If you want something done these days, you can't afford to ignore the power of the Internet to get your message across. I was again reminded of this in my environmental law class today when the professor announced that he wanted to learn how to use Facebook. Apparently, he was told that he will need this in mobilizing people from all over the world to address the raging issue of climate change.
It used to be that you had to spend good money just to be able to communicate to people from around the world quickly via courier or international direct dial service that was not too accessible. Now, all you need to have is access to the Internet, be it via your own broadband or dial-up connection or a rented PC with Internet connection, and you can already exchange ideas, documents, pictures, and other files real time with someone from another time zone. I think that if there is one thing that this decade will be best remembered for, it is the pervasiveness of digital communication in almost all spheres of human activity.
So don't be surprised if the UN Secretary-General himself wants to add you as a friend.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The World (Wide Web) Is Not Enough
Fancy a life of international intrigue and espionage? Then get back to Superpoking and wall-posting on your Facebook account. The Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6, has recently launched a series of ads on the popular social networking site for the recruitment of future would-be spies, asking its 124,000,000 users if they would take to a "career in world events".
Among the skills sought in a potential candidate are communications, data ordering, and even "attention to detail"--which is pretty routine to a seasoned Facebooker. Between managing one's friends lists, organizing media and applications, and rifling through countless posts and messages, running a Facebook account has become an exercise akin to "collecting and analyzing global intelligence." The techie is no longer typecast as the socially inept recluse holed up in some basement whittling the hours away on an IRC trivia channel. Technological awareness has become inextricably linked with social adeptness, and it would seem that MI6 has taken notice.
The MI6 Facebook profile provides links to some mock scenarios which simulate real-life recruitment tools. Turns out I'm better suited to an administrative desk job than field work as an operational officer/agent. Not quite as espionage-ey as I was hoping.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Information Communication
The Chatroom. The petri dish of "missed connnections".
A cute-ish guy (his screen name says “cute-ish guy”) with today's link of New York Times beside his name pings me twice. I close the window—he’s too forward, I’m not ready to talk. Besides, I am hungry. I walk to the kitchen and get a banana.
He sends me a monkey icon. I pace the room. Is this a sign? I am eating a banana and he sends me a monkey icon. Is he the one?
I struggle with the idea.
Finally, after the third ping, I type back with a hesitant “Yes?” My hands are shaking, nervous at the prospect. The screen says “cute-ish guy is entering text” He spends a good 10 minutes trying to emancipate the thought from his head onto the screen. He knows I am watching the screen, waiting. Oh, the impotency of it all!
All this time, I am practicing witty opening lines in my head:
1. You can do it!
2. Excited huh?
3. It starts with one hello.
He gives up.
I do not attempt.
*Actually, “cute-ish guy” is the author’s hubby-in-fact. He finally calls and asks “Ano gusto mo, Jollibee or McDo?”
A cute-ish guy (his screen name says “cute-ish guy”) with today's link of New York Times beside his name pings me twice. I close the window—he’s too forward, I’m not ready to talk. Besides, I am hungry. I walk to the kitchen and get a banana.
He sends me a monkey icon. I pace the room. Is this a sign? I am eating a banana and he sends me a monkey icon. Is he the one?
I struggle with the idea.
Finally, after the third ping, I type back with a hesitant “Yes?” My hands are shaking, nervous at the prospect. The screen says “cute-ish guy is entering text” He spends a good 10 minutes trying to emancipate the thought from his head onto the screen. He knows I am watching the screen, waiting. Oh, the impotency of it all!
All this time, I am practicing witty opening lines in my head:
1. You can do it!
2. Excited huh?
3. It starts with one hello.
He gives up.
I do not attempt.
*Actually, “cute-ish guy” is the author’s hubby-in-fact. He finally calls and asks “Ano gusto mo, Jollibee or McDo?”
A Horror Story
When things are going well for a considerable period of time, complacency normally sets it. Nowadays, we take for granted the numerous comforts (and discomforts) that form part of our daily lives—ice cold water, instant communication, the word processor, the light bulb—and forget that things have not always been as they are. Fifteen years ago, I thought beepers were proof that the human race is on the brink of a major evolutionary change. I have no idea that fifteen years later the technology that could allow Red One to talk to his fellow Biomen through his wrist watch in full color and audio would already be available.
Now let’s talk about the complacency part. Recently, I lost my 3-month old laptop and PDA in circumstances that sound like a bar exam question on transportation law: I boarded a bus, fell asleep (probably snored, was dead tired), then an unidentified bad person chanced upon my moment of weakness and took my entire bag—I still can’t believe it, my entire bag--from me. When I got home, I wasn’t worried about replacing the laptop or the PDA as they are quite ubiquitous and relatively cheap in this day and age. What got to me was the data I just lost. Years' worth of notes, pictures, scandals (i.e. footage of me singing in the shower), unedited keyboard tracks I just recorded, contacts, etc., have been taken from me. I became lax and violated a cardinal principle in tech-fu: data loss is not a question of if, it’s a question of when.
After my parents consoled me, I grieved for the chattels that I lost and fell asleep.
The following morning, I was changed man; transformed into a backup evangelist, a preacher of redundancy. I have learned the folly my ways and have engaged in sharing to others the moral of my story: backup, backup, backup. And forego sleeping when using public transportation.
Now let’s talk about the complacency part. Recently, I lost my 3-month old laptop and PDA in circumstances that sound like a bar exam question on transportation law: I boarded a bus, fell asleep (probably snored, was dead tired), then an unidentified bad person chanced upon my moment of weakness and took my entire bag—I still can’t believe it, my entire bag--from me. When I got home, I wasn’t worried about replacing the laptop or the PDA as they are quite ubiquitous and relatively cheap in this day and age. What got to me was the data I just lost. Years' worth of notes, pictures, scandals (i.e. footage of me singing in the shower), unedited keyboard tracks I just recorded, contacts, etc., have been taken from me. I became lax and violated a cardinal principle in tech-fu: data loss is not a question of if, it’s a question of when.
After my parents consoled me, I grieved for the chattels that I lost and fell asleep.
The following morning, I was changed man; transformed into a backup evangelist, a preacher of redundancy. I have learned the folly my ways and have engaged in sharing to others the moral of my story: backup, backup, backup. And forego sleeping when using public transportation.
Beyond Purpose and Potential
Some months ago, the Nintendo Wii found a purpose beyond just simply fun and games in the life of a friend, who had encountered a life-changing accident some three years ago. Doctors told us that he would probably never walk again, but this we just refused to believe.
After over a year of painful rehabilitation only to be able to sit up and recover partial use of his arms, we were beginning to lose hope, but we held on and sought answers in places never though of. After long hours of research and countless consultations, we held our breaths and turned to the Wii as an alternative form of rehabilitation.
Today, almost a year after our friend began swinging, shaking, and stepping in all directions imaginable using the Wii and its component parts, he is able to get up and about even, albeit aided. Medical experts are in awe at his progress and have attributed a lot of this success to persistent rehabilitation and yes, our little experiment of using the Wii.
Lesson learned? Well, technology must not scare us. Instead, we must see beyond what it patently offers us and use it ingeniously to achieve its true potential.
After over a year of painful rehabilitation only to be able to sit up and recover partial use of his arms, we were beginning to lose hope, but we held on and sought answers in places never though of. After long hours of research and countless consultations, we held our breaths and turned to the Wii as an alternative form of rehabilitation.
Today, almost a year after our friend began swinging, shaking, and stepping in all directions imaginable using the Wii and its component parts, he is able to get up and about even, albeit aided. Medical experts are in awe at his progress and have attributed a lot of this success to persistent rehabilitation and yes, our little experiment of using the Wii.
Lesson learned? Well, technology must not scare us. Instead, we must see beyond what it patently offers us and use it ingeniously to achieve its true potential.
Diskettes
When I was young, I would get very excited when my mother would take me to work with her or if we had to fetch her from work. Me and my siblings can get to use the computers they had at work. The floppy disks used back then were the 5 1/4 – inch ones. Each disk would have a single game. I loved the one with the Family Feud game.
I have gone through the different types of storage devices through games. The 3 ½ disk, and then, the oh so shiny, CDs. I was very amazed with the interactive educational CDs. There were more colors, the pictures were less pixilated and there are more than one game inside that CD! Now, diskettes are seldom used. Raised eyebrows will meet you whenever you buy them in computer shops. It IS the cheapest and the most hassle-free device to use in submitting requirements to anyone who doesn’t have internet access. You don’t have to burn the file on to your disk and you don’t have to wait for it to return. Although the diskette is usually subject to file corruption, we still make do.
Seeing leopard prints through a window
Barely two years ago, I came across a site/forum that claimed that they were able run macOSX software on the PC. At first I wasn’t that interested, because I already knew that you can indeed run macOSx on a PC thru a software, but what caught my interest was the claim that they can run it natively[1] on a PC and that it was giving the Macs a run for their money, even in terms of performance[2]. Dubbed as the Hackintosh[3], the project boasts of an almost seamless integration of the Mac OS on the PC.
The idea of having both a Mac-based and Windows-based system in a single machine was too hard to resist.
Initially I thought that it was not-so-legal to perform such a project. But after countless hours of browsing the forums, I was quite shocked to learn that Apple in fact grants license (through a developers kit that can be bought from their site)to developers and enthusiasts , allowing them to legally install a copy of the Apple software in a PC.
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