So what have we learned??  If you don’t want it out there, don’t share it!!  If you don’t want to risk people out there hacking into servers for your credit card information, don’t buy stuff online.  If you don’t want others to know you goof around all day on the internet at work, don’t post on your social networking site while you’re at work!!  And if you’re writing an extremely personal email to someone you work with and you’re married and she’s married, don’t copy everyone!!

I mean, I’m speaking fundamentals here right?  And yet somehow… it still happens and we’re wondering… what the f$@# were you thinking!?  Well that’s what happened to some genius at Cornell University.  I guess I shouldn’t really say “happened” because he was pretty much responsible for “doing” all of that.  Further still, he was  TECH CONSULTANT of all people.  And he worked for a university for crying out loud!  But this so-called technical guru (and a married might I add) managed to copy the whole school into his illicit… and explicit…. affair with another married woman on campus. 

How one might accomplish such a feat… that’s entirely beyond me.  For most systems… any email system I have ever used… it’s pretty much foolproof.  I mean you have to be trying to get your email to copy all for that happen.  Which goes to show that even the best of privacy measures are for not if the user can use them.  And it’s less a problem of interface design and usability as it is sheer stupidity.

We’re all for the most part, familiar with sites like Google and Yahoo! and Ask and so on.  We type in what we want, Google or Yahoo! or whatever returns text based titles and descriptions of what it is that we’re looking for.  But what if your responses were all in picture??  That’s exactly the premise of redz.com which bills itself as the “first picture-based search engine.”  Instead of words, you’ll get a screen shot of the webpage that redz.com feels was relevant to your search so you can see what you searching.

According to their “About Us” section, RedZ 2.0 allows you to “zip” through 100 results rather than the 10 you typical get since you’re not sifting through data.  That leads us to Search 2.0 and RedZ tagline, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Now according to the rep that contacted us, RedZ returns 3 million searches a day. They have over 40,000 advertisers and convert 14 Google users a day.  I’m not too sure on the validity of that data…as I have nothing to back that up with or any outside source to verify with, but if it’s true, that’s some pretty cool stuff.  If you get a chance, check it out.  My qualm is the delay that it takes to screen scrape and load the site picture.  It’s not the instantaenous result we usually get… and I’m not sure how relevant this would be for actual research.  Overall, thumbs up for creativity from me but not something I would use regularly.  You be the judge.

Enter the Entertainment Software Rating Board.  Chances are you didn’t know they existed.  If you did, you’re probably more familiar with them as ESRB, and even more so if you’ve seen E, T, M, common ratings for video and computer games.  What you probably also didn’t know is that the rating system is entirely voluntary but most major require ESRB ratings to be sold in their story.

So what’s the deal? ESRB is one of those handy things that are supposed to let people know what’s in the games they are buying and whether or not the content is appropriate for the user.  But how effective is?  You would like to think that parents monitor what their kids are seeing.  Most people I’ve talked to agree that it’s great the gaming industry has tried to self regulate but it’s ultimately up to the parents as to whether or not the content gets into their children’s hands.  

The National Institue on Media and Family thought it would be a great idea to figure exactly what happened once those games were passed over the store counter.  While 55% said they “always” or “often” put limits on the amount of time their children spent playing the video game, 40% said they “always” or “often” check the rating.  Doesn’t sound high… but it almost smells like a lie.   Because when they same question was asked of teenagers as to whether or not their parents checked their video game ratings, nine in ten said they never did.

And that’s just the teenagers.  If you think that’s bad, in study of parents whose children were in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, most parents couldn’t even say what their child’s favorite game was.  In 70% of the cases when the parents could not identify the favorite game, the child used violent to describe the game.  Hmmm… interesting.

But I know what you’re thinking.  What’s the big deal if no study shows that acts of violence and violent video games are actively linked.  The fact of the matter is… most people complain that video games are violent and causing problems with our children when the parents don’t even seem to care.  Most parents, at least my parents, wouldn’t let me see R-rated movies until I was almost 17, even though I did it anyways.  My point is, there is no right to complain, if you’re not monitoring it as you should.

Americans and people in general like to point fingers.  It’s easier for us to find things to blame than to point fingers at ourselves.  Even if most parents don’t care, I think it’s great ESRB has a system in place like it does.  It makes it easier for those who care.

Bouncing Ball & Whirlwind Computer

1951

Draughts & Pilot Ace Computer

1952

OXO: Graphical Tic-Tac-Toe

1958

Tennis for Two: for analogue computers using oscilloscopes

1959?

Mouse in the Maze: interactive light pen game

1961

Space War!

1966

Corndog: first video game displayed on a TV screen

1968

Brown Box: Magnavox Odyssey prototype released

1969

Space Travel & Multics OS

1971

Galaxy Game: 1^st coin operated video game

1^st Computer Baseball Game, DEC PDP-10 Mainframe

Computer Spacem 1^st commercially sold coin operated arcade style video game

1972

Star Trek, illegal replica of Computer Space released by For-Play

Hunt the Wumpus, PDP-10 Mainframe

May – Magnavox Odyssey home console w/ table tennis (now known as pong)

Nov – Pong release by Atari Inc

1973

Konami Industry Co, Ltd Established

1974

First Person Shooters, Maze Wars / Spasim

Flight Simulator, Air Fight

1975

Text Adventure Games, “Adventure”

Home Pong Console

1^st Home RPGs

Dungeon and dnd, based on Dungeons and Dragons

1976

Fairchild Video Entertainment System

1^st Fist Fighting game, Heavyweight Champ

1977

Traveller RPG

Text air combat games, Air

Atari 2600 (Telegames/Sears Video Arcade Sears)

Heave Sixer, Atari 2600 Revision A

1978

Space Invaders, Taito

Mattel’s Simon

Parker Brother’s Merlin

1979

Asteroids, Atari

Activision, 1^st 3^rd party video game developer

Microvision, handheld

1980

Intellivision

Pac Man

Random Generated Plays, Rogue

4 Switch, Atari 2600 Revision B

1^st graphic adventure game, Zork

1^st Platform Game, Space Panic

1^st Scrolling Shooter, Defender

1^st true 3D game environment, Battlezone

Nintendo’s handheld Game & Watch

1981

1^st Stealth Based Game, 005

1^st true Platform Game, Donkey Kong (included obstacles and gaps)

1^st 3D Home Computer Game, 3D Monster Maze

1^st Platform with scrolling graphics, Jump Bug

1^st 3^rd person racing game, Turbo

1982

Parallax Scrolling Technique Introduced, Moon Patrol

Dungeons of Daggarath, 3D Home Computer Game Expanded

Colecovision

Intellivoice

Atari 5200

“Darth Vader” All Black revised Atari 2600

Electronic Arts, Inc. created

1983

1^st Simultaneously 2-Player Cooperative, Mario Bros

Full motion video introduced, Dragon’s Lair

1^st Visual Novel Adventure Game, Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken

Atari 2300, Japanese-Only Market

Intellivision II

1^st Isometric Platform, Congo Bongo

1984

Modern Adventure game, King’s Quest

One on One Boxing popularized, Karate Champ

Scrolling “beat ‘em ups” introduced, Kung Fu Master

1985

Nintendo Entertainment System & Super Mario Bros

1^st full fledged action RPG, Dragon Slayer II

1^st Computer RPG, Bard’s Tale

1986

1^st Street Brawling Game, Nekketsu Koha Kunio-kun (Renegade)

Computer Air Combat Simulator, Air Warrior

Atari 7200

Atari 2600 Jr., redesign

1^st Platform and Action Adventure fusion, Metroid

1^st Console RPG, Dragon Quest

1987

Platform / Action Adventure fusion expanded, Zelda II & Castlevania II

Point-and-click interface, Maniac Mansion

Special Moves Fight List Introduced, Street Fighter

Real time RPG interaction, Dungeon Master

Side view, turn based battle system introduced, Final Fantasy

SciFi RPGs introduced, Megami Tensei / Phantasy Star

1^st Rhythm Game, Dance Aerobics

Codebase , 1^st popular MUD (Multi User Dungeon)

1988

Sega Mega Drive, Japan

1989

Sega Genesis, Mega Drive for North America

1^st Cinematic Platform, Prince of Persia

1^st “Survival Horror” Game, Sweet Home

TurboGrafx-16

GameBoy

City building simulation, Sim City

1990

Neo Geo

1991

Super Nintendo

Sega CD

Street Fighter II, one on one fights popularized again

Sega Mega Drive introduces Sonic the Hedgehog

Portable Sega Game Gear

1992

Dune II, real time strategy popularized

1994

Play Station

Sega 32X

World of Warcraft introduced

1996

Nintendo 64

Computer RPG re-popularized, Diablo

Survival Horror popularized, Resident Evil

1^st Shooter over the internet, Quake

MMORPGs (Massive multiplayer online role playing games), Heroes of Might and Magic

1998

GameBoy Color

DreamCast

1999

PS2

Rythmn and Dance, Dance Dance Revolution

2001

Xbox

Nintendo Game Cube

Halo, ultimate first person shooter

2002

GameBoy Advance

2004

PSP

Nintendo DS

2005

Xbox 360

2006

Nintendo Wii

Music and rhythm with instrument controllers introduced, Guitar Hero

2007

P$S3

Yes it is a concern for me, I’m not arguing that.  I’m not going to some joe schmo site and putting in my information but I am not terrified by the thought like my mother is.  She said she would much rather mail in a check any day of the week and she does!  To me that’s a lot more concerning because look at how many hands your mail passes through?  And there isn’t any tracking information and what’s the guarantee it will make it on time?  To me, mailing out a check seems 10x more risky than making a payment online.

I guess that just goes to show how much a difference there is between generations that grew up with the internet and those that didn’t.  The same study for the Center for the Digital future found a strong correlation between the amount of internet usage and the level of concern for privacy.  Non-users had a 76% strong concern for internet privacy, 58% for light users, and 42% for heavy users.   But that’s also the same for anything else.  The more you use it, and the more familiar you are, the more comfortable and trusting you are.

To me, the info I use to make payments is not much of a concern.  There are quite a few measures in place to protect my privacy and preventing “the bad people” from getting it.  But at the same time, I do know that I’m being watched, and not by predators but the companies I purchase from.  All my data is being collected and tagged and quantified for advertising use.  I’m sure that I, and every other credit card user is all packaged up into a nice neat box, soon to be subjected to target audience advertising.  But that’s the kind of thing that I’m actually hoping for.  Simmer down, I’m not a stalker, I’m an advertising major

So what drives these individuals to do so?  Is it the anonymity that the internet offers?  Is it the distance, the lack personal interaction, or even the inability to see the harm being done?  I’d like to think it’s all of these things.  A culmination of lack of repercussion or experience of the effects that  causes such acts.  But what’s the recourse?  The trouble is, there’s little to no punishment for cyber bullying.  Even Lori Drew, the woman that ultimately caused Megan Meier’s death had her guilty verdict overturned.  Nothing ever happened the online community that encourage Ryan Halligan to kill himself.  Sure some students have been expelled from schools, but that’s about the extent of it.

In light of the recent cases and deaths, several states have passed harassment laws to cover online and other digital forms of communications but the public just doesn’t feel that it’s enough.  That’s where the vigilantes come in. Citizens like you and me, giving those dishing out the bullying their “just deserves”.

It’s called social shaming apparently.  And it’s us trying to restore the balance between right and wrong.  If we feel a social normal has been violated, we’ll try to correct, as long as there isn’t any real cost or repercussion.   People aren’t too hasty to get involved with that.

According to wired.com, that’s exactly what happened in the Meier case.   A blogger read the events and was upset that even after all the pain that was caused, the woman who caused Meier’s death filed a report against her father for breaking her foosball table.   So what did this blogger do?  She used public records including property tax information to track Meier’s tormentor’s name and post it.

The online community blazed in response by also post information about her husband, their address, and information about their advertising.  And soon, the woman and her family were the center of her own game.  Clients withdrew from their business, bricks were thrown through windows, and threatening calls we just a few incidents of the backlash.

And keep in mind, many of these people didn’t know the woman or even Megan Meier.  This was all response to an overwhelming feeling to bring a woman to what they felt was justice.  It just goes to show that the amount of emotion can be extreme from either side of the fence. But how far is too far?  Certainly leading a girl to suicide is too far.  But what about throwing bricks through people’s windows.  Is that going to far?  The boundary is blurry and thin to be sure.

This is exactly what happened to somebody and not just anybody but rather New York Criminal Court Judge, Matthew A. Sciarrino Junior. While it has not been confirmed officially that his use of the social networking site Facebook is what cause Judge Sciarrino’s transfer to a Brooklyn court, there is much speculation about the issue coupled with a recent change in his profile from public to private status.

Apparently, Judge Sciarrino is an active social media user.  Often he displays posts and updates about his personal life as well as conditions at the courthouse and the need for improvement there.  The trouble is, several of these posts occurred while he was on the bench as well as a photo was uploaded  of a courtroom from his view on the bench. 

 Some say it is addiction but I don’t see how it’s any different from a regular joe.  Plenty of people update social networking sites from their jobs.  A judge just happens to be under a lot more scrutiny than your average joe.  There would be a lot of people fired from my workplace if their social networking page did come under scrutiny.  I’ve seen tons of photos of people at their desks or of  the inside of our building with their headsets on.  There have also been posts like “Bored at work” or “Waiting to go home!”  This, coupled with a strict policy against cell phones on the production floor would result in quite a few unsavory outcomes if our company ever bothered to check that information.

But switched.com had it right.  If you’re at work, especially one in the public service, you probably don’t want to be updating on the clock.  The outcome is not going to be ruled in you favor.

But if you can get stuff cheaper, isn’t that good?  For us, the consumer but not really for the professional. They hobbyist and enthusiasts are making things cheaper,  not expecting as much in return, happy to make a buck or two for something they love to do on the side.  But that also means we are putting people out of jobs.

It’s funny how when we do something like that with our own talent pool we’re pretty much completely fine with it.  But one mention of outsourcing and everyone is up in arms.  But principally, it’s the same thing.  Finding ways to get the same work done for cheaper.  But instead of using inexpensive foreign labor, we’re relying on a collection of people to produce the work which as much quality for cheaper.  Tempting to capitalist Americans? Oh yes…

Now you can do what everyone that has ever owned a PC.  Preview your taskbar, rather than just hovering on it and letting open.  “Yay”.  Cooler for real though are the gadgets ideas (stolen from the Mac naturally) that can be “pinned” to the desktop including calendars, events, and more.  And instead of the same boring old desktop picture, now you can slide show it through your pictures or preloaded ones, something only previously available on screen savers.  Definitely nifty.

And Microsoft has definitely borrowed from Internet Explorer and the browser concepts because now, with “jump lists” you can create a list of frequently visited documents, playlist, applications and more, much like IE’s favorites list.  And apparently “search” has been revamped so that it actually does search and get this, finds what you’re looking for!

 And there is all kinds of stuff that I don’t care about but I’m sure other people do like easier networking and email browsing and media consolidation and photo sharing and even touch screening.  But I’m slightly disillusioned because each time a new Windows pack comes out, Microsoft tells me it’s going to be better and really what ends up happening is it stops being compatible with the stuff I already had.  Lame.  But if Microsoft can actually crank out what it promises, it might actually be worth couple hundred dollars I feel like they are conning me out of each time I have to upgrade.  But it’s still going to be a year or two until I actually get around to checking it out.

But the spin the World Wide Telescope puts on it is that it’s not just images from your crappy, little telescope.  You can view stars and galaxies just like the professionals.  The WWT takes images from space and ground telescopes from all sorts of astronomy groups, the most popular being the Hubble Telescope.  And basically, all these images, and planet models and everything become one giant, interactive star gallery.  And apparently, it’s way better than the similar Google Sky, which is like Google Earth for the, well duh, Sky because WWT offers 3-D models, more in-depth pictures, and even guided, interactive tours!! 

But… it’s not to be taken lightly.  Apparently you better be willing to give up 10 gigs of storage space for the interface and library you have to download.  And you’ll also need to devote 2 Gigs of RAM and have a 3D card to accurately view it all.  And get this.  You can join WWT communities and discussion your little heart out about the virtual star tours you watch.  You can even create your own slide show tours for others to watch and part take in!  Is that cool or what!?  Well, maybe not that part.  But it is pretty cool that you can turn your computer into a personal planetarium.   And although the images are way better than what I could ever see with my own eyes, or even a store bought telescope,  I’m still not sure I’m buying the World Wide Telescope’s whole gimmick.  But then again, I’d also rather camp in a tent in a tent than a RV even if I could do both.  I guess it’s the same concept.