Download - Episode 3 - Bubble

Based on "Bubble," Episode 3 of the series Download: The True Story of the Internet, answer the following questions:

• Map of the Internet
  

1. What is e-commerce?
2. How has e-commerce companies like Amazon and eBay change capitalism (i.e. the corporate model)?
3. What is Moore's law? What is the significance of it?
4. What is Metcalfe's law? How does it work?
5. How does web encryption (public key cryptography) work?
6. What is a "daytrader?"
7. How is data transferred around the Internet?
8. What is a "bubble" as described in the movie? How did it develop (boom)? How did it pop (bust)?

Sharing information on Facebook a social norm?

Read the following article:

http://www.appscout.com/2010/01/sharing_more_info_online_is_so.php

1. What is a social norm? Look up the definition if you don't know.
2. What does Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerman say has become a social norm?
3. Why did Facebook recently institute a new privacy policy?
4. What is your reaction to the final paragraph of this article?
5. Has this article changed your opinion on how you use Facebook or other social networking sites? What concerns do you have about the information you post online?

Microsoft in the Mobile World

For this assignment, read the following column:

http://www.pcmag.com/print_article2/0,1217,a%253D247201,00.asp

1. How was Microsoft and the rest of the early PC industry in the 1970s and early 1980s considered "subversive?"
2. What comparisons does the author, John C. Dvorak, make between the Microsoft of today and the IBM of the early PC industry.
3. How does the author charactherize Microsoft's current relations with its customers? In the author's opinion, does Microsoft more serve buisness clients or home users?
4. Based on other articles and movies we have watched this year, what is your personal reaction to this article?

Download - Episode 2 - Search

Based on "Search," Episode 2 of the series Download: The True Story of the Internet, answer the following questions:

1. Without search engines like Yahoo and Google, what would your web experience be like?
2. Describe how search engines work.
3. How did Yahoo begin?
4. What is the role of advertising on the web? Why was advertising so controversial?
5. What made Google different then other search engines? What helped Google become so powerful/profitable?