I will survive...

And you, will you survive the I-land jungle?

Here are some rules to work your way through the immensity of the web and to avoid getting caught in its spiral!

ONE
Get some eyeglasses in order to protect your view, and to sharpen your vision.

TWO
Develop your fingers' muscles. They will be useful on your keyboard.

THREE
Get a good antivirus and don't trust odd messages or emails.

FOUR
Be part of a community. Nothing compares to virtual friendship.

FIVE
Have a geek friend. He'll come in handy if your antivirus crashes.

SIX
Know your limits. Don't be easily tempted and know when to quit surfing.

SEVEN
Do not reveal personal information. You're being watched...

EIGHT
Create a blog! And write regularly. You'll feel really bright and interesting.

NINE
Try e-learning. It's the future of education.

TEN
Stay independent. Stop surviving, just live!

Never judge a book by its cover...

Our society is in constant evolution. Progress in new technologies brings us every day new possibilities in communication, socialising, networking, etc... We are definitely surrounded by change. So, must we accept and adopt every new offer? Or on, the contrary, refuse to let go of one habit by replacing it by a revolutionary one?

Visualise a book. What do you see? A cover, ok. A bookmark, sure. 100, 200 maybe 500 pages, why not. If your awareness in new technologies is not very sharp (which is the case of most of us humans), your first idea of a book won't be this one:

This is an Ebook. E stands for Electronic. The information contained in this object has been digitised. An Ebook is a sort of mobile library: it allows you to go everywhere and bring along all the texts you wish (up to 1000 books can be contained on one disk!). For example it can be useful for someone who works on a thesis, and needs to consult several texts at a time. It can also allow the access to texts that are no longer published.
However some people fear that this revolution will jeopardise the future of paper.
So, should we grasp this opportunity, or should we protect one of Humanity's most precious achievement?

To Ebook or not to Ebook?

That is the question...

Personally I can't say that I'll never own such a device. Actually, this sort of object attracts me. I'm not really what you could call a bookworm, but I appreciate discovering the work of my favorite authors (Ian McEwan, Bret Easton Ellis, Truman Capote to name a few). I'll plunge into a book no matter which support it is on: an Ebook or a traditional book. To me, what really matters is the words, the language. Stop me if I'm wrong, but the words are the same on an Ebook!

Books on paper may not be eternal but the legacy of an author is permanent.

Having said that, which Ebook attracts me the most? Right now on the market the competition is fierce. There's the Digital Reader 1000, the Iliad, the Sony Reader, the Amazon Kindle, etc...
As I am not yet an expert, I will simply base my decision on the esthetic aspect (I totally assume my superficial side... See, even Paris Hilton reads...). I choose the Amazon Kindle. I like its simple and neutral aspect, white and clear. Its characteristics remind me of an iPod. I believe the transition from a traditional book to an Amazon Kindle would be less radical, as I am already familiar with the iPod.

So, will you be part of the evolution... ?

Who's that girl ?

A few words about me in two minutes and ten seconds...
Enjoy.

CMM international presents ...

Here is the very first debate held in our english class.
The subject? Music and the Internet.
Enjoy! (and don't make fun of my skills as an "MC"!)

I know nothing but the fact of my ignorance...

... was once said by Socrates.

There are a lot of things that I don't know about the internet. After all, I would be surprised to learn that someone is aware of everything that goes on on the web... As I have said earlier, the opportunities offered by this tool are so infinite. In this post I am going to focus on 3 aspects of the internet that I ignore, or don't know how to practice.

Number One : E(asy)-Learning
Any young student in Europe or USA knows how to use the internet. May it be for games, for chatting, for videos... However, if I ask Gabriel, my 13 year-old brother, how he uses the web as an educational tool, I believe he wouldn't know how to reply. As I am a responsible sister, I would then tell him all about the new possibilities on the web for students like him, or like me.

Indeed, recently with the whole Flu issue, the Education Ministry in France has displayed an important campaign that is meant to bring the lessons into the students' houses. In other words, if a student cannot attend a class because of his illness, he will nontheless be able to virtually keep up with his classwork. Thanks to this "online academy" (the middle and high school lessons will be available late October), anyone can have access to the basic knowledge that is taught erveyday in any French class.

To me, this is a real breakthrough. However a critical mind would see this as a dreadful thing: teachers and classrooms being replaced by computers, books and paper being replaced by a screen, pens and rulers being replaced by a keyboard and a mouse... Not a very bright future for our educational system!
However I think that this e-learning method must be used only in case of an epidemic. It mustn't be popularized, it must be considered as the very last solution possible.

Number Two: Twitter, errr...?
When I opened my Twitter account three weeks ago, I felt like I was committing infidelity to Facebook. So, I made a pact with myself: only use it for the purpose the english class. This way, Facebook remains my one and only favorite social network. I promised myself never to use the diverse codes that all the Twitter-fans use without noticing anymore. Therefore I don't know how to Twit correctly. The only thing I allow myself to do on Twitter is update my status.
So, how does Twitter really work?

Reply to a Tweet: when you see a tweet you would like to reply to, just hit the reply button under the trash can.
RT on tweet: "RT" means "Re-Tweet". When you want to share a noteworthy information, enter RT then @ and write the Twitter username that first issued the post.
OH on Twitter: "OH" means "Over Heard". Same thing as RT, but is used whan the user doesn't want the author of the retweet to be known.
# on Twitter: the hashtag helps Twitter users designate keywords to conversations that are popular. For example a TV show, or a musician.
Tadaaah! Now you know how to use Twitter.
(if my Facebook page reads my blog, I love you more, don't worry, as soon as I publish this post I turn back to you and ignore your ennemy Twitter!)

Number Three: My own private Google

Last but not least (waaaay not least - there still are hundreds of things on the web hat I don't know how to do!), I use Google in the most simple way that can be. Why? Well, I don't know how to personalize it! Actually it would be more correct if I said "I don't want to personalize it". But then again, why? (as you can see I love asking myself existential questions) I refuse to be tempted by this geeky trend. Indeed I believe that the usual Google page is fine the way it is. Sure, the internet is all about having everything within reach.

However I like to keep a barrier between the habits that result of this fact and my use of the internet. I mean, I feel like I'm protecting myself from the imprisoning and endless that is the web. It may sound crazy, but it's meaningless things like this that make me believe that I am still a stranger to the internet... What? Me, paranoid? Maybe. But at least I have the impression that a part of my soul hasn't been captured by the web. Yet.

My computer is sick ...

When it comes to the limits of privacy and freedom on the internet, cybercrime is a very serious matter. I personnally have been a victim of this type of crime. Don't worry, I have survived, (and I am stronger than ever!) and now I know that the Web can be a dangerous world if you don't stay vigilant.
If you want to read about my encounter with cybercrime last year please check out my previous article.

Before explaining what cybercrime really is, let's state some facts. According to Symantec, cybercrime has surpassed illegal drug trafficking as a criminal moneymaker, and every three seconds an identity is stolen. Any unaware internet user is therefore a potential target.

If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody!

So, what attacks are we really referring to? Fraud, forgery, unauthorized access, child pornography... It's quite complicated and difficult to establish a concrete list of what is considered as cybercrime, and to decide upon the ways to prevent such illegal actions. To me, the definition is simple: when somebody's security and privacy are jeopardised, then we can consider this person to be a victim of cybercrime.


How does it happen? Well, one moment of foolishness and your computer can be attacked by a hidden Trojan horse... You can receive a mail requesting to enter your password, or you can click on a hostile website. In all cases, a virus is introduced in the heart of your Data and, unless your Antivirus is active and powerful, all your private information (bank account, photos, files...) is endangered, free of access and deeply threatened.

If you've read my article that relates my unhappy experience with indentity theft on eBay, you'll understand the seriousness of the problem: my password was stolen and I received tons of mails from eBay users asking me why I kept on asking them the price of their objects. What happened was that my user account was stolen by some kind of pirate whose main objective was to extract money from random users. Fortunately my reaction was efficient and radical: I contacted the constumer service online (it's actually a chatroom where you can talk directly to eBay employees), I completely deleted my account and the story was over. The bad point is that now I don't trust at all this type of website. But at least I know that I am safe: I uploaded several Antiviruses, and I never click on suspicious contents.

...However, can we really be 100% sure that we are protected from any kind of attack?

Watch this crazy video: "cybercrime toolkits" that allow any user to become a serial hacker