Wednesday, December 27, 2006

The Good, The Bad, The Virtual: Part 3

This is the last of my virtual world spout offs. It’s just that I hope I’m not the only onewho sees this and it does scare me. The point I’m trying to make in this series of articles is: Yes, the Internet and computers have changed our civilization and our history. Yes, they have brought us to new levels of communication and productivity.BUT ... look at the price we have paid.

We have come to rely on this new technology so much that we have actually passed control to this non-living thing. So much that it has reached the point that it has not only supplemented but replaced.

This really hit me back in August. I went to make a deposit but the ATM was down so I went inside. The friendly teller informed me that the computers were down and she could not take my transaction. I didn't think anything of it and asked her to take my deposit and give me a written receipt. She just looked at me with bewildered eyes and told me they no longer do that, no computer no transaction. She was too young to remember a world before ATM machines.

The Internet has become this giant non-living entity of it's own! A hugh global network of computers around the world. We go to it for information, to shop, for advice, to learn, to travel, to keep records and to weigh facts and make decisions.

We have handed off so much control that if it should stop, or worse, become with-held life as we know it would stop. We would simply be dead in the water, we couldn't even pump gas. This is not some future scenario. This is here and now, life has indeed become an X File episode.

The worst (and to me scary) part is we have given in so willingly, no hesitation, no thought about the future. We handed control of our lives to a giant non-living cloud, a mass of wires chips and plastic boxes and we did it willingly. Think about that.

Chris Kaminski is head technician for Computer Guys Live Inc., an online computer repair company based in Asheville, NC. Visit the Computer Guys Live for your secure, online computer repair and tech support.

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Posted by Lone Bird Studio Ltd. @ 1:21 PM

Thursday, December 14, 2006

The Good, The Bad, The Virtual…Part 2

Last week I started my rant on the duality of this new Internet society we now all live
in. I know there are many examples and I bet you can think of some I have missed.
Last week I used our seniors, well here’s another. Today, our kids can socialize through
chat rooms and web cams, globally. It has opened up a whole new world of diversity,
exchange and communication, this is a good thing. It has also given birth to a whole
new type of child predator, a very bad thing.

Everybody and everything has become totally reliant on computers and an Internet
connection. Everything, business, banking. telephone communications. A simple cash
register connects thru a modem when the clerk swipes your card. Our new digital
world has replaced the film camera, killed the record store. Email has been a
wounding blow to the post office (though the Internet was a boom to the shipping
companies).

High speed connections coupled with high end graphics have allowed for the creation
of whole new co-existing worlds. Some extremely real and some not so real but all
of them virtual. And, when it comes to virtual worlds and interactive games the ‘cloud’
is alive. Entire new worlds have been created and exist. In many instances people are
starting to use these to replace their real lives. This could be a bad thing .
It’s just that everything we do, everything we touch one way or another connects to
this thing we call “the cloud”, the Internet.

A scary result of this is how complacent people have become to computers being
around them and how much power they give to it. A simple dumb box that only
displays information that another person had put in. Ever notice how compliant people
have become when they hear “I’m sorry, but that is what the computer said”. It
doesn’t matter why. Credit card denied, club membership has expired, can’t get your
license renewed (my other story). When you get to the point of “I’m sorry, but that is
what the computer said”. The conversation is over. Neither you nor the other person
is going to get much further.

In our minds, this ‘Cloud’ has become an all knowing, all connecting abstract thing
where the universe is stored. Something so big so complicated that we can only
search it with Google. This ‘Cloud’, to us, is probably better off just being known
as the ‘Cloud’ and all our computers and devices connect us to this Cloud’ and some
all knowing data base hidden somewhere deep inside, so if the computer says so, it
must be true right? This is a really a bad thing.

This is where the Real world and Virtual world collide and mix and we start to hand
off control to the virtual and this is where our heads get lost in the cloud.

by Chris Kaminski,
Head Technician for Computer Guys Live Inc.
An online computer repair company based in Asheville, NC

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Posted by Lone Bird Studio Ltd. @ 10:16 AM

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The Good, The Bad, The Virtual…



This photo courtesy of The Second Life, an online virtual world of 1.8 million residents worldwide.

This summer I lectured about the new social engineering. A totally new phenomenon
brought on completely by the Internet. Nothing else has changed society, so greatly,
so globally and in such a short time. With today’s technology and a laptop you can be
at almost any point on the globe and get the Internet.

That said, it has also severely divided our world, in fact we ALL now live in two co-
existing worlds. One is Real and the other is Virtual. And the problem is we are drawn
a little deeper in to the virtual world a little more everyday. And where the two worlds
collide is not clear at all. Sony says “Live in your world. Play in ours.” But how much
fun is it really and what do we give up to have it.

Hackers for the most part have given up. Security and encryption have become so
good that they have switched to new devices like Phishing. We haven’t had a good
virus scare in almost a year. Because of this everything is moving online. Online
shopping is positioned to exceed mall or store shopping. If you stick a card in a gas
pump, you interact with this virtual world in some way. Business, banking, gaming,
gambling, dating ... whoa right there. Dating? Not only dating but just socializing in
general. E-mail, instant massaging, interactive games, online collaboration. At no
other point in history could our 14 year old hold a 20 minute chat with some kid in
China and never leave the bedroom.

The virtual is becoming a powerful force.
But ... the force has a dark side, young Skywalker. Have you noticed how deep we
are withdrawing into, and relying on this new virtual world? And, have you noticed that
for every good action there is a reaction that is just as or even more powerful?

For example, our seniors, (who by the way are the larger part of the computer market
right now),with a laptop and an Internet connection they can socialize, shop, order
medication, watch or be watched with web cams. It has become a way for them to
reach out and maintain their independence, a good thing. In exchange though,
everything we do, everything we buy, everywhere we go is tracked. Which came to
light during this past political campaign when “Micro- Marketing” broke the news.

There is a profile on every individual who swipes a card. This is a BAD thing.
This is the first of a few articles I decided to do about the duality of this new
wonder and what it may cost us in the end.

I would like to plug our great online computer repair company real quick. Are you ready for your online holiday shopping? Call us toll free, Computer Guys Live, 866-300-8181 or go online, www.computerguyslive.com.
We have a $20.00 special to remove all the spyware from your machine. And our techs can do it remotely. Be safe, shop securely online!

by Chris Kaminski,
Head Tech and CEO of Computer Guys Live Inc.

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Posted by Lone Bird Studio Ltd. @ 2:22 PM

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