Reading #1
“Web hoaxes, Counterfeit sites and other spurious information”
Paul S. Piper

This article by Paul Piper should be read by all people who frequent the Internet. Most people know that every website out there is not legit. This article takes what you may already know a little bit about and elaborates with real world examples. With the Internet being accessible to anyone with an internet connection and a way to reach so many people, one can only imagine how many false/disturbing pieces of information there is to access on the web. After all, the world as we know it is no utopian society!

Counterfeit sites are becoming more and more prevalent today. A counterfeit site looks reliable, but once you dig around a little, one could determine the site as unreliable. A few of the ways the author gives to help with determining if the information is indeed factual: who the website is hosted by and checking the email address. One thing that caught my eye is the news reporters printing up false stories! I know some animal rights groups are pretty radical, but even I find it hard to believe you will be able to get twenty odd deer in vests! I’ve always heard that you can’t trust what the news says and this cements my opinion.

Spoofs and parodies have been around for awhile! It has invaded the Internet and many times these are easier to distinguish than counterfeit sites. The only reason I say this is because spoofs and parodies are a comedic play on events in time, people, places, etc. Most of the time the person is told it is not “official” or it is so outrageous it is impossible to believe.

The Internet can be a dangerous place to navigate. Aside from false information, a person must watch out for things such as: viruses, spy ware and Trojan horses to name a few. Overall, this article is achieves its purpose as serving as an informative read by introducing ideas and backing them with examples and facts. This article is effective in distinguishing ways to browse the Internet by being more informed of your surroundings!

News Report #1

"Windows 7 Needs More Punch Before Release"
Kara Gilmour, Newsoxy
http://www.newsoxy.com/microsoft/article11588.html
January 19th, 2009

Going on about two years and numerous complaints about Vista since being released, Microsoft has released its beta version Microsoft Windows 7. It seems premature to me that Microsoft spent millions on Vista to watch it fail because of many different issues. Windows Vista was supposed to be the ultimate operating system, with gadgets and widgets to add to the user experience.

Since Windows 7 is still in beta testing you expect to see a few bugs and glitches, but will Microsoft listen to people who actually test the product? Let’s hope so! A few visual enhancements to Windows 7 include: the elimination of the sidebar and the new “Jump List,” just to name a few. From the author’s point of view, Windows 7 seems to outperform Vista, which is great news to the average computer user with the minimal specifications on their PC. Even though this is the beta version, it looks as if Microsoft has dropped the 64-bit hardware required to run Vista, which when combined with 2.0GB of RAM can be quite demanding on a mediocre PC.

For all you Windows XP users, keep, keeping on because Windows 7 probably will not be released for another couple of years as they are still in beta testing! My experience with Vista has not been any better than XP, as they proposed. Will Microsoft bring the innovation to the PC operating system the way Mac did? We have yet to see, but according to the article, if you dislike Vista, you will love Windows 7!