Looking for Balloons and Insights to Online Behavior

John Markoff

November 30, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01darpa.html?ref=technology

The Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA), has announced a competition honoring the 40th anniversary of the Internet. Darpa network challenge is testing our social-networking to locate 10 balloons within the United States. The first person that will discover the exact location of the red balloons will be awarded the sum of $40,000. Darpa is hoping that this offers an insight into how internet and social networking can form a team and work together.

I find this article everywhere I look for technology news, so I decided that this would be my blog for this week. The sole interest of this challenge is how its get done. The challenge itself is very interesting and I like what Darpa is presenting here. We all know that web-based tools have helped many people to coordinate jobs. The Darpa Network Challenge is different and I’m sure they can make very hard. People need not only to social networking but to provide a lot of motivational schemes and i'm sure a lot of people will also be out there to try find the balloons. This is a lot like a practice to muster people nationally in response to crisis? I think this challenge offers a possible potential for a lot of stuff.

Waiter fired from Twittering about Celebs

Chris Matyszczyk

October 6, 2009

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10368710-71.html?tag=mncol

Jon-Barrett Ingels is a former waiter in a restaurant named Barney Greengrass in Beverly Hills and well-known dine-in for many celebrities. Apparently, Ingels have a liking for social networking and micro-blogging that leads to his current status as being unemployed. Ingels writes an incident when he waiter for an actress Jane Adams, who skips a bill after dining in.

This article is hilarious in a way that a "waiter," a regular person who got fired because he writes something about somebody who happens to be famous. It's not like no one has to say anything to anybody. However, I am amaze how celebrities have people hovering the net to find what people are talking about them or even care about an individual’s regard. I guess when the words are true and embarrassing; stars like Ms. Adam react, as any individual would conduct in this situation. The extremity is finding and passing information online and continue to surprise me. Hearing news like this definitely makes you think that when you are online and posting messages, you just never know who you would reach.