Tuesday 24 February 2009

Presentation

Her's my presentation which I presented today, in case anyone wanted to watch it again. You have no idea how long this took me and my brother to do, it was hell! I only want to do this again if I have plenty of time, or if it's crutially important. Anyways I hope you enjoy it, again!

P.S Let me know if I should do more.



Monday 2 February 2009

Mobile Phones

Why mobile Phones ?

Mobile phones are a crutial part of social communication and interaction because they allow us to communicate with each other from great distances and transfer messages via text messaging. But mobile phones did not begin like this, they were once no more useful than a normal phone, except they were portable and if you were on the move you had a means of communicating with others on the go.

The first portable phone used, like any other phone was an enormously useful tool, as there was no wire to connect, just an ariel which connected to the main phone line wirelessly.

Why are they good for Social Communication ?

Whenever you think of social communication the first thing that comes into your head (or my head at least) is either mobile phones or the internet. We all use mobiles to get in touch with each other whether over the phone or by texting (which i should'nt need to explain as i'm assuming that your'e a smart person and that your aware of what day it is. If you don't know what a mobile phone is then welcome to 2009 and we drive automobiles now called cars!). And since mobiles now have the internet capabilities and bluetooth, it has now become the universal source of social communication. They are particularly useful for business people to organise themselves (the new blackberry phones are the most useful if you need a phone to organise your life) but also children as young as 8 (gasp!) now know how to use one and in some cases own one themselves. They have become a huge chunk of our social lives.

How have they Developed, Changed and Improved ?

This is where mobile phones have hypnotised and warped the minds of kids today by changing to better suit their entertaining needs. What I mean is that as mobiles have adapted, so has the people who use them. And not just kids but adults as well, were all turning into texting machines, who pump out dozens of letters a second. Aside from that as mobiles have been changing to keep up to date with technology they have also improved the way we explore and access our information. I mean with the first portable phone being well.....a brick or paperweight, they have changed the way they display information, access it and have even changed the size of the phone itself to give us an easier, quicker and more enjoyable experience (unless the mobile display never gets old and your'e constantly mesmorised by it).

We were provided with mobile phones that could take photographs and record video to show to our mates. We were then given the opertunity to even send these items via Bluetooth. When Mp3 players came along mobile companies decided to slap one on their new range of mobile phones adding yet another feature for us to drool over.

This is all well and good but while these new ideas are spreading and growing, what do we do with our old ones? Most of us give them to our kids like my parents did, of course i could never keep up with the other kids phones. Maybe you handed it into a charity box to go to others less fortunate with no means of communication? Or perhaps you still have it collecting dust on your shelf as a spare in case the first one breaks, or maybe you can't find a use for it now and just leave it there? I'm not trying to get at the fact that we don't know what to do with our old phones, I'm trying to explain that for most of us a mobile phone is like a car. We all use one at some point in our lives, we all take it around everywhere with us and we all rely on it to keep us going. We also need to get a new one every few years or so that has new features that make getting from A to B more comfortable and entertaining. Whenever a new mobile phone comes out with better features or a better looking design or display we cancel out the old one. Even if we've only had the old one for a few months, we want the new one really badly so we get rid of the old one when really we could use it for at least another year or so. Most of us don't care about the main function of a mobile phone anymore we don't want to communicate to each other, we just want the latest new phone with better bells and whistles.

The newest form of phone is now capable of touch screen technology. The most popular model being the iPhone. This is a fine example of what I explained above. Although we still use it to communicate we really only get the iPhone because of all the extras that come with it, such as games, music and the never dull scrolling menu for music.

What is the future ?

If there is to be a future for the mobile phone I would like to see only where it is appreciated for what it is, a communicating device rather than a device with games, music and video and the phon option available. They sould be used to their full operating life, not just thrown away when a newer phone comes out. But I can't really see it changing, it will stay this way for many years until someone finds a better way of social communication or improves the communicating system on the phone to attract the people who want to use a phone as a phone not a gadget. Some mobile phones today have voice activated technology, only for simple commands such as finding contact information, but I would like to see this explored a bit more. Perhaps giving the mobiles AI technology making them not only a form of communication but a best friend (which can already be seen today by how popular it has been).