Mobile Future

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!
Holly Swenson
October 31,2010

Our Crazy Mobile Future!!

When reading over chapters 5 and 9 in Briggs book, chapter 5 really interested me so that is what I am mostly going to talk about in this blog. Chapter 5 was about mobile technology and the future of it. Now reporting has completely changed with our mobile phones we can capture something that has happened in a matter of seconds now instead of waiting for a camera crew to get to the site and then wait to set up, reporters now can use their cell phones and capture video footage and pictures very fast and conveniently if and when they need to. I thought this was very interesting because it really is amazing and so helpful for not only reporters but everyone to be able to all be mobile connected. reporters get footage quick if they need to with something that they always have, their phone, really cool.

seriously if I think about my parents first phone I think it might have been the size of my entire arm, it was huge! And could do nothing but dial phone numbers. phones have come a long way. Even if you think about the first camera phones, the quality of picture was horrible. There was no zoom, and the number of pictures that could even be stored on your phone was really low. Now the quality of picture is absolutely flawless, you can zoom, the camera quality is like an actual digital camera you would buy separate, it is truly amazing the improvements phones have made. Now because of these improvements we are using them for important thins like catching breaking news, or creating memories and sharing with others.

Also just the GPS function phones have now, you can be located wherever you are with your phone, and never get lost. Amazing. In the book he talks about how GPS will also change the way people contribute information. It also talks about how as it becomes normal for mobile devices to attach latitude and longitude information to a photo, video or text, people will be able to quickly and easily publish to sophisticated web sites that organize content geographically. I thought this was interesting because i really think about it in this way and it really will be amazing to have this much freedom and connection with the world, technology is unstoppable. The things technology is capable of and how it has changed this world is really amazing to think about, and terrifying at the same time.

I really enjoyed reading these chapters, they're really interesting. They bring but topics that we all should think about a lot more and really learn a lot more about. We have to keep up on all of this crazy new technology that is going on around us or we'll get lost!!

My Video Blog on Telepresence

Telepresence? What is it? How does it work?

Holly Swenson


Telepresence? I had no idea.


To be honest, when reading about this chapter about Telepresence in Grant's book, i had no idea what they were talking about. I wasn't sure if they were just talking about video-to-video calling, or something like Skype, or audio conference calls, i had no idea but i was really interested in trying to figure it out. I wanted to know more than just the book because the book is sometimes a little heavy reading so i looked online and researched more into Telepresence. I found out it is so much more than just Skype or video-to-video, it is really the next level to conferencing and really is amazing how it works.


Ok so Telepresence refers to a set of technologies that allows a person to feel as if they were present, give the appearance that they were present, or to have an effect, with Telerobotics, at a place other than the true location. confusing right!! yea i know. but reading on i learned that this technology can really benefit an industry. With doing business over telepresence, people sometimes drive or fly from all over the world to make meetings etc, with this new Telepresence technology you save with having to deal with rental car, plane tickets, flying expenditures, also just hurting the environment and raising your carbon footprint. With doing this it also improves the employees work and life and is a little more balanced for them which in turn improves employee productivity. so rather than tracveling long distances to have a face-to-face meeting now there is telepresence. It uses a multiple codec video system. So how it works is each person in the meeting uses a telepresence room to "dial in" and they can see/talk to everyone else in the meeting on a screen/screens as if they were in the same room. Huge cost benefits. Check out this site, Cisco designs and creates telepresence software and there is a great video talking about the architecture and explaining how it all works. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7060/index.html 


For a true telepresence experience, technologies are required that make the human sensory like vision, sound, and manipulation. With vision there is a field of view, and the viewpoint corresponds to the movement of the users head. This is how its different from television or just regular video-to-video, like Skype. In order to have this you have to have either a very large or wraparound screen, or small displays mounted directly in front of your eyes. In my research it shows that it almost gives a 3D sensation. When talking about manipulation its really interesting because it can be done in a large number of ways. To manipulate a remote object or environment typically, the movements of the users hands are sensed by wired gloves, internal sensors, or absolute spatial position sensors. what!! wow thats really crazy. Then it says that a robot in the remote location then copies those movements as close as possible, which is called Teleoperation. The more closely the robot re-creates the form factor of the human hand, the greater the sense of telepresence. 


I wanted to then find who has these Telepresence technologies, and how much they would cost to get one. It said that the for an all-inclusive setup including the equipment, network, and management with a mulitscreen telepresence suite, companies can expect to pay anywhere from $12,000 to $28,000 per month. But there still is more, because the monthly cost really doesn't quite show the actual bottom-line cost because you still have to pay for the room setup, and it said that in order to create a networked connected telepresence room, with absolutely everything, that holds up to 18 people costs $340,000 from Cisco and $349,000 from HP. Check it out, there is a lot more info about it here. http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/05/20/4190361.htm   Can you believe it! i barely could. I thought I would share what i learned because i was so shocked how much i costs, but i guess you are dealing with a lot of technology and equipment so it is understandable.

When researching about this topic, Telepresence i has absolutely no idea what it was let alone how much it costs or what it does. I think its really interesting and a great concept. I do agree with the fact that Telepresence will save people/companies tons of money and most of all time and convience. I think this technology will have much more surprises to come. In my research they also talked about the future and what is there to come with Telepresence technology and they talked about holograms and having actual people in front of you but no longer a TV or computer screen, a hologram. Insane. Seen it on the movies, never thought it would happen in my lifetime, crazy things to come!

Tiffany & Co. Social Media

Tiffany & Co. Social Media and the Impact. Holly Swenson Nicole Morris

Tiffany & Co. Social Media

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Tiffany And Co. Social Media

Holly Swenson

October 15, 2010

                          

Social Media, Benefiting or Hurting This Company? 

Tiffany And Co. You Tell Me... 

“The Diamond King,” Charles Lewis Tiffany introduced the engagement ring in 1848 in New York City.  Tiffany and Company became known for its diamonds worldwide.  Tiffany and Company not only has diamonds for both women and men but also jewelry, watches, fragrances, household items and other accessories.  Tiffany and Company reaches a very diverse audience using different social network sites and tools to increase their consumer reach and promote new products.

The Tiffany and Company’s website is for consumers worldwide to enter, it makes connections to a reach of different consumers.  The website features the Tiffany “teal,” color, it is very classy and clean, much like their product.  It is a detailed website to guide the consumer to exactly what they are looking for through descriptions and images.

             Currently right now 518,159 people “Like” the Tiffany and Co. Application on Facebook.  The Facebook account features Tiffany product’s being worn by celebrities, the promotion of new products, and where and when you can find Tiffany products on T.V shows and different red carpet appearances.  There is also a link straight to their website for the interested consumer, or potential buyer.  Their Facebook is filled with discussion and conversation as the company will ask the consumers questions such as “where would you like to see the new Tiffany store?”  Getting consumers to interact on Facebook seems to be one of the most successful tactics used by Tiffany and Co. as they have received a lot of feedback.  Video clips are also posted of product appearances and videos made by the company to promote new images.

            Tiffany and Co. has 6,622 followers on Twitter, where you can find constantly updated posts about new products, fashion show launches, and things going on where their product will be seen in the media.  Twitter is still new to a lot of companies in the social media, Tiffany and Co. being one of them.  So as time goes on they should continue to get new followers and new customers.    

            Tiffany and Co. has received a lot of attention and interaction with consumers using a blog with Wordpress.  The blog contains a lot of new and old product information and opinions.  Consumers also send their comments and stories about their engagement experience and product satisfaction for viewers to see, this makes Tiffany and Co. very relatable to many people across the world.   Some people ask questions and some need advice, this is a great involvement with viewers and target audience. 

            You can find the Tiffany and Co. T.V commercials on Youtube.  The commercials have no dialogue but do feature music and images of family, children and couples all usually during the Christmas season, which is the time you are mostly likely to see a Tiffany and Co. commercial.  These commercials present Tiffany and Co. as being very trustworthy and personable.  The commercials do not expose the product as much as they could. 

            The newest form of social media Tiffany and Co. has applied itself to is an application to the Iphone or Ipod called The Engagement Ring Finder.  This application is easy and allows you to design your dream engagement ring, letting the consumer pick the shape, cut, style and color of the ring so the consumer will get exactly what they want.  You can save your creation and even get the advice from a professional consultant all conveniently on your phone or Ipod.  It is a free application and is geared toward reaching a target audience and allowing people or potential buyers to see before they buy.   

Tiffany and Co. is making its way effectively in the social media and will continue to find ways in which they can be even more successful in the future.  Loyal consumers need to stay interested with their product.  And new consumers need to become attracted to the array of social media Tiffany and Company is taking part in.  

Knowledge is Power

Holly Swenson

October 6, 2010

Presentations Evaluation

Knowledge is Power

I thought all of the presentations were really great. I think we had a really good variety of subjects that were talked about and I really liked learning about each one. 

The one that stuck out to me the most was the Skype presentation titled Security and Skype. I liked it because I really like Skype and use it quite frequently so I really enjoyed learning about it more. I also never really thought about people hacking in and watching your videos and things like that while on Skype, I thought it was interesting because we really do need to be aware and careful about our security settings that we have on our computers. But the problem is that hackers will get into just about anything now, whether it is Facebook, twitter, or into your computer directly so its kind of something we just need to be aware of and prepare for. This presentation also stuck out to me because of how it looked visually. She did a great job with having the colors match the Skype color and really had me interested in reading what was on each slide. I also think its interesting just how many functions Skype actually has, and its free!! There was a question asked at the end of the presentation asking if Skype will have more positive effects than negative. I think it will definitely be more positive. This is a new way to talk on the phone, looking at the person you are talking; it gives you a feeling like they are there with you. Personally I use it all of the time. I have a friend living in Denmark and I talk to him daily and the reception is very clear and minimal pixilation. Now the new I Pod Touch and new I Phone has Skype capabilities, which is brand new to any phone. It’s great because you can then call someone else who has Skype on their phone or I Pod or call on their computer from your phone. I think this is a great feature that Sype and Apple have created.

I also enjoyed the presentation about Hulu titled Media Convergence for Online Videos. For me it really is amazing to think how far television has come in just my lifetime. When I was younger there were 8 channels no way to view anything online or anything like that. Now we have things like DVR’s or TVOs that record channels for you and also can just watch TV online with sites like Hulu and YouTube. This presentation was very interesting to me because I really wanted to know more about Hulu because I have used it before but really didn’t know much about it or what its all about. I liked when she was talking about how Hulu gained revenue by having premium videos paring them with high quality advertisements. This is smart because they are still getting advertisements in and also keeping their loyal customers with the high quality video viewing.

I thought all presentations were very interesting and I enjoyed listening to all. All of these things are very important for us to know in this field of work. The more we know the better we all can be in the work that we do. We are fortunately in the field where we can make a difference in the world if we want so we really need to know what is going on and how to use it. Knowledge definitely is power.

What we need to know about social networking

The Official document in Doc. form

What we need to know about social networking

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