Chapter 2

Printing a webpage is quite simple all you have to do is highlight the information you want to print then click the print button. To save a web page all you have to do is click the page button, which is located on the command bar and click save as. You can save the web page as a .htm, .html, or a .txt file. There are also many browser features can be customized. On firefox you can personalize your browser as much as you want, there are so many different add ons. You can also change things such as your command bar and history. 

As you can see Firefox is my favorite browser and has been customized a lot. You can choose what to hide by right clicking the command bar. I’m hiding the pointless search bars I downloaded. Another thing that I clearly customized is the theme. I also added my bookmarks to the bookmarks toolbar for better accessibility. I also changed my search engine to bing and added a skype extention. The last change would be my home page which is msn.com. This page changes the most frequently. To protect your computer from hackers you should have a firewall. A firewall is a piece of computer software or hardware that is intended to prevent unauthorized access to your system software or data. These firewalls often warn users about harmful communications or just directly block them. When shopping online most people shop from sites they trust or are known companies. Its important to not risk your credit card number. You should never send someone your credit card number in an email, legit sites would never ask for it in an email.

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RSS Feeds

RRS stands for Really Simple Syndication. An RSS reader is a type of software that allows you to subscribe to read syndicated web site content. This content includes blogs, news, and links to web site content. Many of these feeds are free and can be read from many popular web browsers. After you subscribe to feeds, you can open that feed page at any time to view the update. I use google reader to view the feeds I've subscribed to when i'm not on my laptop. With google reader you can see multiple feeds being updated in one place.In internet explorer the browser checks every web site for any available RSS feeds that you can subscribe to. With mozilla firefox you have to download the add on to have an RSS reader. I like the RSS ticker reader because you can see it at all times and is automatically updated. To subscribe to a feed with this ticker all you have to do is go to bookmarks > subscribe to this page. 

Go Animate

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Web Browsers

My favorite web browser is firefox. Other commonly used browsers would be Internet explorer, google chrome, and safari. These web browsers contain a homepage, search engine, display area, and tons of other buttons and tools that make navigating the web so much easier. I like firefox so much just because of the customization. I believe google chrome is a little faster, but is quite boring. According to wikipedia the primary purpose of a web browser is to bring information resources to the user. This process begins when the user inputs a URI. The most common URI would be http: this identifies a particular resource to be retrieved over the HTTP. Here is a screenshot of my browser, I have a lot of things hidden so not everything is shown.

Domain Names

Since IP addresses are too difficult for most people to remember, web servers are usually referenced by a domain name. This domain name is the text designated to one or more IP addresses. When you type in a domain name in a browser, the browser looks up the IP address associated with that domain name by requesting the IP address from a name server. To find the IP address that corresponds with that domain name you would have to look it up by using the nslookup command.  All domain names are unique, therefore domain names must be registered kind of like trademarks.  The domain names are organized and grouped by TLD. TLD differs from nations, .us would be for the US and .uk would be for United Kingdom.

Web Portals

I use msn.com as my web portal. A web portal is special website that contains a large amount of information and services. Other common web portals would be aol, igoogle, and yahoo. These web portals act as a starting point for people when they start their web browsers. MSN is known as a general interest portal other portals such as golf.com would be an example of a special interest portal. Special interest portals show information that would appeal to the specific interest of the viewer. According to about.com these web portals are well funded and staffed by full time employees. These portals also feature search engines, news, weather, shopping, online communities, and web email all in one place.

Net Neutrality

 My thoughts on the issue are big companies such as google and verizon should stop trying to exploit and manipulate the internet for their own greedy agendas. When I think of net neutrality I think to myself. What will they actually block or charge extra for? None of these companies own the internet therefore they shouldn’t be able to control it. I also think it is very shallow of google to sell out just because of android’s operating system. I also believe the internet was meant to be free. After reading about the amount of millions these companies are lobbying with I would think they are going to nearly inevitably win this battle. They have already won disputes in the past. My parents have to pay around 60$ dollars a month for my phone bill and around 40$ dollars a month to use the internet. If prices go up even more that would just put the country in a recession again. Nothing good could come out of censoring the internet.

Chaper 1

The first chapter in the book described who uses the internet, internet activities, the history of the internet, and described connecting to the internet. After reading the first few pages I noticed just how many commas are used when talking about the internet. From describing all the people who actually use the internet, the different communication carriers, to its various uses. Business owners use the internet to maximize their profit or maintain good relationships with their members, consumers, and partners. Consumers can use the internet to purchase things online and pay their bills. Many of these things could be done without the internet but usually in a less efficient manner. I use the internet commonly to search for answers, download music, and communicate with friends. I found it interesting how different people use the internet. I also believe it is amazing how a web page could be created from a program such as notepad. From the chapter I also learned what many of the common acronyms associated with the internet stood for. Such as HTML which stands for hypertext markup language and TCP/IP which stands for transmission control protocol/internet protocol.

I’ve always been interesting in learning about the history of the internet. The government in the 1960s felt pressured by the Soviet Union to connect their computers so they would be able to the data and computing power to more than just one location so they would be less vulnerable. One of the first milestone in the creation of the internet was in 1966, a new network was launched called ARPANET. I also found interesting the names of the universities that helped create the internet (MIT, Stanford, UCLA). In December 1969 four universities were able to join the ARPANET network which became the foundation of the internet today. Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN) was able to create the hardware, programming, and design. In 1971 the first chat between two computers to place. Later that year email was created. In the 1980s different networks were created as members of the general public became more interested. In 1993 the first browser was created and was called the worldwideweb. By the end of the year 1994 there were about 10 million users. Today there are nearly 2 billion people around the world that have access to the internet. They have access to these networks from Internet service providers.

After reading this chapter I feel so grateful to be in a generation where the internet is such a common form of technology. I was able to listen to music as I wrote this and was able to submit this assignment at my own leisure as a result of the internet.