Death comes to the Television industry-or How video broadcasting on the web came to rule the world

I chose to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog (http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog) mainly because it is the one Dr Piercy suggested in our assignment. As I watched this video I was amazed at the clarity of both the audio and video especially since I was watching it using a wireless internet router, and I don't have the most up to date laptop or software. I watched this video on my laptop exactly when I wanted to and when I had to stop to take care of something I just paused the video, took care of the task and came back to my laptop. There were a few commercial breaks, 3 I think, that totaled no more than 30 seconds each which to me is a tolerable amount of time. Afterward, I thought about which TV shows I would now watch using my laptop rather than the television set. What will be the implications to the television industry of having the ability to watch video broadcasting on the web especially if people like me (middle aged woman) turn to the web rather than the family tv set.

The generalization can be made that teens and 20-somethings are less patient and more ego-centric. Basically, they want what they want when and how they want it and if it doesn't fit with their neighbor's wants and needs, then too bad. Video broadcasting plays right into this mindset. It allows the end user to download a movie, television show, video blog, etc at the end user's convenience not when a television executive determines a show should air based on demographics, advertising dollars, or whatever. And the end user is not tied to the television set. As long as there is internet access you can watch a video.

From the end user, or consumer, perspective the advantages of videos via the web are the convenience factor as mentioned above. If you have a computer and internet access then you are set. Also, this type of viewing is relatively low in cost and there is no (or very little) content oversight. The lack of oversight can also be a disadvantage if you happen to have children in the house. However, there is no guarantee that the use of the internet will remain 'free'. Some industry executives believe within the next five years we will be paying for content received via the interest (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10364141-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5). As television revenue decreases the search for other revenue streams will intensify and the likelihood of assessing fees on internet content will be one of the first to be explored.

From the perspective of the producers of internet videos, this is a low cost (relative to television) media and offers small and/or independent film makers the opportunity to showcase his/her work. Also, the lack of content oversight is another advantage over television. As long as the producers of the videos continue to provide what consumers want to see, then advances in the delivery mechanisms will continue (increase bandwidth, faster delivery speed, sharper video & audio) and consumers will continue to use the web and will continue to demand more content which will decrease television usage further ultimately, forcing the television industry to rethink it's current model. What this model will be in the future, I do not know.

Rich Web Technologies

During class last Thursday we discussed rich web technologies and a few of the available software applications that can be used to deliver content in a more meaningful way to end users. I found it interesting that most of the products we discussed were rolled out to the market place at about the same time. But, the products vary greatly in the features available. The application used most frequently appears to be Adobe AIR and I imagine this is because it is free, works outside the browser and works with all platforms. But most of the other applications we discussed also worked with all platforms, and with the exception of one, work outside the browser, and several of them are also free. So what gives? I don't have the answer but I think the fact that Adobe AIR works with Adobe Flash has a great deal to do with it's popularity. I am aware that other applications also work with Flash but an Adobe application working with an Adobe application is probably a big draw when it comes to choosing which one to use.

I also found it mildly interesting that JavaFX is a late comer to this party. With the popularity of Java I thought the JavaFX application would be one of the major players in the rich media technologies arena. But JavaFX is almost an "also ran" product. By this I mean it came to the market place well after several of the other applications and it is lacking many of the bells and whistles of the others. Because of this, relative to the other applications available, JavaFX is not used by very many developers.

E3 - Twitter Tools

One of the nice things about Twitter is the Twitter API. The Twitter developers provide code so that other application developers can easily incorporate Twitter into their applications. And the code is free, how awesome is this. Because of this largess there are hundreds of applications that you can use to access Twitter or data mine Twitter. Here are a few of the available applications.

1. Twitpic-this application allows a user to easily upload pictures to Twitter. This is especially helpful for businesses that are marketing new products, or want to set your Twitter site apart from all others. www.twitpic.com
2. TweetDeck-this is a desktop and and iPhone application (iPhone available June 2009) that allows you to filter and group tweets, both the user's own and other's tweets. This would be an effective application for a small business to look for new marketing opportunities. www.tweetdeck.com
3. EarthTwit-this is a web based application that you can use to update your location and/or share places on Twitter using Google Earth. This is a wonderful application that a business (especially a small business) could use to mobilize delivery people or monitor sales personnel. And another use could be a parent keeping track of a teenager, which doesn't say too much about trust between the parent and child. www.twitearth.com
4. BallsAndTweets.com-this is a Twitter baseball directory, all things baseball. A fantasy baseball team owner's dream site. www.BallsAndTweets.com
5. Twibes-a website you can use to group Twitter users based on their interests and hobbies. This can be used by businesses for target marketing, research, and many other uses. Not to mention this is a really cool name. www.twibes.com

E2 - Twitter Uses

Some of the ways a business or organization use Twitter are down right creepy, almost like the George Orwell novel '1984', Big Brother is watching.

Businesses follow what is being said about it on Twitter and respond to the Tweeter to provide customer service or enhance it's image. Businesses that monitor Tweets include Dell, GM, Whole Foods and JetBlue. These businesses have recognized the size of the potential audience and are using this social network to promote the business' brands. Not to mention Twitter is free and can handle an issue when it occurs rather than several months after the fact. However, some people become concerned by a big business following them and may actually turn to a competitor because of Twitter.

Many businesses use Twitter to conduct research both on how it's brands are being used and what the competition is doing. By following customers the business can alert customers to new products, offer coupons, etc. But these companies have to be very careful to not mis-use the trust a of a customer when it allows a business to follow it on a social network.

Small businesses are using Twitter as a marketing tool (and some big businesses too). A customer can follow the corner cafe and it's owner. Twitter is a free network, a business can communicate with customers at little or no cost to tell them about new products, sales, store hours or special events. Because Twitter is more of a person-to-person application than a business-to-business one. This means that a customer is more likely to follow the cafe owner than the business.

These are only two of the many ways a business can use a social network like Twitter. Businesses and organizations alike use Twitter to push information out to followers (or potential followers), whether this is information such as the news, or information about upcoming events.
But businesses have to be very careful not to over saturate the market with stuff and need to have a plan on what the goal of the tweets will be whether it is marketing, customer service, or research.

However, businesses have to be very careful about how and when they use Twitter, or any social network. They have to use this powerful tool carefully and wisely. Tips for a business in using Twitter include:
Know what you want to say and be concise because Twitter allows only 140 characters.
Don't Tweet too much or too little. It is important to find out what the magic number of
tweets might be so that the potential audience will reap the benefits intended
Learn how to use the Twitter search functions, this will become your friend in using the
the data available in Twitter.
Don't worry about followers. This is like the movie 'Field of Dreams', if you build it they will
come.
Look at the tweets, sort what you find, and then tweet some more.

E1 - Twitter

Setting up a Twitter account was extremely easy. I have a unique last name so I didn't have to go through several iterations trying to find a user name. Thank goodness for that. Then I went to the Help page and was a bit disappointed by what was there. I like to have help topics that detail the whys and hows of whatever the Help topics cover. But I did learn a few things about Twitter and how it works.

Things I learned from Twitter Help
1. There is more than one way to find a person on Twitter. You can search by: a name; something you are interested in such as a movie or hobby; a location; or a company name. If you want to search by location, you can search for people within a certain distance of a specific location.
2. You can enhance the chance of someone finding your Twitter entry by adding a hashtag to the beginning of the word you want a search to hit upon. For example, if I want search engines or other Tweeters to hit on the word appraisal, I would type #appraisal.
3. There are limits to the number of Tweets you can have, these are called follow limits. You are limited to: 1,000 updates a day, 250 total direct messages (sort of an instance message) per day, or 150 API requests per hour. Twitter does this to stabilize the environment and hopefully, enhance reliability.
4. You can block someone from viewing your Tweets and from sending you messages providing your profile is public rather than private.
5. There are several things that you can't do in Twitter and they are adamant about these two things.
A. Domain squatting-this means you snag a name such as ChevyCars when you don't have
anything to do with GM or Chevrolet.
B. Impersonation-this means you have the Twitter name of ChevyCars and you say you
are GM.

Cloud Computing and PCI Compliance

I get emails from various sources that relate to our MIT program. I received the newsletter below from a vendor we use and I thought it was timely since we had a class presentation on Cloud Computing.


TrustWave News Letter

News and Analysis On the Horizon: Cloud Computing Cloud computing has, of late, been a popular buzzword in the IT and business communities, largely because it is an inexpensive way to increase IT resources. IDC, an analyst and research firm, predicts that spending on IT cloud services will hit $42 billion by 2012. As more businesses look to adopt cloud computing services, more questions are going to arise. Not only about what kind of services can cloud computing offer and is it as cost effective as purported, but also more focused questions like those pertaining to security and compliance. What is "cloud computing"? Cloud computing is generally the use of hosted, Internet-accessible servers for a variety of computing needs. It can be dynamically scalable and is usually a virtualized resource. Cloud computing is primarily used in four categories: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Virtualization Technology. SaaS is a model of software deployment where an application is licensed for use as service on demand. PaaS is when a company uses another company to host all of their applications. IaaS is a computer infrastructure delivered in a virtual environment. Virtualization Technology is the ability to transform on-premise data centers into their own clouds. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Citrix and Salesforce.com are just a few company's offering some or all of these cloud computing services. Cloud computing is, so far, very cheap. By "renting" computer usage from a third-party provider, companies avoid capital expenditure. Cloud computing services are typically "pay for what you use," which is ideal for organizations that may have one or two busy months (e.g., holiday season) and need a larger platform just for that time of the year. To purchase cloud computing services, all one may need is a credit card. For example, The New York Times took its archive dating from 1851 to 1922 representing more than 15 million articles, and put this fully searchable content "into the cloud" using Amazon's cloud services. What does cloud computing mean for PCI DSS Compliance? The cost savings a company achieves with cloud computing could potentially be offset by additional security measures that might be necessary. Debate is ongoing as to whether cloud computing services are able to meet regulatory compliance requirements. No hard rules or standards currently exist, although the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a non-profit organization promoting best practices for providing security assurance with cloud computing, has issued an ongoing "Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing." Some of CSA's best practice recommendations for compliance with payment card transactions include: Classify data and systems to understand compliance requirements Understand data locations, in particular the copies of data that are made and how they are controlled Maintain a right to audit on demand as your regulatory mandates and business needs may change rapidly Perform external risk assessments, including a Privacy Impact Assessment However, while these recommendations may be valid, it should be noted that the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has not issued formal guidelines for cloud computing as it pertains to payment card applications or data. Cloud computing in practice Several companies offer resizable and configurable compute capacity, paid for by the hour or in multi-year terms. While cost and ease of use are attractive to many businesses, cloud computing may not automatically meet enterprise compliance requirements. Cloud computing systems are not inherently PCI DSS compliant, and storing sensitive credit card payment information on such systems can lead to compliance and other risks. In a recent article at Data Center Knowledge, Amazon provided information into the issue of compliance and cloud computing, reaffirming that PCI DSS compliance is dependent on how the merchant uses solutions such as cloud computing. Reaching out to customers to address compliance concerns, Amazon spokesperson Kay Kinton stated, "Under the PCI Data Security Standard, merchants regardless of their size are independently responsible for complying with PCI when they collect, process or store credit card information. When using a shared hosting service, like AWS, where the merchant controls what credit card information touches the service, the merchant is responsible for using the services in a manner that permits them to be PCI compliant, such as the proper use of encryption and key management. Therefore, it is possible for a merchant to use Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3 and meet PCI compliance standards depending on their specific implementation." However, other cloud providers are claiming to be certified as PCI DSS compliant, or offer PCI solutions. The authenticity of these claims at this time is not certain; therefore businesses enter into cloud computing at their own risk. Conclusion Potential security and compliance problems with cloud computing abound. Because of the ability for a cloud service to reside anywhere in the world, it is difficult to know exactly where the data resides, or even if the cloud provider is meeting the physical security requirements of the PCI DSS. Most cloud providers do not allow onsite auditing either. Cloud computing is an evolving IT experiment, and not necessarily an enterprise-ready environment. While being PCI DSS compliant does not automatically make a company safe from security threats, it does help businesses ensure appropriate security measures and practices are in place to prevent and deter, as much as possible, security compromises and data theft. Therefore, for the time being, it may be a best practice to not handle any credit card transactions on a cloud infrastructure. » Trusted News Home

Trustwave Accredited in MasterCard's POS Terminal Security Trustwave has been certified to perform compliance evaluations against MasterCard's Point-of-Sale Terminal Security (PTS) program. MasterCard's PTS program applies to Point-of-Sale (POS) hardware and applications that transmit card data across an open Internet Protocol (IP) or wireless connection. Payment terminal manufacturers seeking PTS compliance validation can now engage Trustwave to perform evaluations to verify that the POS conforms to standards set forth by MasterCard.

Trustwave News 09/23/2009 Members of Trustwave's SpiderLabs to Deliver Briefings at SecTor 09/22/2009 Trustwave Accredited in MasterCard's Point of Sale Terminal Security 09/16/2009 CUPDATA Validated PCI DSS Compliant by Trustwave » More Press Releases

Trustwave Events PCI SSC September 22-24 Las Vegas, NV cPanel October 5-7 Houston, TX » More Events

Opera Browser

I was not aware of a browser by Opera until we discussed it in one of our first Internet Technology classes. I did a little half-hearted searching to find out about the company but not much about the the browser. Then in preparation for our guest speaker, Molly Holzschlag, I did a little more searching and I was richly rewarded.

The Opera software developers have done a magnificient job of looking to see what is currently available, listening to end users and trying to anticipate the needs of future users and have developed a browser that delivers. I am (now was) an IE user, don't know why, I guess because it was there. Slow and cluncky come to mind when I think about this particular browser. I probably don't need to also tell you that I am a PC user too, you probably already figured that one out on your own. Since IE was slow I thought all browsers were slow and unreliable. This is not true. The Opera browser offers so much and I especially like the 'Turbo' feature that will compress the data for a more efficient download with a slow download speed is encountered.
As I read more about Opera software and the company behind it I am amazed at the increasing number of people that are downloading the desktop browser software, something like 10 million downloads of the new Opera 10 happened during the first week it was available (in early September 2009). That many people can not be wrong.

And Opera is not your typical company, they have an Education section which wants to help others involved in web, whether in development, teaching, or using the web, to learn about web standards and foster a basis for students to learn about the web and the internt industry. Of course, the Opera employees will discuss Opera products but that is not the motivation for this outreach. The company is truly interesting in providing information on web standards and the rewards of adhering to them.

Opera is the leading supplier of web browser software on mobile devices in the world. And then Molly told us that all mobile devices currently available use the Opera mobile software, not most but all. This is truly awesome. I had no idea. I previously had a Blackberry and was happy but now I know what I was missing and I will ask better questions the next time I go looking for another mobile phone with internet capabilities.

Fifth Week of Class

It is hard to believe that this week is our fifth week of MIT classes. To say I have come far is an understatement. One of our weekly assignments is to write something about what we have learned relating to our MIT courses during the previous week. I sometimes find this to be extremely difficult to do. And I wonder why. Just about everything we discuss is new to me, especially the technical stuff. I just don't think like a programmer yet. I say yet because I continue to hold out hope that something will "click" in my brain and I will switch from business to technical. When we have discussions in class about a particular programming language, for example, and there are problems or issues I always go through the project management check list in my brain to try to determine where the process "got into the ditch". Was it a rush to market, was it poor requirements gathering, was it cutting costs to the detriment of the product, and it goes on and on. The old adage goes, given enough time, effort and money the product will be perfect; now which one are you willing to forego.

In Tuesday's class we are learning about data management. This past Tuesday, we talked about using databases to track employee productivity. In tracking productivity you have to determine the work effort (how many people will it take to do x job, and how long will it take them to do it), and then allocate the work to the employees based on number of total hours, number of hours per day, etc. This is what I have done in my professional career for the past 15 years. Never once in all this time did I think about the behind the scenes data management needed to track this. Wow, now I have an example in my reality of how a database should perform. It makes a big difference when you can relate something to a personal experience. Before this revelation, database management was this huge thing I was trying to learn all at once, now I understand the process better and am more willing to take tiny bites to conquer it. I am amazed.

This entry in my blog is more journal for me than educational for a reader, and I apologize for this. But sometimes you just have to go where the thoughts take you. I promise to find something more interesting to write about next time.

Editing Wikipedia

The hardest part of this assignment was determining what subject I have enough knowledge/expertise in that would enable me to edit Wikipedia. After many hours (it seemed like) I finally realized I have knowledge about credit cards, from the issuer and the acquirer perspective. Then came the arduous task of reading what has previously been written and deciding if the content is correct, almost correct, worth the effort to correct, or just plain incorrect. And I am surprised to say, that for the most part the information contained in the article on credit cards is accurate. It is obvious some authors are more knowledgeable than others as evidenced by the author discussing the discount fees (a percentage of the transaction amount) but does not directly address the interchange fees. Basically, a discount fee is assessed to the entity that has the lesser risk in receiving payment and given to the entity with the greater risk in receiving payment. Typically, the acquiring bank pays the fee to the issuing bank because the credit card associations pay the acquirer which is pretty much a guaranteed thing while the issuing bank has to be paid by the customer which, especially in these times, is not guaranteed. An interchange fee is what the card association charges to send the transaction from the merchant to the issuer and back again, sort of a processing and handling fee.

Once I determined what I could/would edit it was a very easy process because my edits were minor. My minor edit was available real time after I clicked the 'Save' button. I had previously registered with Wikipedia so once I logged in I was set to go. I am not brave enough to attempt a major edit even though I feel I have the knowledge base, I don't have the requisite citations to go along with the major edits.

Here are the before and after shots of what I edited.

BEFORE
For each purchase, the bank charges the merchant a commission (discount fee) for this service and there may be a certain delay before the agreed payment is received by the merchant. The commission is often a percentage of the transaction amount, plus a fixed fee. In addition, a merchant may be penalized or have their ability to receive payment using that credit card restricted if there are too many cancellations or reversals of charges as a result of disputes. Some small merchants require credit purchases to have a minimum amount to compensate for the transaction costs.

AFTER
For each purchase, the bank charges the merchant a commission (discount fee) for this service and there may be a certain delay before the agreed payment is received by the merchant. The commission is often a percentage of the transaction amount, plus a fixed fee (interchange rate). In addition, a merchant may be penalized or have their ability to receive payment using that credit card restricted if there are too many cancellations or reversals of charges as a result of disputes. Some small merchants require credit purchases to have a minimum amount to compensate for the transaction costs.

News Aggregation and Its Long Term Effects

It should be aggravation rather than aggregation. Trying to determine which blogs/feeds to follow can be tedious at times, informative most of the time, and occasionally you run across someone who thinks s/he has something worth reading but it is really just a self-promoting venue. And the only way to determine which feeds are worth your time is to read them.

I think I have chosen some good ones that will help me as I try to learn good web design and web programming. I come from a business background not a technical one, so I like the business aspects of the internet but knowing the technical side is a plus that can do nothing by enhance the business side.

I want (probably need) to move away from my "comfort zone" regarding the business side of internet technology. This means I will have to embrace the technology and run with it. Who knows I might just like it. There are certainly many people in my class who are proficient in this technology, I am in awe at times at the depth of their knowledge and skill. Slowly, I am learning the language so I can join in the discussions.