Hello again,due to having internet troubles at home, and being busy with the work and uni schedule (and to be honest a weekend filled with not a great deal of study.. as I'm sure most of us can relate to with it being the first weekend back from the stress free holidays) I am now a tad behind with posting a second blog from week 1. Anyway... as I'm sure it'll be the same with the majority of new com tech students, and probably the lecturer's would agree as well-the 8am lecture is not an enjoyable time frame. There is definitely not a large sleep in to be had when having to leave an hour prior to the lecture from living at the other end of the coast. Also you would think at this time of morning, finding a park wouldn't be to tricky... not the case! Despite cutting the sleep cycle short, this lecture was one of the few i managed to not day dream, text or scribble in ha ha.. The content was easy to follow, relatable, interesting and the lecturer cracked a few funny jokes at his limited spelling ability. Anyway.. the alarm will be set bright and early for tomorrow's dawn lecture. Best get back to searching for some convergent technology images for this tute.. being week two. (See below for content)

Firstly, it is important to define what exactly 'convergence' means:

The follwing site http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=convergence states:
'convergence is the occurrence of two or more things coming together'.

Therefore, this definition can be related to our focus of technological convergence, where varied technologies come together to perform simultaneous tasks.

Source: The Trustees of Princet on University, 2009. 'Word Net' 'http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=convergence.. Last update: July 9, 2009

Now that technolgical convergence has been defined, the following pictures have been uploaded as an examples.The first picture is an example of a convergent technology that is also used as a means of communication. The web cam enables people to see each other and communicate on the internet via a camera. This can be viewed at:

http://www.techshout.com/gaming/2007/02/new-psp-camera-go-cam-unveiled-by-sony/

The second image is a second example of a communication method (the iphone) that is also an example of a convergent technology. The iphone works as a phone, has the ability to access the internet and email, it also acts as an ipod where songs can be downloaded to be played through itunes, along with numerous applications where weather, stocks, games and u- tube videos can be utilized. The following link presents images and information on the iphone: http://www.apple.com/iphone/

The third image illustrates a shoe and electric technology converging together, in order for the shoe to be able to light up. It is called the 'electric light shoe' and the image shows how the shoe is being charged up to glow. The image and information on the product was sited from:
http://cubeme.com/blog/2008/01/18/electric-light-shoe-by-freedom-of-creation/

Finally the last image shows how two technologies have converged into the one product, that being a hair curler and hair straightener. The image and information on the products features can be found at: http://www.ioffer.com/i/InStyler-Rotating-Hair-Straightener--113823913

Now that the images have been uploaded in their original form, another task we were assigned was to take one of the pictures and alter it through cropping, change in colour, size etc.

An original version of the chosen image-the iphone (the last uploaded picture) along with the altered images (with 3 examples, 1 being a crop and the second two displaying colour changes in background + saturation) are illustrated below.

Moving away from simply uploading still frames, this next task requires us to upload two utube videos, one displaying convergent technology and the other can be anything we wish.

The utubue video i chose to exemplify a convergent technology, is one which displays a car driving on land..then transfers into a speed boat which drives into the water. The two technologies of a road verhicle and a boat have merged together so that the product can be used for two purposes, land and sea.

The second video, which could be anything of my preferance, is an advertisment for corona beer, showing a couple having a quiet drink whilst overlooking the beach in summer time.

The add states "from where you'd rather be" and is somehwere i normally day dream of being whilst studying, being in uni lectures or slaving away at work. Pretty much i just enjoy summer, the beach and a refreshing drink on a hot day.

Can't imagine anything better or where else you'd rather be!

The final task for the week two tute, is in response to the week's lecture

(timeline of the computer and internet)

The lecture content was 'a short history of computing and the internet'. We were provided with a timeline of how the technology of the computer and internet first began, progressed over time, and came to be what it is today.

Below is my own personal summary of the information that i found vital and interesting from this lecture in regards to these two technologies.

Firstly, i had no idea that the begingings of devleoping computer technology came from the minds of Charles Babbage (born 1791), Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace (daugher to renowned poet Lord Byron) and then the more serious development came from Alan Turing (born 1912)-Turing aided in devising the first operating computer, called 'The Bombe' and this was utilised to crack confidential Germain codes during the war. None of these names or historical events were familiar to me before this lecture (clearly showing my ignorance) but the background information on how these minds began evolving computer technology gave me an insight into the foundations of how the first usage of the computer came to be.

To summaries the vital developments of the 20th century, it was IBM who first produced computers comercially in the 1950's. Although the first personal computer (PC) wasn't released until 1975. However, large computer was just the beginning of the technology(as it didn't operate a language) it was around these years that Bill Gates began to develop writing a computer language(called BASIC) which he would market through the small company he created in his garage called Microsoft. This information was very interesting to me as I've only ever known Bill Gates as one of the world's richest through the giant Microsoft Company. So it's fascinating to think he created his wealth and success after dropping out of college and starting up his own company in his house garage.

Whilst all this was happening, two men names Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, got together to form their own small company, called Apple (which is widely used and recognised today). From forming this company, Steve Jobs was estimated to worth over $100 million at the age of 25.

The final pieces of information which I found highly interesting and also was completely unaware of, was the fact that the internet and the web aren't the same thing. So I learnt that the World Wide Web (web) is only one part or use within the larger internet. Here I was thinking before this lecture, that the two were the same thing.

Overall I definitely gained alot more knowledge and understanding of how the computer came from a technology which was first used to decoded messages in the war, to today's position where using computers and the internet are part of our every day lives, with some of us not knowing where we'd be without them.