Future of the Internet

The first device that I can see being obsolete in the future is the mouse. With the major advancement's in track-pad and touch screen technology a separate wired-in piece of hardware seems archaic. An all-in one device is much more efficient and user friendly, two keys word's of the future. 

Voice recognition technology will soon make my second device, the keyboard, obsolete. Although voice recognition technology has been out for years, it is constantly being improved.  In today's society it is important to get things done as quickly as possible therefore as soon as voice recognition technology can detect context and grammar...get ready to throw out your keyboard.

Lastly, I think the USB flash drive will be a thing of the past.  With advancements in cloud technology you will no longer be waiting for a file to download onto a USB flash-drive to hand to your co-worker to download onto their system . You will be sending it wirelessly through the cloud to their system.

Although we may use these devices everyday and couldn't imagine not using them, advancements in technology and the human need to get everything done faster will have your children asking "why would you need a rodent to use a computer?"
Ten years from now I see the Internet as being something that is readily available to anyone and everyone. You may think that this is the case now, but I will tell you from my own personal experience it is not. Up until two weeks ago I was living without Internet for the past ten years, and before that I used the world renowned 'dial-up'. I wouldn't necessarily call 'dial-up' the Internet especially compared to the speeds I am getting now, it's amazing! I feel as if the Internet is becoming somewhat of a necessity, especially for children. High school's and public school's are now implementing programs that are strictly on-line, without the proper Internet connection how is the child to do their homework from home? 
Not only do I think educational advancements will be made using the Internet, I believe the Internet will be involved in almost every aspect of daily living. If you look how far we have come in the past ten years with the Internet, it is only obvious for one to assume it will soon take over. 
Lastly I will conclude, going back on the idea of efficiency, the Internet is an extremely efficient way of doing pretty much anything from anywhere. 
The Internet is the key of the future.

RSS

There are three different ways to add an RSS feed. The first way I found was to hit the 'subscribe' button on Google Reader and enter the URL for the blog page, the second way I found was to click on the RSS icon that can be found on most blog pages. The third way you can subscribe to a page is to simply go to your browser's toolbar and hit 'bookmarks' and you should have an option to 'subscribe to this page'. If all else fails, the help section on Google Reader suggested that if you cannot find the RSS icon on the blogger's home page, that you contact the blogger and ask them to add one.
I find the RSS reader a much more efficient way of visiting your favourite blogs day-to-day. One of the most convenient features of the RSS reader is that the feed's are live, so you're given the most up to date information on your favourite blogs all day long. The RSS reader is also a great way to save time, instead of searching for your favourite pages you can bring them all up on one specific page. Some of the news may not interest you as much as others, saving you the hassle of visiting all your favourite sites to find nothing of interest on that specific day.
 I could see this as being a very useful technology for someone who is into visiting specific blogs on a daily basis. Like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, it is a much more efficient way of surfing the net. Personally I find it a pain having 20 different sites open at the same time, this way you can have all your sites in one spot, making it much easier to access. RSS reader also allows for you to avoid all the annoying internet pop-ups and spam.Overall, I think the RSS reader is a brilliant form of technology and from what I read is only getting great reviews and positive feedback.
In my opinion, web-based aggregate's are a much better choice than desktop software. Not only is Google Reader a free and easily accessible RSS reader, it is web-based. Your page is constantly being updated live through the Internet, something that a desktop software may not be able to offer you. Another beneficial feature of choosing a web-based reader is that you can have your RSS feed sent electronically to your mobile phone throughout the day.

Twitter

I first made a Twitter account this past January, I have only ever 'tweeted' on five separate occasions and have only ever been mentioned once. I have twelve 'followers' and I only 'follow' twenty-five people, a mix of friends and random celebrities. I will be quite honest with you, I have little to no interest in my Twitter account. Reading about what my friends or celebrities are doing every five-minutes really does not interest me.
Although I may not be that interested in Twitter, I must admit there are some beneficial qualities that it provides. First and foremost, it is an extremely useful marketing tactic, business' are able to 'tweet' about new products, features and sales for millions of their followers to see. One of the most frequent quotes you will hear from different company's is 'follow us on twitter'. Another obvious yet important use is that it allows millions of people to connect and spread messages for free.  It is also a great way for user's to find out, in real-time, what is going on in the world. Whether it be a controversial call in the NFL, or a statement made by our Prime Minister Steven Harper. Another great aspect is that the local traffic users are able to see current trends on the 'now trending' feature of Twitter.
Twitter is quite similar to blogging, and is often referred to as 'micro-blogging' because of the limited character supply you are given. With blogging you can write until your blue in the face, with Twitter you are given a 140 character limit. From a personal standpoint I see blogging as something that takes more time and overall effort, where as 'tweeting' is something that is done within a number of seconds with minimal effort. Blogs are generally written about a specific topic, and the writer usually feels very strong about the specific topic and delves quite deep. Whereas twitter is more or less one's quick thoughts or opinions on a wide range of different topics.

Blogging

With this being my first blog that I have ever created, I found blogger.com extremely user friendly, and easy to use. I could easily change the font and the colours, add a background, add pictures and a polling station with absolutely no hassle at all. The different settings/gadgets are clearly labelled and easily accessible. Blogger gave direction every step of the way, I believe if you did encounter a problem blogger help would easily guide you to a solution. I found it really neat that blogger.com not only keeps track of your page views, but can tell you from where in the world people are accessing your blog. Strangely enough I found someone in the USA had been viewing my blog within the first few days I had created it. 

This was also my first time really looking at blogs in general, and I was pleasantly surprised at what I found:
My favorite magazine, Women's Health, has their own personal blog page which is almost exactly like their magazine, if not better !(http://www.womenshealthmag.com) Now I can save myself $5.99 + tax every month at the grocery store/drug store. The blog posts workout routines, healthy meal ideas, health articles, and even daily ab routines!
It's amazing the things you can find using the 'Google' blog search engine. I could type pretty much anything into search and sure enough there would be a blog about it. I find this fascinating.... where have I been all these years! 
Another new found love of my is running, I thought to myself...there must be a blog about running! Sure enough I found the perfect blog, http://www.womensrunning.com, awesome! I found the blog extremely helpful, offering daily tips on running, and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
And of course I cannot forget about my love of shopping, there were too many blogs on fashion/shopping to include in my first entry, but those I did find were amazing! The three I found that really interested me were; http://www.rantingsofashopaholic.com, http://www.torontostreetfashion.com, and http://www.collegefashion.net. All three of the blog's were equipped with picture's of the latest fashion, and fashion advice. My favorite blog out of the three was the college fashion blog. This blog gave helpful hint's on which stores carry the season's latest 'must-haves' without blowing a hole in your wallet.
Lastly, I will conclude with an interesting blog I found for user's who are new to blogging...a.k.a...me. After noticing there was a blog about pretty much anything and everything, I decided to search for a blog about blogging! To my pleasant surprise...of course they have a blog about blogging, http://www.iamnewtoblogging.com, just my cup of tea! This blog was extremely helpful to me, being someone who is unfamiliar with blogs/blogging. I even think it would be helpful for those who read blogs and blog regularly. Some of the blog's most popular post's included 'Blogging Goals', 'Setting up a Blog', 'Blog Marketing', and 'Blog Topics'.

From my own personal (first-time) experience I would say that blogging can be extremely helpful. There seems to be an endless array of blogging topics out there for people of all ages, the availability of information seems endless. One of the biggest advantages about blogging is the fact that they are Eco-friendly, as opposed to their distant cousins magazines and newspapers.  Blogging is also a cost efficient way to read about sports, fashion, healthy living, essentially whatever your heart desires. Another beneficial aspect of blogs/blogging is that you can electronically access blogs from anywhere, whether it be your smart phone, laptop, tablet or PC, the blogger can also update their blog from anywhere in the world. Blogging is also an excellent way to spread the word about something that may be of great importance to you, such as the environment or government issues.
One of the major disadvantages of blogging would be the fact that the majority of information seen on blogs are personal opinions. The problem with one's personal opinion is that the viewer may take the information factually, it may be taken out of context, and/or it may be offensive to the viewer. Another disadvantage is the fact that ultimately anyone can be viewing what is posted on the blog, as I learned from my USA viewer. Personally, I feel some things are not meant for everyone to see or read about. 
In my opinion it is hard to compare magazine's and newspaper's to blogs. Blog's are unedited information, in most cases coming from one source, and are usually not factual information, more or less one's own opinion. Newspaper's and magazine's are generally edited in order to be acceptable in the eyes of it's viewers in regards to being age appropriate, gender appropriate and multicultural, along with the appropriate use of language. With this said, they are blogs that appear to be edited such as my women's health magazine blog. I would refer to this blog as a commercial blog as it is financially supported by ad company's, in-turn making for a more 'hi-tech' blog.