THE INVENTION OF A NEW MEDIUM- THE IPAD

I would like to dedicate this blog to the birth of a new medium, 'the tablet.' Apple invented the ipad earlier this year and sales have sky rocketed. The ipad has become a new medium between media producers and media audience. The invention of this product is similar to the invention of the television or the home PC. In fact building  this product is similar to building over 1000 walmarts. What I mean is that the ipad has become a better way in which manufacturers and producers of content can distribute their product to their customers. The IPAD is revolutionizing the way human beings interact with news and books. It is even influencing the way we shop. The app store has over 100,000 apps and almost every one of them are trying to sell you something. I purchased my ipad last week at 500 dollars and I already purchased a year long subscription to the Wall Street Journal. I even bought my mom a gift from AMAZON. Mind you every dollar I spend through this product apple gets a piece of it. Do you guys think the tablet industry will have a profound effect on future generations, like the TV industry had on us?

RAW IS WAR!

WWE Raw is war used to be one of my favorite video games as a teenager. This is a wrestling video game based off the tv show World wrestling entertainment. The wwe is all about rivalries and special moves. My favorite move was the "Rock Bottom" by the Rock. My friends in highschool loved 'stone cold steve austin' and 'the undertaker.' And their favorite moves were the stunner and the pile driver.  

The reason I am talking about this game is because I believe it did bring about violence within our friend circle. The article about the video game revolution http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html spoke about how kids that were exposed to violence through video games were less likely to commit crimes and showcase 'antisocial' behavior. However I disagree with that statement. I believe it is not entirely accurate. I would go further and say that it depends on the games the kids have been brought up playing.
I for one, have seen the violence from video games infiltrate my life. One of my friends and I once got into a fight about something, we argued and began punching each other in the face. We started acting like our favorite characters from the video game and when we did the characters special move, things got really ugly. My friend got stitches in his head because I gave him the rock bottom on a concrete floor.

Now I am considered a person who never fights but my most violent years were when I used to play that video game.

What do you guys think?  Do you feel that violence from certain video games transcend into the real world?

Bridging Cultures with the Sling Box

The Sling box created by sling media is one of my favorite media devices. The sling box connects to your comcast/direct tv/etc... box and also connects to the internet. Then you can go anywhere in the world and watch your tv there. So my parents sitting in India can watch American TV. Infact recently the company has even launched blackberry and iphone applications so that you can watch your tv on the go anywhere in the world.

Sling media offers tremendous potential for people from different parts of the world to tap into American tv and culture. The reason I have labeled this blog entry Bridging Cultures is mainly for this reason. I also find it interesting that the sling box is only $300 and you pay no subscription fees. Another interesting thing that struck out to me was that should this be illegal? How can tv be rebroadcast-ed without affecting someones copyrights.

Anyway to connect this to our readings this device creates more uncertainty for the media producers in terms of who their audience is. We know that media producers and advertisers do not know their audience however they know that the audience is located in America. However through this product there is a leakage in the process. Media Producers can no longer control the broadcasting of their shows, the internet can  "sling" their messages to be decoded and judged by people in other countries.

As the company grows, I feel the sling media will one day become an important tool in the future to bridge the gap between cultures.

Time

Tick tock tick tock.... It was 1 o clock! What did that mean? Why was I nervous? What did time tell me? In that brief moment I realized that time sent me many messages. 1 o clock to me meant, finishing the assignment or being faced with a low grade, it meant it was time to eat healthy or be faced with bad health, it also meant call my girlfriend in London or be faced with her nagging you for not caring.

Over this weekend I realized that time is a medium that we rarely think about. So I want to take this opportunity to explore time as a medium. The first thing I observed was that out of all the mediums we interact with on a daily basis time seems to be the only one that gives us stress. Think about it almost every other medium we interact with, we do so with the intention of gaining some pleasure out of it.


Time is also one of the only mediums that is intangible. Also if we are to define time based on the coded messages and information it carries then I would say that time contains the most information that needs to be decoded. I mean every minute there are so many things happening and so many messages being decoded that time is one of the most interesting mediums.


In your comments please write about other unique characteristics of time so we can get a better understanding of this medium and how we interact with it.

Curiosity in Media---every puzzle must be solved.

Curiosity is in our blood. Humans enjoy solving problems and finding solutions. We learned through our readings that media audiences actively construct meaning. In this blog entry I want to take that idea further and develop it. Media producers encode the message they want to send and the audience decodes the message and then constructs meaning. The message they interpret may be intended or unintended by the producers of media. However I believe that good media producers are ones that create and code their message in ways that appeal to our curiosity and are relatively harder to decode.

Take for example one of my favorite movies, 'the Matrix.' The directors Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski did a very good job of encoding their message. The whole idea of an alternate reality controlled by machines is very hard to understand. The first time I saw this movie I just could not figure out the story. However after watching it several times and discussing it withj my friends I finally encoded the message the director and story writer were trying to convey and I just loved it. As a matter of fact I believe one of the main reasons why people like the matrix was because it appeared to be so deep and philosophical.

I know you may all not agree but allow yourself to understand and appreciate my point. I will give you more examples. 'Inception' was another movie which was hard to decode and that's why I believe people loved it.

My argument can also extend beyond just movies. Think about the riddles or deep statements that people make such as ' the purpose of life is a life of purpose.' think about how you feel when you read that and think about why people like reading or listening to those messages.  

I hope my thesis ignites comments and opposing views.

Below is a video of the matrix decoded on youtube. There is a reason why people like that scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmJPjUbwNhk&feature=related

Victoria's Secret is Brainwashing

www.victoriassecret.com/

During the last class we saw the killing me softly video. I honestly found it one of the most interesting videos I have seen. And I want to explore a very famous female undergarment brand named Victoria secret and their effect on the minds of women. We all know that Victoria secret models are the most gorgeous girls in the world,  We know them as being super tall with picture perfect bodies and big breasts and beautiful faces. Take for instance Adriana Lima one of the most iconic models of Victoria Secret.She is supposed to be the role model for young ladies. Think about what insecurities could come about if you aspire to be like her. I mean she is genetically taller and has a body type of a super model. My younger sister has a picture of Adriana in her room. She is only 17 and she is quite short for her age and she tries to starve herself just so she can fit into her jeans. This is appalling, she even asked my mother if she could get a nose job. I think the video is absolutely right and I feel women should realize the effect media is having on them from a young age. They should not aspire to become like these fake women. I am going to send the killing me sofly video to my mother and my sister, and I hope they realize that they are perfect the way they are.

no

Infomercials = Intentional Hypnosis

When the professor showed us those videos in class about media and hypnosis it changed the way I look at media. I was never protecting myself from all the commercials and infomercials. So I decided to avoid watching commercials. However this past week I fell into the trap of a very successful infomercial campaign.

Day before yesterday I spent a full half hour watching the p90X infomercial. And I was seconds away from paying them $120 dollars for a few DVDs.Just then I spoke to my parents and in that conversation I realized how unnecessary those Dvd's were. If I want a fit body, I exactly know what to do but that infomercial made me doubt myself by telling me that I need that DVDs to be fit. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyOVeiF3EZc 

 P90X is one of the most successful infomercial products this year and their revenues have exceeded 20 million.Which means that over 200,000 people have become victims to the hypnotic ads and have spent over $120 buying this program.

This week I will be talking about infomercials and how hypnotic they can be. We all watch infomercials. But there are things that we need to keep in mind before we decide to buy something we see on TV. 

 

My last roommate's family is in the infomercial business. And he told me that his family makes a living by creating products that people don't need. He admits that they brainwash a consumer by playing on their fear and greed. Just to put things in perspective his family controls 70% of the infomercial business in Amercia. They have created the shamwow, cami secret, pedegg, iron gym, slap chop, yoshi blade, snuggie, etc.. 

Now in our reading we learnt about the importance of the producers of media and how because of  a profit motive they will play on your fear and greed and sell you products that you don't need. Its absolutely true.

You may argue that some of these products are useful and you do need them. I agree with you, but what you don't know is that when you call them they up sell you the delux version or something else that is absolutely unnecessary. In fact majority of their revenues come from up selling products that are not on the infomercial. Beware of that before you buy something in the future.