myspace; too little, too late

http://www.cio.com/article/630165/Myspace_Redesigns_Site_Launches_New_Features?source=rss_news

In an attempt to bolster its fading popularity and to generate new members, MySpace has redesigned its site.  It has created a myriad of new entertainment geared features in a hope to recapture some of its lost users to Facebook and to attract new users.  While originally, MySpace became more of an entertainer/marketing too than Facebook anyway, I feel like this move may just be a little too late to save its legacy from the social network domination of Facebook.

           

            According to the article, the number of unique visitors to MySpace dropped 18 percent in September alone.  This is a colossal number to occur in a single month.  Another huge number is the average minutes spent by visitors on the site, which dropped a whopping 42.5 percent while internet use as a whole was up 10 percent in the same timeframe.  This is the cause for the drastic changes MySpace has put into the face of its site.

            One of my biggest problems in MySpace was the intricacy it took to create one’s homepage.  It was fairly complicated to accomplish for someone with little web page creation knowledge.  The new beta version of MySpace claims to make this easier as well as the ability to search the wealth of knowledge available to MySpace users.  You can personalize your likes to generate a specification of what you look at, and content hubs make your likes much more accessible.  The content hubs will direct information from such sites as MTV to directly tie in the personalized likes to the user.  The only truly interesting thing I can find in this article about the MySpace redesign is that a user will be able to toggle between 3 different types of views; the traditional view, a magazine type view, and a ‘play’ view which will allow the user to change the sizes of the windows and advertisements in real time.  MySpace will also give former and current users who understood the shortcomings of the old version to actively comment and suggest changes to the new site. Another new concept MySpace is using is a new mobile site interface, which will allow easier use from mobile devices.

            All this seems like great improvements from the MySpace of old, but I feel that other social sites, namely Facebook, have taken over as the king of the mountain.  The new features of MySpace seem like a lackluster attempt to create what Facebook already has.  It will be difficult, also, to lure back in old users/Facebook users because of its growing popularity in pop culture, especially since a movie.  It will be interesting to see how the changes of MySpace will help it turn around to its former glory as a premier social network.

20 dying technologies

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/10/1021_dying_tech/3.htm

    

      An article i found particularly interesting, it is interesting to note the technologies that are fading out or becoming completely obsolete with the amazing improvements of technology today.   While some were surprising, some I have trouble thinking will ever be able to fade away completely for some time because of the residual base of older and accustomed consumers.
            There is no doubt in the world that combustion engines are forever changing.  Smaller, “smarter” cars are becoming a new industry standard.  The article states that the only problem hindering this new movement is the actual new engines themselves.  There has not been a completely viable alternative thus far to using petroleum, and it does not seem that the electric car will be completely sufficient any time soon.  I find it hard to believe that the combustion engine, or petroleum engines, will ever become truly obsolete.  Too much of the world’s economy today is based upon petroleum refining and petroleum based engines.  The rest of the world is far behind as far as the internal combustion transfer to a different source of energy and there are too many nations dependent on the refining of petroleum for this to be a dying technology that will fade away any time soon.
            Another technology stated that I feel will not be obsolete any time soon is credit cards.  The article states that several companies are making these obsolete by allowing completely digital payment options as well as using biometrics as a way of identification.  While this seems interesting, once again some people that are accustomed to using credit cards will never fully be able to change their ways and also because of a fear of identity theft.  Some individuals would simply prefer to have physical forms of payment and would not trust a completely online standard.  Some individuals lack the technological ability to make this change also.

Some of the technologies that are mentioned as becoming obsolete are not surprises at all.  The desktop PC is clearly a dying technology.  Except for some educational settings, the laptop and smartphone is making this a technology that is cumbersome and unnecessary.  Desktops are heavy, big, and no longer have any technological advancement on smaller, more portable options. Netflix states that Blueray and DVD’s are also going the way of the wild goose.  Netflix will soon be able to deliver all of their services online, making the DVD much like the VHS oof the future.  The article also states that with the use of biometric identification, keys are also on the way out.  Imagine not having to carry around a huge set of keys with you and being able to scan into your car or office.  That is a technology I will embrace.  Landline telephones are being replaced by the cellular telephone; few people I know have landlines any more.  Memory sticks, because of cloud computing, while innovative, will soon also be gone because it is just too simple to send info across the internet.  They are no longer necessary.

            It is interesting to see all of these technologies that are supposedly going out.  Most of them are fairly new, yet with the major advancements of networks and technology today, they are soon to be gone, much like the 8 track.

http://www.cio.com/article/622331/Tech_CEOs_Tell_US_Gov_t_How_to_Cut_1_Trillion_From_Deficit?source=rss_news

     Whether or not IBM is using this as a ploy to gain additional government contracts to help lower the national debt as much as 1.2 trillion by 2020, nearly all that this article states as possible solutions seem like necessities if the US will continue to stay at the forefront of "international competitiveness."  This article brings up several key points that we have discussed so far this semester, such as streamlining product supply chains, consolidating IT resources, and through virtualization.  Despite the fact that this could potentially cut down on the ever-growing national deficit, these all seem like changes that the government should pursue anyway to continue to progress and streamline in the growing world of IT.
     The world is increasingly IT stratified, and according to the problems in this article, the US government is in need of an IT makeover.  The government currently spends 76 billion dollars a year to support a widely spanned IT systems, and while this once again may be a ploy by IBM to make some money, it would seem beneficial to all to adhere to a much smaller support system.  This could create a unified training program, unified support teams, and a much smaller budget for IT services.  It says that though these are new ideas for the government, that the individuals proposing these changes have extensive knowledge and experience cutting costs for other companies, giving credence to all of the proposed changes.  This from the CEO: "Our report contains straightforward, proven ways to pare back $1 trillion from the deficit while increasing productivity and enabling sustainable competitiveness," Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell, said in a statement. "We're serious about helping to provide solutions for the mounting debt crisis, and we're optimistic that changes today will help lay the foundation for future job growth and innovation for our country"  These proposed changes would clearly benefit Dell, but if he is sincere about wanting to give job growth and innovation to the country while helping out with out mounting deficit, i see no reason why the US government would not be jumping at the bit to take part in these changes.