Trolls and Shit Talking Through Digital Communications

Almost everyone if not experienced it firsthand or has heard about people having negative communications with people through some sort of digital communications. These people are often, shall I say more open about their thoughts and feelings through texting or communicating over the internet. It is surprising what people will say when not talking face to face. For most people it is easier to say something nasty to someone else by saying it on facebook, instant messaging them or texting them than going up to them. There are quite a few reasons for this and here are two.

1. You avoid physical harm by shit talking through digital communications. You avoid being physically harmed by the person who you are talking to or their friends. Although it is not guaranteed that you won't be physically harmed in the future you won't right away.
   
2. When talking online there are often not other people around which can also make it easier if the person is often with his or her friends. This way you won't have more than one person mad at you (at least not right away).
   

It is surprising how different people communicate with you if they aren't talking to your face. Most but not all the people that comment on things like You Tube videos would never say that to the person's face. I remember in particular hearing that people have commented on Rebecca Black's video telling her to become anorexic and cut herself. Don't get me wrong Friday is a horrible song and music video and one of the few music videos that have more than 2,000,000 dislikes but telling someone that they should become anorexic and to cut themselves is a little harsh, actually a lot harsh. Through communications many people seem to not be polite and in the future people need learn about how to be courteous and polite on the internet.

Laptop Sales Decreasing

 

For the first time tablet computers and other devices have overtaken laptops in sales. This is most likely due to people just wanting a device to surf the internet and not needing all the features a laptop provides. There have also been more and more people buying netbooks instead of laptops. Netbooks are ideal for people who mainly use a computer for internet activities. Netbooks, especially some of the smaller ones, wouldn't necessarily be ideal if you are writing a big report due to the smaller keyboard especially with a netbook with only a 10' screen or less. Tablet computers have also gained popularity with the release of the iPad less than year ago and the Samsung Galaxy Tab released in the fall. The iPad can be compared to a touch screen netbook because it is an ideal internet device. One downside of the iPad is its size because of this it's not something that you would have in your pocket walking down the street unless you have  iPad pants which I wrote about in a previous post. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a more portable tablet computer because it is smaller; it is however a bit bigger than something you would put in your pocket. I don't think even with more tablet computer sales laptop sales will be hurting because some people aren't going to buy a netbook or a tablet computer if they need a portable computer with all the functions of a desktop computer. Some of the tablet computers the iPad in particular are not much cheaper than a laptop so many people would choose to buy a laptop that they can do use to do all tasks that they would be able to do on a desktop computer.

Taking Technolgy For Granted

It is easy to take all technology for granted and not realize how amazing technology is and getting very angry when it does't work. Everyday millions of people all over turn on their computers for work and just for fun. It is mind boggling to think that mere decades ago a far less advanced computer would fill up a whole room. These computers didn't even have screen and an average person wouldn't be able to operate them. People now have laptops and now there are even smaller computing devices that fit in the palm of your hand. These mobile devices may not appeal to all people because of the tiny buttons but if you are successful in using these devices that can help you do tasks that you would normally need a laptop or desktop computer to do. Computers are one thing but now arguably the internet is even more amazing. You are able to access millions of web pages from all over the world. You can now communicate with someone who is half way around the world. Now with numerous programs people can use web cams and microphones for free and see and hear someone that is halfway around the world. This is a much better solution than having to pay for international calls which can be very expensive. It can be annoying when technology doesn't work the way we want it to and it is very difficult to be productive if technology is constantly not working but if there is just a brief problem you have to take it into prospective and remember how amazing computers and other technology is.

Wi-Fi on Planes, Trains and Ships

It seems that you can never go far without there being a Wi-Fi hotspot nearby. Many restaurants are now using this as a selling future especially for business people, social networking addicts and any other person who want internet access. It is very convenient to have internet access while travelling so you keep in touch with family and friends when you are on the go especially since a lot of times many people don't want to use their cell phones because of roaming fees.

Now even airlines are offering Wi-Fi access but unfortunately this internet access is not free and not all planes are equipped with the technology yet. The price for using Wi-Fi on planes does vary from airline to airline but it is around $4.95 for flights 1.5 hours long 12.95 for flights longer than 3 hours. There are also Wi-Fi hot spots on cruise ships but you have to pay a lot more to use these hot spots and it is not worth the price for a lot of people. The use internet on a cruise ship you have to pay $0.65-0.75 a minute or a lot of times there are internet usage packages so you can get a bit better rate. The internet on cruise ships works using satellites and because it is satellite internet it is not the most reliable, which is a big downside if you are paying so much to use the internet.

I did find it surprising that there was Wi-Fi on planes but then again it is a good marketing ploy to attract business travellers and just people looking for something to do on a flight. This Wi-Fi on planes works like mobile internet; it works with cellular towers on the ground. The in flight internet Wi-Fi works in the continental U.S. and 100 miles beyond the border into Mexico and Canada. Wi-Fi technology on planes is fairly new and not on all flights, even if an airline advertises that it has Wi-Fi on board doesn't often mean that Wi-Fi is on all flights.

On trains you can also have internet access the VIA rail offers Wi-Fi in both economy and business class. It also says there is Wi-Fi available at many of the train stations. Like in flight Wi-Fi it VIA also uses cell phone towers (mobile internet technology) to provide internet access.

Internet access can be useful when travelling but depending on the price to use it may not be worth the money. It is a lot of times better to just wait until you get to where you are going and finding internet access there. It is great to stay in touch and it is helpful to have internet while on route but we don't have to be connected all the time.

The iPad 2 and the Evolution of Apple Devices

The iPad 2 has been released recently and with there have of course been new features. The iPad 2 boasts about a having a faster processor called the dual-core A5 chip. On the apple website it tells of that with this A5 chip you can do twice as much work as once. With the new iPad the graphics are 9 times faster graphics which is a great feature for gamers. The new iPad is also 15% lighter and 33% thinner. The new iPad like the most recent iPod touch model also has front and rear facing cameras.

It seems with all these new models that apple is always adding only a few features to each new model. The iPad 2 does have features that the iPad one didn't have and probably the biggest new feature of the iPad is the cameras. All in all the iPad doesn't have any outstanding features, unless you really wanted a camera on your iPad. The thing with the camera on the iPad is that it's great if you're sitting somewhere with your iPad and you happen to want to take a picture. The iPad is not like an iPod touch though because it is a lot bigger so it is not like you are going to take the iPad with you and take pictures with it because of its bulkiness. It will be interesting what apple comes up with next and if there are any big features that are going to be added to the iPod touch and or iPad.