Technology

Hey, it's been a while, right?

Anyways, I'm looking to kick off the Technology section by introducing the Web Watch and News in Brief, features of the Technology section that have always been here in their place. And, along with that, there is the Facebook vs. MySpace article that talks about the features of both popular social utilities and the benefits and disadvantages when it comes to using them. So, yeah, this whole section was worked by me for this edition of the newspaper, so be sure to tip your hats.

- Topdog

Web Watch - By: Topdog

Great Schools
http://greatschools.net

I feel that this is appropriate, being that most of us have just recently gotten back into school. This website shares loads of information on just about every school in the United States. Great Schools is a great site for any student, teacher, or parent to visit, so that they can view their school's information, including test scores, student information, faculty information, and reviews by parents who's children currently or have went to that school. Great Schools is aimed towards PreK to 12th Grade in the USA.

The Onion
http://www.theonion.com/content/index

If you're really bored, The Onion is a great place to hang out and view articles and video from "America's finest news source." It offers satircal news and irreverent treatment of popular issues out there in the world today. Actually, I kind of think as The Onion as one of the best and funniest places out there on the world wide web. However, please keep in mind, as the website does say, The Onion is not intended for readers under the age of 18. Although, I'm sure most of you guys can handle the comedy.

bitBomb
http://bitbomb.com

How many times have you ever forgotten something? With bitBomb, you schedule your own reminders, and bitBomb will send a reminder to your mobile phone via SMS at the appropriate time. It is sort of like an alarm clock! There's a simple, easy-to-use calendar interface along with buddy lists, and loads of providers to choose from. And coming soon, there will be the option to snooze, group remindres, and recurring reminders. This service is absolutely free, although your provider may charge you for the SMS.

Flickr
http://flickr.com

Flickr is an image and video hosting website and community that was launched in 2004. It's a great site for you to share your photos with the world, and you can even select where you took your photos using the Flickr world map. Just upload from your desktop, send by email, or just use your camera phone to start using Flickr. I find it best of all that you can make stuff using your photographs, cards, scrapbooks, DVD's, prints and more.

Digg
http://digg.com

Can you digg it? Digg offers users the chance to submit news that is happening in the world, and if you find it interesting, you digg it to potentially help that piece of news get more views on the Digg website. It was launched in 2004 and is now a global success, helping people from all corners of the world share content, by submitting links, videos, and voting an commenting on submitted stuff. The stories that have been dugg the most each day, pop up on the main page of the Digg website.

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News in Brief - By: Topdog and Stobbo

UK ISP's To Crack Down Filesharers

Six of the United Kingdom's ISP are taking steps to tackling online piracy. The United Kingdom's government was involved, and suspected pirates are bound to receive warning letters to stop piracy, or there would be consequences such as having your broadband slowed down, internet monitoring, and blacklisting from your ISP. Although this seems like quite a way to tackle internet piracy, there are several people who are asking such questions like, "What would happen if the pirate in the house is a child?" Those questions remain unanswered, and the system will continue to be questioned by critics, just like any other system in the world.

China: The Top Internet-Using Nation

Recently, China has been recognized as the top country with people going on the internet. The communist nation, has around 250 million people going on the internet, surpassing the United States who has 223 million people that go on the internet. Internet measurement firms believe that China can still improve on getting its people to have access to the internet, as the nation is expected to have 490 million people accessing the web by 2012.

UK Prisons To Ban Adult-Rated Games

Prisons in the United Kingdom are to ban adult-rated games by September 18th, as the games would most likely affect the behavior of a prisoner. Last year the government spent more than £10,000 on 80 PlayStations and 15 Xboxes for young offender institutions. If a prisoner has had an enhanced level of behavior, he/she will be allowed to have access to gaming consoles and games that have ratings below the adult level. This is so to keep prisoners and inmates occupied at prison.

iTunes shelve UK price cut

Apple has shelved their plans to cut the price of downloads on the UK version of their popular online music store, iTunes. The company announced plans to decrease the download price in the UK, which would bring the pricing into line with the rest of Europe. This was as a result of the EU saying that they planned to investigate iTunes in regard to competition law. However, recent exchange rate changes has meant that the difference in price no longer occurs, and therefore Apple have said it is no longer necessary because, "exchange rates have effectively done it for us".

Italian Court Ruling Blocks Popular File Sharing Site

A court ruling on August 10, has blocked the popular file sharing site, The Pirate Bay, in Italy. The site is a torrent tracker (a search engine for torrents) and is typically used to aid in the downloading of illegal files. The Pirate Bay was raided by police in May 2006, in relation to copyright violations but was back online within a few days and since then there has been an attempt to block the site in Denmark.

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Facebook Vs. Myspace - By: Topdog

Well, certainly now that most of us are just about heading back to school, everyone's searching for a social utility that will help us connect with our friends. Two major ones that pop up into mind are Facebook and MySpace. But, there is an everlasting question of, "Which one is better?" You can have both, but say you just need one. This article will explain and show you what each social utility has, and what the effects are because of them.

Facebook
Facebook was launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, formerly a student of Harvard University. This is a social networking website that can be accessed freely by anyone. Users can select networks, through their school, work, region, or city so that they can connect and interact with other people on Facebook. People that use Facebook can add friends, and send messages, update their profile information, and take part in a MASSIVE ammount of applications that people can use.

The media often compares Facebook with another social networking website, MySpace. Although they both serve the same purpose, MySpace allows its users to edit their profiles using HTML, and CSS, while Facebook only allows plain text, posts, and applications to give each person a unique feel to their profile. On Facebook, there are such features like Pokes, where people can "virtually" poke each other, a Wall where friends can comment on your profile, Photos where you can upload your pictures and share them with your Facebook friends and networks, Applications that your basically the building blocks to making your profile "you", and a News Feed which allows you to view what your friends have done recently on Facebook, from uploading photos to writing on another person's wall.

As well as the features just mentioned, there are other features that are not a major aspect of Facebook and I will go into less detail. For example, there are Notes, Groups, Video, Posted Items, Chat, and Gifts.

As of May 2008, Facebook accumulated 124 Million users. It has won such awards such as the "Top 100 Classic Websites" from PC Magazine, and the "People's Voice Award" from the Webby Awards in 2008. Facebook is becoming one of the premiere social networking sites, possibly getting the numbers MySpace does in the near future.

MySpace
eUniverse created MySpace in August 2003 in an attempt to compete with Friendster which was released in 2002, after seeing the potential that a social utility could have in the future. Turns out, eUniverse's investment in MySpace was a success. Much like Facebook, MySpace allows you to connect with friends, classmates, and just about everyone in the world. You can send messages, create your own profile that is for your own unique self, and just jot down what's happening in your life using the new MySpace Status feature.

Unlike Facebook, you can totally customize your own profile by adding all sorts of HTML, CSS, and other widgets. You can select skins that you would like to be displayed on your profile, and you may select all sorts of images that go along with your profile boxes. Along with completely customizing the look of your profile, there is also the option for you to have your own profile song. Just choose any artist on the Music page of MySpace, and select any song that you would like to be played on your profile. And similarly to Facebook, there are also applications for MySpace, play with your friends in game applications, or just do polls and surveys, anything that fancies you, really. Share your pictures, create all sorts of different albums and arrange pictures into a sensible album. And, with MySpace TV, video has never taken off so high before on a social networking website, other than Youtube of course. Upload your own videos that film you doing all sorts of stuff, or just create video based on anything else. It's like, the second Youtube.

Aside from those main aspects of MySpace, there are also Top Friends, Bulletins, Blogs, MySpaceIM (Jabber), Schools, and Groups. There are more features available under the "More" section of your MySpace home page.

MySpace is currently the biggest social website to date, attracting more than 250 Million users and 230,000 new registrants daily. And despite the social utility's success, there is also quite some controversy. Why? Because, MySpace is the biggest social networking website and the world, and that has attracted quite a few child predators in the past, attacking and capturing children whom have decided to meet their "online friends" in real life.

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