Different types of technology How I use ICT at home and at school

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Name: Sadian Choudhury         Candidate number: 7027

Leytonstone School                                                                                 13411

Unit 3a – Different types of technology

How I use ICT at home and at school

In our current generation, the advances of mankind have been significantly massive. With technology such as laptops, iPads and such, old fashioned technology has been deemed insignificant. Just an iPad would have the capability blowing away the greatest technology from, for example, 10 or so years ago.

And thus, technology is constantly being used; from ways to help advance and develop the world further on to being used for personal relief/enjoyment.

But what benefits can we gain from using these technologies and why do we constantly use and depend on them over and over? Well, there are many different advantages to using technology and well as different uses the basics being – personal usage, social usage and home usage and each of these uses have their different benefits.

Personal usage covers uses that benefit mostly the user him/herself, whether that may be at work, at home or even on the road.

Social usage covers uses which are not only beneficial to the user him/herself, but also involves society with different interactions with the user and other members of society, whether on a social networking site or an instant messaging service.

And lastly, home usage covers uses which are simply used at home whether that may be for comfort, general purposes or just for entertainment.

Technology used for social use

For technology I use for my own social use, I will be covering the following:

  • Blackberry Curve 8520
  • Windows Live Messenger (MSN)
  • Facebook

Blackberry Curve 8520

The BlackBerry is a smart phone with a whole variety of functions; the ability to use an e-reader, store and play different types of media, call people, video call people, message and picture message people, connect to a Wi-Fi or a BlackBerry connection, connect to other BlackBerry phones with the BlackBerry messenger and a whole other variety of features.

The Blackberry Curve 8520 was the first Blackberry version to come with a track pad. This was a touch sensitive pad which lets you move on screen.

It has wireless internet capability, Bluetooth 2.0 and built in WiFi. It was released in 2009, weighs 106 grams, and has a full QWERTY keyboard and an internal memory of 256MB. As well as this, it has a slot for Micro SD cards allowing an expandable memory of up to 32GB.

It also comes with a 2 megapixel camera which can also video record. It has MMS, Email and IM capabilities, as well as an internet browser. It also comes with Java built in, allowing you to use certain software.

How it affects my needs

Advantages (How it meets my needs)

The Blackberry, as all mobile phones, can send and receive text messages and calls from around the globe. With this feature, I can essentially keep in contact with friends wherever I am. If I get lost, I can simply call or text them to reconcile my location. If I need help, I can just call or text. With the ability to do this from anywhere and any place, it makes it extremely useful in all forms. Being the clumsy person I am I often do get lost or separated from my friends as I tend to wander around a lot. The Blackberry meets my need to contact and locate my friends again. It also meets my need to socialise, contact friends and my need for help in any situation.

The track pad allows for much smoother navigation in your phone. It allows you to use the simple touch of a finger to navigate your phone. It’s much simpler in that it doesn’t need to push buttons or a stick which could get jammed. Using my phone quite often, joysticks and buttons on phones can easily get damaged. The track pad is utilised to meet the need to preserve its condition. It uses the least amount of effort and thus, provides me with a longer lasting feature.

The ability to send and receive files allows me to transfer between other BBs all over the world, not just within range. This is made possible using BBM which you can send files and pictures to each other, without the need of Bluetooth. It meets the need to transfer files such as work or something else without having to meet each other, preventing hassle.

Browsing the internet from any location you want is also extremely useful. With this, I can open the limits to my Blackberry’s capabilities. I can download apps without the need for a computer and go onto any of the thousands of websites out there. For someone who uses the internet a lot for a whole variety of stuff,  I can simplify things by just checking things up using my phone’s internet instead of taking the long process to turn my computer on and use that internet, which also limits portability.

I can take pictures and videos with the Blackberry’s 2 mega pixel camera. I can record and capture things I see which is extremely useful as I don’t have a camera. I can take a picture for my Facebook, thus not making me feel left out in having a black profile picture. I can take pictures for other things such as BBM so people can form an accurate image of what I look like instead of using their own imagination which would tend to be much more skewed to what is the reality. The imagination is generally worse than the reality as you really can’t get much better than what is the reality so the ability to take pictures allows me to show off my alluring self, despite having the chance to come off as a vain, narcissistic and arrogant pest.

I can use the Blackberry to listen to music. This works with the MicroSD feature which can hold up to 32GB, making the problem of limited space and a slow-down of the Blackberry due to limited free space no longer applicable, thus solving a lot of problematic issues.

It’s portable. While this may be obvious and no need for any mention, what makes this mobile phone so useful when portable is its computer-like function. As common with smart phones, it has a lot of capabilities similar to a computer. It can do basic word documents, send and receive emails, download small files and other stuff. In essence, the portability of the Blackberry lets you carry a mini computer with basic functions. This means that I can work on things, send emails and do other various things which you could only do on a computer anywhere I want, making it much more efficient to finish my work.

The QWERTY keyboard is something uncommon with smart phones as they often utilise the touch screen or pull it off very badly. The blackberry, however, pulls it off extremely smoothly. The keyboard is easy to use, it gets easy to type fast and the buttons are pressed quite easily and high accuracy isn’t needed as buttons are a considerate size. Being the extremely fast, competent and touch typist that I am, the QWERTY keyboard makes using the phone so much easier as a QWERTY keyboard is something my fingers are very much used to.

WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities make it easier to transfer files and use the internet. While most blackberry contract offers come with internet, the use of WiFi along with the blackberry internet makes it so much faster. WiFi also is used to connect to various computers, blackberrys and other world-wide connections related to the internet. The Bluetooth capabilities are also quite useful. They allow me to transfer files with my friends. This makes me or my friends not feel left out. If my friend sees that I have a Pokemon game on my blackberry, being the big nerd I am, then he’ll be desperate to get it as well simply out of pure jealousy and the need to conform, seeing as Pokemon grew quite popular among blackberries. This need to conform makes him desire the game on his blackberry and this is what Bluetooth does. It lets this hypothetical friend get his Pokemon and it works like this for me. If I see something my friends have, the human urge to conform kicks in and I want it, I need it. And this is the need Bluetooth provides, it lets me transfer from mobile to mobile. Extremely efficient and easy as I don’t have to go back to the source to find it or download it as a slow speed.

As mentioned before, Blackberry has an e-mail service. This lets you receive and send emails. Better yet, you can even open and send attachments. This extremely useful feature is one that is new as most phones can’t handle emails and bigger things. This makes it easy to organise your cyber life and/or important events and find out straight away when something urgent, important or fun has happened in your life. And this is how it helps me. I can find out when my college interviews are by simply going onto my email. I can also send my work to myself via email from my blackberry if there is a problem with my computer.

Applications are what bring out the potential of the blackberry. There are thousands of things it can do with applications, from viewing the weather to seeing movie reviews with Flixster. Applications are one of the greatest advantages for the blackberry and let me do a lot of different things. I can talk to my friends from anywhere on MSN, check my Facebook wherever I go, post a tweet on my Twitter and various other things. My favourite application would be mobireader, an eReader that can be used to view PDF files. I can download PDF files and put them onto my blackberry, eliminating the purpose of books. I can carry lots of PDF files in my blackberry which is much easier than carrying the same amount of books. I can read them anywhere I want on my blackberry. The only problem is the size and the need to stare into the screen of a mobile. For people with bad eyesight, this may be a problem. However, for someone like me, it’s perfect. My eyes are adjusted to electronic screens from the hours and hours of abstaining from social contact and instead feeding my eyes the hypnotic pixels projected from my desktop monitor. Indeed, it was glorious. After years of using technology,  I find it easy to stare into an electronic gadget and thus, reading books off my blackberry is perfect.  

Disadvantages (How it does not meet my needs)

However, with advantages come disadvantages. First and foremost is the most obvious and helpless one. The blackberry, while being a useful little gadget, is also a massive distraction; distraction from work, study and anything that can be procrastinated upon.  How vulnerable you are to its distraction depends on your will and motivation to do your work and when that will is for something as elongated and pointless as writing about ‘technology’ you use and how bad or good it is, then it is very easy to get distracted. The allure of brick-breaker is too much, I’d say. The only improvement to avoid distraction is not with the blackberry but with your own mind. Focus on your work, Sadian. Focus.

It is also quite an expensive piece of technology. By itself, it might not seem too daunting compared to the pricey iPads, HTCs, Androids and other smart phones they’re selling but your mouth will drop and your eyebrows will furrow once you see the astounding bill it can add up to. The blackberry needs a monthly payment for its e-mail service, internet and applications. These can add up to quite a hefty sum. But with children and their peer pressure and their need to conform to what’s the norm, they’ll just keep on pestering until they get one, making their parents’ money disappear like a cake at fat camp.

The blackberry also makes you quite vulnerable to theft. The common image of a blackberry associates you with money making you a good target for mugging. If someone saw you carrying a blackberry rather than a phone worth less than a tenner, they’d be more enticed to steal from you. For someone like me who gets out his blackberry in the middle of the street and starts playing a game while walking—occasionally bumping into the ol’ lamppost—it can make me an easy target for thieves.

From my own experience, the blackberry has a battery life that is vanquished quite quickly. Although it may not be due to the power of the battery but more-so the amount of power the programs on the blackberry take. The blackberry uses advanced programs to run which can take more power than what the battery usually handles. While the battery life may not be necessarily short, the blackberry uses a lot of power thus making the battery life really short. This can lead to the battery dying out which weakens its battery life making it run out even faster. The main problem here is the power the blackberry uses along with the numerous programs left to run in the background.

The blackberry’s advanced and powerful programs also cause the problem of freezing/crashing. The blackberry has access to a lot of unstable programs which causes it to freeze. You can lose important data this way as you have to take out the battery to turn it off. This means that any unsaved work will be lost. If no work is lost, then it isn’t too much of a problem if you weren’t doing anything important but the thing that makes this a much bigger problem is the time it takes to turn back on. It takes a few minutes to turn on and while this may not be too much of a problem at first, it turns into a problem once the blackberry freezes. If you have something important to do, expecting a phone call or something else, you’d have to wait for the phone to turn on thus possibly wasting time or missing an important phone call.

The amount of programs available can also slow down the blackberry. Compared to the likes of the iPhone, HTC or an android, the blackberry isn’t a particularly powerful running smartphone. So, when it uses powerful programs, as well as using a lot of battery it also slows down considerably. This makes it hard to work efficiently.

 Summary of advantages

  • Allows you to send and receive texts and calls from all over the world
  • Comes with a track pad
  • Send and receive files
  • Browse the internet
  • View/take pictures and videos with a 2 MP camera
  • Allows you to listen to music
  • Portable
  • Full QWERTY keyboard makes it easy and fast to type
  • WiFi capabilities
  • Bluetooth capabilities
  • Blackberry e-mail service allows you to receive and send emails, even letting you open attachments
  • Own world-wide chat service—Blackberry messenger
  • Extremely strong and has high endurance to being dropped, highest of all its competitors
  • Expendable memory, e.g. via Micro SD cards whereas a direct competitor like the iPhone has fixed memory
  • Lots of apps such as MSN, Facebook, Skype
  • Apps can be extremely useful, such as an eReader

Summary of disadvantages

  • Distractive
  • Expensive
  • Easy target for theft
  • Takes a lot of battery to use
  • Can crash/freeze a lot
  • Takes a while to turn off
  • OS system can slow down often

Conclusion

Overall, the blackberry has a lot of advantages. Its main advantage is the vast range of thins it can do including its ability to browse the internet, use complex applications or programs used usually on a computer and its ability to use the e-mail service. However, it fades in comparison to more luxury smart phones. Its power is nothing to brag about and it runs quite weak compared to something like the iPhone. While you do get what you paid for, the expense through bills and periodical payment of its services make it much less equivalent. Stick with another smart phone unless you desperately want it for social means e.g. blackberry messenger.

        Windows Live Messenger (MSN)

The computer has access to many different programs and software and one of the most useful and frequently used would be instant messaging programs such as MSN. MSN or ‘Windows Live Messenger’ is a Microsoft created program and often works in correlation to Windows Live Hotmail as well as the other ‘Windows Li ve’ programs. MSN works by connecting to other MSN users via their email. You can call or video call, share images, music or other files, share information, play games or just converse with text. Using MSN, I can make friends from all over the world and socialise with my current friends without needing to get off my lazy ass or do something silly like actively participating in ‘real life’. Who needs that when you have the vast internet, right? Wrong, perhaps you need a reality check and see how unattractive you look building up those rolls around your stomach and sitting in the dark tapping on the keyboard all day  in your mother’s basement with various pizza boxes lying everywhere. The sad fact is I’m presumably talking my future self. How pathetic. But pardon me, I do digress, it gets a little boring typing mechanically on lifeless, no personality topics on how a piece of technology ‘meets my needs’. Something that doesn’t really require any real thought or inquisitiveness but merely recycling what people find on the internet. Back to the topic at hand.  

With just this little program, I can send calls, video calls, play games and do lots of other things with anyone over the world, as long as they had any access to MSN all completely free. It makes a very convenient and efficient program to use and saves a lot of time.

How it affects my needs

Advantages (How it meets my needs)

The first and biggest advantage of MSN is its main feature—instant messaging. Instant messaging is different from texting, emails and similar types of communication. It gives exactly what its name implies: the ability to send messages instantly. There is no time wasted on sending a message using a signal or reception, it simply goes to the person at a seemingly instantaneous speed and with all you have to do is type a message and press enter. The efficiency of instant message is vastly astounding and saves a lot of time. I can talk to my friends as if I am talking to them in real life. I save time with having to send emails or text messages along with waiting for it to send and waiting for a slow reply by just conversing in instant messages. And it’s not just limited to the country. I can instant message people all over the world. I can find out about other country cultures, meet people of different countries of habitation and expand my knowledge on the world. This is something that would usually cost a lot to do via phone but is something MSN can do for free.

I can also video call people completely free using nothing more than a webcam and microphone. I can see how my family are doing over in Bangladesh and how my nephews and nieces are growing up, something that I usually would have no chance of seeing. I can form a long-distance relationship if I wanted to with a girl much easier as we’d be able to keep in contact with video calls, allowing us to see each other despite being long distance, not that I’d do something like that. I can show off my various different hair styles to my friends and have them gloat at how attractive I look, without having to be with me to see the ultimate perfection that is me (I wish). In other words, I can talk to people as if they were actually there, thus even more modernising the world, all for free. Now that we’ve advanced so much in so little time, it’s not long till the need to act in real life is completely overruled by the virtual world. What’s next? Virtual reality? Technology that use all 5 of the senses? A kid can dream. But with MSN and what it is in current stages is quite something to marvel at itself. It saves me time and is efficient in showing things off and rekindling old relationships or maintaining one.

Join now!

Having overprotective parents limits how much I’m allowed to call or text due to the fact that they can see how much I use and who I call. MSN not only takes away this limit but makes it completely free. It gives me privacy to do what I want and is completely free for what otherwise takes money to do.

MSN is also quite easy to install, barely even taking a full minute. It’s simply a ‘Yes, yes, next, finish’ approach, no complexity involved. This lets even the most technically impaired people to join MSN, giving it a wide community ...

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