Online banking

The purposes of online banking is that people can access their money without having to walk to a physical bank and do business with the money without having to withdraw it in cash and using electric payments to pay.

The 2 online banks I’m looking at are HSBC and Lloyds TSB. The advantages of using them as online banks is that you can do banking business outside of bank hours which is a plus considering most people are at work when the banks are open. It can also be quicker way to deal with your accounts if something is wrong rather than going to the physical bank. You can also move money between your accounts quicker than if you did it in a high street bank. The disadvantages are that you can move money around and out of your bank but you cannot pay in actual money in via your computer into the bank.  Lloyds cover the issue of security of banking by telling you what they do to ensure your security in accessing your online bank by mentioning they use account monitoring and passwords before allowing access to prevent phishing. HSBC on the other hand use codes and security numbers to ensure security such as here.

The target audiences of the banks are mainly of middle aged people with a lot of money and homeowners with mortgages to try and draw them into depositing money with their bank. They also deliberately target the business people to gain more money so the banks can invest it.

I think the banks could be improved if there was a way to pay physical money in as you can do everything but that due to your work paying directly into your bank account with online banking. I think that the banks should use a lot more security fail safes to protect their customer’s security and financial assets to try and deter criminals.

Both pictures come from ask.com

Live information

The power if internet technology now allows people to watch live information updated reguarly whter it be a live CCTV camera, a flight tracker or a live webcam. Using the Abbey Road Crossing website, it has a live camera aimed at the famous crossing that The Beatles once used as a backdrop for one of their albums which is ofen full of people trying to recrate that famous picture. This shows that live information can be anything whether it's nothing particuarly interesting happening at one time or something exciting happening at another.

Bybox

In a world where social networking has become commonplace, the problem now comes with security if someone wants to send you something and requires your home address.  This problem has been skirted round by the fact of websites such as Bybox who instead of using postal adresses to send items between online friends, use E-mail adresses, Twiter names or anything similar. And each have perminant safes on the streets where someone can drop off something for someone else to pick up. This system is good if the person lives close but if the people life a long way away, the company uses the e-names to send it via their delivery vans to the nearest Bybox safe to that person. They worked with other delivery companies to work out a system so that people who have met over the internet can send stuff to one another without the need to give out their physical address.

The advantages and disadvantages of online shopping

Pro.                                                                                                                Con.

Quick                                                                         need to know what you want

No queue                                                                  destroys queue social

Wider range                                                          miss instore offers

Home Delivery                                                                                Delivery Charges

Saves petrol                                                                                     Delivery times

No sales reps                ring customer services if order wrong

Efficient                                                                                 Less secure

Shop whenever                                                      slow if site busy

Online discount                                                      need e-mail address

Price comparison                          not for technophobes                                             

E-commerce

Security

I tested the internet security of shopping online by using it to buy from Arsenal.com ticket office. The page requires membership number and password in order to be allowed in before purchasing anything. The login page address itself starts with “https:” which shows that it is a secure login. The https continues whilst inside the site during ticket selection, viewing the basket and in the section where you have to use your card details to obtain the tickets. The site also will ask your security question before proceeding. The page also if you have a ticket prevents you from using the back button as the page will be given as expired which shows it is a secure website.

Amazon

Amazon.com was founded in 1994 as the worlds 1^st online only bookshop. With the development of the World Wide Web, Amazon quickly grew and started to sell more than books. In 1997 they both out Bookpages.co.uk which became Amazon UK for their overseas expansion.  The site uses the review system which allows potential buyers to see if the seller is trustworthy or has a history of late and/or incorrect items delivered. The site has become the UK’s most used music and video retailer in 2009.

Supermarket

Online supermarkets are often used by people who are unable to get to the physical supermarket or find shopping online more convenient. In many of them, the site remembers what you ordered last time and leaves it in your basket the next time you come on via Cookies. The sites do offer not-in-store offers to those who shop online but they may miss the in-store ones. The system also is a bit less secure than actually purchasing in the physical shop.

Real time information

I used Google Maps to plan my journey to the set target of Tottenham Court Road. I typed in where I was starting from using a postcode area and then I typed in the destination. The results that came back gave me a choice of a shorter route with tolls or a longer one with no tolls. It gives me directions to the destination. This could be printed off; however it gives me little information on current real time information on traffic problems, roadwork’s etc.  And I can’t download the information into my SatNav from the site.

I used Weather Monitoring System to have a look for current weather in South-East London. The page was updated every minute to give real time information. The site has a picture of weather there which you seem to need to refresh to get an updated picture. The site also gives the temperature and wind. The problem is that it is very technical and you need to know what you’re looking for otherwise you can get easily confused by the updating. It would be better if it had a live video stream. http://weather.atomwide.com/

3D Internet

In Berlin this year, at the IFA consumer electronics trade fair the idea of 3d Internet was unvield to the world. This would work in the same way as 3d Cinema and TV would with glasses although in future there may be no need for glasses as screens will show it in 3d anyway

Started Work

Just stared working on my E-book project. I used text boxes, hyperlinks, duplicating and linking. I also picked the colour scheme from one I created. I intend to work well on it with alterations added where needed..

3 News stories

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Pressure_mounts_against_Florida_church_plans_to_burn_Qur%27an  (facebook)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11131330

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8947184.stm

All these stories show how SMS and Facebook are used in our society today. The 1^st one mentions that Facebook can be used to spread peoples ideas to others as well as post opposition and support for ideals which wouldn’t have been possible without it. The 2^nd one mentions that SMS is starting to get more secretive for privacy so that people will be able to say what they like with little fear of it being intercepted. It also mentions that you are able to use it away from a computer to send messages. The 3^rd one mentions that SMS is a quick way to get a message to someone when their phone isn’t turned on or they’re not available to take a voice call.  These all show that SMS and Facebook are now quick ways for people to communicate informally without having to wait if they are available to use on the go if you are away from a computer. They are also sometimes used if you want people to pass comment on some of your ideas which can be done on the go as well which couldn’t be done with a normal phone or laptop.

E-mail

Email was invented in 1965 as a way for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate. This eventually grew through the development of the SAGE system and then through LAN. Later in 1971 the ARPANET system developed it’s own e-mail protocols and address formats making it unique among the other email providers. It became more mainstream in the 90's and was started to be used for personal as well as buisness actions.