Interesting Sites

In the past the internet was primarily used to obtain information, and send things from place to place, but now the internet is used for much more. Today there are thousands of new websites popping up every day, and they are much more useful now.

Instead of just being used to get information, the internet can be used to watch all kinds of videos on YouTube, talk to all your friends on MySpace, or read about anything and everything you want to on various blogs.

But all these sites had started out sites run by a small group of people, and have turned into gigantic websites getting millions of views a day. So what other sites are out now that oculd be the next big thing?

One of the internet startups that has been out for a while, but is still unknown by people is Twitter. Twitter started in July 2006 as a way for a company to broadcast messages to all of the employees, and in two years it has grown to over 2,200,000 accounts. Twitter is a micro blogging service, which basically means that its a way to post quick small messgaes and have those messages seen by either a group of friends, or the entire world.

Another website, that is still not known by the general public is sellaband. Sellaband (Sell A Band) is a very good website for anyone interested in music. The basic idea is that an artist, or band, will put up some of their songs and let other people listen to them. If theres someone out there who thinks that the band is good enough to sell albums they can buy a ten dollar share. After 5,000 people donate shares (people can donate more than once pre band) then the band is provided with a producer, studio, and recording time.

After the album is out, the investors get a percentage of the profits that it makes. This allows for many good bands that don't have all the money it takes to get their music out there to make an album and sell it.

And I'm sure in the future we'll see even more of these websites that also influence lives while not online.

High-Tech Neighborhood Watch

Everyone has seen the neighborhood watch signs and stickers in peoples houses, but most of those are old and do not actually mean anything to people anymore. Because these signs have lost their effect, many neighborhoods in Santa Rosa have set up an email list or a website in order to raise awareness of crime in the area.

Before this email system, there could have been a break in a block away and no one would have ever found out about it. But now after a break in the victim sends out an email or posts on the website and everyone on the list finds out about it soon after, and can be ready by making sure they lock their doors and cars.

The police in the area think that this is a great idea. They said that the best way to lower the crime rate is a neighborhood watch.

Even with this new system the only way it will be effective is if the residents keep it going. If no one keeps up with the emails then it will all go back to the way it was before the system.

The Beginning

Today we started a new project in our Contemporary Literature class called Joining the Conversation. The whole purpose of this project is to keep a blog over the school year and write about academic things, things that interest you, and basically anything you want. As long as once a week you write an academic intelligent post.

I've tried to keep blogs before, but I've never been able to keep them going for more than a week, Hopefully this time I will be able to keep it going. This project seems like it will be fun and interesting just because of how open it is

I'm looking forward to what my, and my friends, projects will end up being.