Ronny+Benoit

1/26/09 Online Comm P3   How I Use Technology I use technology frequently throughout an average day. The technology that I use most often is probably my car. This technological miracle helps me travel to and from school, sports practices, work, friends’ houses, and anywhere else I need to go. I would estimate that the average time I spend in my car daily is 20 minutes. Without my car I would be stuck waiting for other methods of transportation. My Macbook is the second most useful piece of technology I have. I spend hours watching television shows on it. My house has no cable, so I watch Southpark, Family Guy, The Office, American Dad, and The Simpsons on a wonderful website I found called hulu.com. I also upload videos to youtube.com and spend an enormous amount of time watching videos that others have uploaded. Facebook.com is another website that I visit almost daily, and I use it to communicate with my friends. I check up on my favorite skateboard team, DC Shoes, on their website, and read my favorite comic strip, Garfield, on his website. Plus, I research information using google.com. When I’m not on the internet, I use my Macbook to type essays for school, or to use a program called Garageband. Garageband allows me to create intricate beats for hip hop songs and to record myself and my friends. When I need to speak with somebody, I use my cell phone. I almost never call people from my landline. I don’t have texting anymore, although I wish I did. I use my cell phone to make plans with my friends, let my mother know where I am, and to whoever else I need to. In addition, I play tetras on my phone when I am bored or when I am waiting somewhere, like in a dentist’s office. Video games are also important to me. I use my Nintendo Wii and my Nintendo DS whenever I can. I compete with my friends and we have a lot of fun. My DS is portable and I take it with me sometimes. I can play it wherever I want and I can even go online with it.

1/29/09 Web 2.0 is the new version of the internet. This is a version where users interact with the internet and add what they want. They communicate with each other and find information with incredible ease. Web democratization is taking over the internet. Users can now participate in websites and impact them. People have a voice now. The internet has become so important that other devices, besides computers, have access to it. Cell phones, game consoles, and handheld portable music players can use the internet for a variety of purposes. Going online has changed dramatically in the web 2.0.

1/30/09 The Timex Sinclair 1000(TS 1000) is the cheapest home computer to date. It came out in 1982 and had little long-term memory. It was basically useless except for simple programming. With no sound and black and white graphics, it would appear ancient to today's youth. Expansion packs and upgrades were released, providing this computer with a much greater variety of purposes.

The Commodore 64 is the best-selling personal home computer model of all time. It was released in 1982 and was much more sophisticated then previous home computer models. It was sold in retail stores instead of electronic stores, which increased its success. It has been compared to the Model T Ford in that they both brought a new technology to middle-class households in America. This computer featured the availability of many different software titles, like office applications and games.

DOS is short for "Disk Operating System". It refers to a number of similar operating systems which flourished between 1981 and 1995. These systems could be used only by one user at a time and could only perform one task at a time. There are new versions of the DOS. One example is the Russian PTS-DOS

Pong is a video game released in 1972. It began as a coin-operated machine found in arcades. It was the first video game with widespread popularity in both arcade and household markets. It was a two-dimensional game that simulated table tennis. Players controlled the paddles and bounced a small ball back and forth.

2/3/09 The superbowl ad that I think was the most effective was the one for Carreerbuilder.com. I found this ad to be especially convincing because it was long and in-depth. It discussed something that almost everyone can relate to, because very few people really enjoy their jobs. It wasn't a quick message thrown at viewers either. It was long and very persuasive. In addition to all of this, it was absolutely hilarious. The message was clear and direct, and it was also very entertaining. This makes me feel that no other superbowl ad was as effective.