Youtube Reigns

What is Multimedia?

Multimedia is said to be a computer-based interactive communications process that incorporates text, graphics, sound, animation and video.

Websites such as Youtube, Yahoo! Video, Fancast, Hulu and Mega Videos are a few more popular examples of multimedia websites.

The basis and identity of multimedia websites is the keyword: Interactive.

Two other ways to determine a multimedia website is firstly, the user is the one who will decide what content is delivered, and how, and when it is delivered. Second, it must be an information processing devide, such as the computer and many electronic devices, are the ones mainly used to play, record, or generally access multimedia content, though multimedia can also be part of a live performance.

Multimedia websites are getting extremely popular have been widely used by people of all ages because it has helped and enhance people in are in use of these 4 major categories: Entertainment, Education, Corporate Communications & Reference. Let's look at these factors briefly:

How Multimedia helped Entertainment?

- Games, actions and vibrant graphics

- Action and interesting story-telling

- Highly interactive and keep intrigue audience easily

- Users are not passive but actively participate in controlling the application.

How Multimedia helped Education?

- Accomodates different learning style (as some students may be more visual learners rather than just traditional auditory.

- Enable the provision of feedbacks

- Help enhance non-linear presentations

How Multimedia helped Corporate Communications?

- Attact attention to a message instantly (with graphics, loud colours, captivating words)

- Enable online published magazines

- Enable browsing or product catalog online to be done in a more sophisticated manner.

How Multimedia helped References?

- Census data

- Interactive dictionaries (enable word pronouciations and renactments)

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It was revealed earlier this year that the Top 10 multimedia websites are:

So why is Youtube so successful that it has it's edge over the other competitions by a large extend?

Let's understand Youtube's history a little, when it just started out.

YouTube became the Internet phenomenon of 2006, in the sense of a site, idea or arguable ‘meme' that spreads with extreme speed due to the size and/or often social interconnectedness of the internet.
YouTube is the fourth most visited website, and the first if we do not include search engines (see Figure 1).

Also, if we look at the Web ratings by country, we realize that YouTube is also quite popular, for instance, it is the 5th most accessed site in the US, Portugal and Spain, the 6th in Canada and Japan and the 8th in the UK.

Here are 3 simple and straightforward reasons why is Youtube SO GOOD!

Uploading:

Everything to Flash video.
Plays everywhere. No platform issues here. YouTube sucks up whatever format your video is in and transcodes it to Flash.

Watching:

Videos play by themselves.
The easiest activity is the one most done. Ever notice that YouTube videos play without you doing anything? Talk about making the primary purpose of the site easy…it just happens. I love this.

Sharing:

Super sharing features.
YouTube has always had great sharing features. They include the code to share on your blog right alongside the video. Again, you don’t have to do anything for the code to be there. You just copy it, and it just works.

I highly suggest that Youtube is so successful because it really works.

Looking at the other multimedia websites on the list, it is true that half of them usually stop playing halfway, or the video is extremely blurred.

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Well, that's it for Multimedia and it's unlimited uses. I shall end off with this hilarious video of binocular soccer! ENJOY!

Guarding Yourself On The Internet

CYBER CRIMES

Cybercrime is a totally different ball game. It can make it entrance from many types of entrances which may be unknown and alienated to us if we are not equipped with enough knowledge to defend ourselves against the unexpected attacks.

So what exactly is this crime that has been ranked as a top crime in the recent years?

Basically it is any crime that involves a computer and a network.

There are many types of cybercrimes, to name a few more high frequency ones, Theft Telecommunications Services, Virus & Worms Attack, Web Jacking, Salami Attacks and E-mail Spoofing.

Let us go through briefly what evil intentions do each cybercrime harbour.

1. Theft Telecommunications Services

The "phone phreakers" of three decades ago set a precedent for what has become a major criminal industry. By gaining access to an organisation's telephone switchboard (PBX) individuals or criminal organisations can obtain access to dial-in/dial-out circuits and then make their own calls or sell call time to third parties. Offenders may gain access to the switchboard by fraudulently obtaining an employee's access code, or by using software available on the internet.

 

2. Virus & Worms Attacks

 

Virus ar programs that attach themselves to a computer or a file and then circulate themselves to other files and to other computers on a network. They usually affect the data on a computer, either by altering or deleting it. Worms, unlike viruses do not need the host to attach themselves to. They merely make functional copies of themselves and do this repeatedly till they eat up all the available space on a computer's memory. Like for example, the Love Bug Virus, which affected at least 5% of the computers of the globe. These losses are accounted to at least $10 million.

 

3. Web Jacking

 

This term is derived from the term hi jacking. In these kinds of offences the hacker gains access and control over the web site of another. He may even mutilate or change the information on the site. This may be done for fulfilling political objectives or for money. E.g. recently the site of MIT (Ministry of Information Technology) was hacked by the Pakistani hackers and some obscene matter was placed therein. Further the site of Bombay crime branch was also web jacked. Thus web jacking is a process where by control over the site of another is made backed by some consideration for it.

 

4. Salami Attacks

 

This kind of crime is normally prevalent in the financial institutions or for the purpose of committing financial crimes. An important feature of this type of offence is that the alteration is so small that it would normally go unnoticed. For example, th Ziegler case wherein a logic bomb was introduced in the bank’s system, which deducted 10 cents from every account and deposited it in a particular account.

 

5. E-mail Spoofing 

 

A spoofed e-mail may be said to be one, which misrepresents its origin. It shows it's origin to be different from which actually it originates. Recently spoofed mails were sent on the name of Mr. Na. Vijayashanka, which contained virus.

 

  So, in this modern times we live in, it is inevitable that we will face these cybercrimes and I believe would still be increasing.

 

We are building our lives around our wired and wireless networks. The question is, are we ready to work together to defend them?

 

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How To Fight Against Cybercrimes?

 

5 Easy Steps!

 

1. 

 

Turn on your spam blocker. Most Internet providers provide a spam blocking feature to prevent unwanted messages, such as fraudulent emails and phising emails, from getting to your inbox.

 

2. 

Make sure you have adequate anti-virus software for your computer, such as McAfee, Norton Anti-Virus, Stopzilla or other similar programs. You also need to make sure you regularly update your anti-virus software and that you do a once-a-week scan to locate and eliminate any malware, spyware, viruses and other problems. If you don't want to purchase security software, then there are programs, such as AVG, that offer free versions.

3.

Encrypt important data you don't want compromised. Utilize encryption software, which "garbles" your data to make it unintelligible to anyone who tries to hack into your computer system.

4.

Avoid getting taken in by common scams, such as foreign lotteries, phony sweepstakes and similar methods used by cyber criminals to get your personal information and money. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

 

5.

 

Make sure that you do online shopping on a secure website, like those with a url that starts with "https" and/or have a TRUSTe or VeriSign seal. If you don't see these anywhere on the site, you run the risk of submitting credit card information and other personal information to a site that may be a fraud.

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It is therefore important that you counter cybercrimes because it will hit you unknowingly! Let's aim to ensure a stable framework for online transactions, reading of e-mails, opening unknown softwards etc. And all computer misuse and cyber crime should be enacted into law without further ado! Do not tolerate them!

 

 

Learning through a Screen

iPad, Desktop, Laptops.

You name it, we have used (using) it all for the sake of Education & Learning here locally.

In this 21st century we live in with the advancement of digital media, the education sector experiences more good than bad while learning through a screen. I personally feel that students who use these digital technologies enrich their personal lives and construct their own learning, and seem quite comfortable doing so. The immediacy, community and communucation these technologies put forth offer enhanced learning experience that make education more engaging. Thus, it is crucial that educators in this digital society must find various perspectives and practices to differentiate instruction within our classrooms.

To be able to support today's student learning, digital technologies need to be integrated into the classroom in the manner that they infuse seamlessly with traditional approaches. Among the digital technologies, Web 2.0 technology including blogs, wikipedia, and even Podcasts are receiving much attention from the researachers and educators in this field of teaching since these tools allow students to become not only content consumers but also content generators; enhancing creativity and originality. Well also, Podcasting is advategeous since it allows students to interact with multimedia such as audio and video files.

In terms of learning ease & convenience, it is evident that gone are the days where 40 pupils sit down silently in class, using their sharpened pencil and scribbling answers on exam papers. Or most of the time, struggling to write down study notes as fast as possible - to keep up with the the teacher's pace.

I was first in touch with digital media for learning in polytechnic. In my diploma course, it is compulsory and extremely essential for all of us to purchase a laptop and bring it to school everyday. And I absolutely adore the idea! Why so?

Firstly, there is no need for big bags. And trying to push all the huge computer science books into my humble haversack. It was frustrating that for 9 years, I had to carry such a heavy bag to school, and now when I'm a young adult, it would be a pain if I had to continue to do that. Thus, the Dell laptop I purchased was one of the best 'textbook' and learning tool I had in my life. Just one of that, placing it in the small laptop bag and happily bring it to school.

Secondly, taking down notes have never been easier!  And it is awesome that I can take down notes fast! And I can customize it very well, be it I want it to be bold, underlined or coloured, it is instant! Highlighters can be exchanged with 2 clicks, Rulers & pens are replaced by "Bold" & "Underline" in Microsoft Words.

Thirdly, it is splendid that I am able to simply download slides from student portal and my lecturer will read it off, and teach from there. It saves a lot more space in my bag (without the textbooks) and I can keep my notes need it folders I want them to be in. I can even 'Rename' my files so as to ease my load in managing my studies.

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REAL LIFE EXAMPLE IN SINGAPORE

In Singapore, we have become so forward that Nanyang Girls' Primary School have chosen the most up-to-date Apple invention - the iPad, to establish a better education system for the girls. Lately, it has also come to my knowledge that 3 other schools are utilizing the tablet too, and they are Tampines Secondary School, Nanhua Primary School and Dunman Secondary. And in Nanyang Girls' School, the youngest is at a tender age of 12. Isn't it fantastic for a 12 year old to be able to operate an iPad which is sponsored by the school?

Comments such as, "It's much more convenient" and "Teacher can just tell us to go to a website, and we can immediately go and do our work" were spread out in the interview as I read the Yahoo article. The next best thing is, the girls do not even need training on how to use it. It seems that the teachers are the one who are having problems operating it!

Nanyang Girls High School has spent S$135,000 (about $100,000) to buy 150 iPads for 140 students and 10 teachers in a pilot project. Users connect to the Internet using the tablet, and download books and course material.

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But, behold that there are several disadvantages that do exist in choosing digital learning vs. classroom education.

1. DISCIPLINE

While some students may do well with in this type of learning environment, it takes dedication to apply oneself to sitting at the computer to listen to lectures, and not doing other things that are non-academic. Case in point, the lecturer will usually stand in front of the class to teach. Hardly they would have the chance to walk around and chance upon their own student playing virtual games whilst the lesson is going on. Thus, discipline is very much required!

2. TECHNOLOGY SKILLS

The next thing that might bother many non-technology savvy student is that, computers require up-to-date technology, software and hardware, as well as a high speed internet connection are necessary to utilize this form of learning. It is absolutely essential that they know the 'trades of the technology', or it is very easy to experience constant computer crashes and endless virus attacks.

3. SENSE OF DETACHMENT

The software in the technologies they use are already interactive. There is a high chance that with this, comes lesser discussions among the classmates or even towards the teacher. For example, if the student is unsure of something, he/she will first Goggle the meaning and solutions to the problem rather than asking the teacher. Thus, too much of technology can actually slacken the standards of a dynamic and interactive learning of a classroom.

 

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MICROSOFT SURFACE TECHNOLOGY

One of the biggest shift in the computing system is the Microsoft Surface Technology.

It is a mark of the beginning of a new technology catrgory and a user-interface revolution. This computer provides effortless interaction digital content through natural hand gestures, touch and physical objects. The tabletop computer breaks down traditional barriers between people and technology, changing the way people interact with all kinds of everyday information - from photos to maps to menus. 

This technology will definitely be a big hit in the future because it is extremely versatile and flexible! It enhances effiency and effectiveness espeically for business users. In fact, it has already been tried out in a T-mobile store. The computer could  could recognize a phone pulled off the wall and placed on the tabletop by a customer at a T-Mobile store. It would display features of the phone, show a pricing list and let the customer drag icons representing elements of a service plan onto the phone, before sending the virtual package to the register for purchase.

It would also be of excellent use for properties and showrooms as it is like a "virtual concierge" desk. People will be able to use the tables to access maps of the different properties, get details about events and venues and create itineraries for themselves.

Seems like Apple has a threat now....

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It's Video Time!

Hee... ENJOY this Video!

(Made use of Window Movie Making)