Mission Impossible, Codename: Gloablization, By The Technological Expert

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Sources

The Sony PlayStation (プレイステーション, Pureisutēshon?) is a video game console of the fifth generation, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s, it was a 32-bit system. The original PlayStation was the first of the ubiquitous PlayStation series of console and hand-held game devices, which has included successor consoles and upgrades including the Net Yaroze (a special black PS with tools and instructions to program PS games and applications), PSone (a smaller version of the original), PocketStation (a handheld which enhances PS games and acts as a memory card), PlayStation 2, a revised, slimline PS2, PlayStation Portable (a handheld gaming console), PSX (Japan only) (a media center, DVR and DVD recorder based on the PS2), and PlayStation 3. By March 2005, the PlayStation/PSone had shipped a total of over 100.49 million units, becoming the first home console to ever reach the 100 million mark.[3]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation

Source: http://www.retrogame-shop.com/shop/images/sony-playstation.jpg

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My reflection:

“play station” is a mass gaming arena where people can spend their time in the ecstasy of relaxation. It has been popular since the time of it s release. The recent update, “play station 3,” has attracted tens of millions of people to purchase it regardless of the cost. Even in third world countries, it has a wide popularity.

In developing nations such as India, people are ready to pay up to $US 1300 for PS3 though it can be bought at only$401 in Hong Kong. This shows that though technology is globalised, its cost is not. Due to its increasing popularity, Sony has been stimulated to produce more o such kinds of products.

These Play station devices have deadly consequences as well. The continuous exposure to violence and sexual contents in the video gaming has made the people playing it less restricted to actually be involved in such acts. In the United states, currently top in the sales of such games, more than 80% of the students committing murders and being involved in pre-marital sex admit that the exposure to such scenes have triggered them to actually experiment them. Children as young as 7 year old have been arrested for threatening to kill their teachers with a gun in the United States. There are many more evidences which prove only one point-That is video games tend to increase the dark side nature in people.

Moreover, people get very addicted to such gaming. This is even more deadly than cigarettes as opium only damages the physique whereas such games affect the people psychologically. Pupils who have been gaming 2-3 days continuously non-stop(probably during holidays) have been reported to psychiatrics. In such cases students cannot find the boundary between virtual reality and reality. They are too engrossed in their own world of cyber space.

Though it can be argued that time spent on gaming can be limited, it is unfortunately not within control in most cases. One thing is certain in the end: gaming is the activity which paralyses the brain to concentrate on reality and such nonsensical communication definitely something to be banned.

Future Perfect; Technological Expert 8:53 AM

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Article:

Several countries, including the UK, now have more mobile phones than people. There will be over four hundred million cell phone users in China by 2015. Luxembourg has the highest mobile phone penetration rate in the world, at 164% in December 2001. In Hong Kong the penetration rate reached 117% of population in September 2004. The total number of mobile phone subscribers in the world was estimated at 2.14 billion in 2005.Around 80% of world's population have mobile phone coverage as of 2006. This figure is expected to increase to 90% by the year 2010.
At present, Africa has the largest growth rate of cellular subscribers in the world. African markets are expanding nearly twice as fast as Asian markets. The availability of Prepaid or pay as you go services, where the subscriber does not have to commit to a long term contract, has helped fuel this growth on a monumental scale, not only in Africa but on other continents as well.
On a numerical basis, India is the biggest growth market adding about 6 million cell phones every month. With 156.31 million cell phones, teledensity in the country is still low at 17.45% and country expects to reach 500 million subscribers by end of 2010.
All European nations and most Asian and African nations have adopted GSM. In other countries, such as the United States, Australia, India, Japan, and South Korea, legislation does not require any particular standard, and GSM coexists with other standards, such as CDMA and iDEN.
Some cellular systems are pay as you go, where top-ups can be purchased and added to a phone unit, in a wide variety of shops and even ATMs now, so there is no monthly bill. Many are "pay monthly", where a bill is issued every month for the amount of calls and text messages made.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone
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My thoughts:
The usage of mobile phones/ hand phones has been widespread since the period it has been introduced. This is evident as there are now almost half of the world’s population has access to mobile phone technology. The importance of instant communication has led to this “hand phone era.” Hand phone is now the second most common consumer good fond in the homes of people. Each household which is in the middle class or a higher category, has an average of 4 hand phones. 1 in 2 of the children throughout the world have a hand phone.
Though some might argue that these figures are only attributed to the usage of hand phones in rich countries, the poorer nations are actually using the hand phones much more frequently than the richer countries. This is proved by the case in India where 6 million hand phones are being bought every month. As the richer countries adapted to the hand phone technology first, they are currently first in the usage. However, the poorer nations will soon catch up with them as time passes.
The fact that, in some countries, the number of mobile phones is higher than the number of people in that country has shown the extent of the globalization in technology gadgets. Beside audio communication, mobile phones have other features such as SMS,MMS, Bluetooth, organizer, internet access and contact log. In Japan(an earthquake prone country) the SMS service us used to notify the customers of earthquakes free of charge. Thus, hand phones can be used to adapt to the situation in the country.
Despite its uses, hand phone has a side effect as well. Research has shown that the frequency of tumors in patients increase with the usage of hand phones. This means that the deterioration in health is also being globalised. Therefore during the globalisation of technology its effect, either bad or good on the environment, health, economy is also globalised.

Future Perfect; Technological Expert 4:53 PM

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Article:

They've Had Their Filament
Australia to fully phase out incandescent bulbs by 2010

In a world first, Australia will officially make the switch away from incandescent bulbs. Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said today that the country would phase out inefficient lighting over the next three years, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions hundreds of thousands of tons a year and cutting household lighting costs up to 66 percent. "If the rest of the world follows our lead," he said, "this will reduce an amount of energy ... to the tune of five times as much energy as Australia consumes." Similar bulb-banning campaigns are gaining steam in the U.K. and California, with compact fluorescents -- which cost more up front but last four to 10 times longer and use 20 percent of the energy of incandescents -- appearing as the leading alternative. Critics in Australia pointed out that much more could be done, including focusing on industrial energy-saving measures and ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. But Turnbull defended the move: "It's a little thing," he said, "but it's a massive change."
Source: http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2007/02/20/1/index.html
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My thoughts:

Technology has always been the ultimate aspect in shaping the world. The degree and area of technological globalisation are the factors which determine this. Right from the industrial revolution, advance and globalisation in technology has been rampant. The reason is simple: man wants his life to be less tedious and seeks more comfort. The same mentality has been dominant in all parts of the world and this has led to the rise of technological globalisation. Even now, the issues over technological globalisation have taken the centerstage in the world.

Political, economic, cultural and environmental globalisations are only the branches of the tree of technological globalisation. This tree provides the oxygen for the world to progress. A domino in the number of nations embarking on nuclear policies and the tension due to North Korea’s and Iran’s true motives are the much discussed topics on politics today. The war waged on Iraq by the U.S. occurred because of the issue of “weapons of mass destruction”-which was also an incident which occurred primarily due to the advancement in technology.

The article above well illustrates how technology influences economic and environmental globalisation. Australia has decided to totally switch from the use of incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs by 2010. This would reduce household lighting costs by “up to 66 percent” and also serve to be a step to fulfil the motives of the Kyoto Protocol. Many countries are also considering the option chosen by Australia and efforts such as this are being carried out in countries such as the U.K. and California. Various environmental policies adopted have all circles around the causes of technology. Technological globalisation is being followed to achieve the motive of economic and environmental globalisation.

Cultural globalisation could also have not been possible without the medium of technology. Communication and information sharing across the world has enabled the spread of culture and tradition. Without technology bilingualism in language, philosophy by the Greek or the learning of martial arts could never have been possible. Moreover, we would never have leaned of the western civilisation and culture so we could have never dressed, talked, behaved the way we are now.

Technological globalisation has thus been proven to be the sea where various rivers or deltas of other minor types of globalisation mix.

Future Perfect; Technological Expert 12:32 PM

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Sources

Cartoons 1 to 5 are sources which portray globalisation. Cartoon 1, 2 and 3 show the impact of globalisation whereas cartoon 4 and 5 are teasers on globalisation.

Cartoon 1

Cartoon 2

Source: www.cartoonstock.com

Cartoon 3

Source: www.offthemark.com

Cartoon 4

Source: www.glasbergen.com

Cartoon 5

Source: www.glasbergen.com
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My thoughts

Cartoon 1 illustartes the scenario of the globalisation of video/audio sharing websites in the internet. Websites such as youtube serve as a medium for this kind of information sharing where anyone who has access to the internet can find videos/audios in the earth regardless of its composer or language. This way, people who have missed one of the episodes of their favourite show or documentary, they can view it through the internet. Any audio/vdeo regardless of its origin can be made accessible to anyone with internet connection.Though this benefits people in various ways, this means that there will be no stopping the breaking of copyright laws and that there might be cases where pornographic videos are uploaded.

Cartoon 2 shows the impact of technological globalisation. In this cartoon, the man carrying the board to encorage anti-technology, aks the people to visit a website, which is one of the active means of technology today. Hence, he himself is contributing to the globalisation of technology. Thus it is visible that, in today's world, technology is so widespread(globalised) that even a person who dislikes technology uses technology. Examples of how the environmentalists use the mass media to raise the awareness on how technology has harmed the environment and seeking seeking support from the public to downplay the use of technology are the most obvious evidences.

Cartoon 3 is somewhat similar to cartoon 1. In this cartoon, a show host announces that the "most popular CD" award goes to noone. Also in this cartoon, a boy is busy downloading something. Indirectly, this cartoon tells us that since video/audio in the CD is available in the internet for downloading for free, no one pays to buy a CD. This, reinforces the rate of technological globalisation.

Cartoons 4 and 5 symbolise today's world. Both cartoons showcase the world today as an object sunk in the sea of technological globalisation.

The element of technology is increasing in its usage each day. It has turned humans into puppets which are contolled by globalisation. Such a gobalisation is also,unfortunately, the land where copyright rules are shattered and revenue of a nation through the taxes on video/audio is minimised. This erodes the basic principle for which technology is a form of gloalisation and that is to help people. Instances of piracy in CDs well illusatrate this. Hence, i conclude that technology is a double edged sword.

Future Perfect; Technological Expert 8:28 AM

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Graphs depicting the trend of sales of coputers and usage of internet:

Graph 1

Graph 2

Tabulation 1

Abstract of an article on Mr George Yeo

Source:

Radio Singapore international(rsi) blogwatch website: http://www.rsi.sg/english/blogwatch/view/20061020152211/1/.html

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr George Yeo
October 20, 2006
Not to long ago, a veritable buzz was generated among the online community in Singapore. Curious, excited and skeptical, people wondered if it could be true, that such a high-profile member of the government had actually taken to… blogging. It’s of course well known by now that the person who generated this buzz is Mr George Yeo, Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, whose foray into the blogosphere has broken virtual ground. And on this very special edition of Blogwatch, Mr Yeo was kind enough to take some time off his schedule to explain to Radio Singapore International what exactly inspired him to blog and the experiences he’s had since taking it up. Welcome to the programme, I’m Joel Chua. While Mr George Yeo doesn’t maintain his own blog, he contributes posts regularly to the blogs of two of his acquaintances. But of course what separates a minister’s blog posts from the rest of ours is the privileged insight it offers on what goes on behind the scenes and personal reflections on high-powered meetings and events.

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My reflection

Gobalisation in technology is the growth of technology to a world wide scale. One such advancement in technology is computers. Most of the people in the world have a computer in their home. The usage of computers is not determined by race, age, gender or education. Anyone can use computers for entertainment, official or learning purposes. As seen from graph 1, the usage of computers is increasing steeply. Also people welcome the latest versions of softwares in computers or any better models of computers.

This claim can be proved by witnessing the computer models throughout the period from the time when it was first invented. When computers were first invented they had a length of 20metres and a width of 4 metres. Then computers measuring approximately 30cm X 25cm were made which gathered an overwhelming popularity. This triggered switch from big and bulky computers to small and portable PCs.Following this, smaller, lighter and more efficient computers called laptops were invented. If you look at Singapore itself, students as young as 15 years old in Crescent girls’ secondary school and Temasek Academy in Temasek junior college are using tablet PCs for their intensive research and projects. Moreover, the birth of palmtops which are the smallest versions of PCs so far has also triggered a switch in the PC usage.

Also the advancements in computer products and softwares also depict the scenario of globalization. For example, the release of Windows Vista saw that within a week, millions of people switched from Windows 2000 or Windows XP to Windows Vista. This reiterates that people want to be going in the pace the whole world is moving and not left behind.

An attractive feature in computers is the internet which facilitates information sharing throughout the world. The usage of internet has more than tripled from the period of 1995-2005. This can be seen from graph 2. Tabulation 1 shows the switch of the percentage of people using internet explorer (IE) switching from IE 6 to IE7 for a period of 1 year.

An activity possible with the aid of internet is blogging. The times when blogging, was considered as an aspect of the entertainment of youths were now gone. Today, people, of all age blog. The latest highlight in blogging was that our own ministers and MPs (members of parliament blog). This can be seen from the article. Mr George Yeo started this chain. Websites such as http://www.p65.sg/ or blogsites are increasingly being created by MPs to express their views and Now, even teachers are asking students to make blogsites to showcase their creation. An example is this project itself and Language Arts assignments students in Temasek Academy were given to do.

Computers and internet which is a medium for information sharing can therefore be taken as an example for showcasing globalization.

Future Perfect; Technological Expert 7:42 AM