Jon+Weiss

The type of technologies I use everyday are very numerous. In an average day, I use my TV, my computer, my cell phone, my MP3 player, and every once in awhile I play on my video game consoles and watch a DVD. I also use a PSP whenever I am away. On Monday nights, I use my TV the most. I watch the TV shows Chuck, Heroes, and 24, but I have to DVR other shows that the rest of my family watches that I don’t. Soon, with all the TV shows that I normally watch coming back during February, both of the DVR’s in my house will be kept very busy. I use my cell phone to text message people all throughout the day, and I have to keep the landline phone near me at all times to answer if someone calls. I use my MP3 player whenever I am on the bus going to and from school, and also when I’m in a car going to and from anywhere. For video consoles, I have all 3 next-gen systems. I got a PS3 as a present for the holidays, I bought the Wii myself, and my brother bought the Xbox 360 himself, although we all use it. My computer gets the most use out of all of the electronic devices in my house. I use my computer to talk to people online, I use it to play most of the games that I play online. I browse websites that I know and like, and I use it to do nearly all of my homework. Whenever I use computers in school, I use them to do the work assigned for me, and see which of my favorite websites are blocked or banned. I use my PSP very frequently, at least once a day. I use it when I am supposed to be in bed, so I connect it wirelessly to my PS3 and browse the internet through that. I usually watch 2 or 3 episodes of any TV shows that I watch. I can connect wirelessly to my PS3 with my PSP wherever there is wifi, if I have the PS3 on and ready, so I can access the internet from anywhere.

My own personal definition of Web 2.0 is that it is a new age of the internet. Web 2.0 describes how the internet has evolved past the static webpages that it used to have. All webpages not too long ago used to barely change, and it all depended on the one person who first created the website. With Web 2.0, or web democratization, it lets webpages constantly change, and makes it easier and easier for people to edit the webpages, or voice their opinion, or anything. I personally use Web 2.0, or web democratization, every day. It lets me voice my opinion in an easy format on any of the websites that I normally visit, or contribute to any website that I can. I know alot of the RSS feeds that my favorite websites use, and I check them everyday.

The Timex Sinclair 1000 is significant in the history of computer technology because it was one of the first computers ever made. It was made in 1982, a joint effort with the Timex Corporation and Sinclair Research. What was innovative about the Timex Sinclair 1000, that makes it important in the history of computer technology, is that it made up the shortcut system for most commands. For example, on the Timex Sinclair 1000, if you pressed Shift+P, it would generate the keyword PRINT. Another important fact about the Timex Sinclair 1000 is that it is one of the only computers to sell for under $100.

The Commodore 64, or C64, is significant to the history of computer technology because it brought a new technology to middle-class households by creative mass marketing, not unlike Ford's Model T. During the C64's lifetime, sales were about 30 million, making it the best selling personal computer ever made. An interview with a former president of Commodore said that at one point, they were building about 400,000 units per month. C64's success was due to the fact that it was sold in retail stores, not only electronic stores, and that Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control the cost.

DOS is significant to the history of computer technology because it was an operating system that dominated the PC market between 1981 and 1995. DOS stands for Disk Operating System, and it basically is a single-task/single-user operating system. What that means is that there can only be one user, not like our school computers which have a different user for each student, and there can only be one program up at any time, not like our school computers which can have more than 1 up. The DOS also gave us the basics for our drive naming schemes that we still use today. A and B are not used, as they were reserved for floppy disks on the DOS, and hard drives were given the letters C and D.

Pong is significant to the history of computer technology because it made people have widespread use of electronic devices in their home. Although Pong was not the first video game, it was the first to have widespread use in the home and arcade markets. Pong is also credited with starting the boom in the video game industry. Without Pong, I don't think any of our video game consoles, or normal computers, would be the same today. If we didn't have Pong, then I think computers wouldn't have the same widespread use for video games that it does, and people would still think of it as only something to be used for a job or work, and not something to have fun with. Without Pong, I don't think the video game consoles we have today would be the same, because Pong started the video game boom of the 80's, and without that, we would be far behind in what is possible today.

Prodigy, the online service, is significant to the history of computer technology because it was the first consumer online service. Although the CompuServe came first, Prodigy is different because it was a graphical interface, instead of a command line interface, making it more user friendy. Prodigy offered its subscribers access to network services, such as weather reports, news reports, shopping, video games, and many more. Prodigy bundled itself with consumer-oriented computers such as IBM's PS/1 and PS/2, so shortly, Prodigy had over a million subscribers.

Compuserve is significant to the history of computer technology because it was the first major online computer service. It was one of the only online computer services, dominating the field in the 1980's and slowly falling back during the 1990's, when AOL came with monthly subscriptions instead of hourly rates. CompuServe was best known for having good consumer service, although it was also very important in other fields. CompuServe developed extensive screening and reporting tools that were used by Wall Street back then.

WebTV is significant to the history of computer technology because it was a client that got the internet more known during the 90's. What WebTV did was allow Television screens to be used instead of computer monitors, and the online service that supported it. While it is known as MsnTV today, it was called WebTV back when it was first created. The exact product that is WebTV is an adaptor that allows for web hookup on your TV. What came with the original product was a web browser, a keyboard, and connection to the internet.

I think that the most effective superbowl ad shown is the LMAO commerical, from NBC, because it will encourage more people to watch the comedy block that they are advertising, and because of the comedic value of the commercial nobody will want to stop watching the comedy block because of the ad. I think that if they get even only 1% more viewers than the commercial should be the most effective, considering how hard it is to successively get more viewers after every season.