April 14th assignment

Two types of business threats are surveillance of employees where keeping logs of employees comings and goings when using electronic time cards and business related information and when businesses monitor the employees internet usage .

April 9th Assignment

1. The use of email at my workplace is used daily as this is just one of many business tools I use on a daily bases. This tool as it allows me to schedule and confirm meetings, forward correspondence and FYI’s. To my understanding my messages are clear and understood by the recipient.
2. “Ask about one topic at a time”- I’m guilty of this as I tend to ask more than one question in my emails. To me it saves me time and it saves the reader time by not having to open countless emails. But if I were to look at it differently, I suppose that it would be more effective if I were to send one email at a time that way I’ll know if my messages have been read or not.
3. Another element in the netiquette list would be Use targeted distribution list.

Shop till you drop

Ah now that's my kinda thing. Hitting the pavement and searching for the next shopping center always puts a smile on my face. :) I just love to shop and my last trip was the best. Don't know how much i spend as long as the clerks in the store accepted my credit card and handed me my bag(s) was all I needed. Take me in a shopping mall or center and I'll be your best friend.. haha I've tried internet shopping but it's just not the same, you know that rush you get when you enter this large open space and at first glance you get the feel of the place.. that rush is what I'm talking about.

You know that this is about technology eh Jeff. That credit card and its magnetic strip didn't just come out of the blue.. need that strip to swipe ... and need that strip to. .. cha ching!!!

Segways

At the resort we stayed at security was travelling around in segways. These little motorized vehicles were seen everywhere and knowing that area was being patrolled 24/7 made our stay more comfortable and just feeling safe knowing that these vehicles were patrolling the area.

Finger/thumb Print Scanning

When you enter Universal Studios theme park they scan your ticket and also a finger print. They say it’s for security reason but I read that they don’t want you selling the remainder of the multi day ticket pass to someone else and that all scans are deleted in 30 days. They also provide lockers that require a thumb print; no lost keys there. In the not so distant future the punch clock will be the thing of the past when finger print or retinal scans will be the used to monitor check in and checkout times.

Technology, huh!

In 2004 I purchased a 42” LCD projection TV and I must say I paid a pretty penny too. Anyway, last week the colours on the picture began turning yellow in the center of the TV and the picture itself was getting darker. When we called the store it was purchased from the technician said that the lamp needed to be replaced and it would cost us $945. My TV is only four years old and the thought that I would have to dish out those bucks this early really pisses me off. See what happens when you want to advance with technology, cost ya big bucks. Next time I’m going plasma.

Wikis, Podcast, Blogs......

Wikis, podcast, blogs. Just what are they used for? I’m trying to keep up with the latest but I guess I was out to lunch when these little babies were born. I mean I still don’t see the big deal with blogging, podcasting and creating wikis. I know that is the latest and everyone is doing it, but just the same it's just not my cup of tea. Anyway, it turns out that I have been doing some wikking. (is that a word?) I didn't create the website at work but I do keep it up to date.

But I'm still not a blogger….

Text Messenging

Verison Wirelss has announced that there were 20 billion text messages sent and received. That's an increase from June 2007 where they saw 10 billion text messages sent. Could mean bad news for them as they don't receive revenue from non voice messages.

Read more at http://news.vzw.com/news/2008/03/pr2008-03-31.html

Earth Hour 2008

On Saturday, March 29th at 8 p.m. local time millions of people around the world will turn off their lights, television sets and other non essentials to fight global warming. This year Canada will have over 150 cities participating in turning off their lights; CN Tower, Niagara Falls and the MacDonald Bridge in Halifax to name a few.

For more information visit http://www.wwf.ca/earthhour and help in your fight with climate change.

Modern Medicine

I must admit that since we started this course my eyes and ears have been open to new technologies. Why just last night I heard on the news that a 42 year old had his appendix removed thought his mouth. He come out of it with a sore throat and little pain.

Imagine that?

Blogging....

I'm not so sure that blogging is for me. I mean, for some strange unknown reason I just don't remember to blog after each class and because of this I have fallen behind. Blog reflecting is really not my cup of tea and maybe it's just becasue I just don't know what to say. Yeah, sure technology is all around us and we use it each and every day, but just how often do we think about it?

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Windows Movie Maker

I've given up. I tried and I tried, but I just don't know how to take a interview clip from the internet and place it in windows movie maker. I tried a few different things, one was to save the clip on a cd. But when i try to import the video an error stating that windows doesn't support this file type.

What I want to do is take the interview and cut it in half. Any ideas as to how i can do this?

Home Improvement and Smart Boards?

I watched the Steven & Chris show on CBC this weekend and during the last segment of the show, they were taking questions from the audience on home decor/renovations. They used a smart board to show the pictures of the persons room and placed colored circles where they thought the changes should take place and that was it. This was the first time I've seen this show so I don't know how often they use the smart board and if they use it, is that all they do with it?

Office Technology has come a long way since typewriters and cassette recorders. Most word processing applications offer templates that make our documents/presentations stand out. MS word, Corel Wordperfect makes it easier to perform this task. It corrects spelling mistakes and check grammar. The only downfall is that I can’t spell anymore. :(

I really thought I enjoyed technology and all that it has to offer, but that was until after this week. Now I’m not so sure.

It seems that this technology that we use today can and does have its ups and downs. It can get so frustrating and cause much unneeded stress. For instance, the projector we use in class I swear has a mind of its own and will work only when it feels like it. Okay, the first class I can truly say it was human error but the next two, well I can say it definitely tested my patience and I like to think that I have a lot of patience. So, I’m just wondering can this part of technology considered be the powerful “evil” tool. Either way, it is frustrating and I am sloooowly going crazy.

Welcome

Well here it is, my first blog. What to say, hum, well, we're expecting a storm this evening and tomorrow; 15 + cm of the white stuff plus all the other "nice" things associated with winter. :(

Nice eh...

Until next time....