A Flight In The Air Google Way

           Silicon Valley's current enfants terrible -- Google's brilliant duo -- have given the global populace wings to soar over towns and cities, and the flights include everything except peanuts. Fasten your seat belts.

           Giving consumers the tools for aerial scanning and three-dimensional mapping of the world -- allowing them to fly by their neighborhoods or make a detailed inspection of far away places -- is radical. That's what Google Local and similar services -- which I'm referring to collectively as "Air Google" -- do through satellite image maps that provide a bird's-eye view of just about anyplace.

           Air Google makes it possible to inspect vacation destinations, conduct market research, spy, carry out competitive surveillance, hunt for a job, trade property, study ecologies, jog trails and fish streams, among at least a million other things -- virtually. Of course, much of this has been possible for some time via the Internet, but in a far more limited way than permitted by the latest technologies. Now, consumers suddenly have acquired wings and can easily fly almost anywhere in the world in living color. Click here to read more.

Session 3 Unfolds: An idea and technology that gets your door bell ringing after a few days by clicking on a PC monitor.

           This week we got lots of raw data which we analyzed to find the course of our voyage. We analyzed past voyages, took some valuable lesions for the upcoming days as well as deciphered extant facts and figures.

           The day started with the words of the CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos explaining the birth and dynamic technology behind Amazon.com's store. Hearing from the man himself was very absorbing and exciting. The subtle nuances that he touched upon, the live demonstrations, pictures and the pun in between made it a really exciting voyage cruising through unknown calm waters on a sunny day with favorable winds. Today Amazon is there between every customer and quality products. There marketing model gives the utmost importance to technology. The software the site uses and getting this software coded by unknown people for free is also very interesting. It was also exciting to see that even though the company incurred losses in the first few years of its setup the people analyzed the positive patterns in the losses and continued which paid off eventually.

           After analyzing the success story of the yesteryears, it was time to look at the hot news of the day. The economist had come up with the latest issue on the very morning and we looked at a few trends there. One remarkable feature was that in the last year shares of all the major companies from different fields were almost stable but goggle shares had rizen 250% continuing there growth trend from the past. Also we had a peep into the future digital homes and got valuable food for thought for our projects.

           The session ended with the ship entering into the flummoxing territory. We had a little hands-on with flash and there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel. The winds seem to be too fast as we are required to familiarize ourselves with this territory within a flash and move on to the next phase of the voyage. This phase of the voyage culminated with the ships getting divided in groups of 3 to 4 and pursuing their routes to the destination. The proposal of the roadmap is due for submission in next week. As I am dealing with the html codes of the proposal there is lots of work scheduled for the lunar new year as the planned framework is transformed in reality. But in the mean time wish you all Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Walt Disney acquires the industry-shaking, boundary-busting energy that has lifted Apple and Pixar sky-high.

           On Jan. 24, Walt Disney agreed to pay US$7.4 billion in stock to acquire Pixar (Nasdaq: PIXR) Animation Studios, where Jobs is chairman, CEO and 50.6 percent owner. Jobs will become the largest shareholder at Disney and take a seat on the entertainment giant's board.

           It's not hard to imagine a day when you could fire up your Apple video iPod and watch Net-only spin-offs of popular TV shows from Disney's ABC network. Or use your Apple iPhone to watch Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant's video blog, delivered via Disney's ESPN.The embarkation of Steve into a new Magical Kingdom might just add a spring to the entertainment industry. Click here to read more.

Session 2 Highlights: A Flashback at the Internet Technology in its Toddler Stage, A Study of its Extant Adolescent State and A Glance into its Future Adulthod Stage.

         Finally the voyage got underway in the second week. Though the journey seemed quite interesting and easy from the land but as I hit the seas, I have started facing the intermittent rough waters as well which has escalated the joy of this adventure. The day started on a high note where we got insight into how man confined the whole world into his room through internet.

         We learned about how the TCP/IP technology helped in transferring information, looked at the present Internet Protocol version 4 and had a peep into the future IP6 facilities. We also learned about domains and the development of the markup language, looked at the different types of networks like public networks, private networks, leased line, cellular network etc and connections like voice- grade telephone connections, broadband, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It had been a really absorbing session. Then we acquainted ourselves with a bit of the html codes. As it was a familiar territory for me the ship cruised through smoothly.

         I acquired html know how by scanning through source codes of sites, selecting the particular feature that I wanted and started developing my site by adding the features wherever I could. Doing it in real is the best way I feel. In the beginning if you use front page to understand the source, the task is much easier. Then you can switch to java applets and others. Trust me; developing a site is much simpler than creating a Microsoft Word file with text, pictures and hyperlinks. So the html file submissions that are required for the course are not something to worry about. Ya it needs a bit of your time.

         But the weather forecast predicted rough seas ahead. The course requires us to make flash presentations and it is a completely unknown territory for me and there were fears that it might be something similar to the Bermuda Triangle where the ships get lost for ever. But soon I found a friend of mine who assured that she will see the ship through this flummoxing territory. I made a few new friends as well. So it has been a great journey so far where I have unraveled many new and interesting things in a very short time and I sincerely believe that the experience will be truly scintillating in the days to come.

Activity Log

 

My Information Requirement in 48 Hours Over A Weekend
Time:Day	Information required/use	My location	Source	Cost	Value
07.30 Fri	Time of day (get up)	Bed	Mobile	0	Low
07.30	Missed calls, messages.	Bed	Mobile	Low	High
07.50	Daily news (keep up)	TV room	Straits Times (hall)	0	High
08.00	Sports News and News back home (keep up)	Breakfast table	Laptop	0	High
08.15	Urgent email (find out about new tasks)	Breakfast table	Laptop	0	High
08.20	Check Class location and Schedule	Walking to class.	Mobile calendar	0	High
08.30 – 12:30	Learn a few new applications.	Classroom	Through teachers	High	High
08.30 – 12:30	Clarifying doubts and asking solutions	Classroom	Through teachers	High	High
12:.30	Checkout different cuisines available.	Canteen	Canteen	0	Med
12:35	Random enquiries n talks on lunch table.	Canteen	Friends	0	Med
01:20	Liturature for project	Library	Laptop and boks	0	High
04:30	Tute doubts	Spine	Mobile	Med	High
05:30	Company for playing.	Playground	Mobile	Med	Med
7:00	Company for dinner	Canteen	Mobile	Med	Med
7:00	Random enquiries n talks on dinner table.	Canteen	Friends	0	Med
7:30	A suitable place for weekend hangout.	Canteen or TV room	Local Papers	0	High
7:45	Route to the destination	Comp room	Laptop n net	0	High
8:45	Detailed query about the hangout place.	Visiting place	Staff of the place	Med	Med
09.30 Fri	Time of day (get up)	Bed	Mobile	0	Low
09.30	Missed calls, messages.	Bed	Mobile	Low	High
10.30	Daily news (keep up)	TV room	Straits Times ( hall )	0	High
11:00	Sports News and News back home (keep up)	Breakfast table	Laptop	0	High
11:30	Mails from whole week	Desk	Laptop	0	High
12:15	Enquire about parents n friends	Desk	Laptop / Mobile	Med	Very High
12:30	Company for lunch	Canteen	Mobile	Med	Med
12:30	Random enquiries n talks on lunch table.	Canteen	Friends	0	Med
1:30	Study related FAQs	Desk	Laptop	0	High
05:30	Company for playing.	Playground	Mobile	Med	Med
7:00	Company for dinner	Canteen	Mobile	Med	Med
7:00	Random enquiries n talks on dinner table.	Canteen	Friends	0	Med
7:30	Study related FAQs	Desk	Laptop	0	High
9:00	Get-together discussions and club activities.	TV lounge	Laptop, mobile, friends	Med	High
9:45	Games movies from lan	Desk	Laptop	0	High

 

 

Inferences:  So I find that I rely on information that is available easily without much cost. On holidays information that has high value is needed more. The use of electronic goods is much more in the weekdays. Friends do play a vital role in information distribution during weekends though most of it comes through net.