Newsgroups VS Blogs

Its apparent.
Newsgroup and forums are beginning to lose their appeal.
Newsgroup and online forums are usually created to cater for a group of pple with special interest.
One of my daily read will be hardwarezone.com
There is a wide range of forum topics in the forum section, includin hardwares, softwares, motor vehicles, education, etc.
Personally i am usually not an active forum member. I rather read and absorb than contribute.. maybe cos of my limited knowledge in the are of interest as well as the lack of time due to my hectic work schedule!! ha!

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/40122.html

One reason why blogs are more popular compared to forums may be due to the fact that the author of the blog claims ownership over his/her own blog. hence special effort will be taken to reply to all comments made on his/her blog. These exchanges of comments/views eventually serve to remove the function of forum sites, where exchanges of ideas also take place.
Thread starters in forum pages usually dun continue with the single thread after a few days.. but comments/agruments on blogs can go on for a much longer time.

In the past people could seek out advice from special interest forum before making purchases in the market, esp for heavy investment items like laptops/LCD monitors/ mobilephones.. so that all the pros and cons for the product can be weighted before goin down to the shop for an on-site purcahse.
These days, following the blog of a few reliable techno chaps will suffice.
They never fail to post up their latest gadget's reviews to share with everyone.
Hence blogs definitely will have a growin impact on their followers/readers who will ultimately be consumers in the market.
Blog will be able to serve as another marketing channel then..

In the future, there may even be "Flog"(fake-blogs) sites created by companies to promote/compliment their own products, with the hope of swaying more consumers towards their products thru these biased blogs!!
after all.. you will never know who the author is!

-tee-

Article for the week -- All bets are on

I was reading thru this article and thought that it was quite interesting.

http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3242391&subjectid=526352

especially in recent days there were big debates over the settin up of a casino in one part of Spore to help boost the tourism industry as well as improve the economy by bringing in "Big Spenders" onto our little island.

But has any1 tot of even if the casino construction is not approved, there will still be other avenues thru which our citizens can be negative influenced, such as the internet.
It was estimated that by end of this decade, the turnouver from internet gambling will rise to $10 billion!!! woohoooO!!

Personally, i am not for a casino. Still believe there are more cons than pros.
however, i guess depending on where you stand and who you work for, probably our decisions are much split, just like the survey results done by some papers on the public's reaction to settin up of a casino in spore.

-th-

iPod Shuffle; Podcasting

Take a look at iPod's latest offering..

http://www.internetnews.com/storage/article.php/3459051

i din know Apple came out with a new product til I saw an interview with Mr Sim of Creative on Channelnewsasia last nite. Mr Sim commented that he was disappointed with Apple for not raising to the challenge.. as iPod Shuffle was infact what Creative had offered 4 or 5 generations ago!!!
Essentially iPod shuffle is a no-frail, cheap alternative to the awesome, "gadget-of-the-moment" iPod. It doesnt even come with wit LCD screen to display song details.

I was even more amazed when Mr Sim mentioned that he has not even started on his aggressive advertising move. His budget of US $1mil is still very much intact..
Right now he is waitin for more creative products to be ready for production before he will start his massive publicity effort in an attempt to capture the lucrative MP3 market.

Podcastin is indeed a brand new terminology to me!
(Prob also because I dun own an iPod so i'm not aware of the possibility with an iPod)
Broadcasting made avail online for million others to download?!??
With the capacity of 40GB, one can easily store an hour's worth of story, commentary, news, sports, whatever!!
Just imagine.. you wont have to buy books anymore.
Just download the entire spoken story and listen to the story whilst on the bus/train/taxi!!
(saves time.. especially for slow readers like me!!)
Mayb even lectures can be recorded and made available for listening.. especially useful for subjects where principles, reasonings and understanding are more important, such as Economics or humanities.
there may be a big market for this area.. untapped til date!!

I wonder if any of you have any opinion on such an idea??!
Audio cinema on the move.. without the visual. How will you like it??

cheers

interesting article

Take a look at this simple article commenting on how well our infocomm and media industry is flourishing.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/economicnews/view/126794/1/.html

It is estimated 3000 professional and skilled jobs will be created from the contributions of last years' investment!!

Infocomm and the Media is definitely one blooming industry, where the big bucks can be made. For one, its a creative field, hence the creations/possibilities are endless. The success is really dependent on the individual's talent/experience!!

I must highlight that animation, gaming and mobile communications are much in demand today.
These areas will be the "nxt big thing" besides Bio-technology, especially so when the mobile penetration rate is so high in S'pore. Money can be earned by directing value-added services to current mobile-users, such as better games, more features in a slim, compact phone, extra long batt life, or even mobile phone payment to save the hassle of bringing cash out.

How the mobile industry will evolve, its anybody's guess.. Many are anticipatin the arrival of 3G.. many are also apprehensive of 3G. Will it become as popular and in demand as SMS??!

This brings me to another question.. shd i buy Starhub's shares now.. since they jus got listed not long ago, and the growth for infocomm seems very positive!!? hmm..

Analysis of Activity log..

Oops.. I had forgotten to comment on the activity log after postin them up ydae (As required by my tutor)

here goes..

Qns asked:
"Analyze your information requirements- are there interesting patterns (sources, uses, failures, the match between cost and value, etc) that you can explore further?"

I realised that very often the information i gathered, depends on how i view it.
It can either be because i need it(urgent), or it will just be good to know(not urgent).
Really a matter of perspective.
Say for eg, I would love to know when the next bus would arrive, so that i could predict the time i would reach home. BUT, is this info of high importance or not impt at all?
it depends.. 'cos if I am hungry and want to be home in time for my Mum's cooked dinner, I would need to know the bus arrival timing..
on the other hand, if i had no business to tend to at home, it doesn't matter what time i reach home.. (as long as i'm back before my family is alseep!!)

If you take a careful look at my Sun log, you will realise quite a few entries are of high value.
This is mainly because i was out participating in a little "Amazing Race"-like event organised by my club.. hence every clue to the next destination was of high importance to me and my teamates, especially when e top prize is $200 cash voucher!!!
(sadly though, we ended up 5th..)

I also do not see a relationship btw cost and value of information.
For normal goods/services, usually the higher the value, the more expensive it will cost. However, in my everyday's activities, there are certain decisions/information that may means the world to me, yet they dun even cost a single cent. eg, what modules to take this semester, which girl should i go after, when should i start my exams revision, etc.

Like i mentioned.. i believe it all boils down to one's perspective, one's needs and wants.

MB 362 WK 1's Review

We had our first MB 362 lesson last week.
During class, we were asked what we wouldlove to have in our mobile phones..

My group came up with the following:
1) Video-call / Video Conferencing
2) Full PDA functions
3) TV viewing capability
4) Built-in Scanner

First 3 features sounds reasonable and may even be in existence today.. BUT the 4th feature does look a little far fetch yah?!!
one of my fren suggested it.. e first tot that came to my mind was --> e phone is probably good for only one scan. Battery would have gone flat after that!! hahaa..
'cos i understand flash light drains battery quite quickly, just like in digi-cameras or even conventional cameras.
The idea is quite refreshing though... just imagine what you can do with a portable scanner in the library.. or even better.. bookstores like Kinokuniya or Borders!! =)

here's part 2 to the activity log..

Here comes part 2 of my activity log..
essentially, part 1 revolves around my trip to the bird park in the morning with our beneficiaries from AWWA Eldery home, followed by a trip down to a Children's home to take a look at the place ('cos i am plannin to organise an event for the children..)

That was for sat.

For log 2, it revloves around my day with WSC RSP HI's Hi S'pore.

WSC= Welfare Services Club
RSP= Regular Service Project
HI= Hearing Impaired
Hi Spore= Amazing Race style event catered for HIs in Spore. (hence many of the activities i labelled High information value, as we need the info to complete the tasks.. cash prizes are up for grabs for top 3 teams to finish race in shortest time!!!!)

Travellin around, asking pple for directions is already a challenge..
..travelling around, not being able to ask for directions (e HIs in my team are unable to hear/talk), must be a much much bigger challenge! I really salute the HI community.. they are less fortunate BUT yet just as abled!
One of them was even more street-wise than me!! ..very apparent when we were around Clarke Quay area..he practically knew where to go and find all the various clubs/pubs to solve the clues!

here is e log:

Time/Day	Activity	Information Required/ Used	Source	My Location	Cost of Using Information	Cost of Obtaining Information	Value of Information
0600/Sun	Wake up	Time of the Day	Alarm Clock	Bed	0	0	High
0615	Wash-up	Location of toothbrush and face towel	Recollection from last use	Home Toilet	0	0	Low
0630	Wait for Bus	Bus arrival timing	NA	Bus-stop	0	0	High
0730	On way to SADeaf	If the event at SADeaf had started yet?	Event Chairperson	Kallang MRT station	0	$0.05 per SMS	Medium
0800	Briefing of event	Details of Event	Event organizers	SADeaf	0	0	High
0900	Warm-up to prepare for start of “Amazing Race”	What warm-up exercises to do	Warm-up in-charge	SADeaf	0	0	High
0930	Solving Puzzles	Answers to puzzle	Own knowledge	SADeaf	0	0	High
1130	Collect new set of instructions	Where is the next location	Follow clue card given	Raffles City Starbucks	0	$1.20 for busfare	High
1230	Solve Pictionary	How difficult would the drawing be	Station Master	Esplanade	0	0	High
1330	Find pubs to solve puzzle	Clues to the puzzle	Station Master	Clarke Quay	0	$1.10 for busfare	High
1430	Look for various clue leading us to next location	Clues to finding next set of Clues	Station Master	MacRitche Reservoir	0	$1.30 for busfare	High
1530	Ask strangers for their birthdates	Stranger’s friendliness	Stranger themselves	Toa Payoh Bus interchange	0	$1.40 for busfare	High
1630	Play beach games	How to clear game obstacles in shortest possible time	Among all team-mates	East Coast Park	0	$2.60 for busfare	High
1730	Play memory games	Sequence of colour cards flashed	Station Master	SADeaf	0	$1.30 for busfare	High
1815	Take bus home	What time will dinner be ready	Mum	SADeaf	0	$0.15 per call	Medium
1930	Watch Ren-Ci Charity Show	Would Ren Ci be able to reach their target of 600,000 calls?	Monitoring the call numbers from the television	Home	0	0	Low
2200	Take train back to Hall	What time would train arrive	Estimated time of arrival from Monitor	Ang Mo Kio MRT	0	$1.60 for trainfare	Medium

here's part 2 to the activity log..

hmm.. finally managed to Activity Log table up!! Phew!

Woohoo!! Finally managed to get the tables of my activity log up!
I must admit i failed to maintain my daily blog target.. but will keep trying! ;o)

It has sure been a long long long weekend! in fact over sat to sun period.. i only slept 1hr!
WHy??!
jus take a long at my activity log, you will find out..

Time / Day	Activity	Information Required / Used	Source	My Location	Cost of Using Information	Cost of Obtaining Information	Value of Information
0700 / sat	Wake up	Time of the day	Alarm Clock	Hall Bed	0	0	High
0715	Brush Teeth / Showers	Location of toothbrush/soap/shampoo/towel	Toiletry Basket/Wardrobe	Hall Room	0	0	Low
0730	Wait for public Bus	When the previous bus left the bus-stop	Ask people at bus-stop waiting for Shuttle service	Hall 13 Bus-stop	$0.80 busfare	0	Low
0750	Wait for MRT	Next train arrival timing	From timing information panel	Boon Lay MRT station platform	$1.40 Trainfare	0	Low
0850	Walk to AWWA Elders home	Shortest possible route to the home	Memory of the area	Ang Mo Kio MRT Station	0	0	Medium
0900	Briefing for Field trip to Jurong Bird Park with Elders	Briefing Instructions	Organising Committee for Fieldtrip	AWWA Elders home Conference Room	$3.50 to go for Fieldtrip	0	Medium
930	On way to Jurong Bird Park	Is the road congested?	Handphone Radio	Chartered Bus	0	0	Medium
1015	Waited for Birdshow to start	Are the Elders hungry?	Ask the Elder beneficiaries	Birdpark performance area	$8.00 for breakfast for Elders and myself	0	Low
1100	Watched Bird performance	Are the birds tame enough for performing?	Watch the performance to find out	Birdpark performance area	0	0	High
1130	Walk around the park	Is it going to rain	Sky’s colour/condition	Jurong Birdpark	0	0	High
1300	Wait for Bus	What time will the bus arrive	Ask organizers	Birdpark entrance	0	0	High
1400	Lunch	Where to eat	Ask friends	AWWA Elders home	$6.00 for MacDonald’s Meal	0	Low
1430	Met committee members	Have my committee members all arrived?	SMS members	Ang Mo Kio MRT	0	$0.05 per SMS	Medium
1445	Walk to Children’s home	Is the principal still around?	Call principal	Ang Mo Kio Ave 10	0	$0.10 per call	Medium
1500	Tour around the home with committee members	Is the home big enough to accommodate 100 people for a small scale party?	Estimate from land space available	Chen Su Lan Methodist Children Home	$5000 to organize small scale party	0	High
1600	Go home	What food is available at home	Sister	Ang Mo Kio Ave 10	0	$0.05 per SMS	Low
1630	Afternoon nap	I could sleep for how long before I had to wake up for breakfast	Mum	Home	0	0	High
1930	Dinner	What’s for dinner	Mum	Home	0	0	Low
2000	Check Emails	Do I have new mails	Internet	Home	0	$2.00 Electricity bill	Medium
2130	Surf Net	What new products / discussion is in Hardwarezone	Internet	Home	0	$1.00 Electricity bill	Low
2200	Watch News	Latest updates in Local and Global news	Television	Home	0	$1.00 Electricity bill	Medium
2230	Report Writing	Technical information	Books	Home	0	0	High