I'm going to bid for my favourite car!

Let’s use a lot the imagination and I have found at ebay the car of my dreams which is a Volkswagen GTI. The seller is called Michael. 2 people have bid on this item and the opening bid was of $4,000 and the current bid is of $15,009.

Christie's & Sothbey's

Christie's auction house in Paris, which usually sells fine art and furniture, hosted an unusual auction of paleontological curiosities, including several prehistoric mammals.

Skeletons of a 10,000-year-old, four-metre-long rhinoceros and a 2.3-metre-high cave bear are also going under the hammer. The skeletons were currently owned by a private collector, but buyers may include museums or artists, said Christie's spokeswoman Capucine Milliot. The mammoth skeleton was sold for $ 421,200.

The auction was also toasting modernity. For the first time at Christie's in Paris, bidders will be able to remotely bid online. Christie's Live, used for the first time in New York in July 2006, then in London and Amsterdam, allows users to "virtually" attend auctions.

• Upcoming auctions

The 26^th of October at Christie's will be possible to bid for Important Silver & Objects of Vertu. You can get more information clicking here. The 26^th of October at Sotheby’s will be possible to bid for Ariane Dandois: European Furniture, Paintings & Asian Art. You can get more information clicking here.

• Advantages & disadvantages of bidding online

A person may consider many things when he bids on an auction online. He may encounter auctions that may either be credible or not. There are sites that offer return policies in a particular item which may have not met the standards on usage or effectiveness. The seller should have a history in his transactions where he has received good feedback and comments from his previous buyers. However, there could be sellers that may not be questioned with their honesty because they are using anonymous email accounts.

There are factors that should be considered to ensure that a person would benefit from making a transaction online. It is advised to be a safe buyer rather than becoming an aggressive bidder who does not know if the product is good compared to the descriptions and pictures that were displayed on the auction.

More companies are monitoring their employees electronically. Why?

Active monitoring of employees has risen sharply in the past 4 years, from 35 % to 80 %. These results from the American Management Association's (AMA) most recent annual survey are the first to show an increase in monitoring that is significantly greater that the increase in employees with access to the systems that are being monitored (voice mail, email, internet).

"Privacy in today's workplace is largely illusory. In this era of open space cubicles, shared desk space, networked computers and teleworkers, it is hard to realistically hold onto a belief in private space," said Ellen Bayer, AMA's human resources practice leader.

• Why Monitor Employees?

The reasons companies monitor employee activities are valid business reasons, not just a desire to snoop. The AMA listed (in alphabetical order) five reasons given by survey companies as to why they monitor their employees.

• Legal Compliance.
• Legal Liability.
• Performance Review.
• Productivity Measures.
• Security Concerns.

"Work is carried out on equipment belonging to employers who have a legal right to the work product of the employees using it", Bayer said.

• What Are My Rights?

According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse "New technologies make it possible for employers to monitor many aspects of their employees' jobs, especially on telephones, computer terminals, through electronic and voice mail, and when employees are using the Internet. Such monitoring is virtually unregulated. Therefore, unless company policy specifically states otherwise (and even this is not assured), your employer may listen, watch and read most of your workplace communications."

Their Fact Sheet 7: Workplace Privacy has a very good summary FAQ about employees rights, or lack therefor, with respect to phone calls, computers, email, and voice mail.

For other resources, be sure to see the right sidebar in this article.

Internet file sharing

• What Is P2P File Sharing?

Peer-to-peer is now the common term used to describe Internet file-sharing services. The name derives from the underlying structure of the Internet, in which various computers store information and other computers retrieve it through interconnected networks. With P2P, all computers sharing information over the Internet are "peers" because they both store and retrieve information.

To use a P2P service, such as KaZaA, users download software that enables them to "join" a particular "club." Joining allows each individual to search other members' computers for specific files, such as a digital copy of the newest song by Galactic. Once the file is found, the member who initiated the search can download his or her own copy of the file directly from another member's computer--at no cost. Typically, members of the group make their own digital files available for others to share, thus increasing the number of files that are available for everyone in the group. The overall size of the group, of course, is bounded only by the number of people connected to the Internet.

The majority of P2P services' users trade digital copies of songs and, to a lesser extent, movies. Though there is nothing inherently illegal about the technology itself (it can be used to share any type of digital file, such as personal photos or text files), many of the files traded through P2P networks are copyrighted. It is the unauthorized "sharing" of these copyrighted materials that has stirred the P2P controversy.

• Economic Theory on File Sharing

Most of the theoretical literature about copying intellectual property materials (such as music, books, and movies) was developed before the introduction of the Internet. Consequently, this area of economic theory cannot be used to defend P2P. For example, much of the existing literature bolsters the idea that small-scale sharing can make both consumers and producers better off.1 Because producers know certain groups of consumers will buy rather than copy, those who will buy can be charged a higher price. In contrast, the large-scale nature of P2P copying and the downward pressure that P2P copying exerts on music prices invalidate this "beneficial for everyone" prediction.

• The Evidence on File Sharing

Because of econometric and data issues, studies thus far have produced disparate estimates of file sharing's impact on album sales. For example, it was widely reported that a Harvard professor's research found that file sharing had virtually no impact on overall album sales and seemed to increase sales of some albums.4 However, Liebowitz both details several econometric problems with that paper and estimates that file sharing reduced album sales between 2000 and 2003 by as much as 30 percent.5

• Why the Evidence May Not Matter

Each of the above-mentioned studies has its own strengths and weaknesses. None of the results, however, supports the contention that P2P does not threaten the long-term viability of the music industry. The reasons that the current evidence is only a small piece of the puzzle can be summarized as follows:

• Relatively Few Studies.
• Shortcomings of Aggregate Data.
• Shortcomings of Micro Data.
• Technical Problem for Regressions.
• Prior-Year Sales vs. Future Sales.

• The Future Market for Music

The last bullet point--that the future market for music is likely to be quite different from today's market--is vital to understanding the P2P debate. In 2003, the U.S. music industry reported annual sales of almost $12 billion. Nearly all of those sales (about 90 percent) occurred in stores. Sales through mail order record clubs currently represent only about 4 percent of annual sales. Internet sales, though growing, still account for only 5 percent of the total. Music sales over the Internet are likely to be more plentiful in the coming years, but Internet commerce for all types of goods is still in its early stages.

• Substitute Goods

P2P threatens artists' ability to sell their music through digital downloading because the digital files available from sellers are virtually indistinguishable from those available on the file-sharing services. Economists refer to these types of goods as perfect substitutes, reflecting the fact that one digital file (the copy made available by the seller on the Internet) is a nearly perfect replacement for the other (the copy made available by the file sharer). It is a basic tenet of economic theory that, when choosing between two such goods, consumers will choose the one that costs less.

• What Should Be Done?

Copyright owners should be able to protect their intellectual property against digital theft. There have already been a number of lawsuits against heavy users of P2P systems. These lawsuits can and should be pursued vigorously. Existing laws also provide remedies for those who contribute to infringement, such as P2P operators--although there is considerable litigation about how and when such contributory liability can be triggered.10

• Conclusion

Economic theory suggests that P2P file sharing will decrease album sales, and several new studies show various levels of support for this prediction. Isolating the impact of P2P on previous album sales, however, says very little about the music industry's long-term viability if Internet file sharing continues unabated. Internet file sharing threatens artists' ability to sell their music through digital downloading because the digital files available from artists are virtually indistinguishable from those available on P2P services.

Making copyrighted material instantly available to the world without the owner's permission is stealing. The challenge for policymakers is to curtail this theft of intellectual property without limiting legitimate activity or chilling technological innovation through regulation.

Other People's Word

I have found at the net a wonderful page about plagiarism.

You can find information about:

• Plagiarism defined , in easy-to-understand terms
• Tips on how to avoid both internet-based and conventional plagiarism
• Guidelines for proper citation, and links to help with specific citation styles
• Suggestions for developing good research and writing skills
• Answers to frequently asked questions, including explanations for often misunderstood concepts like fair use, public domain, and copyright laws
• Definitions for important research-related terms
• Suggestions for integrating plagiarism education into lesson plans
• Tips for creating assignments that discourage plagiarism and encourage original thinking
• Information on the causes of plagiarism today
• Help with identifying different types of plagiarism, in particular plagiarism from the internet
• Printable handouts for students on plagiarism, proper citation, and paper writing

I advise you reading the fourth point which talks about different suggestions for developing good research and writing skills.

• Personal opinion

Well, in the first place, it is dishonest. For instance, by allowing the reader of your paper to assume that any undocumented ideas or phrases are your own, you deny the rightful authors or originators credit for their work. This is a form of cheating. Not only are you cheating the author and the University, but you are also cheating yourself. Successful completion of courses and/or of a degree program indicates that you have had specific experiences and have acquired certain knowledge and capabilities. If you have not had the full experience, for example, of going through all of the steps involved in researching and writing a term paper, you have shortchanged yourself and perhaps received credit for what you did not do. Penalties for plagiarism at UNA may range from a failing grade for a specific assignment to a failing grade in the course to suspension from the University (in repeat cases). Plagiarism may ultimately damage not only your own reputation, but that of the University as well—a reputation that is based in part upon the abilities and performance of its graduates.

I have already come back from Miami and the next weekend I’m going to Andorra. The most popular hotels are:

• Ahotels Reial Pirineus

• AnyosPark,The Mountain & Wellness Resort

• Hesperia Andorra La Vella

• Husa Xalet Verdu

The expected weather will be partly cloudy. Andorra has a population of 69,150 inhabitants. You can see the different schools of Andorra by clicking here. There is also a university. I have found an excelent link about parks. If you are interested in the history of Andorra click here. There are many different tours to do in Andorra you can get to know more about it by clicking here. I have found a nice map in GoogleMaps.

I have chosen that destination because it is near from Donostia and I could go ther by car. I think that the total cost of the trip would be about 400€.

LET’S GO TO MIAMI

I’m going from New York to Miami from the 22^nd of October to October 28^th. I looked at the Web page Travelocity and I’m going to travel with American Airlines (Fligth 1999). I’ll leave at 4.35 p.m. from Newark, NJ (EWR) and I’ll arrive to Miami, FL (MIA) after 3 hours trip. That would cost to me $ 174 as you can see it by clicking here.

I'll rent an economic car for the week I'll stay in Miami. That will cost me $327 as you can see it by clicking here. I'll rent it from the Enterprise rental agency.

DIRECTIONS

• From the Walt Disney World Resort to The White House in Whasington D.C. the total estimate distance is of 859.98 miles and the total estimate time is of 13 hours, 8 minutes. Click here to see the driving direction.

• From the Walt Disney World Resort to Elvi's home in Memphis the total estimate distance is of 756.57 miles and the total estimate time is of 12 hours, 22 minutes.Click here to see the driving direction.

• From the Walt Disney World Resort to the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Tennessee the total estimate distance is of 690.49 miles and the estimate time is of 10 hours, 29 minuites. Click here to see the driving directions.

Lesson 2, exercise 2.

1. The founders of Google were Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

2. PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; for example, it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important." Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages' relative importance.

Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines dozens of aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.

3. In addition to providing easy access to billions of web pages, Google has many special features to help you to find exactly what you're looking for. Click the title of a specific feature to learn more about it.

The button I’m Feeling Lucky bypass our results and go to the first web page returned for your query.

Google Product Search, formerly known as Froogle, is a price comparison service launched by Google Inc. It is currently in beta test stage. It was invented by Craig Nevill-Manning. Its interface provides an HTML form field into which a user can type product queries to return lists of vendors selling a particular product, as well as pricing information.

4. 3,340,000,000 of hits have resulted and there is just a definition in the first page. HTML, short for Hypertext Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for web pages. It provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document — by denoting certain text as headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on — and to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded images, and other objects. HTML is written in the form of labels (known as tags), surrounded by angle brackets. HTML can also describe, to some degree, the appearance and semantics of a document, and can include embedded scripting language code which can affect the behaviour of web browsers and other HTML processors. The search has taken 0.09 second long.

5. There are fewer hits than before. 136,000,000 hits have resulted for HTLM TUTORIAL and the search has taken to me 0.08 second long.

6. I think that I would be able to create my own Web site thanks to the information on that page because the whole process is very well explained.

Violence in computer and video games

· What is violence in computer and video games?

In violent computer and computer games, the child player needs to perform acts of violence to achieve the end goal of the game (for example to use an electronic gun to kill opponents). The child is actively encouraged to identify with the aggressive hero and to rehearse aggressive acts, and is rewarded for doing so. The person who is best at the violence wins.

· What is the likely impact on children of playing such games?

1. Teachers and child develop mentalists tell us that children learn better by doing than watching; it could be argued that a child playing a violent computer and video game will learn the success of being violent from those games.

2. Being rewarded for performing violence is likely to increase the impact.

3. Violent computer and video games teach skills in "point and shoot" techniques. The games can help in overcoming the natural reluctance that most people feel in pointing at and shooting another human being.

4. Research is now starting to show that playing violent games increases the child’s willingness to use violence to solve conflict. Recent reviews of the research literature reveal that violent video games increases aggressive behaviour in children and young adults.

· What can parents do?

1. Help children avoid computer games which have a focus on violence

2. Choose games that have positive themes (See related topic Choosing good computer games)

3. Help children understand and use the classification system, and choose games that are classified G or G8. (See related topic Classification—computer games)

4. Place the computer in a public area of the house and not in the child’s bedroom; join in sometimes

· Should restrictions be placed on sales on computer games?

I think that it’s too easy for kids to get their hands on games assigned an “M” rating by the video game industry’s rating service, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). M, for Mature, denotes a game that’s only suitable for ages 17 and above. The ESRB defines an M-rated game as possibly containing “intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.” Yee cites a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report that says nearly 70 percent of 13 to 16 year olds are able to purchase M-rated games. So I think that stronger measures should be put in order children not get easily certain violent games.

Is all the information accurate on the web?

The World Wide Web offers information and data from all over the world. Because so much information is available, and because that information can appear to be fairly “anonymous”, it is necessary to develop skills to evaluate what you find. When you use a research or academic library, the books, journals and other resources have already been evaluated by scholars, publishers and librarians. Every resource you find has been evaluated in one way or another before you ever see it.

When you are using the World Wide Web, none of this applies. There are no filters. Because anyone can write a Web page, documents of the widest range of quality, written by authors of the widest range of authority, are available on an even playing field. Excellent resources reside along side the most dubious. The Internet epitomizes the concept of Caveat lector: Let the reader beware. This document discusses the criteria by which scholars in most fields evaluate print information, and shows how the same criteria can be used to assess information found on the Internet.

• What to consider:

1. Authorship
2. Publishing body
3. Point of view or bias
4. Referral to other sources
5. Verifiability
6. Currency
7. How to distinguish propaganda, misinformation and disinformation
8. The mechanics of determining authorship, publishing body, and currency on the Internet

• Personal opinion

From my point of view each one is responsible for the accuracy of information on the net. There can’t be someone banning information on the Web because it’s totally a free instrument in which anyone can publish whatever they want.

A new threat to the global market: OUTSOURCING

• What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function to an external service provider. The client organization and the supplier enter into a contractual agreement that defines the transferred services. Under the agreement the supplier acquires the means of production in the form of a transfer of people, assets and other resources from the client. The client agrees to procure the services from the supplier for the term of the contract. Business segments typically outsourced include information technology, human resources, facilities and real estate management, and accounting. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions, manufacturing and engineering.

• My personal opinion

I think that enterprises should not outsource because it damages the local labour market. Outsourcing is the transfer of a function and that affects jobs and individuals.

• U.S. citizens opinion

A Zogby International poll conducted in August 2004 found that 71% of American voters believed that “outsourcing jobs overseas” hurt the economy while another 62% believed that the U.S. government should impose some legislative action against companies that transfer domestic jobs overseas, possibly in the form of increased taxes on companies that outsource.

• Measures

There are legal protections such as the European Union regulations called the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) that protect individual rights. The labour laws in the United States are not as protective as those in the European Union and form my point of view they should be harder in order to protect individuals.

• Workers behaviour

Outsourcing may represent a new threat, contributing to rampant worker insecurity, and reflective of the general process of globalization. While the "outsourcing" process may provide benefits to less developed countries or global society as a whole, in some form and to some degree - include rising wages or increasing standards of living - these benefits are not secure. Further, the term outsourcing is also used to describe a process by which an internal department, equipment as well as personnel, is sold to a service provider, who may retain the workforce on worse conditions or discharge them in the short term. The affected workers thus often feel they are being "sold down the river", though workers in developing countries who have a job, one they would not have otherwise, are much happier.

Elvis Presley & Aretha Franklin

Elvis Presley is the undisputed King of Rock and Roll. He rose from humble circumstances to launch the rock and roll revolution with his commanding voice and charismatic stage presence. In the words of the historical marker that stands outside the house where he was born: “Presley’s career as a singer and entertainer redefined popular music.”

Aretha Franklin is the undisputed “Queen of Soul” and the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She is a singer of great passion and control whose finest recordings define the term soul music in all its deep, expressive glory. As Atlantic Records co-founder observed, “I don’t think there’s anybody I have known who possesses an instrument like hers and who has such a thorough background in gospel, the blues and the essential black-music idiom.…She is blessed with an extraordinary combination of remarkable urban sophistication and of the deep blues feeling that comes from the Delta. The result is maybe the greatest singer of our time.”

The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain

Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulan was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tatou) is a young woman who, as a child, was discouraged from having friends by her neurotic mother and father. Now grown, she resides in the artsy Montmartre section of Paris and waitresses in a local café. One day, when Amélie finds a child's box hidden inside her wall, she returns it to its owner, and when it makes him very happy, she realizes that small deeds can have a big impact on people's lives.

Bit by bit, through her almost imperceptible gestures, she begins to heal the wounded lives of those around her, if only those in her small part of the world. Eventually, Amélie seeks out potential happiness for herself. She runs into porn shop worker Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz) whose hobby is collecting discarded pictures from photo booths. But can Amélie bring herself to do the impossible: Meet him, talk to him, love him?

The constant gardener

Gripping and intelligent entertainment, The Constant Gardener is a dramatic thriller about a man who only grows to truly understand his wife after she's dead. Rachel Weisz excels as the late Tessa, a passionate, sometimes overbearing activist in Kenya whose motivations unspool in flashback as her other half, shy diplomat Justin (Ralph Fiennes), and investigates her fate. City Of God director Fernando Meirelles blends high tension with social conscience, giving a human faces to the West's exploitation of the Third World.

The film was shot largely on location on Kenya and benefits hugely from an authentic sense of place and people (scenes of Fiennes or Weisz in the Kibera shantytowns were often improvised and the truthfulness shows on screen). As in John Le Carré's book, giant pharmaceutical companies are the target of its anger. But the most unsettling, upsetting image of evil is grey men in suits doing anything for a quiet life (Danny Huston is chilling as an embassy official whose lust and weak will trigger tragedy).

"A PORTRAIT OF LOVE LOST AND FOUND"

Fiennes is superb as a timid man who tends his flowers while his marriage risks withering, whose reticence and politeness peel away desperately too late. Weisz is exceptional: film star charisma coupled with raw emotion in a performance to fall in love with. Meirelles' camera captures spectacle - the vast African plains - and intimacy - the nursery exchange - with equal skill and this haunting film will linger with you as a portrait of love lost and found.

The first time I used the Internet

It reminds me of the first time I used the Internet way back in 2000 when I was 14 years old. I’d just started my new lesson of computers when my teacher called Rocío explained us how to use the e-mail and different tools of searching useful information on the net such as: yahoo, goggle and Lycos. At first I had no idea what was going on, and it was only when one of my English teachers send us as homework to do a power point presentation about an original topic. I decided to do it about tropical fruits and it was fantastic! I discovered that there were hundreds of sites dedicated to tropical fruits. Ok, I’ve now embarrassed myself by admitting that my first essay related to Internet search was to look for sites on tropical fruits. I’m sure that your early Internet experiences can’t be as embarrassing as mine. I also remember that the first e-mail that I sent it was to my computers teacher and I could not get to understand how it was possible her to receive my message.

From the first time I used the Internet I have done lots of things on the net: once I enter to a chat room, I have sold some clothes at e-bay, I have bought tickets for the cinema, I have bought books on line and I usually look to my bank account by the net and do different transactions. There are so many possibilities to do in the net that it has become an essential instrument for my day to day. I think is one of the best inventions ever made. It’s cheap, fast and make easy to communicate all around the world. Unfortunately undeveloped countries do not have access to the net.