Google Maps

Misato Nonaka

http://maps.google.com/

Google Maps is free-mapping technology service offered by Google. This service is not simply showing a map but also including business locations, contact information, and driving directions. Moreover, there are 4 different modes of displaying maps; street view, traffic, satellite, and Terrain. It helps users get desired locations with various images and integrated business information easily and quickly.

Google Maps is such a user-friendly technology so that almost anyone can use it without any difficulty. Private users will any individual, who are interesting in traveling, visiting, and shopping. Some organizations, companies or small business owners use Google Maps publically to post their address with business hours and contact information.

Advantages of this mapping technology are following:
-Get more and detailed information by just typing address of desired locations.
-Candidate or possible address will come up on screen if the address is wrong.
-An icon to print out a map.
-Detailed directions including approximately time to the targeted point from users point.
-Easy to control; Double left-click to zoom in, and double right-click to zoom out
-4 types of viewing maps;
1) Street view - View pictures of surroundings an area and navigate within street-level imagery
2) Traffic – View major high ways near the desired location
3) Satellite - View a satellite image (or a satellite image with superimposed map data)
4) Terrain - View physical features (ex: mountains and vegetation, with elevation shading)

Disadvantages of Google Maps are privacy issues, the printing function, and street view function. Since anyone can see any location, surroundings and directions, it might violate someone’s privacy. Some people do not feel comfortable to reveal one’s address. There is no specific regulation to protect it. The other disadvantage is that 4-display features are not available for printing; only the simplest map view is available. Street view function is problematic too. If the desired location is big, users might not get the specific view that they wanted. For example, if you type “1400 Washington Ave. NY”, which is State University of New York at Albany, the street view does NOT show the entrance but the small area right next to the main building. Users, who are unfamiliar with desired location, might get confused by this image when they actually get there.

Since Google Maps is powerful but easy to use, there is no special skill required. Just type address where you want to search and choose additional function to different views if needed. If you want to zoom, double left-click and double right click to zoom out. A scroll in the mouse is another way to zoom in and out. Drag and move the mouse will lead you to the desired direction on screen.

Affordances and technology attributes might enhance business and knowledge. It makes users to find locations with more detailed information such as contact and general information, images of surroundings, and link to homepages. There is a function to send the map to others so that it will help reduce time and cost (free to use it) for both users and others. This service is used most commonly fort raveling, shopping, and visiting to search desired locations and detailed directions.


Google Maps makes organizations and individuals more efficient and broadly in searching information. People can search places just typing address and click icons, no special skills required!! Google Maps is easy to use offering not only locations or directions but also organizational information, views, and easy ways to share information with others. Therefore, I will rate usefulness of Google Maps as 4.8 out of 5.

Citation
http://local.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=7060

Twelve Language Speaking Global Translator

Jennie Willis

www.Franklin.com

The Twelve Language Global Translator makes foreign communication easier. This hand held digital translator is fluent in Chinese, Dutch, English, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian. This pocket size translator has a digital screen and full key board. The machine translates words and phrases and is able to speak them back out loud; in a human voice as opposed to a digital one. The global translator also has access to over 400,000 words and 12,000 phrases. It also includes Roman, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Russian alphabet. Lastly, this translator provides a spell checker to fix misspelled words to avoid confusion when trying to accurately translate. The Global Translator works to make communication more efficient and easier between language barriers.

There are many advantages to the Twelve Language Speaking Global Translator. One of the top advantages is its ability to speak. This allows travelers to be able to communicate with natives more effectively. It avoids the confusion of language dictionaries and pronunciation. Another advantage of this machine is the wide variety of languages it is fluent in. This gives users more options and again makes traveling to these places more comfortable. The spell checker on the Global Translator is a great advantage. When users are trying to translate a foreign word they may not spell it accurately. With the spell checker they are more likely to get the accurate translation they are looking for.

The main disadvantages of the Twelve Language Speaking Global Translator is that its use is only limited to twelve countries. If a traveler decided to venture elsewhere than there is no use for this product. Also when typing foreign words into the machine it may be difficult to know how to spell the unknown words. The spell checker may not be able to pick up on the mistakes because of the inaccurateness of the word. It may be hard to pick up on the complexity of foreign word spellings.

I would rate this new technology a 4.5 out of 5. I think that it is a very useful tool for communication. The Global Translator works to make something that once was a struggle when traveling easier. The purpose of this tool is to make the act of foreign communication a more effortless process. The purpose of this product is also to recognize the importance of communication, especially between speakers of different languages.

FullThrottlev6.com

Jennie Willis

FullThrottlev6.com is a website dedicated to cars. In this website users use the discussion bored to post questions about their cars, post car parts for sale, videos, or surveys. The website’s participants actively respond to these posts by providing feedback, answers, and by making purchases. Also users can send individual messages to specific people on the site in order to keep communication private between two users. In addition to this, there are live chats that allow multiple users to communicate all at once, as well as individual Instant Messaging. Anyone can join, regardless of their car type. This website is beneficial to organizational communication because anyone involved in a car organization can access the website and participate in the activities provided on the site.

The advantage of this website is the support it provides to car enthusiasts. If a problem is found with ones car they can access this website and ask for the free opinion of people who actively participate in cars as a hobby. Also the website is very helpful when selling parts from a car. This website allows users to go right to their target audience to sell their parts. Also because users develop relationships with each other on this website they are not selling to complete strangers, like they would on EBay; for example.

A disadvantage of this website is the accurateness of the information received. Since users are asking for the opinions of non-professionals when seeking advice about their car, they do not know how trusting their source is. Another disadvantage of this website is because it offers free speech about a subject that users feel very passionate about, conflict develops between users.

Overall I would rate this website a 4 out of 5. Its user friendly layout and easy accessibility contributes to this positive rating. Another positive of the website is the broad scope of communication it provides to people involved in this kind of organization. It is a very useful tool to car enthusiasts and allows them to share their love of cars with others.

Limewire

A peer to peer networking application began to boom nearly a decade ago with the beginning of Napster. What started as a way for peers to share .mp3, .mpeg, and .mpg files over the internet gained huge popularity, and became the norm for consumers looking for music. Another similar networking utility to Napster, Limewire, is very widespread in our population today. Limewire allows for a consumer to retrieve a file of nearly any song or video that they would like, and have it stored in their computer's memory where they can use the file whenever they'd like. As more peers search for the files, the transfers continue and there are more satisfied users on the network.

However, as the peer-to-peer transferring goes on, the ones who are really losing out in the deal are those artists that are actually releasing CD's and losing sales. I know personally, I have not bought a CD since using Limewire, as I can get any songs I want at any time. I know that many others carry this same mentality, and thus, it is a very difficult trend to break unless Limewire and other applications such as iMesh and Kazaa are eliminated completely. With the continuing adaptations done by the peer-to-peer networks, this would seem to prove very difficult to accomplish.

DotPag.com

This is a new tool that can be used to track everything your have to do in your busy schedule. DotPag.com allows you to organize all your important dates into a internet based system that allows you to access it from anywhere. It is available on your mobile phone, labtop, or any computer anywhere in the world. It is free of charge which can save you time and money as is stated on DotPag's home page. It's great for people who travel because you can access it from anywhere. The site is password protected and can help you stay very organized. Another great feature is you can store emial addresses and blog subscriptions on your DotPag so they are all just a click away. It is a very fast and easy to use online organizer. www.DotPag.com

Verizon Voyager

The craze of the holiday season for 2007, the Verizon Voyager, has ceased to see its popularity decline as we head into 2008. The release of the iPhone pushed Verizon to come out with a newer, better alternative to the cell phone industry to keep their customers from leaving. Thus, we saw the development of the Voyager.

The Voyager introduces a full-size keyboard, touch screen, television, full internet browsing, a camera, speakers for surround sound, and Bluetooth. Essentially, the Voyager contains everything that you could ask for in a phone, and then some. This one-of-a-kind wonder has revolutionized the capabilities that customers can take advantage of, and has become one of the most desired products on the market.

The Voyager would be good for organizational communication because the capabilities of full internet browsing would allow for employees of the business to find necessary information in meetings without having to carry around a laptop, or even worse, have to go find a desktop. Rather, the full internet browsing on the phone would allow for one employee to search for information over the web and report to the other co-workers in meetings without disruption, all while helping to complete the task easily and effectively. Also, its e-mail capabilities would allow for much easier communication amongst co-workers. The Voyager could find its way into a more widespread business scene in the coming months, however as of now, will remain the desired phone of many consumers for their personal lives, as its popularity continues to soar.

Expedia

by Gilad Hakami
www.expedia.com

Expedia.com is basically an online travel agent. It gives there customers
everything they need for researching, planning, and purchasing a whole
trip. It books airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruises,
vacation packages, business packages and various attractions.. Traveling
in a business is a very large aspect and using expedia, which is an up
and rising technology, speeds up the process. There is even a section
called business travel where it lists deals for short amounts of time
including round trip flights, car rental, hotel even restaurant
reservations, and other accommodations for business travelers.
There are many advantages to Expedia.com. It doesn't take a computer wiz
to navigate Exepedia even if you're a beginner you'll sail through the
site, this helps with workers who are not familiar with this new
technology. When it comes time to book your vacation, the information
fields are clear and easy to fill out.
There are also some disadvantages about expedia. Some customers have been
unsatisfied with various aspects such as lost reservations, erroneous
hotel accommodations, and bad pricing policy (prices are always subject to
change even in the middle of booking and they don’t always have the lowest
rates). All these disadvantages can hurt a corporation if someone is
trying to go to an important last minute meeting with big clients
everything needs to be perfectly booked and arranged with no room for
error.
I feel that a corporation can easily benefit from a website like
expedia.com because it makes booking a business trip so easy and can be
done at any point in the day. If someone is trying to go to an important
last min trip it can be set up via the web, with hotel, airfare,
restaurants, casinos, and car rentals. It has the largest search engine
for these accommodations than any other travel agency.
I think that out of a 5 point rating skill I would rate expedia a 4
because it is useful easy to use, has a large searching database which can
broaden areas a business can travel, relatively cheap prices, easy to
incorporate into a business, and can also save a corporation money by not
hiring a personal travel agent for the company.