Wednesday, February 12, 2025

EOTO Reaction #1: The Ball Point Pen

We all use ballpoint pens daily and don't think twice about using them. But there was a time when there was no ballpoint pen. One of my classmates did a deep dive into the ballpoint pen to teach the whole class its history.

The idea of this pen originally came to mind over 130 years ago in 1888 by a lawyer named John J Loud. John J Loud aspired to have a pen that could write on wood and leather. But he did not want this device to look anyway. He wanted the pen to have a revolving steel ball and a socket to hold it in place. While Loud had high hopes, his patent could not take off because the ink was not distributing evenly.

In the 1930's a Hungarian journalist, Laszlo Biro, noticed that every time he used a fountain pen the ink would smudge. Frustrated with the result Laszlo teamed up with his brother Gyorgy who was a chemist at the time. Gyorgy created an ink that would not smudge and spread easily.

With the quick-drying ink, the days of drippy and splotchy letters were over. This new pen created a continual line of ink never seen before. The pen was patented in the early 1940's. Marcel Bich bought the patent in the 50's. Marcel started the company Bic that we all know, love, and use today. This was a cool fact that my classmate shared as I have a lot of Bic products.

The ballpoint pen changed the world of communication for the better. It was the first pen that did not leave a total mess on a piece of paper and could also write on other surfaces as well. The ballpoint pen allowed people to write whenever they wanted as it was very hard and inconvenient to carry around ink and a feather. I'm glad I got to learn about a device that is still used today and relevant in our daily lives.

Privacy, Online & Off Ted Talks

Friday, February 7, 2025

Privacy, Online & Off Ted Talks

  In this day and age, everything is public. Your private Instagram account is public, the photo that you deleted is public, and the phone call that was just between you and your Mom is public. Using technology is all fun and games until our privacy is invaded. 

An issue that directly affects me is the electronic tattoos talked about in the first TedTalk video. I grew up in a generation where social media was the center of society. Unlike my parents who had to learn how to use cell phones, I was very used to a screen in my hand at a young age. I love using social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and X (Twitter).

I enjoy sharing videos on these platforms and watching my peers do the same. But this enjoyment only lasts so long when you realize all of the information that you have ever posted is out there for everyone to see. A tattoo is a piece of art on someone's body for the whole world to see. Electronic tattoos are the same thing. They are digital pieces of information for the publics eye.

With iPhone facial recognition people's contact names will appear when their face is shown in pictures. But what most people don't know is that strangers' names can appear in pictures too. These TED Talks made me think twice about sharing videos and even taking pictures. 

One way that we can protect ourselves from an invasion of privacy is by using encryption communication tools. The third video talked about how Silicon Valley Companies have built strong encryption technology into their communication products. IPhone messages cannot easily be wiretapped and WhatsApp has built a strong encryption technology into its product. We have to encourage each other to use encryption communication tools that cannot be easily wiretapped like imessages, FaceTime, and WhatsApp to ensure our safety.

In the last Ted Talk video, Darieth Chisolm mentions a social media term known as "revenge porn". This is when a controlling ex-partner uses their phone, laptop, or any other technology device to post inappropriate photos, videos, and other explicit content without consent. One and ten women under the age of 30 are affected by revenge porn. As this is an alarming number to the average person, there is no law or federal bill criminalizing revenge porn. The government needs to make a law to protect cyber civil rights as they are at stake. This way individuals can get justice and the criminals can be put away.

Having to think about our government or even other governments having a hold of our personal information is a scary thought. Unfortunately, this is our reality in this age. NSA is requiring police departments to retrieve sensitive information about us. Because of this, the governemnt can create a map of patterns of how citizens interact. That is why we need to use safety tools, always double-check what we are posting, and pay close attention to who we spend our time around. While it all may seem like common sense, these small steps ensure the safety of one's life.

EOTO Com Tech Timeline

 Monday, February 3, 2025

EOTO #1

It was 2004 when Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson performed at the Super Bowl halftime show. There was a wardrobe malfunction where Justin Timberlake tore off a piece of Janet Jackson's costume. This was a shocking and impactful moment in Super Bowl history that put the public in an uproar. Naturally, after the Super Bowl was over all anyone wanted to do was rewatch the video. With limited video-sharing sites on the internet, the video was hard to access. That was until three men put their heads together to end this issue and create a video-sharing website called YouTube.

Three former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim were at a dinner party for their company when they all happened to be sharing videos of their cats with each other. They thought to themselves there must be a way to upload these videos just like there has to be a way to watch the Super Bowl halftime show. 

Before YouTube people primarily accessed videos from DVDs/CDs, TV, and VHS tapes. The biggest problem with having to watch a video on these devices was the lack of diversity within the video content. If a person was trying to find a specific video to watch, they could not do that by watching television. Even if the video that you desired to see was on TV, you would have to wait for it to come on. YouTube was not the first video-sharing website, but it was the first one that was easily accessible.

People felt that they had to be computer geniuses to use other websites and ran into several problems. People often found that the files they were trying to upload were not the file type the website accepted. So if the website only accepted PEG files but the video that you were trying to upload is an MPEG file, you were simply out of luck. When people tried to email videos to their friends, the files were too big.

And when people were unsuccessful with email they had to burn CDs which started to become a waste. The lucky few who were able to upload their videos could only share a certain amount due to the structure of the website. Putting a limitation on the amount of videos one can share defeats the purpose of creating a platform. 

The three founders  got to work. Hurley focused on the design aspects of the site while Chen and Karim focused on coding as they were software engineers. On December 15, 2005, YouTube was launched and forever changed the world. People now finally had a platform where they could access everything they needed in one place and did not have to worry about storage and file size.

YouTube took advantage of a fast-growing technology at the time called Adobe Flash Player where you could watch any type of video on your computer without having to download it.

It was the first time that people felt that they didn’t have to be computer geniuses. The days of burning CDs or mindlessly scrolling around the internet were over. YouTube provides features such as trending pages and "videos we think you might like".

YouTube also took tutorials to a whole new level. Instead of flipping through books or figuring out how to do something by yourself, YouTube provides step-by-step videos showing you the way.

YouTube changed communication for the better. The rise of creators and influencers have allowed fans to get an inside look at their favorite creators lives with storytelling and streaming. If a popular social media couple breaks up publicly, it is not uncommon for the ex-girlfriend/boyfriend to make a YouTube Video explaining the breakup. This keeps the public up to date and allows the full truth to be shared. 

All of the news broadcast channels  have YouTube. People can look back on old interviews or if they missed the news on TV, they can watch it on YouTube. YouTube is a worldwide platform so anyone can access the news at any time obtaining up-to-date news.

Because I grew up with YouTube I cannot imagine a world without it. All of my middle school and high school classes were filled with YouTube videos. The popular artist, Justin Bieber, was found on YouTube and stole girls hearts for generations. It might sound silly to some but watching videos on this platform was and is a big part of my life. My childhood consisted of finding which artist had the best music video. Youtube is a wonderful platform that has forever impacted the world socially, educationally, and technologically.