two panels, big inspirations

How New Networks Find Their Niche / How To Get a Job in TV
presenter: Greg Neal

Greg Neal is a graduate of The University of Texas; he has been a brand management consultant for networks such as HGTV, The Food Network, and Oprah Winfrey’s network, OWN. He began the presentation describing the elements necessary for creating a television brand: logo, identity, and product. What is important about a logo is that they give the audience a resource to quickly identify the company; images are just as important as writing.

Identity means all the collateral: business cards, signage, packaging and anything else that’s visually tied to the company. What signified the difference between examples of good brand identity versus bad brand identity was consistency. From store layouts to the style of advertisements used, one must ask the question “Is it good for the brand?”

Furthering the challenge of consistency is the increase of use in Digital Video Recording (DVR). DVR was fragmented the way an audience watched television. Instead of watching a network, the audience will pick shows from different channels to watch. The challenge now is how do you keep people from changing the channel? Creating an emotional connection with the audience is the new goal for brand management teams. Neal gave the example of HBO as successfully achieving this connection with audiences. He stated that HBO is very consistent, has good programming, creates a standard for television, has expectations from its audience and all the while, it pushes the boundaries.

He also shared some pearls of wisdom aimed at those who wish to be employed by television networks: Don’t take the expressway through life; take advantage of all the opportunities you can. He reiterated the importance of taking chances and being creative. In addition, he also recommended being a little bit unreasonable because that’s what makes ideas and people memorable. In the case of being a bit unreasonable, it will happen that mistakes will be made so Neal offers this mantra when things don’t work out: “Just go with what you’ve got and if it doesn’t work, fix it.” From his personal experience, he feels there is no shame in being fired or resigning. Accepting responsibility for your actions is admirable so don’t be afraid to admit mistakes or to live with ethics. The last piece of advice he offered was, “If all else fails change. Plus, change is free!”

Some Assembly Required: A Networking Guide for Graduates
presenter: Thom Singer

Thom Singer is an author and professional speaker. He has worked in areas such as sales, marketing, and business development. His presentation was all about how to create and keep effective networking connections. His talk began with the familiar statement, “It’s all about who you know.” Countless opportunities that you may have otherwise never come across can be made possible through networking.

How does an individual go about the venture of creating a network? Singer offers these tips: create a personal brand and follow up & establish ongoing conversations.

Becoming famous isn’t exactly the first piece of advice you think you’d receive from a professional, but Singer says that becoming a little famous will, “buy real estate on the brain of people you meet.” Making a lasting impression makes all the difference. Establishing yourself as someone who is seen as likeable and trustworthy is also of high importance. Use your time with others to get to know them; show others you are interested in who they are, what they do and genuinely listen to what they have to say. All these traits and actions will allow you to become exactly what potential employers or clients are looking for.

Mass Comm Week @ Texas State!

The School of Journalism and Mass Communication hosted its annual
Mass Communication Week, Oct. 25-28. Woo Hoo!!!

Ever since my Issues in New Media class this summer with @Cindy Royal we have been talking about Mass Comm Week! So basically since July I have been interested in finding out what Mass Comm week was all about. I couldn't wait to get a chance to hear from some REALLY cool people working in very different jobs and industries. I attended 2 different panels. One via Ustream and the other in person. I can honestly say both experiences were extremely interesting and very helpful. I was intrigued by the whole thing! :)

I had the chance to attend (via Ustream) Social Graces: Understanding and communicationg with clients, co-workers, audiences and the media with David Wyatt & Lauren Tuttle from WyattBrand and Nick Weynard from Trademark Media. I was very interested in the things they were discussing. I was very glad to see that Lauren was a Texas State Alum. They were a very intelligent group with very different backgrounds. One thing they mentioned was the fact that in their industry you are being hired to help with the design of things...to give it a feel. They also stated that you have to be working on a goal. The goal of a project isn't to have a high # of followers on twitter (for example). All in all the group discussed the importance of working toward an ultimate goal and how important working together is. They also discussed how important it is to be on the same page as the clients in order to find out what it is they really want and to help them make those important decisions. I really enjoyed this session!

I was also able to attend one of the Panel's in person "Going Digital: Changes in the Advertising and PR Industry" with some folks from Fleishman-Hillard. I LOVED this panel! They showed a video at the beginning of the session and one of the statements included in the video was "Creativity is a drug you can't live without" this really got me thinking about digging deep and finding those creative juices within myself in order to be successful in this type of industry. They start off by talking about the representation of Story Telling and how important it is. (Another thing @cindyroyal has discussed with us before) Everyone in the group had interesting things to talk about and it was evident that each of them were passionate about what they do. I also found it interesting that each of them were from different educational backgrounds but they work so well together as a team. It seems as though they each have different perspectives and ideas on things, yet they can come together and make something work out of it!

The panelists also discussed branding your product and being able to look at yourself as storytellers. One thing they mentioned (that blew my mind) was using certain branding strategies for companies like CHEVY by putting stickers on several power cords all around the convention center for the SXSW conference. That to me was just amazing and SO simple, yet so creative! Once I heard this along with a few other things these guys did to get this brand recognized and ingrained in the brains of people at SXSW I was honestly amazed. Something else the panelists discussed were skills necessary to be successful in this industry and just a career in general. One of the panelists stated "be careful what you're good at" this thought really struck me. He talks about how it is important to have a diverse set of skills but the reality is stay good at what you're good at and run with it. That really hit home for me :) I really enjoyed this panel and I am thinking of applying for an internship with Fleishman-Hillard!

You can find info about Mass Comm Week on Twitter @txstatemcweek

Trend in Location Bases Social Networks

It is Mass Comm week at Texas State University and I was fortunate to make it to the Trend in Location Based Social networking presentation. Already being a user of Gowalla and Facebook my eyebrows were up to here in the future of the technology. Aaron Strout orchestrated this event and interviewed Johnothan Carroll from Gowalla, Simon Salt from Incslinger, Tony Avila Granados from One Taco.

I always have been a fan of Gowalla because of their creative imagery and friends with Josh William the CEO. This company seems to want to be a different location based network by having fun and bringing others together with a common interest. During the session I was highly amused with John’s new venture for Gowalla. They are going to bring music to their forefront to help with concerts for local bands to big bands. He gave us some ideas of this new venture. One of his ideas was to make check-in spots that you can send three pictures of the concert and you could receive a limited mp3 song from the band as a free gift. Making this interactive experience on Gowalla will help promote the band and reward the Gowalla user.

Simon Salt was a very interesting man. He currently is writing a book on location based trends and has tried out dozens of the top location based API’s. During his speech he said the best location based app he has found was Yelp. He said, that the GPS works the best and has the most inventive and useful applications for people. I downloaded it quickly on my Iphone when I saw the monocle option. This new option uses your camera and GPS to find locations. It is like having ex-ray vision on your phone. One other interesting thing that I recollect is that Simmon sees trends in certain location-based companies, which I thought was very interesting. He said Gowalla will attract more women do to the easy going feel and graphic based set up. Foursquare would appeal more to men because it is more masculine by wanting to dominate through competition.

The third presenter Tony Avila Granados was very interesting, because he was not into location based social networking about two years ago. He shared his testimony on how he was starting up his business OneTaco. He proved that location based social networking has quadrupled his business. By using Gowalla and volunteering his business to put out 1,000 tacos to all different locations he found people all over the world looking for his small business in Austin, Texas.

Mass Communication week was great at Texas State University and I would recommend it to all. If you have not checked out location-based networking you should give it a try. Almost all API’s are free.

"Get Big Fast"

The "get big fast" approach taken by e-bay and amazon seemed far-fetched in the beginning. It was hard to understand how and why a company could have so many customers but not be making a profit. These two revolutionary companies chose to forgo profits and create a need for their service. Once everyone was hooked is when they started to make money.

The idea to forgo profits in the beginning in trade for a large audience has become the business model of almost all new media. Facebook, Twitter, etc. and now they are so much a part of our everyday lives that advertisers will pay the sites money to get to us.

The initial idea that made amazon and e-bay so successful was they both saw the web as an opportunity to do business; where at the time most people were only using it as a source of information. This simple idea has changed our lives forever. I pretty much only shop online now, and if I have to return something to a mall or regular store I think of it as a burden, and usually never gets done.

Nerd Wars and the Story of it

Watching all the episodes of the documentary of The True Story of the Internet was very informative, and gave me a new outlook on how the Internet became and is still compounding innovation. John Heilemann did an outstanding job on keeping this documentary relevant, fun, and very interesting. This video was mesmerizing, as I could not stop watching the 20 ten minute segments on You Tube.

Hearing the story of Netscape and Microsoft brought me back in history. I could vision the nerd wars sounding like World War II. Bill Gates’ character as Hitler and Netscape trying to over throw his regime. I could not believe how innovation and power would go so crazy. These guys wanted all or nothing. Before knowing the destruction of Netscape, I wondered what happen to its icon on my Mac. I then realize that Apple had a better browser and I went on with my life.

The episode the “bubble” I felt was pretty amazing. I could not believe how powerful the Internet can effect our economy. The Stock market in America had to change because of the growth of business with Amazon and Ebay. As soon as a new internet company can blow up it can pop[fail] as fast. It is amazing how people will risk billions of dollars on stocks on companies that are started by creative 20 year olds that have great ideas, but are not fully tested.

The portion of “power to the people” provided many pros of freedom and how technology can give us unlimited data for free, but there are big consequences that can come from using intellectual property. Some of these have hit certain areas like the music and movie industries hard through Napster and YouTube. Does Freedom end with a price? I believe that Apple figured out how to make money off of this idea.

Download: Search and People Power

Download: Search

It truly is amazing to see how search engines have come from just plain text pages all the way to the pages that we know today. Heck, Google basically offers up suggestions on what pages to search while you are typing in your search, letter by letter. I have been around the Internet ever since I was in 6th grade and back then, the biggest name in search among my friends and my parents was the search engine Alta Vista. As I grew up, I used search less and less until I got into college and even then I would use whatever search engine the MSN home page used. Today, its Bing that I use almost exclusively. But going back to the days when there were many search engines out there, it is amazing that they would turn a company like Google down. Of course, no one truly knew which search company would still be alive today. But back then, just like our buddy John said, a million dollars was nothing in Silicon Valley.


Download: People Power

I believe what YouTube co-founder and CEO, Chad Hurley said was absolutely correct. "The Internet is about connecting individuals." That is exactly what today's social media is all about. That is why Mark Zuckerberg began Facebook. It is the same premise behind MySpace. I think that the greatest thing about YouTube is the fact that it kind of took the power out of the hands of TV execs and gave people the power to put content out there for other peers to watch. Even today, I watch some people who produce their own "College Gameday" type shows on YouTube. The thing about it is that even though these guys are basic amateurs and do not get paid for their service, they are extremely knowledgeable and really brilliant. I consider them the perfect alternative to suffering through Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit on ESPN every Saturday morning.

I really like the interview in this video with Mark Zuckerberg. I totally agree with him when he says that the opinions of your friends and peers mean a lot to you. The reason it is true is because when you hear the opinions of those in the media such as news anchors, reporters, journalists, etc. you are unsure what they are saying is true because there is way too much lying going on in today's journalism world. Facebook is definitely the Google of today. People who at first were not too sure about Facebook hear from their friends and peers about how nice it is to connect with family and friends and they change their tune. They join Facebook and after a while, they get hooked and run to their friends. This is a more common occurrence nowadays with people over 40 because they are among the "non-tech savvy" as I like to call them.

It is truly amazing at how people have changed the Internet in today's world. It seems like only a year or two ago when MySpace and Facebook were just mere thoughts and Yahoo and Google were in the beginning stages of their search war.

Search and People Power

Being only 23 years old, computers have always been around, and I barely remember the first time we got the Internet, but essentially, it has been around my whole life. I don't know what I would have ever needed it for before then. But I must say I am very glad that I live in a time with so much advancement.

Over the past 10 - 15 years, many new innovations have been made to the Internet, primarily in the search and social aspects. First, Jerry Yang and David Filo invented Yahoo! by accident while secretly trying to find a way to find information for a Stanford fantasy basketball league more quickly. They were electrical engineer m

ajors and first named it, "Jerry and David's Guide to the Internet." Yahoo! is obviously much more catchy. All of this thanks to Michael Moritz, the venture capitalist who invested $2 million in Yahoo! For fear of being "sell-outs," and annoyance, they were originally afraid to utilize advertising, but that was how they made their money and it was actually received really well.

Excite was the first big contender for Yahoo! and they would have battles with their innovations, such a

s, one would create e-mail, so the other would provide e-mail, etc. Joe Krause, the co-founder of Exicte seems pretty dumb now, though, because he was given the chance to join forces with Google for the mere price of $1 million, but refused.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin named Google as a play on words to mean 10 to the 100th power in a very fitting manner. How Google differed from other search engines at this time was that they counted links and page visits to determine page relevancy rather than just keyword mentions. Andy Bechtolsheim, venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun Microsystems Inc., believed in Brin and Page and invested $100,000 on the spot. Bill Gross, founder of Idealab, innovated advertising practices and developed the idea to sell keywords to advertisers. Then Google became the most essential player in the web economy. There is the Google search, Google Maps, G-mail, Google Earth, Google Docs, Picassa, Blogger, and eventually YouTube. The motto at Google is, "Don't Be Evil."

Now the video looked to people power. Most of the creators of the latest sites are very young. They discussed how the web not only changed the world, but how the world changed the web, and how it is controlled by no one and shaped by everyone.

From YouTube's purchase by Google for $1.65 billion at the end of 2006 to Digg to Facebook. Web is a two-way medium, and the first time that was really portrayed was with Shawn Fanning, the founder of Napster. Not realizing it was illegal, he created a way to download and share music with peers. When the music industry won the battle against file sharing, this led Steve Jobs to create iTunes with more strict copyright laws and regulations.

Then there was the wave of friend/match-finding sites. Friendster didn't last very long, then Myspace came along and changed the platform for musicians and how they promote themselves. Created in 2003 by Chris DeWolfe, CEO and founder, and Tom Anderson, President and founder, it was a way to connect with friends, but primarily bands and musicians. Then Facebook came along and is paving the way for new social media. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and Harvard dropout uses something he calls a social graph or a social network analysis to find how people are connected and help them connect with each other. Myspace isn't going down without a fight, though.

Finally, Craig Newmark, creator of Craigslist is proof that creation of these sites is not solely for the money. He works out of a tiny office and proves that using the web is about setting communication free. Craigslist is available in about 450 cities worldwide to provide a service for people to buy and sell over the Internet.

In short, there have been many great improvements to something that was already great, and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. As I mentioned in a previous blog, we are in the future.

The age of the Internet

After watching excerpts from each of those clips from "The true story of the Internet" I had lots of different things running through my head. I guess the main thing that stuck out in my mind was the fact that we have taken complete and total advantage of the internet and its many many MANY capabilities. Search is the first thing that comes to my mind. What did we do before google came along?!?!!?! I mean honestly, think about google I am not sure how I functioned before it was here.Think about Google and how smart that search engine really is, but yet it is all just a simple Algorithm, but WHAT in the world would we do without it.

I know that after seeing these videos, I was very intrigued by the people behind all of these remarkably innovative discoveries. These are young guys and yet they are making discoveries that will affect us for the rest of our lives. I will be interested to see what the World Wide Web has going on in 2020!~

On to People power - the world is changing the web, and the web is changing the world and yet it is controlled by NOONE! (at the moment, thank god)

Web 2.0 revolution - Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Gowalla, Foursqaure etc etc. The list is pretty lengthy and will continue to increase as time goes on. The advances of technology are not going to slow down, but only speed up so we better learn to keep up!

With Web 2.0 we are given more options as to what exactly we want to see and how we want to see it. We can filter the news we which to view and how often we want to view it. We have several different outlets available to us and i LOVE it! With the growth of the internet so far, the future will be an exciting thing for us! We are able to use and find information that we are interested in, without all the other fluff.

People Power

Everyday morning since I was a child, my grandfather read the newspaper from cover-to-cover. Every night, he and my grandmother watched the nightly news report on television. They trusted these outlets to provide them with accurate information about current events. For so many years, this was our only news model: news outlets would report to the public, and the public would listen. Within the past decade this has changed drastically. "People power" has brought us many tools that have transformed news reporting from a one-way conversation to a multidimensional, participatory one.

Due to the growth of the internet, news avenues have changed tremendously in the past 10 years. In 2000, we were pretty much limited to what the traditional news outlets and early bloggers (with limited credibility) put out. Now, in 2010, we turn to well known citizen-journalists, expert bloggers, Wikipedia, and alternative news sources like Huffington Post for our news. This did not just happen overnight, however. All of these sources, both individuals and organizations, had to earn credibility by consistently providing accurate, timely information to readers.

More often then not, today's breaking news comes from everyday people, not news outlets like CNN or FOX. In fact, in many cases, Twitter has been cited for informing those news outlets before they even got word of the story. In cases like the 2009 Iranian presidential elections, Michael Jackson death story, and Hudson River plane crash, people really started to acknowledge what a powerful and effective news-sharing tool Twitter has become.

In addition to reporting news, Web 2.0 has also brought us sites like Digg, which allows people to decide what news is important to them, and then share it with their social networks. The main difference between now and the way we used to get our news is that today news consumers have the ability to participate in multidimensional conversation about what they feel is most important. We now have the choice to decide whether we want our news "told" to us by traditional news corporations, or to be an active participants in the news, engaging in the conversation through our comments, tweets, Facebook posts, or votes/likes.

While traditional news outlets will always have their place, I believe that user-generated content is quickly taking over and gaining a reputation as a reliable and extremely timely way to access news. User-generated content may never replace CNN or the New York Times, but if nothing else, it is an excellent supplement to those outlets, and provides something that the traditional news sources don't - an invitation to participate in the news.

The Glorious Internet

At times we do take the Internet and search for granted. For example, today I looked for a new baked chicken recipe and found about 10 different ones I wanted to try in less than 3 minutes. Before the Internet I would have to flip through dozens of pages in a cook book or call my mom for a recipe. I think most of us grad students take the Internet for granted during our research projects and papers. Remember back in the day when you had to go to the actual library, search in encyclopedias and even use the microfiche machine? After watching a segment on "Search" of John Heilemann's the The True Story of the Internet, I remembered how fortunate we are to have the Internet at our fingertips and how fortunate our society is to have the brilliant Stanford grads like the inventors of Yahoo, Excite and Google who have paved the way for this massive information machine.

Not only has the Internet allowed us to have more access to information more conveniently, it has created a more democratic media system, enabling the average Joe to create and deliver content as discussed in Heilemann's segment on "People Power". The corporate media giants are no longer the only ones who can dictate what you get to see or hear. Although I think this is a very positive thing, I also think it brings new risks we need to be aware and careful of. With the Internet and social networking tools, any person can publish content that in turn could potentially be harmful or encourage potentially detrimental behavior. I think it is up to our field of study to educate society on how to interpret and interact with this new age of media and use it for the greater good of society.

Google Search

I am a big googler. I will google everything and anything, it's fair to say I've learned about half the stuff i know today from googling it. It's hard to imagine that once upon a time google did not exist and people had to surf the internet with categorical lists. I can't imagine having to aimlessly search from site to site instead of "feeling lucky." Google puts any answer at your fingertips in less than a second. Larry Page and Sergey Brin made it possible to do all these things instantly. Its crazy to think that this amazing engine was created during my lifetime! Google was created in 1998 in Cali by Stanford Students (surprise, surpriseee...) 12 years ago seems like not so long. Google transformed the way to surf the internet and contributed to its growth and mass appeal. If it wasn't for google putting all these websites from all over the world at our fingertips, the internet would not be as popular as it is today. Over the years, google has added many services that we now take for granted. This Blog itself is possible because of google. Besides my love for google because of its usefulness, i admire that their 'unofficial' company logo is "Don't Be Evil." In a world where money rules all, even though google makes millions and billions of dollars, they don't buy into corporate evil. Instead of going for short term profits, they take their time with things and don't rush just to make money. Google is classified as one of he best companies to work for because they keep their employees happy. Were lucky to have google today because its taken the internet so far and made life so easy for us. The web is such a vast place, and would be impossible to surf the way we do today without it.

Individuals and the "Bubble"

One of the most interesting things discussed in the video about the "Bubble" (the quick rise and demise of new technologies that is followed by a golden age), is how individual power is growing just as quickly as, if not faster than, corporate power. Sites like Amazon and eBay allow individuals to compete with large corporate retailers, which has revolutionized how we buy and sell online.

We can see how this has been carried over into sectors like the music industry, where many bands or individual artists are choosing to release downloads of their music from their own website rather than going through major labels or record stores. While it might seem like the web is dominated by industry giants like Google, Facebook, etc., individuals are actually being empowered as well.

Another interesting point from the movie addressed how Amazon and eBay focused primarily on the consumer experience instead of making money. Both of these companies began operations under the same theory: sacrifice profits for customer satisfaction. Rather than trying to figure out how to make profits, they companies sought to harvest a large following. Both creators realized that as user numbers increase, the usefulness of the sites increase as well. This concept, which seemed strange at the time, is now proving to be extremely successful.

Take, for example: Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter. Each of these sites are free to use, and provide valuable services to their users. However, since they do not charge for use and did not sell advertisements (this has changed as the companies have grown), no one knew how they would be able to make money. The creators of these sites realized that the most important thing is to 'get big fast', and worry about how to make money later. Now these sites have become so connected to our daily lives that they are irreplaceable.

The power of search and people

I was kind of disappointed that there was no mention of net neutrality in either of these videos, Search and People Power, but perhaps it was covered in the other videos for The True Story of The Internet. At the end of People Power he says that the Internet has become something that Big Business can't even hope to control, but I think it's probably a mistake to feel too safe.

As for Search, it was interesting to see that Yahoo! was started by two guys goofing around while their professor was on sabbatical. I was just listening to NPR before I watched these videos, and there was a story about Google investing in wind power. They mentioned that a lot of these side ventures that Google starts come from engineers essentially using their free time. Every engineer apparently gets 20 percent of one day out of each week to work on his or her own project. A lot of amazing, life-changing innovations begin in flexible environments like these. I don't understand why more companies do not catch on.

Bubble

I think many online buyers take for granted the fact that someone had to spend many hours at Amazon creating an encryption system to protect every single credit card number that moves through the system from potentially getting retrieved by hackers. The system that Amazon.com uses is called a public key encryption system and was created by several mathematicians, but the most fascinating thing about it to me is how simple it seems. The process of Amazon creating a "password " for your specific credit card transaction over the Web is so simple sounding, but it's so ingenious. Every time someone wants to make a transaction with Amazon, a special code is given so that when the customer enters their credit card number, a hacker can't get into the system and steal it. The password is only known and retrievable by Amazon, so there is no way for anyone other than the company to gain access to it. It definitely wasn't a simple process to create or implement, but the tiny little processes like these are just so fascinating to me. I have caught myself many times taking such processes for granted, but it's a video like this one that really boosts my level of awareness and appreciation for not only the effective use of public key encryption systems but for those smarty pants that created them in the first place. Way to go guys! Makes me want to be a mathematician!

Browser Wars and Bubble

Browser Wars, part 1 & 2: The history of the Web, from Marc Andreessen’s “Mosaic” browser through Microsoft’s antitrust judgment. What is striking about the history of the Internet is that visionaries (and visionary-financiers like Jim Clark, co-founder of Netscape Communications) initially developed the browser as a means to access the information superhighway, and to make it a means of open-source contribution to access and contribute to the Web’s content (and hopefully turn a profit in the process). With the new convenience created by the graphical web browser, the Web expanded at an unbelievable rate – thanks in particular to Netscape’s 1994 Navigator browser.

In the first 30 days of its release, 90% of Internet users switched from Mosaic to the Netscape web browser. Since Navigator (or any browser, for that matter) could be used as an alternative operating platform, Bill Gates’ Microsoft felt that its computer platform domination was threatened – and with it, Microsoft’s total domination of the industry. By one account, Microsoft (from one day to the next) mounted an attack with the goal of destroying Netscape - in the way it had gobbled-up so many software companies during the previous few years.

With Microsoft’s Windows operating system already effectively holding a monopoly on the PC operating platform, Microsoft’s attempt at a hostile takeover of Netscape prompted them to seek a federal anti-trust suit against Microsoft. Microsoft claimed it had been “set up;” at the same time, Netscape was poised to become the fastest-growing software company ever, particularly when it broke all records on the day it “went public.” Hostilities between Netscape (that is, specifically Marc Andreessen) and Microsoft escalated. Microsoft released its own browser: Internet Explorer, with the intent of chipping away at Netscape’s livelihood. Shadowy salesmen forced multi-year sales deals with PC manufacturers, who – in order to get Microsoft Windows operating system licenses for their products – were not allowed to install Netscape browsers on new PCs. Additionally, the Netscape browser cost money - Internet Explorer was free.

Netscape soon ceased to exist (but not without monstrous profits for its inventors and investors). Microsoft has won the “browser war.” Microsoft fell under the scrutiny of the US Department of Justice for using “predatory and exclusionary business practices” for forcing its Internet Explorer browser on PC manufacturers. During the federal hearings, Bill Gates was found to be obstructionist, evasive and dishonest. Microsoft was found to have systematically broken the law, its stocks plunged, and Bill Gates eventually resigned as CEO.

Bubble, Parts 1 & 2: Amazon.com and ebay unleashed an “economic upheaval” in the way commerce (specifically e-commerce) is conducted. Both Amazon.com and ebay were the result of creative tech-savvy thinkers intentionally setting out to create new ways of tapping the Web’s potential – Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com) looking at which items (i.e., books) are best-suited for sale via the internet, and Pierre Omidyar (ebay) looking at through which mechanism can people best obtain the items they want (no matter how obscure those items may be). Both Amazon.com and ebay were immediate runaway successes – and the employees had a sense that they were making history.

As breakthrough technologies create a “gold rush” mentality accompanied by rampant speculation, greed took over as more and more investors jumped on the rapid growth bandwagon. “Get big fast” became Amazon.com’s business goal. The development of public key cryptography facilitated secure selling via e-commerce. With proper marketing and image-correction, the IPOs of both ebay and Amazon.com resulted in exponential financial windfalls, public consciousness, and corporate growth – inspiring countless imitators.

“Day trading” became routine, gathering their information from CNBC market reports. Investment and spending often occurred with little or no business plan or expertise – pure speculation, in the event even one “dot com” became a runaway success. This “dot com” speculative bubble was technologically supported by the communications revolution in and proliferation of fiber optic network technology. Costs, consequences, and long-range feasibility of amortizing expenses didn’t seem to be at issue for either the “dot coms,” and millions of dollars were being spent on web sites that offered little or no return.

On April 14, 2000, the stock market collapsed in what became known as “Black Friday” – the largest single drop in the history of the stock market. Most “dot coms” died, the overall economy was severely negatively affected, $3.5 trillion in economic wealth disappeared as a result, and Martha Stewart and Henry Blodgett became scapegoats for having done business the way everyone else was doing it. But, as John Heilemann observed, even when the “dot com” bubble burst, we were left with a significantly upgraded infrastructure, built over 5-years instead over what would have been a much longer period. The current expanded fiber optic network, improved e-commerce capabilities, and the new innovations in entrepreneurship (to include the empowerment of the masses to realize their own uses for the Web) were the real and lasting benefits of the “dot com” decade.

[On a personal note – and without understanding the larger implication of my paycheck until I watched this video series – during these years I often did contract work as an off-duty police officer, working at construction sites in the Houston area where fiber optic cable was being bored under roadways. There were a lot of these sites, and there were about 50 or 60 of us in this labor pool of contracted off-duty officers. Most of us got used every day that we wanted to be (in my case that meant 2 or 3 days a week). We actually did very little traffic control, but were there mainly to be visible on site. The job paid $35/hour (in the 1990s!) for just sitting around, and we usually worked 12-18 hour days, sometimes more. Yup. It was a boom, alright – and even we police were seeing a windfall.]

Both Browser Wars and Bubble tell similar elemental stories, different only in the names of the players and the superficial trappings of how the stories outwardly manifest themselves. At their cores, though, the reports tell how technological advancements that start because of good, beneficial ideas always seem to get commandeered by get-rich-quick greed, by megalomania married to avaricious hegemony, and by enterprise-killing shortsightedness. Historically, that has been the way of things in major technological revolutions, whether it’s the whaling industry of the 1700s-1800s, the era of canal and railroad building, or the early days of the automobile. With this in mind, Google’s choice of “don’t be evil” as a corporate motto makes all the more sense – and provides for a worthy goal, as well. Let’s hope THAT idea spreads.

Mark Zuckerberg: Only Slightly Creepy

I'm sitting here trying to think of what to say about the internet history videos I watched, but all I can remember is how Mark Zuckerberg sounded like he was out of breath in every one of his segments in "people power." And the fact that he's six months younger than me and his net worth is about nine or ten figures greater. Several more if you count student loan debt as negative figures.

Anyway!

These videos brought back a lot of memories. As I sit here typing this up while listening to songs I downloaded off iTunes in a matter of seconds, chatting with people on Facebook and adding movies to my Netflix instant queue, I can't help but laugh a little as I remember struggling to find help with Final Fantasy VII in a Yahoo chat room in the wee hours of the morning (which was the only time I could do such a thing, since tying up the phone line was a serious offense) on a computer my dad made for the family.

It's almost a little scary how quickly things have grown and progressed. I got my crappy little LG slider phone for ten bucks when I signed up with AT&T, and it can browse the web faster than anything I'd ever used before I went to college. I can't even begin to imagine what things'll be like in another five or ten years.

HGTV Home Shows

My idea for this website comes from my interest in homebuying shows on HGTV. I love the fact that you can watch someone go through the process of buying a home. Not only do I get to look at really neat houses, I also get to learn about homebuying and see what to watch out for and pay attention to.
I've always enjoyed looking at homes for sale and I thought that I could create a Web site that reviews episodes of my favorite shows that come on HGTV, such as House Hunters and My First Place. There will be a page that explains what each show is about for those who don't know but who are interested in possibly watching some of these shows. Also, my site would provide daily tips on what a homebuyer should know, great locations for first-time homebuyers, etc. This website would also provide information on how prospective homebuyers can contact HGTV to get on a show.
This site will not feature every HGTV show, but only those specifically pertaining to homebuying.

History of the Internet: Part 3. Bubble

Everyone in class pegs John Heilemann as, "that annoying guy." He's a journalist who has been a columnist for The New Yorker, Wired and The Economist. Our class came to know him as the host of the Discovery Channel's documentary series, Download: The True Story of the Internet. I think he's pretty cool in those videos. He reminds me of a know-it-all game show host... as long as his sass isn't directed my way, I'm cool with it.

"Some folks say that our obsession with shopping reflects a certain decadence, a certain self-indulgence. But I say every time we whip out a piece of plastic and slap it down to buy some fresh bling-bling, we're taking park in an age-old tradition: the evolution of capitalism."

At present, I never really sat down to think about where this idea of e-commerce evolved and how it got off the ground; I'm just instantly disappointed when a vendor I'm interested in does not have a website. I'll admit I send a good amount of time on amazon. My bookmarked pages have folders and sub folders dedicated to exclusively online retailers and the online versions of stores I physically visit. But where did it all come from?

"Bubble" centers on the development of amazon and eBay. The "get big fast" mantra inspired amazon's exponential growth while global collectors fueled the interest and expansion of eBay. Start-up companies were a dime a dozen and investors clamored to have a hand in the potential profits.

"History tells us that every great wave of trans-formative innovation is accompanied by a financial mania... In every instance, the pattern was the same: a breakthrough technology creates scads of risky start-ups, investors get excited and rush in to buy a piece of the future and then it all ends in tears."

I had no idea! This all went down in the late 90s. I was busy with high school stuff like studying and hanging out with my misfit friends. I used the internet for updates on the Smashing Pumpkins, for chatting with my English and Swedish friends on an SP message board, for updating my livejournal. Words like "Public key cryptography" and "day traders" had not meaning for me although they have had a direct effect on my everyday life.

Security development will always be a developing field for the internet. As mathematicians, coders and developers create new ways to be safe, the bad guys are right on their heels. Now with the increased use of social media (that prompts people to give away their personal information freely and willingly) and the "geeks are cool" mindset, more and more people are involved with this technology than ever before... and we must be careful.

When you think about it now, you kinda wonder to yourself, "Why couldn't I have come up with that?" or "I could have come up with that!" Well, to tell you the truth, I have an idea ;)

So my idea for this website is to basically give my former organization a more informative website. I was a part of the Texas State Loud Crowd from 2006 until this past Spring semester of 2010. Basically what I am planning on doing is making a home page with just the basic information. I am creating an officers page that will be about the current officers for 2010-2011. I also plan on having a page dedicated to the history of the Loud Crowd from its inception to current day. I will also have a page dedicated to photos from events over the years. I also plan on having a contact page so that those interested can email the officers individually and I will have a link to the Facebook website and the Texas State Athletic website for the LC.

Project 3: Press START

Not mine, but fun.

If you've read any of my past posts or looked at my bio site, you probably saw this coming--my hobby site's gonna be about videogames.

I'm calilng it press START, and I'm thinking about breaking it down into the following four pages:

Home: Pretty self-explanatory introductory page to the site.

News: Gaming industry related news such as new game announcements, release dates, and the like.

Reviews: In-depth reviews of recently released games.

Myths: This one is actually inspired by a topic I read on a forum. People around my age may remember, back in the days before the internet was super widespread, that cheats and secrets in videogames were largely spread by word-of-mouth on the playground or in the cafeteria. A lot of these were exaggerations or outright lies, as most stories told by middle schoolers tend to be (getting the Triforce in Ocarina of Time or fighting Sheng Long in Street Fighter 2), but some turned out to be true (fighting Reptile in the original Mortal Kombat). So I thought it'd be fun to do a little research on some of these.

Live Music Guide

Last weekend I had a few guests from California staying with me, and the thing they were most excited about doing in Austin was seeing live music. Since Austin is known as the "Live Music Capital," I didn't want them to be disappointed. As I went through all of the possible venues, upcoming shows, places to eat and park nearby, and other little tidbits, I started thinking that I should compile all of this information for my hobby site. That way, people from out of town (or locals who aren't familiar with Austin's music scene) have one place to find and plan their concert.

Right now I am planning on including a page explaining why I am creating the site, a calendar of upcoming events with links to artist bios and ticket information, a page describing most of Austin's major venues (with parking tips, average ticket prices, nearby restaurants, etc.), and a page for the ACL and SXSW festivals. Hopefully it will be a simple, convenient place for people to get all of the information they need to take advantage of the Austin music scene.

Mod Podge - My hobby

My hobby site is going to be about Mod Podge.

I use it to decorate and restore different things like furniture, frames, letters, etc. Most importantly, I have a blast when I am doing it! When I first learned about Mod Podge I was a little apprehensive because I am not very crafty, but I ended up loving it. There are so many different things you can Mod Podge and that's really what I love about it! I have taken several different things that were otherwise worth nothing and mod podge turned them into a unique piece of art!~ One of the reasons I enjoy doing Mod Podge is because it is inexpensive. Some of the projects can be time consuming but the finished product is well worth it.

I plan to include the following on my site:

• A little history about Mod Podge


• Past projects I've done with Mod Podge


• Links related to Mod Podge


• Future Projects

Mod Podge is something easy and fun to do! It is like a stress reliever for me. I enjoy taking old and not so pretty stuff and using mod podge and scrapbook paper to create something that is unique and funky! I hope you enjoy learning about Mod Podge and maybe you will be interested too. :)

My hobby is "Keeping Austin's Sports Weird"

My new website is going to be about a new type of sport. This sport works real well with “The Keep Austin Weird” catch phrase. The new sport is called RolfBall; it was developed in Kansas City Missouri by a gym teacher named Rolf. It is an inclusive sport that allows most people to be able to participate. It has multiple types of gym games that are integrated for instance kickball, volleyball, four square, and dodge ball.

I am excited to present it to Austin Texas and be able to build the first website for this sport. RolfBall Austin currently has a group on Facebook, which has over 51 members and still growing. Come, check out the group for times and dates that are coming up at Patterson Park.

Wine is a hobby, no?

My hobby site will cover the wonderful world of wine. I chose this topic mainly because I love wine and want to learn more about it.

Austin is a great city for wine lovers. As the city grows, more and more wine bars have popped up. Austin wine bars offer something for everyone, ranging from casual/low-key to classy/posh. Most tasting rooms in Austin do a great job of creating a fun, inviting experience for people with all levels of wine experience. Many lean towards educating customers, helping them become more and more comfortable with the wine tasting experience with each pour :) Austinites are also very lucky because we're so close to many Hill Country wineries-there are over 25 to explore in the area! My favorite is Dry Comal Creek in New Braunfels.

I would like my site to be a place to share some of what I know about wine and be a resource for those interested in learning more about the topic. I plan to include the following sections in my site:

• History of wine tasting
• Major varieties of wine
• Calender that includes upcoming wine events
• Links to related sites
• List of local wine bars

I look forward to sharing and hearing about your wine experiences and recommendations!

Hobby Page Blog

For this week's web page assignment, I chose to talk about football. During the months of September through January, football takes over my weekends. From Saturday tailgates to Sunday Fantasy Football, my weekends are basically tied up, sometimes causing me to procrastinate on school work.

On Saturdays, the primary focus is UT football. I am a Texas State fan, but UT was my first love. My boyfriend's cousins are publishers for Study Breaks Magazine and are Texas Exes. Every week they have a themed tailgate called Shotgun 30 that has been recognized by College Game Day and local stations as an ultimate tailgate. They are sponsored by various Texas vodkas and Budweiser brand beers. They are basically a great time. I even purchased Big 12 tickets at the new Cowboys Stadium just in case UT goes.

If the UT game is away, then I go to the Texas State tailgate. Working at The University Star, I usually hang out at their tailgate, or I'll visit the KTSW tent with my boyfriend who works there. I even go to the game. Even if we lose, the tailgates and games are always fun.

Sundays are an event as well. My favorite team is the Dallas Cowboys, but even if they have a bye week, the rest of the games are important as well, because I am in a fantasy football league, so I have players from various different teams that I root for. I am currently 3-1 and in 5th place out of 12 in my league. Being from Houston, I also root for the Texans, but whether they win or lose isn't a primary concern of mine.

In my new page for my web site, I will outline all this information in greater detail as well as the true meaning of team pride. We are only a month into football season, but it is already proving to be extremely interesting.

Tee Time Fore Her

I know the title is pretty corny, but my only 'real' hobby (besides eating and shopping according to my friends) is Golf. My boyfriend got me a set of pink and blue Wilson ProStaffs for valentine's day 3 years and ever since then i have been hooked. I try to make it out to the driving range as much as possible but there hasn't been much time lately. I will include links to golf wear for females, what to look for in golf clubs, a few stance and driving tips, how to hold the clubs, my favorite courses in central Texas and so on. My target audience would ideally be someone like me that is intrigued and loves the sport, but probably a beginner at it like me. After all we all have to start somewhere if we hope to be like Lorena Ochoa one day...

project #3

For this project I decided to make my site about the world of advertising: news, jobs, organizations, etc. The audeince for this site it someone like myself who wants all of this infomation in one place. There are so many great sites that have information about advertising, the only problem is there are so many it is hard to keep up with everything going on.

I haven't decided on a logo yet... that is still to come.

Happily Ever After Wedding Website

I'm getting married in almost exactly 6 months and I thought what would be a better idea than creating a wedding website. No fear people, I will not be publishing way too personal information such as "how we met" or "our proposal". First off, most people who will be attending our wedding know these stories and secondly, my fiance and I like to keep a semi-private life. I like the idea of a wedding website because you can put all the necessary information relevant to the wedding, such as ceremony and reception location, hotel information and registry lists in one place instead of having to send it in an invitation. It is more green too. Although I have already created a wedding website using a template, this will certainly be good practice.