08-28-2009 (I Phone Apps)

Last week's class was interesting. Got to try out a new Iphone app - Ocarina. Creatively, it was undeniably great work. For apple, a gold mine was born - thanks to the Stanford group that worked so hard on it. However, being somewhat of a non-conformist, I still don't buy the apps angle as a reason to purchase an Iphone. The data fees notwithstanding, and even despite the fact that the Iphone will be available through multiple carriers in 2010, I still believe that as a consumer, my adoption of technology should arise from a functional deficit and utility should be high - not so much the existence of it. From an educational standpoint though - I am looking forward to finding out how to build an app and from a business perspective, an ingenious effort on Apple's part to not only increase their financial bottom line, but also gain market share as well as increase the loyal 'mac-head count' tremendously.

"Neither an early adopter nor a laggard be" (Roy Tennant)

While doing the h/w I learnt so much about html - the big one that comes to mind is how to use CSS on the head & title elements.  The HTML validator was also a new tool I discovered last class that I will definetely put to good use.

08-20-2009 (Networking)

Welcome! My name is Betty. I am taking my masters in IT because after my undergrad, I still felt the need to learn more about IT. Also, my husband travels a lot and I did not want to start working and have both of us traveling out of town at the same time (two kids at home)... so presently, pursuing my masters is the best fit for me.

I am looking forward to learning a lot more about IT. The OSI model discussion in class sparked an interest in learning about networking and I hope to enroll in a class in the Spring. Who'd have thunk??!! I still feel like a greenhorn and any boost to geekdom I can get, I will take.

After many an unsuccessful attempts at selling my husband's TCP-IP books online, not to mention the cursory 'you-are-taking-up-too-much-space-in-my-home-office' looks at the huge collection, I am excited to have failed at selling them and look forward to learning something about networking.

This quote nails it!

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. ~Clay P. Bedford

HTML.01 vs HTML 5

Been staring at the screen for a while....wondering how to come with an interesting way to write down the differences between HTML 4 & 5. As of now, I am still blank! It would have been nice to have a test run and get a feel of it, but my online research thus far has led me to the conclusion that it is yet to become mainstream.....so after scouring through the internet here is what I came up with....

The new changes incorporated in HTML5 will facilitate interoperability, sharing and integration. Also, efficiencies of HTML will make web applications richer, and faster helping web developers create web pages that incorporate many tools that are all integrated in one program.

HTML5 differs from HTML4.01 in that;

• It consists of both HTML & XML.
• Has new elements such as dialog, video, section, footer, e.t.c.
• Elements do not have to be closed.
• Has new attributes. Some attributes and elements have also changed.
• HTML5 introduces APIs to help with web apps.
• Has extensions.
• Has new parsing rules that aid in compatibility.
• Has done away with deprecated elements.
• Includes global attributes
• Has audio & Video embedding.
• Has pre-defined class names.
• Can support new media, drawings & images.
• Will make it possible to make animated pages and games.

I am sure there is a lot more stuff that I have not included. Most of the documentation on the W3C link was very technical. A visit to W3C provides a more in depth analysis of changes.