NZ “Skynet” Bill

Well as a lot of people around New Zealand I am annoyed of the rush through of the Privacy Amendment Bill on 13th/14th April 2011. Although it is not because I disregard copyright. I know and understand why it’s illegal to download movies/music/etc. I believe in the internet based world we live in, laws we currently have in place, like the Copyright Act, cannot easily be enforce. Therefore I understand why this bill has been put through government, but they haven’t gone about  it in a sensible way.

One of most annoying parts about it is even though we are a democratic society this bill promotes guilty until proven innocent.

Another is what is the difference of me borrowing a friends music CD then ripping it onto my computer. That is untraceable but there is no difference. Or what about if I downloaded a torrent while I was at a internet cafe, is it fair that they get the penalty? No. A new business procedure will need to be put into place for the business to pin point the actual offender.

A major point is the Bill isn’t manageable.  Its been created by a bunch of politicians who have little idea on how the internet community works and how it is progressing. Offenders will find a way to keep offending.

The other major point is it takes away more of our privacy.

New Zealand also doesn’t have a way for people to access legal digital versions of movies. For example buffering movies over the internet, like in the USA there is NetFlix and it is at an affordable price. This however brings the other fact about New Zealand and the high cost of internet data. If this option did come available or something similar, which I think it should, then ISPs would need to increase the data caps and make broadband at a more affordable price.

To conclude the Privacy Amendment Bill isn’t workable it will not stop people from downloading illegally.

iPod Touch Review

I know the iPod Touch has been around since 2008 but I only bought my 64GB a few months back, even though I really wanted to buy one as soon as they came out but from past experience when buying the now iPod Classic I found that buying technology when they are first brought out isn’t always a good idea, especially without reading any reviews.

Back in 2008 the touch and accelerometer technology was what attracted me to wanting to buy the device, even though it wasn’t the first device to have that technology it was also a MP3 player, which is what I also needed. But now having one I realise it is much more than a MP3 device, with all the applications that can be bought and/or downloaded it has multi-functional opportunities. Out of truth most applications I have downloaded have been free games, but I do find games are a great way to test technology to its fullest capacity.

Applications worth noting are:

• aNote – it is a great and easy to use organiser
• Doodle Dots/Ships/Wordfind – great simple games to entertain the user for 5 minutes
• Little Metal Ball – fun game and a great test for the accelerometer technology
• TapTap Revenge 3 – I love rhythm games

Hopefully I will be able to give an updated list regularly.

Now about the device itself :

Headphone sound quality:	4.5/5
Internal speaker sound quality:	2/5
Voice recognition:	3/5
Wireless:	4/5
Battery life:	4.5/5
User friendliness:	5/5
Ease of typing:	3.7/5
Reliability:	5/5

Please note for the internal speaker quality of most devices are poor.

My experience with iTunes integrating with this device in general has been good except for when first iTunes updated to 9.2 it wouldn’t communicate correctly with my iPod Touch, when I tried to update applications or buy from the iTunes store it couldn’t pick up the device and told me there were two errors, one telling me to restore the device the other telling me to reinstall iTunes, idiotically I restored the device and still had the error therefore had to reinstall iTunes. This is the only problem I have had, which I know could be more my own fault. Due to my own fault I also lost my applications and had to put the music back on.

ISO4 was very exciting! With its 100 new features (this blog doesn’t mention them all) it was the best software update apple could’ve done!!  The most important, of course, were multi tasking (finally!) and the folders. It did take me a few seconds to work out how to make folders and someone pointing out how to multi task. I really enjoy the new feature of changing the background picture and being able to have multi email accounts. iBooks is a nice new feature although I don’t know how much I would use this, especially seeing it is a small screen.

My only complaints about this device are that apple sensors what applications that can be bought and the weather application only showing Auckland and Wellington.

Overall I love my iTouch. As said above I originally wanted it for an MP3 player with touch capabilities. Now I realise it is so much more and using it as an organiser. My overall rating for this device is 4.7/5. I would recommend this device to anyone.

iPad == amazing???

Last Tuesday I got to play with an iPad. Another student from my Web Development class brought it in and show it off and my judgement, it is a rich man’s toy.

It was just a bigger version of the iPod Touch so there wasn’t anything really new. I mean I will give it that it was easier to type on, the book shelf idea was cool, I’ve always liked metaphoric ideas in technology, and the flicking over the page, as if it was a book, was also a neat idea and some applications were also easier to use than on a iPod Touch. although obviously due to the size difference. So in general I wouldn’t buy one. I see no real use for one in today’s world. Netbooks are more user friendly and a lot easier to learn PLUS a lot cheaper and I am happy with my iPod Touch, it does everything I need it to do – games and music.

Hello Blogging World!

Hi!

I have decided join the world of blogging!!!! As it has been recommended by a Lecturer at E.I.T. I have used this account before for an assignment but from now it will be about all the interesting things I find in the I.T. world! Or anything that might be useful for my subject choices at E.I.T.

Well that’s it for now,

Deanne