Perils of Shopping Online

Some people are wary to buy or shop online for a wide variety of reasons. First is the possibility that credit card or debit card might be either exploited or intercepted by hackers, phishers or identity thieves online. We have heard and read lots of tragic stories about people whose identities were stolen or whose credit cards were being used unbeknownst to the true owner. Second, appliances purchased online, specifically electronics, have a high risk of getting damaged or wrecked during shipping. One good example of this is the digital camera and the CD Boombox. Third, clothes that you buy online might be too short, too small, too large, or too long for you because you never had the chance to fit or try it first-hand. In other cases, the product sent sometimes is quite different from what you expected or from what was shown in the online catalogue. Lastly, compared to buying in store, buying online involves paying the shipping and handling cost which sometimes exceed the cost of the product. Once, I bought a knitting book for my girlfriend worth only 85 cents in amazon.com, but since I also have to pay the shipping and handling fee, I paid almost $5.00. In case you don't want to keep the product anymore for some reason and you want to send it back, you still have to pay again the postage of that item aside from the hassle of bringing it to the postal office. There are lots of advantages and disadvantages of purchasing merchandise online. These online companies are burgeoning because of the conveniences they are giving to the customers living in the high-tech world.

Search for Me!

I was quite inquisitive about this class topic. When I searched my name in Google, it says there I'm a famous celebrity in a foreign country. Other Google results show that I have a profile in facebook.com and friendster.com in which I really didn't subscribe to any of those. Quite bizarre and interesting! The ones that I am concerned and really worried in our high-tech world are the licentious digeratis, such as identity thefts and phishing. If most of us are using McAfee and Norton Antivirus to prevent identity thefts, I use Linux in my computer to protect me from hackers. I also don't purchase anything online except for trusted websites like amazon.com, alaskaair.com, jetblue.com, among others. I use spamguard in my e-mail plus I don't believe any lottery or sweepstakes e-mail that claim I won $ 8.5 million or $14.7 million but on a condition that I have to give my full private information and pay a shipping cost of $200 through Western Union! It is so ludicrous and outrageous! Those hackers are driving me nuts! Who knows? Maybe next time you search your name, you'll find yours related to a porn star!

The Future of Newspaper

People's way on delivering news have evolved through times; from the practice of oral tradition in the antediluvian era and the resonation of significant events by carving hieroglyphics on stonewalls in the ancient Egypt to the invention of the printing press machine in the 1800's, humankind has certainly made a stupendous progress in mass media. Upon came the dot-com era which revolutionized the way people are informed about events, news and happenings.

I opine that newspaper will never be passe and will not be fully eradicated, but will just adapt to having both online and paper version because lots of people still have the tendency to print hardcopies of the news article after downloading on the internet because it is easier and convenient to utilize and peruse than just reading it through the computer online. The newspaper, inter alia, is handy, ubiquitous and accessible compared to online news wherein you always need to carry a laptop with you to procure news and information online. Thieves love to steal laptops too, so who wants to carry it everywhere?

For people working or living oversease who want to keep abreast with the current affairs of their homeland, online news is a propitious method of getting to be well-informed on what's happening in their native country. In addition to that, on the environmental and ecological perspective, it is much practical to subscribe and read news on the web to preclude further dissipation of paper.