When i first heard that I would be taking COM 125 this semester, I actually cringed, with memories of CSE 111 and programming a "robot" still very much too vivid for my own liking. But as the weeks passed, I started to realise that this was very much a different experience. There were a few things I didn't quite or expect though.

To me, the course seemed very un-communications-like. Alot of technical information, and less on the effects, impacts on communication. While it's fun and interesting to learn about how a blog or a social netowrking site works or how an umbrella can become a map, it's not exactly what I (or some others) would have fully expected. I was particularly puzzled over the "growth mindset" lessons, and up to this point fail to understand how exactly it relates to the Internet.

That being said, though, classes were alsmost always fun and enjoyable, though sometimes it seemed that many in their seats weren't exactly paying attention; sleeping, using laptops or just talking. Quite annoying, though that's probably not the fault of the lecturer. Happens alot everywhere, and maybe it's just a sign of the regard that others have for education, even if it's not what they expect.

Would I recommend COM 125 to others? Definitely. How could it be improved? I'm not entirely sure.

No essay questions please!

Futurama

I love that show, especially that robot dude. A total ripoff of the Simpsons, but they don't exactly deny it, and it's still enjoyable. Are we really going to have robots in the future? Well, Terminator predicted that Skynet should have taken over by now, and this is supposed to happen in 2005...




So what does the future really hold? Are we going to be stuck in a war with the machines? Are time travelling robots going to assasinate mothers? Will there be cars that can transform into huge speaking things that can cshoot lasers?

I doubt it.

The future? Faster and smaller, probably. I still remember dial-up. 14.4 and 28.8. Now people fidget if a page takes more than 7 seconds to load. Convergence seems to be the key concept to take note of, with the major players of the computer and internet industry moving to work in concert rather than in conflict. What does this all mean? Will we be at the mercy of one huge internet monolith, subject to their whims and fancies when we peons are just trying to watch another random video on YouTube?

Or will we live in a world where a table can transfer iamges from a camera to a phone, where something around your neck can project a video or watch onto a flat surface, or an umbrella can be used as a map?

Maybe both, maybe neither. I just hope the robots are friendly.

Politicking Me Off

It was famously sung that "the internet is for porn", but a casual glance at most congregations of faceless internet users hiding behind avatars and aliases (i.e. chat logs of populat multiplayer games) will show you that there are really only two things that the Internet is widely used for.

1. Chuck Norris jokes
2. Debates about American politics

While I'd really like to talk about the former, the latter is what seems to be the topic of interest today.

I'm a regular, avid, addicted player of the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, and on any given day, you would expect to see this:

Person A: hi im new can i get sum tips tnks
Person B: l2spel nub
Person C: You learn to spell, noob.
Person D: *newb
Person E: This is why America is going down the drain.
Person A: im not american
Person B: gtfo nub
Person E: You don't have to be racist, especially since we have a black President now.
Person A: america sux
Person B: u suck
Person C: You both suck, and so does Obama.

And so on and so forth. While this is hardly an academic and scholarly debate on a respected platform, it raises a key issue; the internet can serve as a powerful tool for the transmission of political messages. In places like the United States of America, where voting isn't mandatory, the internet (like how some populat television shows) may be used to reach the younger generation, typically less inclined to bother about matters they don't view as directly relevant. Putting Obama's campaign on Second Life and spreading news about McCain and Hillary on Facebook makes it relevant to them.

I would wonder if and when Singapore's political climate starts to ascend to the heights (or descend to the depths?) of the world wide web, but then, it's a whole different ballgame here, isn't it? And besides...

Less is not More

I want a PS3.

Any of you still have a phone that can't take pictures? Never used GPS? Think Bluetooth is what happens after drinking too much Gatorade? Are stuck on level 2 of Pac-Man? Still have ICQ installed and running?

The world's come a heck of a long way since Mario and Sonic...





You can hardly get by a day these days without being bombarded with multimedia. Taxis and buses have television screens, the internet reaches everyone and brings everything everywhere, and phones have morphed into little magic devices which let us do anything anyway we like it.

It's said that the media in this day and age has allowed a person, in a week, to consume more informtion than the average individual would in his entire lifetime two hundred years ago. That is simply mind-boggling. Imagine that.

Now I just want my PS3 so I can play all the ultra-realisitc 3D games with people halfway across the world.

Sickening

I remember the first time I heard about a computer virus. I thought it was cool. Thinking about how awesome messing with someone else's computer would be. Then watching Independence Day where a computer virus saved the world. Cool.

But when reality sinks in and you begin to realise how essential computers are, you have to admit that virueses are pretty messed up. Sure, it's cool to irritate someone for a minute or two, but what if it happens to you? What if some malicious, file-eating worm digs its way through your firewalls and embeds itself deep in the bowels of your system, emerging to feast on a random 27 page document or critical system file? Or just simply decides to go "del *.*" on Friday the 13th?

So yeah, viruses are sick, making computers unwell. But what is worse is the fact that there are so many people who seem proud to propogate such acts. Trojans and hackers seem to be glorified in the movies...






... but no one is really truly happy about the existence of these people other than their known associates, are they?

So what do we do?

"Update your system!" "Use an anti-virus" "Be careful" are the often-repeated cries from those around us. But in truth, there is very little we can do, is there? Even the best fall down sometimes, and you only really know you're in trouble when it's too late. Just because Norton or MacAfee gives you a green light, is your system clean? I doubt.

A cycical view? Maybe. But a realistic one, no?