Web apps like Facebook could kill e-mail?

The new generation of internet users is growing up and making its effect on the functionality of the web.

According to this article on CNET, a bunch of Web App gurus met in Florida and decided that e-mail is now the inferior form of internet-based communication.

I agree.

My homepage has been Facebook for almost 3 years (and I would estimate 95% of college students would say the same), I check my Facebook increasingly more and more -- not because I am a nerd (well, partly) but because that is how I get information from my classmates. Many of my professors have recently proclaimed that they have created Facebook profiles (which is really suprizing since several still cannot find the "View Slide Show" option on Powerpoint 2003. I also find myself checking YouTube and Blogger more often than I even log into my Hotmail account. My university e-mail address is peppered daily with notification emails from - you guessed it - Facebook.

My generation has not only ditched e-mail as a primary form of web-communication, but is also creating digital content and blogs to express the need for what I like to call Web App Reform. Facebook is not perfect, but it is infinitely more interactive and potentially useful than e-mail.

The future is here, and it doesn't require the "@" button on the keyboard.

Thanks for reading.

Simply funny

We've all been there. Sitting in the living room with your best buds, watching the game. And then it happens. You will be enjoying your conversation, and then your comrade will venture into a book-long train wreck of an attempt at a joke.

It usually happens when your friend wants to contribute something funny and memorable to the conversation - and then tries much too hard - resulting in a catastrophe which ends in an awkward silence and pity laughter. Your friend ends the horrible attempt at humor with: "well, I guess you'd have to have been there."

HERE IS WHY THIS HAPPENS:
They are trying way too hard, and have nothing prepared except a terrible idea for a joke. The problem is that they are trying to make a joke out of something that isn't verbally funny. What do I mean by "verbally funny"? I'm talking about something that should be expressed physically rather than orally (I know, haha, get your mind out of the gutter).

For example, just the other day, my colleague, who shall remain anonymous, tried to explain to me a video on youtube.com which involved a small dog biting and popping balloons on a floor. The conversation was going smoothly until he tried to add a punchline to his explanation, thus transforming his story into a horrible joke. He said, and I quote "The dog was like, aarhh arrhhh arrhh, and the balloons were going pop, pop, pop! hahahaaa."

After hearing this, I sat in stunned silence, and deliberated whether or not I should leave the room. Was my friend's statement intended to be a joke? Then, I did as any good friend would do - I offered a pity laugh, and changed the subject.

In conclusion, I just want everybody reading this to know that bad jokes can happen to anybody. Even though they are awkward, we should strive to recognize humor in all situations. I don't claim to be an expert at being funny, but if you do decide to tell a joke, do your friends a favor and keep it simple.

To end this post, I have this video of humor that cannot be expressed verbally. Please watch it with the sound turned up, and enjoy. Thanks for reading.

Assignment 4: ID chyron

For this assignment, I learned how to put an ID chyron in the frame to identify the person. I found this to be quite interesting and useful for future projects. I added transitions and made the chyron a little transparent to soften the feel of the video. Thanks for viewing.

Assignment 3: text

Here is a nice little informational piece about the new Jackrabbit logo. Enjoy!

The scrapbookers are taking over the internet.

The reason people put photos online is so others can see them. We expect everyone to come and marvel at our latest pictures of our cats, kids, vacations and weddings, but who is actually looking at all of this crap?

I found this story on CNET about how Shutterfly.com has started a new social photo website. Seriously, how many more of these things can society take? I barely have enough time to look at the photos that my friends dump onto Facebook every day. How do people find time to look at all this stuff?

Also, as a photographer, here is my beef with photo-sharing websites: how conceited and self-centered have we become? I find myself marveling at my own photographs, but I barely spend a second on my friends' photos online. I have a feeling that other people my age are the same way.

Scrap-bookers are invading the internet, but only to do the same thing that they've always done - bore the heck out of their friends. Our computer-centered society does not like to be bored. On upside to this is that you don't have to sit in your friend's living room and suffer through the whole album of their cat or their trip to Newport, Oregon - you can simply close the window.

The only thing that I really find interesting about the photo-sharing on Facebook and album websites is that you can tag or be tagged in photos, which makes it really easy for people to sort out photos of you and literally see what you've been up to lately. On each of the photos, a person can then leave their comments, which I think is really cool because it encourages dissemination and community discussion.

Either way you look at it, photo-sharing is a phenomenon that will never go away. Our world must embrace this sort of technology. I'm probably going to start putting more photos on Facebook, but then my grandparents won't be able to see what I've been up to lately, which is probably a good thing.

Thanks for reading,
-John.

New Logo Causes Influx of Crazy People Into Tiny SDSU Bookstore

Well, history has been made. SDSU's President Chicoine yanked down the black sheet covering two giant SDSU logos. Little does anybody realize that from that very second, we are going to have to live without our 35-ish-year-old rabbit. What am I supposed to do with half of my wardrobe which bears the old rabbit? I'm going to be known as "that guy that doesn't wear SDSU clothes with the new logo." I felt ok about it at first, but then I saw swarms of people piling into the bookstore to buy yellow t-shirts with the new logo on them. Yellow? Maybe I'd wear it to a basketball game. I'm in no hurry to be one of the first people to buy a new logo that will be around for probably another 35 years.

Anyway, don't get me wrong, I really like the new logo, and I'm confident that it'll represent SDSU well into the future.

Welcome to the future of politics

I opened my Google Reader at 8:00pm today and found this interesting piece by Farhad Manjoo about how the internet is influencing politics.

First of all, as a conservatively-raised farm boy who has been fully acclimated to the college life, I find myself swaying further and further left on certain topics (whether I like it or not).

Recently, my good friend invited me to join this Facebook group about a week ago. The pro-concealed weapons on campus group was obviously the brainchild of a right-winged student. My first reaction was "who in their right minds would want to actually carry a gun to class? and what kind of legislator would support it?" The answer: every single one of my South Dakotan friends and a bunch of South Dakotan legislators. Holy carp folks, did you hear that? I actually don't like the concealed weapons bill! What is wrong with me?

Online support groups like the Facebook group supported by www.concealedcampus.com are influencing people. Not necessarily as propaganda or "sales" type purpose, but as a confrontational-force-you-to-decide kind of medium. That right-winged Facebook group made me learn about my own beliefs. I discovered that I don't want to bring a gun to class, and I don't want my classmates to bring one either.

I realize that our founding fathers put it in the constitution for me, and I am also an avid deer/goose/pheasant hunter, but I (and the SDSU Student Association) honestly don't think it is necessary to bring a deadly weapon to class. And as for the legislators in SD - they shouldn't fix something that isn't broke. If they really want to get something done, they should first figure out why most college students can't even afford a gun in the first place.

All in all, I just wanted to point out that the ever-consuming internet is helping us along, and it is (whether we like it or not) making each of us realize our own values.

Thanks for reading!
John

The Internet is taking over my life.

About a week after I learned about how I can grow my photography business on www.dotphoto.com, I learn that my other job will be putting content online as well.

On top of that, Microsoft and Yahoo and Google have taken over the headlines in my Google Reader (which is also, of course, online).

At this point in my life, I can't help but be overwhelmed by the force of internet-related assignments and articles and the ever-life-consuming Facebook.

I also will have to decide who I am going to vote for to be president this year by researching candidates online.

As much as my conservatively-raised mind wants to resist the wave of technology, I am obligated to embrace the internet and what it does for me. I just hope the dang thing doesn't crash.

Ex-Google employees launch a do-it-yourself video website

I finally made my first visit to techcrunch.com, and I have to admit that I was a little underwhelmed. The site has a lot of stuff on it, but none of it really made my day.

I did find this interesting peice about howcast.com, a new how-to video website. When I think about things that I need to learn how to do, my mind drifts to thoughts of me graduating, doing my own taxes, finding and paying my own insurance and starting my own family - do they have videos for that? I searched, and they don't yet.

Overall, howcast.com is pretty cool, and it has a unique look. I hope they can get a bigger library before I graduate, because I need to learn how to do taxes and how to get insurance. Fun stuff.

My Monkey

As a senior journalism major, it feels good to have finally made a video project. Look at me mom!

Unappreciated Super Bowl Tech

As I watched the Giants upset the Patriots 17-14 yesterday, I sat and sulked. Not because I wanted the Patriots to get a perfect season, but because I hadn't seen a descently funny Superbowl ad worth mentioning in my blog. (Besides the Will Ferrell Bud Light ad, but thats a given.)

Despite my disappointment with the advertising, in my postgame research I found this interesting article about some of the technology that goes into the Superbowl. I had no idea how they got that yellow line on the field.

This article was also interesting for me because I'm entertaining the idea of buying into HDTV as soon as I can afford it. Like any lazy college guy, I enjoy large TV's.

Thanks for reading,
-John.