Entertainment in the information age

Life in the information age entertainment

Entertainment is changing more and more as ways of accessing it and new forms of entertainment are being made. With new ways of gaming, listening to music and watching films and they are becoming smaller but can hold more information.

Gaming

There has been a huge change in gaming in recent years, graphics have improved dramatically and with the introduction of the Blu-ray disc more information can be put onto a disc. There are 4 main platforms that people game on, these platforms are:

Microsoft’s Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony’sPlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. As of September 30, 2011, 57.6 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide. On June 14^th 2010, Microsoft announced a redesigned Xbox 360 that would ship on the same day. The redesigned console is slimmer than the previous Xbox 360 model and features integrated 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, TOSLINK S/PDIF optical audio output, 5 USB 2.0 ports (compared to the 3 from older versions) and a special AUX port. Older models of the Xbox 360 have since been discontinued. The first new console to be released features a 250 GB hard drive, while a later, less expensive SKU features 4 GB internal storage.

Microsoft also revolutionised motion capture technology an enjoyable, family orientated hands free experience. It is called “Kinect” Kinect is a "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience" for the Xbox 360. It was first announced on June 1, 2009 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, under the codename, Project Natal. The add-on peripheral enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without a game controller by using gestures, spoken commands and presented objects and images. The Kinect accessory is compatible with all Xbox 360 models, connecting to new models via a custom connector, and to older ones via a USB and mains power adapter. It had a release date of November 4, 2010.

Sony’s Playstation 3

The playstation 3 (PS3) is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, with international markets following shortly thereafter. The Blu-ray Disc is its primary storage medium. Following speculation that a 'slim' model was in the pipeline Sony officially announced the PS3 CECH-2000 model on August 18, 2009 at the Sony Gamescom press conference. Among its features are a slimmer form factor and quieter noise when powered on. It was released in major territories by September 2009. Numerous accessories for the console have been developed. These accessories include the wireless Sixaxis and DualShock 3 controllers, the Logitech Driving Force GT, the Logitech Cordless Precision Controller, the BD Remote, the PlayStation Eye camera, and the PlayTV DVB-T tuner/digital video recorder accessory.

Nintendo’s Wii

is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others. As of December 2011, the Wii leads the generation over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales, and in December 2009 broke the record for best-selling console in a single month in the United States. A distinguishing feature of the console is its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and detects movement in three dimensions. The Wii is Nintendo's fifth home console and the direct successor of the Nintendo GameCube, with most models being fully backwardly compatible with all GameCube games and most accessories.

PC gaming

A gaming computer (also gaming PC and gaming rig) is a personal computer that is capable of playing computationally demanding video games. Gaming computers are very similar to conventional PCs, with the main difference being the addition of a performance-oriented video card. Gaming computers are often associated with enthusiast computing due to an overlap in interests. However, while a gaming PC is built to achieve performance for actual gameplay, enthusiast PCs are built to maximize performance, using games as a benchmark.

Music has also changed from the portable formats to the devices we use to listen to our favourite songs and music artists.

iPod

iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle. iPod Classic models store media on an internal hard drive, while all other models use flash memory to enable their smaller size (the discontinued Mini used a Microdrive miniature hard drive). As with many other digital music players, iPods can also serve as external data storage devices. Storage capacity varies by model, ranging from 2 GB for the iPod Shuffle to 160 GB for the iPod Classic. The iPod line was announced by Apple on October 23, 2001, and released on November 10, 2001. All of the models have been redesigned multiple times since their introduction. The most recent iPod redesigns were introduced on September 1, 2010.

CD

The logical format of an audio CD (officially Compact Disc Digital Audio or CD-DA) is described in a document produced by the format's joint creators, Sony and Philips in 1980. The document is known colloquially as the "Red Book" after the color of its cover. The format is a two-channel 16-bit PCM encoding at a 44.1 kHz sampling rate per channel. Four-channel sound is an allowable option within the Red Book format, but has never been implemented. Monaural audio has no existing standard on a Red Book CD; mono-source material is usually presented as two identical channels on a 'stereo' track.

E- readers

e-book reader, also called an e-book device or e-reader, is a mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals. An e-book reader is similar in form to a limited purpose tablet computer.

Education in the information age

Education in the information age

ICT has become a main part of education in recent years, from class teaching to independent learning. Now in every classroom in every school there are interactive whiteboards. An interactive whiteboard is a large interactive display that connects to a computer and projector. A projector projects the computer's desktop onto the board's surface where users control the computer using a pen, finger, stylus, or other device. The board is typically mounted to a wall or floor stand. They can be used as a regular white board for writing on, presenting work and interactive learning.

Now in schools there are computers in every class room, at my school there is at least one computer in every room and at least 600 computers in the whole school. This is a great comparison to how technology is becoming more influential in everyday life. Computers can be used to take notes in class, do homework or used as a virtual learning environment.

Teachers now use registration software called SIMS (school information management system) it is used by more than 21,000 schools in 150 local authorities across the United Kingdom. It keeps records from behaviour and achievement, planning curriculum and lesson structures, dinner money, educational learning plans, data sharing for the 14-19 agenda, managing registration and admissions. This is good because teachers can keep track of student’s progress.

Students now get swipe cards to pay for school dinners, due to healthy school program there is a cap of how much money a student can spend a day on food however parents can change the amount they are allowed to spend, when your card is swiped it comes up with a picture of you so no one else can use your card it also comes up with the amount of money you have left on your card. Swipe cards are good because it means children don’t have to carry around money that could be stolen or lost; it also will also help to decrease the amount of obese children in the UK.

Parents put money on the card through parent pay it provides online payments, income management and dinner money administration for schools, authorities and caterers. It helps more than 2,000 schools save time and money. ParentPay’s school ePayment system means over 1 million parents can pay school online quickly and easily, helping to keep children safer.

intorduction to life in the information age

Introduction to Life in the information age

In recent years technology has changed they way we live dramatically. All computing is, is binary code which is a series of 0’s and 1‘s that hold instructions so people can easily make better, smarter technologies. A great example is of a sales representative that travelled a thousand miles every week, carried a large diary, an address book, a large road atlas and numerous A-Z’s as well as change for pay phones. However because of changes in technology instead of going to see people he can have discussions over the phone or through e-mail and instead of using atlas’s he can use Sat Nav to get to the location required.

Business offices have changed ever so much about the last 30 years. Offices used to have very few if any computers and they were very big; because of the lack of computers they had a huge amount of filing cabinets for information. There were very little telephones and only important employees had them. Now however offices have a computer for every employee and they are much smaller than they used to be but are quicker and can hold more information; because of this there is no need for any or as many filing cabinets.  

E-mail had also had a big impact on work life. Letter would be sent to employees from the boss and vice versa, however this is very time consuming. E-mail is a quick and easy way for people to communicate within a business making business life much easier for everyone. It also saves having to use lots of paper so it is more efficient.

Many jobs now involve using a computer and employees need to have at least basic knowledge of computing otherwise they will struggle to get jobs. Even car break down services such as the AA use computers, they plug in a computer which runs car diagnostics and identifies the problem.

                                   This is a typical 1970's office,it has filing cabinets, 
                                   no computers and type writers.
                                          

Download services

Download services

Patches

 A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance. Though meant to fix problems, poorly designed patches can sometimes introduce new problems.

Torrents

if you are downloading there must be other people that have downloaded it to give it to you say if i downloaded it, the only way u will get it if i leave on my program on and let u downloaded it from me. A torrent is a small text file associated with specific content. When a torrent is opened in a bittorrent program it sets up communications so that transfer of the associated content begins. The transfer of the content is done using the bandwidth of the active users on the torrent.

Cloud storage

An example of cloud storage is Apple’s iCloud which stores your music, photos, documents, and more and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices. Apples statement about iCloud is “Automatic, effortless, and seamless — it just works”

PDF (Portable Document Format)

Portable Document Format (PDF) is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, graphics, and other information needed to display it.

Smart phones

Following the success of Apple's App Store other Smartphone manufacturers quickly launched application stores of their own. Google launched the Android Market in October 2008. RIM launched its app store, BlackBerry App World, in April 2009. Nokia launched its Ovi Store in May 2009. Palm launched its Palm App Catalog for webOS in June 2009. Microsoft launched an application store for Windows Mobile called Windows Marketplace for Mobile in October 2009, and then a separate Windows Phone Marketplace for Windows Phone in October 2010. Samsung launched Samsung Apps for its bada based phones in June 2010. Amazon launched its Amazon Appstore for the Google Android operating system in March 2011. Using these people can download games, themes for their phones, ringtones and videos.

online entertainment

Online Entertainment

Pod casts

 A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. The word replaced webcast in common use with the success of the iPod and its role in the rising popularity and innovation of web feeds. The advantages of pod casts are that people can watch and catch up on television programmes and download them with ease.

Second life

Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore the world (known as the grid), meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another. Second Life is intended for people aged 16 and over, and as of 2011 has about one million active users.  Second life is good because it allows people to live a life they will never be able to have in real life however because they can do this it may end up becoming more important then their real life.                     

Youtube

 Youtube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos.

Internet Radio

Internet radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio webcasting) is an audio service transmitted via the Internet. Music streaming on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted broadly through wireless means.
Internet radio involves streaming media, presenting listeners with a continuous stream of audio that cannot be paused or replayed, much like traditional broadcast media; in this respect, it is distinct from on-demand file serving. Internet radio is also distinct from podcasting, which involves downloading rather than streaming. Many Internet radio services are associated with a corresponding traditional (terrestrial) radio station or radio network. Internet-only radio stations are independent of such associations. Internet radio gives people another way to access the radio so they can listen to it almost anywhere they are.

Internet Television

Internet television (otherwise known as Internet TV, or Online TV) is the digital distribution of television content via the Internet.  Some Internet television is known as catch-up TV. Internet Television is a general term that covers the delivery of television shows and other video content over the internet, typically by major traditional television broadcasters. Internet television has become very popular through services such as RTÉ Player in Ireland; BBC iPlayer, 4oD, ITV Player (also STV Player and UTV Player) and Demand Five in the United Kingdom; Hulu in the United States; Nederland 24 in the Netherlands; ABC iview and Australia Live TV in Australia; and Tivibu in Turkey. Online television is good because it allows people to catch up on episodes of a series they have missed or watch something new.

Internet Gambling

Online gambling, also known as Internet gambling and iGambling, is a general term for gambling using the Internet. There are many ways to gamble online such as:

·         Online poker

·         Online casinos

·         Online sports betting

·         Online bingo

·         Online lottery

·         Online horse race betting

There is also a lot more mobile gambling where people can participate in gambling activities wherever they are.
Normally, gamblers upload funds to the online gambling company, make bets or play the games that it offers, and then cash out any winnings. Gamblers can often fund gambling accounts by credit card or debit card, and cash out winnings directly back to the card.

Online movies

People can watch, download and share movies online. Using websites such as sky player, zune,  love film and more people can stream movies, download them or rent new releases with a click of a button. This is good because it offers a quick and easy way to access new releases or any film that you really want to watch and you don’t have to worry about queues or not having the film you want in stock.

Music

Spotify is a free download and allows you find specific music and stream it and has a vast collection of music from different genres. iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. iTunes can connect to the iTunes Store to purchase and download music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, podcasts, movies and movie rentals and ringtones.

Contemporary issues in ICT

Contemporary issues in ICT

Blackberries and their involvement in the London riots

A number of politicians, media commentators and members of the police force suggested that BlackBerry Messenger, had a role to play in the London riots. RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones are very popular among inner city youths on both sides of the Atlantic. The devices themselves are typically cheaper than Android models and the iPhone, particularly on pay-as-you-go packages. But it is software that central to BlackBerrys’ success in this market. BBM is an instant messaging application, allowing users to communicate in a similar way to text messaging, but effectively for free, as traffic is exchanged via the internet. According to analysts it is replacing text messaging among young people. Each user has a unique PIN that allows other BBM users to contact them. BBM PINs are typically shared more readily than phone numbers, which means news can spread through the network more quickly than via text messages.  By using these free and easily used ways of communications they created groups and sent “broadcasts” to their contacts to organize riot destinations and times.

E-learning(online education)

E-learning

MyMaths

My maths is an online maths revision site. You can do online tasks, revision and interactive tasks on certain topics of your choice. It is almost having a class lesson but from your room or wherever you can access a computer. Schools now use it as a way for teachers to set homework, once completed the students can submit it where it is automatically marked; this is a good way for teachers to view your progress of a topic. It can be used for both A-level and GCSE and for different grades.

Advantages:

·         It’s a good form of revision

·         Easy to Access

·         Teachers can review progress

·         Students can track their own progress

Disadvantages:

·         Teachers cant see specific areas of weakness

·         It costs to use it

For me MyMaths is a very good website it helps me learn new topics and revise topics that I have already done but maybe struggle with or just want to remind myself of how to do it. I didn’t enjoy revising but MyMaths made it much easier.

VLE (virtual learning environment)

VLE’s are becoming more and more popular and soon I think that 90% of secondary schools in the UK will be using VLE’s. VLE’s can be accessed from anywhere with internet access so you can access it from school, home or anywhere where else that has a computer with internet access. Teachers can set work can set work for you via the Virtual Learning Environment and the students can also the work back via the VLE. You can also access school drives, your timetable, key dates and the school website. An example of a VLE is frog.

Advantages:

·         If you or a teacher is ill they can set work via the VLE

·         If you’ve lost your timetable you can access it

·         Teachers can set homework on it so they don’t have to waste time in lessons telling everyone what the homework is

Disadvantages:

·         Hard to get used to

·         Teachers have to have training to use it

·         It can be unreliable

BBC Bitesize

BBC Bitesize is a free online study support resource for school-age students in the United Kingdom. It is designed to aid students in both school work and, for older students, exams. It allows students from  KS1 to A-level  to revise from almost every school subject. You can also do fun activities related to the work you are revising to provide a more fun way of revising and learning.

Advantages:

·         Easily accessed

·         It is a good form of revision

Disadvantages:

·         You may be taught different things to what you are taught in school

Online forums

On forums you can find any information that you will need on a topic you are stuck on, and if you can’t find it you can just create a new topic and ask your own question and people can posts comments on the question page. Some forums are specific for students to go on so they can get good, reliable answers and help. Teachers go on these forums and provide support for people that need it.

Advantages:

·         It’s a good way of finding information

·         You can get several answers and choose the best one

·         You can find answers for a question that is relevant to you

Disadvantages:

·         Answers may not be reliable

Copyright

Copyright is where a creator of something can stop being people from copying and taking credit for their work. This means they have control over their own words, logos and images. If you break the copyright rules you will be breaking the law.

Online Banking

Online Banking

banks such as HSBC have street branches and they also have online websites.  People use online banking as an instant way of transferring money and handling the money in their account with ease.

The advantages of online banking are:

• You can transfer money instantly so it saves your time
• There are no queue’s
• Your details stored when you first use your online banking account so it saves time having to put all your details again and again
• You can get access to Instant information of your bank account

However there are some disadvantages:

• Believe or not there are security risks
• It can be time consuming logging in and passing security stages
• It is easy to make mistakes
• There is no or an anonymous relationship between you and the bank

There are many features of online banking such as:

• <!Transactional (e.g., performing a financial transaction such as an account to account transfer, paying a bill, wire transfer, apply for a loan, new account, etc.)
• Payments to third parties, including bill payments and telegraphic/wire transfers
• Funds transfers between a customer's own transactional account and savings accounts
• Investment purchase or sale
• Loan applications and transactions, such as repayments of enrollments
• Non-transactional (e.g., online statements, cheque links, cobrowsing, chat)
• Viewing recent transactions
• Downloading bank statements, for example in PDF format
• Viewing images of paid cheques
• Financial Institution Administration
• Management of multiple users having varying levels of authority
• Transaction approval process

Security

Protection through single password authentication, as is the case in most secure Internet shopping sites, is not considered secure enough for personal online banking applications in some countries.

• The PIN/TAN system where the PIN represents a password, used for the login and TANs representing one-time passwords to authenticate transactions. TANs can be distributed in different ways, the most popular one is to send a list of TANs to the online banking user by postal letter. The most secure way of using TANs is to generate them by need using a security token. These token generated TANs depend on the time and a unique secret, stored in the security token .Usually online banking with PIN/TAN is done via a web browser using SSL secured connections, so that there is no additional encryption needed.

• Signature based online banking where all transactions are signed and encrypted digitally. The Keys for the signature generation and encryption can be stored on smartcards or any memory medium, depending on the concrete implementation.

E-Government

E-government

Health care
NHS Direct is the health advice and information service provided by the National Health Service (NHS) for residents and visitors in England, with advice offered 24 hours a day, every day of the year through telephone contact on the national 0845 46 47 number, web based symptom checkers at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk and via mobile, both as apps for iPhone and Android smart phones and a mobile website. As a part of the National Health Service, all NHS Direct services are free at the point of care.

NHS Direct's vision

To be the national healthline, providing expert health advice, information and reassurance, using our world class telephone service and website, and to be the NHS’ provider of choice for telephone and digitally delivered health services.

They don’t just help over the telephone they offer over services, these services include:

• Out of hours support for GPs and dental services
• Telephone support for patients with long-term conditions
• Pre and post-operative support for patients
• 24 hour response to health scares
• Remote clinics via telephone

The advantage of this is that you can get quick help of you are ill and unable to get to the doctors or maybe don’t have the time to the doctors. It also helps people that maybe too embarrassed to see a doctor about their problem. However there are disadvantages, you may not be able to diagnose some of the symptoms that doctors might so you might not get an accurate diagnosis. You may also think you have an illness but you might have a different one which means you are treating it wrong.
Applications

UCAS is the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service it is the British admission service for students applying to university and college. UCAS is primarily funded by students who pay a fee when they apply and a capitation fee from universities for each student they accept.

This is good because it allows students that want to study at university a quick and easy way to apply they can also easily find out if they are in via an E-mail.

E-petitions

E-petitions are an easy way for you to influence government policy in the UK. You can create an e-petition about anything that the government is responsible for and if it gets at least 100,000 signatures, it will be eligible for debate in the House of Commons.

The stages of creating an E-petition:

• <!Search for existing ones before making a new one
• Create your own e-petition
• It will then be checked by a government department
• It can be open for up to a year, the public can sign it and if it collects 100,000 signatures the petition could be debated in the House of Commons.

E-petitions are good because they give people that do not work for the government a chance to publicise their ideas and help make positive changes. It also helps the government think of new ideas and gives them more opinions and views they can help make the UK a better place.  

E-voting
E-voting is electronic means of casting a vote and counting votes,  Electronic voting technology can include punched cards, optical scan voting systems and specialized voting kiosks. It can also involve transmission of ballots and votes by telephones, private computer networks or the Internet. Electronic voting technology can speed the counting of ballots and can provide improved accessibility for disabled voters. However some methods of e-voting could promote fraud because it is done through means which in some circumstances cannot be controlled.
Driving application
You can apply for a provisional driving license so you can learn to drive when you are 17 and then eventually drive your own car. You can apply for your license 3 months before your 17^th birthday.

You can apply for your first British provisional driving licence online if you:

• are a resident of Great Britain
• can meet the minimum age requirement
• can meet the minimum eyesight requirement
• are currently not prevented from driving for any reason
• can pay £50.00 by MasterCard, Visa, Electron or Delta debit or credit card
• have a valid UK passport or another form of identity
• can provide addresses of where you have lived over the last three years

 They also have a sub heading saying “do it online, do it quicker” all you need is:

•  valid debit or credit card
• your UK passport if you have one
• your National Insurance number if you have one
• details of previous addresses

bring able to apply online is good because it is quick and easy to do from the comfort of your own home, it is also good because it has procedures so people that are not legible for one cannot get one.