Podcast Assignment

First off I want to say that I listen to various podcasts for at least 4 or 5 hours a day so having an assignment that's based on listening to a podcast made me pretty happy. For this assignment I chose to listen to a technology news and discussion podcast called Clockwise. I'd never listened to this particular podcast before but I was drawn to the show by it's four topics in thirty minutes roundtable format. The topic for this blog comes from episode 151 which is titled “Maybe They'll Update GarageBand”. In this episode they have a discussion on how much value does one get out of subscribing to a music streaming service and whether this new way to consume music actually helps reduce an individual's piracy habits or not.

I gravitated toward this topic because I feel that I can speak on it from firsthand experience both as someone who has admittedly pirated more than their fair share of materials and as someone who has had a long-term subscription (about a year in a half) to a music streaming service. My streaming service of choice has been Apple Music but I've also used other paid services like Tidal and free services like Pandora, Spotify etc. After a year in a half of paying $15 a month (for 3 accounts so $5 a person) I can say that I feel like i’ve gotten a great value out of my subscription. Much like video streaming services I’ve loved the convenience of streaming my music and playlists across multiple devices and having the ability to go from phone to laptop to tablet to my Apple TV without having to manage multiple libraries or upload music files to each device individually. I think back to when this was the case and find it hard to imagine ever having to go back to it.

In the pre streaming service era mp3 players and ipods were a necessity to me.Over the years i’m sure that i’ve spent thousands of dollars on variations of these two devices. Prices would increase pretty substantially depending on brand, model and storage size of these devices. Of course after having a handful of cheap mp3 players and ipods with single digit gigabyte capacity I realized I wouldn't be satisfied unless I had the most expensive Ipod which at the time was the ipod video (better known now as the ipod classic) with the highest storage capability. As great as this model of ipod was as far has storage the hard drive was beyond fragile. Something like a bad drop or even putting too many songs on these devices would cause a malfunction. The longest I was able to hold onto one before experiencing problems was probably a year in half. This led to me spending $300 or more every nine to eighteen months. Costs aside, this was also a pain because I had a habit of not backing up these devices therefore when one would die I would have to spend hours trying to put my huge library back together again.

Streaming services like Apple Music solves this problem in two ways. 1. I can cut the ipod middleman out completely due to the fact that I can stream to my cell phone or many other devices. 2. I don't have to spend as much time gathering files and manually managing them as everything is already in app. I’m fully aware that with this method of music consumption it means that I do not own or even physically have access to the music files without the subscription. Bu luckily I value listening to music more than I do owning it. Which brings me to my last point....

One of the main questions asked during the podcast was if subscription services reduce piracy and from my personal experience I can say yes it does. For years I bought these high storage capacity devices and in order to utilize that extra storage space, like millions of others around the world I became very acquainted with bit torrents and vpns.Even if I couldn't afford the music I wanted I still felt entitled to have it which is a whole other problem into itself but I digress. The point is I had a pretty nasty pirating habit but ever since I started subscribing to streaming services like Apple Music or even Netflix or Hulu I’ve kicked the habit.The low cost access to the majority of the content I would inevitably end up pirating has provided me with so much in the way of convenience that I don't mind skipping the hassle of hours of downloading in favor of paying a monthly fee (or in my case multiple monthly fees) to listen to or watch the things I want to watch.

Overall I really enjoyed listening to the podcast and I will definitely continue with it beyond this assignment. It was informative, gave multiple perspectives on all topics/issues and was short enough to keep my eyes from glazing over at some point. As far as the topic I know that I could only speak for myself, but with the popularity of a number of these streaming services (and there are alot) bringing subscription counts to the millions I would say that they do offer a great value for anyone who wants to listen to music without having to store physical copies of, steal it or pay more than their budget will allow for it.

Ted Talk Report

Ted Talk: Why Does The Universe Exist? by Jim Holt

For assignment number six I watched a Ted Talk that I found to be very interesting. The speaker was writer and philosopher Jim Holt and the subject, of the video was titled "Why Does The Universe Exist?" Throughout the presentation Holt gave examples on various view points that groups of people have on the origins and overall meaning of the universe, including views from the Christian, Buddhist and scientific perspectives. From a creationist standpoint the universe is designed from top to bottom by a higher power (God) creating everything from essentially nothing where everything has a purpose. The Buddhist viewpoint is almost the opposite where the world and existence mean nothing, basically saying that there is no purpose in wondering about existence. The third viewpoint touched on was from the scientific perspective that many scientist have of big bang like theories. He criticizes them as being pseudo religious in the fact that they believe that certain physical laws hold enough power to create everything out of an abyss of nothing, comparing it to a let there be light scenario.

He later went on to explain the theory of multiverses. Two version of this were touched on but the main one was of the possibility of there being an infinite number of universes that are governed by different laws of physics and chemistry forming somewhat exotic realities. He also mentioned how he disagreed with many scientist who speculate that our own universe is among the possible exotic ones, as he believes are universe to be sloppy with useless particles and elements,  unbalanced mass ratios and unexplainable phenomena like dark matter. In the end the title question doesn't really get answered but there is a point that is made. Holt says we have hit a cosmic lottery to be here yet our reality is mediocre. He believes that our "mediocre reality" is whats gives us a beings purpose because living in a perfect reality where everything is possible makes choices and morals meaningless. He sums it up in the end basically saying that our reality comes with "good bits" and "bad bits which drives us to make the good bits bigger and the "bad bits" smaller thus giving us purpose.

In my opinion the end point was a little anti-climatic ending with a weird "I've never had a cell phone." joke but overall I found the speech very fascinating. There were no visual props or slides used here as the content of the speech really didn't require much in the way of visualization. Humor on the other hand was used throughout which I thought worked in very well. The pacing was also great as the speaker was able to touch on various things like the contrast between two religious extremes of the same idea, and the concept of multiverses in a concise enough manner that I never felt bored or like the presentation ran on too long. If I were asked to choose between the ideas presented here I would be in favor of the multiverse theory. To clarify my choice isn't the version that says that there is an infinite number universes that exist based on the decisions or events an individual experiences. The idea that I preferred was the one that stated that there were a infinite number of universes governed by different laws. Overall this Ted talk definitely sparked my interest in the idea of multiverses and in watching more Ted talks in the future as most of the topics look very interesting.

Why I am at MATC

The story of why i am at MATC starts somewhere around eight years old. My best friend at the time lived across the street from me and he happened to have a big noisy PC with Windows 98  on it. At eight using the computer was a bit intimidating to me so I would usually sit back and observe all the cool things he would do it with it. Eventually one day my friend had to be off doing something and I was alone with the computer, so I decided that I'd observed enough to somewhat know what I was doing with it. I scribbled around in paint, played the pre-installed pinball game and navigated to WWF.com to listen to 20 second clips of wrestling theme songs over and over again and it was amazing. Everyday after that I would beg my grandma to get us a computer. After 3 years of begging she surprised me with my own big, bulky, noisy PC on my 11th birthday. From that point I taught myself how to use it by messing around on it all day and everyday, taking a break every now and then to eat and bathe. I learned how to navigate the internet, I would screw around with the settings alot and frequently take the computer apart and put it back together again. Soon I had become the designated family tech person. Fast forward 14 years later and I'm still on my computer all day, everyday, teaching myself  and learning from watching others.

As it relates to I.T. I have no real work experience. Outside of I.T. I work in customer service going from simply cleaning stores to managing one.Two years ago I decided that I needed to set a real goal. I wanted to pick a career, but I really wanted to make sure that it was something that I would love to do because I've had a fair share of jobs that just made me feel miserable. That's when it hit me. If your on a computer all day figuring out how to make this or that program work or wasting time watching this and that video, why not take that energy and apply it to a job or a possible career? At first I was a little doubtful because I didn't think I knew enough about I.T. support to succeed in that field as I taught myself  about technology rather informally. I compare it to a driver who remembers how to get places by following landmarks rather than street signs. I could explain to you how to get through a troubleshooting scenario in my own round about way, but I wasn't completely familiar with the actual terminology and there were probably faster more efficient ways to do what I was doing.

After coming to the conclusion that nothing but good could come from pursuing something that I've always been interested in, I signed up for the IT Support program here at MATC. With this being my fourth semester, I can happily say that it was a great move for me as I've learned more and adapted better than I ever imagined I could. Courses within this program have taught me more about the terminology, the hardware, the software and how to better explain myself to the average person when troubleshooting a problem. Jobs and tasks that seemed a little intimidating like working at a help desk or (my goal for the time being) filling a I.T. slot at a hotel or hospital seem attainable.