Smart phones & Obsolescence

With the seemingly ever changing smartphone technology seen in today’s market, it seems that even after buying the most recent Apple or Android phone that in a month you will be behind the trends again. I experienced this when asking some other friends if I should buy an IPhone 3GS recently and was shut down because they insisted that I should buy the newest version as this one is two years old. Their argument was that this older version has become out dated with the newer versions available with some improved features.

This begs the question, is this obsolescence planned by the big companies to guarantee that people will upgrade to their newest models when available, just because their older product stopped working. Planned obsolescence is the idea that a product has an in built expiry so that more products are consumed. This is a concept that has bred from our consumerist society from big companies taking advantage of people wanting to be at the pinnacle of technology. But I guess each to their own, I’m still happy with my little 2+ year old Nokia for nowJ .

GPS - reliable or not?

The intention behind the GPS Navigating systems is to assist people to find locations on the go without relying on the use of a street directory – saving time as the GPS system shows you how to get to your destination without pulling over to see the next part of the journey…Great invention!!! I love them, I have a Tom Tom that I call “Tommy” (original I know…), and Tommy comes everywhere with me.

BUT…are they always reliable!?!

I was driving a friend home to a new area of the city last night and getting there was fine because she directed me there, getting home on the other hand took a lot longer than it needed to because I relied on Tommy and he let me down… I put my Tommy on and told him to take me home…it was all going well until we were in the midst of the city (which I am not so used to driving in with all the one way streets) and Tommy basically started taking me around and around the same three blocks of town…..not impressed….I then realised that where I was driving had a tunnel underneath me and a bridge over the top of me and I think that Tommy was getting confused – he couldn’t quite pinpoint my location to assist me appropriately. Thankfully I still keep a street directory in my car and I know how to use it =p
I used it until I got away from the multi-levelled position I was in and then put Tommy back into action until I was in a familiar area to complete my journey home.

Although I love my TomTom and think it is such a useful creation and a great advancement in technology, I also hold onto the value in having the skills to use a street directory or map to help me in the situation where technology can not.

The Things We Take For Granted

Source: http://al13lea.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/prehistoric-computer-2.jpg?w=640

Comparing our lives today to those of our grandparents and great grandparents it’s fair to say we have it easy.

Can you imagine having to wash the dishes without a dishwasher, or doing research through hardcopy encyclopaedias? Well, that this is how the older generations lived their lives. Now we love our dishwasher and computers, but we sometimes (read always) forget that these are all luxuries, not necessities.

How many times do we get frustrated when the internet is slow, or our phone’s battery dies? This frustration turns our love for technology into anger and is complemented by phrases such as “stupid phone”, “I hate my net” and “this is taking forever”. But it doesn’t take forever to find out what the weather will be like tomorrow, or to load a song on YouTube. In fact it takes a lot less time than it would have all those years ago.

So next time you forget your phone at home, just relax and remember that the oldies got through just fine without it.
   

Facebook - The site we hate to love

As much as I love Facebook, for me it has become my most visited site and definitely the one I spend (or waste) the most time on. Assignments and homework that needs to be done take three times as long because of getting side tracked because talking to people is that much more interesting, resulting in staying up until late the night before it’s due!

+ Allows easy connection to pretty much anyone around us

+ can be updated on anyone without the need to chat to them

- time wasted online 2.6 million minutes each day [http://www.debatewise.com/debates/678-2-6-million-minutes-spent-on-facebook-each-day-we-are-wasting-our-lives]

- business world suffers as people go online during work hours, crippling productivity

- cyber bullying and cyber stalking are major public issues

http://claudiasofia1.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/facebook-addiction2.jpg

Welcome to our BLOG!!!!

The Design Of Our Blog!

Using one of the default templates on the Blogger website, we adapted some of the design elements to suit our personal preferences. We chose blue for the colour theme as we felt it to be neutral and to be complimentary to the topic. The hope for this neutral colour is to help the user to feel comfortable expressing their opinions no matter which way they go with their contributions.

We chose the Verdana font for the blog because it is a familiar one to most computer users as it is available on most document viewing/editing software. The font size seemed appropriate because it was legible on a variety of screen sizes (tested). The white font colour was chosen as it was easier to read and blends well on the blue background.

The three column page layout was selected with the sizes shown to ensure that the middle column would be bigger as a point of focus for the reader. Also by having the “About Me” and “Followers” sections on different sides of the page, this created less clutter on either side of the main ‘Posts’ sections. The three column set-up also provides symmetry to the page which is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.