Dream the solution

Today I’m going to rant about music piracy. The music industry is an ever changing market that buckles to the whims of technology. In the beginning groups would simply tour around and perform. Then the radio became common and bands would do live broadcasts. Later on radio stations could record the artists on a record and the ban could be played daily. later on mass production of records was possible, then one day the cassette tape came about. The music industry was worried that people would record all the songs off the radio, or duplicate bought tapes. when CD’s came out they were worried they’d lose to much money from people burning off their own, then the MP3 player came around. OH no people are going to copy from one another. with today’s high speed internet connection a person can download what took an artist 4 months to produce in less than 20 minutes. Is this right? Is this OK? I am of the opinion that yes these artists should be making money off their hard work, yes if I like your album I should support them, but they are artists. Things always have a way of circling back around to the way they began. Artist need to understand that piracy is going to be virulent forever. The amount of fail-safes that would have to be put in place to stop it would just cause their fan-base to dwindle. In the near future the main source of income will be merchandise and live concerts. The fact of it is you will never be able to stop piracy, people will find the means and the method to share music, programs, movies whatever they want. It’s called escalation, when one side gets the upper hand the other side always manages to find another way. Accept it and go with the times.

There are several artist who agree with me on this stance Jack Johnson is one I can recall right at the moment. There are also several movements on the internet who support a share and share alike methodology. They don’t just say they think it should be that way and hoard their own information, they put a large amount of time into making their own audio to put out for free online. Here are a couple videos from these kind of groups.

Sharing is Caring – Pro Piracy Commercial

and this one is about film piracy

I wouldn’t steal… but i do download films

The cell phone is a marvel of modern technology. On April 3rd 1973 Martin Cooper made the first cellular phone-call from the streets of New York on a 30 oz. brick. Back then businessmen could purchase one for the low price of $3500. Today we have cell phones in every shape and size, they have cameras, ringtones, games and video messaging in a much more visually attractive form factor that can be as light as 3 ounces. No one can deny the fact that the cell phone has changed the world and that it is here to stay. The only question I have is what has it done to us? I can’t have a conversation with someone anymore without them reaching to their cell phone to start texting away to someone else. I have gotten to the point that I will stop mid-sentence until they have put away their cellphone and attempt to break off my conversation with them as soon an I can. There is nothing more disrespectful in the world then ignoring what the person in front of you is saying to talk to an unknown third party miles away. It’s different if they say excuse me for a moment or something but to just pretend to listen and go about their other conversation ignoring the actual real life human interaction in-front of them is a disgrace.
On the topic of text messaging I would like to bring up the point of texting while driving. The only thing that could be more dangerous would be writing a novel about mathematical functions while driving. To much of your attention is taken away from the road then you are texting. It’s bad enough when people talk on the phone while driving but to text you actually have to take your eyes off the road.
Now I’m all for the convenience of having a cell phone if your out driving and get a flat tire, or you’re looking for a job or have a job and need to be contactable 24/7. Cell phones are great for emergencies. I am 21 years old and I just got my cell phone this summer. There is not a reason on earth that you can give me that justifies you buying and paying for your 11 year old to have a cell phone. Use a pay phone… an 11 year old should not be in any situation where a landline phone is not available.
Last but not least, a telephone conversation is between you and the person you are talking to. Do not waltz around me screaming into your device while I am trying to enjoy my coffee. I do not want to hear about Marcy’s new foot scrubber while I am eating a scone. Keep your phone calls to yourself and respect other peoples space.

Hey there! My name Is John Warren and I am a student at Algonquin College in the Interactive Multimedia Development course. Recently I have had a lot of interest in the applications of Augmented Reality and the modeling of characters for PaperVision3D to use with it. I have been using computers since I was three and been designing with computers for the past 6 years of my life.

I started off making signatures for forums with Photoshop and from there I grew into using blender, the open-source 3D software, and toying with Flash. I first got interested in coding when I was the president of the technology club at Osgoode Township Highschool. I began to design templates for websites and through the help of a map editor began to create custom code for Warcraft III maps and campaigns.

From there I  attempted to attend Carleton University’s BIT program. I submitted a portfolio and received a 96% on it. Unfortunately my marks in math were to low for them and they could not accept me. In hindsight this was a blessing in disguise as college has given me a more hands on style of learning, one that I am very compatible with. College has allowed me to not only understand what I am going to be doing, but the skill set to do it as well.

Thus far in my career as a multimedia developer I have held several volunteer web development positions as well as a summer long contract to produce e-learning courses for government and businesses in the public sector. I have created databases and logging systems for Algonquin College residence as well as put the foundations up for a insurance claims business.

I have often been asked what I want to do after I finish college. The truth of it is, everything. I love designing in XHTML and CSS, however Flash and actionscript hold a special place in my heart. I enjoy making web pages dynamic with Ajax and JavaScript, but also love being able to use my knowledge of PHP and mySQL to organize content. In the future I plan on learning some C# or C++ and perhaps get into the area of developing games. I am good with photography. I love being able to line up the perfect shot, or use my favorite editing method to make colors and faces pop. I can sit infront of Illustrator and think up ideas for poster design and make my ideas come to life in a short period of time. At the end of the day I like being able to look back on the past week, month, or year and say “I did that!” and be proud of my work.

My name is John Warren and I am an Interactive Multimedia Developer.