Life in the Information Age - Banking and Shopping

Banking

What is Banking??
Banking is a method used by many in the world to keep account of their money and what is and/or isn't being taken in and/or out of your account.

How does Banking (via ICT) affect society??
Banking has a huge affect on society, we are all able to save huge amounts of money in one place without the worry of losing any (except if a recession falls upon us). Banking also allows us to make money just by hanign money in a bank; it can also help with storin money; if you are very unorganised with money your bank can help you finance your money right (in a way that benefits both yourself and the bank).

How does ICT assist in Banking??

ICT has assisted us to make Banking much easier by allowing us to find our bank statements online and transfer money from account to account, at the click of a mouse. Banks can also use the following ICT made programs:

An ATM - these are very useful and are usually located around town and in villages

 centres.

• Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
• Banker's Automated Clearing Services (BACS)
• Automated Teller Machines (ATM)
• Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS)
• Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
• Smart Cards

All of these programs are on credit/debit cards and allow the owner easy access of funds; and make it easier for Banks to keep track of the person's money.

Advantages

1. Quicker --> than having to check through everyone's bank statements by hand, it can be done quickly with a computer and avoids human error.
2. Efficient --> ATM's are common to most banking customers and they can get all the information they need within minutes; whereas if they were to go to a bank they could be waiting a while if the banker has to find all their documents and go through everything in order to give them the information that they want.
3. PIN --> customers can change their security pin extremely quickly in a place that they know no-one will be able to know what it is (seeing as it is safer to change it quite regularly, being able to do it quickly means that it is more efficient).

Disadvantages

1.  Details --> there is a high chance of someone hacking into your banking account and then having access to all your banking details (identity theft/fraud is the hardest type of theft/fraud to fight).

Overall Banking has now become essential to everyday living because money is kept more secure and you are able to keep a better track of it.

Shopping


What is Shopping??
Shopping is the exchanging of goods for money. In some cases (mainly for women) shopping is a leisure activity rather than a business.


How does Shopping (via ICT) affect society??
Shopping affects society because it allows us to buy goods and services at our own convenience; and now with the development of online shopping and home drop-offs, there is now less need for people to go into a shop to pirchase items and find their goods. However their are disadvantages - although when it comes to nessecities like washing up liquid, soap etc that never go-off - other nessecities such as fruit and vegetables are harder to buy online because you can't have any idea of what condition it might arrive to you (as you would not have seen it first-hand).

How does ICT assist in Shopping??
ICT has not only assisted in shopping but has made it much easier to shop; much more efficient and helped develop it in ways that would have once seemed impossible.  ICT has made shopping that much quicker with the development of equipment that make it easier to:

1. Purchase Items
1. Self-Checkout
2. The fact that you can now access your money in the bank in a store
2. Withdraw Money
1. Most stores and/or supermarkets now have ATMs outside or within a short distance

Advantages

1. Efficient --> it is much quicker than going to the shop and having to choose each individual time by yourself.
2. Cheaper --> it does not cost you as much, because now you can pay for delivery online, which would cost you less than if you were to go  yourself because if the constantly rising price of petrol.
3. Favourites --> when setting up an account (and having used it for a while) the site will then bring all your favourites and designers to your customer screen.
4. Variety --> online shopping offers you a wider variety of products to choose from because it is not part of the stock that is in store because there is always a rather limited amount because you just can't have that much stock in one shop, whereas when you are shopping online, they get most of their products from the warehouses.

Disadvantages

1. See Product --> when buying goods online you can not see the product first-hand, so you can never tell if the product is of good quality.
2. Details --> you put your details on the Internet and if someone were to hack into your account they would have access to all your bank details (identity theft/fraud is the hardest type of theft/fraud to fight).
3. High Street Shopping --> because of the efficiency, and generally cheaper price, of online shopping, the market for high street shops will decline (and - maybe - eventually become non-existant).

News Stories

UK’s ten-year love affair with online shopping

— filed under: Retail

Added:

Jul 06, 2010

UK consumers spent a staggering £250 billion shopping online in the last decade. That’s according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

 http://www.netimperative.com/news/2010/july/uk2019s-ten-year-love-affair-with-online-shopping







Overall Shopping has always essential to human survival, but has become easier nd more efficient over-time. With Online Shopping becoming even easier and the varied items that you can buy online and not in store, what could be easier?!?

Morrisons to test online shopping

Click to play

Click to play

Dalton Phillips: "We've probably got the industry-leading sales in the market"

The UK's fourth biggest grocer, Morrisons, has said it hopes to trial online shopping and convenience stores next year.

The Bradford-based firm also announced half-yearly profit before tax of £410m, against profit of £359m a year before, an increase of 14%.

The firm said that in a "tight environment" it would continue to "exercise strong control of costs".

It expects low market growth to continue in the second half of 2010.

Morrisons chairman Sir Ian Gibson said: "Our first half performance has been solid, in a tight market."

Online Services --> Blogs

Blogs

A Blog is a type of website, or part of a website, that allows the owner to post feelings and opinions on a daily/weekle/monthly basis. It can be very flexible and you can update it as you please, whenever you want.
Blogger

Using a blog is easy to do, but firstly you have to make your blog.

You must go onto 'www.blogger.com', then you must enter you google account into the 'Sign In' panel.

This picture shows you were you have to enter your Google account. Click on 'SIGN IN' and you will be redirected to the next page . . .

When you have selected the 'START BLOGGING' icon you are redirected to the 'Posting' section of your blog so that you can begin blogging.

As you can see making and starting your own blog is very easy to do; it's quick, free and there is no hassle involved!  However, if continuously updating your blog becomes tedious, you have the option of deleting your blog and account.

Blogger has the basic features of a blog. It allows you to post comments and opinions regularly (even multiple times a day); it allows you to design it in a way that reflects your personality and style.

Advantages

1. Easy --> is it easy to learn about and use.
2. New Features --> the new blogger has made it much easier to upload files; movies; clips and images.
3. Styling --> you can style your blog to suit your personality.

Disadvantages

1. Posts --> posts that are seen on your page, can be seen by anyone, even if they aren't on your blog list.

SquareSpace (http://www.squarespace.com)

<-- This is a picture of the home page of SquareSpace.

SquareSpace is a proffessional blog site, you are able to have a trial run and then you have to sign up and pay for use; unlike 'Blogger' it isn't free!

SquareSpace offers Webhosting and Domains and very clear and high quality audio.



Below is a video in which you are able to learn how SquareSpace and all the features that are available.



Advantages

1. High Quality Audio and Definition --> SquareSpace has very high quality audio and definition. This videos are of a very high and clear standard and the audio that comes with the videos is incredily clear.
2. Access --> you are able to access SquareSpace very easily on the internet.
3. Easy --> it is very easy to sign-up to SquareSpace and even easier to use it.

Disadvantages

1. Pay --> you have to pay for full use. In order to use all the features of SquareSpace you have to pay a monthly fee of $12.

Online Services --> EMail

E-Mail

E-mail is electronic mail. A program for receiving and sending e-mails quickly, efficiently and for free. It is quite similar to writing a letter, except that an e-mail can reach its recipient on the same day whereas a letter would take several days to reach it's destination.

E-mail is also very useful for sending images, files and recorded information quickly and easily. That is another difference between e-mail and writing a letter by hand, you can't post recorded files and documents.

GMail

GMail is Google's version of an E-Mail account.  It has exactly the same functions as a normal E-Mail account, except more to offer.

1. Gmail prioritises your mail and sorts out which mail is most important and which ones can wait.
2. The important emails are brought to the top and everything else will be underneath
3. There is a star feature, this feature allows you to put messages that you feel are important into a separate folder; this way you can get to it later on.
4. Tools like this help you to avoid information overload, allowing you to filter information better. This is good because there is less time taken on getting rid on spam emails.
5. If there is a person that you know is important and you NEED to get their emails, you can make GMail filter through your emails and put a star onto that persons emails and there messages will be put into the star folder; ready for you to read.
6. Gmail records which emails you read on a daily basis, it remembers which are important, so if you don't read spam GMail recognises it.
7. It can change prioritisation manually based on what you do and don't read over a period of time.

In order to fully understand GMails most popular application (which is sorting E-Mail by prioritisation) I have below a video that shows a step-by-step process of how to use it:

Yahoo

Yahoo is a simpler version of Hotmail. It is not as advanced as GMail, being able to sort through your mail, however if you receive mail continuously from an e-mail address and you don't want it, you can move it to the 'Spam' folder and all messages that come from that e-mail address will automatically be put into the 'Spam' folder.  It will then delete the contents of that folder, over a period of time that you can change in the 'Settings' option.  You can also get a daily update on important news that is going on around the world and in your area.  Yahoo also has a handy messenger, incredibly similar to 'Hotmail Messenger'. The only difference between the two is that one is 'Yahoo!' and the other is 'Hotmail'.

Here is a tutorial demonstrating just how easy it is to set-up a Yahoo! e-mail account.



Advantages

• More publicity --> for instance if a company sends an e-mail, the recipient knows that it is from that particular company, because the e-mail contains the companies name; this makes people more aware of the company.
• Fast --> e-mails can arrive at their destination pretty much simultaneously as of when it was sent.
• Cheap --> they are cheap because you can send as many e-mails as you want and all you have to pay for is the electricity. Whereas if you were to text someone something important, via. mobile, it would cost you about 10pence.
• Environmentally friendly --> considering that when you write a letter you use up paper; which was made by trees which allow us to breath, e-mail is considerably more environmentally friendly.
• Multiple e-mails --> one can send the same e-mail to multiple recipients, quickly and easily. This also allows for better use of time, because if you were to write a letter to each individual person, it could take a VERY LONG TIME!
• Numerous attachments --> when writing an e-mail you can also send pictures, videos, music etc. without any delay and it can be seen the very same day without anything missing and your point would have got across immediately. Whereas if you were to write a letter and try to explain the images, videos etc. it would have been very difficult and tedious.

Disadvantages

• Inappropriate e-mails --> people are able to send offensive and/or sexually explicit e-mails to others; but seeing as they are already on the web, they are unable to right their wrong.
• Trick or treat --> people may hack into others accounts and send crude and unearthly messages to others; but because it is on another persons account, they may be mistaken as the person who sent the e-mail.
• Trick or treat 2 --> people may create false websites of new and/or already known business' and trick people to send them money. The worst kind are the sites that trick people to send their bank details and then identity theft is out into place; and identity theft is the hardest kind of theft to fight.
• Viruses --> people may send e-mails with attachments that the recipients may think is one thing but is in-fact a virus, that is waiting to be downloaded.
• News stories related to e-mails

News stories related to e-mails

"Leaked email from furious young Tory Adele Douglas reveals the abuse she received from Conservatives for being northern"

On the 13th of April, 2010, a man called Bob Roberts reported the abuse the Conservative party had dished out to a young woman called Tory Adele Douglas. They abused her accent, origin and the fact that she was seeing a man of Asian origin.

This proves that even in our own Government there are prejudice people.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/04/13/leaked-email-from-furious-young-tory-adele-douglas-reveals-the-abuse-she-received-from-conservatives-for-being-northern-115875-22181740/

"Ticket site closed on fraud fears.  Thousands of people have been warned they may not receive concert tickets from a website that has been shut down by the Metropolitan Police"

"Ticket site closed on fraud fears. Thousands of people have been warned they may not receive concert tickets from a website that has been shut down by the Metropolitan Police"

On the 21st of October, 2008, the BBC reported the suspicious behaviour of a box office site that was - supposedly - selling tickets for upcoming gigs. It turned out that the site was a fake but by this time - paperticket.com - had managed to swindle over £2.5m out of people before it was shut down.

This just proves how careful one must when buying things online, unless you are fully aware of the site and have checked its authenticity, you should NEVER give out bank details and/or register.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7680814.stm

Life in the Information Age

In the next chapter, I will be covering sections on:

--> Education
--> Banking and Shopping
--> Communication
--> Entertainment and Leisure
--> Employment Opportunities

Online Services --> Social Networking

Social Networking

Social Networking consists of different groupd of individuals, who have the same interests and likes, who can then come together in one place and contact each other.  They can be people you already know or people you have never met before; social networking is the way the 21st Century people communicate with each other and meet new people! Social Networking is often referred to as an online community for people.
Facebook

Facebook is a 'Social Networking' site.  It allows you to chat with people for free, via the chat icon at the bottom, and find people all over the world that you have not seen in a very long time.  Facebook is easy to use and very efficient; you can find long lost friends, family members and people who you may be interested in (and become friends)!

Facebook! has different appliations that allow you to make and join groups (therefore discussions with people all over the world), and you can post comments on friends walls; there is also a way that people can have conversations that no-one else can read, this is because there is a small CHAT column at the bottom of the screen which allows people to chat privately without the intervention of anyone else.

Facebook also allows you to join and make groups for people all over the globs or just friends to join together and talk (or slander) the topic that they have created a group about.

Facebook is owned by 'Mark Zuckerberg' who is aged 26 made Facebook because he saw a 'Gap In The Market' that allowed people an easy and simple way to find anyone and everyone.  Facebook is easy to use and very easy to set, here is a video that shows you just how easy it is to set-up a Facebook account:



Advantages

1. Easy to Search --> Allows the user to search for old and new friends at their own convenience - and has applications that make searching quick and easy.
2. Finding is easy --> Makes it easier to find people, especially people you have never had a real conversation with, so when you see them face-to-face again you are less awkward with one another.
3. Variety of different uses --> Can be used as a dating service, without any chance of being inappropriate.
4. Similar interests --> Easy to join groups that have similar likes and dislikes.

Disadvantages

1. Overcrowded --> because of the amount of people who have Facebook accounts.
2. Relationships -->Weakens long distance relationships.
3. Health --> It can become an addiction.
4. Labeling may be false --> Acquaintances can be labeled as friends.

MSN Messenger

MSN is a networking site where people communicate via Messenger. You can add people from around the world and talk to them for free. It is extremely easy to set-up an MSN account and launch MSN Web Messenger.

Below is a video that show how to do both these thing step-by-step in 5 minutes.



Advantages

1. Free --> can talk to anyone, anywhere and all you have to pay for is the electricity.
2. Calls --> can make calls for free and video calls, using a web-cam if  you have one.
3. Viruses --> has no viruses unless you open content that may include viruses.
4. Send --> can send pictures, music, documents to people on your contact list.
5. Quick --> quick to install.
6. Anywhere --> can sign in anywhere on any one's computer if they have MSN installed.

Disadvantages

1. Break Down --> can break down quite easily if your web connection is not good; may just not let you sign in and you may not be able to sign in for a good couple of days.
2. Anyone --> anyone can add you, it's completely your responsibility not to accept people you don't know.

Online Services --> E-Commerce

E-Commerce

An E-Commerce is the buying and selling of goods and/or services via the Internet.  There is 'Business-to-Business' E-Commerce, 'Business-to-Customer' E-Commerce (and although it is not necessarily seen as an E-Commerce, 'Customer-to-Customer'). There are examples for each of these:

• Business-to-Business
• Are examples such as a business that sells poultry selling their stock to a department store
• Business-to-Customer
• Amazon
• Next (and most supermarkets and department stores)
• Customer-to-Customer
• EBay

Amazon

Amazon is a 'Business to Customer' E-Commerce site. It is a secure site that allows you to buy items; sell items; trade items etc.

Amazon have different applications that allow you to:

• View Items --> you can view items that you had recently seen and that the computer feels you may want to look at again.  It makes it a lot easier to find when they are all in the same place.
• Track Packages --> it also allows you to track packages that you have purchased on the site.  This allows you to make arrangements in advanced for someone to pick it up at home.
• Lists --> Amazon also has several applications that allow you to make lists. The lists consist of 'Wish', 'Gift' and 'Shopping' lists. In all of these lists you can add items that you either want to have for yourself (Wish), want to buy as gifts for other people (Gift) and have saved as lists for up-coming weeks.
• Your Account --> this is an application that allows you to change the settings of your account. Including e-mail; bank details; password; username; e-mail notifications; media library; magazine subscriptions.
• Reviews --> this is an application that allows you to look at all the reviews you have given for the things you have purchased and also the items you have purchased that you have not reviewed.

Amazon is very easy to set-up and below is a link that will take you step-by-step through how to set-up an account:

Advantages

1. Control --> have control over the items in you inventory.
2. Packing --> don't have to pack up all the goods. They get packed for you and sent to you.

Disadvantages

1. Bank Details --> when you have put your bank details into the site, anyone who can access your account will have that information; identity theft is the hardest type of theft to fight.

XtremeMac

XtremeMac is an example of a 'Business-to-Business' E-Commerce.  It allows people (customers) to purchase all kinds of Apple accessories, from docking stations; to portable docking stations and alarm clocks; chargers that charge more than one Apple product simultaneously.

It offers any kind of Apple product that will enhance or change the way in which you use your Apple product.  Making it more attractive; easier to use or able to use in everyday situations.

There are many products that XtremeMac have available for Apple merchandise.  Here are some of the products that are available:



This product is a "Dual" Alarm clock with
optional detachable speak



This product allows you to charge, play and awake
to your iPod/iPhone (depending on what you place)
on the dock.

This product gives your iPod individuality, it is
a silicon case which (in many cases) portrays the
personality of the owner.

This product charges 2 Apple products simultaneously.
It is compatible with an iPod, iPhone AND iPad



This product is also an Alarm Clock, however you are
able to set it in a way that it plays a certain group of
songs (playlist) when you want it to i.e. at any
time you feel appropriate, for instance when you
are waking up.




This product allows those who are quite active, for
instance runners etc. to listen to their iPods and iPhones
on the go without risking damage to the device. This
is because of the clasp that keeps the device secure.
















Advantages

1. Up-To-Date --> you are able to buy up-to-date Apple accessories at affordable and reasonable prices.
2. Access --> it is extremely easy to access the site. There is nothing complicated about the HTML and the website is very easy to understand.

Disadvantages

1. Details --> as with most E-Commerce sites, there is always a risk of personal details being stolen.
2. Access --> in order to receive the product, the customer must have a great deal of patience because the product has to get to them from America; which can quite a long period of time!
3. Quality --> although the picture may look very nice and therefore the product very well taken care of, because you cannot see it first-hand, there is a chance that it can arrive to you damaged (and seeing as it has been sent from overseas it may be very hard to return and get changed).

Online Services --> Entertainment

Entertainment

Entertainment is any other activity that provides amusement for anyone in their leisure time.  Entertainment usually consists of watching movies, doing sports or other hobbies that people are interested in.

YouTube

'YouTube' is an online web page, which allows people to watch short clips of shows; information clips and clips added by friends and/or family.  It is free and legal; except if there are clips that should only be watched by people of a certain age, 'YouTube' does not allow anyone who does not have an account watch it; or they will make them add an account and only if they are the age that the clip is allowed for they aren't allowed to watch it (this is because at the beginning of the sign up page, You Tube asks for your date of birth).

'YouTube' allows you to upload videos, it will take a while because videos hold a large capacity and need more time to upload, but it is otherwise very easy to do. This is how you do it . . .



'YouTube' is very useful and well worth getting an account for.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

• Free --> accessing 'YouTube' is free and easy.
• Global Audience --> you can upload videos that everyone all over the world can see and you can become noticed on 'YouTube' from it.
• Customising --> people may design blogs and add things to blogs that reflect who they are; what they do and what they like.
• Reflection --> one may reflect who one is from what they put on their page.  It also allows people to broadcast their multimedia skills; if they have any and enjoy making small movies etc.
• Time-wasting --> another benefit is the streaming of the videos.  Other sites make you wait for the Internet to load the video from beginning to end, whereas 'YouTube' allows you to watch it right from the start and not have to wait until it has finished streaming the entire clip.
• Embedding --> 'YouTube' is also extremely easy to embed from.  On some other sites, embedding a video is rather a long and tedious work; but with 'YouTube' it takes no longer than 2 to 3 minutes.
• Fame --> although people may be quite sceptical about it, becoming famous via 'YouTube' is definitely a prospect.  Although at the beginning it may seem quite ridiculous, once you get across the first hurdle, anything can happen.

Disadvantages

• Fame --> for those trying to become famous via 'YouTube', the only disadvantage is that there are probably hundreds of millions of other people trying to do the exact same thing.
•  Quality --> compared to other video sites (eg. Revver) the quality of the videos isn't generally as could as it could be.
• Money --> unfortunately, compared to other video sites (eg. Revver) you can not make any money from the videos you put on.

CHANNELCHOOSER!

CHANNELCHOOSER! is a site that allows people to watch many videos and shows etc. under different categories; and here are some of the categories that are on CHANNELCHOOSER! :

- Adult

- Movies

- Popular

- Entertainment

- World

- Sports and more . . .

Games are usually played on game consoles, such as:
- Wii
- XBox
- PSP
- Playstation 1 and 2 etc.

But online gaming and watching is very easy to do. One of the most types of online gaming is Poker. It is very easy to do, but highly addictive. As many are aware gambling is very bad, especially for those who become addicted and begin to gamble money that is not rightfully there's. However it is incredibly easy to get into and hear is a clip shoeing just how easy:


Advantages

1. Easy --> quick, easy and accessible from anywhere and everywhere.
2. Comfort --> don't have to leave the comfort of your home to play poker.

Disadvantages

1. Details --> when you put your bank details in, if someone hacks into your account, they will have access to your accounts form this information.

Online Services

On the rest of my blog I will be covering:

--> Blogs
--> E-mail
--> Entertainment
--> Social Networking
--> E-commerce

Microblogs

Microblogs have the same characteristics as a traditional blog, however there is a difference and the difference is that microblogs are considerably smaller than blogs. Microblogs are also similar to multimedia blogs. Multimedia blogs are blogs that can have pictures and video's embedded into the blog; therefore microblogs can be classed as multimedia blogs!

However when it comes to what you can write, blogs have a much bigger capacity, whereas microblogs allow only about 140 characters; which would only allow for brief statements or comments. This would probably be preferred because you can now access microblogs on you mobile-phones, iPod's and other electronic appliances, which only allow for 140 characters; this allows you to blog on the move!

Twitter and tumblr are very good and popular microblogs and they both use 140 characters; just like the electronic appliances. Having brief comments makes blogging that big more interesting because it is very brief. Someone who reads the comments can read them quickly and if they feel they are very interesting they can copy, paste and send them to other friends; they will be able to do this because of the small amount of characters it can hold!

This is very good for business', because they may want people to become aware of them and they can do this by posting comments on microblogs which can then be sent around the globe quickly and efficiently; this allows for business' to become known very quickly and over a very wide surface area.

www.webopedia.com/TERM/m/microblog.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microblogging

Twitter

This is where on can begin a Twitter account. It is simple to do and these are the stages.

You select 'Sign Up' and you will get redirected to another page . . .

This is where you will then type in you name, user name, password and e-mail address. This will the allow Twitter to send your e-mail account a message in order to confirm that it is indeed an e-mail address and then you can have complete access to everything on Twitter. Then you must agree to the 'Terms and Conditions' and create you Twitter account.

For security reasons the site will then ask you to type in a few words and then continue, if you get it wrong however they will continue to ask you what different words are.

From here there are 3 easy steps that you need to take in order to begin your Twitter; this is Step 1!  This is where they will make you browse interests, this will then match you with people with the same interests and you can follow them.

This is then Step 2. This will allow you to find any friends who are currently on Twitter. The system will scan your e-mail address book and then try and find these e-mail addresses on Twitter, rather than you having to find them on your own.

This is Step 3, this allows you to search for anyone who was missed or couldn't be found by scanning your e-mail address book. You search for these people by user name, last name and/or business name.

Now you have finished with the 3 steps and you can now begin to Twitter. Every time you are on Twitter you type something under the 'What's Happening' sign. This allows anyone who visits your page to see what it is you were doing the last time you posted a comment.

 

still needs finishing

Email

To e-mail, means to communicate electronically by computer.

GMail

1. Gmail prioritises your mail and sorts out which mail is most important and which ones can wait
2. The important emails are brought to the top and everything else will be underneath
3. There is a star feature, this feature allows you to put messages that you feel are important into a separate folder; this way you can get to it later on
4. Tools like this help you to avoid information overload, allowing you to filter information better. This is good because there is less time taken on getting rid on spam emails
5. If there is a person that you know is important and you NEED to get their emails, you can make GMail filter through your emails and put a star onto that persons emails and there messages will be put into the star folder; ready for you to read
6. Gmail records which emails you read on a daily basis, it remembers which are important, so if you don't read spam GMail recognises it
7. It can change prioritisation manually based on what you do and don't read over a period of time

www.bbc.co.uk/technology



Yahoo

1. Yahoo is a simpler version of Hotmail.
2. It is not as advanced as GMail, being able to sort through your mail, however if you receive mail continuously from an e-mail address and you don't want it, you can move it to the 'Spam' folder and all messages that come from that e-mail address will automatically be put into the 'Spam' folder.
3. It will then delete the contents of that folder, over a period of time that you can change in the 'Settings' option.
4. You can also get a daily update on important news that is going on around the world and in your area.
5. Yahoo also has a handy messenger, incredibly similar to 'Hotmail Messenger'. The only difference between the two is that one is 'Yahoo!' and the other is 'Hotmail'.

Benefits and Problems of E-Mail

Benefits

• More publicity --> for instance if a company sends an e-mail, the recipient knows that it is from that particular company, because the e-mail contains the companies name; this makes people more aware of the company.
•  Fast --> e-mails can arrive at their destination pretty much simultaneously as of when it was sent.
• Cheap --> they are cheap because you can send as many e-mails as you want and all you have to pay for is the electricity.  Whereas if you were to text someone something important, via. mobile, it would cost you about 10pence.
• Environmentally friendly --> considering that when you write a letter you use up paper; which was made by trees which allow us to breath, e-mail is considerably more environmentally friendly.
• Multiple e-mails --> one can send the same e-mail to multiple recipients, quickly and easily.  This also allows for better use of time, because if you were to write a letter to each individual person, it could take a VERY LONG TIME!
• Numerous attachments --> when writing an e-mail you can also send pictures, videos, music etc. without any delay and it can be seen the very same day without anything missing and your point would have got across immediately.  Whereas if you were to write a letter and try to explain the images, videos etc. it would have been very difficult and tedious.

Problems

• Inappropriate e-mails --> people are able to send offensive and/or sexually explicit e-mails to others; but seeing as they are already on the web, they are unable to right their wrong.
• Trick or treat --> people may hack into others accounts and send crude and unearthly messages to others; but because it is on another persons account, they may be mistaken as the person who sent the e-mail.
• Trick or treat 2 --> people may create false websites of new and/or already known business' and trick people to send them money.  The worst kind are the sites that trick people to send their bank details and then identity theft is out into place; and identity theft is the hardest kind of theft to fight.
• Viruses --> people may send e-mails with attachments that the recipients may think is one thing but is in-fact a virus, that is waiting to be downloaded.

News stories related to e-mails

"Leaked email from furious young Tory Adele Douglas reveals the abuse she received from Conservatives for being northern"

On the 13th of April, 2010, a man called Bob Roberts reported the abuse the Conservative party had dished out to a young woman called Tory Adele Douglas.  They abused her accent, origin and the fact that she was seeing a man of Asian origin.

This proves that even in our own Government there are prejudice people.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/04/13/leaked-email-from-furious-young-tory-adele-douglas-reveals-the-abuse-she-received-from-conservatives-for-being-northern-115875-22181740/

"Ticket site closed on fraud fears.  Thousands of people have been warned they may not receive concert tickets from a website that has been shut down by the Metropolitan Police"

On the 21st of October, 2008, the BBC reported the suspicious behaviour of a box office site that was - supposedly - selling tickets for upcoming gigs.  It turned out that the site was a fake but by this time - paperticket.com - had managed to swindle over £2.5m out of people before it was shut down.

This just proves how careful one must when buying things online, unless you are fully aware of the site and have checked its authenticity, you should NEVER give out bank details and/or register.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7680814.stm

Thursday's Lesson

Using a blog is easy to do, but firstly you have to make your blog.

You must go onto 'www.blogger.com', then you must enter you google account into the 'Sign In' panel.

This picture shows you were you have to enter your Google account. Click on 'SIGN IN' and you will be redirected to the next page . . .

This pitcure illustrates that you to enter a display name.  The display name will be the name you will see when you sign in to your blogger.  This is so that one knows whether it is their account.  You then have to press 'Continue' to get onto the next stage . . .

Here you have to enter your 'Blog Title' and the 'URL' of your blog.  This will allow you and other to identify your blog quickly and easily.  You should also make your blog something you are likely to remember, because there is also an easy function which allows your friends to add your blog to their blog list!  Then select 'Continue' . . .

This image illustrates the section where you have to select the template you wish to have.  Templates are very good because they address the kind of person you are!  If you have a very simple a plain, straight-forward blog, then people who look at it will know that you are a straight-forward kind of person.  However if you have a blog that is full of colours and bold bright lettering and information, then the people who read it will have an idea that you have a bright and bubbly personality.

This small box simply tells you that you are ready to 'START BLOGGING'!

When you have selected the 'START BLOGGING' icon you are redirected to the 'Posting' section of your blog so that you can begin blogging.

As you can see making and starting your own blog is very easy to do; it's quick, free and there is no hassle involved!  However, if continuously updating your blog becomes tedious, you have the option of deleting your blog and account.

To e-mail, means to communicate electronically by computer.

GMail

1. Gmail prioritises your mail and sorts out which mail is most important and which ones can wait
2. The important emails are brought to the top and everything else will be underneath
3. There is a star feature, this feature allows you to put messages that you feel are important into a seperate folder; this way you can get to it later on
4. Tools like this help you to avoid information overload, allowing you to filter information better. This is good because there is less time taken on getting rid on spam emails
5. If there is a person that you know is importnat and you NEED to get their emails, you can make gmail filter through your emails and put a star onto that persons emails and there messages will be put into the star folder; ready for you to read
6. Gmail records which emails you read on a daily basis, it remembers which are important, so if you don't read spam gmail recognises it
7. It can change prioritisation manually based on what you do and don't read over a period of time

www.bbc.co.uk/technology



Yahoo

1. Yahoo is a simpler version of Hotmail.
2. It is not as advanced as GMail, being able to sort through your mail, however if you recieve mail continuously from an e-mail address and you don't want it, you can move it to the 'Spam' folder and all messages that come from that e-mail address will automatically be put into the 'Spam' folder.
3. It will then delete the contents of that folder, over a period of time that you can change in the 'Settings' option.
4. You can also get a dailt update on imprtant news that is goin on around the world and in your area.
5. Yahoo also has a handy messenger, incredibly similar to 'Hotmail Messenger'. The only difference between the two is that one is 'Yahoo!' and the other is 'Hotmail'.