Monday 26 November 2012

Online Entertainment


Online Entertainment
Online social entertainment blends entertaining interactive functionality and content including live video streaming, video chat communications, multi-player gaming, music and videos streaming, with social networking service such as social graph management, forums, reviews, ratings, and geo-location options. It is the foundation for a more immersive, interactive, enriching and engaging content consumption experience through social channels.  Social entertainment is distinct from social networking websites in that the former is based fundamentally on immersive engaging experiences with functionality, content and people, while the latter is based primarily on building and maintaining relationships with other users. Typically, social entertainment is defined by the individual sites dedicated to a particular type of entertainment experience incorporating basic social networking services.

Online Television and Radio    
TV and Radio catch up services such as BBC iPlayer, 4od and ITV Player have changed the way people watch TV and listen to radio. In this day and age more people tend to wait for TV shows to get onto the online catch up sites before they watch them as it is much more convenient for them to watch it whenever they want to. This eliminates the need to watch programmes as they are aired on TV. It is an extremely useful service for everyone to use and allows anyone to catch up on TV no matter what programmes they watch. The graph below shows how the amount of requests on these sites has grown over the last 2 years.

The best thing about these services is that they do not require a television; you can simply use and device with an internet connection to access them.  The other great thing is that as long as you are only watching the programmes after they have been broadcast then you do not need a TV license to do so. This is a brilliant advantage to the service and makes it practical for students at university. However you do need a TV license if you are watching TV programmes as they are broadcast live. There are disadvantages with this service such as the possibility of using illegal unofficial sites that may give you a virus. Another disadvantage is that if you own an old computer downloading the software needed to run some of these programmes can slow your computer down drastically. I always use these catch up services to watch programmes that I have missed and find it especially useful if I forget to record a programme as it is always available to watch.

Advantages of Online Television and Radio
·         It is a little more convenient- as you can watch or listen to the TV programme or radio station whenever you want.
·         Don’t have to worry about missing the shows you want to watch as they will constantly be there on the internet.
·         Also the internet may show things online which you may not receive on normal television or radio- this means you would receive more than you would have expected.
·         You can watch TV online at any time of the day or night

Disadvantages of Online Television and Radio
·         The main disadvantage of online television and radio would be that you would need an internet constantly for using these facilities.
·         This is quite expensive to obtain, therefore may put people off of doing it.
·         It also takes up internet bandwidth. Some TV programs are geographically restricted, if you view from official sites. Other sites are illegal and can come and go. Illegal sites can put you at risk of viruses and malware.
·         Some online TV channels might not work on certain computers or may involve an instalment of a programme that may be unwanted

I personally do use online television but not really radio. I tend to stick to the websites which are more reliable like: BBC iPlayer , 4OD and ITV Player, and not any others. I do this because I am very much aware of the effect viruses and malware can have on my computer. Therefore I would not want to put it at risk of this.




Online Music
Online music services are available to everyone that has internet access and there is a huge market including some of the leaders of the market iTunes, Spotify and YouTube. All of these services allow music playback although in different ways. Spotify is a free music streaming service with over 15million songs for the customer to choose from. It is possible to search through a range of different elements as well as create playlists of your favourite songs. The free version of the service is supported by visual and radio advertising; however it is possible to purchase the “Unlimited” service that is ad-free and allows unlimited plays of every song for £4.99 a month or even better the “Premium” service for £9.99 a month – the more expensive service offers everything that the unlimited service offers with the option to use the service on mobile devices such as iPhone and Blackberry. All these different options mean Spotify is suitable for everyone. Advantages of this service are that the free version allows you to listen to any song for free and could help to eliminate piracy. However the disadvantages of this service are that you do not own the song unless you pay to download it. Also it costs to pay for the “Premium” service allowing you to take the music anywhere. This means you still have to download songs in order to have them on your iPod or other device. I enjoy using Spotify as it is easy to use and means I do not have to spend loads of money on downloading songs every week or so, however I would prefer it if it was possible to have it on your mobile phone without having to pay money for it.   


The iTunes Store is a music download service. It was the original music download service although competitors such as Amazon and Tesco have rivalled the prices charged by the Apple run company to gain some of the custom. It allows you to download almost any song with a growing catalogue of over 18,000,000 songs there is not much that you cannot find – this is obviously an advantage of the service. In October 2011 the store experienced its 16billionth downloaded song. An advantage of the service is that it is cheaper to download a song than to go to the shop and buy the CD. It also means you can buy one song off an album in most cases instead of buying every song. A disadvantage of the service is that you have to download the iTunes software in order to buy songs through the iTunes store. Another disadvantage is that in order to use the songs you have brought your computer must be verified however you are only allowed to verify a certain amount of computers so you are limited to the amount of places you can play the music. I use iTunes when I want to download music however the prices are expensive so I try not to use it too much.







YouTube has become a regular part of everyday life for many people and is one of the most used entertainment services worldwide. It is a service that allows you to upload, view and share videos.  Enough material for 115,000 full length films is uploaded each week. This said the quality of these videos it not really at the same standards as feature length films. YouTube can give opportunities to people wishing to share their talents with the world whether it is as a singer, dancer, photographer, or film director. Justin Bieber was discovered through YouTube videos he posted and it was from there that he became the international superstar that he is today. This shows as well as YouTube being a great source of entertainment it can also be a great platform to your talents or views out to the world. The entertainment on YouTube can be found in a huge range of ways from video blogs to comedy videos. It is a diverse, multi lingual source of entertainment and in a completely different league to most entertainment sources. An advantage of this service is that it is completely free to use and you can have unlimited use of the service. Another advantage is that there are loads of videos to choose from and enough material to keep you entertained for ages. This can also be seen as a disadvantage as it is difficult to find something worth watching, so unless you know what exactly you are looking for you can end up spending ages looking for something decent to watch. I have posted videos before however not very often – the service is easy to use and it takes you step by step through the upload process. I use YouTube for watching music videos though you cannot make playlists easily so I use Spotify on more occasions. 

YouTube vs. Spotify
What is YouTube?
YouTube is a non-profit based website that allows video clips to be uploaded and then shared and streamed by millions worldwide; also being a default app on iPhones. YouTube has been the starting point of many singing careers and helped others gain a name for them; good or bad. When signing up to an account you can then subscribe to other peoples 'channels' and therefore can find their videos very easily. YouTube was created by the PayPal employers in 2005 and was then sold to Google Inc. in 2006 for 1.65 billion dollars; since then YouTube has become popular worldwide. But why? Since the laws of the computer misuse act came about in 1990 the copying of music has become harder and the access to music even worse; unless bought on CD. YouTube is therefore the saviour of music as it allows people to stream songs and can even help the music industry as it can be used as a promoter and prompter for a single to be bought.


What is Spotify?
Spotify is also a website for streaming music, but differently to YouTube, Spotify is a program download rather than online website. It is free to download and uses email and password as a login to the software. It isn't a video website but is an mp3 streamer containing thousands of different albums on and a wide range of genres. It was created in 2008 and now can be loaded on to iPhone as an app, great for sharing music online. Spotify has a free version which offers limited streaming but also has two other paid versions of £4.99 a month or £9.99 a month, these offers things such as unlimited streaming and no advertisements. Spotify is great for musical enjoyment at home.

Which is the best?
I have to sway with the majority of people and choose YouTube as the favourite simply because it offers the most entertainment with documentary, music, DVD trailers, and personal uploads and much more.

Advantages of Online Music
·         Provides quick and instant listening.
·         You do not have to pay to listen to song on Spotify or YouTube.
·         A lot more practical for everyday life, as you will not have every single song you love on a CD.
·         These services are there 24/7.

Disadvantages of Online Music
·         You still need an internet connection to use the online music facilities- which in the long run is expensive.
·         Uses up quite a big chunk of internet bandwidth.
·         Opens up your computer to viruses, malware etc.
·         Some software may have to be downloaded in order to use the facilities; this may not be wanted by some computer users.

I do personally use several online music facilities. But the main ones I stick to are YouTube, Spotify and iTunes. This I because they are such well-known companies that it is extremely unlikely that I will become prone to viruses and malware from using them. If I did somehow get virus threats on my computer from using these sites, then my ‘AVG 2012 security’ would tell me immediately and try to rectify the problem.

Online Gaming    
Online Gaming is popular worldwide and games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life have become addictions to millions of people. Some people play games online occasionally for entertainment, others can get addicted and lead their lives by the games. Second Life is a virtual online world that allows you to have a complete life online with the option to socialise as well as other things; it even has its own economy with real currency! For some people this second life can become reality and they can spend all their real money buying the money in Second Life and buying additional downloads to the game. It allows people to interact with others and also gives the opportunities for those who are socially awkward to be someone they are not normally which is an advantage however for the same reason it is so easy to be someone you’re not that it could be a security risk therefore a disadvantage. Many could also argue that games like these are potentially unhealthy as people could become too absorbed by them, this is again a disadvantage.  This is particularly true if people invest a lot of money into games such as these by buying the additional features. However it is possible to make money from games like Second Life – a woman who played the game set up a virtual shop selling clothes for people to buy for their avatars and ended up leaving her job to fully concentrate on the business she had created through the game as it meant she was making four times her original salary. The good thing is games such as these don’t just offer entertainment but can help the economy and offer more jobs. I have never used online games like this although I can see why they would be popular.



Advantages of Online Gaming
·         They improve your decision making skills.
·         Develop problem solving skills
·         Increase you creativity levels
·         Increase your social/ interaction skills

Disadvantages of Online Gaming
·         Online gaming can become an extremely desired and significant component in one’s life. In such scenarios, the individual affected will often neglect his/her professional, educational and personal obligations overall. As a result, the individual undergoes a change in his/her overall attitude towards daily experiences.
·         Online gaming can also instil aggressive characteristics in children and teenagers who frequently associate themselves with violent internet gaming. Youngsters can develop negative attitudes towards their general surroundings. As a result they may undergo difficulty in maintaining positive relationships overall.

I do personally use online gaming as a hobby; as a break from school work. It is a good way for me to relax and enjoy some time by myself. I don’t however spend excessive amounts of time playing online games as I feel my education prioritises over video games.  

Piracy
Piracy is a serious problem when it comes to online entertainment such as music and movies. It is an illegal activity but that does not stop millions of people in the UK alone repeatedly doing it. It seems almost impossible to stamp out piracy however hard anybody tries. When piracy occurs people are not paying for the things they are downloading and it is pretty much stealing, you may as well walk into a shop and steal it. However because it is all online it seems people become immoral and do not realise what they’re doing. It is said to cost the music and film industries millions of pounds every year and means the people creating the entertainment do not get paid for it. This could lead to films and music not being made – after all there seems no point if people are not making a living from it. This is a major disadvantage to all online entertainment services. However services such as iTunes and Spotify are helping to give an alternative to piracy, which is a definite benefit of these particular services. Adverts are often played on Spotify reminding you that piracy is wrong. In cinemas they now also have adverts that explain the consequences of piracy and thank you for paying to come to watch the film. These adverts are a positive thing and should help reduce and eliminate piracy. 

Sunday 18 November 2012

Download Services


Download Services
Download services are the features that the internet makes available for interactive self-use. There is a large difference between Download Services and Entertainment services online as a download service has to be ‘downloaded’ to a user’s own hard drive.
Music   

Downloaded from online websites such as Amazon or software such as iTunes. People download songs as it therefore means the can buy individual songs rather than whole albums; although this is also available.  It is cheaper to buy music from a downloading service as packaging and posting is unnecessary, this also reduces costs for the producers. Music is set in formats such as MP3, WAV and many more. Originally many used MVP but as time and technology has evolved many iPod’s, Walkman and other music devices support all kinds of data formats and some even play MP4; this takes a much larger memory space and therefore small devices hold a lot of information. 

If the download is on iTunes it automatically saves to the iTunes music player and can be played and kept safe on the software.  Streaming music is also an asset of the music although it is only available to play on the computer and is not stored onto the computer hard drive, but put into a buffer to be played.


Software  
Full programs and updates, free or paid, this could be security systems and other important software. Hardware check-ups, software such as adobe photo shop, and in the illegal stream software such as ‘LimeWire’.
Popular examples of Download Software:
·         iTunes (Free)- music storage and purchase software
·         Microsoft Office– Can be bought online and is great for documentation
·         Adobe (Photoshop)- one of the best pieces of software for picture editing
·         AVG anti-virus– it is important to protect your PC and this software is payable per year giving full protection


Videos   
Videos can be bought and downloaded similarly from websites and online stores like iTunes. These can be downloaded in HD or normal play and are often cheaper than buying the disk brand new. They are updated regularly and feature all new released movies. Recently I bought a film called ‘the girl who played with fire’ and this cost me £9.99, whereas in store it would be £13.99. Video downloading does not just have to be movies and entertainment. Documentaries and other educational videos can be done in the same process. Although this takes up the computer hard drive, most computers are bought with a substantial hard drive to be a sufficient for multiple films.

Books    

Books are a new feature to online download services and devices such as the 'Kindle' can be bought to read these books. They can be bought from sites such as 'iTunes' and is a new revolution to save wasting paper and money. It is cheaper for both the publisher and buyer as less effort has to go into creating the book. In my opinion this is a good idea as it is also eco-friendly.

The Kindle    

The Kindle is a portable e-Book reader that has wireless connectivity features so that a user can browse the web, shop and download e-Books to be read on the Kindle. The Kindle also has features so that newspapers, documents, magazines and a lot more of reading material can be read through the device.
The new Kindle is called the Kindle 3, but what makes it such a good electronic device?
·         It has a larger screen– this means books will be easier to read and benefits those with less efficient eyesight.
·         It can either be bought with just the Wi-Fi function or with 3G as well. – Therefore with 3G internet connectivity will be available always and on the go. The Kindle has been designed to be attractive and therefore this draws in a lot of custom
·         It has a Lithium Polymer Battery which means that the battery life will last a lot longer and is rechargeable too.
·         Internal memory is now 4 GB which is the equivalent to a lot of books!
·         The Kindle 3 is shorter and narrower by 0.5in both ways.
Facts:
·         Kindle applications are available for Windows, iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 7.
·         The ratio of Kindle books to paperback is 115:100 meaning the Kindle is selling out fractionally better.





Entertainment Services are the features available for use online, these are not stored on a personal hard drive and that is where they differ to download services.
Streaming TV for entertainment services  

Streaming TV is available for most channels 24/7. It offers TV from the past seven days, and older TV programs are often available on YouTube (if they are worth being uploaded). This is free and means that if a TV program is missed or two programs are on at once, TV can be watched online. It is easy to stream and doesn't take any time at all; this can differ on the internet speed though. IPlayer is an example of TV streaming. I have used iPlayer many times before for catching up on TV soaps such as 'Eastenders'. The website offers programmes for all people, including children's shows. There are not many disadvantages of iPlayer as the website is very secure and the only problem could be people may try and record these files to download, keep and share.

Listen again for entertainment services

Listen again is a feature often available from a radio station website to be able to replay a previous show that was broadcasted in the last few days. These are streamed and not downloaded, therefore cannot be kept or copied to an mp3. They aren't as popular as listening to radio stations live, but if popular songs and news was in a certain show, the access is there to be able to listen to it. Although I have never used the feature it helps to make a radio station popular as it gives the listener what they want constantly. I use ‘kiss100’ and I know they also offer this feature for the previous week.


 










Radio stations for entertainment  
Radio stations have websites online that can be streamed at any point of the day; these include digital radio stations that often aren't available on normal radio players. By having access online it is extremely beneficial to the station as their listeners will increase a lot, and the listener gets access to whatever station they like. Disadvantages can be that a lot of pirate stations are made and it can slow down a lot of computers if they don't have the right computer space and technology. I often listen to Kiss 100 as it has a lot of new music and if I cannot afford to buy any songs I don't have to go without music. Within my household the computer is often used for radio play and my laptop too.

Gaming for entertainment services  
Gaming is the largest industry of technology. Online there are millions of sites which have free games on; these games are often arcade style games and can become very addictive. There are educational games available which are popular for lessons and revision at school.


 





Advantages and Disadvantages of Download Services:

Advantages:
·         By being able to download media and information from the internet a whole new world of entertainment is opened to those who may be unable to visit and shop to purchase such software.
·         It reduces the costs of purchasing goods that have packaging and no disk and/or casing is needed.
·         It saves time of going out and buying the media.
·         It can help websites such as the iStore make millions of pounds, promoting artists, authors and film companies. 
Disadvantages:
·         Ever since there has been download services available online, piracy has rocketed and torrents and websites have every type of software available for free. Statistics show that 7.4 million internet users in the UK have downloaded music knowingly from unauthorised services on the internet.
·         Less money is made by the producers of the music.
·         Artwork may not be available on products.

Sunday 11 November 2012

Online Banking


                                                                              
Online Banking       

Online banking is the virtual world of banking, where access is available to find out information from any computer at any time. It offers features such as checking transactions, applying for different bank cards, loans, share schemes, ways to save and much more. Online banking has been available since 1995 and is growing and advancing everyday becoming a more popular way of finding out important information and dealing with problems or changes.
  There are many useful features and services available online besides the usual transactions. For example, it is possible to apply for credit cards, manage investments, and pay bills through your online account portal. You can also perform more mundane tasks such as ordering new cheques, requesting additional deposit slips, or reporting a lost or stolen debit card. These features open up the virtual world of the future, which will save money for banks as fewer buildings will be needed and furthermore less paper will be needed for documentation.
Internet banking has many benefits including:
It saves time as a simple login is needed from a computer to access bank balances compared to having to travel to an ATM machine.
More time to look for best possible scheme for the individual.
Manage money at the suited time of the user. Instead of having to adjust your personal schedule to conform to the restrictive hours of branch offices, you can check your balance and perform most transactions online from the comfort of your home.
24 hour help and support is available.
Pay bills. This is useful as it can be done at convenience of a person’s own home and bank buildings often have irrational opening hours which can mean payments are made late; the internet prevents this.
Other services such as car insurance are available, and quotes can be quickly obtained online, this is beneficial for the bank and user.
Keep track of account all the time.

Internet banking has some downfalls including:
Phishing occurs a lot and this means personal data and money can be stolen from bank accounts quite frequently. Banks try to prevent this by having strong security with pin numbers, secret questions, pass phrases, passwords and now I.D numbers. An I.D number consists of choosing a ten character word and upon sign in the website bank will ask for say 'character 3' and other choices. This is the strongest prevention of fraud so far.
If your bank operates only online or simply does not have a branch office in your local area, you will not be able to reach a representative in person for discussion of account issues. Normally this is not a problem, but sometimes customer service by telephone or email can be spotty and may prove to be more of a hassle if you have a serious issue that is not easily resolved. Some banks are better than others in this department.
Not all services are available online and this can mean if a branch isn't local, people may not be able to solve some problems or be able to carry out a transaction; this at the worst case could lead to being in trouble with the bank and government with being in debt.

EGG    
A normal bank would usually have an online site and a shop in store, however there are banks that operate entirely online such as egg, which started back in 1998 and has grown since. They have a large number of customers but a very low number of employees simply because they just operate online, according to Wikipedia they have approximately 1100 employees. This is a very big advantage that egg has over typical banks, having low numbers of employees reduces the cash output.

Advantages for the customer
You can get your latest online statement, because yet again online banking is open all day round, anytime of the year unlike high street banks, this makes online banking very convenient for a busy person working 9-5.
With online banking you can make instant transfers to anywhere in the world within a couple of clicks, unlike high street banks it usually would take 3-5 working days for the funds to be transferred.
Most banks have developers working behind the scenes to develop banking applications for popular platforms such as iOS and Android; this is a great advantage because it means you do not even have to be on a computer to make a transfer.
There is usually no paper! You receive all statements to your email address. This saves paper which is an added bonus.
If your bank details get intercepted banks usually offer a compensation scheme. The banks are that confident nothing will happen to your information.
All your details are stored securely and you do not have to store them in your household.
Disadvantages for the customer
Banks tend to have a very complex security procedure, although people will always try and access your information. This can be very time consuming.
No in person contact with bank staff, if you do it all online you have no human interaction.
The process to log in can be very lengthy, either to the customers Internet connection or due to all the security questions the customer has to answer.
When entering in your information it is very easy to press a wrong button, and if you do press a wrong one you usually have to start right from the beginning again.
Not everyone has a computer, and not everyone knows how to use one, the world is just adapting to the digital side of it now.






Advantages for the bank
<!Banks such as egg operate just online, this saves paying for a shop floor/premises, this saves them a lot of money, and they can then invest that money into security for their site.
Adapting their system to use online banking will attract a lot of new customers as in this day and age a lot of people are now on the move and do not have time to go to a bank; they would prefer to do it online.
An online bank doesn’t have to employ as many employees as a usual brick and click one.
Advertising is much easier and you have a wider audience to entice them to sign up.


Disadvantages for the bank
They invest a lot of money into their security system. This can be very expensive, but also pays off after a while.
Some of the customers enjoy going into the bank and having a face-to-face interaction, online banks will loose a lot of customers to this.

Advantages for the employees
New jobs will be created and this will help improve the current economic climate.
Working in IT will give you a range of new skills.

Disadvantages for the employees
Some employees will have to be retrained to use the system.
Eventually they may no longer be required to work there, as sooner or later everything will become fully automated.

Security      
Online Banking basically has two different main methods of security – the PIN/TAN system, and signature based banking
PIN/TAN – the PIN represents a password used for the login, and the TANs represent one-time only passwords. TANs can be dispersed in many ways such as; postal letters, security tokens or by SMS.
Signature based – all transactions are authorized and encrypted digitally.



My Personal Experience of Online Banking
I personally have had no experience with online banking, however members of my family have and although they think it’s a great service and will use it when they have to, they would rather prefer to go into the bank its self and do it there as they find it’s less risky. I have however recently set up for online banking and plan on using it for the more simple things such as checking my balance etc. as these things won’t put me at risk.