, as it’s an honest form of technology creating a relationship between the customer and the supplier

Order Tracker (print screen, example)

Disadvantages:

• If the customer/supplies product is in a completely different place that could break down trust and reputation
• Streams are not always streaming properly and could lag, making confusion occur
• Products have been known to mix up, again creating confusion and loss of trust

In my own personal experience there was a time when I had brought a pair of shoes from the transactional website Asos, I ordered these shoes expecting to see them at my doorstep in three working days. After the three days I got a bit impatient and decided to order track my shoes, I found out that this shoes were in Preston!? I couldn’t believe it and sent an email to Asos complaining, and they gave me a 15% discount code to use on my next purchase with them, although they gave me a perk I was still a bit unhappy with them, but in the end I finally got my shoes in six working days. Just goes to show without that real time media technology, what would I have of done?

Satellite Imaging/Web-cams

Webcam photo from Earthcam

Weather satellite imaging is also used widely throughout real time media. Companies now  put webcams around their land for potential customers or for their customers to see what the weather will be like for them when they come to stay. I found a website online ‘Earthcam.com’ this website allows any user to view real time imaging from Hong Kong to the infamous San Francisco! A lot of people normally use web-cam imaging in places such as skiing resorts to see if the snow is any good for skiing/snowboarding. 

Advantages of satellite imaging:

• Satellite images can make forecasting weather conditions much more clearer – because they show exactly what is happening in that chosen location
• You can predict weather from seeing it yourself

Disadvantages:

• The cam could be faulty and not give us a clear perception of what is going on
• Your connection to the internet could always cut out
• The website has to be trustworthy as that webcam could be placed elsewhere...

I don't really have a personal experience of using real time satellite imaging, but my mum has used this to decide on where to go on a walking holiday. She actually searched both places and saw which of the two had better weather for our walking conditions. And in the end my mum did indeed come to a conclusion, with all thanks to satellite imaging.

RSS Feeds

RSS icon

The first ever version of RSS, was created by Ramanathan V. Guha and Dan Libby at Netscape in March 1999, since it has now become a big hit of technology and is used worldwide.

RRS news feeds are very rife in the world or real time technology. These RSS feeds are everywhere! Their aim is to frequently  post updated works such as: news, blog entries, statuses and audio/video etc... However, they do what they are supposed to do, they give a real time recollection of what is going on in a certain event/place/person etc. Sites such as BBC news use RRS feeds. They do this because it’s a simple and fast way to get information across.

Social network sites such as Twitter use RRS feeds to keep their social site working, without RRS there would really be no Twitter, meaning that the celebrities wouldn’t be able to junk mail you with what they are currently having for breakfast. They do this through a real time ‘tweet’. What happens is on the main homepage you can see a real time version of what all your contacts are ‘tweeting’ about through RSS feeds.

Advantages of RSS feeds:

• Can grab the latest updates of virtually if not everything as soon as it happens
• You can subscribe to a user to have a constant flow of their RSS feeds
• Can save time surfing the web to find out information
• Spam free – you do not use your e-mail address
• If you want to un-subscribe from someone you can – it’s no real hassle to do
• Can be used as an advertising/marketing tool

Disadvantages:

• Some users prefer using their e-mail address to receive updates rather than an RSS feed
• You get no graphics/photos in an RSS feed
• RSS feeds create higher traffic and demands on the server
• As its newish technology some people are a bit shy/afraid to use it

I happen to sometimes use RSS feeds to find out brief/quick information about what's happening in the news. I find it user friendly and so far I have had no real problems with it. I also use RSS feeds to find out the latest gossip/news of my football team Spurs. I can find out their latest signings and whereabouts they are on the table and if they have scored a goal! Brilliant stuff!

Spurs RRS news feed printscreen