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  • alex 13:43 on February 1, 2012 Permalink |  

    Ban ALL the gadgets?? 

    Some university’s have reached a decision of banning all technological gadgets form lectures and classrooms. They claim that pupils do not concentrate enough in class because they are using their iPads, computers or smartphone to browse news sites, chat in social networks or for other entertainment purposes. Is this sort of conduct fair to all the students?

    I believe that in most cases it is quite unfair. First off if this ban is given out then not only do the lazy students suffer but also the ones that are taking  down notes in their computers. Secondly some people find it difficult to write on plain paper because they can’t keep up or loose track of their progress. With a computer a person can write much faster and more comfortably. Also there is the possibility of sharing notes with others via email or even a Bluetooth connection in class which makes it easier for the absentees to catch up.

    I also have to sympathize with the schools decision because a lot of students actually are that lazy in class that they are only playing and not concentrating. Later on they get bad grades and are bringing the schools reputation down. Due to these problems it does seem reasonable to ban technological innovations form class. But that is the only reason to ban them, there are no other downsides of having it with you.

    Therefore I think that this solution is definitely not the best one and the right one. I believe that the problem would be solved more efficiently if to limit the WiFi connection as the research showed most students are spending their time on the web. This would be a much fairer solution so that all of the students and school benefit.

     

  • alex 14:06 on January 25, 2012 Permalink |  

    Le story 

    For score and 896 days ago an immense darkness filled the land of Mustamäe tee 143 apartment 15. At the beginning it seemed like any other day, quite quiet, mesmerizingly snowing. This epic tale begins to unravel at the struck of 3 o’clock. The small little goblin of apartment 15 had the audacity to turn on the oldest and wisest machine of the entire kingdom. The creaking sounds of one decade could almost be felt in the air. As the wondrous metal wizard was activating its Intel CPU with 700 MB of RAM and virtually no video card for 30 minutes the little goblin went red with rage. She thrust an insane roundhouse kick to the computer and immediately sent a message pigeon to the high chieftain of the kingdom.

    The high chieftain got a message saying that the great wizard is fading away into the darkness. This posed a problem that was pondered upon for days when finally a decision was made. With the use of telepathic signals through the mobile devices the lord of the realm contacted the familys last hope to save this dire situation. The task was to travel across the land into the mythical kingdom of Arvutikeskus and scavange the lands for new components so that the wizard could be resurected form the afterlife. The quest to find the best spine (motherboard), stomach (harddrive) memory, brain (central processing unit) and eyes (graphics cars) proved to be a strenuous one. The greatest obstacle of all was the small puch of gold that limited the haggling with the bloodsucking demons. Finally after hours of search the adventure had been completed and the journey back could begin.

    Upon reaching the domain of the high chieftain the main quest could begin: the resurrection ritual of the great one. This meant that all of the parts had to be placed in the right spots and connected to eachother so that all of the necessary functions would initiate. Otherwise all of the veins (buses) and essential holes (bays) would not work properly. As noone knew how this delicate work needed to be carried out then the task naturally fell upon me to accomplish. First off the carcas was opened up on the side and all of the previous level components were striped form it to make room for the new ones. Firstly then the spine was positioned into the carcas. Next the brain and memory were placed on top of it accompanied by the eyes into the right socket. Now that everything was placed perfectly the nervous system (wires) had to be connected to the spine for it to work like it should. After many hours of excruciating work the body was finished. Now the input devices needed to be connected to the body sa that the humble peasents seeking information form the wizard could write to it what they wanted. Also the output needed connecting because the no mere mortal speaks the dead language of binary. The moment of truth was at hand. With the pressing of one button the fate of the kingdom would be decided. I kneeled down in honour of the great one and most humbly did I press the power button. The ritual had begun and within a few seconds the monitor had a message form the wizard which sai “Welcome back”.

    I now summoned the little goblin who had started this epic tale in the first place and let her communicate with the new wizard. She was speechless at the new great ones uncomprehensable speed and power that she burst out in joy. From this day onward I was praised as a hero and given a feast fit for kings. Whenever a kingdom is in need of a resurrection of the great one, I will be there to see the task through.

     

  • alex 09:07 on January 25, 2012 Permalink |  

    Le research 

    • Analyze the cureent situation in the case study
    • Make a list of all of the flaws and lackings of the current solution
    • Research on the internet how theatre booking systems work in Estonia, Prime examples would be the two cinemas Solaris and CC plaza.
    • Compare the Estonian systems to the case study one
    • Find out the additional functions needed to be implemented in the case study.
    • To be more exact info on the actual booking system through the web needs to be researched, such as how can people book the seats, how payment transactions are done and how is thedocumentation of the sales and bookings done.
     

  • alex 22:17 on December 8, 2011 Permalink |  

    Swiss to legalize downloads 

    A recent news article talks about a new law passed in Switzerland which makes the downloading of pirated software legal. The Swiss government pointed out many positive and interesting points which were backed up by evidence form a dutch research. This is a exceedingly sensitive topic when to think of both the downloaders and the corporations. On one hand their is the freedom of speech aspect that can be violated if to deny pirating as such and on the other hand organisations are supposedly losing revenue due to illegal downloads. The main question then is what to do with this issue?

    The downloading of music, movies, games and other various types of software has become a quite common phenomenon nowadays. It is all thanks to the World Wide Web because earlier this type of sharing on such a wide scale was not possible. The Swiss law for downloading software says that downloading for personal use is permitted. This concept of downloading should be tolerated because if the person does not share it with others or try to profit from it then the damage is not that extensive. Also most people only pirate games and movies to see if they are any good or not. If a person really likes a game then it is more probable that he will buy it too rather than buy a game that he has never played and later on might not like. The same aspect was brought out in the article where the dutch research showed that frequent downloaders visit concerts more often and game-downloaders bought more games than those who did not download. I believe this concept really does work because nobody wants to but something they have never tried before. The same concept goes for food mostly. You don’t go into a supermarket and buy food randomly, you know what you want because you have tasted it before and liked it. Piracy also has the chance to make less-known bands famous because if more people download their music and tell their friends then the band itself has a bigger chance of becoming famous. So actually in a way piracy is contributing to the entertainment industry.

    Now if to look at it form the organisations viewpoint then of course many negative aspects come into mind. First of all the companies and artists say that they are not getting enough revenue that piracy of their software is costing them too much money and they are afraid of going bankrupt. The Dutch industry of this proved otherwise. The negative aspect of this article though was that it said their is no solid evidence concerning this issue of lack of revenue but this can be the authors own opinion. Maybe the companies and artists are suffering some losses but I don’t think that they are so catastrophic that they are going to go bankrupt. In that sense I agree with the statement that the entertainment industries should adapt to the consumer behavior changes or die. It is very easy to whine about everything and do nothing but in the end those companies who discover the opportunities of how to use the internet to their advantage will be the ones to prosper. Thus I really do not think that the issue with piracy against these companies is that high.

    All in all I believe that piracy does have its good and bad sides but in the end it all depends on the user and on the purpose of the download. Their are people who abuse this privilege quite heavily and there are those who appreciate it and pay their respects to the companies and authors later by spending money on the products. Companies have to be able to adapt or they will not make it. Piracy should not be prohibited when it is intended for personal use and if there is evidence that it is actually not demolishing the entertainment industries.

     

    • Taavi 06:22 on December 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Douchebagge: “9th of December… What is this, I don’t even…”

    • Joel L 11:58 on December 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      You mention the “freedom of speech aspect” in your intro, but it is not mentioned anywhere else. How is “denying pirating” infringing on freedom of speech?

      “The main question then is what to do with this issue?”

      Yes, it is. However, you don’t even try to provide any answers. The essay rehashes common knowledge/thoughts about piracy, but you don’t provide anything new.

      Also, the task was to discuss possible outcomes, and your essay does not mention any.

      —

      This essay would be more suitable if it were a generic piece titled “Online piracy”, and written for a non-IT specific class.

    • Paavo Viilup 08:04 on December 15, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      RE: freedom of speech – how is this related to anything in this context? How is downloading a ripped film a form of FoS?

      Also, I do not understand the food comparison? You always buy the exact same things?

      Additionally, you were late submitting the work.

  • alex 12:03 on November 16, 2011 Permalink |
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    Are specs relevant? 

    Nowadays I believe specs are relevant and apart of every computer users life. If to consider the fact that a huge amount of people use their computer for gaming then specs are exceedingly important for them. I mean you cannot play MW3 20 fps. This is just blasphemous. Also with the advancements happening in everyday programs like Microsoft Office, Windows Live and so on then better specs are needed to run those programs smoothly.
    If people want to watch videos on their computers then they have to have good specs in order for it to run normally without any lag spikes. I mean sure it is obvious that you need good specs if you want to play games, watch videos, make movies or 3d objects but a user needs good specs anyways. If you just hold on to your computer for ten years then the programs that you used to run really fast ten years back will now probably run really slow.
    The problem here is that the hardware is just outdated and the programs and processes demand more because they are all becoming better and fancier. The best examples of this would be with iPhones and iPads. When the iPhone 4 came out then iPhone 3G become practically obsolete because the processor was so weak that it could not keep up with the advancements that came with the iPhone 4. The same story is with the iPad. As soon as iPad2 came out all of the apps were made better for the new and improved screen and processor of the iPad2. The iPad then started to encounter some lag issues with some apps.
    When software evolves then it is only logical that technology needs to develop as well and vice versa. My personal opinion is that specs are very essential nowadays and should be kept up to date. Without good specs there is no development, there is no progress and there is no productivity.

     

    • Paavo Viilup 09:12 on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Windows Live – it’s not really a separate program, is it? More a set of tools. Also, one wonders about the relevancy of specs when running Messenger.

      Otherwise, there’s a point in there somewhere.

    • Joel L 16:04 on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      But the question is not really about “Should things get better over time?” (this is obvious).

      It’s more about whether people should know/care about their phone having a 2GHz dual-core processor, or should they care about postimees.ee loading quickly.

    • Joel L 16:13 on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      “it is obvious that you need good specs if you want to play games, watch videos, make movies or 3d objects”

      Watching videos is a “Pro” thing? Watching videos. Really?
      Also, there are many different kinds of games. You don’t need a hardcore gaming PC to play Machinarium or Tetris.

      Nitpicking – It’s not software vs technology. It’s software vs hardware.

  • alex 12:33 on November 3, 2011 Permalink |
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    Why make future vision videos? 

    I believe that there is no point in making future vision videos that are too far in the future. Some of these videos are just so farfetched and look like something out of a science fiction movie. In these examples it was seen especially well.

    The most realistic future vision video was with Kinect because this is actually doable. If you show a video of holograms all over the world and rooms then that does not look very realistic at least not in the near future. I mean it would be great if everything had holograms and were so east to control but technology does not advance so fast. Our technology is developing at great speed but not that great.

    I think that these videos are made to show people that we are on our way into some hardcore technology in the future. It’s basically just to keep the peoples hopes up I guess and maybe make some of the really talented people try even harder to reach that future. It sort of emphasizes the fact that anything is possible if we just try. Past experiences also demonstrate that mobile phones were a exceedingly distant future but here we are with our iPhones and other touch screen devices.

    Another reason why to make such videos is that the companies really do have certain goals that they want to reach and achieve. I mean what company does not want to be the first one to achieve hologram mobiles and other devices. So it can be concluded that this could be pure commercialism and consumerism. The companies really do not care about what happens in the future, they just want to get ahead of everyone else. If one company releases a video of the future then obviously other companies will not just stand by and watch it happen. They also need to upload a video of their future otherwise the other company seems to appealing to the consumer and then clients will be lost to the one who makes bigger promises.

    All in all I think that there are a lot of reasons on why to make these future vision videos but I think that it is useless. If the technology really has advanced that far and the companies are actually ready to unveil such devices then videos of those devices will be made anyways. These videos will also have an actual effect on people because then they know that this will really happen and they have something to look forward to you. If you want to see some distant future science fiction just go and rent a movie or something.

     

  • alex 22:31 on October 12, 2011 Permalink |
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    iPhone four Steve! 

    As many of you may know a new product is soon to be unveiled by Apple the new iPhone 4s. People may wonder what is so special about this one then. Well hold on to your socks because your in for one hell of a ride. The iPhone for Steve is a revolutionary device with lots of new updated that make the previous ones inferior. The most noteworthy upgrade would be the usage of an artificial assistant named SIRI. Basically what this means is that the user will be constantly connected to his phone and will never forget things either. SIRI will make sure that all of your notifications and reminders are done on time, your messages received as soon as possible and so on. Productivity will go through the roof if you have a device that can actually organize everything on your daily schedule and help you keep track of various events. It sure as hell beats hiring a secretary with a monthly fee. The second new and impressive feature would be the new cloud that Apple has adopted the iCloud. Finally Apple also has a cloud that stores all of your necessary information such as mails, contacts, music, videos, documents and so on in a safe location just in case you loose something. So technically now you cannot loose any data because it is all stored in Apples servers and can be accessed form anywhere at any time. It is most definitely a great improvement in convenience and information safety. The iPhone 4 Steve also has a new and better processor. The A5 processor chip is the same one the iPad 2 is using which means that this device is extremely fast and handles graphics and multiple processing much better than the previous versions. The processing speed and also internet browsing is just breath taking. The new phone also has an improved camera of 8 MP which lets the user record full HD videos and take high quality pictures so it can be said that it replaces a good digital camera. The new lens on the camera adds more contrast and better quality to the picture and also has improved face detection. Thanks to all of these new updates it would seem that purchasing this new phone is a must for anybody who wants to stay up to date with the best product money can buy. It looks like the first million people who ordered it in the first 24 hours got the idea. Did you???

     

    • Paavo Viilup 17:41 on December 6, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Paragraphs? It is very difficult to read walls of text.

      English went out the window, as well. It is even more difficult to read grammar-hating walls of text.

      Also, you spend a lot of time enlisting features (a fault perpetuated also by your fellow ITGS-ers), but do not really discuss anything.

  • alex 05:56 on September 30, 2011 Permalink |
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    Wednesday – Small writing tasks, discussions, itgs terms.
    Thursday- Presentations on important topics from the book and also latest technology news.
    Friday- Project oriented actions, hence write code and document EVERYTHING!

     

  • alex 05:59 on September 23, 2011 Permalink |
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    New facebook 

    I liked the previous design more because it was simple to use and there was no unnecessary clutter. I must admit though that one of the new features is quite impressive.

    If I had to choose the best feature then it would be the news feed in the top corner. At first I thought why is it necessary but when I saw that upon hovering it you could see the entire update with comments. That is quite convenient but I’m still questioning whether it is actually needed because all of the new posts that friends make are showed in the notifications anyway. I am guessing that it is useful for those who spend most of their time on Faceboook and then see the new posts in the feed because when a friend posts something when your online then it does not show it in the notifications. For me it would not make a difference.

    Another feature was that they changed the profile button into a button with your picture and name that goes straight into your wall. Then the other features were put into a small arrow such as the help center and log out. I think that this is somewhat practical but also not a must have update. It is not needed because if you wanted to access your wall then you could just click your name on the left. Now they just have two places to access the wall. The fact that the arrow hides the log out button is also quite stupid and should be given some more thought.

    The third feature I noticed was that Facebook is now labeling the news into top and recent which adds absolutely no value because for me maybe the top news is not really top news. And I will not do anything with this knowledge that it is top news.

    In conclusion I believe that the old design was good and easy to use and the new one just integrated some unnecessary clutter into the system. The only feature I found interesting was the news feed but even that is not very useful for me.

     

  • alex 11:44 on September 22, 2011 Permalink |
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    What mom and dad do? 

    My mother is a professional seamstress. She sews all kinds of dance dresses for kids of all ages. The process usually goes like this. My mother gets a call from a client who has either heard of her sewing expertise or the client knows my mother. The client wants to order a dress and then tells my mother exactly what it should look like. The client describes the colours, patterns, accessories and other things he/she wants on the dress. Then my mother assigns a time the client has to come to her with her child in order to get measurements. Then if the measurements are taken she goes to chrisanne and orders the various fabrics needed for the dress. Then when the fabrics arrive she starts to make the dress and sometimes tries the dress on the child to fit it better around her. Then when the dress is ready my mother compiles a bill and sends it to the client via email and then she receives money.

    My father is a manager of his own sewing company. He manages the phone calls, different orders and bills. It is quite a long process. At first he gets an email from a client of a new order. Then my father needs to decide if he is going to accept it or not. If he does then he answers the client and then the client sends him the fabrics plus the drawings for the various pieces of the products. Then my father gets a worker to gut out the various pieces of the product. Then the pieces will be brought to the seamstresses and they will sew the final product. Then the products have to be packed into boxes by my dad and he needs to bring them to the harbour on time. Then he contacts the client via email and lets him know what went well and what went wrong. Then he compiles a bill in excel and sends it to the client. Next he waits for feedback from the client. If everything is well he gets paid and if not then my dad needs to repair the products and then gets paid less. So the IT aspect is being in contact with the client and then compiling bills in excel and sending them. Sometimes he also needs to order things online like buttons and zippers.

     

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