Erik Hanburg - Guest Speaker

Erik Hanburg was the guest speaker in my technology class today and I will say that he is an interesting person. He talked about how technology is changing how we as people are doing thing, and it is actually for the better. What he also went on to talk about was how authors are able to write and self-publish their own books thanks to the technology or more like the internet; or more specifically due to Amazon.

He says because of Amazon, along with their release of the Kindle and their self-publishing service, he and other authors are able to have their own books put up on the Kindle and Amazon itself, in which the Kindle is still Amazon I guess, and earn profit that why. This way, they ignore the whole traditional process of getting an editor and publisher to get the book released. Amazon will also print books to those who purchase them that want a hard copy, though the service fee is increased more due to printing.

This is also known as Disintermediation, or removing the "middle man" to bring your product or in this case, book, into the market. I will say that this method is actually very interesting and can help authors who don't what to have and editor and publisher, or do the whole traditional way of publishing a book. Using this method, writers who are successful can sell and earn as much as more renowned authors, and in my opinion is pretty amazing.

What three things would you refuse to buy online?

Today, everything can be bought online at a moments notice. If you want something, you can go on the internet and buy it. But there was a question that was brought up that quite interests me, and among others, it is very debatable. The question is, What three things would you refuse to buy online? Now this is asking just buying online, no going to view the item or thing in person. Here are my three things that I would not buy online.

The first thing I would not buy online is a house. Like, a actual house that you would live in. This is because I like to see the things that I am buying, especially something as large scale as a house. You see, I need to be able to know how big the house really is because the photos that are provided on the internet may be shot in a way that makes the house look smaller, or bigger than it actually is. Also the condition of the house and location of where it is is also important.
The second thing I would not buy is food. I mean this may very much change in the near future, but at the moment, I can't see myself ordering food online to be delivered to my doorstep. I can't really give a good reason for it, but I'll just say it's a bit strange for me and I like going to the grocery store sometimes.
The third thing I would not buy would be anything that is very fragile. I just don't like having things handed to me that is fragile. I have a small problem or breaking fragile things even from touching it wrong, like holding a glass cup the wrong way or when I'm washing them. I just like to avoid very fragile things as much as I can. Of course, this problem comes from my experiences of breaking glass cups when washing them, and dislike washing them now. However, there are a few in my household that just can't stop drinking out of glass cups, so I'm stuck with washing them from time to time. This is more of a personal issue that goes towards something that I would not like to buy online.

Online Scavenger Hunt

So I've recently done an online scavenger hunt and I've got to say, it is very interesting. Interesting meaning how much you can find on the internet nowadays compared to how you would find things before the internet. Things can be found relatively easy using the internet, especially if you are given clues or have an idea of what to look for and where to find it.
I was given a list of things to look for on the internet and though it did take me a while, I managed to find all the items on the list. I cannot go over the contents of the list as I forgot most of the things on it, but one item included finding a tourist attraction site for the city of Tacoma, WA without it being published in Washington State itself. Now, that's quite hard to do, especially since Tacoma isn't a huge city or has attractions like Seattle does. Me and my team did manage to find a site that had what we were looking for and it was from the state of Texas.
It's pretty amazing what information you can find on the web these days, and to make things worse, what personal information you can find about yourself and others on the web. I personally think it's a little creepy, but when you are active around the area or on the web, things about you are bound to pop up.