Last Blog!

Half of our classmates displayed their technology posters on Monday. Most of their technology ideas are still very new to me. But I was impressed by those emerging technologies that may be not familiar to the majority. I bet some of those technologies will be in the market very soon in the future, people can benefit from those technologies in their real lives no matter for entertainment or communication functions.
This is my last blog this semester. Because I am not a technology person, writing blogs is not an easy job for me. But throughout the whole semester, I realized that “not a technology girl” is not a wise excuse when facing the challenge of so many emerging and functional technologies!

Electronic Dictionary

My parents are flying to America to visit me during Christmas break. However, they are worrying a lot about flight. My parents do not speak any English at all. So they worried about the communication problem if something happened. I already told them there must be Chinese Flight Attendant on the flight from China to Chicago. But they still have many concerns of communication problem. Then my fiancé suggested me to by an electronic dictionary for them. Electronic dictionary are easy to use for tourists. Then I placed an order of the electronic dictionary online. After I got it, I found that it has a wide selection of translators allowing my parents to find the model which satisfies their needs. The electronic dictionaries allow them to input a meaning or phrase and dictionary finds the word they need. Besides, it provides you with instant access to over than 1,000,000 words and synonyms words. Some of them are voice-enabled translation devices and even can talk. I think the electronic dictionary can help my parents.

Reading and New Media

Last Sunday, the pastor in my church discussed “Are we real Christians?” with us. His discussion related to the issue of people’s reducing reading impressed me a lot. Although most people said they are Christians in U.S., there are very few Christians completely read the whole bible. Except for reading bible, nowadays, people tend to do less and less reading. More and more people turned to the new media such as television and Internet. In my organizational communication class, our professor Stacey told us that based on some researches, people tend to believe what they hear from the media without any critical thinking. I think the reducing reading of people is a very realistic phenomenon. The increasing prevalence of the internet and new media influences the culture of our reading ability and even education. The ability to read is the most necessary competence in a modern society. In my opinion, media literacy is very important but being able to read still should be the core competence, which can enable other abilities. Nowadays, we have unconsidered support to the new media in all corners of life, especially in our educational system. Schools and even kindergartens are supplied with computers and networks. I think schools should balance the benefits and disadvantages of the Internet or other new media.

Surface Computing

Because of taking an advertising class this semester, our project group needs us to make advertising for the surface computing. Then we did some research on the surface computing and we found that this technology is very convenient for people to utilize and communicate. Instead of using a mouse and keyboard, people can easily interact with a touch-sensitive screen. Actually, surface computing is starting to be used in real world applications. The Microsoft Surface is starting to pick up popularity and has been used in various places. According to the CNN news, AT&T became the first retailer to use Surface to help their customers to buy phones. This technology has been used in a wide variety of public venues which included Super Bowl XLIII to help police monitor some criminal incidents.
There is a fantastic demonstration video on YouTube related to the surface computing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtKQNwqNLLk

Research on Video Games and College Students

For last six months, I was helping the communication department of Harbin Institute of Technology to do the research related to video games. My neighbor in China, Xing, is the professor of the communication department at that university. Based on my language advantage, SPSS skills and studying abroad experience, Xing recommended me to join their video game research group. In order to explore the relationship between college students' learning burnouts and video game addiction, we got started to design questionnaire. The whole research group was trying to lower the bias on questionnaire as much as possible. I used the knowledge of SPSS which learned in COM 304 at Purdue University to analyze the statistics. According to our results of six month’s research, there were significant difference in the gender, majors and grades among college students with video game addiction and college students with other type of internet addiction. Our conclusion is that there is significant relationship between the internet addiction tendency of college students with online game addiction and learning burnouts.
During our research process, we found that one phenomenon is worthy of our serious attention. That is, because of the Chinese traditional education system, college students have lots of available time other than studying. The Chinese colleges accept students very strictly. However, once students entered into colleges, they can graduate easily without working hard. This is very different from American Universities. Because I am studying in the U.S. now, I can tell so many differences between Chinese education systems and America’s. Without many things to work on, Chinese college students have the tendency to play video games to kill the time.
Our research team leader asked us, “Should we change the Chinese education system from now on? My son in Cornell University is always studying! But Chinese college students have lots of time to play video games”

3D TV

During the lunch time, I watched some news on TV about the 3D TV. I think it has really cool technologies.

Some Japanese company such as Panasonic, Sony, and other high-definition makers are looking to faux 3D technology to provide stereoscopic depth. The Japanese technology people in Sony Company said that they believe this technology is a good reason for consumers to buy a newer set. His words impressed me a lot. Nowadays, what can persuade the consumers to buy the stuff they already have? New technology! I think it will also be the key motivation for the invention of high technology industries.

“The promise of 3D is a more immersive, more true-to-life experience, and substantively different from almost anything you've watched before. In commercial theaters, 3D projection typically involves superimposing polarized or distinctly colored images on each frame and then having viewers wear so-called "passive" glasses that reveal different images to each eye. The brain synthesizes the two images into a generally convincing notion of depth.”

I also found a demonstration for Philips 3D TV on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWgSQLnhWMw&feature=related

Video Games

As we discussed in Wednesday’s lab, video games function as both an angel and a devil.

Video games can have “tremendous educative power” such as integrating thinking, social interaction, and reinforce, and technology into the learning experience. Besides, video games can help children develop their critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and cooperation abilities. Most importantly, some experts claimed that video games play an essential role in youth civic and political development.

On the other hand, video games can lead to social isolation, aggressive behavior, and even reinforce gender stereotypes. I also believe time spending too much on video games makes people spend less time on reading and studying, which makes people less informed and intelligent. I have a cousin in China. After he went into the most top university, he was getting addicted to the video games and was forced to drop school. All my family members feel so sad for my cousin, because he destroyed his brilliant future!

Taken

I watched Taken, a movie based on a script by Luc Besson, in this afternoon. I think it is the most wonderful movie I watched. Some scenes in Taken made me rethink of the roles of cell phones in contemporary societies.

In Taken, when Kim was on the phone with her father Bryan, she witnesses her friend Amanda being abducted through the window. Bryan tells Kim to hide under the bed and informs Kim that she will be kidnapped by those gang members. At the same time, Bryan records all their conversations. But Bryan asks Kim to tell as much information about those guys as possible through phone and he can find her because of the clues. As Kim is being taken, she shouts out all information such as the height and tattoo of the criminal before she is knocked out. According to the important recording of Kim’s call, Sam, Bryan’s friend, researches out the kidnappers’ background.

In Taken, without cell phones, Kim would never be found. Absolutely, Taken is just a fictional movie. But the cell phones in our real life have many essential functions. Nowadays, most people cannot live without cell phones. We can communicate whenever and wherever we want. Mobile phones make the distance throughout the whole world become very small. More and more mobile phones have the function of Internet. It combines the cell phone’s benefits with Internet’s advantage!

P.S.:
I attached the summary of this movie and I do recommend you guys to watch it!

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a retired United States government agent. He is divorced. He has a 17-year-old daughter, Kim and he loves her very much. She lives with his ex-wife Lenore. One day Kim plans to take a vacation in Europe with her friend Amanda to follow U2’s European tour. They know Peter, who works for a Criminal gang from Albania, after they arrived at the airport. Bryan starts investigating the case and reaches Paris to find his daughter. There he comes to know that that the kidnappers are sex-slavers and that he has only 96 hours to recover his daughter before she will disappear forever. He takes the help of Jean-Claude, who is deputy director of a French intelligence agency and pursues the kidnappers. He uses the digital photos from the smashed remains of Kim’s phone to locate Peter, who is hit by a truck while trying to escape. Later he manages to save one of the kidnapped girls from the hands of the kidnappers and she discloses to him the address of the house where the Albanian kidnappers are holding other girls. With the help of the address, he finds the house and many other girls, but does not find Kim. Among the girls he finds the body of Amanda who dies due to drug overdose. He also captures a kidnapper alive. Later, through torturing the captured kidnapper by electrocuting him, Bryan ascertains that Kim was sold to a man named Patrice Saint-Clair, who is planning to make a by selling her because she is a Virgin Bryan also comes to know the Jean-Claude is involved in this case. He visits Jean-Claude’s family as a friend before confronting him with his knowledge about Jean-Claude's involvement in Kim's case. To demonstrate that he is serious, Bryan shoots Jean-Claude’s wife, in her arm and, by holding his family hostage and extracts Saint-Clair’s location from Jean-Claude. Bryan then seeks Saint-Clair and on finding him he learns that Kim has been sold to Arab clients. Bryan manages to follow the car his daughter is being taken in to see her being taken away on a yacht. He jumps on to the ship from a bridge and eliminates all the people inside, finally killing the client and freeing his daughter.

www.xiaonei.com

It is almost a habit for me that everyday when I open my personal computer, I log on www.xiaonei.com first, which is the Chinese “facebook”, to look around, to find something interesting happened to my Chinese friends, or to see some funny internet resources shared, like blogs, songs, videos, etc.. This website does provides us a platform where we can exchange information, to the extent that whatever I post on it, there would be place for others to leave comments and I can be kept updated of the status of my friends and it seems like that we are still close to each other, I know what they are doing, how are their moods, what good stuff they see, even though there is the Pacific Ocean between us. However, I just like to look, do not like to post something about myself on the website. I just like to share things about myself with my close friends, in my opinion, my status is kind of my privacy and I certainly do not like to let persons who are not very close to me know so much about myself, and this is a major reason that I never update my status or write a personal blog on the website. Therefore I always consider this is a drawback of this kind of websites, if I post something online, more people than I expect have the access to see it. So, I really hope that people who manage this kind of websites can consider the needs of users like me who are not so “open”.

First serious blog in my life!

I do not know why I cannot find the first blog I post on blogger. It is a little bit weird :(
I added them again on this and hope it works this time!

This is my first serious blog in my 23-years life! I think I will never try posting any blog online without taking this class. Frankly speaking, I am not an Internet girl. Checking e-mails, chatting with my close friends on MSN, and using SKYPE to call my parents in China are basically all what I do online. Absolutely, I know how to do some research online for the purpose of academic studies. But my “Internet life” is only limited among those basic operations. My American friends all curious about why I do not have a face book and they all think I am a crazy and “unfashionable” girl. Although I do not blog anything online before I do believe there are some benefits of blogs. Blog is a great way of communicating with others online. It is also a powerful tool for community building. People can blog their favorite topics and choose people they want to share their articles.

Another way to make international callings other than Skype

Last week, my friend Rebecca recommended me the website of www. Rebetal.com. After I surfed on that website, I found another great but cheap way other than Skype to call people who are in different countries.

If I choose using Skype to call my parents in China, although it is cheaper, either my parents or I should have computer and access to the Internet. However, the international calling service that website provides is quite simple and it frees people from the need of computers and Internet. To be specific, the only thing people need to do is tying two phone numbers together first online. These two numbers can be either cell phone number or fixed phone numbers. Then people just have to pay a little money for all callings made between these two numbers. For instance, I tied my cell phone with my mom’s house phone. All international callings between these two numbers are really cheap. When she missed me, she could call me using her house phone without worrying about the expensive fees. She does not have to open her laptop and get online to call me. In addition, when I am on the phone with my mom, both of us can do whatever we want such as doing the laundry instead of just sitting in front of the laptops! It is really very convenient!

So compared this feture of Skype with Rebetal Calling Service, I will definitely choose Rebetal!

SKYPE

As we discussed in COM 435 class, more and more technologies make the whole word becoming smaller. By utilizing Internet or other emerging technologies, there is no big problem for people who are in different countries to communicate synchronously.

I have been studying abroad in America for 2 years. Skype, a software application that allows users to make voice calls on Internet, is the major tool I choose to keep contacts with my parents in China. I think college students, especially international students are already familiar with Skype. When you and your parents or friends are not in the same country, Skype is really a convenient and cheap way to communicate with them. Skype has many additional features other than calling such as instant messaging, video conferencing and file transfer. Skype is very easy to use. According to Wikipedia, Skype allows one to take webcam photos, IM with use of emoticons and it also features file transfer. Certain settings allow the user to log into Skype as soon as they turn their computer on, making it much easier to use, than having to remember a password and username constantly.

There is a paragraph about Skype service in China on Wikipedia and I think it is worth of attention. “Since September 2007, users in China trying to download the Skype software have been redirected to the site of TOM, a joint venture between a Chinese wireless operator and Skype, from which a modified Chinese version can be downloaded. The TOM client participates in China's system of Internet censorship, monitoring text messages between Skype users in China as well as messages exchanged with users outside the country. Niklas Zennström, then chief executive of Skype, told reporters that TOM "had implemented a text filter, which is what everyone else in that market is doing. Those are the regulations." He also stated: "One thing that’s certain is that those things are in no way jeopardising the privacy or the security of any of the users.” In October 2008, it was reported that TOM had been saving the full message contents of some Skype text conversations on its servers, apparently focusing on conversations containing political issues such as Tibet, Cult, Falun Gong, Taiwan independence and Chinese Communist Party. The saved messages contain personally identifiable information about the messages senders and recipients, including IP addresses, usernames, land line phone numbers, and the entire content of the text messages, including the time and date of each message. This information was also saved for Skype users outside China who were communicating with a TOM-Skype user. Because of a server misconfiguration, these log files were for a time accessible to the public.”

BUSY!!!

jjj

Link to TA

Link to Zeynep

I am busy today

I am pretty busy. I cannot stand anymore!