yadda yadda yadda..... send send send

I wanted to take the time this week to raise some interesting points about cell phones, considering that I would bet money everyone in the class has one. I got my first cell phone very early on, around 1998, and I did so only because it had that cool snake game on it! I have been using a cell phone pretty much ever since. Do I like having a cell phone? NO!! I hate it, but it has honestly become a part of my life, as random as that sounds. We are all creatures of habit and honestly I would argue that nearly everyone in our class "NEEDS" their cell phone. The problem with having a cell phone is first of all the cost! The average monthly cell phone bill in North America is about $82.00. Can you imagine how much these companies are making in profit every year? The second is the health issue. Although it is still not conclusive, cell phones reportedly cause brain tumors and other disorders. The third downside of using a cell phone of course is that they can, and often do, cause accidents because people use them while operating machinery and driving. So what is it about the cell phone that makes it so appealing to everyone? Well I think that first of all this is a social phenomenon. Using Lisa's 17 year old sister as an example, I began to realize that teens would often rather use their phones and text one another than actually meet in person. One statistic I came across revealed that the average cell phone user sends around 250 texts per month. Although there are often text message bundles and plans, this number is still profound. Some users can send anywhere from 250 - 4000 messages per month. 4000 messages per month averages out to 129/day!!! Who has that kind of time? It is a quick and easy way to communicate and so it is appealing. But the new cell phones don't stop with text messaging and now picture messaging. The new smart phones let you do just about anything! A smart phone has the ability to e-mail, live chat, video chat, conference chat, surf the web, use GPS, play games and even come as MP3 players. Again, as with my post on the automotive industry, what next? I honestly love having my cell phone and I don't know if I could survive with it, but I mean is this really necessary or has this just been a fad and a fashion statement. Cell phone companies are charging 400-600 dollars for their phones unless you are lured into a contract for 3 years! If this trend continues what happens next? Anyways, I gotta go someones calling me! ;)

Youtube for sale...

In recent news Google (the owners of Youtube) have announced that they are flirting with the idea of making the video's available for download as opposed to only streaming. This idea however is potentially going to come at a cost. This initiative is being done for the purpose of 2 reasons. The first is to stimulate further creativity and the second to make money in a struggling economy. YouTube is planning on selling their video's for $1US. You|Tube spokespersons have said that since purchasing YouTube they have been looking for various ways to make money from it besides just advertising and although they are not expected to attract any serious content service provider partners they are convinced that this will be a success. The issue for me with this type of thing is that nobody is going to want to pay money for these video's. I mean yes they are entertaining and you can find clips of just about anything, but in an age with Torrent downloading and Rapidshare I can't imagine people paying anything to watch a cat chase a mouse through the garage for 2 min. Although I can side with Google that this is a clever idea, I just simply don't buy it. I can't imagine this type of idea appealing to anyone and I think advertising as a source of revenue is enough at this point. Let us have our YouTube, does everything have to cost money? I find this particularily problematic because we, the potential consumers, are the ones who are publishing and creating most of these videos and now we may be charged for it? And what about getting paid for our own video? Do we get a cut? Now there is an idea!!

Future of Chat.......

This is more of a rhetorical question than a blog post but it is something that we are all a part of. I want to discuss the evolution of Chat and where it could possibly be heading. As far as I can remember the first online chat program that I signed up for was called MIRC. It stands for Internet Relay Chat and is a chat interface.It is used to communicate, share, play or work with others on IRC networks around the world, either in multi-user group conferences or in one-to-one private discussions. Mirc, when I first started using it, was an easy way to chat with various people around the world but had no easy and coherent way of gathering friends in the local area so I found myself chatting to random people around the world (kinda cool). Then came the introduction of MSN. It was the new way to communicate and seemed so convenient and easy to use. Simply search someones hotmail address and you add them to you list. There was also the neat option, if you wanted, to search people your own age or with similar interests. It also came with a fully functioning email account and seemed the end all to chat programs. And then along comes Facebook. What can I say about it? Well I think like most people I share a Love/Hate relationship with Facebook. I think it is an easy and convenient way to communicate with friends and family around the world. It is easy to use, easy to access, fairly secure and practical. You can view and post pictures, songs, videos and other exciting multimedia as well as chat or exchange messages. But to be honest with you, its just too much. I mean I enjoy being in Facebook once a day or so for a few minutes but it can be so time consuming when someone posts a wedding album consisting of 200 photo's. The worst part about it is that now if you don't look at all those pictures and comment on them, they get pissed off at you. So I mean having that option of doing more in a way forces you into having to do it. (If that makes sense) My question than is, What the hell is next? I mean what else can we come up with? It kind of scares me to be honest with you! Anyways I have to go check My Wall so I'll write next week!

;) POKE