Media Law & Literacy
Friday, April 30, 2021
Final Exam Post - Technology
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
EOTO Terms & Concepts: Total Information
Blog Post #10
Total Information
The Total Information Awareness Program (TIA) pulls as much information as possible about as many people as it can into an “ultra-large-scale” database, making the information available to government officials, to identify terrorists. The TIA was used as a mass detection program. From February to May 2003 it operated under the name Total Information Awareness and then it was renamed Terrorism Information Awareness.
The TIA was run by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. This is a branch of the Department of Defense that works on military research. John Poindexter is the leader. Poindexter is the former National Security adviser who was caught up in scandals and famously said that it was his duty to withhold information from congress.
How might it affect society?
This is obviously a radical and frightening thing for everyone. The government was basically seeking to access private information about you and those around you. The TIA affects ALL segments. It does not matter if you are rich, poor, male, female, gay, straight, etc. The TIA will search for information on every single person no matter the segmentation. The TIA can incorporate government records, medical records, financial records, political beliefs, travel history, buying habits, communications (phone calls, emails, web history), school records, personal and family background, etc. There has been a large amount of information tracking of individuals in the US due to Technology and The commercialization of data.
Computers, cameras, location sensors, and other technology makes it extremely easy to track and analyze data and information about people and what they are doing. One article stated, “consumers are increasingly being asked for their information everywhere they turn, from product registration forms to loyalty programs to sweepstakes entry forms.” The government has been said to be a primary source for the TIA database.
The TIA claims that it was made to identify, classify, and detect terrorists, but quite frankly if you do not know who the terrorists are, you must search and observe the activities and lives of every single person.
What is the problem?
Monday, April 26, 2021
Diffusion Theory
Diffusion Theory - The iPhone
Why did the iPhone become so popular?
Early and Late Adopters
Pros and Cons
Monday, April 19, 2021
EOTO Peer Presentations - Netflix
Blog Post #8
Netflix
Today we love to get together and watch movies with our friends and family. Before technology really took off, the way to access movies was by DVDs. Today we have the leisure of logging in to movie streaming services by the access of our phones, laptops, tablets, and SmartTV's. One of the most popular movie streaming services today is Netflix.
The Launch of Netflix
Netflix was launched by Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings in 1998 competing with the Blockbuster DVD rental industry. When Netflix was first launched, users were able to order from the Netflix website and have movies delivered to them. In 2007, Netflix gave the option of direct movie streaming right onto your laptop or computer. In 2011, Netflix got rid of DVDs altogether. In 2010, Netflix was available in Canada and later released in other countries worldwide.Today, Netflix currently has over 203.7 million subscribers. People obviously love Netflix because it is extremely easy to use. You can simply search the movie you are looking for, click on it, and watch it! With DVDs, you would have to take the time out of your day to go pick up a physical copy of a movie.
Problems and Competitors
One huge problem that Netflix faced was the issue of split streaming and DVD services in two different services. Today, Netflix competes with another movie streaming service called "Disney Plus" Disney Plus was released in December 2019 and already has the same amount of subscribers that Netflix has. Netflix has lost over 1 million subscribers to Disney Plus. These streaming services compete with each other with user prices, movie varieties, and more, Although Netflix has a number of competitors, I feel like Netflix will still continue to evolve and try to make its platform stronger than it already is.
Take the time out to view the Top 10 Video Streaming Services On the Market Today to see the pros and cons of our most popular video services today.
The Progressive Era - Antiwar
Antiwar Voices
US troops have been fighting around the world for decades. A magazine article from Dissent Magazine stated that "Nearly 8,000 Americans have died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq combined; tens of thousands have been badly and permanently injured. Troops are still risking their lives in Afghanistan to stop the Taliban from overrunning Kabul." We hear about all of these different wars, but we rarely hear the antiwar voices being mainstreamed.There is a website called "Antiwar" that acts as a publicity and discussion site to promote people to get involved in the retaliation against war. Although this website exists, it has been years since an actual act of protest was implemented. This protest occurred in February 2003, when the U.S. military went to war with Baghdad. In the streets of Washington, D.C., New York, and other cities, millions around the world protested together to protests the invasion. Since then, protests have been rare to none.
Dissent magazine suggests that the most obvious reason for the absence of the antiwar movement is "the nature of the enemies the United States has been fighting since the fall of 2001". Antiwar activists have switched to focusing on how U.S. military actions kill civilians. An article that I read by Common Dreams, stated "There are so many problems at home to deal with. Why should we care what’s happening on the other side of the world when the police here at home are shooting unarmed black people when millions of young people can’t afford a college education or leave college burdened with enormous debts when millions of Americans can’t afford adequate health care when immigrants are being deported and locked in cages when there are mass shootings every few weeks when the planet is burning?" This really made me think.
You would think that the world would be concerned and care more about the impact of war, but in reality, we are affected by militarism. People have been trying to find ways to get people - specifically young people, to become engaged in anti-war activism. The more information people know about the impacts and effects of militarism, the more they would want to work towards peace. Young people are mainly targeted because the movement may die out altogether. Wars seem like they will not die down, so the need for antiwar must go on.
EOTO - The Invention of Apple iPhone
The Creation of the iPhone
On January 9, 2007, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone—a touchscreen mobile phone with an iPod, camera, and Web-browsing capabilities, along with many other groundbreaking features. Steve Jobs called the iPhone a “revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone.” Six months later on June 29, thousands of customers were lined up at Apple Stores worldwide to purchase an iPhone.
The iPhone helped turn Apple into one of the most valuable corporations. In 2012, five years after the iPhone’s debut, more than 200 million had been sold. Today, iPhones and other Apple products are a part of everyday life for most. I myself own many Apple products. I own an iPhone, an Ipad, an Apple Watch, and what I am certain most of my classmate's use, a Macbook.
A Revelation
Take a look at why the iPhone was considered a "Revelation". On the left is a picture of the iPhone's competitors around the time of its release date. As you can see, the iPhone was a huge difference. The iPhone had a touch screen, longer talk time, Internet Use, Video Playback, and Audio Playback. One thing that stands out to me is the price of the first iPhone. The price ranged from $499 to $599. Now iPhones can cost more than $1,000!
The Design
The first iPhone technology was considered "state-of-the-art" at the time. John Casey and Jonathan Ive are the most credited designers for bringing CEO Steve Jobs' vision for a game-changing smartphone to life. The concept for the iPhone came about in 2000 when John Casey came up with the concept "Telipod". A Telipod was a telephone and iPod combination. The telipod never made it to production, however, Steve Jobs did like the idea of a cell phone with a touchscreen and high Internet access. Steve Jobs then sent engineers to get started on this idea.
Apple's first smartphone was the ROKR E1. This phone was a collaboration with Motorola, released on September 7, 2005. The ROKR was the first mobile phone that used iTunes, Apple's music software that debuted in 2001. Apple was not happy with the contributions that Motorola put forth. A year later, Apple discontinued support for the ROKR. This led to the announcement on January 9, 2007, at the Macworld Convention that, the iPhone would be coming into the world.
Jonathan Ive, Apple's chief design officer, was responsible for the sleek look and feel of the iPhone. Ive was also the main designer of the iMac, the titanium and aluminum PowerBook G4, Macbook, iPod, and iPad. The first iPhone was entirely touchscreen and had all of these new features that people have never seen before. The iPhone had no keypad for dialing, it had multitouch controls, and everything was controlled by a finger swipe. Along with those features, the very first iPhone introduced the accelerometer. The accelerometer is a motion sensor that allowed the phone to turn sideways and automatically display the rotation of the user's choice. The iPhone was not the first device to have applications or software add-ons, but it was the first smartphone to be successful at it.
What Is Next?
In The Age of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. The term may also be applied to any machine that exhibits traits associated with a human mind such as learning and problem-solving." Artificial intelligence refers to the concept of a computer being able to automatically adapt to new data without being helped by a human. This is a frightening topic and it really made me skeptical about even wanting to use the internet.Blog Post #5