Star Wars: Birth of Modern Special Effects

When the first of the Star Wars trilogy, A New Hope, was released in 1977 it pushed the extent of special effects technology of the time to its limits.  The film revolutionized the use of blue screen editing techniques that were used in countless action sequences in several movies in the years following.  The movie also employed character and set design that was unprecidented prior to it’s creation.  While primitive to today’s computer generated models, the anamotronic creatures in the origional movie were incredibly lifelike for the technology of the time.   

Probably the most well-recognized special effect technique used in the origional Star Wars film was the use of blue screens to film both the space scenes and fast action vehicle scenes.  The process of using blue screens is quite simple in theory yet was innovative at the time.  It is a simple process of filming the vehicle ONLY in front of a screen of a solid color (usually blue).  Later in editing, the appropriate blue tonw was removed from the film to “crop” out the vehicle or sequence being filmed.  This was later superimposed on a previously recorded background sequence.

In theory, it seems like a rather simple procedure for a big budget Hollywood production.  However, this technique had one huge flaw.  The burning out of the blue background tone in the process left an unsightly black outline around the clip.   Thus, when it superimposed on the background sequence, there was the possibility of a substantial loss of realism with this black line around speeding vehicles.  This at first didn’t pose much of a problem in the first Star Wars, A New Hope, mainly due to the fact that mose scenes took place in space on a black background.  Thus the black line was not too noticable. 

The problem came during the production of the second in the series, The Empire Strikes Back.  Particularly when filming a specific scene of the attack on Hoth.  Rather than the previous scenes shot using the blue screen technique which were finished with a black space background, the Hoth scene was to have the blue screen produced Rebel speeder takes superimposed on WHITE snow.  Thus, the black line I mentioned earlier was well visible against the white snow background.  To rectify this, the producers burned out the blue screen image in an attempt to hide the black line.  However, this had a tradeoff.  Burning out the image in this manner also caused a transparent effect on the vehicle.  This led to some scenes in the Hoth battle where the cockpit view from the Rebel speeders were transparent and the viewer could see the ground below.  It was a technical limitation of the period that was not resolved until 1997 when the origional trilogy was digitally redone. 

Star Wars truly pushed the techniques and technology of special effects to their limits and inspired future film-makers to top what it accomplished.   Star Wars set the bar in special effects for years until truly digital editing and CGI emerged in the late 1990s.  The “digital age” of film-making prompted a remastered version of the orgional trilogy that allowed for more detailed and realistic rendering of the strange creatures of the movie and the wide variety of otherworldly vehicles.  CGI allowed for far more realistic rendering of scenes that any special effects technique 30 years ago could have offered.  Yet, with all this said, none of todays fancy computer generated graphics would have been possible if it wasn’t for those advances in special effects years ago to get the film industry off the ground and striving for better and brighter film-making technologies.

Urban Legends

Urban legends have been around for years and have developed into their own subculture in our society.  They can have several origins, mainly originating from the “unusual” or “bizarre” circumstances.  Someone dieing from a very strange death or any unexpected circumstance can prompt a whole string of rumers that can develop into an urban legend.

One of the more interesting ones I came across in my research was The Cursed Video Tape.  According to the story, a group of friends rented a video and watched it together.  This caused them to all die 48 hours later.  Coincidence or curse?  Probably a coincidence that occured ONCE and was widespread as a “curse”.  All it takes is once unfortunate coincidence to start an urban legend.

Another interesting myth I found was The Fatal Tan.  The issue here is that if you spend too much time in a tanning bed, it can literally “cook” your internal organs causing you to die a day later.  Myths like these aquire their popularity simply they are posed as a “health concern” and people simply believe them as to not cause harm to themselves.

Other urban legends like The Rude Passenger are just made for comic relief.  They have no specific origan nor are not of a major “concern” to our lives.  Stories like these develope from people’s everyday experience and their critiques of events they witness in life.

Many urban legends including the above mentions Fatal Tan story have actually made appearences on the show Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel.  This show focuses on proving or disproving urban legends like these and is a perfect example on how such outragious stories can reach immence popularity.  The show tests all sorts of myths that develope from our experiences with movies, Internet websites, folklore, and just everyday life. 

The web and Internet will always be a breeding ground for urban legends because feature like blogs and forums allow ANYONE to tell their stories.  Those stories then get passed through hundreds of other hands who change the story and stretch the truth.

IANA experience

I had not previously heard of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority specifically, but was aware that some organization HAD to be responsible for the structure and upkeep of protocols on the Web.  Such a large and complicated network needs guidance and I just found out now that the IANA is that guidance.

I was intrigued at all that I found out about Internet protocols from this group.  One interesting fact that I discovered is how the IANA coodinates IP addresses.  Surprisingly, there are different versions of the IP system.  IPv4 and IPv6 being the two most common used today.  IPv4 uses 32 bit strings while IPv6 uses 128 bit strings.  Possibly due to the fact that many more combinations are needed to track all computers connected to the Internet in these days?

I also didn’t realize how many different top-level domain extensions there were.  Basically every country in the world has its own extension.  The only one I knew about before this was .uk as that was the only only I saw actually used.  Incidently, there is a .us for the United States yet people still prefer the standard .com extension. 

I was also intrigued at the different protocols that IANA conducts to make sure the structure of the Web remains organised.

With the quickly growing size of the Internet, the necessity for various TDLs (top level domains) is great.  I was aware that SOME countries had their own TDLs such as .uk for United Kingdom but was unaware that lots of other countries also had TDLs.  Amazingly, the United States has .us but I am surprised that virtually noone uses it.  Everyone seems to to go for .com.  I was also surprised to hear about the domain ARPA.  It is not a publically available TDL but it is neccessary for regulating the flow of the Web.  .biz is another neglected example used for business websites but then again most people opt for .com. 

All in all, a good percentage of TDLs are reserved as country codes.  Though I have not seen a lot of them in use until I found them just now.

In trying to find a domain name, I too like Professor Katz found that my name johncrowley.com was not available.  I added a “r” though for my middle initial and found that johnrcrowley.com was available.

But honestly, I would not base a domain directly off my name anyway.  My personal name tells nothing about me to users browsing the internet.  Instead, I would opt for a domain that hints at what the site contains.  In my case, I would want to give a “graphic design” feeling name to my site.  I tried CrowleyDesign but that was taken.  So was jcdesign.  Finally, I found that crowleygraphicdesign was available but it was too long for convenience of typing in.  I then shortened it to crowleygd which was available and seemed rather appropriate.

Computers in Education

Topic Description

As a graphic design major, understanding web technology is essencial due to the fact to the growing popularity of web media.  Thus, a thorough knowledge of html coding would be a very valuable skill to posess.  While WYSIWYG applications like Dreamweaver and Flash are making web development more convenient, a good understanding to the coding going on in the background will give you a great advantage.

But who has the capacity (or time for that matter) to memorize dozens of different tags and syntaxes.  That is where online tutorials really come in handy.  Not quite sure how to insert the syntax for a link in html?  Bam, simply type in “link” and “html” into Google and you instantly find out it starts <a href=”…>.  Google is king when it comes to figuring out those annoying little tweeks in coding.

Available Tutorials (There are endless on Google, but here are three that I picked out):

http://www.html.net/tutorials/html/introduction.asp  A simple basic guide for beginners to html.  Useful if you’re just starting out.

http://www.web-source.net/html_codes_chart.htm  EXTREMELY handy little table that lists all important tags for coding.  Perfect for when the exact syntax “just happens to slip your mind”.  Handy reference tool that I might even consider printing out for future convenience.

http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp   CSS is a supplement to html that can make coding so much easier and user-friendly if you can understand how to use it.  This is a handy reference guide if I ever want to use stylesheets to apply to a website design.

Evaluation

I particularly found the second tutorial above partularly handy.  The first one was a bit basic for me as I have learned some html in classes before.  The second one was just simple format and easy to use.  Which I feel is what a good tutorial should be.  I can find the information I’m looking for quickly without having to read paragraph after paragraph of text.

The CSS tutorial I also felt was fairly straight forward as well and great if I just need to look up syntax or tags.

 With the convenience and ease of Google, it is just so easy for me to find any information I need online.  I just have to make sure the site I visit is reliable.

My Opinion of Scribd

After reviewing the layout of Scribd and uploading my documents, I am quite satisfied with my experience on that site.  It is a quite user friendly interface with simple processes for uploading your works.

Using scribd is a good solution to bandwidth and size limitations when setting up a website.  Rather than putting my very large portfolio pieces on my own website, a good alternative would be to have a list of links to scribd.

It is a very well layed-out site and I look forward to experimenting with it.

In the mean time, take a look at my first two documents on Scribd.  My Resume and a sample pdf of my portfolio.

E-commerce

The Internet has made communication so easy and convenient that we can do practically anything while online. Pretty soon, online activities will replace their physical-life counterparts. Email is so much easier and cheaper than sending letters through the postal service. Researching online for projects is a lot easier than going to a library. I mean, does anyone even use libraries anymore? The sale of music on compact discs are way down as people are opting for music downloads at a much cheaper price. Even business is becoming more widespread online. The development of Ebay in 1995 and Amazon a few years later sparked a new age of e-commerce, or the buying or selling of goods and services electronically.

“E-Commerce (a.k.a. electronic commerce, EC, Ebusiness, Etailing) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet or more specifically, the World Wide Web” (Keli website). This is a VERY simple definition for a much more complex task. Yes, commerce is the exchange of goods and services which usually involved the exchange of payment in the form of a monetary amount. Adding the prefix “E” simply states that those exchanges are taking place electronically. It gets a lot more complicated than that. There are three different types of e-commerce websites and multiple subdivisions as to what specific audiences a site is geared towards.

The three types of e-commerce venues include transactional sites, information delivery sites, and e-marketplaces. Transactional sites are the most basic type of e-commerce website. A lot of small businesses are leaning towards these as they are much smaller and easier to maintain then selling through “e-marketplaces” like Amazon or eBay and can be tailored to fit a specific niche market. The process of setting up a “payment gateway” account to facilitate credit card orders has become easier in recent years and is the most efficient way for merchants to conduct business online (Keli website). A “payment gateway” is a third party company that you create an account with to assist in credit card transfers from customer orders. The most popular gateway is PayPal, but others include CCNow, ProPay and 2CheckOut.

In fact, “Marketing studies show that you’ll lose 60 to 80 percent of your potential orders if your Web site is not set up to accept credit cards. If you offer credit card payment, not only will you receive more orders, those orders will be substantially larger. Credit cards enable impulse buying, reassure customers of your legitimacy, and simplify your billing” (Keli website).

Information delivery sites are different from basic transactional sites as they offer more than simple transactions. One major use for these types of sites is to promote high-end items that the average customer would most likely not buy online, such as cars, real estate, and other large-transaction items. These sites are perfect for people who “what to take a look for themselves” before purchasing.

Another use for information delivery sites is to offer a buyer the ability to “compare prices”. Venders who are famous for this are insurance companies that display competitor’s prices along side their own. This helps customers get the best price for a service or item without having to visit 10 different sites.

The third and final type of e-commerce site is an e-marketplace. eBay and Amazon pioneered this idea of marketing in 1995 by offering a “global exchange” of buyers and sellers. This form of website is ideal for those who do not have the time or resources to set up their own transactional website, or just want to sell some stuff they want to offload. Rather than paying the relatively costly price of domain names and hosting services, one can instead post their business sales on an e-marketplace site, and in return the site gets a small percentage of any sales. This form of ecommerce site caters to the independent seller rather than for business sales.

Besides the above three divisions of e-commerce Web sites, e-commerce can be divided again into five different audience divisions. They include Business to Business (B2B), Business to Customer (B2C), Business to Employee (B2E), Customer to Customer (C2C), and Business to Machines (B2M).

Business to Business e-commerce refers to the exchange of funds and services between businesses. This often is the process of choice for retailers who get their stock from a manufacturer. It involves the cooperation of each company’s business to make large transactions mainly for retail. Business to Customer is a similar process, but involves selling directly to the customer. In regards to e-commerce, it can be the most direct way for businesses to promote their product or service. A customer directly visits the vender’s site and can conduct a purchase instantly. A third type of e-commerce includes Business to Employee. Under this category, employees are given a facilitated way to order any supplies through their company, or to check any company stock or 401k plans they have with the company. Another type of e-commerce, Business to Machine is a relatively new concept where companies can check the status of their machinery and inventory electronically; ordering any parts or supplies necessary to maintain upkeep in the process.

The fifth and final e-commerce method, Customer to Customer is the most effected by online transactions. C2C e-commerce is the backbone of online-auction sites like eBay. Sites like Amazon also employ C2C tactics to provide a very widespread market of sellers and buyers. C2C is probably the most secure form of online transaction as well with the use of feedback about buyers and sellers and secure payment methods like PayPal.

One major problem with online e-commerce is the feeling of security. People are skeptical about disclosing their credit card information due to the fact that it can be intercepted by hackers. Also, the rise of phishing scams have made it hard for anyone to trust transactions online. Thou, there are some technologies and laws established to provide a safer and more enjoyable experience for those involved in online transactions.

First off, many legitimate websites use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to safely transmit sensitive information like credit card numbers. Unlike normal HTML protocols, SSL protocols encrypt the information so that only the designated target computer can read it and all attempt by hackers to read the information will be unsuccessful. You can tell if you are using a secure SSL protocol by checking the address bar in your browser. If the address starts with https://, then you are using a secure connection; the “s” in the address indicates the use of a secure protocol like SSL.

There have also been regulations passed to help ensure people’s safety during e-commerce activities. The policies currently active in the UK include The Data Protection Act of 1988, The Customer Protection Regulations of 2000 and updated in 2005, and The Electronic Commerce Regulations of 2002. Though they all get quite technical in their processes, the goal remains the same. The basic idea behind these regulations is to have vendors specifically state what they will use a customer’s personal information for and to not share it with any other unauthorized person. Also, actions that identify the vendor’s website with contact information are always a good thing. Not only does it help give legitimacy to the vendor, but customers feel more secure.

As you can see, e-commerce is more than just buying and selling goods electronically. It is made up of a vast array of benefits and responsibilities that we must abide by to get the most out of this ever expanding technology.

Sources:

www.clickdocs.co.uk/ecommerce-information.htm

www.export.gov/sellingonline/typesofsites.asp

www.kelie.com/tips_ecommerce.html

www.ubercart.org/what_is_ubercart

www.cybersource.com/news_and_events/view.xml?page_id=1272

forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=6050

www.ecommerce-journal.com/news/the_biggest_thief_in_banking_history

www.isos.com.my/ecommerce/advantages.htm

http://marcbowles.com/sample_courses/amc/ec1/ec1_3.htm

www.asaresearch.com/ecommerce/ecommerce_types.htm

Discussion Questions:

How do most of you feel about conducting credit card orders online in regards to security?

What are your personal advantages and disadvantages of using online transactions vs. in-store purchases? Possibly examples.

Are credit cards the best medium for fund transfers or is there a more secure and convenient way of payment online? Should we develop a more secure payment method if one does not currently exist?

What is your personal view on online purchasing?

Will ecommerce create a “global community” or will solely doing everything though a computer leave us socially isolated?

My Freeware Experience

I do feel that freeware and opensource software is the future of software developement.  I mean why would someone pay Microsoft $300 for Microsoft Office when the opensource OpenOffice suite is the same deal but is free. 

Also, the development of open source software is a lot faster than commercial software.  Since the source code is editable by anyone, that means snyone can find bugs and correct them.  Unlike commercial software where only a team of 10 people is checking for bugs, open source has thousands of people worldwide doing the same job.  Thus, improvements are much more frequent with open source software.

I personally have used Download.com several times in the past few years.  My favorite freeware applications include the OpenOffice suite and AVG antivirus.  Both are great alternatives to their commercial counterparts (Microsoft Office and Norton Antivirus) and are available to anyone. 

There are precautions to using these download sites though.  I always scan any downloaded applications for viruses before running them.  Since these applications are free, there COULD be viruses hiding in the mist.  Also, I have downloaded several “useless” applications out of interest that I just later ended up uninstalling. That’s the problem with open source software. You get hooked on it and end up downloading useless stuff just to download it. That is the price of total freedom.

High Tech Trash

In reading the National Geographic article, I was ahocked at how widespread the problem of waste disposal is.  Myself, personally, never threw out a computer when I got a new one.  My family and I would either give our old electronics to family members or to friends who could use them for spare parts.  My cellphone did need to be replaced a couple of times but my provider sent me a prepaid package to send my old unit back for refurbishing, so it technically wasn’t thrown out.  I try my best to get the longest life out of my electronics so they need to be replaced less often.

But, I degress.  I was shocked to hear about how several “recycling programs” here in america are actually not recycling the electronic components they receive at all.  Rather, they ship them oversees and dump them there.  It is there that, in developing countries, people are dealt the task of cleaning up our mess.  Some of those being children.  We are sacrificing their education and development because of our selfish materialist American lifestyle.

Also, while it may be true that countries like China are establishing laws and regulations to limit the influx of eWaste into their countries, it is impossible to completely stop the problem.  I mean, the trash has to go somewhere right?

I think the best proactive solution to this problem is a preventative one.  We should be more conservative on how we buy electronic goods. Instead of buying a new computer, can we simply do a couple software upgrades to our old one? Do we really need to keep up with every latest fad? Do you need an iPhone if your current phoe is perfectly fine? Do you need 10 different iPods? The answere to these questions and more can significantly decrease the amount of eWaste.

My Processor Information

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.8 GHz  512 MB of RAM

At 2.8 billion cycles per second, my processor may be the fastest as there are some newer models around 3.2 GHz.  However, for being almost four years old, I feel that I have a decent speed for any work I have to do.

 

In the four years I’ve had my computer, only a few time have I run out of RAM.  512 MB is the average amount that is on most modern computers and it suffices for most times when you only have one or two programs open.  I have run into a couple instances when I had to use virtual memory mainly when I have PhotoShop and Illustrator open simultaniously. These are both resource-heavy applications so lots of RAM usage sometimes is a possibility

Ubiquitous Computing: Invisible Technology

What is Ubiquitous Computing?

To put it briefly, it is when computers become so mainstream that they blend into our everyday lives. With this “new” technology, personal computers and laptops will become second nature to us and we will use them out of instinct. No longer will we physically type imput into computers, but instead implement hands-free ways of communicating electronically.

We already see examples of this starting to come out. Such ubiquitous devices include touchscreens and voice recognition software.

Ubiquitous Computing and Privacy

As technology becoms more “second-nature” and people use it more for everyday tasks, it becomes apparent that it can cause loss of privacy in peoples’ lives. This technology that’s in the background can be used to track a person’s location, gather information about them, and learn about their private lives.

So the question here is if ubiquitous devices are worth a small sacrifice in privacy for the convenience and ease of doing everyday tasks. I say to this that ubiquitous computing will facilitate our lives greatly as long as it is not abused by people with malicious intent.

My opinion of Mark Weiser’s article

While reading this article, I realized that Mark Weiser was depicting a world where computers would be small in size and as easy to use as tradional non-electronic devices. People would have small hand held devices that they could just point or make a few clicks to do a variety of tasks without even thinking about it.

Such a world of mobile and “second-nature” devices is inevitable in the development of technology. Already, we have similar devices such as PDAs, cellphones, iPods, and many more. What makes ubiquitous devices what they are is that people don’t have to go out of their way to do basic tasks. That is how computer will fall into the background.

The thing with current PCs and laptops now is that they require us to sit down with them, wait for them to power up, and phyically type or click what we want to imput into them. Those extra steps is what ubiquitous computing strives to eliminate.

Thoughts on Bill Gates opinion

In a BBC aritcle, Bill Gates mentioned that computers will be shifting away from tradtional forms of imput (ie: mouse, keyboard, etc.) and useing technologies that implement touch, vision, and voice commands. This will surely have an impact on how we view and access imformation.

First off, we can all agree that these new “sensory imput” devices will make computing and communication much easier and convenient. The technology will be able to be used by more people as it is obviously easier to speak or use a touchpad to imput commands and information rather than have to type it out.

However, will introduction of making these technologies easier and introduce ubiquitous computing lessen the quality of published information. As the process becomes easier, more people will post and communicate ideas, thus not all the ideas communicated will be totally accurate. As an example, how many inaccuracies do you see on peoples’ personal websites. Greater access to technology will reduce quality because of the ease of doing it.

My Concluding Thoughts

I guess I already mentioned my opinion on ubiquitous computing. As technology becomes more and more in the mainstream, the ease of publishing information and communicating ideas will increase.

This can be good as there will be alot more reliable sources of information, as long as we can weed out those who use this ease of ubiquitous computing unwisely.

My thoughts on podcasts

Personally I do listen to the occasional podcast if someone recommends on that seems interesting. I mainly find my sources of news and entertainment elsevhere though as