We dont need humans to do the job!

Flash back during our grandparent’s time…and we are so use to listen to their great old time stories like “Do you know? Mother travel 10miles by walking and carrying a lot of belongings and you guys are lucky these days with all the high technology cars and public transport”… Then…when they were explaining to you… you feel like getting off because you so do not want to hear their lengthy stories… and from one story to one another… Wait if we notice, most of the task and things they did last time are heavily involved their physical and strength.. No tools to assist them… Remember the Great Wall of China….how do they build it? No cranes and tractors…No expert engineering and No great maths calculation..All is just basic with mind and Intelligence of a person…..Team work as well to form a final result of their wanted objective.

Now back to the write-up by  Julian Bleecker's article of "A Manifesto of for Networked Objects - Cohabiting with Pigeons, Arphids and Aibos in the Internet of Things" highlighted that objects are actually communicates with human… Sounds scary don’t you think?... Take a simple example like Computers where you type what you want and the screen appears as your choice… You type “Hello” and screen displays “Hello”…. Now that’s what I meant communicating with humans… It can be anything like phones, computers, GPS, Television, even your car as well. Everything needs human action to complete up the communication chain to make sure the objects will function. If we look further, there are new technologies like robot cleans up your house that simply replaces a maid that people these days are so afraid of hiring a maid mainly due to some abuses their family members and so on. Peace of mind with robotic maid to do your house chores. Even then, there are smart cars that could alert driver when driving dangerously or automatically brake when it detects another car in fornt. Manufacture like Volvo has implement into their cars to ensure safety of driver and occupant are well maximize as much as possible.. So do not worry of falling asleep and crashing someone’s rear anymore..Looking back to mobile phones technology like the latest iPhone 4s that enables voice detection “SIRI” that automatically detects what a person says. For instance “Call Mr Danny now”.and the phone will follow what a user says and there goes…phone call


However, Technology  can fail or stop working anytime. Thus giving people would have hard time to manage what they want. For example, a keyless entry car sensor malfunction..and you would end up calling a tow truck just to send your car for repair. Things like this are bound to happen because technology fails after certain time and they are like humans too..Technology implement will malfunction after sometime due to tear and wear on the object. (Just like our cars, after certain time, we require to repair and replace worn out parts to ensure its working again)

What do you think? Do we need humans to perform task or technology will manage it even better?

Google's Mr Andy vs Apple OS- That is a serious business

Google= Android =Do YOU ?

Upon spending time on reading the journal by Daniel Roth's write up, where "Google's Open Source OS Will Free the Wireless Web" gave me a whole lot better indepth understanding about the company is. Most people would know that Google is a search engine website... but? They actually owns an operating system that most of the people using these days in their smartphones which is Andriod OS… or sometimes we would refer to the cute little green robot (Mr.Andy).  With almost 13years till date, Google has became a top world’s wanted company and listed high ranking around the world. Not to mentioned with their own smartphones operating system that simply boost up the company’s image as well. No other company can developed and improved so fast especially when involve in making their own operating system that almost problem and bug free up to today’s sales in their smartphone market. However, linking back olden days.. most of us do not know what is a smartphone is OR even majority would uses a cellphone that comes with the company propriety software that includes basic function of a cellphone is. 10years back, we only have smartphones that operating in Symbian OS, and Palm OS. This two operating system were used in most of the high end phones like the Nokia 9210i, Nokia 9500 Communicator series or Sony Ericsson UIQ 8.0. Soon Nokia smartphones begin to strike attention from public with the introduction of their N-Series line up phones like N90,N93 and so on…

Which ?

BUT

The joy and excitement for the Finnish company is short as more and more operating system being introduced in the market. It all started with Blackberry’s OS, then Apple Ios, Google Android OS…wait…that’s not all as even the Koreans from Samsung do introduces their own OS which is Bada OS, and then Bill Gates decided to play the game as well by refreshing their Windows Mobile OS to Windows 7 platform. With so many operating systems being introduced, we can see most of the manufacturer has the option to choose what kind of software to install into their smart devices. As for today, we can see the society are becoming more technology savvy especially with all the latest smartphones and tablet pc..and some even say it replaces our conventional laptops too. Well…great innovation isn’t ?

Are you Android or Apple?

If we look around…how many of your friends are using Android and Apple IOS?..Well, from my point of view. I would say Apple iPhone did the best in term of sales as most of my friends are using iPhone and according to them, iPhone provides the best flexibility and best gadget to own compare to other Smartphone in the market. With the strong marketing and influence from Apple, there is no doubt that people switches their current phone just to get an iPhone. However, speaking in terms of the software itself, I would rather say iPhone has a lot of limitations especially their Apple Apps Store where users require to purchase every single application they want that leads to many of the users jailbreak their phone in order to enjoy the apps only. Furthermore, the connectivity is rather limited where as I can recall that iPhone has built in Bluetooth but that feature is only for headset and not for trasfering file. This reminds me of one of my friends that want to transfer a picture to computer and later found out that iPhone does not have the transfer feature. So not user friendly after all….wait that does not count the Bluetooth itself…there are couple of issues too…like offering lower specs function like camera, screen resolution and now bragging about their so call “SIRI” voice recognition?...even earlier Nokia can do that.

Rumor to be releasing new V4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich?)

As for Android, I also would like to point out that, Android platform is purely based on Linux-kernel where there are huge group of developer and programmer to create an operating system. This simply saves time and resulting in fewer bugs in the operating system too. Since Android has an open source market, this would means Android accepts more feedback from the user and customize based on user choice to develop an application and constantly upgrade their application to make sure it is able to run smoothly. If there is anything wrong in a software, users will complain in the Android forum and developers will work on it as soon as possible. Thanks to the Linux based platform, Andriod gets the same treatment I would say....BUT Apple IOS?...Wait,Wait, Wait….oh well...same applications afterall..

Relating back to the write-up, between both software, I would think that the growth of Internet certainly gives the user of more flexibility in using their devices anywhere they one. There will be more freedom for the users as most of the telecommunication companies are offering data plan that simply help in further improvement of the respective software company. However the main differences of these software is mainly the idea and authoritarian towards the development as it simply helps a company in their future development..or where they will stand in few years time. Google is a great example to learn where it all started with 2 guys without any skills BUT what we see today in our Android based phones is simply tremendous from a little hideous search engine that people use to poke fun of it. Today, we see the owns an operating system that most of the major mobile phone company like HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Alcatel, Sony Ericson chooses Android as their major platform because they believe Android and Google will succeed in the future and the best operating system to market their phones too!. (Even Sony Erisson shifted from Symbian to Android)….so what you say?

In the nutshell, the society these days are clearly demanding more and more powerful tools that soon we will see desktops and laptops might even die off in later years..Replacing with smartphones and tablet pc. Google’s route is definitely a good way in terms of earning profitable revenues and getting good repo from people around the world. 
*with the tremendous growth and popularity of Google's Android in the market...I would think that great old operating like Symbian OS, Palm OS, Meamo would eventually forgotten in the future...even now some people do not know there are these operating system in mobile phone...due to strong market share in promoting Android and Apple devices. What do you think? Should other software be continue with further improvement or just make it die off?

Facebook and Twitter- medium that revolutionaries go

Upon reading the article about Facebook and Twitter are just places revolutionaries go by Evgeny Morozov, I came across that some part of it is true.

Facebook & Twitter=Which one you prefer?

Ever since the introduction of Frienster, Facebook, High 5, My Space and Twitter to the public, it begins the trend to create at least one accounts and some multiple accounts just to fill up more friend lists. It all started with the first social network site which is the Friendster where even I myself also do join the community to create an account just for the sake of not left behind and also due to my circle of friends too. According to Evgeny Morozov, he pointed that with all the latest technology devices like smartphones and tablet pc, browsing these social networking websites is never a  problem anymore. Just click and surf…easy and straight to the point.

However, I do agree that social networking that is popular right now like Facebook or Twitter that it is the platform to a revolution. Like for example, our lovely Facebook account, if there is some issue being done in the account, they would targeted by people like protesters. Thousands and thousands all kinds of campaign or face book fan page being created just to attract more activist. Well, one factor could be our local media like newspaper (The Star, New Straits Time, Utusan) where everything is filtered and in today’s world, with the booming and advancement of Internet, people know more that what media says in front of daily news or our newspaper main page. Take our closest protest held this year where Bersih 2.0 demands for clean elections. What is shown on TV, Radio and Newspaper is not 100% true thanks to the online media from the Internet that highlighted the truth especially on what our local police done towards the citizen (kicking, punching, road blocking major highway that causes terrible jam and so on).Do you think if you seeking for truth and are you given the chance to voice out or even show on the newspaper or local TV news? This is the power of facebook and twitter helps in giving people voicing out their dissatisfaction without fearing getting caught!

Then, Facebook & Twitter would definetly greatly helped in getting protests and to let people know, there are human rights and all kinds of rights when someone did wrong.

We could not stand blindly and pretend nothing to happen and this are just only to highlight what went wrong and to let people know that there are such things happen. However, every country does have their own problems like Malaysia, every day we open up the main front newspaper, POLITICS..Never stop….. and for my opinion, I would think that Facebook and Twitter are just a basic social networking that indirectly help many people like for instance an organization. organization these days created an account to keep people up to date on their latest products and so on. Take “Chatime” for instance because of the popularity of drinking pearl milk tea is so crazy among teenagers in Malaysia. So by keeping people stay up to date on latest offerings and new outlets, the company can create a Facebook or a Twitter page to spread their information fast and best of all is to the right target audience. They also can know how many people aware of their company simply by viewing their “Like” page and by “Followers” for Twitter.  

In the nutshell, we cannot say Facebook or Twitter is bad…or simply just banned it like what China does, but it simply depends an INDIVIDUAL on how they uses these tools for up to their needs. 

Wikileaks? The Truth of it

Do you know what is wikileaks? Have you heard of it?... some may say its similar to wikipedia?...Well this is the real explanation of wikileaks all about.

" WikiLeaks is a not-for-profit media organisation. Our goal is to bring important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information to our journalists (our electronic drop box). One of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth. We are a young organisation that has grown very quickly, relying on a network of dedicated volunteers around the globe. Since 2007, when the organisation was officially launched, WikiLeaks has worked to report on and publish important information. We also develop and adapt technologies to support these activities". -http://wikileaks.org/About.html

Ever since wikileaks was founded, we started to see what's more than that and we actually know who is the main fault especially like the US and Iraq war... from the video, the US army shooting Iraq people even the innocents ones. Should we say US is right with all their claims on cable tv that Iraq is a terrorist country and have the rights to shoot them all down.... and we think deeply and start analyzing with one simple question "Who started it first?"... People around the world might able to recap the 911 incident that 2 airplanes crashed the 2 state of the art building in New York in 2001...but does that means all Iraqi must die just because of the action done by those terrorism like Osama Bin Laden? Have a look on the videos and decide. 

and this

killing the innocent ones?...

Without this, I would think, people would still only know whatever the authorities reported in news... we would pretty in the dark side of the world and would not know the truth of a problem. People are faced in two different realities which is the collateral damange and also collateral murder which is a very serious matter and people would need to know the truth of it....Personally, I think WikiLeaks indeed exposed the world and people about all the hidden secrets and "more juicy" information that we are not aware of. In fact, WikiLeaks also will be the best source of information that people these days tend to believe more than what is reported in the news or cable TV.....with all the flexibility of accessing Internet everywhere, WikiLeaks will be the best medium to convey all kinds of information that far beyond from what we use to read, listen, watch from the local news.

Another example would be politics, we know politics are dirty and what they tell the public are other way round as well to make the public to believe its true and taking Malaysia into the context, Malaysia kini.com acts similar like WikiLeaks by spreading all the "extra or secret" news that happen to Malaysia especially the politic sides. Well, I would say people are more interested to know the truth in the website rather that reading the daily newspaper because all are covered by the government... it happen not in Malaysia only BUT everywhere..... even the US war with Iraq... that is where WikiLeaks play a role in revealing more juicier information to the world and MOST IMPORTANTLY, they done it with PROOF of video and photos so that their news are credible, thus people would believing it more.

Twitter changed us?

Twitter.....its all about Tweeting

Twitter twitter twitter... everyone is using it... everybody loves to tell the world what is they are doing.... so I am too... we love let people aware of us... for instance, the moment we enter a cafe.... oh there goes our phones and ready to key in "Having Java Chip at Starbucks"..and your friend reply you.. "Wow, rich man".... so there you go, you feel proud that someone notices your tweets....... then more tweets and more tweets when you head on to other location or maybe you saw something funny...and you tweet... "Lame aunty farting behind me"... then as you walking, a hot girl pass by....there goes your tweeting again "Damn..a hot girl pass by, wish to say HI".... ..

OK!!!...

Tweeting will never ever ends; it happens every single seconds, minutes, days..... ever since twitter was introduced in 2006, people were not aware of this service offered as Facebook was so new and demand of registering Facebook were so high and people prefer facebook than Friendster... I repeat!, most Friendster user shift to Facebook when it was introduce to the world. Well, people prefer Facebook due to the fresher look and easy use that time compare to Friendster...However, things changes few years later after the introduction of Twitter..... People prefer conveying simple and short messages yet meaningful in it without the need of wrting long lenghty sentences... "Im Home"...and tweet...there you go... 

Twitter has dramatically changes the way people communicates, as according to Johnson it further explain in few sub categories like:

You need followers..otherwise?  

News and Opinion:

If we see twitter these days, and with the latest smartphones that enable us to tweet more, it makes life easier... looking few years back, where 2006 is the introduction of Twetter, nobody aware of it and most users are only able to tweet whenever they have their computer with them.. I MEAN DESKTOP AND LAPTOP...no no no no IPAD!!.... but now, it makes us to share any information quicker at anytime with the help of latest smartphones technology and application like TweetDeck, Andriod Tweeter , Iphone for Tweeter easier to share our information to among our followers (friends). Furthermore, it makes information (news) to reach faster to others that would help human mankind easier..for instance "Alert, those staying near beach area stay out!..tsunami" or "Tsunami in Pulau Pinang"......short and simple, people would able to know it and react fast to prevent going there.... see.....smartphones+tweeter=bravo.

Searching

Can we call people whom regularly tweets busybody?...Maybe!... just like search engine or weblogs where you look upon when comes to food review or where to go for Christmas, or best Nasi Lemak in Malaysia.... tweeter do provide the similar functions too.... Think again when you checking out your tweets reply and one of your friends mention, "Nasi Lemak @ Ipoh Town best!"... So indirectly you would know where to go when you hunt for Nasi Lemak..... you get feedback and ideas at one go..cool?

Advertising

Twitter nowadays also favor by most organizations because they believe by twitter, it provides a greater way of delivering their message towards targeted audiences which is their followers. Just like Facebook fan page.... lot companies insist people to like their pages and from there on-wards, updates from the company will be notifying in your news feed... simple yet cost free..... as for Twitter, the more followers, it could mean the company itself are more well recognized and even preferred by people.... Imagine a company lets say Samsung. By putting their company profile in Twitter, there are more followers will follow Samsung's profile...so if there is any new product from Samsung, they would tweet it and indirectly, people who follow or added will be notify with latest product from Samsung... lets say the new Samsung Galaxy S III is coming out soon.... so tweeters who follow the profile would first to know Samsung is coming out with new phone... wouldn't that be so much better than sending through Emails where 90% of it people would not even open it because they would think is a JUNK MAIL....? with Twitter, the information can reach in split seconds and best to your potential target audience...

However, Twitter may have the dark side of it especially when comes to privacy... there is no privacy especially with these social networking sites... people from anywhere around the world can just check what are you talking about?. and one thing bad about twitter is, anonymous able to see a person's tweet (messages) without even need to sign in to Twitter. They can just type in the person's name and there it goes with all the tweets mention by a person's profile... so come to think of it.... your profile might be stalked by other people.!!! and another problem is, people these days are so crazy on telling the whole circle of friends on what they are doing... or shall I say attention seeker?    some people would just type in sentences like " I am sad".... and there goes the comment/replies... "How are you?" "Take care friend", "Have enough sleep"... Oh well.... I have nothing to say about this.... =)

In the nut shell, Twitter certainly does improve the way we communicate and most importantly, Twitter or even other social networking has dramatically improve our lifestyle and the behavior of newer generation when comes to communicating with others. It might be a good thing because people constantly share information on what's happening...and indirectly, the messages we see would benefit us and some would even save us from being into the same shoe with other people... just like "OMG! Do not buy phones from this seller Mr xxxx he cheated my money"..... well.... at least I will take precaution when buying phones next time =)

Webblog- We never fail to rely it whenever needed

webblogs are increasingly popular day by day..perhaps we rely too much?

Feeling curious and wanted to know the latest gadget or even would want to find out when is I-phone 5 coming out?.. there goes webblog... or even wanted to plan a special dinner for your loved ones? webblog reviews will take care of you in making sure you wont have a disaster during your dinner because, there are tons of tons of review on food that waiting for you to explore. This can help people to make a decision and find out on the particular restaurant before making final conclusion..

one of the most popular company that pays blogger

Furthermore, with the wide blogs available throughout the web world... it generally gives the society to understand and know more information rather than relying on conventional sources like word of mouth, or even our great olden days where newspaper is our primary source when comes to information. Webblog can be one of the quickest source that provides all the latest and hot news for society. Take it for instance, gadget freaks can able to catch the latest spy shots of  (let say I-phone 5) even before releasing to the market.. or even read and find out reviews on the new Iphone like the usability, functions, value for money or even tips on using the phone before actually deciding whether would want to purchase the phone... another popular webblog portal would be our famous Paultan.org that purely based on car reviews and latest news that became popular in years of opereating the blog and founder of Paultan.org is earning good income for just writing reviews and updating his blog with latest news on cars and bikes.

Blog for interest or money?

In fact we can see alot of bloggers started to blog because there are companies that pays blogger whenever they contribute a post. Famous bloggers like Sixth.seal, kennysia.com, smashin.popstar, and so on would have been earning alot due to its high traffic visit to their blogs and they would easily get paid for the price of even a fresh graduate that work 10hours a day. Easy job and money come... Company like Nuffnang, Adverlets, Google ad sense started to pay bloggers by counting cost per click each and this simply works by advertising some latest ads in their webpage and there goes the money starts to accumulate by the blogger. The more frequent  unpdate, the more traffic a blogger will get..so...

However, when comes to weblogs, some would say it rather a question mark especially when comes to content credibility because there are too many bloggers out there that writes the same content. For example,.the new Audi A6, some would say its good, some would say its not good...so which one should I trust? and given the price of the car, of course I would not want to simply waste my hard earn money when I choose the wrong choice just because of believing people's review.But look at the bright side, with webblogs, it generally helps us to manage things easier especially with all the smartphones and portable laptops....Imagine you are on the way to Penang and you are unsure where is the famous asam laksa...so just pop out your smartphone and start searching and there goes the food review and information that helps you get there easier.

In the nutshell, with the popularity of web blogs and information given, I see there is no reason that books published by writers would replace the web blogs because no matter how books are the only one that gives more credibility when comes to content sources. Would you trust an unknown web-blogger or book when comes to doing your research? You choose..

Media Convergence-We talking about mixing now

 Media Convergence? What does it mean to you anyway?...... well, in general, it is a two or more distinct entities combined together and with the word "convergence" is so increasingly prevalent in the new era... it more suitable to relate with combination of two or more technologies in a single device.... getting clear? think of Smartphone or to make it simple.... your iPhone that you are owning it right now... what can your iPhone does? multitasking?, taking a simple photo of you and your friends? or even simply just play your music and turn your phone into MP3 player? or even send a quick message to your friends?......Convergence may influence consumer in accepting new technologies like tablet pc (iPad,Galaxy Tab, Playbook) are more increasingly popular and with the bulky size..people still want to own it...why? because its new technology anyway.....and one of the good example would be analog is slowly disappear in newer generations and all now is done by digital way like our local newspaper TheStar, they also provide us their news in online portal for those who wants timely news and get fast update like football scores...like Chelsea vs Liverpool match and with online you get instant results..not by waiting until next day.... everything is quick...that is the key that most organization practicing now...

The good thing of convergence is able to do whatever we in a same device....think of multitasking capability... like your mobile phone turn into camera, mp3 player, video recorder, reading online news on the go and many more....

The bad thing is....with so many features in today's devices like our Iphone or smartphones.... it has becoming like a computer and can you still define a mobile phone or come to think of it, even watches also comes with all kinds of feature like storing phone numbers, making phone calls and so on....watch or smart-watch? how do you define a watch or a mobile phone where is not offering what it is?

In the nutshell, whatever improvement has done towards our latest devices like gaming console, mobile phones, even we do see watches that able to make calls, or even our cars powered by engines are soon to be replace by electric, reading online news...but we are still relying on the great old inventors that help us to became up till today... and everything we do these days saves us time and costs are greatly reduced too... simply type in "Latest news in town" and Mr.Google will do the job.........pretty fast and convenience isn't it?.... or stuck with your assignment half way...Mr.Google will do the job too..... unlike great old days where you have to go to the library and search for books that takes up lot of time....

Copyrights and Then?

Do not copy....

For this week's blogging, it will be Intellectual Property...by John W. Snapper...

Intellectual Property is basically an innovation, artistic or any unique symbol, logo or design used commercially and also widely world recognized by people..It is protected with patents on inventions rights, trademarks on branding for instance "M" for McDonalds, Three Star logo by Mercedes Benz, our kids favorite Mickey mouse is also a protected too..so...try to copy their designs and logo....where would you end up? 

Do you know..  The history of copyright law was introduced by the printing press in the late fifteenth century in England. The reason it was introduced was fairly simply because of the number presses grew tremendously and also publications of books by granting printers a near monopoly in England. The authorities decided to introduce the law to prevent people from copying or stealing ideas from the original publishers and press releases news. During the 1710, act of law established and renewed again by looking at author's ownership of copyright and copyrighted works which is subjected to last fourteen years and the option to renewable scheme if the author was alive upon expiration. The 1710 act established the principles of authors' ownership of copyright and a fixed term of protection of copyrighted works (fourteen years, and renewable for fourteen more if the author was alive upon expiration).

 However looking back, Intellectual property allows people from their very own trademarks or copyrighted hard work to be well protected and gain good benefit from there.....take it for instance, your very own music and once you air it to the world...you are risk to any kind of exposure like people can just copy your version and claim the music is theirs...and you lose your name and fame in just a split seconds... BUT with the intellectual property like copyright...you have the right to sue those who use your music without permission or even copy directly without informing you....


With these copyrighted and trademark, especially property like software, devices...this can greatly increases people's confidence and credibility towards your invention  like for instance the Nintendo WII gaming console...and speaking of copyrights and those laws... people still not aware of it and illegal downloads are widely used everyday without thinking of the copyright laws.... in fact, till today... programs like limwire, e-donkey, bit-torrent that based on P2P (Peer 2 Peer) servers are still heavily used by worldwide.... of course we love to download free of charge stuff but come to think of it..if you are the artist and what if people downloads your song but in illegal and free way... would you earn?...would you feel happy with it?....

In the nutshell, Intellectual Property protects people and a company own ideas/works from being used illegally and maintaining their credibility among people... this also helps people to recognize the branding of a company and a person without getting confused and loosing names because of other party copy your work.. Imagine if there is few Mickey character with slightly different features...you would be thinking which is the original Mickey..or if there is another big M golden arch would you think whether is it Mcdonalds? Credibility for a company and a person is also proved to be an important factor because, it represents your company status among public...without the laws, people would steal and use it without any problems...

Liquid Life-The New Century

Work=No Life?

The moment we are born, tons of challenges and obstacles that we are bound facing it no matter what and there is no way that everyone can avoid  a "task" if they want to be successful in life is which is call "working". Everyone work in order to live and enjoy our life even better. Some would make their life even more meaningful with a great family and some men would be a breadwinner to take good care of his family.... it is all the need of working in order to get earnings in order to sustain your life better....but, when you think of your working environment, do you think is great place to work at? or does your company provides you the privilege for instance good facilities for the workers during work or just basically sit on a chair from the moment the work starts until you finish the task for whole day long? How would you think the way you being treated when comes to working?

However, speaking of this week lesson that covered one of the most unheard term by many people is called "Liquid Life".... So what does it means actually?...it also can be simply explained in a very straight forward meaning:

You and your personality+your task+ your personal leisure=work

or a much simpler way

*Spending your personal leisure time at the same time without neglecting your task in the place you are working at...and I only can recall Google (Googleplex).

People these days tend to look better offers from companies especially those requires alot of task and flexibility time of working would be added advantage as it is a part of working trend these days.

This even reminds me that during the lecture session, we do discussed about Google is one of the best place to work at and some say people that work with Google are one of the luckiest and best opportunity to work with Google. Google workplace contains most of the facilities like Cafes, Beach Volley ball, Pool table, TV cables for watching movies, A bathroom and its NOT TOILET where you can have your sweet shower in the middle of working, gymnasium and many more.... Cool isnt it? Enjoy+Work=Perfect combination. I am sure you do want to sit for the rest of the day facing your computer during working hours or constantly focusing your task until end of the day. It would be stressful as well..and that's why Google Corporations provides these facilities for their worker to have a better freedom and let them enjoy their leisure activity during working hours. The reason Google implement this concept because they want their workers to enjoy their leisure activities and at the same time serious when comes to work because. when providing best facilities to the workers, they would feel appreciated and work even better.

Things you might able to see in Googleplex

• Bicycles or scooters are used for efficient travel for meetings
• Googlers sharing cubes, yurts and huddle rooms – and very few solo offices.
• Laptops everywhere for easy use of sending mails and managing programes
• Foosball, pool tables, volleyball courts, assorted video games, pianos, ping pong tables, and gyms that offer yoga and dance classes.
• Grassroots employee groups for all interests, like meditation, film, wine tasting and salsa dancing.
• Cool cafes with all kinds of food & beverages for staffs
• Break rooms packed with a variety of snacks and drinks to keep Googlers going.                 (credits to Google.com/culture)***

 I am sure you would hope to work in one of this kind of company in future right? 

 Other than Google, companies like Volkswagen Pheton Plant, Germany, Who says you will get dirty when work in factories? or Noisy? or Feel Stress Up? Sit Back & Relax as most of the machines assemble the car and you only need to check for the quality to see any defects and there you go...

 

Clean and No worries.... you can even relax and let the robots do their job =)

Redbull? Yes Redbull, London.....is another great place to work and can be categorized  under one roof.....check it out..!

Ping Pong in the Meeting room? You got to be kidding me...but have fun why not?

Cafeteria and Relax area...Now you can even rest and enjoy your meal in style..forget about those stuffy and noisy cafeteria at your office...=)

Say no to stairs..just sit the slide and there you go..the next floor! Fun and relaxing

These companies mainly Google, completely change our way of the new era working style... Forget about those 9-5 jobs, Forget about your nice bath at home, Forget about going back just to watch your favorite movie,..you can have in these companies anytime you want as long you COMPLETE YOUR WORK!...no worries on the bosses that saw you watching and laughing in front of the TV anymore..! or flirting with some hot chicks in the office because all its yours..!

Mark Deuze claimed that "work and life are increasingly indiscernable in the play of the everyday, the key institutions linking their practices to modernity". Everything is moving in the fast paced condition these days..even with a single slacking off..you will be left behind lot....working these days is not like we use to listen from our grandparents time where go to market and just setup a stall and start selling...but nowadays, it becoming more competitive and the roles of every task assigned is important for a economy and the company. As a fact, people would work harder in order to get their earnings but at the same time, we have to think forward and modernize the meaning of "working" better. Working is not about seriousness on the job but also there must be some relaxation and fun towards it that will only produces a good quality piece of work... AND the worker's satisfaction too....

Mark Dueze also pointed out that the meaning of Liquid Life

Especially today in the 21st century,  A liquid life as mentioned by Mark Deuze,The Liquid means the work and consumption (life) have converged in to a newer lifestyle...!

Office vs Home

Come to think of it....do we work mostly in office or home which is your personal preference place?.... The way of people working these days changes dramatically where you can even operate your business at home with the help of internet like social networking and forums.... talk about Lowyat.net for instance, many people post up their businesses in forum and once you are credible seller...people would come to you.. why worry?

Work vs Leisure

Speaking of work and your leisure time...have you think of hitting the gym these days are less often compare last time? or no time to watch your favorite movies? or even spending time with even a cup of coffee just to relax yourself?... workload is getting more competitive these days but still we are humans after all, we need some rest and enjoyment... Google flex is what I am talking about.... all fun activities under one roof during working hours.!


Fixed vs Flexible

With the advancement of technology these days, people would prefer flexible working environment and time... we can just reply emails or have a video call to our bosses whenever there is something to be delivered. Adding to that, most companies these days would prefer hiring short-term staff instead of contract workers because firstly its cost saving and only need them whenever they want.. this also added an advantages for people who love to work a few jobs at the same time and trying out different kinds of job..in other words freelance working job is everyone talking about nowadays. This gives people the flexibility in working at the same time find their earnings from various sources of work..rather than sitting whole day long from 9-5pm or 9-9pm just to work for one company.Even Facebook these days are one of the social networking sites that every companies sign up and promote their company and products to reach out easily to their potential customer. This also can be a cost saving for companies who are in tight budget too... These people, can work at home and whenever they want without fearing losing 1 single customer as everything is online and stay there....

Centralized & Decentralized

Speed is the key for today's world...everything must be fast and speedy... with the latest technology and hot new gadgets in town... staying connected is not an issue anymore... imagine while you were away from your office and you need to reach out your boss or superior or even your client.... Here comes the Iphone, Ipad, Blackberries, Smartphones, Laptops that would keep you connected by just sending an email to the reciepient... as easy as that... With these we do no need to depend anymore on receiving letters, going post office just to drop a letter in a postbox, waiting weeks just to get confirmation from other party..... You only need an email and call just to make an agreement...cool uh?

Certain vs Uncertain

If we relate back to the olden days... every task is all pointed out and well defined..but now? i would say employees today have to be prepare with all kinds of uncertainty in their work place. Everything are all computerized and once a data recieve we need to take note carefully before start out task... imagine you receive an order from your customer about buying 10 sets of McDonalds burger set lunch..but you deliver 9 sets only... how you will think your customer react? or even a huge server break down in your office and you were in the middle of saving an important data....what is your next step? So employee these days need to prepare well when uncertainty strikes because a slight change or misinterpretation will affect the whole output.

One Place vs Mobile

I am sure you do not like to sit 1 corner to finish up your task for whole day in the office right?... everything is mobile these days where with our superb smartphones and tablet pc, we can get our works done even we not in the office, you can finish up your reports in Starbucks by just using your net books and smartphones... Employee these days have the privilege to travel about to meet with different clients be it in locally or overseas and get their job done immediately. Company can keep in track with them by getting connected through high tech networking line available today.

A Single Tool vs Multiple tools

With these kind of changing, and just look at how our technology changes so fast even lets say comparing mobile phones with 10years or even 5 years back... smartphone term is only for storing personal data.... with now, smartphone must comes with social networking capabilities otherwise its not a smartphone... The way people do things now are so much different from last time... things like email, video call, blackberry messenger, MSN, Facebook, Twitter changes the way of people working and the lifestyle very much. People can simply post up their online shopping portal and just wait for customer to visit their webpages when interested in buying stuff from them.  Businesses works even efficiently these days thanks to the E-mail system that can be access not only from computers BUT smartphones and your tablets like Ipad, Playbook, too... just flip out your devices and there you go... These is very good improvement as we do not need to sit constantly in front of computers to check for emails where the smaller mobile computers can do so... this helps us to get communicate better whenever we go...without worrying losing a single business at all.....

I can conclude that, with the flexibility of working environment that ties along with leisure and work together, it changes the way of working definition and we wont not see time, comfortably and etc as an issue..but we feel appreciated when things are done with these kind of manner....

Cyberspace? We are family afterall

How do you define Cyberspace? or What comes to your mind when your lecturer or friends mention about Cyberspace? Well, in general... Cyberspace is basically activities that carried out in a form of network through many computers around the world and form a bigger networks or in simple we called it "Internet".... However in olden days,  "Cyberspace" could meant lot of things for instance of two telephone conversations or even activities that carried out via online as a form of communication. Today, Cyberspace is a strong word that clearly describes as a powerful tool that connects to people around the world with activities and communication based on the Internet or Global Technology so that it can be widely used by any one. Furthermore, come to think at it especially these days, we are constantly connected to Cyberspace.. or to said that.. we are Cyberspace community after all..as no matter where we go..we are connected to one whole same network to manage everything we want from the Internet... It is like our parents that provide us with all kinds of information when we are in need of help.

What's more, we rely on Cyberspace all the time. When you bathing, When you having your meal, When meeting your first ever dating session, or even the time before your bedtime... We are like so addicted to Cyberspace that we are like high in drugs... we uses it every single time whenever and whatever we do that is where everyone can afford Internet these days easily. We have the flexibility of using wireless Broadband and hook up with your laptop just to do your daily Internet activity, or even hook up your smartphones to keep updated with your social networking feeds/updates... what do you say? Are you one of them?...I am sure you are..even me too !

Adding to that,  cyberspace had also been defined as way of building up some social network community and create a larger circle of friends for people these days... I am talking about social networking like Facebook, Twitter, High 5, My Space for SURE!... this has greatly changes the way of cyberspace means because people uses Internet as a form of medium to improve their communication skills not forgetting getting to know more people for their contacts too!. Keep in touch or spy on your latest friends update and turn it into a gossip or share with others... It generally a more entertained society these days compare to olden days where only talks about "OH Lets hunt for the fish" Oh hunt for some woods to light up the fire" or talk about WAR... i meant World War II..... so NOT ANYMORE for US!...

Moving back to the Barlow's reading....

"We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force or station of birth"

What Barlow is trying to say that, with the Internet connection and Computer in front of me... we can just do anything we like and who cares actually what I am doing anyway.. I want to download music, videos at YouTube, do movie booking, online shopping at E-bay, or even write critics about someone in my blog... everybody can just participate Cyberspace without the need of passport or even matters of race or where are you from... as long you have the interest to participate in the community of Cyberspace...you have the freedom to use it anytime you want....oh WAIT!... no one will stop me and also without  worrying on the rules and regulation as like common phrase that favored by people..

Do first, Enjoy first...worry later !!

.

But... Cyberspace at times can be evil to humans... criminal activities like scamming, faking, hacking, is one of the alarming issues that happen every time... we cant put a stop to it...because bad things dont stop easily unlike good things... "There are some country are trying to set laws for the cyberspace to try to control it"...... every authority jobs are to come out with laws and make people obey it...and as in cyberspace there are rules too as government's priority is to keep the nation in a safe and peaceful country that prevents from any unpleasant issues occur in Cyberspace.... if you posted something bad about the government... you might get caught especially in countries like Malaysia. The moment you post up and there goes the "news" will spread like wild fire. Government's can help in preventing online illegal activities in the net... with government's and the nation help..things get done faster too.....

In the nutshell...Cyberspace provide all kinds of needs we want but its up to us on how to utilize it... when you think is good...praise it...when you think its bad..critic it badly... but adding to that, Cyberspace has greatly changes the way society behaves in all kind of ways and also lifestyle..... everything just gets faster after all... We are a family=We share they same habit when comes to Internet

..

The Nature of Networks

For this week's post.. it will be The Nature of Networks by Felix Stadler. (The Nodes and Flows)

We live in the world where everything are connected together. Even your best friend who is currently studying at UK, your cousin is enjoying his vacation at Italy, your parents is having their sweet time at China... we all bound to be connected to each other with one simple word called " Networks". or maybe we could say that human need food to survives other wise we will be dead....and in order to get food there is a source we need to look for eg: Fish comes from the sea and live with other aquatics that depend on each other to survive..or I should call it a food chain reaction.. one depend on another in order to stay alive and get connected in the long run. Reflecting back to Felix Stadler journal that is mainly about "Nodes and Flows", it is said that Digital media acts as an medium that gets us connected anywhere and everywhere whenever we go.. and if I were to think that, without network or the "Nodes & Flows" as mentioned, we would not even born into the world. Everything we do is connected together with beginning and ending. Even a simple phone call would need starting point and ending point to get connected to your loved ones.

AND

whenever there is a connection=there is network

as I read further, I came across to know more than I expected which is the major points that highlighted by Felix Stadler in the Nature of Networks journal.

Interdependency

Every nodes that are connected to each others are called as the communicative process and we are connected to lot of things that is surrounded by our daily life. For example: we wants to live, we need air,...we wants to live, we need food to survive..so whatever you do..its all connected link to the primary source.  The ‘meaning of meaning’ is relationship. (McLuhan; Nevitt, 1972) also does shows that whatever that is being delivers to one nodes to another nodes, the information/data must be clear and well justified too as the data that transfer from one node to another would be meaningful to other people to use it otherwise it would be meaningless.

Change

What do you think of when you hear the word change? Change your new hairstyle? Change to a new computer? or even Change to everybody's favorite Ipad 2?.... or perhaps changing your lifestyle to become a better person? But WAIT!...  Information that flows to one to another may seem unnotifiable because some changes that are too small to be notified but come to think of that, everything you change will effect the whole process of networks afterall....  "One significant changes made, it will changes everything where you would notice it after you done the changes".....and if you were to relate back to the word interdependency like I mentioned earlier.....it would be making more sense that everything is interconnected to form a network or even a piece of information that is going to send out.

Time-boundness 

 Oh wait!... have you realized how important is time in our daily life? We are given to do whatever we want in within 24 hours a day...including your beauty sleeps that everyone would prefer sleeping longer whenever they are force to wake up in the early of the morning especially to go for classes....BUT come to think of it..... networks are the same as well because, information requires to be transfer to one another nodes and if it fails to reach to other nodes, there would be a delay or failure. Take it for instance like the Internet... User key in "www.apple.com" and the data from the IP address user's need to be send instantly to the main server in order to load the webpage in user's computer...but if the data transfer slowly....oh well good luck to the user as it will take ages to load up the webpage...so every information are timely and there goes the word speedy pops up to form a fast networking world...because people wants information to reach them as fast as possible....what do you say?

Differentiation

 How different would you be compare to your friends? Different in personalities? Different in appearance? or Backgrounds? Just like every thing in this world have the differences in order to differentiate from others.... It can be as simple as a car vs motorcycle...what are the differences anyway? Every information is different and what makes the differences are the content that contain in the information that carries from one node to another nodes.

In the nutshell, how network works will be the same but what matters are the information that is carried from one to another that would certainly changes from time to time. That is one thing cannot be avoided but most importantly , we are all linked together and if one of the data were changed or even lost...huge damage will occur. Networks are just like humans.. we depend on each other to survive...so as networks that depends from one node to other or come to think of it, even your favorite social networking like Facebook & Twitter are all connected together in order to work properly for you to post up your latest update & nice looking pictures........ Adios! Comments for improvement...weeee!