Saturday, August 16, 2003

to talk about the mobile phone, more and more new technology are used to develop the quality and the function of mobile phone. after the color screen and the color message, video is more advanced than camera for the fuction. moreover, mp3 is also added on mobile to be the new promotion of high tech for mobile. now, people can use mobile send not only messages, but also the short video, record of sound and email. dispite of these, the ring also changed to the beautiful sound--chord. i will put some photos that i took by my mobile later....
posted by Anonymous at 11:23 PM

Yesterday I went to Vodafone store casually and noticed the varied new mobile designs, most of them are with breaching the traditional mobile designs. That make me remind the first mobile phone I saw about ten years ago. They were designed in ponderosity. But the prices of them are also expensive.While now mobile has become popular communional tool of people and mobile's evolution also is developed and improved.Way back in 1993 when Apple unveiled the Newton for the first time, the idea of the personal digital assistant was pretty new. Fast-forward through time -- making quick stops to evaluate the winning moves of 3COM, Palm, Handspring, and Microsoft's Pocket PC platform -- and even the capabilities of last year's new PDAs seem a bit long in the tooth. Today's mobile management solutions offer more than simple appointment calendars and personal phone books. If you've been paying attention to the trends in mobile technology, it won't surprise you that combination devices are big and getting bigger.
posted by Anonymous at 9:26 PM

Yesterday I went to Vodafone store casually and noticed the varied new mobile designs, most of them are with breaching the traditional mobile designs. That make me remind the first mobile phone I saw about ten years ago. They were designed in ponderosity. But the prices of them are also expensive.While now mobile has become popular communional tool of people and mobile's evolution also is developed and improved.Way back in 1993 when Apple unveiled the Newton for the first time, the idea of the personal digital assistant was pretty new. Fast-forward through time -- making quick stops to evaluate the winning moves of 3COM, Palm, Handspring, and Microsoft's Pocket PC platform -- and even the capabilities of last year's new PDAs seem a bit long in the tooth. Today's mobile management solutions offer more than simple appointment calendars and personal phone books. If you've been paying attention to the trends in mobile technology, it won't surprise you that combination devices are big and getting bigger.

posted by Anonymous at 9:16 PM

hi,everybody. it is the last day for the assessment.i'd like to talk about the flash promotion and flash game on internet. flash is an interesting form used for the advertisement and entertainment. almost every website has at least one flash vision. usually, the small window for advertisement or message is used when a webpage is opened. of course, i think many peole like me do not like this kind of form cos we are not going to see it and it is a kind of useless window that occupies our screen. however, it is also an attractive form for our eyes cos they are aninmated. also the flash card on internet is more welcome than the picture card. for entertainment, i like flash game very much. (hehe,but my friends think that game is tooooo childish--->so am i:) such as: http://jp.shockwave.com/games/puzzles/zookeeper/zookeeper.swf although it is...i am still interested in this childish flash game, http://www.flasharcade.com there are many interesting childish games for the one like me.
posted by Anonymous at 8:47 PM

During class, Luke showed us a site, "Miss Sixy", a UK fashion label that uses Flash animation. The use of Flash technology breathes life into web interfaces by allowing animation, thereby coaxing interactivity between users and the site. This characteristic of Flash has increasingly been exploited cleverly by upscale fashion retailiers in a bid to enhance their online presence. Traditionally, upscale fashion labels promote their collection and reinforce their brand image via mostly print media (i.e. fashion magazines, newspapers). With the advent of the Internet, and with an increasing proportion of their clientele becoming more web savvy, upscale fashion retailers are discovering the power of an online presence to help them build, maintain and reinforce their brand image, whilst fueling desire for their products. The power of Flash allows upscale fashion retailers to do all these as interactivity is increased and visual aesthetic appeal is enhanced.

You can click on the links below to check out some of the websites of upscale fashion labels that utilize Flash to their advantage:
1. Giorgio Armani - Click on 'Menu', and then click on 'Cosmetics' to see how Armani utilizes Flash to promote its Cosmetics online.
2. Louis Vuitton
3. Chanel
4. Burberry
posted by Anonymous at 7:32 PM

Wht does Virtual Reality (VR) means? does it just means some experience with those head sets and VR rooms?
Well... I think it does not... Actually what decide those VIRTUAL and RAEL is kind of philosphic term....
What's real and what's virtual? it's not just recent problems... we can find that not small number of people confused the real world and the world of Dungeon's Drangons game what they play.... I think it's kind of virtual reality. What the word Virtual Reality means not just some kind of computer graphics but also the world that mind created...

Today We can find heaps of On-line games... such as ultima online or Diablos... players treats their character as themselves. The more time they spend on their characters the more stronger they becomes... It makes new social problems as well... we can find that people who HOOKED those online games.. thay spend most of their times to play to games...

I think what people think REALISTIC and not is depends on what they think about. When I first time that VR game was about 10 years ago and at that time most of people called it as incredible... and it was. but what if I ontroduce those games now people may say it's a crap. So it my just depend on what they expected.

And fianlly. if people think it as real, it can take part of REAL life.... but if people does not, it may not...
posted by Anonymous at 9:17 AM

How about BurnEn@tion ? Do you deign that? ;)
posted by Matt at 9:09 AM

I dub the e-nation Strong Badia!!!
Population: Tire!!!
Burninating the peoples,
- Dan
p.s. I also deign that I have a kebab. Now, I deign!
posted by Anonymous at 8:07 AM

And a big Yo to the Academic Posse!! - you know who you are, the rest wish they were!

Well, it has come time for the second blog entry devoted to the E-Nation...of which i have yet to name - thanx for the feedback though.
Yet again, i went overboard, and it is long, but hey, I am the architect to a dream!
So here it is...Part 2

Im out...
Matt
posted by Matt at 7:14 AM

New technology achievement is part of everyday life and it seems that the digital technology nowadays includes a lot of functions. Almost every digital product you buy is multiple functions, one interesting example is camcorders, they are changing from time to time. camcorders are good example of showing how fast technology change and grows, they change from normal recording videotape to digital tapes, and now camcorders can take moving and still images and many more. The digital technology has made major impact on photographing industry in terms of image quality and make it easier to fix and manipulate image colour and other things depending on individual purpose. View some on this site CAMCORDERS which gives idea to consumers and knowledge of what is out there
posted by Anonymous at 3:21 AM

____________

Friday, August 15, 2003

On the lecture I saw the picture showed which when Beckham and Victoria went to Japan, their fans took photo of them, most of them use mobile phone. I started to think whether the digital camera on the phone useful or not. Can we save money if we buy a mobile phone with camera instead to buy one mobile phone and a digital camera? The answer is yes. But do you think it really useful? The answer is doubt. Just like some mobile phone have the function to load on internet, but in fact how many people use this function? It depands different place have different fees for that and whether the net support it or not. The camera on the mobile phone can not change rize and they don't have flashlight on it, it's hard to use at night or some dark places and it will make the phone work slowly. In fact when people took a photo with phone most of them wouldn't save it and just made it for fun, so if we don't really want to take photo anywhere and anytime, we can bring a digital camera after we decide to take photo of the day's event. So my personal opinion I won't buy a mobile phone in high price, I will buy a useful phone and cheaper one, then buy a good digital camera.
posted by Anonymous at 10:56 PM

Go buy the new A Tribe Called Quest CD Hits, Rarities and Remixes. These guys are important. really. go. now.
posted by Anonymous at 9:18 PM

Media has let me down today...holy crap im bored!
posted by Matt at 8:51 PM

howstuffworks.com. Better post something before this worm eats Microsoft.
posted by We're Not Floating at 4:23 AM

Damn. In my rush to get my post in for this week, I didn't have time to read the other entries, and well... I made that last post on the EyeToy not realising that someone had beat me to it. Serves me right, sorry Jess!!!
posted by Anonymous at 1:34 AM

In light of last night’s Yellow Ribbon Fight for Life on TV3, I thought I’d spend this blog entry talking about the PS2 EyeToy. If you watched the boxing, you might remember that the EyeToy was the prize on offer in the TXT competition. For those unfamiliar with this cool little gadget, the EyeToy is a small camera (similar to a web cam) that connects to the PlayStation 2. Complete with the “EyeToy: Play” disc, this peripheral does away with the standard hand-held control system. This means that instead of pushing buttons to play the game, the player simply moves his or her body in front of the motion-sensing camera which sits upon, or directly under, their TV. The main benefit of this kind of interface, as stressed by the producers of the new EyeToy camera, is the fact that it makes video game playing easy, even for those who are PS2 illiterate -- not to mention it keeps you fit! Okay, so the only game that is compatible with the new EyeToy -- at the moment, anyway -- is “EyeToy: Play,” which is actually a collection of 12 mini games that are included with the camera. However, with more motion-controlled games in the works, and the potential for additional uses for the camera (including communication via the PlayStation 2’s internet connection, and the ability to upload a player’s face onto their game character), the EyeToy could soon become a standard fixture on the PS2 owner’s television. For more information on the EyeToy, visit the official site here.
posted by Anonymous at 1:21 AM

By using flash, the website can have more content!exactly!
I like to watch flash through different websites! To start with, I recommend one website
click here
If you like to find some cool sites, go for it!
But the loading process of this site might be long, so please be patient,if you want to know what is inside of this website! When you enter this website, you click on any fire image then you can watch different flash with different content that this website offers! If you are not clicking anything, just move your mouse around the little person, he can act with your mouse:)
One tip: please do click on the “upcoming” fire image! funny:)
however, this is a website that belongs to one company which designs the website and make digital animation for clients. So I think the specific content of this website is not very important, being aware of the flash and animation is more interesting than content! And a little bit funny!
Ps, not very nice weather today, always raining :(

posted by Anonymous at 12:04 AM

____________

Thursday, August 14, 2003

Sorry I tried to put the website on but it didn't work! www.eyetoy.com


posted by Anonymous at 8:51 PM

BLOG ENTRY 1

I really enjoyed the video on virtual reality the other day. I have often wondered why this concept never really took off, and the video offered some good explanations to my questions.

I suppose that people cannot fully be in a 'virtual reality' because a virtual environment where you can touch is something which the experts haven't been able to create.

Playstation's answer to virtual reality, realising that touch is a sense which cannot be virtually simulated is a product called Eye Toy. Eye Toy is a camera which you place above your television set and use in conjunction with your Playstation set and games. The camera allows you to be on your television screen and play a virtual Playstation game, such as kung fu or boxing, against your animated opponent.

Realising that touch is a virtual impossibility, Playstation allows your virtual image and animated character to interact through the television creating the illusion that you are both present.

The website for Eye Toy was quite impressive as well. Playstation advertised the Eye Toy through a television set equipped with a Playstation centre and an Eye Toy to help give the potential consumer a feel for the product as well as providing information about Eye Toy and its games
posted by Anonymous at 8:47 PM

one funny picture :---)
sorry, too big file so i delete it
posted by Anonymous at 6:52 PM

Scroll Down To Chris Brooks' Aug 13 Post:
I thought I might have to wait a while for this issue to pop up, but here we go. Chris' post suggests that the shift towards digital technologies in musical production alters "the human element of music". This is of course, perfectly correct. A danger exists however in the suggestion that analogue recordings offer "direct representation of live performances". This is in fact the function of digital recording, to reproduce (ad infinitum) a sound event without variation - it is analogue recording which offers the "indirect", false experience as the sound content is always altered by the imperfect recording medium.

There always appears in certain* critiques of the altered human element of music, a tone of scepticisim if not near apocalyptic dread. At the milder end of this scale Chris suggests that the soul of recordings have been lost. There's also a cool bit in his blog about Adorno and the inauspicious link between manufacture and culture industry.
Manufacture and Industry? Somehow linked? No... (hehe)

Dry jokes aside, how can the human quality survive in the face of seemingly over-empowering technologies? I told you once, and I'll tell you again: Hip-Hop.
Last week I posted a blog about turntablism as a model of revolutionary** cybernetics. To prove I don't just get drunk and make this stuff up here's the lyrics to 'Jungle Music' by Jeru the Damaja. Without exhausting myself, a simple analysis of Jeru rhymes shows us that hip-hop cybernetics allow DJ Premier, through his use of digital musical technology, to reclaim the essential and humanising power of the drum - to reclaim the spirit of ancient Afro-Asiatic rhythms.

In between, Jeru offers a schema for the effacement of white cultural imperialism through this reclamation of colonised identity, largely by inverting the very geo-cultural and biological essentialism used to degrade his people. The sounds of 'savage' animals at the beginning of the track have, by it's end, become messages of empowerment, pride and beauty. Lost its soul indeed...

*Ironically from those with little soul to lose in the first place (j/k!)
** Insert Big Pun reference here

I just got back from this video DJ art thing at Paradise on K'Road. Improvised expressionistic Trip Hop music matched by realtime sampling, mixing and layering of video. How's that for hip-hop modeled artistic interactions with emerging digital technology huh?

that's why they fear our Jungle Music,
- Dan
posted by Anonymous at 6:17 AM

Finally here comes the weekend, and here comes my second entry as well.

We talked about Toy Story, The Matrix and other CGI animation in yesterday’s lecture. I am a little surprised that we didn’t talk about Final Fantasy on the lecture. I remember that many people predicted that would be a huge blockbuster of that year, and will replace many human-actors films after its release. Even one website had designed the main actress as a “virtual lover” for people to download or something. I think Hollywood studios were happy to see that, because they would not need to pay millions of dollars for some big stars. However, it didn’t turn out to be a blockbuster after all. The studio still pays million of dollars for a super star. I kind of wondering what happened to Final Fantasy, it is one of the best selling video games, and a big budget film. Well..here comes my opinions.

I am not saying CGI animation is a big failure. “Find Nemo” is actually the best selling movie so far of this year, they even did much better than “The Matrix II” in the Box Office (just checked the Yahoo yesterday). I think CGI animation is only suitable for some certain genre, e.g kid movie.

It won’t be a good idea to make a CGI animation on an “adult” story, e.g a thriller or an action genre. Can you image “The Gladiator” in CGI? There are just some type of movies that cannot be replaced by CGI these days. Some people still go to a movie because of a particular star in that movie. Like Final Fantasy, the story wasn’t very good, and it is probably more for an “adult” film. Eventually we can still tell what is real and what is fake.

posted by Anonymous at 5:18 AM

New Media and Visual Culture
Mary Anne Moser argues that Virtual Reality technology needs to be viewed as a part of a continuum of technology development. She abandons ‘virtual reality’ for ‘virtual environments’ which is the surrounding condition in which people live and act, which is more manageable than reality, which begs further definition and text. Others can argue virtual reality and our everyday life are immersed to create visual culture. We are all immersed in virtual reality, which is in everyday technology like for example wide screen television. The image is surface based where we interact with the image by looking at it, weather it would be seductive or something sexy it is hard not to look at anything else but just what’s on the surface. The image could be either a television ad or magazine print where it uses sex (or other forms of seductiveness) to sell a product. If you look at the latest Armani perfume advertisement, they are using a naked model that’s running around an apartment playing to sell a perfume. You also have a coffee commercial where there’s a woman standing in the kitchen dressed in a very sexy dress drinking coffee.

Then there is also simulation where you take an image from another source and apply it to your work; it has got no original point of reference but what does today? Everything you see everywhere must have been taken from some idea, to me there’s little originality in society. Contemporary digital media and computer-generated images give us a perspective on viewing something that is impossible to do in reality. Like movie ‘The Matrix’ that also sometimes has a reference to reality. If you look at hyper reality and the matrix thing like jumping of a ten-storey building a bouncing back would be something impossible to do in reality.

posted by Anonymous at 5:15 AM

there's a good example of when technology goes bad..or is it my bad?
posted by Anonymous at 3:55 AM

I’ve been checking out some of your posts this week and it’s been good to see a
range of perspectives on new media. Especially Sian’s post which highlighted some
of the problems with technology and the fact that new media exists because of old
media,which I think is an important point.
So here’s another story...
In the weekend my brother held a dance party up at Coast bar and lounge. Although tickets were sold the “traditional” way, he also sold tickets through M Ticket Response. This is a fairly new method where the customer purchases their ticket by texting to a number, in this case HIGHROLLERS to 858 and in ‘response’ it sends you a message asking if you would like to purchase tickets and if so how many. From here you text back with the number and in ‘response’ it decreases money from your airtime or charges your account, and then issues a confirmation message which you show at the door. In theory this sounded good, as each message has it’s own serial number which gets ticked off at the door. However the list we received had the serial numbers all mixed up, so everytime one person (out of the 300-400 people who recieved their tickets through this method) came to the door, it meant looking for their number through a series of pages. Add that to 200-300 wanting doorsales and 1000 paying customers =HECTIC. So although new technology is designed to make things easier, allowing ppl to buy from their phone, it did have a downside for the promoters
who in the end relied on human intervention to fix the problem. Which brings me to my next rambling point, that technology is designed by humans and that humans interact with technology, so in the end when we say we have 'technological' problems really these are just problems created by ourselves....I’m sleepy so I hope this makes some sense:)

LIVZ

posted by Anonymous at 3:52 AM

I’ve been checking out some of your posts this week and it’s been good to see a range of perspectives on new media. Especially Sian’s post which highlighted some of the problems with technology and the fact that new media exists because of old media,which I think is an important point.
So here’s another story...
In the weekend my brother held a dance party up at Coast bar and lounge. Although tickets were sold the “traditional” way, he also sold tickets through M Ticket Response. This is a fairly new method where the customer purchases their ticket by texting to a number, in this case HIGHROLLERS to 858 and in ‘response’ it sends you a message asking if you would like to purchase tickets and if so how many. From here you text back with the number and in ‘response’ it decreases money from your airtime or charges your account, and then issues a confirmation message which you show at the door. In theory this sounded good, as each message has it’s own serial number which gets ticked off at the door. However the list we received had the serial numbers all mixed up, so everytime one person (out of the 300-400 people who recieved their tickets through this method) came to the door, it meant looking for their number through a series of pages. Add that to 200-300 wanting doorsales and 1000 paying customers =HECTIC. So although new technology is designed to make things
easier, allowing ppl to buy from their phone, it did have a downside for the promoters who in the end relied on human intervention to fix the problem. Which brings me to my next rambling point, that technology is designed by humans and that humans interact with technology, so in the end when we say we have ‘technological’ problems really these are just problems created by ourselves....I’m sleepy so I hope this makes
some sense:)

LIVZ

posted by Anonymous at 3:43 AM

Hey everyone
Some people asked me to post the site that I showed you all about the html tags.

Well here it is. There are lots of other sites, just use google or whatever to find them. If you haven't used html before don't worry about most of the tags as they are not useful for the blog stuff.

I have noticed that different browsers have different functions located in their menu bars. The ones on the Mac's are fairly minimal but with the PC I am using now I can do all the links without html, which may make it easier if you are using a PC and are confused by the code.

Also about the readings, please get up to 1.6 for next week.

thanks,


posted by Anonymous at 2:07 AM

sometimes you see unexpected thing when you websurf.
I see alot of unexpected things....
something it is strange, shocking~~and fun..and I think it is the beauty of websurfing
I got this pictures from my friend's personal homepage.

this picture is extremely shocking so be prepared (not really!!!)

what if somebody ask "what do you do for living?"
should he say "I am Tinky Winky"?
or.....


posted by Anonymous at 2:07 AM

____________

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

I'm finally getting the hang of this blog thing and have decided to post my 2nd entry. In my tutorial we were talking about whether cell phones and e-mail make life harder or easier. Mostly everyone said easier, which I agree with. But then the topic came up about what life was like before cell phones and e-mail. People couldn't remember what life was like without cell phones. I'm studying abroad here and don't have a cell phone. While back home, i just take it for granted that i have one and don't even think about it, here I notice how hard it is not to have one and how much I've come to rely on it. If i didnt have e-mail either, it would be practically impossible to stay in touch with people back home, especially with the rates that the Railway Campus charges. It can be argued that cell phones make life easier and harder. Now people can get in touch with you whenever they want. And what i find especially annoying is when i call someone and they say that they can't talk now becuz they're out of minutes for the month and that i should call after 9 (they have free nights and weekends). It's especially difficult timing it so that i do call after 9 while I'm here becuz of the time difference between here and the States.
posted by Anonymous at 6:30 PM

Putting my first blog in now cos im a slack ass.
posted by Anonymous at 4:39 PM

Digital Games

Have your ever played a game on Internet or in your computer?
Do you konw what Games are made up of?

Games are made up of:
*Rules
*Goals and objestive
*outcomes and feedbak
*conflict/competition/challenge/opposition
*interaction
*Representation or story

Games such as The Sims, Baldur's Gate II, and Ultima Online, as well as unstructured online communities, such as OnLive, allow players not only to construct characters, but also to construct personal space, such as homes, businesses and public plazas. This personal space becomes an expression of identity. The theme took an interesting turn in a session on "Games and Cognition." Among the projects shown was a virtual reality game that allowed autistic children to learn how to evacuate from a house fire. A similar system is used for victims of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and allows a therapist to reconstruct a traumatic incident around the patient to help him work through an emotional experience.

Games are about discovery and experimentation, they allow both children and adults to explore different roles, relationships and the consequences of their decisions. Games spur creativity by encouraging player interaction, in contrast to more passive forms of entertainment such as television or film.

posted by Anonymous at 3:36 PM

HI PEEPS

I just thought that I'd get ahead of myself and start the topic on FLASH MEDIA which I think will be covered in tomorrow's lecture.
Sometime last week I was playing around with my brother's laptop and came across his fancy desktops via FLASH MX.
For those who are not familiar with Flash MX, it is a program where one can convert Flash MX files or SWF files into interactive desktop wallpaper. Click here to visit screentime.com.


By using my bro's laptop I used Microsofts Active Desktop to embed Flash applications onto his desktop! It seems hard at first but when I got started I really had a lot of fun. If you pull up the Display Properites dialog you'll notice it has a web tab. On this tab you can set an HTML file as your desktop background. Sounds fine until you realise that your page floats around like a window and even if you force it to be full screen you still have a browser menu bar along the top. In short the results arent very satisfying at the start. But it gets better!

The interface really couldnt be simpler. You drag your .swf file onto the SWF Desktop application then you export a desktop installer. Thats it! Well, that really isnt it, as there are a wealth of other configurable bells and whistles but if you accept the defaults you can have your Flash file running in your desktop in under a minute.

So what about those bells and whistles then? Well you can set all the usual Flash scaling and alignment properties. You can set the Desktop preview image and even add a custom Flash movie or a graphic for the installer program.

Undoubtedly though the power is in the possibilities of an MX application on the desktop. Flash player 6 is fully supported so you can consume web services, feed dynamic content, pull news feeds, run calendars and whatever hell you want to add to your desktop. Thats pretty cool.

On the cautious side I had two concerns. Flash can be slow at the best of times and running a movie at full screen, youre asking for all you get. Although I did not run into any real problems on a 700Mhz laptop. My other worry is usability. Its one thing having all this power on the desktop, but you dont want it to interfere with the users usual routine. Its for sure a powerful idea and a lot of fun to play with.

So check out the webpage !!!

IN CLOSING.... I LOVE MY BRO'S LAPTOP..

OK ANOTHER GADGET THAT I FOUND REALLY FUN TO PLAY THAT I'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOU GUYS IS THE CALLWAVE INTERNET ANSWERING MACHINE



It was yet again a lot of fun. With this new gadget I was able to receive and listen to telephone messages while i was surfing on the same telephone line! The Internet Answering Machine will obviously solve problems in homes that use dial-up to log on to the Internet. It provides a way to receive incoming telephone messages while online. No second phone line is required.

Its great that I was able to hear who's calling while I was using the computer and without the cost of an extra phone line!

It also comes with a caller display that enabled me to see the caller's phone number while I was online ( and yes you don't need or require caller ID from Telecom) It works with existing dial-up ISP or AOL service. For more information on callwave internet answering machine Click here to visit callwave internet answering machine.com.

Well hope you found it insightful as I sure did!!! Chow folks!!!



posted by Anonymous at 4:30 AM

Don't Believe The Hype:

If you're going to bite someone's styles, do it right.
"Languizzage" should read "Lizzanguage"
this is general reference, no beef with my man Damien Lay :)

The mode of speak is Double Dutch, as put down in the in the 1981 anthem Double Dutch Bus. It's origins belong to the lore of Bop musicians, it's improvised rhythms matching the emerging vocal form that would later be known as scat. It also helped cover up the slur induced by Uptown heroin.
"Play" became "Plizzay", "Show" became "Shizzow". These pioneers, emerging from an evironment rife with the poverty and crime that comes with state sanctioned racism, had something they could call their own.

The double dutch was introduced to the mass white audiences by g-funk veteran come dirty south new jack Snoop Doggy Dogg. I guess rap is more heavily mediated than Bop was, and I guess surface prevailed over depth - much like the renaissance hip-hop, the form's heritage was lost once white supremacist capitlist patriarchy* got to it.

*bell hooks term, may or may not reflect my own opinion

It's anyone's guess why it was picked up so fast and so willingly by those masses. It's function has been perverted and it now denigrates and humiliates the very culture that created it. I'm not saying you should feel sad about this, but I know I do.

When I visited Michael's link to www.jasonschock.com/gangsta it misspelled my gangsta alias. Again, a culture is demeaned.

For too long you've abused it,
On the low used it,
And called it Jungle Music
- Jeru the Damaja, Jungle Music (feat. DJ Premier)
posted by Anonymous at 4:21 AM

I wanted to use my first entry, to add to Arvid’s comment on the benefits of digital technology to ‘prosumers’ by suggesting a more negative effect digital technology has had on the nature of recorded music. Early analogue recordings (such as ‘Buddy Holly’ or even the Beatles) were produced as a direct representation of live performances of the songs. The groups recorded the songs simultaneously, and multiple songs were recorded in the space of a day. Imperfections such as mildly flat singing, or slight tempo changes, were very acceptable and perhaps largely unnoticed. Digital systems such as ‘protools’ allow extensive editing and manipulation, and whilst this has enabled greater experimentation, it has also altered the human element of music. Programs such as ‘auto tune’ and ‘Time compression/expansion’ have changed the standard to perfection above what is ‘natural’ or humanly possible. Through a traditionalistic or humanistic perspective, the human quality, or the ‘soul’ or ‘feeling’ of these recordings have been lost, or at least compromised by the digital technology. The resulting ‘perfect’ but ‘false’ recordings of artists such as Britney Spears, and Backstreet boys almost echoes Adorno’s concerns of the manufactured nature of the ‘culture industry’. However the recent rise in popularity of ‘rock ‘n’ roll’, and ‘garage’ bands such as ‘The White Stripes’ (with their privileging of recording the raw imperfection of live performance) can be seen as a regression and rebellion against this new technology.
Chris.

posted by Anonymous at 3:29 AM

Hey everyone!

I was just browsing and found this site of quotes and conversations, some of them are quite funny! And some of them aren't. Oh well.

Weird Quotes So does anyone out there actually watch Australian Idol?? I was just wondering why TVNZ is forcing this show on us nearly every night? Sorry if you find it entertaining... really, taste is relative. I personally am not a huge fan of reality TV shows, especially the ones like Big Brother. I think they should only be broadcast on the internet, where many of them started off, so people can choose if they want to watch them or not. Is it just me or is TV getting worse? Kids cartoons definately seem worse, Noddy was so much cooler before CGI. Hey, it's like South Park last night, did anyone watch it? It was about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas digitally "enhancing" their old films... for the worse. South Park is good. (In my opinion, obviously) The Simpsons are great, they've been around since 1989? and are still going strong, their website is quite cool too:
The Simpsons So yeah, other than watching TV I like... listening to music, going for long walks on the beach... actually no. I do like music, but I prefer surfing or swimming at the beach, rather than walking, as it always seems to take so much longer to walk back. ANYWAY, my favourite band is Tool. Their webpage is also very cool:
The Greatest Band Ever

So yeah, anyway, enough about me, bye bye
posted by Anonymous at 1:24 AM

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Tuesday, August 12, 2003

If you've got time to bicker & banter over this blog, you've got way too much time on your hands. Its kinda interesting to see people get so heated on the net. The following site shows to an extreme extent how fired up people can get simply by using messenger
programs. Whether they be icq or msn or even in the form of blogs. I know I'm not the first to say it, but people are not as quick to attack someone verbally in personal situations as they are via the net. While the internet connects people worldwide it's also able to create a distance between users. While we see the internet as a tool that can share information and bring the users closer in terms of communication, the way in which we do
communicate is different. Its as if all social inhibitions are thrown out the window. (Internet as a form of alcohol?)

Click here for angry
homophobic christians You'll have to read on to get to the funny stuff.

This site, Something Awful has some quite witty sections i nwhich they parody all aspects of the media. From video games to music reviews to film and tv programs. There's a regular feature called photoshop friday in which people send in photoshopped pictures according to a specfic theme. The most recent one is lame, however last weeks featured Uday & Qusay Hussein's death photos, say no more.

archives if you can be
bothered. There's also various other sections like the ,
comedy goldmines or
photoshop phridays ,
you'll probably find some funny ones amid the really bad jokes.

Oh, and this is for earlier when Dan & co were talking about the dopeness of net
languizzage,
phatnizz

So, what does this website offer then. If anything its another skewed take on the way in which users re hash & interact with media. The user itself can contribute to the site, but the catch is that you have to pay. IN what other medium are we continually asked to pay a little more just so that we can feel as if we are part of the new media wave? Time magazine are employing a similar strategy. In order for their readership to maintain some feeling of exclusivity, its not enough that they are subscribers to to magazine, they are also becoming 'net' subscribers. Users get exclusive content, mostly in the form of extended and special edition stories.

Now, in terms of the ultimate 'cashing in' of a media commodity, one only has to look in the direction of the savviest PR guy in the film industry, Senor Lucas. As if he didnt already have enough money, Gerogie boy is stealing more money from Star Wars fanatics by creating a whole new section of the Star Wars website which is for paying memebrs only. Dubbed 'hyperspace' users are able to 'feel' the force in a more powerful way by getting daily updates and video footage of the produciton thats currently underway at FOX Studios in Sydney. When will the greed end? As they say, nothing in this world comes for free.

I guess you can get a little carried away on this blog.

posted by Anonymous at 9:18 PM

Hi people!
It seems bit late to contribute my first entry to the class blogger as I encountered some problems of accessing the blogger, but seems all right now!
Recently, I visited the official site of GUCCI which I think it is quite noteworthy. The term "simplicity" crossed my mind when I open the site at the first time as the logo of GUCCI is placed at right middle of the page in white colour against the black background with nothing else, as well as the narrative is really flat and easy to follow. It provides language options of not only Italian and English, but also Japanese lwhich also indicates not only the popularity of the brand itself, but also the power of the WWW, which allows people from different cultural background to access an international "product" as GUCCI. Furthermore, the internet nowadays has been used to target certain groups of people(communities) by those advertisors, companies in order to promote their products internationally.
Hopefully, you will enjoy it! (GUCCI)
posted by Anonymous at 5:47 PM

Hey peeps! Just for a bit of fun... heres a site which might interest all the wannabe gangstas up in this blog! Ever wondered what you should call yourself if you were to become a gangsta then check out this site
www.jasonschock.com/gangsta , type in your real name and hey presto, instant respect from the gangsta community!
posted by Anonymous at 4:41 PM

<\a>href=”http://www.testing.com”>Doesthisworkyet?
posted by Anonymous at 5:17 AM

Here's how to post a link - cut and paste the code below:

[a href="http://www.INSERTSITE.com" target="blank"]INSERT SITE NAME[/a]

Replace square brackets "[ ]" with pointy brackets "< >"


posted by Anonymous at 2:40 AM

This week i thought as there is a whole lot of tension in the blog, it was high time we relaxed a bit! Now this subject i guess in its self might cause a bit of a stir. On the other hand it probably wont as there are 350,000 regular cannabis users in New Zealand and many of them are probably uni students! At first i was thinking of modifying a picture of our esteemed lecturer to feature him smokin on a big marley, but that might have hurt my grades! My point of this weeks blog is controversial websites... Now there are hundreds and thousands of sites which are proclaimed to be controversial, many of which i have visited. I thought marijuana was probably one of the least so compared with some of the sites i am gonna check out in later weeks to come, but its a start!

Three sites worth taking a look at in the pursuit of furthuring your weed education are www.hightimes.com, www.marijuana.com, and www.cannabisnews.com. These 3 sites all look at the chronic from slightly different perspectives. High times looks at marijuana from a stoners view, featuring games, pictures, grow tips, recipes, and news. It features a brightly coloured site full of energy. Marijuana.com is slightly more educational, it provides a large library resource of marijuana news and information that dates a long way back. It also has games, pictures etc but is not quite as flamboiyantly presented. Cannabisnews.com on the other hand looks at solely from a news perspective especially from the medicinal uses of this extremely sexy plant!

Now i guess the point of this blog is to do with the freedom of speech on the internet. Are we really allowed to present whatever we want on the internet? Governments do now police what is put onto the web. But why is it that you can still buy illegal seeds for growing marijuana plants as well as drugs to cover up other drugs in your system? Weed i guess aint too much of a concern. This blog entry and others to follow are to test the limits of subject matter which we can put up on an academic blog.

Matt,(im using the bold so you can just skip the crap) love the idea of an E-nation! Where do i sign up to be a guinea pig? Phew, what a concept! Obviously there are gonna flaws, but what a great experiment into the extent of how a society can interact on the internet! Ive been trying to think of a name for it, but as yet nothing, except that i reckon it should start with the letter X! Xanadu, Xeon, Xecptre, Xonga, Xaptan?
New media: I hate computers and computers hate me just as much (Im using a mates computer as mine just froze).My problem with all this new technology is that when i use it, it craps out! And that is damn frustrating, but i know its just me! So this course is hopefully gonna help me to get over my phobia of computers!

Anyway enough crap for one night i'm off to try and rectify my glycoma!
PS Luke am i rounding bloggery first base yet?
posted by Anonymous at 2:27 AM

Knam sane? It ain't even like that.
I think your 50 Cent CD's want listening to ;)

Try and carbon copy, but it always comes out sloppy
You can't out-rap me, you can't out-rock me
- Jeru tha Damaja, Jungle Music(produced by DJ Premier)

p.s. Fuhgetaboudit :P

posted by Anonymous at 1:01 AM

Had to remove the hate. It was making my eyes burn. Arohanui everyone.
posted by Anonymous at 12:13 AM

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Monday, August 11, 2003

RE: Haters

DJ Premier is a DJ, and I would prefer if you referred to him as such.
- Dan
posted by Anonymous at 11:05 PM

Yeah, but again you cant really gague someones emotion or what they are really thinking when you type. When you said you would rather spend your time scratching your arse rather than reading about remuera days, it does come off in a certain way regardless of how you mean it. You might have the best of intentions when writing something here, but it can be interprited many different ways.

Like, I am just posting this as a....pfft... I dunno just a side comment. But someone might think I'm being a patronising dick, for what they might think as me educating you on how to write on a blog or whatever... meh.

Maybe there IS stuff to gain by posting casually about their days on this blog. Maybe someone might say something that puts a lighter spin on your otherwise cynical day. Like the photos of the candles for instance, or how the light streams beautifully through the trees in the morning. Or anything. You dont just have to read about technoculture and media and shit to get any use out of this blog. But since I guess most people will only treat this as an assesment, some of the people here wont be bothered with the niceties of posting thoughts online.

Just a thought.
posted by Anonymous at 10:06 PM

Hey people,
Man! what can i say about that...how about this...I think you have misinterpreted how irrittated i was, it was merely an observation. Though delwyn, thank you for the concern over red rashes, but i'll let you know if they happen :)
Also, let me correct another misinterpretation...the reference to 'street cred' was not a literal referal to being down wit' da hoes an da pimps or demonstrating my mastery over hip hop, it was an intertextual metaphor for just good 'ol fashioned credibility. Which then leads into the other point about what is deemed a valid entry...hmmm, i dunno (and i'm starting to care less and less) maybe something in the least bit relevant to the course, new media, culture/society, or at the very least, something interesting. But, at the end of the day, i dont care that much, it was merely an observation, so write what the hell ever crap you want to, and the crazy thing is... that i'll probably read it all anyway.
Also, i think Guru and Premier might give a shit...but they wouldnt care because they would be laughing at Dans joke as intended.
And, as far as being a bully...whatever, i have a voice, nothing more, nothing less, use it!

Setting the record straight (<<< not a hip hop turntablist reference)
Matt Metcalfe
PS - Take note of the name...so that you may 'turn & look in the other direction'
posted by Matt at 7:33 PM

okay I really cant figure out how to put the link on it doesnt seem to be working with the prompt anyway here it is www.wiredwomen.com/technoculture
posted by Anonymous at 6:13 PM

posted by Anonymous at 6:11 PM

Sometimes I feel alienated in technoculture, having completed a IT Diploma at Spherion Institution and feeling totally lost in the world of arrogant male programmers (thats a generalisation I know but was true of the place I studied) anyway I found a female perspective on technoculture so heres the link
posted by Anonymous at 6:10 PM

Had to remove the hate. It was making my eyes burn. Arohanui everyone.




posted by Anonymous at 6:04 PM

Can you count how many people participated the silent protest? There are around 1.5 million peoples, all wearing black and have a candle in their hands. There are no organisation behind this silent portest and nobody forced them to be there. They are there because of their freewill and INTERNET.
One people(dunno who this is) posted a massage on the free board of Korean daily newspaper web site. The article is breifly about -after 6 o'clock on 30th of November, they should meet near the city hall. The writer of the article requested people to wear a black and to prepare a candle. This message was moved to another and another internet freeboard. Eventually, this silent cnadle protest became kind of the natonal ceremony.
Isn't it so amazing how the internet is 'fast and effective' kind of Media in Kore?
Well, reasons behind this gathering is heart breaking, but guess what? It only took 3 days to gather 1.5million people.
posted by Anonymous at 4:07 AM

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Sunday, August 10, 2003

So my second entry on my journey to attain full Bloggy status.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, that is how the saying goes right. So is that why so much of popular culture is considered trash? I mean if thousands of people around the world pile in to a cinemas to watch the latest Julia Roberts movie or pay countless amounts to get the latest Cosmopolitan magazine to see what Sarah Jessica Parker, is wearing are they just being duped?

And now popular culture lives and breathes on the net, a perfect example of analogue media moving into the realm of the digital while still retaining it’s association with analogue is the e-zine. If you are a fan of the truly girly magazines full of competitions and such then check outnzgirl This is a pretty cool site with heaps of features, including beauty tips, fashion and loads of Maybelline advertising. This makes entering competitions faster, and you don’t actually have to pay to view the e-zine. However the quality is not up to the standard of your actual physical magazine – so don’t stop buying your favourite mag just yet!

I guess my point is that while the digital may be evolving life as we know it , some things will remain - our ability to consume trash, or all things popular. And while some may sneer and say how stupid or cheesy something is, at the end of the day they are probably trying to sound academic while trying to hide their latest copy of TV hits in their bag.

Blog you later.

posted by Anonymous at 6:20 PM

"Its getting hot in here!"
posted by Anonymous at 3:12 PM

To be honest, i'm not sure what to write here as I've yet to figure this site out. But on a general note, I'm enjoying this paper as it has made me think alot more about the World Wide Web and the uses and the thoughts that surround it.
One just expects it to be, with out question I suppose.
Anyways, once I get this site sussed, I'll be away laughing.....I hope...
posted by Anonymous at 4:41 AM

href="http://www.auckland.ac.nz">UNI Just testing the hypertext link thingee



posted by Anonymous at 3:13 AM

Damn straight Matt,
Wack bloggers need to get off the Bozack - swinging from the nuts like they were Rocky J. Squirrel.
Peace to the relevant - like Shaohua Lao and Rickey Feng who never fail to drop science. Ill.

the large professor,
- Dan
posted by Anonymous at 12:07 AM

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