Back to business

So a lecture in the arvo, after a couple of classes earlier in the day (one at 8:30am), first day back after a little holiday felt as good as it sounds. About a 1.
The highlight of the lecture for me was when Michael went to a site called Twistori as an example of some of the stuff he was teaching us. I wouldnt have minded if we all just sat there watching peoples posts come up waiting for some funny ones.

In the lecture we learnt about WEB 2.0...why 2.0? The 2.0 is associated with the change of a new era and things becoming more stylish and appealing. With the way everything has been going why not name it iWeb 2.0. HA! iSnack 2.0 Vegemite. What a fail. Had to be renamed into Cheesybite because everyone thought it was crap. Bet that was a massive kick to the balls of whoever made the first name.
Anyway web 2.0 reflects the design patterns and models for the next generation of software. Michael summed it up pretty well. Cute shiny slidy stuff. So everything is really getting smaller. My camera is about the same size as my phone. And with new technology and designs i forsee the next generation being full of the laziest kids. In years i may be telling a story to my grandkids about playing halo 1 on the xbox with friends and seeing the confusion on their faces when i try to teach them what a cord is and how they used to plug into the xbox. And that your friends would be sitting next to you, not at thier house using the internet to play so they didnt have to ride over and breathe the outside air. But they would probably laugh at me and call me crazy, making up such things as cords, so id go weep in a rocking chair thinking about my youth till i fell asleep.
So we also learnt about the Network Effect aka Metcalfes law.
Cost:N
Value:N squared
The more people that use a service, the more valuable it becomes. (The creators of google nod while fending off muggers with a pure gold katana).
And as things become more popular, ways are created to make things more efficient. For example from the use and times a page has been searched, google filters which pages are most important and informative and makes them easier available by putting the earlier on the list. This is called Page Rank.

Another thing we learn in the lecture was about the LONG TAIL.
Visit google trends and look something up. Pretty clever thing actually. So in relation to a book. The example in the lecture was Touching the Void which is about some mountaineers climbing big snowy mountains. I actually saw this documantary/drama in college or highschool. Anyway the long tail relates to the long part of a graph after the first massive surge of popularity and during the constant or gradually declining line somehow some more popularity is sparked. Touching the Void was revived by the release of 'Into Thin Air' and appeared on Amazons other related genres list which made people want it again. Just goes to show that stuff can make a comeback after its been long forgotten...just like the 'One Ring' in Lord of the Rings. Once that was found again all bloody Middle Earth went beserk...hahaha im done. And yes i did watch it in my break.