tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38907358392600816112011-08-26T03:49:36.241-07:00Online Media & TechnologyWhere is technology and WWW going tomorrow? Lets find out together.Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-52014854844810020762011-02-23T02:15:00.001-08:002011-02-27T17:00:47.272-08:002011-02-27T17:00:47.272-08:00Online communities<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSKWNqQqcz4bkAKs3pLRqpxyuAZ2IbrXFHdkSOI4oCV___9l8zh" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="200" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSKWNqQqcz4bkAKs3pLRqpxyuAZ2IbrXFHdkSOI4oCV___9l8zh" /></a></div>A community is a very important term that really defines our society and goes back in history dating all the way back to our ancestors who formed hunter-gatherer groups that banded together. Communities exist all around us in various ways ranging from the places we live and our neighborhoods to communities based on interest or jobs we hold. The various things that bind people together really form communities.<br />
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Online communities have existed really dating way back before the world wide web <a href="http://www.abanet.org/genpractice/magazine/2007/jun/onlinecommunities.html">was even created</a>:<br />
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<blockquote>"Online communities predate the World Wide Web and other aspects of the Internet. Since the early days of Usenet (USEr NETwork), developed nearly 30 years ago for university folk to communicate among themselves, lawyers have participated in online communities, both for social as well as professional reasons. And even before that, a Bulletin Board System, or BBS, enabled users to exchange messages in the ether."</blockquote><br />
The World Wide Web simply made it so much easier and more accessible for more people to form and join existing communities online. The graphical interface allowed more freedom and content to be shared and discussed. It really opened up what was already there to be improved and accessible to the masses.<br />
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Current online communities can trace muchof their jargon and attitude to the past Usenet groups before many of us even logged on to the internet. An example of such jargon commonly used today on various online communities to label trouble makers or people who annoy the other community members are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?_r=2&ei=5058&partner=IWON&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">trolls</a>:<br />
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<blockquote>"<strong>In the late 1980s</strong>, Internet users adopted the word “troll” to denote someone who intentionally disrupts online communities. Early trolling was relatively innocuous, taking place inside of small, single-topic Usenet groups."</blockquote><br />
There are various such jargon online that traces its origin from niche communities who coined and popularized these terms. Examples would be like 'laugh out loud' (lol) -- a term that can trace its origin all the way back to one of these Usenet groups or AOL when it was the biggest thingnsince slice bread.<br />
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Martin reed argues that online communities who have been the most successful have done something effective at the outset and are <a href="http://www.communityspark.com/warning-online-communities-are-resistant-to-change/">resistant to change</a>:<br />
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<blockquote><span class="article">"Don’t be fooled into thinking that successful online communities are those that continuously innovate, introduce new features on a regular basis and constantly redesign to keep up with current trends. The most successful online communities are those that are different from the outset, and stick with what works. If you want to forge a strong online community, you need to be resistant to change - your members certainly are."</span></blockquote><br />
I only agree to an extent. Sometimes a communities fails because lack of interest, funding, or for various reasons out there. I think that communities need to evolve and retain more of what is out there and what is popular on the web ranging form videos off Youtube to blogs. They need to take ideas from other online communities and put their own spin on them to be really effective. However, I agree that if a community builds a strong base at the beginning and gives something users to look forward to from the outset than it will in general continue being successful.<br />
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The bottom line is online communities are here to stay and will continue to bind people together from all walks of life and places around the world. People are no longer restricted to communities that are local because of what the internet and online communities accomplished. With the recent 'Facebook' film, we got to see how such a simple idea can magnify into a huge community from just a University-based and close-knit group. people are really drawn and bound by these social networks and communities that form our existence on the Internet.<br />
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</script><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-5201485484481002076?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-10471806645287929692011-02-23T02:14:00.000-08:002011-02-27T17:02:00.014-08:002011-02-27T17:02:00.014-08:00Online advertising transitions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTVo2vjtjNTwjH3IRB3pCy466noQ2Id2_hE-_VVREfu56TpZrJ5Ng" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="252" width="200" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTVo2vjtjNTwjH3IRB3pCy466noQ2Id2_hE-_VVREfu56TpZrJ5Ng" /></a></div>Online advertising is a huge part of the World Wide Web, and the user who browses and participates in any online activity has to deal with it. Often what we forget or do not realize advertising is being fed to us with clever methods while we don’t notice. The same holds true in other media as well. For example a boxer or athlete might have a tattoo of some company on his back or a logo on his clothing constantly feeding us. In the online world the things you search for in web browsers are being fed back to you through advertisements later.<br />
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Advertising can be a annoying to the end users when not done right. For example, if the user is constantly fed with bright banner ads and ads popping off in flash it can make someone not want to be on that site. Advertising is part of every media and has been with us since the <a href="http://stevenimmons.org/blogs/stevenimmons/03082008/developments-online-advertising">beginning</a> of the WWW. It is not going to just go away. There needs to be an advertising procedure however that doesn't alienate the user from the content that he is using.<br />
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Unlike previously in the history of the WWW where mass users were targeted for advertisement and advertising was easier to spot, it is becoming much more individualized now. It used to be about mass e-mail targeting, and bright banner ads but now it is much more personal and based on our interests. Often when we sign up for a message board on a site we have to fill out an inquiry asking about our hobbies and the like, and we later are fed things related to those hobbies or interests through ads. These companies figured out that we are much more likely influenced and purchase a product or service that we are interested in.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/technology/internet/11google.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1240826640-QHMUOX4hOYWdSCK0ksnrIQ">behavioral targeting</a> is a method Google and its competitors use to target individual users with advertising based on their history of web search. Much what we do on the web is tracked, and often that information including private information about us is being sold or given to companies interested in such material. The web really opened us up to companies being able to profit off of.<br />
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I think for newspapers to be successful online, they should either work with or learn from companies such as Google -- to see what really works. Banner ads might not be enough revenue, and readers probably do not want to be spanned with e-mails or have to deal with flash pop-ups. It shouldn't be too difficult to figure out what the interests are of a person reading certain topics and discussing certain news stories. However what is also needed is the revenue from online advertisers to be enough for online news sites to be profitable as well. Thus, the readership of online articles and the use of these sites must be high -- which can be done through participation and good journalism attracting readers.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://mlata26.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/twitter-logo.png?w=300" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="200" src="http://mlata26.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/twitter-logo.png?w=300" /></a></div>Recently, a company called <a href="http://www.vstechnologies.net/">VS Technologies</a> is suing Twitter because a patent was breached called “Method and system for creating an interactive virtual community of famous people”. The U.S. patent, also known as <a href="http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=e-ULAAAAEBAJ&dq=6,408,309">no. 6,408,309</a> deals specifically with Twitter allowing users and celebrities to interact online. <br />
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This is obviously true but technically can't any social networking website, even blogs, allow for such interaction? What makes Twitter different than someone requesting a Facebook friend request from Lady Gaga or Ashton Kutcher? <br />
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Twitter has been known for various scandals or rumors breaking out, and it is public information though. Meaning we can access easily the tweets of pretty much anyone using the system unlike Facebook. But everyone that tweets and uses Twitter knows this and does it on their own account, yes even celebrities love to chitchat and engage with their fans.<br />
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Twitter does not really allow for long conversations anyway. It is defined by brevity. E-mails and even online social outlets or games like World of Warcraft or Second Life (more of a system of virtual communities like the patent tries to define) allows for longer and more in-depth conversation. So why concentrate on just Twitter? It is really odd that a company would do this.<br />
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Here is what the patent defines and the lawsuit is based on:<br />
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"As it pertains to this lawsuit, very generally speaking, the ’309 Patent discloses methods and systems for creating interactive, virtual communities of people in various fields of endeavor wherein each community member has an interactive, personal profile containing information about that member."<br />
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Maybe instead of suing, VS Technologies should team up or learn something from Twitter. Often simplicity is the best method in integrating communities as Twitter showed. Twitter doesn't try to be a complicated service or even a Facebook replacement. It is based on communication and sharing information in brief segments -- not necessairly on a specific celebrity-based interaction.<br />
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I would suggest VS Technologies an acquisition but I doubt they could afford one, especially since Google is already on <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/02/sources-google-in-late-stage-talks-to-buy-twitter/">that path</a>. Google realizes the communication possibilities of Twitter, and interactive environments like it. Google also understands Twitter's potential created in integrating it with the rest of the Web thus streamlining the search process for stories or feeds for example. I am talking about apps, for instance, like iPad's <a href="http://www.flipboard.com/">Flipboard</a> that allows users to have a magazine-like navigation of tweets that often contains links to full articles and can be viewed directly from the app.<br />
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Twitter allows you to get feeds from a list of people or companies represented by someone using the service -- in an organized fashion and without having to navigate the entire website of that said company. With Flipboard, you can look at main headlines and images of subjects that you are interested in and through Twitter feeds as well. The integration of social services with online Web content like news stories is getting more streamlines.<br />
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Basically the point I am getting at is that Twitter isn't just an outlet of communication or gossip like some websites portray it. However it has it's limitations as well -- notably the brevity of the tweets you can post. I think it is silly to sue the company just because it allows celebrities and users to interact based on some patent. Any website or service online could technically allow this if the celebrities sign up and share their contact information. Speaking of Twitter, am I the only one who constantly has to find out the real spelling of the social network? I always think that the title is 'Tweeter,' due to users sending 'tweets,' and not as 'Twitter.'<br />
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[<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/20/twitter-lawsuit-vs-technologies/">Techcrunch</a>]<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-6410431655016843727?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-10585045426998396952008-12-18T16:27:00.000-08:002011-02-23T12:13:02.753-08:002011-02-23T12:13:02.753-08:00The power supply<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.toomanymornings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Power_Supply.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="200" src="http://www.toomanymornings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Power_Supply.jpg" /></a></div>One of the most overlooked components of a computer is the power supply, or the box that powers up the rest of your system and makes it run. When looking at computer specs for potential consumer computers people are about to buy the ram, processor speed, video card, and other aspects are listed but the psu is all but forgotten. Many people seem like they can't tell the difference or ask for that info anyway. If you are a smart computer user especially one who uses graphics or heavy duty processing power you need to worry about this.<br />
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Most manufacturers seem to give cheap psu's in stock computers like gateways. hp's, emachines, etc. unless you buy one with a video card preinstalled and it is an 800 dollar plus computer. I realized I needed to change my powewr supply to put a video card in my computer when I found out it is only a 300 watt bestec psu (the exact same one I used on my previous 4 year old computer that came with that). Not only are watts the thing to look at when buying a psu but the amps each of the 12v rails have as well, it is good to have at least one of those 12v rails with a 25 or above amps if the video card is real heavy duty. Often psu manufacturers also lie about the power of it and list the top watt output but not the peak but still very functional output as well.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-1058504542699839695?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-17175652955505303992008-12-08T22:23:00.001-08:002011-02-23T12:20:31.274-08:002011-02-23T12:20:31.274-08:00Buying a good budget pc can be a pain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.asia.ru/images/target/photo/50850665/Computer_Shell_Mold___Products.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="200" src="http://www.yowspot.com/buy_sell/pro/26.gif" /></a></div>I recently purchased a $300 Gateway computer thinking I got a great deal because of its pretty <a href="http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/1009484/1009484sp3.shtml">good specs</a>.<br />
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The Problem I realized after gettingjt is that the cd rom drive doesn't seem to work very well with blank cdr's or cdrw's and has a hard time burning them or ejecting them. On top of this, it is a low profile graphic system so I can't upgrade the pcie video card to a card that isn't anything other than 'low profile' despite the size of the case. Even my budget 4 year old emachineT3092 let me put regular cards in.<br />
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The other sad thing is the quality of the power supply not even giving me enough cables or molex's to plug in a pcie cable converted video card nor does it have a pcie specific 6 pin cable. The best card I can run for this power supply so far I figure is a 9500gt low profile edition. ANd I really hope nothing else starts going wrong. Oh and the computer (or possibly the crappy Vista is doing this) freezes sometimes when I am opening up many browisng tabs at once form a previous session. Bottom line some things on paper seem a lot better than they are in reality. But what irks me is how the specifications listed on Gateway don't say anywhere it is only a low profile compatible system.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-1717565295550530399?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-73494257914303205442008-12-02T18:27:00.000-08:002008-12-02T18:38:11.500-08:002008-12-02T18:38:11.500-08:00The world of pc gamesONe thing I noticed recently is the amount of console (ps3 and xbox360) games being ported to the pc from all time greats like Mass Effect to GTA 4. I mean it seems more and more games are being designed together for these three platforms rather than specifically for any of them. Sure theps3 has games like Little Big Planet or Uncharted, Microsoft has Halo franchises as well as many others like Rare games, and pc has games that wouldn't be suitable on home consoles like Spore (beside a possible wii incarnation) and strategy games like the Total War series. But more and more of these designers are making xbox360/ps3 games and less pc and wii games it seems.<br /><br />Recently the Epic, designers of Gears of War, stated they won't be bringing the sequel to pc unlike the first one:<br />http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/Gears-of-War-2-is-Epics-Primary-Franchise-says-Cliff-Bleszinski/21414<br /><br />They seem to blame piracy as the cause but don't take into account how accessible piracy is on the xbox360 as well. To me it seems like a cop-out and Microsoft probably payed themmo0ney to keep it xbox360 only for a period of time. Despite the fact Microsoft benefits from having a lot of these games also appear on pc since they own the rights to Windows as well as have ownership of many of these trademark games and/or development studios they want to push the 360 above the ps3 at the expense of many pc owners in my opinion.<br /><br />The pc needs more games geared toward it and its demographic like "the movies' that are also unique and can't be easily played on consoles. The Wii has found its nieche market with people wanting some new control mechanisms among new ways to play games. It isn't good I don't think to see these games become the same over and over again without regards to the platforms strengths, and just be ported back and forth.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-7349425791430320544?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-15602784992804196982008-11-18T15:30:00.001-08:002011-02-23T12:23:23.763-08:002011-02-23T12:23:23.763-08:00World of Warcraft and game addiction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/world-of-warcraft-580x435.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="200" src="http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/world-of-warcraft-580x435.jpg" /></a></div>I recently ran into this <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/17/totally-blizzards-fault-boy-collapses-after-wotlk-marathon/ ">article</a> about a 15-year-old Swedish teenage boy went into convlusions:<br />
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"an exhausted Swedish boy as the latest victim of "<a href="http://joystiq.com/tag/game-addiction">game addiction</a>." The 15-year-old went into convulsions following a marathon <a href="http://joystiq.com/tag/world-of-warcraft"><em>World of Warcraft</em></a> session in which he hardly ate or slept.<br />
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Doctors say the boy will make a full recovery and the child's father expressed he'll limit the amount of time his son plays from now on."<br />
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This really shows how powerful many of these games have become and how addicting they can become. I noticed this is especially true in the mmorpg crazy where it is known people play for hours and hours at a time sometimes neglecting their families and social lives.<br />
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I had a somewhat similar experience when years ago when i encountered a game called starcraft and started playing online with it. I never tried online gaming before and it just seemed to open another world to me with interaction as well as competition against people from all over the world. I think it is because of this correspondance and interaction online in games people sometimes replace it with real-life interactions and feel more at home in the game world.<br />
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Those are some of the negatives of online gaming and especially when it is taken too far but there are many positives as well. They build cooperation and team work, as well as are just plain fun and enjoyable to play. Many of these games come alive in a breatihing world full of real life players participating in such worlds.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-1560278499280419698?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-30256953327309539372008-11-12T12:12:00.000-08:002008-11-12T12:19:22.306-08:002008-11-12T12:19:22.306-08:00Second LifeSecond Life to me is a very interesting concept in the sense that it is like a mix between virtual reality type chat room and a game like a massive multi player online rpg. You can do many things in Second Life that you can in many mmorpg games and other single player exploration games like the elder scroll series. For example you explore various lands and cities, you create and/or build things and change the land scape. You go to night clubs to dance or do a variety of such social activities with the other Second Life users. But at the same time you don't die in the game if you fall of a ledge or have health points or specific mission goals to accomplish. It is more about the social interaction between you, the world, and other users.<br /><br />What I found most fun to me was the way you can customize and edit your character. The way he looks which include his physical attributes among things such as what he is wearing are all editable. What I found interesting when I made my character obese was the way he walked. It looked real awkward and different form other characters. I suspect his physical attributes play a role in movement which is really interesting.<br /><br />People from all over the world seem to use Second Life and it is great for just relaxing and exploring a different world almost. It is also a breeze to set up an account and it is a client that isn't a large download unlike some other mmorpg type games.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-3025695332730953937?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-41516927160550963562008-11-03T23:44:00.000-08:002008-11-03T23:45:34.587-08:002008-11-03T23:45:34.587-08:00Buying printer ink<h3 style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;" class="post-title entry-title"> Anyone noticed just how expensive printer ink is? You have to either buy a $40 or so package of ink with black and color cartridges or buy two separate cartridges if you want long lasting both color and black and white ink on your printer. On top of this they separate the ink into so many brands that it can really become a pain in the neck shopping for ink.<br /></h3><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"> Recently I ran out and went to Best Buy here in Chico to get some ink. I bought a color cartrige thinking it will also work with black and white and to no avail. I now bought another black and white cartridge and probably will need to purchase another color one because the one I bought might have been for a different printer.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"> Best Buy only had Deskjets 350 I believe which I thought would work for my Deskjet 3520. I am not sure if it is not working because I do not have another cartridge in there (beside the old one) or if it is because I bought the wrong ink. Either way I had to go to Target to get the 3520 version of the black and white one I also needed. There are just too many choices and brands of ink for all these printers and shopping for ink can be painful and expensive. It also doesn't seem to be a good excuse for professors who want essays turned in on time.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-4151692716055096356?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-32670642540392202132008-10-22T12:00:00.000-07:002008-10-22T12:12:18.352-07:002008-10-22T12:12:18.352-07:00Wikipediaaccording to http://what-is-what.com/what_is/wikipedia.html<br />"Wikipedia is a free <a class="inArticle" href="http://what-is-what.com/what_is/online.html">online</a><!-- encyclopedia --><!-- portmanteau --><!-- language --><!-- esperanto --> encyclopedia. The name is a portmanteau of the Hawaiian word for quick, "wiki", and "encyclopedia". Actively updated in over 100 languages, including constructed languages such as Esperanto, the English language Wikipedia contains over one and a half million articles."<br /><br />This really shows the scope of wikipedia and how powerful it is today. Almost anything once can think of has an entry, and it is user-generated. meaning we can edit entries and create our own entries on wikipedia. this is great in the sense that it almost evolves daily. It gets updated daily and is really up to date unlike print encyclopedias. But the negative aspect of this is that many people like to vandalize some entries and put totally bs information there to trick people or amuse themselves through this vandalism. This is the case of a lot of user generated content however and wikipedia has some monitoring done and discourages this type of activity but how much can they really monitor or be able to prevent considering the scope of wikipedia. Many of these vandalized entries sit for days or months because they are off the wall or specialised subjects not many people check or have interest in.<br /><br />The great thing about wikipedia is it has software that quickly reverses editing errors and vandalism once it's spotted. The other thing is although wikipedia may have fact errors and unreliable information, much of the ifnormation is available and hotlinked via url's on the bottom of the entry to more professional or academic web-sites. I would not use wikipedia as a primary source academically but would look at it and read it and use some of those linked sources the entries contain.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-3267064254039220213?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-38172817491884054902008-10-15T00:27:00.000-07:002008-10-15T00:37:25.544-07:002008-10-15T00:37:25.544-07:00citizen journalism and the riotsEveryone in Chico lately seems to be talking about the riots. They occurred Saturday night (Sunday morning) and were the result of a party being broken up by police at 12 a.m. and students taking their anger/protest outside by starting small fires on top of other things like turning a car over if I am correct. What is interesting about this riot is how much it has been video taped and photographed by students or locals participating themselves. They mostly used cell phone cameras to do this but now these videos are available all over youtube as well as the Orion and the Chico ER.<br /><br />Now it is possible to view many sides of the story by clicking on the youtube videos or the Orion article for example and reading the comments underneath. An interesting debate broke out on the Orion comment section and partly on some of the youtube video comments as well regarding the Chico natives vs out-of-towners that came here only for College vs out-of-towners who come to Chico for only partying. I am guessing by the context of some of the comments the "natives" are putting the out-of-towners coming for school and the out-of-towners coming in for parties on weekends into a similar category.<br /><br />This discussion reminds me of Gangs of New York in a way, about how the natives were fighting the Irish and others fresh off the boat trying to establish themselves. Often through such discussions and comments it is possible to find out how people are feeling and the general consensus or debate going on among people.<br /><br />I noticed a lot of people would not use such language or discuss in such a fashion many subjects I see online on forums or comment sections of youtube videos, etc. if they weren't online anonymously. In ways these discussions make people be able to say what they really feel by not having to worry about the repercussions or being outcasted by their peers, and on the other hand it also makes them often say things that appear out of proportion or over exaggerated because it is hard reading someone's emotions over a computer screen.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-3817281749188405490?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-26165011704205016372008-10-02T13:45:00.000-07:002008-10-02T13:57:02.780-07:002008-10-02T13:57:02.780-07:00Online games such as Warcraft and othersI have been a big proponent of online gaming ever since I got hooked on starcraft about a decade ago or so. Before I played this game online or really any online game I would only play home console games in one player or with other people sitting on a couch together playing. I was always skeptical of computer gaming at the time because of the hardware requirements, bugs and fixes, as well as video card compabability. Even the Dreamcast was not out yet which really was way ahead of its time in regards to online gaming as even with a 56k modem it played 3d games at fast speeds. So when i played starcraft for the first time I was really hooked by the amazing community at battlenet and how it was so much of a social network instead of just a game. There were private rooms and public chat rooms there, and many of the players got to know each other through clans among other things.<br /><br />Ever since that time I have been playing online games on and off ranging from quake to half life. I noticed one thing though and that is that some games occupy the majority of players while tons of other games sit unused with only a couple of players on them at a time. Half life and its modding community for instance really seemed to have took over the first person shooter scene when I still played first person shooters (my pc is too weak for modern ones) and it had amazing modifications to go along.<br /><br />Now I noticed massive online multiplayer games have really taken off and become popular among players. I always have been pessimistic about playing such games due to monthly charges and the repetitive nature of such games. I think they are more of a social get together with players getting to know each other and escaping reality rather than skill based quick short burst style gameplay games that are based on trying to become more skilled at the game. These games such as Warcraft seem to mostly be about becoming something else and interacting in a different world. Maybe I will try one of these someday so far I only tried a couple of free ones and this Korean mmorpg called ragnarok online which I couldn't get into.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-2616501170420501637?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-56452123312842390112008-09-25T15:18:00.000-07:002008-09-25T15:32:47.941-07:002008-09-25T15:32:47.941-07:00User Generated ContentUser generated content is in my opinion a very positive thing for the web and for the internet community as long as it is not done in a harmful and damaging way to anyone's reputation. For example if the content is making fun of someone's family or personal love life and making defamatory remarks about them I am against it. On the other hand if the content is positive and a unique way to interpret another artist's creation by adding new things onto something old and mxiing it in with another artist's work then I am all for it.<br /><br />There is a lot of different user generated content floating around youtube and many other sites and one I particularly enjoy is Mega64 youtube vids of video game parody like skits. People make these skits based on video game character and act them out in real life. They see the reaction of bystanders when they do crazy things these video game characters are known for and film it. My favorite one of them is the Shenmue vid where a man asks a bunch of people in a park questions that the game's main character always asks in the game.<br /><br />There is a lot of great user generated content floating around and I do not think it is going away. This is especially true with the social networking age and youtube age where everyone can be an artist or a publisher in a single day. It is a great time for people to display their talents online to see what inspires people or what do people enjoy before publishing similar things out in the business world.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-5645212331284239011?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-71684888043293477412008-09-18T12:26:00.000-07:002008-09-18T12:33:39.022-07:002008-09-18T12:33:39.022-07:00The International movie database is a great site I've been spending more time browins lately full of options. Not only does it have every movie known to man but it has a list of almost all known actors, actresses, directors, and other people related to the movie industry. However what I found surprising recently was that it also has a section for almost all video and computer games with information, reviews and discussions for them.<br /><br />The site can easily find a local movie theater near you and lists all the movies that are playing there thus removing the hassle of having to call and sit through long messages. It also lists the times the movies are playing and gives links to their imdb page with both user reviews on imdb and external ones by professio0nal reviewers and journalists.<br /> <br />IMDB is also very much of a social site with many forums not related to movies or games at all that let people discuss every day life or things they find of interest.<br /><br />One of the negatives I found about imdb users is the hero or celebrity worship present among many of them. Many of thema re so cultish they defend pedophile actors/movie directors or other crimes of celebrities going as so far as making flat out lies about them to make their "hero" look good. Then there is the opposite of this and the people who simply bash someone who has a page on imdb (movie star/director/unknown actor) for almost no reason at all. I just cannot grasp why some people would defend some of these celebrities like they are part of their family or something.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-7168488804329347741?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890735839260081611.post-30785940239397004502008-09-10T02:13:00.001-07:002008-09-10T02:13:45.174-07:002008-09-10T02:13:45.174-07:00Theme of my blog for the semester<div class="deleteBody"><h2 class="postTitle" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">The overall theme of my blog for the semester will be things related to the internet and computer/gadget technology in general. I will mostly talk about my experiences surfing the web and using social networking sites, forums, etc. I might also talk about computer or other forms of technologies (like cell phones) that help assisting in using the web and computer as a technological tool.</h2> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3890735839260081611-3078594023939700450?l=maciejlata.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mike Latahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11929833251319687218noreply@blogger.com0