Online Conferencing

What is Online Conferencing?

Online conferencing is also known as web conferencing. Online conferencing is a way of communicating nationally or globally over the internet. It is made possible by internet technology and TCP/IP connections. The service allows real time point to point communication as well as multi cast communications from one sender to many receivers.

With Online conferencing , you can send information of text based messages along with voice / video chat (video calling). With this it opens many windows of possible things to do over a web conference...

An example for what it can be used for is hosting meetings and presenting presentations ( power point presentations / slide shows etc... ) over a video call.

Things like this are great for large companies for example for many reasons such as to train employees over video / voice calls, meeting and communicating with employees from anywhere without physically meeting at a location etc...

Along with this you can also screen share which is another great feature. Screen sharing is where you share the screen your viewing on your laptop for example through a video call, and it displays on the web conference on the other participants screens.

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Web conferencing is often sold as a service where is concerns business participants. Hosted on a web server which is controlled by a vendor. Offerings vary per vendor and most services put out a price per minute per user payment or a monthly fee payment.

You may wonder why free services such as Skype can't be used for Web conferencing . Skype has appealed to businesses as a web conferencing service but it has failed to deliver. It was compared to many major web conferencing services but did not step up to their abilities and functionalities unfortunately....

http://info.infiniteconferencing.com/Portals/98866/images/web-meeting.jpg

Newsgroups

A news group is a internet-based discussion about a particular topic. These topics range from anything ! Even though the word 'news' is in 'newsgroups', they are rarely about current events. Newsgroups cover anything from cars, inventions, lifestyles, and plenty of other topics and things to discuss! Newsgroups can be highly useful for information or even community dialogue. People of all ages take advantage of this, and the services offered by these communities.

Newsgroups officially started appearing in the 1970's which pre-dates the internet. Students at colleges and universities wanted to communicate, but simply did not have the facilities to do so, so they developed unset ( user network) a network of servers and individual computer. People communicated on unset by posting into newsgroups or reading the content on there, which was of interest to them in that particular newsgroup.

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In order to actually access a newsgroup, someone needs to obtain a programme called newsreader, which communicates with unset. Some browsers already have newsreaders already built in and many others have operating systems which also come with a default newsreader.

To get into a news group, users post a messages into a news server which then puts them into a bunch of other participating servers. Once this is done, then other users can access the newsgroup and read postings. The groups can be ''Moderated'' or controlled which is where a person or group decides which postings will become part of the discussion, or ''unmoderated'', where everything is posted and is included in the discussion at will.

To participate in newsgroups, you must subscribe to it. Newsgroups are generally free, but with some groups it can be difficult to get in unless you know someone in the group. Nearly all newsgroups are found on ''Unenet'', which is a collection of servers from all around the world. With newsgroups being global, they make up the largest bulletin board system (BBS) in the world.

Image URL:

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The number of newsgroups in the world are far to many to be going and scrolling through. It helps to have friends recommends different newsgroups for you, to help navigate the system.

Also many newsgroups have enormous archives which are stored on the server which stretch back to decades ago. This can be highly resourceful and contain lots of interesting material.

Some archives have been extracted and converted into HTML format so that it can be read in the regular web browsers. Pursuing these archived newsgroups show how ideas have evolved and changed over the course of time and newsgroup existence...

Apple - Apple Events - Apple Special Event September 2012

Apple - Apple Events - Apple Special Event September 2012:

'via Blog this'

Andy Murray wins US Open | Fox News

Andy Murray wins US Open | Fox News:

'via Blog this'

BBC - Future - Technology - iPhone 5: When technology expires

BBC - Future - Technology - iPhone 5: When technology expires:

'via Blog this'

Instant Messaging / Chat

Chat:

Chat is real time communication between two or more people via computer.

Once a chat have been started, either users can enter text by typing on the keyboard and then the entered text will appear on the other person's screen.

Most networks and online services offer a chat service.

Facebook, Skype, MSN messenger, all offer a chat service , but these are linked to instant messaging.....

Image copied from google images, page URL: http://www.kinggary.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/yahoo-microsoft.jpg

Instant Messaging:

Instant messaging (IM for short), consists of sending real time messages to another internet user. This is very much like texting on a cell phone but instant messaging is live and both ursers have to be online at the same time, other then that you can send an offline message.

IM is most popular amongst younger generations but is also used commonly in the workforce as a quick way for employees to communicate with each other. IM is similar to chatting in a private chat room, but instead of anyone being able to join the conversation, IM only aloows you to talk to people who you have accepted as a friend for example, or if you have invited them and they have accepted you. You can easily remove or block people you dont want to be in contact with.

IM sends an alert which pops up on the computer screen when a new message is received.

Most instant messaging services are free, and they require you to type in a screen name so that the suer can be identified to others.

There are some risks affiliated with IM such as catching a virus from someone who ahs sent a file, personal information being stolen, or sex predators seeking victims.... however these risks can be reduced or avoided entirely when the proper precautions are followed.

Example of instant messaging :

( image taken by a screen shot from my own instant messaging service)

Advantages


Messages are sent in real-time and responses are instantaneous.

Cost Savings : 
Instant messaging allows real-time communication between two people in any part of the world without having to pay the international or domestic long distance charges associated with using the phone. While many phone companies offer phone plans that allow for unlimited local and long distance, international calls can become expensive. Shipping companies and freight brokering organizations benefit greatly from the reduced cost associated with using instant messaging.


Files/pictures can be sent in instant messaging conversations.

Instant messaging systems offer a safer environment than chat rooms.

You can monitor who is allowed to contact you at any given time and people can only 'add' you if they know your exact hotmail or IM address

It is possible to talk to many people at once which means Work can be done in groups which is good for business purposes or for education.

Instant messaging systems allows people to talk to each other from different countries


Disadvantages / Threats
Emotions cannot be expressed as well as they can be when actually talking to a person.

Hacking , if someone gets into your im account, they can read your conversations and invade your privacy.

Very dangerous for young people who will trust others easily and be taken advantage off.

Impersonating- someone could make account and pretend that it’s someone else than who you think it is.

Viruses:

An instant message connection allows the sender a way of sending you files during your conversation.
While this can be convenient when speaking to your business associates, it can be dangerous if you come across a hacker or Internet criminal. The port left open on your desktop by an activated instant message program invites the delivery of viruses and spyware that can damage your computer and your entire network

When you send an E-Mail. What happens ??

To send an email, you have to have an internet service provider, which has a special computer called a mail server. This mail server is responsible for collecting emails from their customers.  When you click the send button, your computer connects to the mail server and sends the message along with the list of recipients.

The email is transmitted with Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). SMTP is a language that your mail programme uses to communicate the the mail server. SMTP lets the mail programme choose the list of recipients and the text of the message.

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The mail server that reads the SMTP is frequently referred to as a Outgoing SMTP Server. Destination SMTP Server.

The person who you are sending an email too also will have to have an internet service provider, and they will have a mail server too.

When the SMTP server decides when its is time to transmit your email over to the other recipients, it connects to the destination mail server and sends the message to the recipient. They use SMTP to speak to each other , and therefore the destination mail server is often called the Destination SMTP Server.

Destination SMTP server stores the email message until your recipient decides to check if some email arrived.

When the email is going to open/read , their email programme connects to the destination SMTP server and retrieves mail from the server.  



image URL : http://www.bleepstatic.com/tutorials/allaboutemail/smtp.jpg

Receiving the messages is handled by  POP3(Post Office Protocol 3), or IMAP(Internet Message Access 

                                              

                                                                     
Protocol). IMAP is the newer protocol, allowing you to view and sort messages on the mail server, without downloading them to your hard drive. POP3 is a language which is used to translate the email and be read. Without this you wouldn't be able to read the email.