Media Technology

Media Technology: Satellites, Streaming Video, Internet and Cell Phones
Picture it, the year is 1877, Thomas Edison invites some friends over to his humble abode, he has a new invention he wants to show them. It was a tin foil cylinder phonograph. Thus begins the first chapter in grooved mass media. From the good ole days of “read all about in” in the printed form of media in newspapers to modern streaming live video on our computers and cell phones, media technology has certainly advance beyond grooved tin foil.

The use of satellite technology is one advancement that has been around for the last sixty plus years. A man by the name of “Arthur C. Clarke first suggested that satellites in geosynchronous orbit, or GEO, could be used for communication purposes.” (Cook, 1996) GEO means that specifically, satellites orbit the earth at exactly 22,238 miles above the equator. There are approximately 200 million satellites circling the globe right now. With so many out there, it is hard to imagine how they are all kept organized when they are so far away. The ITU or International Telecommunication Union and the FCC, or Federal Communications Commission, are responsible for designating a location of each satellite on geosynchronous orbit. “These locations are specified in degrees of longitude and are known as orbital slots.” (Cook, 1996) Some specific uses for satellites are to follow weather patterns, television and telephone calls and GPS signals. The military used the technology first as a top-secret device. A lot of our uses for this kind of technology today can be considered as life saving. “The Soviet, Sputnik, was the first satellite to orbit the earth, and was set into orbit on October 4, 1957.” (howstuffworks.com)
Video conferencing and television conferencing truly is one of the latest ways for a business to save money. It used to be that the top sales person was put on a plane and flown to far away destinations to meet with prospective buyers of the company’s goods and services. Not only is this time consuming, but it also is also very expensive. Also, there is the risk that the sale will fall through and the deal will not be made. With video conferencing, all parties of the meeting can be seen on a screen, one in each home office. The session is live and each group can talk and negotiate with each other and have their questions answered immediately. This allows both companies to get live and personalized feedback without the actual physical presence. This truly is the cutting edge of visual communication. We have moved into the age of real time living and the business world expects immediate results to tackle the competition. Without video conferencing, a business cannot hope to be a major player in such a fast paced, high demand environment. There are many software packages that offer the latest technology to manage conference meetings and “take the conversation anywhere.” (Tandberg.com, 2010) One customer that has used the technology comments, “It is as if we are in the same room, that is natural communication.” (Tandberg.com, 2010)
The internet has been the main thing that has changed the face of technology. Hardly a business or individual person can survive without the use of computers and the internet. Its uses have moved far beyond just data entry with storage and retrieval. The internet is a network of networks, hardware and software. The first part of the internet is what it is made of, hardware. Hardware is everything including the screen and keyboard, cables and tower. The software are all the programs that the computer processes and allows the user to work with. The internet works at very fast speeds. Information is transmitted back and forth between computers every second. “Machines that store the information we seek on the Internet are called servers.” (howstuffworks.com) Computers receive signals through the connecting cables and telephone lines and can also be from satellites, towers and radio’s. “All of this hardware wouldn't create a network without the second component of the Internet, the protocols. Protocols are sets of rules that machines follow to complete tasks. Without a common set of protocols that all machines connected to the Internet must follow, communication between devices could not happen. The various machines would be unable to understand one another or even send information in a meaningful way. The protocols provide both the method and a common language for machines to use to transmit data.” (howstuffworks.com) Basically the internet is an amazing tool that has launched the information age and taken the far reaches of the world and brought them closer than ever before. It is hard to image what our society would be like without the use of the internet. I would not even be a student on the verge of graduating college without it. The possibility of the internet ever crashing has been a concern in the past, for those people that remember the scare of Y2K. However, the reality of that ever happening again is not likely, due to there being so many safety features built into the internet.
The advent of the cell phone, for personal use is another one of those amazing advances of technology that has really come about in the past fifteen years. The use of phones has been un use for a long time, mainly by the military. The communications person would carry the large bag phone with them from location to location in case they needed to make contact with headquarters for back up support. The cell phones of modern times are far more complicated and anymore are basically miniature computers. There are multitudes of different functions that are available on cell phones that make it far more than just a telephone. Some of these include having a camera, a calculator, the ability to store data and information and with the function of using it as a computer there are any number of possibilities. It is hard to image what life was like when we all did not have a cell phone in our pocket. Some people have even done away with their landline and only have a cell phone. I just wonder what Alexander Graham Bell would think of that.
References
http://howstuffworks.com/internet
http://howstuffworks.com/satellites
http://williamcraigcook.com/satellite/work/html
http://tandberg.com/products