...Robots...

Learning about Robots was truly the most interesting subject that we have covered thus far, this year. Who would have ever thought a decade or so ago that they would come out with a mini robot that you could program to vacuum your floors for you while you are not home? I am simply in awe and jealous of the fact that Dr. Tuggle owns a Roomba, which is the aforementioned room vacuuming mini robot. One of the most mundane and irritating household tasks for me is dragging a heavy, clunking machine around the house to pick up little odds and ends, dust and dirt, and the ever present clumps of cat hair. So if I can manage to save up a little over $400, a little robot will go around each room that I put a receiver in, saving me time and annoyance. thus poses the only problem: as cool as new technological advances are, you must have and be willing to invest the money.

Money in exchange for convenience is the driving force behind our society today. That's why there are so many fast food restaurants, coffee shops, and electronic gadgets, as well as a website for just about anything. Why go out in the cold, to get in your car to go Christmas shopping, when you can sit in your own home and order every last gift online? Not that I am complaining, because I typically do all of my own personal shopping online, on the other hand, for other people I usually manage to put a little bit of time and effort into gift giving.

...Data Mining...

One of the most interesting concepts out of Chapter 9 is the section on Data Mining. I find it truly fascinating that companies can do a bit of research in trends and purchases, and come up with idea such as convenience stores putting diapers next to beer. Imagine the horror that was your neighborhood 7 Eleven before the studies and data mining? Having to walk from one end of the store all of the way to the other to grab one item than another??

If anything is proven out of studies and research is that people seem to be getting lazier and lazier. Was there studies to show that people would forgo one item or another if they could not find them or had to walk further? I believe that if people truly want something, they will work hard to get it. What actually seems more remarkable to me is that in more recent years Vons stores have been putting their snack aisles directly in back of the alcohol aisles. So that when you go to pick up some Absolut or Jack, you also can see the peanuts, popcorn, chips and candy, and will be inclined to pick up a few of said items for later. Almost more of a marketing ploy, than an actual convenience.

...eBay...

So, I realize that I am quite a few days behind in my blogging, 2 days behind to be exact, so I will use this little study break to play a little catch up. Last Thursday in class, we went over eCommerce. This chapter seemed significantly easier to get through than the other 2, and we did a few fun little activities such as comparing US eBay against Hong Kong eBay and how to visit websites using their IP addresses. I find it quite interesting that planning ahead for the popularity of the internet did not seem to be a factor in the creating period. I find it sort of amusing that because IPv4 seem to be running out, that these already existing addresses need to be converted over to IPv6 addresses.

The second topic that piqued my interest in this section was the introduction of "network sniffers". I knew that evil people were capable of stealing other's credit card numbers online, but I really had no clue how they went about it. Makes it seem all that much more important to know which websites can be trusted and are secure, and which websites should not be trusted as far as you can throw them, look for https(security) and a little gold lock in the bottom corner. This was a practical application that everyone should know before offering their information willingly to strangers. Luckily for me, even with all of the ordering I have done off of websites, some big name ones such as Best Buy and Walmart, I have also ordered off smaller less well-known ones, and I will definitely need to be more careful from now on, because identity theft or stolen credit card numbers does not make for a fun time apparently, or so I've heard.

...AIS...

Since my major is Accounting, there are certain classes that are required and crucial for me to take, which is why I will not be having a winter break that lasts every long, because for some reason unknown to me both sections of Accounting IS were cancelled for Spring semester. So, as it seems, I will be waking up super early every Monday through Wednesday to sit in class for 3 hours straight, I'm just hoping that we do some sort of activities and not just listen to the professor all day.

Ok, so I got a little off track, but I had a point. On Tuesday we started learning about the functional business systems, and luckily for me I received a bit of an overview of AIS. Everyone always seems to mention how difficult computer classes are, unless they are Comp. Science majors, but I tend to disagree. Out of all of my classes this semester, the least dismal of my test scores come from Info. to IS. Accounting IS is like a two for one deal: accounting and computer work. Luckily, I am a tad bit familiar with the way some components of an accounting IS work after setting up the accounts payable module at the dental lab I was working for last year. I also did a little bit of work on the accounts receivable section as well. Hopefully this prior experience will help me in the classes to come.

...E-Business...

Class has seemed a little bit long and strenuous to me lately, not because Dr. Tuggle's teaching has become any different or less passionate, but perhaps because as the semester hit the halfway point, all professors have been expecting more: more papers, more tests, more homework. If I seem a little bit dazed and confused it's only because my brain is stretching to it's limits. God I need a vacation!

Luckily for me, there was one concept that seemed to just jump out at me during last Thursday's lecture: E-Business. Gone are the days when I have to drag my lazy butt off the couch to buy a new dress or pair of shoes for a special occasion. No need to leave the living room or the marathon of House reruns, because with the invention of the internet came online purchasing and selling. Not that shopping online is a new concept. I remember one of my best friends in junior high had Prodigy at home. Now I know not a lot of people remember this online service, but I certainly remember Trish showing me how she could shop the JC Penny's catalog from her parents office computer in her own house!

E-Business, I believe, is crucial in this day and time. What with the skyhigh gas prices as well as the overpopulation of many cities. Just point and click, and anything you want will be delivered to your home within a matter of days. Easy? Yes. Efficient? You bet. Now if only the numbers to customer service actually could connect you to a real live person instead of a voice activated message system. :)

...Feeling Better??...

Oh boy, did I pick the wrong week to fall ill. After, reading through the power points for Chapter 6, I just wanted to crawl right back into bed. Where the earlier chapters proved to be easier to learn once reading through a few times, this new chapter proves to be much confusion and agony. Out of the things I did understand I managed to pick up on some of the telecommunications media

I'm sure there are quite a few younger people who aren't lucky enough to remember using dial-up modem connections. Along with the slow connection and whirl-wind sound of the modem connecting, the dial up of the past also forced one to pay a monthly service fee to a specific company in order to use the connection. For example, ATT or AOL were two of the bigger companies that I can think of off the top of my head. I also remember that there were minute plans that you could subscribe to, if you needed only a little bit it was much cheaper than unlimited (if it was even offered back then). Connection was slow at best, and it took forever for pictures to download, forget about watching videos or other media type activities.

I remember being super excited when my stepdad splurged and purchased a cable modem. Much faster connection, not to mention the fact that you could use both the internet and the telephone at the same time without either disconnecting. The invention of the cable modem made it possible to view pictures and watch videos, because of the much faster connection. Pages load up at a speed that makes it appear that everything downloads at the same time, whereas with dial-up connections you could actually see line by line loading.

Over my birthday weekend at my parents house earlier this year, I got the chance to use the newest innovation to internet connections, the fiber optic cable, by Verizon. I did notice an incredible increase in the speed of the connections and the loadability of each site, but I also discovered a flaw. Every time the phone would ring, the internet would disconnect, and would not reconnect until after the call went to voice mail. Reminiscent of the days of dial-up, I knew right away that something was wrong. My step dad seemed happy that I had discovered this bug, instead of him during a web-cast work meeting. Verizon did come out and admit that they had a few kinks to iron out, but all in all this new connection is super fast and ultra reliable. Now if my poor mom could just get a faster computer to go with her new fast internet.

...Missed Class...

After a long and trying last week, and of course the weather change, I ended up sick...AGAIN. Luckily for me, we have this ingenious invention called...the internet, which actually was the topic of lecture today if Dr. Tuggle went along with his lesson plans. Gone are the days when you miss class and miss out on everything. With the invention of the internet you can not only get ahold of the day's lecture notes ahead of time, Blackboard at Chapman, but you can also email every classmate in each class with a few clicks to get more information on how the day went.

Since I am older that most people, I remember what it was like in high school missing one day of class and not knowing what the hell went on unless I called someone on the phone and asked, or waited until the next class day. Being that my school did block schedule with odd (Period 1, 3, and 5) and even (Period 2, 4, and 6) days, missing one day was the equivalent of missing two days.

People now in school have no clue how incredibly lucky it is that the internet is available to everyone. When I was in high school 1994-1998 only few people had and knew how to utilize the internet. Imagine having research projects and having to get all of your information out of encyclopedias and books which you borrowed from multiple trips to the library. No such thing as Google or Wikipedia, or any other mechanism in which you could receive all of the information that your heart desired within a few minutes. I remember my freshman year, we had to do book reports off of a book list, and then make a poster to go along with it. My friend, Amy Knebel (now Larsen), had the best project by far, which quite a few people jealously stated was because Amy had the internet at home. I believe that they were far overlooking the fact that Amy was such an overachiever, and that the fact that she had the internet and knew how to utilize it, just made her all of the better student.

On the flip side, I believe that people learning the internet at such a young age, actually disables them from being able to learn things out of books, and discourages how to do things as simple as navigate through a library's card catalog and dewey decimal system. One of the first things that I do when I have research project is to go to the Huntington Beach Public Library, one of my favorite places from when I was younger, and take out quite a few books on the subject. Not to say that I do not use some online sources, but I still find it a lot easier to look at a book right in from of me, as opposed to clicking through site after site.

I do, however, like that if there is something I need a quick answer to, I can have said answer at my fingertips in mere seconds. Whether it be a recipe, price of shoes, what time my favorite tv show is on, whatever my heart desires. I believe that there are goods and bads to having everything that you would and could ever need in one place, but if we teach people how to utilize other sources as well, that we will not be so heavily dependent on the internet, and more independent of ourselves and others.