This survey is so easy, a monkey could do it

This is the link I used on my Facebook (and now, I guess, my blog) to send out my survey. It was a fairly easy tool to use, and I found the customization tool quite interesting, though would have liked to have spent more time playing with that before I used it professionally.

TimeToast Timeline of the Internet

This is my (brief and annotated) timeline of the history of the Internet. I found the TimeToast tool to be interesting to use, and personally found it to be a passable program, if a very glitch-y one.

Virtual Re-battle-ty

A massive version of the Virtuix Omni that I previously posted about, complete with 'pain replicators' (paintball guns) and body-tracking movement.

If that excited you as much as it did me, here's the full video, courtesy of The Gadget Show:

Next 'steps' for virtual reality

An interesting video about the Virtuix Omni, the 'next step' in virtual reality. While the Omni is still in its prototype phase, it's a great look at how Kickstarter, a new communication technology in itself, can be utilised to create more technologies.

Sherry Turkle - Connected, But Alone? TEDTalks

Sherry Turkle presents her TED talk about new communication technologies, and how these technologies are redefining human relationships with each other and ourselves, and our relationships with the technology itself.

From Bits to Terabytes: Evolution of Computing, Gaming and Communication

Many industries enjoy rapid growth with new advents in technology, and computers are no exception to the rule. However, the birth of computers heralded a somewhat lacking 'baby shower '; that is, no one knew what to do with them!

Originally, computers were designed to do what was 'said on the tin': compute mainly numerical data at a rate exponentially higher than any human, and were classically massive mainframes. However, as the Commodore 64 (and other personal computers) entered the commercial market, and indeed, 'personal computers' entered the lexicon, a smaller, more attractive consumer package was implemented. A few decades later, and it seems that most households in western society have multiple personal computing devices, including laptops, iPhones, tablets, and the like, and in our contemporary society, the range of uses of these devices are seemingly unparalleled and infinite.

But what were they used for originally? Apart from the previously-mentioned number crunching, a key component of operating your computer was writing your own code for your own programs. This quickly grew into a hobby for most, and eventually paved the way for the first video games.

Though very simple, usually text-based, games at first, these quickly grew in popularity and complexity, and created a new computer games industry that has grown into what we know today.

Computers have also bridged the gap in information transmission, with the internet allowing us to find out news on the other side of the world literally live, as it happens. This has also been translated into the video games we enjoy today, whether it be taking your Xbox online with Xbox Live or comparing your Angry Birds high score on an online leaderboard with anyone.

An interesting example of the combination of gaming and communication is Peter Molyneux’s game studio, 22Cans, and their project Curiosity – What’s Inside the Cube?, where the overall goal is to find out what is inside a virtual cube. You can only remove one ‘cubelet’ at a time (which is pixel-sized), and the whole world is working on slowly chipping away at this cube, but only one person will find out what’s inside.

Sources:

Curiosity – What’s in the Cube?, viewed 30^th July, 2013, Document URL <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_%E2%80%93_What's_Inside_the_Cube%3F>

Swalwell, M, 2012, ‘Questions about the Usefulness of Microcomputers in 1980s Australia’, Media International Australia, no. 143, pp. 62-77.

Post The First

This is an initial test post for my Blogger account for my New Communications Technology blog. I guess I'm a blogger now (and not gonna lie, am probably going to go on Tumblr).

My name is Ethan Liboiron, and am a 22-year-old diabetic living in Southport, Queensland. I was originally born in Calgary, Canada to an Australian mother and a Canadian father.

I enjoy playing games (both video and tabletop/board games), singing, acting, live music festivals, reading, and a good horror movie. Death to all but metal ;)

I enjoy debating topics on many fields, so please come chat!