Virtual Fabric Pattern Maker:

I thought the virtual fabric pattern maker was a very interesting new technology that I had no idea existed. Considering the fact that a majority of technologies are now touch-screen and have so many hands on applications, I’m surprised I never thought of the possibility of fabric pattern making in virtual mediums. I found this technology to be very relatable to my own personal experience. There have been so many times when I have needed fabric for a project and I have the perfect pattern or design in my head, but after going to ten different fabric stores trying to find the fabric that I have in mind I must resort to settling with the closest match. The beauty of this new technology is that you can use different virtual brushes or tools, and the prices are not bad. I am confident that this new development will flourish and gain more exposure and use after appearing on a Project Runway challenge. 

SecondLife:

Over the past few semesters, I have learned and discussed in my classes SecondLife and other avatar-like online networking programs very extensively. It is interesting that so many of these kinds of networking programs were intended to be used for business networking purposes, but such programs are now used as social networking sites and programs for people’s social lives. While these networking sites have made it easier to extend business networks nationally and internationally, the social aspect has somewhat been abused and some people can use these networking sites inappropriately. But the reality of people abusing these networking sites is that from such a simple technology as the telephone to the next newest online networking site, people will find a way to abuse the use of these sites. While I could sit here and list the extensive negative characteristics of these networking programs, I could just as easily list the limitless positive characteristics. The pros and cons of online networks will always be debatable as online networks continue to grow and flourish into new ones. So we must take them for what they are and make of them what we want. In the end the people are the ones that use these online networking programs how we want, and control the amount of influence they have in society.

Check out the above links and videos to learn more about “Pingo: My Desk Friend,” an egg-shaped penguin robot that scoots around the desk of its owner relaying messages, notifications and emails from Facebook, along with weather and news updates.

The most interesting point to me in Nick Bilton’s presentation on “Smart Content” was his discussion of the unknown benefits of electronic medias, such as the internet, and especially video games, such as Tetris. In his presentation he listed the increased benefits that carried on with Tetris players into everyday life- “attention, hand eye co-ordination, working memory, long-term memory, and visual and spatial problem solving”- according to studies by Richard Haier of the Neurology department at the University of California. Since the development and continuing progress of video games and television, people are interested in the newest developments. Throughout history, humans tend to be attracted to the newest technologies and are drawn in by the latest trends that others are interested in. Video games have been one of the most intriguing technologies of the last several decades, yet children are commonly prohibited by their parents to play with video games. Society is led to believe that video games are a hinderance to conventions of society and are often blamed for destructive things that may occur. Video games are viewed as a distraction from the reading of books that children should be doing, but although books may enhance one’s knowledge of certain topics, but puzzle games, such as Tetris, that take brain power and problem-solving methods to compete and win the game. Video games challenge the brain just as much as reading a book, although according to tests performed by Richard Haier, the brain is challenged and enhanced in different ways. But, video games are definitely not that hinderance to the brain as perceived by society. As society has progressed so has the individuals of society’s ability to adapt to new technologies, as well as the ability for the brain to adapt to new mediums to be viewed.

I had never heard of Chat Roulette before we watched the Youtube video of a guy experimenting with and analyzing this so called “game” (insinuated from the tab on the site that says “Start New Game” in order to begin chatting). After discussing this new networking program with my friends who had also heard of it, we had to test it…as a group of course. Especially after hearing of the things that may possibly and unexpectedly pop up on the screen, none of us were not about to experiment alone. After testing it out, we were not surprised to find what we had been warned would appear- pre-teen girls and boys, old men, groups of kids in a college dorm doing exactly what we were doing, people from other countries, just body parts that really don’t need to be specified, and many more. We commonly found ourselves either screaming every time a new camera would connect to someone or just laughing hysterically whenever we would chat with someone, whether for 5 seconds or 5 minutes. We were the most excited to come across a group of college aged guys doing exactly what we were doing. Obviously they were fooling around like we, a group of college aged girls, were. We just laughed hysterically at them and they did the same right back at us. 

The curiosity and excitement of not knowing who or what was coming at us next kept us intrigued and kept us playing along with this “game.” Although we encountered inappropriate things or people every few times a new camera would connect, the thing that kept us playing along was simply our human interest. We just wanted to see who else was doing what we were doing and the variety of people who were participating that were evidently very different from us. Chat Roulette proves that the internet and its extensive networking ability and progress can bring a diverse group of people together through a site that you can access simply by typing in the web address and then by clicking “Start New Game.” There are no limits and is easy for anyone access. Although Chat Roulette is used by people in numerous different ways, it proves that networking is as simple as a click of a button nowadays for whatever reason you may want to network with others.

For the photoshop project I plan to take images in a playground setting. I will take photos of myself doing different activities that someone would do on a playground-two people on swings, someone in the treehouse part of the swing set, two people playing tag, etc.