Downloading.

Downloading

1; I would rather download than buy the physical copy as it is quicker, as to buy the physical copy you must wait or leave the house. Also, it may sometimes be cheaper, as there may be deals only available by download. Additionally, having a hard copy could mean that the CD could get scratched and may no longer be playable, whereas downloading an album would be safer as it can not get scratched as it is instantly safely stored in your computer.

2; Problems you could encounter from downloading could be that it would take a long time, as a strong, fast internet connection is required to download properly. Also, you may encounter viruses when downloading from ‘dodgy’ sites. Lastly, you may end up losing all of your data on your computer, meaning losing those downloaded albums, whereas if you’d have bought the CD you wouldn’t have had this problem.

3; Downloading fulfils it’s purpose as it is quick and easy to acquire. It is quick as you just pay online and the ‘album’ may be available to you instantly. Also it is easy as you just have to purchase online, instead of browsing through a store.

HSBC & Halifax

Comparing online banks

HSBC;
HSBC is a very secure online bank. The bank itself provides you with a keypad which has become part of the process for logging into your account. This is done by typing your pin into the keypad. This is very secure as this keypad is unique to you, meaning you are the only person able to get in, making it almost completely hack proof. This idea is completely unique to this bank, and makes it one of the most secure online banks in the world. It is also very easy to use and navigate through, despite the long log in process, which is completely worth it as it could just save your funds.

Halifax;

Halifax is fairly similar to HSBC, just less secure, as it does not include the extensive log ins or a keypad. It is however easy to use, and is a quick service which can be accessed anywhere. However, Halifax does include a system where the user must use a word, and type in certain letters of the word, making it very difficult for hackers to access your account.

Weather, 20th September

At it's peak, today's weather will reach 15 degrees celsius, and 11 degrees celsius at it's lowest. It will also rain from 3pm onwards. The wind speed is relatively going in the north-east direction. I have used www.bbc.co.uk/weather to find this out.

Weather, 19th September (validation)

As stated in my previous post, I checked the weather using bbc weather. It reported that at midday it would be 13 degrees celsius, and that it would rain at around 2-3 pm, this indeed was correct, so this is a valid source of weather-real time information.

eBay

eBay,

The major purpose of eBay is to give a service to the public for them to buy and sell items to each other. There is no main audience for eBay as it appeals to everyone, as everyone wants to buy, and sell unwanted items. Although we could say that people who have access to the internet are the only audience for eBay as it is an online marketplace. The auction process works by placing a bid, for possibly lower than the ‘buy it now’ price. Usually, a bidding war occurs as two or more people wish to get the item for a certain amount of money or want to get a bargain. It fulfils these purposes well as it has provided many people with an access point to other sellers and buyers, linking everyone around the world to one online marketplace. It also fulfils the purpose of people finding ‘old gems’ that you can not buy in a normal store, as you can find people wishing to get rid of old items that they do not want, and purchase them, as they were a part of your life many years ago, and you possibly thought that you would never think you’d come across again. The benefits of eBay are that you can find many items across the world that have become very rare, and you can pinpoint the exact item you wish to find, instead of searching endlessly through many stores to find the exact item you want. Limitations are that you may come across a ‘dodgy’ dealer online, and they may try to scam you or be untruthful in what they have described to be a perfect item.

Weather, 19th September

Weather Forecast,
Today's weather will be fairly cold, being 10 degrees celsius at it's lowest, and 13 degrees celsius at it's highest. I have found this out using; http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather. This has provided me with a five day+ forecast with each hour's temperature and weather forecast.

Real Time | Journey.

Today I planned a journey for two different methods of trainsport, rail and car. I tested which was more efficient and easier to plan by planning the route to The Olympic Park, Stratford. Firsly, I did rail, which was generally easy, as I just typed in 'From Doncaster, To Stratford' and it instantly planned a route using the train service and London Underground. The rail journey all together cost £83, a reasonable amount for peak time train services. I secondly planned the same journey for car, using Google maps. This service proved to be very useful as it told me the exact route, directions, the time it would take to get there and fuel costs! Making planning a journey by road very easy. The fuel costs came to £35.87 and the journey would take approximately 3 hours and 10 minutes. I found both methods fairly easy to plan as the websites I used provided real time information to successfully plan for travel, making it easy to use by all people. It took a few minutes to actually gain the information. Making it quick AND easy! I used National Rail to plan my train journey and Google Maps to plan the route by car.

Instant Messaging Services | Small Summary

Instant Messaging Services;

Facebook

YouTube

Skype

Msn

Yahoo

Blogger

BBM

I use the majority of these services on a daily basis, most frequently Facebook and YouTube. I do this because I feel that all of these services are very easy to use, and the fact that they have a lot of users means that they are then used properly, as you have a wider audience to use them with. Facebook is a very good service to use as it includes a brilliant way to keep up with friends in a quick-chat.

Instant Messenging | Facebook Chat

I regularly use Facebook chat as a way to interact with my friends, this is because it is a quick and efficient way to get into contact with those who are further away than a five minute walk. I also use Facebook chat to people who are within meters! So it has become a method of speech in my life. I feel that Facebook chat easily compares with being face to face with the person you are 'chatting' with as you can now use your webcam to video call within Facebook chat, making it even more useful and enjoyable. I use Facebook chat on a regular basis and I feel that it is now very popular among many people, and it will only develop further from there.

Online Services

This is my personal audit of all my communications, research, investigations etc. About online services and the Information Age.

The areas I will be covering include;
   - Communication
   - Real time information
   - E-Commerce
   - E-Government
   - Education
   - Business
   - Entertainment