Twitter Community

When thinking about online community sites, Twitter was the first site to come to my mind. When you first log onto the twitter site, trends are presented right away. Trends seem to link people for twitter. For example, if you click on one of the trending topics you can see all the people who are also interested in that topic and who has been commenting on that topic. This allows for people, who have never met before, to discuss, argue, or agree on the topic.

These trends that are displayed can be personalized to fill the views wants/interests which also is very helpful for creating community between similar people. Twitter is a social site that creates opportunity for people with similar interests to get connected on interesting topics and discuss. Whereas, without twitter, it would be difficult for these people to link up to discuss these important topics.

iDrive: "Virtual marketplace of the future?"

http://www.worldcarfans.com/114012369195/bmw-testing-in-car-ads-based-on-your-location-and-destination


BMW has started testing in-car ads on a prototype model based on the drivers' location and destination. The in-car advertisements can be customized to the drivers' preferences or needs while driving to his or her destination. This program also has the capability to advertise different things such as available parking closest to the car.

I was really intrigued by this article not because of the advancement in technology, but the more efficient way they plan to implement it for us to use. This article brought me to think about all the road trips I have taken and how much of a hassle it was to find a gas station, or a restaurant with just road signs. Even using the latest Garmin GPS was a hassle because you had to type the information in yourself or click on certain buttons to get the results you wanted. With this new iDrive technology, all of the button pushing is done for you by the iDrive recognizing your location and bringing up customized ads that suit your preferences. 

Although this technology seems great and is possibly going to become a major want or need in a vehicle, I wonder the accessibility. I can only imagine the pricing on these cars once this technology is installed. (As if a BMW isn't expensive enough already). Another flaw I can see with this technology is the feeling of intrusion on decision making or technological pressure to follow its suggestions. All in all, I think the idea of this new technology is great and could become very useful in the future. 

Jewel: An American Success Story

http://www.mtv.com/artists/jewel/biography/

When we discussed the ideas brought forth by Bellah in class the first thing that came to my mind was the idea of "The American Dream." It is obvious that Oprah is among the greatest, if not the greatest, success story in America. From rags to riches, the idea of the American Dream starts with a goal, and the road to reach that goal is usually difficult. Although Oprah's story is amazing, I wanted to do my blog on someone from a different background, a musician. 

Singer/songwriter Jewel grew up in Alaska with her musically inclined family with little money.  After her parents divorce, Jewel lived with her father. He and Jewel did small musical gigs together to earn a living. Once Jewel was on her own, she lived in her car on the west coast and began picking up small gigs whenever she could just to get by. Coffee houses and small restaurants were Jewel's stage. It was during this hard time that Jewel discovered herself. She realized that although she had close to nothing, the music she played not only helped her financially, but also brought her a new self recognition internally. She could have gone and gotten her education, found a job, and started a living that way. Finding herself through  her music and pursuing her happiness is how she lived her real American Dream, in doing something she loves. 

In class we also discussed the idea of two languages. The first language being your self or your individualism and the second language being things that describe you or that express your self. I think in Jewel's case, she found her first language through her second language. She is a musician which defines her self, but eventually being a musician became her self or individualism when she chose the road she did, to achieve what she did, in her own way to pursue her self happiness. 

Kopimism, Sweden's Pirate Religion, Begins to Plunder America

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/04/20/kopimism-swedens-pirate-religion-begins-to-plunder-america

I came upon this article when browsing for a topic having to do with religion and technology. This article was very interesting to me not only because of the main idea behind Kopimism but also that the U.S. is adapting the religion. Although I am not sure if I truly would ever pursue or believe in such a thing, it was very interesting to say the least.

The basic idea behind Kopimism is to be able to copy and share things over the internet without permission from its original source. It states that not only downloading things illegally such as movies, music, and document should be the free will of the person but also that the legal regulations of such things should be changed. Seeing as the religion was first established in Sweden, which says to have the most laxest copyright laws in the world, it amazes me that such ideas have adapted in the U.S.

This article also got me thinking about when we talked about the relationship between Job's ideas and religion and making it your own. The founders of this religion have sort of made up this religion to have some sort of protection for making things their own. Things being to have the ability to copyright items or download things illegally and having the fall back of saying it is a religion they are practicing and that they should have the right to do so.

I think the article is a major grasp for the topic we talked about with thinking freely within a religion and coming up with independent ideas. Needless to say, the article was interesting and brought forth a lot of questions about just how far can a religion go to bend or break laws enforced worldwide.

Fall 1968 Whole Earth Catalog

Looking through the Fall 1968 edition of Whole Earth Catalog, I was not only amazed by the nature of the items in the catalog but also by the variety of the items.

One section that made me think of Jobs and his ideas was the section about intelligent life in the universe. This part of the catalog talked about communication with other non-human beings in the universe. This reminded me of Jobs because during this time period the thought of other life on different planets or even communicating with them was not so realistic. One would question the existence of other beings or if proof did shed light on other existence's the question of how to communicate with them would be obsured given the technology then. Relating back to Jobs, his thoughts and ideas of all of these new technologies or portable computers would raise questions as well. There is a quote in this section saying " The existence of more than one universe is impossible, by definition." This quote indicates that the public and even many scientists were convinced that no other universes, just like not many people, if any at all were convinced the possibility of a personal computer was managable until Jobs brought forth the ideas and proof that it was possible. 

Another thing this section made me think about was the religious aspect of it. In some religions, what you are taught is what you know. For example, being a Catholic is strictly defined as being given a set of things to follow and following them to the best of your abilities. This whole idea of other life forms or even communicating with them is way outside the box and most likely frowned upon to even raise the "what if" question. The whole idea of evolving in not only science but also in the independant mind may have been looked down upon from a religious aspect when it comes to the tradition of things. 

All in all, the Whole Earth Catalog seems to me to be kind of a direct link to new scientific ideas for the average human, not just scientists. The new ideas and items available in the catalog relate to Job's ideas to change technology and encourage more ideas to be brought to the table. Thinking freely and outside the box is encouraged with this catalog and raises questions that may not have ever been brought to the publics attention before.        

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs Stanford speech

I am not exactly sure what I am supposed to be posting about Steve Job's speech but what I took from it was the point that he was trying to make to the students about if you do not go outside the box and go with what you love that new opportunities may never present themselves in your life. He also states in his speech the idea of one door closing to open another. Throughout his whole speech her talks about three points in his life where he succeeded, but not without failure first.