Technology is taking an important role in each and every aspect of our lives. It has ventured in virtually aspects of our lives impacting heavily on three main aspects of our lives. The text elaborates clearly on our dilemma between three technological pillars that make our lives fully intertwined with technology. These pillars are: computers, communication and digital entertainment. The book extensively elaborates what a computer is, communication within the various forms of networks and consequences of digital world alongside the advantages (Beckman, 4).
Among the many issues discussed in this book is the issue of computer hardware. From a computer scientist’s point of view, these are the physical features or facilities of a computer system. They are mostly used to accomplish our desired tasks like printing, scanning and multimedia facilities. In the future, we are anticipating that virtually everything will be computerized. This would mean reduced human effort making computer a vital organ of our future life. This would bring many advantages to everyone in the society. For example, most of the vehicles are computerized. This means that any problem in the engine of the machine will be displayed on the computer screen making repair and maintenance much easier compared to manual engine diagnosis. In return, less human effort will be used. Postulating on the future, robotics is taking the better part of the contemporary computer use. This calls for use of a machine which is programmed to accomplish a certain task. A good example is automated gate opening where a robot would scan the number plate or the eye of a person and his/her fingerprints transmit the results to a database and if the person or vehicle particulars are in the database, the gate opens. In some countries like Japan, this field of technology has evolved to points such that household chores are being accomplished using robots. In the military, we are anticipating that with the current pace of technological advancement, robots will be employed leading to reduced use of human in combat missions in which they endanger their lives. We hope to witness real life scenes as those in the movie series of ‘transformers’ (Beckman, 56).
Closely related to computer hardware is software. These are just simple instructions written in a specific language and translated into a language that the machine and understand outlining how a certain task can be accomplished. Software can be claimed to be the soul of the machine since without software, ac computer system cannot run or operate in any way (Beckman, 62).
Currently, many programmers have ventured in the field of coming up with more creative and effective programs to help solve some of human related problems. This has resulted in widespread development of pieces of software some of which are specific to a certain task and machine or implementation platform (windows or Mac Oss) while others are independent of the machine and implementation platform. The interaction of the pieces of software and the computer hardware is what makes computer systems accomplish their intended tasks (Beckman, 70).
One of the contemporary uses of technology that is taking the peak is networking. Looking at human society, communication is a vital process for the people to co-exist coherently. The need to communicate has led to establishment of communication networks which have improved over time. In this century, communications has developed immensely starting with the introduction of the cell phones. As people become much busy with daily income generating activities and travels around the world, keeping in touch with friends and family has become difficult thus a forum has to be created. This is essentially what has led to development of computer networks (Beckman, 146).
Looking into the contemporary society and networks, the society has already heavily employed use of networks to ease communication this can be supported by the many computer networks that are available in offices. The networks have come with some advantages which include:
Sharing of some information that would require holding of a meeting to share the information.
Sharing of network resources reducing the cost of operation within the organization.
Easy storage and retrieval of information.
Teleconferencing. (Beckman, 200)
Looking at the future of this sector, communication will make the whole world appear a village. In fact, technologists have already begun referring to the globe as a village since passage of information around the world is currently very fast. For example, a voice call through space satellites suffers a maximum delay of eight seconds and the call rates have been reduced greatly (Beckman, 248).
With the current use of fiber optics in communication, communication has moved a step higher in efficiency. Considering the earlier used satellite links as the only means of long distance transmission, attenuation of the wave was very high. With fiber optics, the speed of transmission is that of light and the levels of attenuation are also very low compared to those suffered by satellite communication links. Therefore, this technology will make this global village even much smaller and communication much efficient.
Teleconferencing is also anticipated to take the place of actual meetings. This would mean working and discussing with other members of a group from the comfort of one’s place of residence or office. This will highly reduce costs of holding meetings since only a web camera will be required.
Looking at the multimedia part of the world of technology, newer sources of entertainment are coming up. This has been made possible by programmers who have come up with different programs which give people different tastes. With the many programs and games, multimedia entertainment has been enhanced.
In the same field, some websites like mediafire.com and youtube.com have specialized in video media. This has eased the hustle of obtaining videos and other entertainment stuff in the world. Looking at the vicinity of the future, one of the anticipations is online streaming of radio and TV channels. This has been possible by the use of online websites where one can listen to his/her favorite music.
However, this technological advancement comes with a lot of disadvantages which can be summed up as privacy. In most cases, online connections are not confidential thus any private material can easily leak into the internet causing harm to the owner. So as to overcome this obstacle, a suitable security system should be put in place to ensure privacy of the computer users. These security measures may include use of malware and unauthorized access detection programs. These two programs help analyze a connection and if it is a remote access which should not be authorized, then the connection is terminated. Other measures to improve on security would be use of unique aspects of the computer or robot owner to access some privileges. The unique features would be the fingerprints of the eye structure. This would ensure that only an authorized person access a certain resource (Beckman, 418).
In conclusion, technology is here to stay thus embracing it would mean greater achievement at minimal cost. A good example of what it can do is electronic commerce and business which enables people from different parts of the world to trade without necessarily meeting face to face. In fact, technology is making this world a global village which is easy to manage and maintain.
Work cited
Beckman G and Beckman B. digital planet: Tomorrow’s technology and you, introductory. 10th edition, Prentice Hall Press, 2011 print
