Censorship and the Streisand Effect

Be warned if you ever try to have some information removed from public display, you might become a victim of the Streisand Effect, where the act of censoring something unintentionaly causes the information to be widely publicised.

The term originated in 2003 when Barbra Streisand attempted to have a photo which included her beach front home removed from a photographic survey documenting Californian coastal errosion, her suit of the photographer and site host led to widespreed knowledge of the photo and over 400,000 additional site veiws within the month.

The future's in viral.

Viral marketing. We've all been exposed to some sort or form of viral marketing in our lives, but what makes it so effective. Most of the time they don't even mention the product they are advertising, but is that the point?

Its such a confusing, deceptive form of media but can also be amusing, exciting and provide entertainment around the office as passed through the companies emails. I mean a gorilla playing drums? How often do you see that!

I'm pretty sure everyone who has seen that ad has attempted to air drum to that song, dun dun - dun dun - dun dun - dun dun - bah bah.

Cadbury is well known for their viral marketing campaigns from the drum playing gorilla to the obscure moving eyebrows of the two kids with a balloon. Balloons and eyebrows, seriously? What does chocolate even have to do with that?!

The eyebrows ad was such a hot topic around the time it was released in 2009 that it had over 4 million views within the first few weeks after the launch.

Viral marketing seems to be coming more and more to the forefront of advertising with ads such as the V 'Rocket man' appearing on NZ television screens causing viral stirs not only nationally but worldwide. Is the future of advertising in viral marketing?

Ill leave you with one of my favorite viral marketing ads for Carlton Draught beer.

Piracy in perspective.

While I'm sure most people are accustomed to pirates trying to defend their stance, I'd just like to throw out another little defense out there. Am I some sort of legalize piracy type? no, do I think it's justifiable? not really, but what I would like to try to do is try to clean up the images of pirates a little bit, they aren't as bad as the media makes them out to be.

For years people moaned how they liked a couple of songs on a CD, but the rest of the CD was bad and they could not justify the exuberant prices charged just to have the couple of songs they liked. Of course not all albums were like this, and if you look to the highest selling CD's, you'll generally find that they are albums that are good throughout. Oh to be able to have just those couple of songs, and perhaps put them into your own compilations, so you were only ever listening to what you thought was good. A long came file sharing, making this possible, giving you only what you wanted and best of all it was effectively free. File sharing grew and grew and grew, the record companies sat back, continuing to push their CD's at expensive prices while people started growing accustomed to free music of their choice. Buy a $30 CD to get the couple of songs you want, or just download those two songs for free? pretty easy choice. For how long music listeners had pretty clearly started to say that this was the future, digital distribution, but the record companies didn't want to budge. It took so long for the record companies to get their ass into gear and start providing this service that clearly thousands and thousands of people wanted to use that it's a miracle that anyone went to use itunes and the like once it came out, after all we had been getting this for free for years. Despite this, if we look at the figures herehttp://www.ifpi.org/content/library/Jupiter_Research_study_on_online_piracy.pdf we see that pirates, compared to music buyers, are

31% more likely to buy single tracks online.

33% more likely to buy music albums online.

100% more likely to pay for music subscription services.

60% more likely to pay for music on mobile phones.

showing clearly that, although not all, many pirates simply wanted the service provided by digital distribution and file sharing rather than just skimping out on paying. Now that is available in a pay format, they will pay.

Mpfreemium

I'm not a taker when the concept of 'freemium' is brought up. I understand it, of course, as a much needed resolution to the concerns of digital rights and intellectual property of content made available on the Internet, but in all honesty, the thought of paying for everything just bums me out.

I realise that I've probably just highlighted the biggest problem that the net generation suffer from- a really, really unhealthy sense of entitlement. From music, to images and photographs to ideas, if it's available somewhere on the Internet, it goes without saying that someone is going to take advantage of it costing them nothing other than bandwidth.

I should say first that as an avid music downloader, a lot of what I get is totally legal; most progressive record labels and artists are working with the times and offer free downloads as tasters of what's to come from them, but it's a matter of knowing where to look. Commercial artists are less likely to do this, as they can afford taking the risk of their music being shared online, as their CDs will still always be sold.

But as I sit here, eating the KitKat my stepbrother left in the fridge a few days ago, it has occurred to me that paying for Internet content would make me less likely to try new things. I don't like wafer at all, but it was sitting in the fridge, it was cookies-and-cream flavour, I was hungry, and I know he's not around for the next few days. I wasn't going to walk all the way to the dairy to try something that's been forgotten and left to rot. It's sort of the same with downloading music; a blog might describe a song really well, and though it's not by an artist I like or even particularly know of, I will probably download the song. For example, when my favourite music blog wrote about The-Dream's track Make Up Bag in their Stuck on Repeat feature they made it sound so tempting to be a The-Dream fan that I saved the track, and bought the album it's from when it was released a few months back (which is Love King- not as solid as his other albums, but a must-have for the grind-and-click R&B fans out there).

I realise that I won't be able to use ye olde 'poor student' excuse to justify my rabid mpfree diet forever, but if everything is soon to come down to freemium, and being an Arts student I'm bound to never having any money and a bad credit rating, how will I ever find other artists who know the exact right moment to drop the bass?

The virtual girlfriend

The bond with the virtual girlfriend is more important than the relationship with people in real world?! There is an increase in number of men who want marry with the virtual girlfriend in Japan. Do you know the game, “LovePlus”? It is released in Japan, 2009 and developed by Konami for NDS (Nintendo DS) soft as dating simulation game. This game allows players to play with a girlfriend in real-time, so that they can spend the time with her in all seasons. The feature of NDS allows the players to interact with the girlfriend using stylus and have a little chat through microphone. This game offers the virtual reality and has recorded a massive hit when is released. In July, there was a big event for this game in Atami where is famous for resort in Japan. Within a month, more than 1500 men visited there to enjoy the date with the virtual girlfriend. (The player can go Atami for a short trip with the girlfriend within the game, so they visit there to feel a sense of reality.) Some of them pay the hotel expenses for two people! During the short trip, they tend to interact with her only and immersed themselves in the virtual world. The portability of NDS allows the player to interact with the virtual girlfriend and take them to the virtual world wherever they are. However, too much focus on love in virtual space sometimes isolates them from the real world and might lead to loose an opportunity of relationship with others.

Googlezon

"EPIC 2015" is a mix of recent internet media history and speculation on the future. It was posted in 2007, so some of the speculation concerns the present. It is a fascinating look into where exactly media could be headed in our not so distant future. As the title mentions, the predictions are made for the year 2015. The original was titled “Epic 2014,” and due to the passing of time and developments in media it had quickly become outdated.

The movie speaks for itself, but there are some pertinent points that link to things we have been discussing in class. The notion of the public becoming their own reporters and broadcasting directly to other users via an IPod or mobile device is an interesting idea, but in actuality may be too “noisy” to really work. It would require some sort of labeling system to sort the posts, which would rely on the broadcaster to accurately tag their information. The potential for abuse and too great a focus on the individual seems like this promotion would be unlikely.

Another interesting point in the film is the idea of a merger between Google and Amazon. The search capabilities of Google mixed with Amazon’s suggestions would revolutionize the way we interact with the internet media. This complete personalization of our media consumption being chosen by third parties is a frightening concept, and one that is becoming more of a reality every day. While it seems unlikely that this would completely replace normal news outlets, it certainly is a potential future and one that we need to seriously think about before it’s upon us.

Digital Capitalism and Digital Marxism

Analyzing capitalism in a Marxist sense can have its advantages for actually using capitalism. It can give one a greater understanding of the concept of capitalism to use it to ones advantage (even though Marxism would state that this is a bad thing). There are a few ways this can be done through the digital media.

One would be breaking capitalism down in a Marxist sense for free use of services on the internet. This would be freemium. Making facebook free (which it is now) and then excluding certain things you can do on facebook and making the public having to pay or subscribe to it on top of also adding new features on facebook that you would have to pay for. Marxism would say that facebook should be all free but freemium could work on facebook and one could see profits.

There is also the criticism of digital capitalism from Marxism of turning workers into full-time slaves. Someone who works on computers all day long then goes home to use the same kinds of digital services on the computer take away the power of what the worker could want to do in their spare time. Such as doing nothing. As was stated in the lecture there is now a stigma on doing nothing as it is seen as unproductive. So Marxism would state that digital capitalism has brainwashed the public into always having to do something and not taking the time to be free and relax.

To the point of this now. If one could use freemium on some internet site and make profits to start a company and they have the knowledge of what capitalism does to society, this can be expressed by the very person(s) who used capitalism to build an authority. They could say that there shouldn't be a stigma on doing nothing and that people should be free to do nothing if they want in there spear time and also simply just highlight issues sounding digital capitalism through the perspectives of Marxism. From this these two theories are still in some kind of a vicious cycle in this digital age.

Gaming Wars: Farmville v Final Fantasy

So who plays games on Facebook? I must admit I have tried out a couple such as Farmville, mainly to stop the endless requests from friends to join their farming community. With over 75 million players there seems to be the demand, in fact I have seen people in lectures tending to their crops, harvesting their trees and animals.

So why do people play them? My friends who play say they feel a sense of community, yet at the same time try to be more competitive than their neighbours. In this respect Facebook games are much like Final Fantasy etc. Zynga (the company that makes the FB games) received over 100 million dollars from Google. Here lies the problem commonly discussed by traditional game developers such as Charles Randall (Assassin’s Creed, Neverwinter Nights), Daniel James (Bang! Howdy, Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates) who argue in a wired magazine article that the problem with games such as Farmville is that they “break traditional game design and get players to pay money” and this is creating a gaming industry where it becomes not about skill but about gaming more “stuff” which they claim is similar to junkie behaviour. I have to admit I tend to agree, there was no better feeling when you were young than using skill to pass a stage.

While there is nothing wrong with playing games such as Farmville, they are probably more suitable for kids than others like God of war etc., there is the belief in the gaming world that Farmville etc. are fads and by creating them to be as such people will soon come to think of gaming as a whole as an industry that they don’t want to invest as much time and money into. Oh and just a last note, I think I lasted about a week on Farmville before it started becoming too time consuming.

A Cynic View of Social Networking

I found this clip of a South Park episode that highlights some of the social implications of sites such as Facebook in quite a humorous manner. The video highlights friend numbers as a source of competition and social status, what constitutes a "friend" and the causes of information displayed in cyber space and the implications it may have in real world socialising. You may laugh, but you go to think: How many of these stupid generalisations do I fit into? Funny.

"you don't need come to us, we are coming to you" - Media

These days’ media is available to consumers to use as they want to. Internet can now be accessed through mobile phones and television can be connected to your laptop where it does exactly what your laptop does for you. One can now watch live television driving his car and also while sitting in the airplane. Information is available in abundance and can be accessed through every mode now. The latest development is the TiVo.
Everyone has their favorite programs on television and they like to follow them and those similar to them. For example, one may be fond of a particular actor, director or genre and would be willing to follow other shows which have them in common. However, in this era of plenty, there are so many television channels and so many shows that it is very difficult to glance through every show and watch them to see whether or not do they match our tastes. TiVo, a media device, just does that for you.
TiVo has been launched in New Zealand and it is media device which not only records television shows but does more than that. The moment you record a show on television using TiVo, using the internet, it will gather information about the actors in the show, the director, story and genre. It will then compare it with other on line television show reviews and listings and would suggest to you the shows which you might like. Moreover, if your preferences change, this recorder automatically adjusts your new likings with the old ones and suggests you other programs accordingly. Also you can insert your preferences in it manually whenever you want. click here for more details.
It also has the capacity to record and pause live television programs such as television news and sports events. Hence it can manage your timings and shows as per your convenience.
Media is hence available for the consumers today to consume in whichever form they want. It is however dependent on the frequency of the internet whether or not will the telecast be clear or not.

I am a cyborg afterall

So waaaaaaaay back in week 3 when we had the lecture about cyborgs I was just a tiny bit cynical.
I thought "meh, i'm not a cyborg, i'm not dependent on technology.."
maybe i was just trying to reassure myself that I didn't have to rely on technology.
HOWEVER
the other day I accidentally left my phone at home..
now I'm not really a texting person as such.. I don't often have conversations with people over text.. nor do i really have to find out where people are.. I usually know where my friends hang out.
BUT
without my phone I felt completely cut off from everyone..
It was really quite stressful.
This made me realize how much I depended on this little piece of technology.
I was always slightly scornful when people said things like "oh i can't live without my phone" but it turns out, I can barely just survive.
I think our dependence on technology isn't necessarily a bad thing though.
Being a cyborg seems kinda cool anyway.
however, I DO think that half of it is just mindset. We are not constantly on our phones or ipods or laptops, but we like knowing that it's there, in our bags or pockets so that we can use them at will.

_

Subscriber Wars!

Ever wonder what the first Youtube video was? Easy! 'Me at the Zoo'. A 18 second clip of a guy talking about how cool elephants are because they have long trunks... Well he is right, trunks are pretty kick ass.

So how has Youtube grown since then? Especially with the addition of the "Subscribe" button. Which has allowed certain Youtube big wigs to gain over 2 million subscribers. Big wigs like:
nigahiga with 2,720,178 Subscribers

Ray William Johnson with 2,025,327 Subscribers

AND Fred with 2,006,072 Subscribers

Fred though... Really? 2,006,072 subscribers through making his voice high-pitched while screeching about nothing? Fred also has another claim to fame - being the first Youtube channel with over a million subscribers... AND he is just about to release his own movie staring his character Fred.

Wow. Please don't blame me for skipping that movie, I don't hate Fred out of principle, just I don't want anything to make a noise that high pitched unless it is being stepped on.

Yet I have to acknowledge the amazing creativity and motivation it must have taken Fred to develop this online identity and to gain that many subscribers. Even if I can't admit to liking Fred, I have to admit it is people like him who have made Youtube as powerful it is.

I recommend you have a look at the major channels on Youtube. People subscribe to them for a reason: they are actually pretty talented, entertaining and have a massive influence on internet culture. Check them out and if you get the opportunity get involved!

Tyra Banks talks about anonymity

Tyra Banks' talk show may not be the most accurate place to get information from but in a recent episode I thought the issue of anonymity, which we have discussed in lectures and readings, was relevant to her show. The show was about a group of people who were 'addicted' to making comments about celebrities online, anonymously. Tyra then got the audience to anonymously write a comment about the four guests, to see how they felt when it was them who was being talked about. All of the guests argued that they only do it as a way of expressing their self identity. They discussed that it was a way for them to express how they feel but so no one knows who they are. Tyra went on to tell them that she only saw insecurities in their comments and that what they were expressing for celebrities was really how they felt about themselves.

Although the Tyra show is not going to prove any of these issues at hand, I did find a lot of what they were discussing similar to Kennedy's reading in the course book where he discussed anonymity and how important it is for online communities to enable users to be able to disguise parts of their identity that they may want to hide from their real life identities. I thought this related particularly to one of the guests on the Tyra show who was particularly interested in commenting on pictures of celebrities whom he believed to be gay, he discussed that because he himself was gay then everybody else should admit to being gay. The outcome of his argument was that he was anonymously telling all of these celebrities to 'come out of the closet', where he was not actually admitting the truth about his sexuality at the same time. All up this showed me that online anonymity is an issue that everybody is dealing with, whether it be positively or in this case negatively.

Email Account Stolen

Yesterday when I tried to access my hotmail account, I was informed that I did not have the correct password. I tried re-entering the password several times, before being locked out. I am now unable to access my email, or msn messenger. I can only come to the conclusion that someone has stolen my email account. I do not know how this has happened, although it may have something to do with the fact that I have had the same one word password for ten years, but I now realise how much important stuff gets sent to my hotmail account. I created it 10 years ago and over time it has accumulated a large amount of subscriptions and is associated with such things as, Facebook, University, Trademe, and this blog. I now have no access to my email and I am left wondering what nefarious deeds my email is being used for. Could they be going through all my stuff and accessing my pages, or are they sending out copious amounts of spam. All I know is that it is highly frustrating, not being able to do anything, that involves email.

What we don't need.

In class we were asked what we would like in a website. On The Oatmeal comic site I found this wonderful cartoon of what websites we don't need or want. I find it rather hilarious and I hope you do too. It does raise some good points such as having lots of things that have been used on web 2.0 websites and using as many as you can all at once (Point 8). Web sites need some new ideas. For instance, a button to email certain people what you are looking at, at that very moment in time without having to copy the link or share it through your facebook page to EVERYONE on your friends list. 'The Oatmeal' even explains that trying to build the next facebook would be quite difficult. No matter how much we complain about its flaws and how it at times fails us. But then we just go onto other Social Network sites and complain about it there.

Ads for you

A few weeks backs now, Rob Thomas a candidate for the Auckland council made the news for his tech savvy billboard on Ponsonby Rd. that sent out a text to anyone within a certain range of the billboard. These texts sent out his political message to people who passed by.

This got me thinking about how much technology has pushed advertising to change over the years. As we know, advertising has changed, not only in terms of new technologies but for the need of these advertising messages to get through the clutter of the mass amounts of advertising around.

Cultural changes sees that people are more apt to try to avoid advertising messages as much as they can now (think about Freeview and it’s capability to skip through ads). The fact is that people don’t really like being advertised to or at least realise they are being advertised to. Technology has helped advertisers get their messages across in a more interactive way to connect with audiences. This novelty tends to capture attention more and cause more interest.

The internet can monitor where people click so advertisements on certain pages reflect what is assumed to be products or services that are catered specifically for the user. This more personalised nature of advertising has transformed the industry to become more focus on personalised advertising.

In the same way as the internet, advertising in real life has also changed in trying to be more personalised to its audience. Some interesting new advertising mediums include ones that Rob Thomas has used. The Bluetooth capable advertising billboard communicates messages to directly the public.

Some stores have GPS enabled devices that when a customer (who agrees to receive texts from the store) comes within a certain range of the store, they will automatically receive a text message with some sort of discount special enticing the receiver to walk in the store and purchase something. Taxis also have this capability. Screens in taxis across the country are tailored to have advertisements played when they are within range of a certain store, promoting their business. This on hand advertising ensures that the viewer has recently viewed the ad therefore meaning that they still have that ad in their top of mind awareness and are more likely to visit that store. This is an effective way of capturing consumers. Others forms include bus stands that allow people to download a free music track when they’re in that range.

One relatively newer form of advertising that I personally find intriguing is the billboard ads that scans who the viewer is in terms of their demographic and personalise the ads that come up on screen. This effective use of selecting who the audience is means that advertising messages on screen can be focused on who is viewing it ensuring that they get a message that is aimed at them. Still in its infancy, one can only imagine how much further this type of technology can develop. Minority Report was not far off in suggesting this type of technology, and perhaps in the future these billboards and any other advertising spaces can find out more about what we like and don’t like therefore further customising advertisements relevant to us.

Better watch out!

Talking about SNS and the privacy settings, it reminds of me of a big incident that happened in Korea last year.

A singer named Jay Park from a popular boy band called 2pm who was traumatized by Korean netizens, left the country after 4 days, when his MySpace comments he posted to his friend 3 years ago were translated and publicized.

Jay Park was born and raised in Washington and he had come to his motherland, South Korea, to become a singer. He gained fame and popularity but not long after, a bored netizen tracked him down on his MySpace page to find something worthy of public interest. The content of his messages to his friend were mostly about his life as a trainee singer in an unfamiliar land, containing phrases like ‘Korea is gay’ and ‘I hate Koreans’. These comments were translated to an overly angry and mocking tone in Korean and this was enough to stir up the rage. The messages were 3 years old when they were spread over the net and yet they tagged along on his tail like a tattoo.

SNS is a scary thing I tell you...
You better watch out what you share, or else you never know when they’ll bite you back in the future.

Know your memes.

Haven't heard the Double Rainbow Song? Not attending Kate's party? Badger, badger, mushroom mushroom? O RLY? YA RLY.

Just in case you're experiencing anxiety about missing out on the latest meme, I thought I'd remind you of the easy option: http://knowyourmeme.com/

It pretty much takes all the fun- well, maybe only about 78% of the fun- out of memes by detailing all the latest ones nobody else has probably even heard of yet (or, potentially, ever will) thus allowing you to go freely around the internets trying to be the First to distribute said memes. Which nobody will then understand until weeks later. I didn't recognize any of the memes featured on this site, but have taken it upon myself to propagate the memephrase "Very Erotic, Very Violent" I spotted.

I suspect most people are exposed to memes (or what random people think are memes, but nobody else has heard of) and just don't realize. So, the next time someone says something completely bizarre on a Youtube comment thread, instead of posting a long, elaborate, and abusive reply, just assume it's a meme/they're a troll/both. It saves a lot of time and effort. Plus if you see it repeated on another thread, you can feel really smart and up to date.

Cyborg craze

I recently met a man who doesn’t own a mobile phone. Tim is a musician and performer and claims to never have neither owned nor felt a need to own a mobile phone. He heaves up the same, ever familiar argument of “back in the day when people didn’t have…”

His argument? Mobile phones are essentially just tools that handicaps people. According to him, plans are perfectly capable of being made and social lives are completely capable of sorting themselves out without relying on technology.

This makes me wonder.

Tim still has (and uses) a laptop, an ipod, a car, a dishwasher…you get the drift. So I don’t see how exactly does this whole “no mobile” policy fits into his unashamedly ‘cyborg’ existence. People like him will forever confuse me.

It makes no sense to intentionally reject one form of new media over another and then believe that by doing so you’ve positioned yourself in a place of power. The way I see it, media should empower you – the moment it enslaves you, you’re a dead duck. But on the other hand if you just choose not to use it (when you can) and make your life more efficient. Well, then you’re just an idiot.

Selectively rejecting technology doesn’t really make you anything great. It doesn’t make you any less of a ‘cyborg’ and it certainly doesn’t make any sense.

Touche, Tim.

Do you know what really grinds my gears?

Becoming famous seems easy nowadays. Blogs and Youtube. I find it interesting on how people follow some of these online gurus religiously. Take fashion bloggers for example. Fashion bloggers are self-made people these days. These bloggers who aren't(or weren't) professionally in the industry, somehow are the messiah for people who care about their looks. What I mean is that, magazines hire professional, experienced people to write articles and inspire readers. These bloggers somehow make a name for themselves (probably trying to be outrageous to capture attention), and people are taking their words personally. Why would I trust their advice over someone who has written for Vogue/Bazaar/Numero etc?!

Issaclikes.com is a blog about a guy who is interested in fashion and it documents his daily life and thoughts about fashion. He became a somebody now. From the first post I remembered coming across on his blog to now, I wondered how did he get so well known? Some insiders told me he basically pretended to be someone important to get backstage. My main point about this is why do people follow "wannabes"?

Youtube is another channel used by people to get famous, take Michelle Phan for example. An artist who uploaded tutorials on makeup. Now she is voted #1 on Youtube for Gurus. When these people give advice, where do they get their advices from? They don't seem to reference this stuff.

What happened to getting recognition for hard earned work? Why is it so easy to become famous? All you need to do is put on a "front" and people will stereotype you to see if you are worthy to be followed. That is my "what really grinds my gears" for the day (courtesy to Peter from Family Guy).

Fashion Bloggers

Who would have known that bloggers can actually gain V.I.P. treatment during fashion events and fashion shows? Some of the big names are even flown from the other side of the world just to have them seated front row. Fashionistas would pay a lot of money and would do anything just to have them seated with a V.I.P. But no, you don't have to break the bank to make it happen, all you need is thousands of readers on your blog and you will surely be on the A List of the designers. One thing is for sure, blogging has a future in the fashion industry.

A good example of this worldwide phenomenon is the infamous blogger Bryan Grey-Yambao, also known as Bryanboy (www.bryanboy.com). Not only did he get an invite to a Marc Jacobs show, he was front row beside one of the biggest names in the industry, US Vogue Editor Anna Wintour. And that's not all, the international designer even named a bag after him, BB Ostrich Bag.

So what makes the fashion industry give special importance to bloggers? My guess would be their authenticity when compared to a typical fashion articles found on magazines. Thousands of people visit fashion blogs that are written by ordinary fashion fanatics, with or without the credentials or the expertise behind them. My guess would be that readers can connect and relate to them more than the ones they get from the magazine racks? Probably.

Another guess would be immediacy. Bloggers, now with the help of Twitter and other social media, can update and post anytime. This will be very handy since it can keep up with the constantly changing fashion industry and to keep track of the daily feeds from their favourite fashion celebrities. However, we cannot forget that magazines also have their online versions, but bloggers still catch more traffic than any of them would.

Here is a video clip from Style.com, featuring some of the biggest Internet stars that influence not just their readers but the fashion industry itself:

Now, what about here in New Zealand? NZ Fashion Week 2010 just ended, and yes, bloggers were invited to the show. There are even international bloggers who came to witness what our small country can offer. To name a few we had:

The Canadian blogger/social media star, Casie Stewart (third from the left) (http://casiestewart.com/).

And American stylist and blogger, Derek Warburton (http://www.dereklovesshopping.com/) (http://derekwarburton.com)

I guess, this side of the blogosphere needs to be observed. Not only that they are gaining a huge amount of Internet time, but the money and the influence they have, both online and real world, is something that is not to be taken for granted. During the NZ Fashion Week I heard quite a number of people complaining why Casie, Derek and other bloggers are even given so much attention. It seems that there are still a lot to be explained to both fashion and non-fashion insiders on how the Internet and the new media is changing the system. One thing is for sure, blogging can give you access to the glamorous life of the fashion elite.

Last.fm FTW!

So this past week I have been playing around on last.fm and its great! Now, not many of my peers know much about this site so for me this was entering new territory. To be honest I didn't know what to expect when I signed up though admittedly I was probably thinking it would be something akin to albumhunt.com, some kind of network of pirated music for the masses. Instead I found last.fm to be one of the more comprehensive libraries of music I have been to online. Essentially last.fm is a social networking site with the main focus on music of all kinds, it has all the main conventions of social networking; profiles, commenting systems, group, photo and forum systems all designed to make you feel part of a community. The main feature is the radio channels. These are organized in to musical genre as well as artist. For example on joining last.fm prompts you to enter a few of your favorite artists and each of these artists act as a radio channel. This a really cool feature because it surprises you constantly with new music based on the style of the artist you are tuned in to. Related to this is the ability for the user to contribute to the music thats there, this too is achieved with SNS features. Importantly you can "tag" artists according to what genre or style of music you think they play, this essentially means the users are responsible for labeling the music and thus creating the music channels. One of the key features of last.fm is a piece of technology called the "scrobbler". This feature syncs your music library on your computer, iTunes and the like, with last.fm which in turn gives you a more accurate look at your musical spectrum. On the whole last.fm is an enjoyable experience and a good example of successful collective intelligence. I definitely recommend this site to all music lovers.

News, news, news.

New media offers us so many more options to news. News has transformed from a push into a pull media, where the individual has more control. Years back news was only fed to us at certain times of the day. Imagine only having access to current events in the daily news bulletins or the arrival of your Herald in the morning. We are spoilt with the immediacy and convenience of news in todays society.

New media now allows us to access news whenever we want to, via our phones or laptops. There are online news papers as equivalents, eg. New Zealand Herald (www.nzherald.co.nz/). - these even eliminate us even having to purchase a paper. Countless websites provide news reports, even your favourite social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook can provide a news element. These sites can go even further by providing an aspect of 'citizen journalism' one which provides the citizen to take part in the news reporting. This participatory journalism can be seen in sites such as Indymedia (http://www.indymedia.org.nz/) I think this is a great idea. Being able to put your opinion forward is a total highlight of this kind of news.

Sometimes it is hard to beat the traditional forms of news. The familiarity is reassuring. It is sometimes exhausting searching for relevant or unbiased news articles in the world wide web. Often you are faced with information overload. A case of having to much info on offer. Offline news gives it to you short and sweet, but new media offers so much more variety.

They both have their advantages. In the online world you can personalise and pick and choose what you think is newsworthy. I like having the options. I love knowing technology is there for me if I wish to have news that way.

Race on the tablet PC Market

Samsung has recently launched a tablet PC challenging Apples 'magical' device the iPad.
Samsung's tablet PC Galaxy has a slim 7 inch figure with further enhanced features such as video cameras which enables people to video chatt taking technology to the next level. Video chatting for many allows flexibity. Galaxy tablet PC is a developed version of the Galaxy smart phone that samsung placed at the start of the year.

Samsung Galaxy in addition to running Google Androi 2.2 it supports WiFi, BLuethooth 3.0 and WCDMA 3G. Other features of the Galaxy tablet PC also includes Swype text enry, HD move playback, full web browsing, Adobe Flash support and navigation. Samsung Glaxy is available in 16 GBS and 36 GBs and prices are likely to vary depending on the telcommuncation companies that offer the services.

LG and other electronic companies have also announced that they soon too will be releasing a tablet PC, increasing the competitiveness of the tablet PC marke. Tablet PCs tend to be a mixture of useful technology. However, Apples iPad released earlier this year tends to be limited in functions. However experts have said that although Samsung Tablet PC's will certanly be a threat to the market applications of Apple tends to exceed applications put out by Samsung. With growing desire for easy portable devices computers became less popular with release of laptops. I often question if tablet PCs will be the next new thing replacing laptops.