Real Time Information

The Internet is a new world where you can literally research everything that has happened in the past and the present. Lots of people use the Internet to keep up-to date with some information, while others use it to check timetables, traffic, news etc. Using the internet to check timetables, traffic, news etc. is known as Real Time Information. It is one of the most widely used services in the internet. Real Time Information supplies people with up-to date and reliable information such as train, flight & bus timetables, recent news, theatre or cinema booking, regular traffic update and most importantly the weather. Real Time Information is a key to an individual’s life and they plan their day to day life around these information. In this post I aim to bring you information on how this service helps an individual plan for their day and also to share some of my personal experiences with you.

RSS Feeds

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. 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. Many online publishers i.e. Yahoo News, Google syndicate their content as an RSS Feed and anyone in the world has the choice to do this. 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 popularity for RSS feeds is on the rise as more and more people want relevant and breaking information with click of a button.

Personally RSS Feeds helps 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. It is so vital to my life that I have it on my phone to keep an eye on the most recent and reliable news. It also helps me to plan my day around a certain issue if I find something on the news i.e. the M25 Northbound is closed due to an earlier collision -  this helps me to take the train instead of driving on the M25 which will make me late to get to my desired location.

The Weather

The weather is an unpredictable force of nature especially in the UK which needs to be updated every second. Weather forecasts are the most regularly updated Real Time Service. These updates need to available every day for the public to view as soon as the forecast is available. This is only made possible by Real Time as it allows the website to stay updated with all the latest predictions. The most popular website that uses Real Time, which people use to check the weather, is BBC Weather. It allows us to view up-to-date weather forecasts for anywhere in the world. Apart from this if you look closely it also gives information on the wind speed, wind direction, the humidity, visibility and air pressure. One other key weather information that the website gives is an hour by hour update on what we can expect during the day.

Weather forecasting is one of the most crucial and really useful services provided by Real Time Information for people that need to plan events or parties in advance and want the weather to be really good or at least average. The data is essential as without it their event might get ruined or not much people would attend it as the weather was awful. However the weather information cannot always be reliable. It is definitely about 85% reliable but the remaining 15% is unreliable. This is because that weather information is only predictions and therefore the forecasters cannot guarantee a successful outcome almost every time. Hence most people plan for their special days trusting the forecasters, so most of the time the forecasters become the heroes of the day.

Without weather updates I would not be able plan my day, meet up with friends or decide what to wear for the day. Weather updates are crucial for me to make a decision on whether to go out or to stay in and watch television. I check the weather almost every day as it useful for me. I also use it to let my parents know what day to plan a journey or trip as well.

News Updates

A large number of people use news updates to keep on track on issues going on around them throughout the world and in the everyday life. News updates range in topics form sport to live technology updates. The key use of this is to allow people with internet access either on their phone or computers to browse through the latest updates as soon as it is released. The moment a news feed is out in a matter of minutes it is published in big sites such as BBC News, Yahoo News, MSN News and so on. This makes it easier for individuals to access what information they want, when they like at any time of the day or at any place. Websites offer a variety of options to cater everyone’s interests. These include allowing spaces to leave comments about what they think about the news update and in some websites there are similar headlines linking another news update of the same sort. New updates often don’t have specific target audiences as there is a wide range of options for instance the younger generation would be more interested in sports compared to latest business news so there is the BBC Sport Website; http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/.

For people who work in the business or financial sector there is the business section within the BBC news website; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/; whereas for normal people who just want a roundup of the latest news there is the BBC News website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ .

I personally look at sports news updates pretty much every day. It helps me to understand the latest developments within a specific sport or just sport in general. I look at the BBC news website to keep up-to date with issues facing me in the future or in the present. It also makes it easier for me to make a conversation with my friends and at the same time I find it interesting. At time I believe it also help me to gain an advantage over the others when it comes to educational needs.