Blog 11

The essay has been completed , revision has been done and the exam is en-route. The purpose of the essay was to explore the life and contributions of Steve Jobs. I think more importantly than the actual essay is the links to some adverts, the triumph of the nerds site, which gives a much better and broader picture than i ever could. also the link to the romain-moisescot page as that was by far the best site for an accurate and fair biography on Steve Jobs and has many images that help the text. anyway in conclusion the course was a lot of fun and i believe and i hope i will keep this blog current and relevent to NCT.

Cheers for Reading

Dennis

Essay- Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

The year is 2008 and most people take for granted what technology has brought to the human race. Take away a cellphone and people will be stranded, take away an iPod and people will cry, take away the internet and back to the Stone Age we go. The seventies brought to society a true pioneer and a person who has changed the way we communicate. Social patterns have changed due to the technology this man has sold to society. Steve Paul Jobs is the co-founder and current chief executive officer of Apple Incorporated, which was up until recently Apple computers Incorporated. A brief history of Steve jobs helps understand the important role he plays in the world as we know it.

Steve Jobs was born on the 24 February 1955, in San Francisco, California and is currently worth an estimated $ 3.3 Billion net worth, however, this figure is unclear as Jobs holds $ 3.7 billion worth of shares at Disney (www.wired.com 2008). Steve Jobs is the co-founder of Pixar, which has recently been merged with Disney. Pixar is a company that has made eight of the most successful animated movies including Toy story, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. (www.Apple.com 2007). Steve Jobs is more popularly known for what he has done for the computing and technology industry. “No computer has done more to democratize the computer and make it more user-friendly than the apple computer” (Vader 1998). Steve Jobs started his illustrious computing career in 1976 in the Silicon Valley; he and his friend Steve Wozniak took after school lectures at Hewlett Packard and attended the homebrew meetings. Steve Jobs saw the capability of his Counterpart, Wozniak, and the need for what Wozniak could do in the market. The two started the Apple Computer company and started selling one of the first personal computers, the Apple 1. This was shortly followed by the Apple 2 which was also revolutionary, as it was sold as a complete Personal Computer that required no self assembly. The Apple 2 sold for $ 666.66 and was a massive success, even though according too many “didn’t do much” (Cringley RX, 1996). The personal computing market was suddenly changed when IBM joined the market, and essentially overpowered Apples market share with their version of the personal computer. During this time Bill Gates, a software developer, was increasing his market share and creating what would eventually become, a dictatorship of the software and personal computer market.

With the exponential growth of Apple, Steve Jobs hired John Sculley, who was the CEO of Pepsi Cola at the time, and famously asked Sculley if he wanted to sell sugar water or if he wanted to make history. (Sculley, 1897). While Sculley and Jobs were helping Apple stay profitable; Jobs made, what is considered the mistake of his life, and saw the wrong company as the threat. Jobs should have according to many kept his eye more fixed on Microsoft and less on IBM. IBM lost their market share due to the growth of Microsoft and, much to the dismay of many, lost their large market share to even more computer companies such as Dell and Compaq. Apple was trying to save their share of the computer market with a Graphic user interface. It was the first commercial computer to feature such an interface and a mouse, and it helped the Macintosh division revolutionise the industry and end an IBM dominated market. This Graphic user interface was eventually copied by someone who had been brought in to help on the project. Bill Gates developed ‘stolen ideas’ into what we know as Windows. Windows dominated the software market and still does with very high sales figures and very high market share (www.Microsoft.com, 2002). Jobs had realized that the software market was going to be the next revolution of the personal computer (Halliday 1983, p.204) and had therefore put many resources into the software, however, with the expensive price tag on the Macintosh and sales down at Apple and up at Microsoft, Jobs was taken off the Macintosh project by John Sculley; Jobs left the company selling all but one share. The demise of Steve Jobs saw the rise of Bill Gates and a total domination by Microsoft. When Jobs left, he said that he would start a company that would surpass Apple. Scully even asked him to reconsider and offered for Apple to buy 10 percent of the Jobs’ proposed company, which was later called NeXT, Jobs, however, declined the offer as he felt betrayed by Sculley. (Sculley 1987, p.204). NeXT was never the success that Jobs had imagined it would be, however, NeXT was bought by Apple in 1996, and Jobs was offered a job as the interim CEO of Apple; while there Jobs incorporated many of the NeXT’s visionary ideas into Apple and subsequently turned Apple from a company dealing with loss into a company that was profitable again.

When Jobs finally took over the CEO position from Gilbert Amelio, who was ousted by Apple, he saved the company from near bankruptcy. “Though he is not an engineer his greatest talent had been spear-heading the development of new products”. (Uttal, 1985, p.119). This statement is still relevant eighteen years later, as the world watched as Jobs introduce the new iMac and the subsequent iBook, which was aesthetically pleasing and featured many of Jobs’ own personal touches, Steve Wozniak said: “It was Jobs who insisted the computer be light, trim and well designed in muted colours” (cited by Westly F, Mintzburg H, 1989, p.25-26). According to Romain-Moisescot the i in iMac stood for the internet, as the computer granted easy access to the internet (www.romain-moisescot.com, 2008, p.9). This might be accurate however the products that followed; such as the iPod never had internet capabilities and the ‘i’ in iPod, according to some, might serve merely as a good way to market the product, as it gives the product a more personal and social connotation.

Regardless the easy to use and aesthetically pleasing ‘i’ products have sold phenomenally since the return of Jobs and have most certainly altered the way people communicate. 110 million iPods have been sold to date. Communication has changed drastically over the last few years and regardless whether it is to our (the human race) benefit or demise Apple played and continue to play a part in the communication process.

In conclusion, Steve Jobs might not be liked by many people, such as Microsoft supporters or employees, supporters of open source software or just parents who feel neglected by there iPod wielding children, however he and Apple have built technologies that have enabled many things for mankind. The fact that people may find Apple too proprietary orientated or feel Jobs does not live by good business and moral ethics, does not change the important role he has played in shaping a piece of modern society. It will be of interest, to many, what new ‘insanely great’ products Apple come out with in the future.

References
Halliday, David. 1983. "Steve Paul Jobs". Current Biography 5 (February): 204-207.
Sculley, John. 1987. "Odyssey". Personal Computing, (December): 201-209.
Uttal, Bro. 1985. "The Adventures of Steve Jobs". Fortune, 14 (October): 119-124.
Westly, Frances and Henry Mintzberg 1989. Strategic Management journal, vol.10, Special issue: Strategic leaders and leadership, published by John Wiley & Sons
Vader D, 1998 Steve Jobs Biography -http://www.theapplemuseum.com/index.php?id=49 (accessed on 13 May 2008)
Cringley Robert X, 1996 Triumph of the nerds -http://www.pbs.org/nerds/transcript.html (accessed 13 May 2008)
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/bio.mspx, Published: May 30, 2002 Updated: July 30, 2007, (accessed 13 may 2008)

Wired technology-http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2006/01/70072 (accessed 28 May 2008)

http://www.romain-moisescot.com/steve/bio/long_bio/1/html/longbio_1FR.html (accessed 25 May 2008)

http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/jobs.html (accessed 13 May 2008)

Check out Triumph of the nerds at www.youtube.com as all three parts are available in 8 minute clips.
Also to view some of the new Apple adverts click one of these
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgzbhEc6VVo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80sWifG40B0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EbCyibkNB0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci2D1ig4df4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCL1c8JCepg&feature=related

Blog 10

Free software and creative commons

lawernce lessig explaned, without breaking company policy, the need for something like creative commons

• creative commons is between the full on copyright and public domain, so essentiall it is allowing your work to be used, hoever not commercially ... people dont need to ask permission to use it but if they used it in a profitable way they would
• some rights are protected
• Lessig argued that aeroplanes dont have to ask permission to fly over someones land, and that our society has become read-only driven instead of the previous read-wright ...

the use of creative commons is really good and i am glad it was presented to me as it is a way to gain exposure without worry that someone would steal my work and sell it... it is also good so that i can use it to see and use others work.

http://www.creativecommons.org/

check it out!

The next part of the lecture Muir spent on free software, Microsoft software and the Apple software are both Proprietary orientated software and cost alot of money to have and when you have it you cant change the source codes to suit you, and due to this inconvienient fact a man by the name of Richard Stallman decided that software should be open source(free ) for people to have and change as they wish, without legal worries....he called his operating system GNU which stood for Gnu not Unix( quite a funny play on recurring words)

Freedoms of open source

• to run the program for any purpose
• the freedom to run the program for your needs and be able to adapt it for your needs(being able to alter the source code)
• the freedom to redistribute your copies
• the freedom to distribute your changes to benefit your community

Proprietary vs Open source

• source code is confidential for the proprietary company
• legal agreements exist for proprietary companies
• proprietary developed traditionally by staff of companies
• goals set by company

the opposite exist for the open source products

The benfits of open source

• the projects are usually quick as there are no resource horizons
• multiple sulotions wuickly solved
• changes are direct responses to what people want
• immediate release of new products
• free and easily downloaded
• no hidden functionality

The cons of open source

• open source depends of the size of the community
• the areas developed are usually intrest horizon orientated and some programs are not found
• switching cost for changing to open source
• lack of funds makes progress on dull problems slow

The Pros definately outweigh the cons and open source is definately worth while considering....and another great way to stick it to the man! so today we SALUTE YOU ADAM!

Blog 9

File Sharing

• topic of much debate, only became more important in the twentieth century.

• dicussion regarding stealing-distinction between tangebil objects and music or movie files

• the service providers essentially makes money by supplying the means to download such files and no legal cases exist between the artist and the supplier only between those who have essentially paid for something, the providers should be paying the royalty fees to the artist that the material is 'stolen' from as expressed by Mamo.

• so who are the villians? the ones supplying the means to 'steal' or the actual person who 'steals'- another example of something like this is drug smuggling , the mules are the ones who get caught and suffer severly, not the supplier...mmmm makes you ponder

those thoughts aside majority of the class said they do or have illegally downloaded files off the web, most once again did not feel ethically impuned for downloading music from someone who has millions of dollars in their bank account. the real theives are the recording companies and the artist. fair enough the artist should be rewarded for what they have made, however should make a normal salery like any other. and i realize that they would be like who gets the money from their record sales. why not make it really cheap and allow the service providers pay for the time you spend in the studio, a set fee, and not charge for the music , and only charge for the cost of service... i realize the idea is not full proof but its a start..

another discussion was brought up in the tutorial.. the idea of bands embracing the use of programs that allow music to be downloaded. bands like the artic monkeys used myspace to promote themselves, radiohead really stuck it to the man by not using a record company and selling their albums over the net for what the consumer deamed it worth and essentially cut out the middle man and made more money even though the album sold for less in dollars.... and i believe that bands like that turn something essentially bad for their business into something good. I SALUTE YOU RADIOHEAD.

in conclusion however Muir gave valuable advice... is the free and illegal downloading of files worth the fine or jail time that would be punishment if caught.... there are other ways to stick it to the man....

blog 8

Blade Runner

Ridley Scott directed cyberpunk film that was made in 1982. The cyberpunk theme runs through and the film does not follow the typical space opera and is quite a challenge to watch if you are not interested in communication technologies. Harrison Ford Plays Deckhard who s a retired blade runner. the Blade runners job is to track down the replicanats , who are essentially machines...and to shoot on sight. Four replicants who were part of the mutany that made replicants banned from earth, Nexus 6, hi jack a ship and come to earth to find their creator in order to get more life, as replicants only have a four year life span. Deckhard comes in the picture as he is the best Blade Runner, he tracks the blade replicants one by one and kills them with great difficulty actually. on this Journay he meets with Tyrell who is the owner of the Corporation who creates replicants, and discovers reacheal, a replicant who is special and doesnt know she is a replicant until she fails the test to prove whether you are human or not... naturally Deckhard falls for her and they do their thing,. down to the last replcant who is the leader and the strongest and smartest replicant the blade runner struggles to stay alive during a long and seemingly one way battle. Roy decides to keep Deckhard alive even though he had just murdered his friends due to the fact that he loved live so much he did not want to take another live. deckhard lives and leaves with his non expirey date replicant women.... the end

Blog 7

Cyberpunk

Lecture:
Quote from lecture notes:
Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre based in the possibilities inherent in computers, genetics, body modifications and corporate developments in the near future. The word comes from the amalgamation of Cybernetics (the study of communication, command and control in living organisms, machines and organisations) and Punk (a style of fast, loud, short rock music with an anarchist political philosophy and a DIY, anti-expert, 'seize the day' approach to life).

William Gibson:

• the future is revolutionized by the networked computer
• 'cyberspace' is the matrix of electronic data in those networks
• global corporations eclipse government as the source of power
• power depends on information rather than money or arms
• the 'sprawl' is the jerry-built mega-city that covers most of the world and where those not employed by corporations struggle to survive
• sim-stim (simulated stimulation) is a new entertainment format that plays directly into the body so you experience the world though the stars? senses and emotions
• the merging of organic and mechanical elements in the human body
• the malleability of human identity

Themes in cyberpunk:

• Technology and Mythology-Cyberpunk sought to demythologise technology but effectively predicied/created the World Wide Web and so was used to remythologise technology.
• Utopia and Dystopia -Some of the most powerful myths for and against technology have been intertwined with utopian writing
• Cities as Machines-*the city is a machine for living ... it creates human lifejust as humans create it
  *the city is a natural thing, created by natural beings (humans)just as bee-hives and ant nests are created by natural beings
  *the city is a living being ... a cyborg which combines humantissue with synthetic infrastructure
• Technological change-Developmant in technology ie: the internet and the way we communicate
• Modernism to Postmodernism - postmodernism is built upon modernism

Tutorail:

The tutorial was used to find references for the essay and the 3d IM s were given a skip .... did check out first life and its a waste of time if your computer has not got a good graphics card ....its a waste of time even if you do... i mean what is the point of talkining over the internet and having a character to represent you , i am all for video games and communication over the video game consols but second life and programs of that nature take away so many social things, i would rather have a conversation with someone than try find their retarded looking charater over the internet , therefore i believe that applications like IM facebook and myspace are cool and have their uses but verbal communication should not be replaced by these technological terrors..... this is my first bit of subjective writing in this course however i beleive my points are valid.....

Readings:

Still in the proccess of reading the not so short short story by william Gibson, burning Chrome.

"Burning Chrome". originally published in Omni 1982, Omni
The stories in Burning Chrome were published in various magazines and two were published in the Mirrorshades anthology edited by Bruce Sterling.

Conclusion:Enjoyed blade runner and the phychological nature of it but there is a point when movies and stories get to involved in confusing than reader/movie going person than giving interestin and valuable points about the cyber culture.

Blog 6

Video Games

Lecture

Started the lecture by talking and sharing ideas about what games we play and what game consols we play them on .....

• Arcade
• GamesConsoles
• Computer Games
• MUDs
• MMOGs

others might be handheld consoles such as the playstation portable, nintendo game boy and game gear.

games can be classed as fighting games, first person shooters, third person shooters, simmulation games etc...

Key things to remember are:

• Media Effects and Games;
• The Persistence of Effect;
• Games and Utopia;
• Thinking about video games as a new form of cultural practise... in the same way we now think about old media like newspapers, radio, television, films...
• what are some ways to approach thinking about games that might be unique to this genre?
• Are there questions that are specific to video games that don't apply to any other form?

Narratology

Narratology is the study of games being story orientated and having emphasis placed on good stories rather than general game play. Games these days often have story modes, games like tekken,soul calibur and need for speed stories as well as the traditional arcade style.

Ludology

Ludology focuses more on the study of the general gameplay being good. After all that is why people play video games... most modern games have a mixture of good story with good game play. games such as gran theft auto reign supreme regarding story line and free for all play.

Games such as Halo, Quake and Tom Clancys rainbow six all have interesting storylines and have good multiplayer, online, gameplay. ie death matches in the story lines venues.

Reading

The reading by Steven Poole- Trigger Happy

The third chapter on the worlds created. He specifically makes note of how games are extremely inaccurate regarding physics and health etc... but does argue that, the point of playing a video game is not to simulate the world and be killed in on shot etc...but to be entertained and enjoy the impossible. Mention was made of how games have incorporated feel into the game : the dual shock analogue controllers.... and having vibrations when zoomed in on a scope. The chapter was easy to grasp and very helpful and is very relevent to the course.

Tutorial task

The tutorial task involved retyping a letter and being able to change fonts .... the Mail merger turned out to be a little trickier than anticipated , exel basic were good to learn however rather difficult to proform some of the tasks .....the advanced task did my head in a little bit...

My Thoughts

I do beleive that video games are not a waste of time , however i fit in the class of male with not many friends category therefore its kind of subjective. The x box console is an amazing tool neve the less ... music from an ipod can be listened to while playing a game or looking at photos... being able connect to the internet and down load certain things and have an IM is a valuable tool and make the X box 360 a great form of communication technology....