I believe in Booking, the old way. #nct

The presentations you sat-in during New Communication Technology Classes in the second last week of the term were not wrong, they told you of beautiful realities where everything goes digital. Where the flick of a finger meant the next page and scanning over new newspaper editions meant getting it instantly, all in rich details and convenience.

Bullocks I tell you! I Googled a search on ‘Books are Irreplaceable’ and guess what? Most if not all of the results that returned left me depress in my quest to prove that traditional-non digital books that is ever so sweetly binded in that sweet paperback cover is totally irreplaceable. (I don’t mean to ostracize the ‘Hard Covers’ in any way) I still believe that books are meant to be enjoyed the same way they have been since the beginning of Prostuition! (It’s one of the longest living jobs in the world, I found that out from a BOOK) To be strained under dim conditions, flipped with your index finger and thumb (humans are the only mammals with thumbs, another great fact I got from a BOOK) and to only be found after an hour of back-breaking scavenging through the library.

Screw those search engines! They’re the ones making us stupid, in the traditional quest for knowledge, we got smarter. We would spend hours in the library searching for just one book and find ourselves leaving with more than just a few.

Here are my reasons to why Books will never be replaced:

1. Borrowing from the Library is Free
2. With more than enough time spent on the screen, it would suck to spend even more time in-front of the screen while you study
3. You get a better chance of interaction with other people at a holding up something with a cover
4. Some Librarians are pretty cute
5. ‘The New Book Smell’ is friggin’ AWESOME!
6. It takes a lot more effort reading an actual book, finishing it is a greater accomplishment
7. Books give you a sense of maturity and intelligence
8. Strolling around the bookstore just browsing for new books is an art, where (if you’re cheap) you get to read the brand new books for free
9. Looking for books often lead to other good books
10. The Classic ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ loses its meaning if it went digital

So though going Digital has it’s perks, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the books we have now. Honestly, I find that going digital means nothing more than “Another Gadget” and like musical greeting cards, the original is always better.

Music in a Minute #nct

So we understand from the previous week’s presentations (seminars) that it is likely that copyright would be a huge problem, not that it isn’t one right now. But there are speculations that Copyright would one day be just another word with no meaning at all.

In the following video, Prometeus – The Media Revolution. It shows the possible world we live in if we survive 2012 and if the world were still as advanced as it is today.

Ultimately, copyright infringements are never going away. People are still going to find a way to sustain their budgets with unlimited free music and talents even at sub-standard quality, they will make them good one way or another.

Bottom-line is this, Artists are not going to make much money off their works and the only way to go is to retire or get creative. One amazing move Rihanna made was the idea to take her Rated R Launch Party to the Bandwidths. Not only that, she performed her Rated R Concert to a world scale audience with Nokia’s live streaming effort.

I applaud the reigning artist for beyond creativity efforts to keep the music industry alive.

WiMax #nct

I swear, even before the semester started, I’ve been wanting to blog about WiMax for the longest time! First coming across this term when I got my new laptop (Acer – Timeline) I was intrigued by the cool sounding tech-y ‘thingofajig’ that nobody has ever heard of. So I googled it and boy was it amazing.

Recap from Ms Kwa’s lecture on 11th November 2009 where she touched a bit on WiMax being the new frontier of freedom without the hassle of hotspot hunting. Where the area of coverage is about 50KM in radii or diameter and sports enormous bandwidth capabilities as well as unparalleled speeds.

Sounds a little like Alien Technology to you? I assure you that Singapore is in-fact in the running for being slow for this technology. Developed countries such as India, Pakistan, America, Malaysia, Japan and Korea already have such technology implanted into their lifestyles and truly it has been nothing short of a blessing.

Think about it, no more crouching high and low for a router, no more hacking into your neighbor’s WiFi connection, no more disgustingly obscene data charges and most prominently for commuters, especially commuting students, no more sleeping or wasting time onboard the train/ bus.

A comparison between WiFi and WiMax Technology:

• WiMAX is a long range system, covering many kilometers, that uses licensed or unlicensed spectrum to deliver a point-to-point connection to the Internet (WiFi is retarded in that sense)
• Wi-Fi uses unlicensed spectrum to provide access to a network (WiMax is licensed and probably chargeable)
• Wi-Fi is more popular in end user devices (WiMax capable devices are really difficult to find)
• WiMAX and Wi-Fi have quite different quality of service (QoS) mechanisms (WiMax beats WiFi hands down in terms of speed, security and range)

A setback that WiMax has yet to counter since WiFi is the bitrate in relation to the distance from the source. It is either a strong bitrate or the ability to take the service further.

Overall, WiMax, though being awesome in so many ways, it is not perfect. Yet for all the perks, it is safe to say that this service deserves a full 5-Star rating for bringing the generation of 4G closer into our palms.

the air in Bangkok is sweeter in a dusty way.

#nct – Web 3.0

Ms Kwa spoke a bit about the evolution of the World-Wide-Web (WWW) from its humble beginnings of Tim Berners Lee where web pages were 2 Dimensional and the only things that attracted anyone were actual pictures filled with colour. One of the leading platforms of the internet was Neopets as most would re-call rushing home from school just to feed your pets, then battle other owners and playing really simple but well programmed Flash games.

Then came in Web 2.0 where the intensive integration of Flash into websites created a whole revolution of interactivity and graphically challenging visuals. Users could touch and go, touching as a contribution of work, comments, opinions on platforms such as Twitter, Blogs or Social Networking sites.  Simply put, Web 2.0 has revolutionized the way people walk-the-walk and talk-the-talk, when coffee shop banters used to be all about football games and lottery ticket hits and losses, Web 2.0 has shifted that onto a larger platform of usability and diversity.

The future is Web 3.0 or Semantic Web. Where statistics, data and personalities are analyzed and ingested into the beautiful ease of use of the web. Especially in search-engines and behavioral advertising, more specific, direct and faster information gathering platforms will enable users a whole new web experience made personal. One of the upcoming platforms is iGoogle (Intelligent Google) where more personalized results are matched to your searches based on current and popular trends in the community.

Another leap for mankind in the Web 3.0 platform is the upgrade of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) codings into XML codings (Extensible Markup Language) where huge limitations posed by HTML such as not linking product to placement are tackled and improved.

As of now, Web 3.0 is shaping the industry and many companies have already prepared themselves for the upcoming evolution. Corporations such as Apple with its iPhone and Windows Mobile 6.5 with integration of Windows LIVE have reached the palms of consumers and the web can be accessed at practically any time or place.

The future looks bleak for those without web connectivity. Thankfully, new upgrades in society has made the web a lot more accessible and affordable.