E-Commerce

Electronic commerce, also known as e-commerce, refers to the buying and selling of products and services over the Internet.  Examples of this are Amazon.co.uk, Ebay and play.com.  There are also other websites that started their business in a building and then expanded their business onto the Internet. This is known as ‘Brick and Click’.  The brick is their building and the click is their website.

Advantages of E-Commerce

• You can do it in the comfort of your own home
• No Need to travel
• Saves Time
• No Queues
• You can do it 24/7
• Price comparison
• No carrying of shopping
• Convenience of delivery to your door
• Online Offers
• Cheaper Online
• Customer product reviews
• Save your buying history
• Wide variety of stock

Disadvantages of E-Commerce

• Hacking
• Security risks
• No guarantee of product quality
• You pay for postage and packing
• Cant pay with cash
• You have to wait for the delivery
• Some people don’t trust using their personal details on the Internet or spending money on the Internet

In my opinion, I think E-commerce is a very good idea.  I use websites like Amazon all the time to buy what I need, whether it’s the latest Xbox game or text books for school.  It makes peoples lives easier because they do not have to go around a shop looking for a product, which could be out of stock anyway.  Using E-commerce you can do lots more things that will save you time compared to going to shops and banks.  I can see why some people do not like E-commerce because if something did go wrong due to hacking, then the consequences could be severe, but most people see this as a tiny risk to take when you have access to a vast array of products on retail websites and easy to use bank websites that make money tasks easy.  Overall, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and it is becoming more and more popular as more companies are expanding onto the Internet.

Real Time

Real time is all about data that is updated instantaneously.

Some examples of where you can find real time are:

Travel Times (Air, Rail, Road and Sea)

RSS Feeds (News)

Weather

Chat (Windows Live, Facebook chat)

Theatre and concert booking

Webcams

Parcel Tracking

Sat Nav

With RSS Feeds, people can subscribe to things such as blogs.  This is real time because when the blog is updated, the RSS Feed will notify you instantly so that you know it has been updated for you to have a look at.

Travel times use real time also, so that people can see when a train is due to arrive, when it is going to leave and if a train is going to be delayed.  All of this information can change instantly to keep customers up to date with that is happening with their transport.  Real time is also used in traffic updates and travel booking, so that people don’t get stuck in traffic or book the same seats.

You can also find real time being used in theatre, concert and cinema booking.  If you were booking to see a film at the cinema on the internet, you would be able to see other people booking seats and they can see your booked seats so there is no confusion with who is sitting where.  This applies to theatre and concert booking also.

Weather is another thing that uses real time technology to show up to date information.  Websites such as BBC and Google can display the weather of the place that you have searched instantly and if the weather forecast changes then they will change their website in order to give people the correct information instantly.

Another way that real time is used is in parcel tracking.  If a customer buys something from an online retail website, they may have an option for you to track your package.  This means that when a package arrives at a certain company to be taken somewhere, a computer will be notified and it will automatically update where it is on the website for the customer to have a look at.

Real time is also used in internet chatting.  Examples of this are Facebook and Windows Live Instant Messenger.  When someone sends a message to someone else, the message will instantly appear on the receivers screen for them to read and instantly reply to.  This makes it possible for people to have conversations over the internet by typing to them.

Webcams are also a kind of real time.  Some webcams are placed on the side of buildings for you to look at over the internet, so you can see what is happening at that place.  When the camera takes a picture it is instantly sent to the internet for us to look at.

One of the most useful kinds of real time is sat nav.  This stands for Satellite Navigation and is used in transport.  Most people have a sat nav in their car that tells them where to go to get to their destination.  The device will use the satellites in space to work out where the device is and it will send signals to the device to tell the owner where to go.  All of this happens in real time as the map on the screen moves as you move to make it easy to find your way around.

Another way that real time is used is by websites such as youtube to count how many times a web page has been viewed.

This is just a few examples in which real time is used, but it is probably used in many more useful ways.

Communication

How do people communicate online?

Online communication is widely used by everyone, whether it’s an E-Mail, using an instant messaging service or being part of an e-community.  Other examples of these are:

·        Windows Live Messenger  - Instant Messenger

·        Skype  - Voice and video chat

·        Blogger – Blogging website

·        Facebook – Social networking site

·        Twitter – Social networking site

·        Hotmail – An Email website

Email

E-Mail is much older than the internet.  It was never invented it just evolved from very simple beginnings.  Early E-Mail was as simple as sending a message to someone else’s directory for them to read when they logged In.  One of the first email systems was called MAILBOX. It was used at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1965.

The first email was sent by Ray Tomlinson in 1971. He sent the message between two computers sitting side-by-side and claims that the contents were "entirely forgettable” and had forgotten what it said.

People today use email to talk to people for social, family or business reasons.  People can just send letters to people or they can attach other things.

Advantages

• ·       Sent and received messages and attachments can be stored safely and easily.
• ·        Email is extremely easy to use. Once you have set up your email, sending and receiving messages is simple.
• ·        It is easy to see from the subject of emails whether it is worth reading or just deleting strait away.
• ·        Email is one of the fastest forms of written communication.
• ·        If you have an email like Hotmail then you can access your messages anywhere in the world.
• ·        Email is also good because it saves paper and other things that are involved in sending a letter in the post.

 Disadvantages

• ·        Emails from people who don’t take the time to read what they write before clicking send have to clear up a mess with the person that has read the wrong message.
• ·        Spam is extremely annoying and takes over your inbox with adverts and pointless emails.
• ·          A virus could seriously affect your computer if you receive it from an email.  It could take over your whole computer and ruin everything on it.

My Opinion

I think Email is very useful and reliable and use it regularly to send work to myself at home.  I think people are using it mostly for important messages and sending documents or pictures because more people are using instant messaging and social networking sites to talk to each other.

Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites are websites on the internet that people use to talk to their friends and relatives by adding people as friends on their account.  Websites like this include Twitter and Facebook.  Facebook was launched in February 2004 and has more than 750 million active users.

Advantages

·        Social networking sites are easy to sign up to and easy to use.

·        You can find anyone you know if they also have an account on the website, just by searching their name.

·        You can leave messages for people to see when they log on or talk to them in an instant messaging chat box.

·        Websites like this also have high security so no body can see who you are unless you let them by accepting them as a friend.

Disadvantages

·        If someone gets hold of your password they can talk to anyone you know and change your account.

·        The security settings on Facebook are quite complicated and if you do not set them then anyone can find you.

My Opinion

In my opinion, sites such as Facebook are really good.  This is because you can talk to your friends, see what people are doing and share photos with friends.  I find sites like this quite easy to use but their downfall is the security.  There is either not enough or it is too complicated to set up.

Introduction to the Information Age

Welcome to my Information Technology Blog.  This Blog will be about the Information Age and different types of online service. I will be focusing on 5 different type of online service, which include:

Communication: This includes email, instant messaging, message boards, online conferencing, blogs, newsgroups, chat and e-communities.

Download Services: This includes software, upgrades, music, and film.

Entertainment: This includes multi-user games, radio players, sports and books.

Education: This includes VLEs, online learning, school web sites, school league tables, online revision and simulations.

Commerce: This includes shopping, banking and auctions.

I will be writing interesting facts about the different services that we have online, what we use the online service for, what the online service could be like in the future as technology develops further and how services could be lost and forgotten because of new upcoming technology and online service.  We will also see how we use the different technology in our day to day lives and how helpful it is.

We will also be going through the ‘Digital Divide’. We will find out what is being done to narrow the gap and how effective these measures are proving.  We will also see some benefits and drawbacks of narrowing this divide.