Monday 30 November 2009

Google Wave...and much more besides

Ok... so I am about to start using the 'revolutionary' Google Wave... (courtesy of Sahra T - thanks!)

First thing's first - change my picture! Current Gmail pic is about 5 years old, and I have a pair of straws in my mouth a la 'woolly mammoth' style..!

...

So I've now changed my picture, and have no idea how to use this thing?! What is going on?! I think I have just sent a message with 'la la la' for content to two of my friends - are they even on Google Wave themselves?!

Apologies for this incoherent post. Let's move on.

Seems like a good place as any to do some blogging re: technology.

Technology has no doubt revolutionized the world we live in. The Internet is one crazy place, you can find whatever you want - and I mean WHATEVER you want - if you know where to look. Whatever Googling you might do, it in no way gives you all the web's results. Here I will refer the interested and avid reader to this article - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/26/dark-side-internet-freenet from G2 the other day (supplementary bit in The Guardian). Now, I feel I have no need to use 'Freenet' just yet - but with the controversial new Digital Economy Bill, I reckon it must only be a matter of time before we end up having to resort to anonymous web browsing. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing to hide in terms of my Internet use. Anyone who knows me will know the only websites I tend to go on are BBC News (and a few other news websites), Facebook, occasionally Twitter and Wiki, and Radio Times when measures are reaching desperation 'cos I have no TV guide to hand. I don't even have time to go on iPlayer or 4od at the moment (though, if I am back to part time work soon, I'm sure I'll get to catch up on the months worth of missed Home and Away and Neighbours). But one thing I am not happy about is the 'crackdown on filesharing'.

Inevitably, the only thing that this Bill will do is promote the evolution of filesharing in a different manner. And that is why I think it utterly pointless. Ok, so the music industry and (probably to a much lesser extent) the film industry are taking a bit of a battering, what with all of us crazy kids swapping music like marbles in the school playground. But, more than anything else, this is just a sign that these industries really must move with the times. I read recently that some old crooner - the name escapes me at the moment, but I assure you he and his band were big in the 70s - was rather complimentary about filesharing, in the sense that it promoted his music to an audience that may not otherwise have come across it, if it wasn't for it being freely available to download. Cut a long story short, the band were happy to have new, younger audiences at their gigs, and increasingly happy at merchandise sales courtesy of aforementioned filesharers. So, really, I think it's up to the music industry to work with the times and get over it.

I realise this post has no real structure, but I think I'm getting my point across.

And one final note - if you're just downloading music using your BitTorrent client, there's no real way your IP address can be tracked down. So you're only in danger if people are uploading from you. Of course, I realise this does pose a problem - if we all adjust our settings to being 'download only', who will provide the uploads?! That's where I leave it to the geeks :) - and many thanks to them too. One day, I might just join you. Just let me get my hands on this baby....

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0044197877.1259619290@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccfcadeimgemgfkcflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=792744&category_oid=

(I hope the link works.)

4 comments:

  1. If your spending over £1000 on a laptop it may as well be the best laptop. You can customise this baby to over £3000 - http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/home/Laptops/laptop-alienware-m17x/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-alienware-m17x&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lol but I won't be spending £1000 on a laptop, probably ever! It's all about the refurbished ones, getting in a a lower price... then I'll leave the padre to customise it for me. D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Point taken. Note edit. Soz Sahi!

    ReplyDelete