Laptop crashes? Ka-ching!

So here's a familiar situation: your computer is messed up, broken, and/or FUBAR. This basically means it's either doing something you don't want it to do or its not doing something you want it to do. Here's my personal example: This cute little bar has become the bane of my existence. Supposed to be nice and convenient, its causing me nothing but trouble. It's made my volume control and scrolling capabilities dissapear, and as much as I try to fix it, it seems impossible. Thing is.... this isn't the first time something like this has happened. I've had a lot of things go wrong with my computer and I just end up dealing with them. A few weeks ago, my Internet Explorer went suicidal and decided it no longer wanted to exist. To fix this we just installed Firefox and I've been slowly getting used to it ever since. About a year ago, I somehow moved my Taskbar to the left side of my screen. I couldn't figure out how to fix it, but decided to just leave it there. Now, I'm so used to it that when I got my new laptop I decided to left align the Taskbar. And if you move it... I'll go OCD on your butt and switch it back in a nano second. But I know everyone can't be like me, just getting used to the little errors that happen on a computer. We want our computers to run how we like them, right?

So do you ever realize how much money little annoying errors like this can make? Let's face it: when it comes to computers, I'm spoiled beyond reason. I have a grandfather who fixes them for fun, and knows every little thing about them. But for usual people, a service like GeekSquad is required for errors like mine. A basic diagnostic, if you bring your computer in to the store, is 60 bucks. An advanced diagnostic with repair is a 150. Even if you only have to do this.... twice a year, it could add up from 120 to 300 dollars. Troubleshooting a network is around 160 dollars, and installing some security features can run you up to 220. Then there's the most expensive one: Data Recovery. To recover "accidentally deleted or formatted data from a working hard drive" costs 260 dollars. To recover it from a failing harddrive, it shoots up to 520 dollars. Here's the kicker: to recover data from a 'severely damaged' hard drive.... 1600 bucks! There's a lot of money involved in this crazy world of computer repair.

Now the big nerd you made fun of could be your only hope if your computer crashes. Having a good techie knowledge can be extremely beneficial. Even knowing HTML pretty well or being able to make Myspace layouts can increase your cashflow. So as technology becomes so prominent in the digital age, the jobs connected to it are becoming essential and rather well paid. We love our computers and will do whatever necessary to have them fixed, including shelling out an inordinate amount of cash.

So in the future, will these geeky jobs be valued as much as say.... doctors? lawyers? Will a computer analyst be earning the six-figure paycheck we all dream of? Better start retaining all this digital age information, it might just come in handy.

iMourn the DigiDeath

Imagine this. You get a text message from an old friend of yours, "Did you hear about so-and-so?". So-and-so, let's just call her Jane, is an aquaintance of yours from middle school. Slightly confused, you decide to go to her Facebook page to see what's going on. Well, there's nothing on her profile or status, so you look on her wall. Listed there are 10 to 15 posts, and counting....

"I never really knew you, but you were such a great person."

"I love you and I will miss you so much."

So what's going on? This is Facebook Death.

This is what happens when someone who has a Facebook dies. In this case, your old aquaintance got into a car accident just the night before and passed away. Word got around, and before you even know it, her Facebook has become a virtual memorial.

People are leaving Wall posts like flowers on the roadside. They change their statuses to "missing their friend" or "knows she's in heaven now." They might even switch their profile picture to any photo they may have taken with Jane.

This is mourning gone Digital Age. No longer do we have a candlelit vigil. We leave a post on Jane's wall, maybe have a picture up, and be done with it. The information for the funeral will be put up in a group or an event. Most likely within 24 hours there will be some kind of group devoted to mourning Jane, where people will write about how much they loved her, post pictures, disuss favorite moments.

What has happened to us? The one thing that seems like it could bring us out from behind our computer screens is becoming just another online event. Not even death can tear us away from our internet customs. Usually, it seems like a tragedy like this would tempt us to pick up the phone, cry on a best friend's shoulder, get together with people and work through the pain. But instead we join a group and type up empty memories. We message old friends. We browse through pictures, click after click, to remember our friend.

Their page will remain up, possibly forever if no one knew their password. Facebook pages turn to gravestones. Jane will be immortal on the internet. To anyone who didn't know she had passed, they could browse over her page and have no idea that the person they just friended will never friend them back.

Promise me, if I die, you won't create a group for me. Take the money from my old wallet, I won't need it anymore, and go to dinner with everyone. Promise me that you'll put flowers on the roadside, not send me free virtual ones as gifts. Promise me, if I die, that you'll all write letters of real memories, and throw them one by one into a fire. I would much like to be remembered this way. I do not want to be a Facebook gravestone. If I die, I want you to get in your cars and bring my mom a casserole, or all gather in my old room, or have any kind of human contact. Promise me that you'll forget about the internet, just for a day.

<3

I can has semester project?

Semester project? You're looking at it! I decided to do a blog because it seems so essentially digital age. We're all about "weblog[ing] our fears, our hopes and dreams" in this iGeneration. Why not reflect the times? Only problem is... I never read blogs, they're pretty much a foreign world to me. I'm totally winging this and I just hope it turns alright.

I've got a few ideas of something to do besides writing about my oh-so-exciting life in all its digital age glory. I'd like to do something with the new god of the internet: Facebook. It's such an open world... Facebook has bloomed into a true community, combining the basics of communication with photo sharing, networking, and entertainment. What's not to love? And more importantly: what's something I can toy with?

And I've got a scary idea. One that I'm pretty terrified to even think about. What if I gave up my laptop for a while? No Facebook, Myspace, AIM or Livejournal. No Neatorama, Cute Overload, or I Can Has Cheezburger. No Questionable Content or games of Tetris. No Google or Word processing. Could I survive? What would I do all afternoon? The truth is, this idea stemmed from a real situation. A good friend of mine lived for months and is still living without a home computer. Although being without her Facebook and Myspace was a tragedy all its own, still worse was living without basic research and typing capabilities. In school, these things are almost essential. We had an assignment due that truly required a computer, and she just couldn't do it. I ended up typing and printing it out for her. But think about how many people must have to live with this. It's just assumed they have a computer, and they end up falling behind. Going to the library is always an option, but some either don't have time, or computers are filled with kids on Myspace or playing games. If I gave up my laptop... What if I lose points for a missed assignment? What would I do to occupy myself once my homework was done? If I tried to write a poem or short story, would it turn out different? Would I run out of things to do and end up knitting a tea cozy?! Hey, anything's possible. I'm admitting outright that this idea could fall into the realm of unfinished, undone projects (mostly because I may not be strong enough to go through with it). But I might as well ponder on it.

So maybe this semester project blog will go beyond the blogosphere. Or maybe it will stay here: nice and comfy in its typeface and cat pictures. But at one entry every few days it seems to be getting off to a nice start. Hopefully this pace, or something close to it, will continue as the class progresses. Who knows what kind of wacky ideas and entries might show up? Technology in the war, digital delusions of downfall, iSuicides or Matricide Nanos...tea cozies! Imagine the possibilities!

Shall i compare thee to an external hard-drive?

For the longest time, I've been trying to write a poem about technology. I tried to write it about computers... an ode to my iPod... maybe about my laptop, a silicon chip, circuitry, anything. But I just couldn't. I was in a rut with my writing, couldn't get anything onto paper.

And then I watched a documentary on bioluminescent deep sea fish. I was inspired. I wrote two poems, began on a short story. All from watching something about jellyfish that glow.

Why? Because nature in inspiration. You just don't see that many poems about computer chips or the internet. I think at the heart, we still draw our inspiration from more natural things. Love, flowers, the human condition. The internet is just too.... heartless for us. Computers and websites and cellphones, theyre all just a method for communicating and spreading that which is primitive. We want basic human connection. We want to talk about our emotions. We want to see other's stories, fall in love, and share it with the world.

To me, a fish that somehow lights up is more fascinating than an LED flashlight could ever be. I want to be at the zoo, learning about rear-fanged snakes or chinchillas with a hundred hairs per follicle. That's what drives me. It seems like however great technology is and will be, it can't overpower nature. There will always be something about the natural world that intrigues us more than wires and electricity. We can marvel a TV set, but its hard to understand how in the hell it works. With animals, plants, they're like us. They have hearts, they breathe air, they move and maybe even feel. We connect with them.

Will technology ever connect with us that way? Will computers ever fascinate us the way a jellyfish does? Can a silicon chip or an iPhone ever bring to us the beauty of a landscape?

I prefer my sunrise to a TV set, thank you.

iGeneration by MC Lars

And people tried to put us down, when iTunes bumped a post-Cold War sound.

My generation sat the at mecca of malls, Times Square, I'm there, Viacom installs.

So we hit the net while the Trade Center fell, we laughed out loud and ran like hell

No Vietnam for us, yo, Iraq it's on. So who agreed upon this cowboy Genghis Khan?

The choice made, baby. Hey we take it back, logged in dropped out, MTV took track.

They sold it back to us and claimed no correlation. The iMac, iPod, iGeneration.

And I'm waiting for the day we can get out. The world is ours, that's the story no doubt.

Want to be more than info super highway traffic, want to be more than a walking demographic!

Hey! You're part of it. Talking about the iGeneration.

Yeah! You're part of it. Talking about my iGeneration.

The iGeneration new organization meant optimization and unification,

When imagination gave participation in creation of culture a manifestation.

The Berlin Wall fell and out we came, the post-Cold War kids laid claim to AIM.

LOL, OMG, yo, BRB. Space, colon, dash, closed parenthesis.

We sat at our laptops and typed away, and found that we each had something to say.

Web-logged our fears, our hopes and dreams. Individuated by digital means.

Fiber optic lenses, DVD, Coca Cola, Disney and Mickey D's.

Flat mass culture, the norm that took hold; I hope I die before I get sold

This is the I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T ge-ne-ra-tion, see?

I found this song on a file-sharer, put it on my iPod, then Googled the lyrics and put it on my blog. I'm more a part of this generation than I'd ever like to admit.

The Recent Evolution of Gender

To the left is the Transgender pride flag. Transgender is a recent development in the... non-heterosexual community, you could say. It used to be gays and lesbians, then bisexuals, and now transgender.

But Transgender is the most complicated of all the non-heterosexual labels. Besides defying one of the most basic human principles--that your sex and your gender are the same-- Transgender also has many 'identities' within its big blanketing term. Let's look at a few:

So, you have your basic Transgender. Transgender has to do with gender identity. If you were born as a male, but feel inside as if you are a female, you are Transgender. Transgender people sometimes choose to physically alter their sex in order to match their true gender. Usually, this is referred to as Transexual.

Then, you have your Bi-Gender. Basically, when one switches between genders often. One day they're exclusively masculine, the next they're utterly feminine.

And after that there's a whole slew of terms for those above, beyond, between and outside of gender. Genderqueer, Pangender, Androgyne, Third Gender. All these terms have complicated definitions, often overlapping with other labels.

There's also a brand-new term: Cisgender. You know what that means? It means... i resist the urge to use the word 'normal'. It means you aren't transgender. It means you align yourself with the gender of the sex you were born with. Did I miss something? Did we need a term for this?

Is it just me, or is this getting way too complicated? Before we had BOY and GIRL. Maybe BUTCH and FEMME, within Boy and Girl. Transgendered was a big step. And now there's a million little gender labels. What does it all MEAN?

It means gender is more important. It means we are evolving, moving past our clearly drawn lines, our perfect roles. The way I see it, gender has always been an essential part of our lives, but as we drew towards the 20th century, it became more than that. Through the emerge of women's rights, gender was suddenly something to take pride in. It was something that truly mattered, and that even if society said it had to act one way, well by golly it could go in a whole 'nother direction if it felt like it! And as time went on, people began to stretch the limitations of gender. They tore down the walls that confined them and did their best to run free. And as that became alright, and as it became common, so did our re-thinking of gender itself.

I'm anxious to see how gender will evolve over the next decade. When you fill out a form, how many boxes will there be under 'Sex'? Will they change the wording to gender? How many people will emerge as Third/Pan/Bi-gendered? And how will the world react to them? I wonder sometimes how accepting we can be. This idea, the basic idea of having something beyond male and female is completely out of this world. How long before the boxes on a form read out "Male, Female, Other"? How long before we craft new pro-nouns to accommadate them?

Is this the next big movement? I sure as heck wouldn't be surprised.

(sorry about the bullets, it was the only way i could get the post to work)

TED's Idea Come to Life

So remember the man at TED with the super-cool, multi-touch screen? Well that was all the way last year, just look at what this concept has become! and here's a second, equally amazing video: I can just barely believe this. How is it even possible? I'm used to not understanding the technology around me. But usually I have a little basic understanding. Computer chips meet wires, ect. But this? This surface thing? No idea! I easily see this as the next big step. How could it be resisted? It's the new cool. It's the new Macbook, the beautiful brand new technology that will shift how we even work with technology. This has real potential. This could go anywhere, it could go everywhere. Welcome to the future. Dinnertables that shuffle pictures, information imported onto iPods and cellphones just by putting them on the table. How does that work? How can you get information from a screen to a gadget with no wire, no anything? I'm puzzled! But that's how it goes. Technology will always puzzle us, but we love it just the same. P.S: I really want one of those.... im buying one for my future coffeetable.

What Happens in Technology

So, the new god of technology, Steve Jobs, has decided to subtract a hefty 200 bucks from the original price of the iPhone after only a few months. According to an investment banker quoted in The Australian, this was "a sign that Apple wants to be a bigger competitor and faster than originally anticipated".

I can see that. Because honestly, with such a high price tag, the fancy new gadget was out of reach, even for those of us who already own Apple products.

Apple is pretty damn smart. They've already gained a leg up with the iPod+iTunes -- which monopolize the MP3 player industry. After the first iPod hit stores, suddenly every new release just had to be bought. "Mom, i want the new mini/pink mini/video/nano/shuffle/NEW shuffle/NEW nano!!" People who already had iPods needed more, they needed the new, different ones. And soon, the new ones were leaps and bounds ahead of the old generation. Take this: when the iPod nano first came out, it was 150 dollars. This 150 bucks gave you a a 1 gigabyte, tiny iPod that came in either black or white. Fast forward to right now, the current release of the third-generation nano. That same 150 dollars can now get you a small 4 gigabyte iPod with a 2 inch video screen. See why it pays to wait?

So what's the point of this? Technology is in a constant, hyper-speed evolution. If you buy the newest version of something... chances are, a hotter, more efficient version will come out a year later. It's a perpetual guessing game of what to buy now and what to wait for. The consumer falls victim to every step forward the company makes: they're the ones shelling out hundreds upon hundreds of dollars every year or so for the new, the advanced. It's "what happens in technology", says Jobs. Yeah right. It's what happens in the business of making money!

I love the fact that technology is always getting better... but sometimes I just wanna press the pause button. I've only replaced my personal iPod once... and the one I've had has lasted me for about two years now. I've also had my same cellphone for around two years. Now in that 730 day period, there were loads of new cellphones and iPods I could've bought. I could've begged for a Razr or a Chocolate, maybe a new nano or shuffle. But I was content. I didn't need the brand-new to make me happy. As long as my phone still made calls and my iPod still played music, I was perfectly fine. I'd run them until either they got lost or broke beyond repair. I just wonder... do I reflect the majority? Are most of the consumers today alright with keeping their "out of date" gadgets? Or am I in the minority, an old-schooler who won't be torn from her aging technology? Is everyone conforming to the new buy-it-the-second-it-comes-out attitude, or are we starting to rise above the market?

<3

Addicted much?

I decided to count up the amount of information I usually acces within... around an hour and a half of getting home. Here's what it averagely looks like:

Blog Entries Read/Viewed:

- Neatorama: 21

-CuteOverload: 5

-I Can Has Cheezburger: 5

-TechEBlog: 4

-Daily Puppy:1

-- Total: 36

Comics Read:

-Questionable Content: 1

-Yu+Me: 1

Communications:

- Emails recieved: 4

-Facebook messages: 2

-Facebook Friends Requests: 1

-Myspace messages: 1

-Myspace bulletins read: 5

-Livejournal entries read: 2

- Instant Messaging conversations: 4

Miscellaneous:

-Links followed off of Ebaum's World: 2

-Videos watched: 1

-Games of Tetris played: 1

That's quite a lot of information to absorb, especially everyday. And being a true digital age kid, I don't even read what you'd call real blogs. TechEBlog is the closest, reporting technological advancements, such as new games, cars, cellphones and MP3 players. Neatorama is literally a random blog, with links, pictures and videos. And the rest are nothing but pictures.

The way I see it, many of us digital agers approach the internet much like television. We want quick, spastic entertainment. Why focus on reading a lengthy entry if we can just skim it? Why actually read at all when we can look at pictures and watch videos?

I've also been thinking: how has this attitude affected my writing, or the writing of those around me? A recent poll showed that one in four Americans read no books in the past year. We're more interested in movies and television for our narratives. If we want to read, we'll skim a magazine, maybe read a short blog entry. Even as a writer I've found myself becoming lazy. I know for a fact I don't read near as much fiction or poetry as I should. Is the Digital Age slowly sapping our love of writing? How will writing, and writing habits, be changed as technology evolves? Can't they just work together and get along?

Innocent to the Blogging World

I've never known much about blogging. I've been onLivejournal for going on three years now, but something tells me this will be a lot different. The internet has been a part of my life for as long as I can properly remember. I had a computer in my room at the age of seven. I quickly learned how to email, and used to correspond with my first-grade teacher. By fifth grade I was reading forums on BuffyGuide.com, by seventh I had my livejournal, and by ninth I was a religious member of Myspace and Facebook. So basically, I've been a digital age kid since before I even knew what it was. I've always loved the internet and everything that goes with it. Blogging's just a new, fun world to play with. I'm ready. Beam me up.