Category Internet

HOW MUCH HAS THE SPEED OF COMMUNICATION INCREASED?

Only a few hundred years ago, the fastest way that a piece of news could travel was to be carried by a person on horseback. Messages sent overseas could only travel as fast as the fastest sailing ship and were at the mercy of the wind and weather. The development of steam locomotives and steamships made it possible for information to move around the world more quickly, but it still had to travel physically from one place to another, as a letter. The breakthrough came with the invention of the electric telegraph and messages in Morse code. The message was sent down a wire in bursts of electric current. Today, images of written documents, sound recordings or television pictures can be flashed around the globe in less than a second by means of satellites and radio communications.

It seems like advancements in technology and changes in communication always go hand in hand. When science was working to introduce new tools to let distant people contact each other, the landlines replaced telegraph and subsequently, cell phones replaced landlines. When the Internet arrived, it not only brought revolution in the sales industry but also opened new doors of personal communication. When science was looking for more convenient ways to send messages, e-mails replaced postal emails and social media replaced text messages. So it would not be wrong to say that technology has been shaping the communication industry for over a hundred years.

Previously, there were not much mediums of communication and today we are completely overwhelmed with the disparate mediums, thanks to the ever-changing technology! From Facebook to Instagram and skype to Whatsapp, we now have the limitless database of communication tools that have brought us closer to the entire world. All these communication mediums have also impacted our lives in different ways. For example, it’s true that Smartphones have brought us closer to our friends and relatives living in distant places, but at the same time, they have also made our society somewhat impersonal. Although they have helped increasing workplace engagement and productivity, they have also given rise to certain security and privacy issues.  While some of these issues are relatively minor, but some may have profound effects on the lives of users.

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What are the fascinating facts about Email?

The most common password

Do you know the most commonly used email password? 123456! Yes, this was found in 2009, when over 10,000 hotmail passwords were exposed online. Today, however, most websites have several rules to be followed when creating a password.

How many email accounts are there?

There are billions of people worldwide, but not everyone has access to the Internet and emails. So, can you guess how many email accounts are there worldwide? There are over 3.17 billion email accounts worldwide! That’s greater than the population of most countries in the world.

Spam alert!

Call them junk or spam, these malicious emails can be found aplenty in all email accounts. They constitute nearly 55% of all emails received. This explains why you get more spam mails than regular emails in a day.

A mail from space

The first email from space arrived in 1991. The crew if STS-43 Atlantis used AppleLink software on a Macintosh Portable to transmit the message.

Computer or mobile?

With the emergence of smartphones, emails, which were once read only on computers, began following people wherever they went. Today, over 66% of emails are read on mobile devices.

Simpson’s email account was hacked!

Homer Simpson, a famous animated character that features in the show The Simpsons, was caught in a soup when his email account was hacked. A Simpsons writer used to reply to messages in-character from the ID chunkylover53@aol.com. This was until the sheer volume of emails became too high to respond to, in 2009.

Who’s behind the spam?

If you get spam mails, it means it is generated somewhere. Did you know that the United States was once the highest spam generator in the world? It is in close contest with China, which is currently in number one spot. Following these two countries is Russia, at number three.

 

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What are the tips to keep in mind when you use social media?

Most of us have multiple social media accounts these days. From Facebook to Instagram, social media has become a part and parcel of people’s lives. But it is also a source of cybercrime. From sensitive data being captured, to terrorists being hired, to pictures being morphed, social media has seen it all. Hence, it is necessary to be cautious when you post anything online. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you use social media.

Keep details personal

Most social media platforms need you to fill in basic details like Name, age, Email address and Phone number. While it is okay to furnish these details for opening your account, remember to never share it on your news feed or your wall. If anyone asks you for personal details, give it to them in a chat window, provided you know who the person is.

Do not defame anyone

Refrain from defaming someone online. Yes, someone might have offended you or hurt you, but voicing it out on social media is not always the right thing to do. Millions of people use social media, and tomorrow, your prospective employer may also go through your social media handles. In such a case, defaming someone could be held against you.

Have you done your check-in?

Yes, we all travel or go out to restaurants to eat. But we don’t need to tell the world where we are at all times. Sometimes, people can keep a track of your profile – the places you visit, with whom, why – and use it against you. So, avoid checking-in everything.

Keep privacy settings at maximum

All social media platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram let you set the privacy settings of your profile to protect your information. Use this and ensure you safeguard all that you post by allowing only your friends’ circle to access the information you post.

Do not post personal pictures

While it is okay to share pictures on social media, avoid sharing personal pictures, or turn on the privacy settings to allow only people you know to access your pictures. There are several cases of images being morphed and used for illegal purposes. So, think before you post a picture online.

Don’t start conversations with strangers

Social media is a thriving ground for cyber criminals. When we join a social media platform, it is normal for us to get friend requests from different people, we may or may not know. However, avoid adding strangers as much as possible since you cannot establish their authenticity or profile. If you do add, remember to never share your personal details with them.

When in doubt, report abuse

If a social media account is posting things that are harassing someone, or posting something illegal, report abuse immediately. Even if you don’t have the proof, you can still report the profile if you feel something doesn’t seem right. You may end up saving yourself or someone else from a crime.

 

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What is an Internet meme?

The term ‘meme’ was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. It describes an idea that spreads among people via the Internet. It could be a word, symbol, image, video, story – anything that becomes an instant cultural phenomenon.

A meme (rhymes with ‘team’) can be sent through email, social networks, blogs, instant messages, etc. and can spread across the globe rapidly within days. Hence, memes are a popular tool for viral marketing to create awareness about a new product among the masses.

An Internet meme may remain the same or it may evolve as it spreads. Users my tweak or it may evolve as it copying. For example, after the South Korean rapper Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ video vent viral on YouTube, memes were created showing various personalities in the horse-dance pose – one showed an animated Batman hopping a la ‘Gotham Style!’

Memes are popular among teenagers for their humour quotient or shock value.

 

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What are the interesting facts about the internet?

Are they the same?

Although the world wide web and the internet are used alternatively, the two are not the same. Internet is a network of networks that links computers together. The world wide web on the other hand is a collection of lined pages that are accessed using the Internet and a web browser.

WWW for free

The World Wide Web was made available to the public for free in 1993. Initially, it was meant only for physicists at the European organisation for nuclear research (CERN) to share data.

Biggest medium of communication

The WWW is the fastest growing communication medium of all time. Imagine, it took a WWW only four years to reach 50 million people. In contrast, it took the radio 38 years and television 13 years to reach the same number.

The Apple connection

Did you know that the entire world wide web stored on a NeXT computer when it was created? NeXT was the company started by Steve Jobs after he was ousted from Apple Inc.

What’s in a name?

Before the name World Wide Web was finalised, there were other options such as Mine of Information, Information Mine, and Mesh. These names don’t sound cooler than the World Wide Web, do they?

 

Picture Credit : Google