http://www.flashearth.com/
This mashup is a combination of different aerial maps that allows you to easily switch between the different views of the Earth. The sources available on this website are NASA maps, OpenAerialMap, Open Layers, Microsoft Virtual Earth, Microsoft VE (labels), Yahoo! maps, and Ask.com maps. It's very easy to switch between the maps and it's nice that all the maps provide you with a different view. However, I do not think that this mashup is useful on a daily basis. I know that I will never go back to this site and look at the maps again. It's cool to look at for a few minutes, but after that I don't think this mashup provides any useful tools or information. Due to the fact that this website is a mashup you can categorize this website as a form of Web 2.0. Also, it is interactive in the sense that you can switch between maps, zoom, and scroll across the maps as much as you want. Overall, I like the idea of taking two interesting websites and putting them together to create a completely new website/tool!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
"Facebook for spies"
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/09/05/facebook.spies/index.html
Starting September 22nd members of the CIA and FBI will have their own version of MySpace and Facebook. This network will allow spies to be able to quickly and efficiently spread the word on any new information and intelligence they know about. My initial reaction to this article was concern over privacy and hacking but the article discusses issues of privacy and how they have made this website hacker-proof. I think that having this network is going to significantly advance the efficiency of the CIA and FBI. Having information available quickly and right at your fingertips all day, every day is going to be very convenient. I hope that with this increased efficiency we will be more prepared to deal with any sort of terrorist attack or other types of national disasters that may occur. Also, on a different note I think it's amazing how social networks like Facebook and MySpace have made such a large impact on our society and how it is run. I bet the creators of Facebook and MySpace never thought that the FBI and CIA would be using their work as models for a "spy network".
Starting September 22nd members of the CIA and FBI will have their own version of MySpace and Facebook. This network will allow spies to be able to quickly and efficiently spread the word on any new information and intelligence they know about. My initial reaction to this article was concern over privacy and hacking but the article discusses issues of privacy and how they have made this website hacker-proof. I think that having this network is going to significantly advance the efficiency of the CIA and FBI. Having information available quickly and right at your fingertips all day, every day is going to be very convenient. I hope that with this increased efficiency we will be more prepared to deal with any sort of terrorist attack or other types of national disasters that may occur. Also, on a different note I think it's amazing how social networks like Facebook and MySpace have made such a large impact on our society and how it is run. I bet the creators of Facebook and MySpace never thought that the FBI and CIA would be using their work as models for a "spy network".
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Facebook launches new design
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1840165,00.html?cnn=yes
For a few months now Facebook has been telling its users that there is a "new Facebook" available to try. The link that sends you to this new Facebook also has a link for you to go back to the old Facebook if you don't like what you find. However, as this article states, starting Wednesday there will be no way for you to go back to the old Facebook. As a user of Facebook I have tried the new Facebook and haven't really liked what I've seen. The new version seems far more complicated than it needs to be. I'm not alone in my feelings and many people have started petitions to try to stop this switch to the new version. The resistance to change on Facebook has always been high when something new is introduced. After about a month though all the hype dies down and it's like nothing ever happened. I believe that this will be the case again with this switch to a different layout. I like that Facebook is continually trying to improve and differentiate itself from other social networking sites. It's just like anything else though...change is almost always resisted at first.
For a few months now Facebook has been telling its users that there is a "new Facebook" available to try. The link that sends you to this new Facebook also has a link for you to go back to the old Facebook if you don't like what you find. However, as this article states, starting Wednesday there will be no way for you to go back to the old Facebook. As a user of Facebook I have tried the new Facebook and haven't really liked what I've seen. The new version seems far more complicated than it needs to be. I'm not alone in my feelings and many people have started petitions to try to stop this switch to the new version. The resistance to change on Facebook has always been high when something new is introduced. After about a month though all the hype dies down and it's like nothing ever happened. I believe that this will be the case again with this switch to a different layout. I like that Facebook is continually trying to improve and differentiate itself from other social networking sites. It's just like anything else though...change is almost always resisted at first.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
new music site gives fans a cut of tune sales
http://new.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080903/ap_on_hi_te/paying_music_buyers;_ylt=ApNT7bipjndI_1kk8ttyrCNk24cA
There's a new music downloading site now available on the web. However, this one gives you "money" every time somebody downloads music from you. This new site is called Popcuts and was founded by three young men from Berkley, California. Their idea is actually pretty smart. They believe that if people are given some form of a reward for downloading songs rather than going to a free, but illegal site such as Limewire, they will legally purchase songs. The reward from purchasing from Popcuts is that you get credit and you can use this credit to "buy" songs in the future. The article states that they hope to eventually be able to just give people cash back, but the site isn't advanced enough yet to be able to do this. Another problem with the site is that there isn't a large variety of songs and artists. Hopefully, this site will be able to grow and more music listeners will have an incentive to pay for their music!
There's a new music downloading site now available on the web. However, this one gives you "money" every time somebody downloads music from you. This new site is called Popcuts and was founded by three young men from Berkley, California. Their idea is actually pretty smart. They believe that if people are given some form of a reward for downloading songs rather than going to a free, but illegal site such as Limewire, they will legally purchase songs. The reward from purchasing from Popcuts is that you get credit and you can use this credit to "buy" songs in the future. The article states that they hope to eventually be able to just give people cash back, but the site isn't advanced enough yet to be able to do this. Another problem with the site is that there isn't a large variety of songs and artists. Hopefully, this site will be able to grow and more music listeners will have an incentive to pay for their music!
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