Digital Popcorn

I searched for digital popcorn on Google and ran across something that sparked my interest. Digital Popcorn is a blog that reviews movies from all different eras. I find this so interesting because it led me to think about how everyone has a place to review whatever they want on the internet. Whether it be comments on a post on a message board or their own personal review website. Personally, my favorite review website is Rotten Tomatoes. This site takes many critics reviews for a movie and combines them into a percentage that represents the consensus of critics across the globe. This isn't just for movies either, Metacritic does these types of reviews for basically all digital media. I believe that this presents a great way for customers to make an informed decision on purchases and to see what the critics thought without reading a bunch of different reviews. These sites seem to be great but I actually found an article stating that Metacritic might be damaging the games industry. Apparently, some companies are becoming so concerned with scores, that they are developing their business strategy around it. I found this very interesting and I had no idea that these seemingly innocent scores meant something very profound for the industry.

Digital Kick

I searched digital kick on Google and I found an incredible site. Digitalkick.com is a website that blends old school graphics and sounds with a very competent internet site. I think that this goes to something that we were talking about in class once. Prof. Mannheimer asked us what time is the internet, and I think this goes to show that even a single website can exist in multiple times at once. The site even says when you click to enter, "Enter Our Classical Site". This also made me think of the Wayback Machine that was shown in class. You can look up almost any website and see different points of its existence. This is cool for multiple reasons to me. For one, you can look at websites that no longer exist and I think that it is also fun to look at great looking websites now, and see what they looked like years ago. Internet design has come a long way and I'm sure that it will go even further in the coming years.

Digital Pie

I found an article on Google that questions, "Who gets the biggest piece of the digital pie." This begins by dealing with, specifically, Canadian publishing. I think that this article is fairly interesting and a decent read, but it made me wonder what companies are banking the most off of digital distribution. In 2008, Itunes made $3.34 billion. This is the largest earner in digital distribution of music. Video game digital distribution makes around $1-2 billion. I think that this is a very interesting idea. Instead of having to go through a bunch of channels like someone would have to do years ago, now an artist can get their art distributed on the internet in a much easier fashion. Regardless of the independent artists that get better exposure, now the consumer has more options and convenience than ever. This is very important. There are so many ways that a consumer can now use or purchase media, that designers have a much better chance at having a popular piece of media. Many companies are putting a huge focus and many resources into digital distribution. There is a big debate on the internet regarding whether this is the future or not. I definitely think it is. As broadband penetration goes up and up, people are probably going to want to use the most convenient way to get their media as possible.

Digital Party

I searched digital party and was pretty surprised at what I found. I found an article from Fox Business regarding a tequila company's website. Apparently the El Jimador website began to offer a party planner. This website will help and guide you to make a successful party, of course with their product being used. This is pretty much just a marketing gimmick, but I still think that it is pretty interesting. I believe that the party has been fundamentally changed with the advent of the internet. You can now have access to a larger amount of people to attend and many more options when it comes to theme ideas, snack ideas, games, etc. One might question how this relates to design, but parties are something that is designed and the digital age is making this process much easier. I remember a service called e-vite that would send digital invitations but now this can be done while you are on Facebook or a number of other social networks. You can basically plan a party from start to finish all online, and I believe that this is a huge time saver. You can throw a party and never leave your house. I find it funny that you can host one of the most social things that a person can do and do it all from alone at the desk. If you are ever planning a party, I suggest that you try to do it online. It will probably make your life a whole lot easier.

Digital Carpet

Digital Carpet, found by using a Google search, is an extremely interesting technology to me. It's basically an interactive surface that can be walked on. It uses a projection system to project the image on the floor and sensors to detect what the user is doing. The creator said that they are working on ways to upgrade the technology to suit the users needs more than they do now and want to base what the user sees on preferences and the way they use the system. I don't imagine this as something being used in a home, but it would be perfect for advertising. What better way to get a potential customer's attention than to use something like this? I also thought it was interesting that they proposed using this for kids. I think that kids would have a ball with this technology and I could easily imagine this as something that is someday in a school for the children to play with. I think that this is a baby technology at the moment, however, and could definitely use some more improvements but it seems to be heading in the right direction. After searching online for interactive floor, I found that other companies do make similar technologies, but they all seem to be at about the same level of sophistication. I think that the systems definitely need some better sensor equipment to detect the users better and simply some more market saturation. I think that once people start to notice this technology we will be seeing it much more often.

Digital Freedom

Digital Freedom is a website, which I found from a Google search, that deals with the rights a person should have as a digital creator. The website describes a creator as anyone who relies on digital technology to create or even people who post videos to Youtube or put music on their profile page. The site claims that companies are trying to shut down new technologies that, in themselves, have nothing to do with copyright infringement and can be a good platform for creators to distribute their work. I believe the site, although I didn't see them explicitly say this, is also talking about file sharing programs. These can clearly be used without piracy and can be a good platform to share work. The site also mentions litigation on people who use existing works and make them their own. Song mash-ups would be an example of this. I think that these creators should be protected because these people are making this content their own, and the company with the copyright shouldn't be able to infringe on the project. I have heard of this issue before and I think that it is something that is very important for a digital creator of any sort. I haven't heard or seen on the site any examples of people being prosecuted for this before, but I know that it could someday be a possibility. I think that the "mash-up" culture and other digital artforms are unique and companies should have no say in what creators do if they make something their own work.

Digital Death

I suppose I was feeling a little morbid and I searched Digital Death on Google and found this site. The article is titled "How to Prepare for Your Digital Death" and I found it so interesting because it is something that I, and I'm sure many others, have never considered. In this digital age, with all of the status updates and emails, if you were to suddenly die, someone would have to manage notification and managing what you had put online. Even though this is such a strange thing to imagine, I think it pertains to design in quite a literal sense. Many people I know post to many different message boards and create a whole list of different things and put them online. If you were to die, would you want something that you made in five minutes to be left as a legacy to you? I probably wouldn't, but the internet is pretty much permanent or at least more permanent than any other form of media that I know of. The things that you create could possibly never go away. Something that you put on the web 5 years ago can probably still be found. I think that this is a responsibility that every creator should take into consideration. I recommend that people be sure that they are proud of their work before they post it online, because you never know how long it's going to be around.