Communication

Communication services such as Social Networking are one of the most popular and most technologically developed online services of the 21^st century. It is one of the most highly advanced services which billions of people use every day for their day to day life. Communication has revolutionised our day to day living. Nowadays you don’t have to send important letters that take about 3 days to get to the destination and by the time it returns you will have solved the importance, however nowadays people just have to click on the mouse then type your message and send it on its way and you will get an instant reply depending on whether the person you e-mailed is lazy to type or not. Communication services include e-mails, RSS, IM/SMS and video conferencing. All these services have made communication with each other simpler and a lot more efficient.

Here is a link on how technology has evolved:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VV8Bd0dcrI&feature=fvwrel

Social Networking

The first reaction to anyone who sees or hears the word “Social Networking” is Facebook or Twitter. Facebook and Twitter has developed the way people keep in touch with one another. Social Networking has exploded the internet with lots of worldwide traffic to connect to Social Network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Social Networking is the easiest and efficient way to connect to others by chatting, sharing pictures & videos, updating statuses and making friends. Social Networking is arguably the world’s largest form of communication. It is so enormously famous that Facebook solely has 955 million active users worldwide. On the other hand Twitter launched two years later in 2006 has 500 million active users worldwide. The vast numbers shared by these two Social Networking sites shows the trend and popularity of just two of these Social Networking sites. Other Social Networking sites include Bebo, Flickr, MySpace etc. Social Networking sites are not just there to communicate to others they also sometimes provide services like advertising. These help to draw people’s attention to a product or service given by a company which they might have ignored looking on the streets, buses or TV. It is also used to look for jobs, following celebrities, finding your true love plus lots more.

Here are some links to prove the popularity social networking sites:
http://vimeo.com/20198465
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIDKXW8WNEE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya3DKlip8QY

I personally use Facebook to connect with my friends. It is a very essential part of my life as it keeps me updated with upcoming events, birthdays, memo’s etc. It is very useful as most of my friends have Facebook and I can keep in touch or catch up with them on gossip, fixtures, training, their posts etc. It also allows you to keep in touch with people around the world which is particularly useful to me because I have family and friends who live abroad and therefore it keeps me updated on their lives, those lives funniest moments.

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones are still technologically booming and keep on amazing each and every one of us. The explosion of mobile phones started over 27 years ago. Since then each mobile phone that has been released just keeps getting better and better. The main difference nowadays is that they are a lot cheaper than the phones that were created 27 years ago. Nowadays you can get phones for free depending on your contract compared to 27 years ago when you had to put possibly all of your life savings to get one. This has helped communication vastly as cheaper phones mean that almost everyone in the whole world has a phone, which means they can communicate with each other more easily. The technology used in the phones are absolutely mesmerizing, they allow you to take photos, play games, download apps and view photos. Since the early 1900’s phones have become digital and has revolutionise our communication with others. They have become a lot handy and compact. They have also become sleek, modern and also at time live up to the user’s taste. SMS messaging was a huge turning point in the evolution of mobile phones. Since the first SMS sent way back in 1992 the use of SMS has exploded without limit. It is estimated that 190,000 text messages are sent every second around the world.

Here is a video link on how mobile phones have evolved:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aUQLIPdtg8.

I have had a mobile phone for 6 years now it has been a very important life tool to me. I use it to contact my mum to let her know if I will be late to get home or to check the latest football score. I also use it to text my mates and to keep in touch with them and to catch up with any sudden developments like a fixture, training or a party. It is also very essential to contact emergency services if there is something wrong or you feel threatened.

E-mail

Believe it or not, E-Mail is much older than the Internet that we use at homes, schools, offices etc. E-Mail has been a revolution of 21st century with tonnes of mails sent worldwide, but e-mail was never invented, it evolved from very simple and minute beginnings. In the past E-Mails was just a small advance on what we nowadays know as a file directory. The first ever E-Mail type used was mailbox used at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1965. Throughout this time, people used a service called ‘SNDMSG’ which was used to send important messages to another computer, however this was like leaving a note for someone on their desk and was not always very effective. Ray Tomlinson who was working on building the first Internet during the time noticed this issue and wanted to enable to send E-Mails to various computers by creating E-Mail addresses via the sign ‘@’ that tells you who is at the computer. The first ever e-mail sent this way was between two computers next to each other and read “QWERTYUIOP”. For this vital invention he was later credited for inventing the E-Mail in 1972. As time passed by 1975 John Vittal developed the software to include three key commands. The main reason that the software was developed was in order to organise E-Mails and to send the E-Mails more effectively to people. These were some of the very early beginnings of the 21st century’s most used and loved handy tool – the E-Mail.

Here is a link on how well used E-Mail is in the 21st Century:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvBmyAZTt_M&feature=related

E-mail since has been used widely by many people around the world to send messages and to keep informed. E-mails allow people to send attachments as well set whether the e-mail is of high priority or high importance. E-mails are really fast and simple to use; it is also very efficient and easily accessible to the person the mail was sent to. My personal experiences with E-mail have helped me to send attachments of school work home so that I can work on them during my free time.  E-mail has also helped me to send messages of high importance to different people and also to get replies more easily. It is also very helpful as I can access my E-mail using my phone which very handy when I am away from home.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

RSS Feeds are webpages designed to provide a constant stream of information i.e. news, weather forecasts, currency rates and many more. These webpages are really useful to people like businessmen who regularly want to keep up to date on the stock market, exchange rates, train or plane times – to see if there are any delays or cancellations. Aggregators are the most frequent users of these RSS feeds. These feeds ensure you are regularly updated and at the same time ensure your privacy details are hidden as no passwords are required. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is increasing rapidly and include big name like Yahoo News, Google and many more planning to introduce RSS feeds into their websites.

Personally RSS Feeds help me get the latest news and helps me to prepare for long journeys via planes or trains. I use it also to check the weather forecast so I can plan what I do around the weather forecast.

Online Services

Online services consists a vast variety of services ranging from Communication to Real-Time. There is a whole new world of online services available instantly at your fingertips nowadays that most people forget what they are using is an online service. The most famous and well used online service in the 21^st century is Communication. It is used by a whole variety of people all around the world. The most famous and well used form of communication is SMS’s (Short Messaging Services) or otherwise popularly known as Texting. It is so popular that around 190,000 text messages are sent every second around the world. Another famous and well known form of communication is Social Networking which is used by millions of people around the world that generates vast profits for networking sites such as Twitter & Facebook to name a few. The most famous Social Networking sites used in 21^st century is Facebook and Twitter. After first launching in 2004 it is estimated that Facebook solely has 955 million active users and still counting as of 2012. Whereas Twitter launched in 2006 has 500 million active users worldwide as of 2012. The number of users using Twitter since first launched has increased vastly showing the popularity of just one of the online services available out there. Other Social Networking sites include Bebo, Flickr, Tumblr etc. to name a few.

Another type of online service is E-Commerce (Electronic Commerce). It is the buying and selling of different products and services over the Internet and through other networking sites. Lots of people around the world use this service without recognising that it is one. Buying stuff like games, clothes, food items etc. are part of the E-Commerce service which companies use to enhance their trades and gain bigger profit margins. One of the major E-Commerce services that people don’t realise is Search Engines. Search engines are the largest and well used E-Commerce service in the whole world. The most famous and well known search engine is Google. It is so fascinating and effective that people use it for pretty much everything ranging from looking up homework answers to searching for “how you know when you are in love?.” Google is so popular around the world that it tops the list for the most visited website on the Internet and has generated 91 Million active searches per day. Other search engines include Bing, Yahoo Search, Ask Jeeves, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer etc. Another part of the E-Commerce service is adverts. Adverts are used by companies to enhance their revenue and make their brand more appealing to a worldwide audience. Adverts are being used pretty much everywhere from Website to Social Networking sites.

Entertainment is another online service that people use regularly for leisure activities such as streaming, downloading, watching and gaming. People use Entertainment to keep themselves happy and less bored as well to have some fun. Video streaming is part of Entertainment which people enthral in their millions around the world. YouTube is the most desired and famous video streaming website out there. It is so well known worldwide that YouTube received over 1 Trillion views around the world. Other Entertainment services include Multimedia, Music Downloads, Games etc.

Another part of Online Services is Education. Education is used by students as well as adults to further enhance their life opportunities. One of the well-known Educational websites available out there is BBC Bitesize. It has vast amounts of information and exam questions to help students boost their knowledge and be very knowledgeable on what they are doing. Other educational websites include Sam Learning and MyMaths.

Real-Time is another less known Online Service even though it is used by millions of users around the world. Real Time services include Live Weather, Traffic Updates, News etc. It is used by millions around the world to be updated on what is going on around the world and to plan journeys and to be prepared for the unpredictable weather patterns. Real-Time service in clued Timetable of all kinds, Live Webcam Feeds, Theatre bookings etc. Real Time services are very valuable to people across the world. Without real time services people wouldn’t know what to do and what to expect and the whole world would be a total mishap.

In this blog I aim to bring you information on what exactly these online services do. I aim to expand on the brief categories mentioned and how they affect you and share some of my personal experiences while using some of these services. I also aim to produce some benefits while using these Online Services.

History of the E-Mail

Believe it or not, E-Mail is much older than the Internet that we use at homes, schools, offices etc. E-Mail has been a revolution of 21st century with tonnes of mails sent worldwide, but e-mail was never invented, it evolved from very simple and minute beginnings. In the past E-Mails was just a small advance on what we nowadays know as a file directory. The first ever E-Mail type used was mailbox used at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1965. Throughout this time, people used a service called ‘SNDMSG’ which was used to send important messages to another computer, however this was like leaving a note for someone on their desk and was not always very effective. Ray Tomlinson who was working on building the first Internet during the time noticed this issue and wanted to enable to send E-Mails to various computers by creating E-Mail addresses via the sign ‘@’ that tells you who is at the computer. The first ever e-mail sent this way was between two computers next to each other and read “QWERTYUIOP”. For this vital invention he was later credited for inventing the E-Mail in 1972. As time passed by 1975 John Vittal developed the software to include three key commands. The main reason that the software was developed was in order to organise E-Mails and to send the E-Mails more effectively to people. These were some of the very early beginnings of the 21st century’s most used and loved handy tool – the E-Mail.