Technology Fast, did it really happen???

Just recently my college class decided to do a little "social experiment" amoungst ourselves. This was a technology fast where we were to try and give up various forms of technology for 48 hours. this included mobile phones, internet and e-mail. We were to judge ourselves on our performance to see how we could get on. Not too many participated in the end for various reasons, due to work commitments, knowing that they just could not do with out these forms of technology to others who just werent bothered.

In the end i think 2 girls said they competed the challenge of not using their mobile phones, the internet or their e-mails. Fair play to them for giving it a go and succeding, i don't think i would have survived the time if i had tried it my self but at the same time it would have been a bit of fun to give it a lash!!!

so it goes to prove that even though we are so dependent on technology these day, such as never goin anywhere without our mobile phones, it can be done if you really want to do it.

My DkIT

Wow, where do i start!!! Dundalk IT has been a huge part of my life for the last four years and i'm sure it will be an influence for many years to come even after i am long gone for the college.

In less than 2 and a half weeks i will have sat my last exam and will be preparing to head home and start the next phase of my life, life after college and education, and i can't wait. Don't get me wrong i have had a great time in college and have some amazing memories but i'm ready to move on to the next thing, to the next challenge in my life.

My college life has changed drastically from first year till 4th year. When i started in college in September 2006 i didn't know a soul in the college. Not one person was i know to but things change don't they. I now have such an array of friends, some who i have had since that very first day and other i have met since. Friends from all walks of life, from my class, friends of friends, randomly met people, people i have lived with and people i have given all for on the hurling field. yes i have some amazing friends from this place, some that i know i will never leave behind.

Now times haven't always been the laugh of my life, from exams to assignments and arguments and disagreement's, to those terrible but unmistakable Dundalk Hangovers!!!! But that what makes the good times so much better, when the sun comes out(on the odd occasion), to those sessions in the bar, to work placement in Florida or even just a spin in the car.

Over my four years i have loved and lost and loved again, been up and down from the highs of representing and Captaining the college Hurling Team to the championship final, to failing economics in first year and having to repeat in August!!!!

There are far to many things for me to cover in this little blog but i have memories that will never leave me, thanks to all who have impacted on my life during my time in Dundalk IT and a huge thanks to all the lecturers who have dragged us all kicking and screaming from nieave little teenagers in first year to, well i hope grown up and mature adults........

All The Best To Class Of 2010(",

The World Of Mobile Commerce

Mobile Commerce is growing at a tramendous rate in recent years. such revolutionary items like iPods and iPads along with such advances as web 2.0 and 3G technology are all leading the way forward for the development of technolofy and devleoping the world of Mobile Commerce. Other advances in wireless technology such as wi-fi, broadband and WiMax have made the connecting between all the different forms of esuipment from mobile phones and computers all the easier and faster.

Such technology has a huge role to play on a number of different industries in a variety of different ways. Different industries such as the hospitality business have and can benefit greatly from the development of mobile commerce.

Mobile commerce has made such tasks as booking a hotel room to booking in a tour group or a dinner little or no bother. These booking have been able to be made via a desktop computer for a good while now but more recently the developments in Wi-fi and wireless devices make it much easier and faster and allow the possibility of making such booking or enquirers while on the move or away from the office or desktop computer.

This development of mobile commerce will constatntyly have a big impact on the hospitality industry as this industry continues to grow and develop and all advances in technology can benefit the over all company as well as the general day to day running of the industry.

eBay

The Phenomenon that is Ebay:

A Brief History of Ebay:

What we now know as eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar's in his San Jose living room back in September 1995. It was from the start meant to be a marketplace for the sale of goods and services for individuals.

In 1998, Pierre and his cofounder Jeff Skoll brought in Meg Whitman to sustain the success. Meg had studied at the Harvard Business School and had learned the importance of branding at companies such as Hasbro.

Meg culled her senior staff from companies such as Pepsi co and Disney, created an experienced management team with an average of 20 years of business experience and built a strong vision for the company -- that eBay is a company that's in the business of connecting people, not selling them things.

eBay quickly shed the image of only auctioning collectibles and moved into an array of upscale markets where the average sale price (ASP) is higher. ASP is a key metric in determining eBay's transaction fees, so increasing the ASP became an important item. By forging partnerships with name brands such as GM, Disney and Sun, eBay has managed to do exactly that. Sun has sold $10 million worth of equipment and it now lists between 20 and 150 items per day.

http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~magnus/ief248a/eBay/history.html

eBay is today one of the leading companies in the world and in my opinion a fantastic creation. It is such an easy way to look for different items from antiques to an item that is no longer in production. I myself have recently succumb to its uses and benefits over the many negatives that people feel surround eBay and buying items that may have been used and not being able to see and touch the item before they buy it.

For many years I have been aware of eBay but was afraid to buy on line. I was put off by the air of uncertainty surrounding the quality of the item you were buying, it still in working condition, is it still working and are you buying what you think you are buying. One of my main fears was that the item may never arrive in the post and I would have no way of getting my money back....

Many, many times I logged on to eBay and had a look at what they had and what I wanted to buy but I wasn’t anywhere near brave enough to purchase. But just as recently as last Christmas when I was looking for a present for my girlfriend and I couldn’t find it anywhere else so I eventually was talked into trying it by a friend who had used the sight on many different occasions with positive results.

Since this day I have bought several presents and even bought new parts for my damaged iPhone, including new parts that I just ordered at the start of the week!!

I feel websites such as eBay and even sites as Amazon are the way forward and that we shouldn’t be afraid of them with such payment systems as Pay-Pal in place to ensure customer security and safety.

Viva eBay(“,

World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium also known as W3C. IT was started by the inventor of the world wide web Tim Berners-Lee. W3C has a very important role to play in the development of the World Wide Web. Its main goals and aims is to control the level of accessibility of internet sites for everyone. it is advised that all websites in the world hold their websites to these standards so allow all users the necessary level of accessibility that they deserve. It has the backing of many different leading players in the industry such as Microsoft and Apple.

The Following case study is a prime example of what can happen to an organisation who don't live up to these standards and the negative effect it can have on the people:

"A summary of the seminal case relating to Inaccessible Websites and Disability Discrimination Legislation

In June 1999 Bruce Maguire lodged a complaint with the Human Rights & Equal Opportunities Commission under the Australian Disability Discrimination Act. His complaint was that he was being discriminated against because he could not access the contents of the Olympic Games website.

As a highly skilled user of a refreshable Braille display he was used to being able to access the content of web pages, however, he was unable to access important content on the Olympic Games website.

He won the case, but the Olympic Committee did not make the required changes, and subsequently he was awarded $20,000 dollars in compensation.

The Olympic Games website contained the following accessibility issues:

• There were no labels on images or imagemaps.
• There was no access to the index of sport pages from the schedule page
• The contents of the results table were inaccessible.

The Olympic Committee defence

SOCOG said that:

• The issues with the alt attributes had been solved - and that labels had been added to all images.
• The sports pages could be accessed via an alternative route, i.e., by typing in URLs to the pages.
• The site was not subject to the act because it was 'promotional'.
• The site was too big and to make the website accessible would entail 'unjustifiable hardship'.
• It would require additional infrastructure, time and resources costing $2.2 million.
• 1, 295 templates would need to be altered.
• One person working 8 hours per day would take over a year to fix the problems.

SOCAG reasons were not accepted

All of the above reasons where conclusively repudiated by Australian Authorities and expert witnesses.

The Human Rights Committee did not agree that the site was only promotional and said that it was a service provided during the Sydney Olympic Games.

The Commission found that having to access pages by typing in a long URL did not constitute equal treatment,

"The proposed alternative is both unorthodox and cumbersome and need not be resorted to by a sighted person."

Expert witnesses dismissed the arguments related to the site being too big to change; i.e., they refuted the claim that the cost, complexity and time involved would mean unjustifiable hardship for SOCOG.

Expert witnesses concluded that,

• Changes would take a developer with 4-10 helpers four weeks.
• Only 394 templates would be required.
• No new infrastructure would be required.
• The cost of making the site accessible would be modest.
• Accessibility tags are not different from other tags, therefore, would not take any longer to add.

Expert witness Tom Worthington, expressed the view that the corrections would take less time than the time which was consumed talking about it.

SOCOG lost the case and were ordered to make changes by adding alt attributes, providing access to the Sports pages and making the results tables accessible. They refused to comply and were fined $20,000 (Australian dollars).

The Commission found that Bruce Maguire had been discriminated against and that the attitude of SOCOG - who had not taken the complaint seriously - had caused 'considerable feelings of hurt, humiliation and rejection'.

The Maguire v the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games set a worldwide precedent relating to the requirement for websites to be accessible in countries with similar disability discrimination legislation."

NAMA, What A Joke!!!

“The National Asset Management Agency”, was first signalled by the Finance Minister in April last year and is aimed at cleaning up the banking system by taking property-linked loans off their balance sheets.

NAMA is going to cover five banks: AIB, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank, EBS and Irish Nationwide. Figures given in the NAMA business plan estimated the paper value of the loans to be taken from banks at €77 billion, for which NAMA will pay around €54 billion. An exact figure will not be known for sometime.

Each loan will be valued separately, taking into account the quality of the collateral and the likelihood of getting a return. Over time, NAMA hopes to manage and then sell off the property to get its money back. The NAMA legislation gives the agency extensive powers, and limits the opportunities to legally challenge its work. The Government is keen to stress that the developers who borrowed the money in the first place will still be liable for the full cost of the original loan, and will be pursued by NAMA if they default.

Alright, that is what NAMA technically is and its aim's. Personally its a joke in my opinion, not what it is and its aims as it is needed but the fact that the banks were allowed get so in over their heads and need to be bailed out by the government. This is such an unfair situation to leave the Irish people in as so much time and money is being tied up in NAMA.

Am i wrong or am i right, how could these banks be allowed to get into such a bad negative situation, these so called "Executives" who were in charge of these banks, they should have to pay for what they have done, they shouldn't be allowed get away with it for a second, this should be the governments chance to show that they aren't a load of over paid clowns in power nd get the finger out and make them pay!!!

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing, a subject not known to many!! In todays market place there is a huge market for such advertising as people use the internet more and more especially through such search engines as Google, Yahoo and the most recent one on the market, Bing.

This form of advertising is growing and growing fast and sooner or later will be a leading form in advertising as everyone gets on the band wagon.

Personally it means very little to me as i rarely ever look at these links but at the same time i have clicked on them many times by mistake. This has lead to the advertising company being charged as i did click on the link. other then that is so far hasn't affected me and i don't know how likely it is to in the future.

Is is likely to be the new and most "hip" form of advertising as the internet popularity continues to grow and it is very unlikely to diminish in the near future!!