sexta-feira, 2 de dezembro de 2016

WEEK 9: E-COMMERCE

During our lesson about e-commerce, we discussed some important aspects about this trend in business. Here you´ll find some tips when planning to start your own business on the internet. Read them very carefully and choose 2 tips you consider the best. After explain your choice.

1. Start With Your Business Name

The first thing to do (after you decide what you want to sell, of course) is choose a fabulous, memorable business name that no one else is using. You can conduct a corporate name search to make sure it’s not already in use. Once you’ve chosen the name, register it. (If you form an LLC or corporation, this will happen automatically in the state where you file your paperwork.)

2. Secure Your Domain Name and Website

Ideally, you’ll get your business name as your domain name, but if it’s not available, choose a URL that’s easy to say and spell, and relates to your business. So if your business is Karen’s Craft Creations and KarensCraftCreations.com isn’t available, try something similar like CraftsbyKaren.com.
The design of your eCommerce site may be the biggest business expense you have. But you want to ensure that it’s not only visually appealing, but also functional. There are out-of-the-box eCommerce solutions like Shopify to begin with, but you may require something more custom-made if your needs are more than basic.

3. Select The Best Business Structure and Register Your Business

You’ve got several options when it comes to your business structure:
  • Sole Proprietor
  • Partnership (if you have a business partner)
  • LLC
  • Corporation
If you don’t choose a business structure like a corporation or LLC, you’ll automatically be considered a sole proprietor (or partnership) by the IRS. However, operating as a sole proprietor, your personal assets are at risk. If your company is ever sued, the court can seize your personal assets if your business doesn’t have enough to cover its debts. Both the corporation and LLC separate you and your assets from the business, and provide other tax benefits.
You can register on your own by filling out the appropriate business structure paperwork from the IRS yourself, or you can hire a business filing company to do it for you. A lawyer is another option, but that’s often overkill for the average small business owner’s needs.

4. Get Your Employer Identification Number

You’ll need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to open a business bank account and file your business taxes next April. Your EIN is a bit like your business’ social security number: it’s a unique number that identifies your business and helps you file important paperwork. Every business needs one, whether you’ll have employees or not.

5. Apply for Business Licenses and Permits

Operating an eCommerce business does not exclude you from needing certain business licenses and permits. Check with your city, county, and state to see what sorts of sales tax licenses or home business licenses you need, and get those approved before you start operating.

6. Find the Right Vendors

You’ll have a lot of competition selling products online, so it’s in your best interest to find the best quality and best prices for the products you sell or materials you use to create your products. Shop around until you find a vendor you want to do business with long-term.

7. Start Marketing Early

Even if you’re not up and running, it’s a good idea to set up social media profiles and writing content for your blog now so that you’re not starting from scratch Day 1. You can set up your website with a “coming soon” page where people who are interested can sign up to get updates, using a tool like LaunchRock.

8. Get More Productive with the Right Software

Technology can make so much of your work easier, so before you start your eCommerce business, play around with customer relationship management, accounting, project management, and email marketing software that you can integrate into what you’re doing once you launch.

9. Stock Your Inventory

Whether you’ve got a warehouse full of products somewhere or your inventory lives in your garage, make sure you’ve got enough to launch. It can be tricky, not knowing how much you’ll need, but in general, it’s better to have too much inventory than not enough. Pay attention to how your sales increase so you can be smart with future orders.

10. Make Sure Your Business Stays Compliant

Once you launch your eCommerce business, things are going to move at the speed of light. Don’t overlook filing your annual report, if you incorporated or filed an LLC, nor those annual fees for business permits. If you need to, put these deadlines on your calendar so you stay on top of them.
Can you check all 10 of these items off your list? Great! It’s time to launch. Having done all the preparation up front, your eCommerce business will skyrocket.

https://smallbiztrends.com/2015/08/checklist-starting-an-ecommerce-business.html

quinta-feira, 6 de outubro de 2016

WEEK 8 - WEBSITES AND WEBPAGE CREATION

Welcome back, IT people! 

Read the text below in order to remember our last class. 

The steps in website development

First, discuss with the customer their requirements and the target audience. Find out what features and number of pages they want on their site. Secondly, analyze the information from the customer. Thirdly, create a website specification. Then design and develop the website. After that, assign a specialist to write the website content. Next give the project to programmers for HTML coding. Finally, test the website. After you publish the website, update and maintain it on an ongoing basis. Monitor customer use.

Now, give your opinion about the following:

If you could create a webpage, how would you design your personal website? What graphics, images and colors would you use? What would you say in your text? How many pages would you have? How would you organize the links on your navigation bar to show the different pages? 



domingo, 11 de setembro de 2016

WEEKS 6 AND 7 - THE INTERNET - THE WORLD WIDE WEB

The Rise of the World Wide Web

Read the text below and answer these questions: 


        By the early 1990's, people were using computers in many different ways. 
Computers were already installed in most schools, offices, and homes. 
They were commonly used for writing papers, playing games, financial accounting,
 and business productivity applications. But very few people used them for 
communication, research, and shopping the way we do now. A man named
 Tim Berners-Lee changed all that. In 1990, Lee added an exciting hypertext
 and multimedia layer to the Internet and called it the World Wide Web. The rest, 
as they say, is history.
     Believe it or not, the Web was not the first attempt at building a worldwide 
online community. Cutting edge geeks have been using online services such as
 Compuserve all the way back to the early 1980's. There were thousands of other
 privately run Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) as well, which served the general
 interest of curious nerds and researchers from around the world. Perhaps the 
most ambitious project was the French system Minitel, but it never caught on in the
 rest of the world and eventually faded into obscurity. Experiences on these BBS
 was poor by today's standards. There was no graphics or even color. There was 
no sound except of course the obnoxious beeps and gurgles a modem makes when
 it it initiates a dial-up connection to a server. Bandwidth was also very slow compared to today's speeds. Typical operating speeds were between 300 and 1200 baud. Today, a typical broadband connection is thousands of times faster than this.
     The Web was not built for geeks. It was built for everyone. It was built with very high ideals. No single company, government, or organization controls it. It was new and exciting. 
New ideas and words appeared almost daily. Obscure technical terms became 
household words overnight. First it was email. Then it was URL and domain name. Then rather quickly came spam, homepage, hyperlink, bookmark, download, upload, 
cookie, e-commerce, emoticon, ISP, search engine, and so on. Years later we are still 
making up new words to describe our online world. Now we "google" for information. 
We "tweet" what's happening around us to others. The new words never seem to stop!
    Just because the web seems so chaotic and unorganized compared to more structured companies and governments, doesn't mean it's total anarchy. In 1994, Tim Berner's Lee started the W3C, a worldwide organization dedicated to setting standards for the Web. 
This group is probably the most respected authority for what should and should not be Web standards. W3C's mission is to lead the Web to it's full potential.
   As a student of English and Technology, you will hear people use the words 'Internet' and 'World Wide Web' almost interchangeably. They are, of course, not the same thing. So what is the difference between the two? Perhaps a simple answer is that the Internet is the biggest network in the world, and the World Wide Web is a collection of software and protocols on that network. I guess a more simple way to put it is, the World Wide Web is an application that runs on The Internet.
    The original backbone of the Internet is based on an old military network called ARPANET which was built by ARPA in the late 1960's. ARPANET was built so information could withstand a nuclear war. The idea was not to have a single point of failure. This means if part of the ARPANET was blown up in a nuclear war, the rest of it will still work! What made ARPANET so successful was it's packet-switching technology, invented by Lawrence Roberts. 
The idea is that "packets" of information have a "from" address and a "to" address. How they get from point "a" to point "b" depends on what roads are open to them. Packet switching is a very elegant thing. Without it, the Internet would simply not work.
   People view the World Wide Web through a software application called a web browser or simply a "browser" for short. Some popular examples of web browsers include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari. Browsers allow people to search, view, and even add and edit data on the World Wide Web.
    The Web is not supposed to be a passive experience. Creating new pages for the Web is getting easier all the time. Web editing software is specially designed to work with hypertext languages such as HTML, which is the original specification for the Web. Web editing software normally allows for the WYSIWYG creation of text, images, and hyperlinksbetween related documents. With web applications such as wikis, MySpace and FaceBook, a typical user can create his or her first 
online presence in a matter of hours.
     In the year 1999, the Internet suffered it's first financial crash. Many companies selling productsand services on the Web were not living up to sales expectations. This was known as the Dot Com Bubble. There were many reasons why this happened, but perhaps the two most important reasons were a combination of slow connection speeds and too much optimism. Very few people had fast internet connections and many people thought the Internet was "just a passing fad". 
But we know now that the Internet is not a fad. So what happened? Web 2.0 happened!
     What is Web 2.0? It's very hard to say. It's just a phrase to describe a transition from the pre-existing state of 'Web 1.0', which was slow, static, and unusable, to a new, 'second web', which was faster, more dynamic, and more usable for the average person. How did these things happen? Easy. Broadband modems enabled sites like video-streaming YouTube to become possible. Better design and development practices enabled social media sites like MySpace and then Facebook to attract hundreds of millions of users. Finally, search engine technology improved on sites like Google where people could actually find the information they were looking for.
     What will be the future of the Web? Easy. More speed and more power. In the future, digital distribution on the Internet is likely to replace all other forms of media distribution including CDs, DVDs, and even radio and television broadcasts.
     I personally feel lucky to be alive in the age of the Web. It is one of the coolest things ever invented. It is unlikely that such another wonderful and major revolutionary invention will occur in our lifetime. But I can still dream about the Next Big Thing. And who knows? Maybe you will invent it.

terça-feira, 6 de setembro de 2016

WEEK 4 - PERIPHERALS

      Computer Hardware Peripherals 

After reading the following article, asnswer these questions:


a- What´s the difference between peripherals and components?
b- What´s the main purpose of peripherals in a computer?

    Peripherals are a generic name for any device external to a computer, but still normally associated with it's extended functionality. The purpose of peripherals is to extend and enhance what a computer is capable of doing without modifying the core components of the system. 
    A printer is a good example of a peripheral. It is connected to a computer, extends its functionality, but is not actually part of the core machine. Do not confuse computer peripherals with computer accessories. An accessory can be any device associated with a computer, such as a printer or a mousepad. A printer is a peripheral, but a mousepad is definitely not one. A mousepad does not extend the functionality of a computer, it only enhances the user experience. 
     Peripherals are often sold apart from computers and are normally not essential to its functionality. You might think the display and a few vital input devices such as the mouse and keyboard would be necessary, but certain computers such as servers or embedded systems do not require mice, keyboards, or even displays to be functional. 
    Peripherals are meant to be easily interchangeable, although you may need to install new drivers to get all the functionality you expect out of a new peripheral device. The technology which allows peripherals to work automatically when they are plugged in is called plug and play. A plug and play device is meant to function properly without configuration as soon as it is connected. This isn't always the case however. For this reason some people sarcastically refer to the technology as 'plug and pray'. Still, plug and play was a big deal when it was introduced in the 1990's. 
    Before then, installing a new peripheral could take hours, and could even require changing some jumper settings, DIP switches, or even hacking away at drivers or config files. It was not a fun time except for real hardware geeks. With plug and play technology, all the nasty jumpers and DIP switches moved inside the peripheral and were virtualized into firmware. This was a clear victory for the common, nontechnical person! Peripherals normally have no function when not connected to a computer. They connect over a wide array of interfaces. 
    Some common ones from the past include: PS2 ports, serial ports, parallel ports, and VGA ports. These are all being replaced by some new standards including USB, Bluetooth, wifi, DVI, and HDMI ports. The most common peripheral linking device is probably USB technology. Why? USB is good because you can daisy chain a lot of peripherals together quickly, it is quite fast and growing ever faster in recent editions, and it even provides enough power to supply some smaller peripheral devices like webcams and flash drives. Some peripherals are even used for security.
    A good example of this is the dongle. The dongle is often used to protect very expensive applications from software piracy. Here is a list of common peripherals you should be familiar with as an IT professional. Keep in mind the list is always changing due to changing technologies: - monitors or displays - scanners - printers - external modems - dongles - speakers - webcams - external microphones - external storage devices such as USB-based flash drives and portable hard disk drives - input devices such as keyboards, mice, etc are normally considered peripherals as well Now you know a little more about peripherals and what makes them different from components and accessories. 

WEEK 3 - COMPUTER APPLICATIONS - THE "APPS"

READ THE TEXT AND COMMENT THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:


a- What´s the difference among ALPHA VERSIONS, BETA VERSIONS AND RELEASE CANDIDATE VERSIONS when we talk about computer apps?

b- Considering the distribution of apps nowadays, what do you understand by "shareware, freeware, upgrade versions and open source?
    Without software applications, it would be very hard to actually perform any meaningful task on a computer, unless one was a very talented, fast and patient programmer. Applications are meant to make users more productive and get work done faster. Their goal should be flexibility, efficiency, and user-friendliness.
     Today there are thousands of applications for almost every purpose, from writing letters to playing games. Producing software is no longer the lonely profession it once was, with a few random geeks hacking away in the middle of the night. Software is a big business and the development cycle goes through certain stages and versions before it is released.
   Applications are released in different versions, including alpha versionsbeta versionsrelease candidates, trial versions, full versions, and upgrade versions. Even an application's instructions are often included in the form of another application called a help file.
      Alpha versions of software are normally not released to the public and have known bugs. They are often seen internally as a 'proof of concept'. Avoid alphas unless you are desperate or else being paid as a 'tester'.
     Beta versions, sometimes just called 'betas' for short, are a little better. It is common practice nowadays for companies to release public beta versions of software in order to get free, real-world testing and feedback. Betas are very popular and can be downloaded all over the Internet, normally for free. In general you should be wary of beta versions, especially if program stability is important to you. There are exceptions to this rule as well. For instance, Google has a history of excellent beta versions which are more stable than most company's releases.
     After the beta stage of software development comes the release candidates (abbreviated RC). There can be one or more of these candidates, and they are normally called RC 1, RC 2, RC 3, etc. The release candidate is very close to what will actually go out as a feature complete 'release'.
     The final stage is a 'release'. The release is the real program that you buy in a shop or download. Because of the complexity in writing PC software, it is likely that bugs will still find their way into the final release. For this reason, software companies will offer patches to fix any major problems that end users complain loudly about.
    Applications are distributed in many ways today. In the past most software has been bought in stores in versions called retail boxes. More and more, software is being distributed over the Internet, as open source, sharewarefreeware, or traditional proprietary and upgrade versions.

SOURCE: https://www.english4it.com/unit/4/reading

terça-feira, 23 de agosto de 2016

WEEK 2 - COMPUTER USERS: "COMPUTERS MAKE THE WORLD SMALLER AND SMARTER"

READ THE ARTICLE BELOW AND ANSWER THE EXERCISE:


Match the columns:
a. Edutainment
b. Multimedia
c. Expert system
d. Telecommute
e. Information superhighway

(     ) Software that enables computers to ´think´ like experts.
(     ) Use computers to stay in touch with the office while working at home.
(     ) Internet system designed to provide free, interactive access to vast resources for people all over the world.
(     ) Multimedia materials with a combination of educational and entertainment content.
(     ) A combination of text with sound, video, animation, and graphics,

The ability of tiny computing devices to control complex operations has transformed the way many tasks are performed, ranging from scientific research to producing consumer products. Tiny ´computers on a chip´are used in medical equipment, home appliances, cars and toys. Workers use handheld computing devices to collect data at a customer site, to generate forms, to control inventory, and to serve as desktop organisers.

Not only is computing equipment getting smaller, it is getting more sophisticated. Computers are part of many machines and devices that once required continual human supervision and control. Today, computers  in security systems result in safer environments, computers in cars improve energy efficiency, and computers in phones provide features such as call forwarding, call monitoring, and call answering.

These smart machines are designed to take over some of the basic tasks previously performed by people; by so doing, they make life a little easier and a little more pleasant. Smart cards store vital information such as health records, drivers´licenses, bank balances, and so on. Smart phones, cars and appliances with built in computers can be programmed to better meet individual needs. A smart house has a built-in monitoring system that can turn lights on and off, open and close windows, operate the oven, and more.

With small computing devices available for performing smart tasks like cooking dinner, programming the *electronic objects, and controlling the flow of information in an organization, people are able to spend more time doing what they often do best - being creative. Computers can help people work more creatively.

Multimedia systems are known for their educational and entertainment value, which we call ´edutainment´. Multimedia combines text with sound, video, animation, and graphics, which greatly enhances the interaction between user and machine and can make information more interesting and appealing to people. Expert systems software enables computers to ´think´like experts. Medical diagnosis expert systems, for example, can help doctors pinpoint a patient´s illness, suggest further tests, and prescribe appropriate drugs.

Connectivity enables computers and software that might otherwise be incompatible to communicate and to share resources. Now that computers are proliferating in many areas and networks are available for people to access data and communicate with others, personal computers are becoming interpersonal PCs. They have the potential to significantly improve the way we relate to each other. Many people today telecommute - that is, use their computers to stay in touch with the office while they are working at home. With the proper tools, hospital staff can get a diagnosis from a medical expert hundreds or thousands of miles away. Similarly, the disabled can communicate more effectively with others using computers.

Distance learning and videoconferencing are concepts made possible with the use of an electronic classroom or boardroom accessible to people in remote locations. Vast databases of information are currently available to users of the internet, all of whom can send mail messages to each other. The information superhighway is designed to significantly expand this interactive connectivity so that people all over the world will have free access to all these resources.

People power is critical to ensuring that hardware, software, and connectivity are effectively integrated in a socially responsible way. People - computer users and computer professionals - are the ones who will decide which hardware, software, and networks endure and how great an impact they will have on our lives. Ultimately people power must be exercised to ensure that computers are used not only efficiently but in a socially responsible way. 

(Adapted from ´Computing in the information Age´, 2nd edition, Nancy Stern & Robert A. 
Stern.)



sexta-feira, 12 de agosto de 2016

COMPUTERS OF THE FUTURE

Helllo, IT people, welcome to our blog!

For this week, we are discussing the evolutions and revolutions of technology in the modern world. As we all know, technology changes very fast everyday. And if we don´t update very often, suddenly we´re out of the market.
Read the text below, published in a book in 2000. Compare what they say about "computers of the future", by that time, and the computers of today. Write down what you know about present and future when  it comes to COMPUTERS AND TECHNOLOGY.
Feel free to talk to your friends and comment their ideas.

"COMPUTERS OF THE FUTURE
The technological revolution is producing an explosive change in computers´hardware and software. PCs are now coming in different shapes, sizes and prices: the desktop or classical computer (with separate monitor, keyboard, CPU and mouse) and portable designs such as the ultrafast notebooks, the ultrathin laptops and ultrathin palmtops. Also, the variety of software is infinite: there are programmes for education, entertainment, business, professions, and every field you can imagine. What about the future? The computers of the future will interact with us because they will recognize our voices, handwriting and faces. They will also understand our gestures. Also, they will predict situations and look for solutions. How? They will learn by trial and error and adjust their own programming. They will also learn by simulation: they will simulate weather conditions, environmental dangers,traffic jams, health risks and many other circumstances,
In less than ten years, PCs will include interactive television, telephone and video transmission. Scientists see a world with no limits to storage space, processing power and transmission capacity."

Book: Technology & the future. Tools Press. 2000.