Im thinking of a title for this one!!

The mobile operator will offer unlimited internet access to cater for customers accessing Facebook and Bebo via their handsets

Vodafone is offering unlimited internet access as a standard feature of its new monthly mobile price plans, driven by an increasing amount of people accessing social networking sites and e-mail from their phones.

However, Vodafone wants people to know there are hundreds of other handsets that can access the internet.

Al Russell, head of mobile internet and content services at Vodafone, said: “Many people already have phones that can browse the internet so they don’t need to buy new ones. A lot of people are worried about how to use the internet on their phones. Our staff will put the phones in their hands and show them how to do it in two minutes. And they don’t have to worry about the cost.”


Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone company by revenue, said internet access would be automatically bundled in with all its new pay plans for no extra charge, with prices starting from £25 per month. Until now customers had to buy an additional internet bundle for £7.50, with a cap of 120 megabytes per month.

However, Vodafone’s “unlimited” package does in fact have a limit: it is subject to a “fair usage policy” of 500 megabytes per month. Users will not be penalised if they overstep the limit but the company said excessive abusers would be contacted

Social Networking to a whole different level...

The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Saturday March 8 2008

The article below reported on a survey about the effect of social networks. The survey and article referred to net figures produced by aggregating the survey's results. The article said, for example, "A balance of nearly a third of 15- to 19-year-olds say they are doing less homework, -30% among boys and -32% among girls". Those figures were intended to express the fact that 5% of boys and 1% of girls said social networking increased the time they spend on homework, while 35% of boys and 33% of girls said it decreased the time (5% - 35% = -30%; 1% - 33% = -32%); the remainder in both cases reported no change.


British 15-to-19-year-olds admit spending significantly less time doing homework than they used to as a result of their use of social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, according to research published today.

While teachers and parents will be dismayed, the 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey also makes uncomfortable reading for commercial TV executives. It shows that not only does a significant proportion of the important 15- to 19-year-old audience watch less television as a result of social networking, but that the vast majority of Britain's 15-to-54-year-olds fast-forward through adverts when they watch programmes they have recorded.

The report, produced by Entertainment Media Research for media law firm Wiggin, shows the way the internet has changed working, reading and viewing habits.

A balance of -21% of teenage girls and -10% of teenage boys watch less TV than more because they are using social-networking sites. A balance of nearly a third of 15- to 19-year olds say they are doing less homework, -30% among boys and -32% among girls.

The survey also shows the growing "digital divide" between age groups. Whereas 55% of males aged 15 to 19 regularly browse social-networking sites, only 13% of 45-to-54-year-old men do the same.

The growth in usage of digital personal video recorders means TV viewers are increasingly skipping the adverts, with 79% fast-forwarding all or most of the time. In the United States some advertisers have been experimenting with adverts that make sense only when watched in fast forward.

Some of the findings are likely to be welcomed by the industry. The film and music industries have been lobbying to persuade the government that Britain's internet service providers (ISPs) should take a more active role in preventing the illegal downloading and sharing of copyrighted content. The survey shows almost seven out of 10 people who admitted to some form of online piracy believe it is "very unlikely" they will be caught. It also shows that 70% of British 15-to-54-year-olds who have illegally downloaded copyrighted material would not do so again if they got an email or call from their ISP.

Last month the government warned the ISP industry that if they could not come up with a viable industry solution to combat piracy it would look at introducing legislation next ye

Social Networking....oo00H Fun!

Social Networking...
Social Networking...
Social Networking...

Definition: (A complicated way of putting it)
Social networking is a phenomena defined by linking people to each other in some way. Digg is a popular example of a social network (using social bookmarking). Users work together to rate news and are linked by rating choices or explicit identification of other members. Generally, social networks are used to allow or encourage various types of activity whether commercial, social or some combination of the the two.

Heres something a little simpler:
Social networking..Its a way to bring people together, to socialise basically but using the intenet! Many youngsters today are very familiar with this, but many won't actually know that its known as..'Social Networking'.

So how many Social Networking websites are there exactly? One? Two? Five?
There are actually over thirty. Click on the link below to have a look at an exact figure:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

Okay...So have you got the idea of what Social Networking is?
If you maybe this clip will make it a little easier to understand.

ITS ALL ABOUT YOU...OR IS IT?
Did it ever occur to you about what happens to all the information they you've added about yourself onto these Social Networking websites?
Did you ever consider you privacy? or rather the lack of it?

Here have a look at this:

Something Different.

The end of the school year draws closer, I've met many talented and inspirational people in both my year and the year below. I just want to take the time out to thank a few people. Starting with Gerry, Mr White and Ms Ward. My coursework came along great with all the help from you and I really appreciate that. Many of my class mates who helped me out a lot aswell, Joey who helped me out the most especially after I lost my work. Anyway so before I forget why I even started this post, I wanted to share something with you all that I personally felt inspired by. Its something different from what we've been learning, but I felt moved by this speech and feel that you all could appreciate life like we all should.

Heres Randy Pausch with his last lecture:

World Wide Web:



Chairman Markey, Ranking Member Upton, and Members of the Committee. It is my honour to appear before you today to discuss the future of the World Wide Web. I would like to offer some of my experience of having designed the original foundations of the Web, what I've learned from watching it grow, and some of the exciting and challenging developments I see in the future of the Web. Though I was privileged to lead the effort that gave rise to the Web in the mid-1990s, it has long passed the point of being something designed by a single person or even a single organization. It has become a public resource upon which many individuals, communities, companies and governments depend. And, from its beginning, it is a medium that has been created and sustained by the cooperative efforts of people all over the world.To introduce myself, I should mention that I studied Physics at Oxford, but on graduating discovered the new world of microprocessors and joined the electronics and computer science industry for several years. In 1980, I worked on a contract at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, and wrote for my own benefit a simple program for tracking the various parts of the project using linked note cards. In 1984 I returned to CERN for ten years, during which time I found the need for a universal information system, and developed the World Wide Web as a side project in 1990. In 1994, the need for coordination of the Web became paramount, and I left to come to MIT, which became the first of now three international host institutes for the World Wide Consortium (W3C). I have directed W3C since that time. I hold the 3Com Founders chair at MIT where I pursue research on advanced Web technologies with the MIT Decentralized Information Group. The testimony I offer here today is purely my own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of the World Wide Web Consortium or any of its Members.The special care we extend to the World Wide Web comes from a long tradition that democracies have of protecting their vital communications channels. We nurture and protect our information networks because they stand at the core of our economies, our democracies, and our cultural and personal lives. Of course, the imperative to assure the free flow of information has only grown given the global nature of the Internet and Web. As a Federal judge said in defense of freedom of expression on the Internet: The Internet is a far more speech-enhancing medium than print, the village green, or the mails.... The Internet may fairly be regarded as a never-ending worldwide conversation.[1]Therefore it is incumbent on all of us to understand what our role is in fostering continued growth, innovation, and vitality of the World Wide Web. I am gratified that the United States and many other democracies around the world have taken up this challenge. My hope today is to help you to explore the role this committee.My response: World Wide World has come so far now as has already been said by Sir Timothy Berners-Lee. It has made a tremendous difference to not only every individual but to society as a whole. Everyone has seen the internet grow into what it’s become today which is so much more than from where it had started. The internet needs to be protected well in order for it to maintain the rate it has been going at which has proved a huge success as it has changed the name of communication, socialisation and much more.

Home Study Mission.
Dial M for music labels bank on mobile downloadsRecord labels are predicting that this month's launch of three new mobile phone music services will usher a return of rising sales after years of decline.Apple's music-playing iPhone grabbed the headlines with its arrival in Britain last week. But music executives are just as excited about the new unlimited downloads service launched on Vodafone. At the same time Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile phones, has opened a digital music store here.Some industry insiders are predicting a revolution that will see mobile downloading approaching that of highly developed markets such as Japan.The world's biggest music company, Universal, is backing the MusicStation, the Vodafone service. Rob Wells, head of digital at Universal's international division, predicts the £1.99-a-week subscription service will have mass market appeal. "We are at a turning point in the UK," he says, predicting digital music sales here could offset falling CD sales within a year.Global sales have been falling since 2000, down another 5% to $19.6bn (£9.4bn) last year, according to industry group IFPI. Although digital sales are rising fast, at a tenth of the total market, they have yet to make up for tumbling CD sales.One place where the gap has been closed is Japan. Total music sales there edged up 1% last year. Japan's success in offsetting falling CD sales - something the IFPI calls reaching the "holy grail" - is largely attributed to the prevalence of mobile downloads.IFPI director of technology Richard Gooch sees lessons for other music markets. He says: "There are cultural differences, and there are network differences at play so it's not simply the fact of having a mobile music service but in those countries where they have moved towards the holy grail it's generally been on the back of mobile.
1.Which Mobile phone company has launched the new downloading service?
2. Which other Mobile phone company has opened a digital music store here?
3.Will this be successful?
4.What are record labels predicting?

Google and MySpace have announced they are collaborating in a deal which could shake up the social networking industry.
MySpace has agreed to join OpenSocial, Google's new platform designed to allow developers to build applications that will work on any website.MySpace joins other sites including Bebo, LinkedIn and Orkut in signing up to OpenSocial.
'Next stage'
The participation of MySpace, which is the biggest network with more than 200 million users, will encourage many more developers to get involved.It will also be seen as a major challenge to Facebook, the fast-growing network which opened up its site to outside software developers in May.In a press conference in California, Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt and Chris De Wolfe, president of MySpace, said the two companies had been working on the deal for more than a year.
The web has moved to its next stage," said Mr Schmidt. "We always knew the web would be social."Google said it had "reached out to everyone" in the social networking industry, and indicated that included Facebook.
Real test But the network, which was valued at $15bn (£7.2bn) after selling a 1% stake to Microsoft last month, appears to be sitting on the sidelines waiting to see whether OpenSocial takes off. Tens of thousands of developers have now written applications for Facebook, ranging from online Scrabble, to movie reviews and video sharing services. While Google has now staked its claim to be a big player in the social networking world, it is not yet clear just how big a threat it will pose to Facebook. That will depend on whether developers decide it is better to work with a system which will cut the cost of producing new applications for all sorts of sites. But the real test will be whether social network users care about just how open source their site is.
Questions:1) Define the term ‘Social Networking’.2) What other social networks are similar to the new combined Google and MySpace?3) Is it definite that the collaboration will be successful?