Streaming Media
Streaming media are audio and video that is continuously
fed to your browser instead of having to wait for the file to download to your
computer. Streaming media is what allows you to listen to Pandora, watch
Netflix and play online games like World of War Craft. To stream movies or
music you need a web browser (of course) and a “plug-in” or player. Adobe,
Flash, Quicktime, Windows Media Player are some of the more popular “plug-in”
players. Probably the biggest advantage of streaming media is choice. With
Netflix, you have literally tens of thousands of choices for television and
movies to choose from. While Cable providers are now offering “on-demand,” you
still have to sit through commercials as you watch your favorite shows. As
internet connections become faster and faster, the days of paying $100 a month
to watch television shows where you spend half the time watching commercials
will soon become a thing of the past, like renting videos from Blockbuster.[1]
E-commerce and M-commerce
E-commerce or electric commerce is the act of conducting
business online. So when you buy a flowers from 1-800Flowers.com you are
conducting e-commerce. According to one statistic, there was over $800 billion
dollars in e-commerce conducted in the United States alone.[1]
There are several types of e-commerce; company to client, which is what I
describe earlier. You, the consumer purchase something from a company. Business
to Business, where businesses buy and sell from one another. Consumer to
consumer where sales are conducted between individuals. For example, if you
have ever sold anything on ebay or Craig’s List, you have participated in
consumer to consumer e-commerce.[2] So what is “M-commerce.” M-commerce is the
same thing as e-commerce except you use your mobile phone purchase or sell
goods and services. The advantage of using a mobile phone is that you are not
limited to specific location. For example if you’re driving home and realize
that you forgot to buy your friend a birthday gift, you can now use your phone
to go online, select a gift, purchase it and have it shipped out the same day
(depending on the website). Or the other example are the recent commercials for
Chase Bank, where the person uses their smart phone to deposit a check. As the
internet connections for cell phones becomes more reliable, M-commerce will
become the more preferred way people conduct e-commerce, especially as the
workforce becomes more mobile.[3]
Conclusion
There are have been whole books written on the internet
and what it has to offer. The point of
this blog was to give people who have not ventured online a basic understanding
what the internet has to offer. I hope I have provided some insight and at
least a basic understanding of the terms commonly used to describe the online
world. There is little to fear, and lots to gain. Welcome to the 21st
century.
[1] http://www.statista.com/statistics/239372/us-b2c-e-commerce-volume-since-2006/
[2] Evans,
A. Martin, K., & Poatsy, M.A. (2015). Technology in Action. “conducting
business over the internet: E-commerce,” Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Prentice Hall. Pg 86-87
[3] http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/m-commerce
[1] H.
(2015). Can Cable Compete With Streaming TV in 2016? Retrieved September 17,
2016, from http//www.cnbc.com/2015/12/30/can-cable-compete-with-streaming-tv-in-2016-html
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