Saturday, January 27, 2007

COM 125 Week 2 : Assignment

The internet was created as a secure space or medium which could be usedefficiently even in a nuclear situation. This virtual world has come a long wayfrom that time and has revolutionized our way of life. This relatively newmedium has introduced many new concepts and modes of communication. One of thesemodes is electronic mail. Before email people would wait for weeks to getreplies to their mail. Email made it possible for us to cross borders inseconds. This immediate exchange of communication has changed the way we operatein the working world. This has brought on larger margins in small industries buthas also consolidated the larger firms as well. This increase in competition canbe seen as a direct impact of online communication. Before the advent of email,communication was a luxury. International telecommunication was expensive and sosmaller businesses would not be able to handle their communication costs if theydidn't have major clients or deals which would balance out these costs. Emailhas created an even playing field in this area.
Email has now become even easier to access with the implementation of the 'push mail' service which is now being commercially sold by brands like Blackberry. This allows people to handle and access all their email on their handheld phone. Push mail allows people to synchronize and co ordinate their mail from different sites to one destination, in this case a mobile phone. Larger firms, now give their employees blackberry’s when they start working with them so that the pace of communication remains a constant and efficiency within the corporation is maintained. Thus, email becomes further simplified which is comparable to instant messaging or SMS.
The internet is basically a means of communicating with the masses easily. Products and ideas can be exchanged through this medium. Email is the language of this virtual market, or rather it was the first language for it. Instant messaging services like MSN messenger or Yahoo messenger are also a platform for online communication but a less formal one which took shape much later.
Email companies such as Hotmail and Yahoo, have become huge players in the economic market. They have millions of customers, and have expanded their businesses into different platforms such as instant messaging services and search engines. Google is another such example. They first started out as a search engine and when people were more aware of their presence online, they established Google mail.
Email has crossed boundaries in vertical communication as well. People at different levels of a corporate hierarchy can communicate freely with upper management through this medium easily. This was the case when letters were handwritten as well but email opened up this avenue to be accessible at much greater speed and a much larger scale.
However, email is a free service and available to all. It depends on which site you use. This competition gives rise to more space in your mailbox, and the option to send large files as attachments. If we were to analyze the trend, it can be seen that service provider we are using, for example, hotmail, is a form of marketing for these huge corporations. The more people that use their site, will access their webpage, and as a result of it they can hike up their prices for online advertisements. This just comes to show the importance of email in our lives. It is very rare to see free service providers fight for market share in a particular field. The magnitude of this form of communication is an example of its importance in our lives.

Friday, January 19, 2007


It is almost in a dream likestate that i drfit off into this mad world.he just left a few minutes ago and im back here to carry on where i left off. Let me introduce my master to you a bit, and then we will slowly venture into the complex and delirious mind and life of a dog. Adnan really doesnt give me credit for being too smart, so he doesnt know that in my past year and a half of existense i have learned to interpret the language he speaks. Apparently, he's from a country by the name of Pakistan. I looked it up on the web and they say it is separated from this place by a large body of water. I really dont believe them. He says he goes and visits his home from time to time, but he gets tired walking from the balcony to his bed: i can hardly imagine him doggypaddling across a giant pool of water, its just not him. i suspect that he might be seeing another dog secretely and thus lies to me while he goes spends time with her. As my caretaker though i am quite satisfied. He forgets to feed me sometimes but i get back at him by taking a leak on his carpets. he doesnt like it very much and occasionaly runs after me with pillows and newspapers. Hes harmless though. He entertains quite a few people at our home. mostly they come over and sit around a table for hours. I really dont get a good view of what theyre doing, but from what i understand it is a game called poker. Poker makes adnan happy and he often asks me to wish him luck. Im afraid one day i might just blurt out 'good luck' and blow my cover but so far so good. when hes at home though he keeps playin silly primitive games with me, which often get on my nerves. I mean, how many times can i run after a sock and bring it back to him? But he tries to be fun and he means well so i do it. Im sleepy now so im gonna go sleep in his bed while hes not here. He has no idea that i do this, sometimes i dont make the bed after im done and he looks at me suspiciously. However i quickly go into my cute routine and he seems to forget about things. Hes quite an idiot. By the way i found an old picture of myself and managed to put it up. Hope you guys like it. Recent pictures of adnan and myself will be up soon. If anyone else reads this though, could you please tell me where i could go and communicate with more dogs over this medium, i have to brush up on my social skills.

Pixie Dreams

Weird thing happend the other day. By the way this is Adnans dog, Pixie, and i have somehow become subconciously connected to that machine he sits infront of all day. This strange connection happens however, only when he leaves the house. It freaked me out at first, when words started appearing on the screen but slowly i have gotten used to it. He left me in this house alone for a few weeks, the ********, and after slowly discovering this new world i decided to create an account to tell you about what I do and what he does on a regualr sort of basis. Adnans a nice guy, a bit on the weird side but then im not the most normal dog either. I still have to figure out how i can get my pictures up on this, but until then ill leave myself to the mercy of your imagination.