Entertainment in The Information Age

The ways in which technology is being used for entaertainment reasons isnt only for online persposes but offline as well, this include things such as: Gaming, Listening to music, E.Books, Digital Tv and DVD's and the use of all of these, again has increased massively within the previous years.

Games

Games that you can play offline would include 4 different playforms: Nintendo, XBox, Playstation and PC. They have all become extremely popular and they are constatly being improved by having add ons created such as remotes and motion capture.

Nintendo

Nintendo is a mutinational corpration located in Japan, founded in 1889 so it is the oldest out of the 4 platforms so has had a lot of time to improve. And has sold over 565 million hardware units and 3.4 billion software units because it has become worldwide. The productc that Nintendo have introduced are: game boy line, colour TV game, NES, SNES, virtual boy, nintendo 64, nintendo gamecube, game boy advance, nintendo ds, wii, nintendo 3DS which has compatable video games to go with.

I have had experience with Nintendo and find that it appeals greatly to me. I have had a nintendo DS and games that went with it. And i have also had the Wii for roughly 2 years which i find is very good and the games that go with it are also very good.

XBox

Xbox is a sixth generation video game console which is manufactured by Windows. Xbox was released in 2002 so it is reletively new and has become a very popular way of using technology for entertainment purposes within just 9 years. In 2005 the xbox 360 was intoroduced and this allows there to be multiple players . The amount of units sold are: 24+ Million.

I personally have not ever had an Xbox or played on one and i would not want to as it does not appeal to me, as the games that are played on the Xbox are aimed more so at teenage boys.

Playstation

The playstation is a series of video games consoles which were developed and created by Sony, it is the oldest, being introduced in 1994 so it is 17 years old and within them years it has become world wide. A various amount of games have been designed that are compatoble with this console and are played either by being connected to a TV or if the playstation has a screen, then on the console itself.

I have had a few Playstations, the same one but in two different colours and i used one by being connected to a TV and i would be able to play games whilst looking at a bigger screen and i also used it to watch DVD's as they have multiple uses. I also had a screen on one of mine which i would use particulally when i was traveling or when i went on holiday which i found was a great use of entertainment. 

Mobile Gaming

As well as these games, which may limit where you can play as they are not portable, you can also play games on your mobile phones. Phone games have improved greately within previous years and before, you would have a few games that come on your phone, snake, tetrous and brick breaker and if you wanted any more games you would have to pay to go on the internet via your phone which would normally cost you £1 for a day and then you would have to pay for the games that you want and the same would go for downloading music. However as technlogy has improved, some phones come with games but some do not, but this i find is an advantage as then the games that are on my phone are ones that i want. To find the games you want you would use the internet on your phone again, but it would now-a-days be part of your contract and you would download the apps that you want and if you no longer want them you can uninstall it. I find that i would rather not have many, if any games on my phone as it takes up a lot of space and i would rather use the space for contacts.

Music

The way in which people can listen to music isn't just by being online, but you can also listen to music whilst being offline. The way in which you can do this is: iPods and MP3 players. They store all of your music on them so that you can be traveling and still listen to your music which is a great invention as when im sitting on the bus i would want to be listening to music as well.

I have previously owned an MP3 player an ipod nano and i now use an ipod touch, which stores games, podcasts, images and videos.

E.Books/ Readers

Instead of having to carry around a book or two around with you, you can now have 1000+ books on you when only carrying an E.Book. This is the easy and weightless way of carrying your books around and this is a great idea, in my opinion as you don't need to carry around bulky books.

The most common E.Book used is the Amazons Kindle. With it's cheap price, small size and amount of storage. There are also other E.Books that you could have as an alternative however, it i were to get an E.Book it would be the Kindle as it has a really good battery usage and it is also very cheap for what it does.

DVD's

The ways in which we watch movies now does always have to be via the internet. We used to have to watch movies on a tape, which you would have to rewind when you finished watching, so that when you wanted to watch it again all you needed to do was press play. However as technology has improved and developed the usage of DVD's instead of tapes has become more and more occurring  Although, tapes will last longer, DVD's have become more popular as they are small and easy to store and pack.

When DVD's first came out they were very expensive, in comparison. But they were very successful and a huge amount of DVD's were sold. However, because more and more people are watching movies online DVD's are getting cheaper and cheaper and you can even find them in some stores as cheap as £3 as they aren't selling.

Educational In The Information Age

The ways in which technology is used for educational purposes can vary and be used in many different ways, including: registration, smart board and smart cards.

To submit homework

The ways in which I use technology most when concerning education is to upload and submit my work in which I either use email or Blogger. I have 2 Blogger accounts which I use on a regular basis so that my teachers can track my work and check if I am up to date. I find this to be a very good way of completing my work as I don’t have to worry about printing my work as my teachers will check my work online.

Computer use

I also use computers practically every day for doing day today tasks which would mostly consume of doing my work. The software I used is Microsoft which would mostly be: Word and Excel for various reasons. I also use a computer to store all my files instead of relying on a memory stick. I can access the work I do at school using Frog so I again do not have to rely on a memory stick as they can run out of memory or can be lost.

Registration/ sims

The ways in which teachers take a register is now all done with using technology rather that on paper like it would have been done only 5 years ago. This is a good way of registering in my opinion as it can easily be changed or updating without looking messy and unreadable. With the use of sims teachers can do reports which are sent out to the students on a regular basis. As well as this sims can be used by the teachers to monitor us and that enables them to find out all of the comments that other teachers have made which would be helpful to a teacher that has not had previous contact with the student

Advantages:

• it saves paper
• it is easy to use
• you can change information on it easily

Disadvantages:

• it is very costly
• information would have to be extremely secure

Smart boards

The usage of smart boards has spiraled and has become an essential part of every lesson including sports. There is atleast one computer in every room and St Gregory’s and a lot more in the computer rooms which have up to 60. The smart boards are in my opinion a vital piece of technology within a class room as it makes interactive learning. You can also save what you have written on the board whereas if we still had blackboards or whiteboards as soon as we wipe the board its gone. I also find it very good as the teacher is able to show the whole class a document which would be easy to read.

Advantages:

• it is interactive
• easier to teach bigger classes

Disadvantages:

• they can prove difficult to use
• it is very costly
• it is hard to resolve problems

Smart Cards

Smart cards have only been introduced and used within the last couple of years and they have now become an only way of entering the sixth form block, they have enabled this so that the only people that are able to enter the building are ones that have the smart card and are allowed into the building, whereas if you didn’t need to have a smart card to enter the building anyone could enter. Another smart card that is used is a canteen one, in which you put money on, via parent pay. This enables that the person using the card is responsible for the card as an image appears on the screen of the person that should be using it.

Life In The Information Age

The amount of technology we use in our every day lives has dramatically changed when we think about how much technology there was 30 years ago. And because of the increased amount of technology it is hard to find a job which does not use the latest technology, so you would be unemployable unless you know how to use it.

Offices have changed dramatically within the last 30 years and the majority of the things you would have found within an office in 1980 has all become a piece of technology. What you'd of expected to see in an office 30 years ago would include: adding machines, type writers, filing cabinets and fax machines.




Whereas now a days you would expect to find the newest technology including computers which would store all of the documents and data so that you wouldn't have to print them. In fact all of the things you'd expect to see in 1980 would all be done using a computer as they are capable of almost everything. And because of the laptop being able to do pretty much everything there is less need for more staff.


Another case where the technology has changed the way in which people work would be a sales rep. The way in which they would travel before would include carrying a big address book, full of all the addresses he needs, an atlas so that he'd find his way, a catalogue, a calculator, paper work, and small coins for making phone calls.




Whereas now, a sales rep would only really need one piece of technology which would be a laptop, it would have all of the catalogue on it with a price list, it has a calculator on it, the addresses could be stored in a database. And instead of carrying around an atlas a sales rep now-a-days would invest in a satnav which tells you where to go once you type in the address. And they also wouldn't need to carry change to make phone calls as they would have a mobile phone which would normally be on contract and given to them.

Online Entertainment

There are many uses of IT now-a-day which are rapidly rising. These would include things like: YouTube, iPlayer, 4od and Spotify. Some are used more than others but within the next few years their amount of use will rise even further.

YouTube

Youtube is a video sharing website which was created in 2005 so it is reletively new to our entertainment variety. With this site you can create an account so that you can 'like' or 'dislike' other peoples videos and you can also comment on them, however you can view videos without having an account which can be seen as a great advantage as many other sites require you to be a user and have an account. This website uses Adobe Flash Video so in order to view the videos you will need to download this. Before YouTube to be able to view videos you would have to use napster.

advantages of YouTube:

• You can watch television channels, if you've missed them
• You can subscribe to your favourites
• You can use YouTube on your phone

disadvantages of YouTube:

• Some videos can take a while to load because they're high quality
• If you're watching previous tv shows then you'll be shown adverts
• Sometimes a video is not what it appears to be

In my opinion i think youTube is a great way of watching tv programmes which i have missed and i find that it will be at a decent quality and one that will load reletively fast. I have had a lot of experience with YouTube and i have used it to do things such as: listen to music, watch videos, and watch tv programs.

iPlayer

iPlayer is an internet television and radio service created in 2007, so again is a relitevly new way of using online entertainment. It shows you TV shows in which you may of missed so you have another chance to watch the programs you've missed. The channels that this site provides are all of the BBC channels such as: BBC Three etc.

advantages of iPlayer:

• You can catch up on programs you've missed
• It's at your convinience
• You can pause it
• You don't need a TV Licence

Disadvantages of iPlayer:

• If you have slow internet connection it will be slow
• You would need internet
• The programmes uploaded will have to be taken down after a patricular amount of days
• It could be bad quality

In my opinion i also think that iPlayer is a great way of catching up of programs i have missed and i find it very easy to use. However, because it is a high quality video i sometimes find that it takes a while to watch and so i would then be more likely to stop using iPlayer and use YouTube as it would be faster.

Itunes

Itunes is a media player computer program which is used for playing, downloading and organising music. This software is compatible with iPods, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPads as they sync via Itunes. In order to download music you use the Itunes Store where you can download music, videos, apps, books, podcasts and movies. You are able to connect to to the Istore through Itunes, which is done with great ease, however you always need to have internet.

advantages of itunes:

• It is a quick, easy and simple to use
• You can use it anywhere, if you have an internet connection
• Its full of files that you want

disadvantages of itunes:

• You'll need internet connection to download files

• Songs could be costly

Spotify

Spotify is a music straming service which provides the viewer with a range of different genres to chose from. It was lanched in 2008 spotify services are available in most counties including: France, Spain and the United States. You are now able to access spotify on your mobile phone, providing that you are a paying cusomer and pay the monthly bill which enables you to listen to the music 'offline'. When spotify had been around for about a year they introduced a method of joining up to spotify which you could only do if someone else who already had spotify sent you an invitation but that soon got axed. After this there is now a time limit on how long you can listen to music for which is 10hours and once you exceed this time limit you can no longer listen to music.

I have got a Spotify account and i have done since it first came out. I find it to be a good way of listening to music as you can select a specific genre however i find that because you need really good internet access it takes a while to stream so i would again, be more likely to use another way which would be either YouTube or Itunes. The time limit also put me off of using it as it wasn't only listening time that decreed the amount of time i had left to listen to music but even if i wasnt listening to music and simply just had spotify open it was doing so. However since then i have used it again and have found that my time is not being limited.

advantages of spotify:

• There is something for eveyone because of the wide range of genres
• You can make playlists which contain songs that you like
• You can listen anytime, if you have an internet connection

disadvantages of spotify:

• You need internet connection
• Play back time is limited
• The adverts interupt

Downloading Services

Now-a-day there is a variety of different things in which you can download. The ways that technology is being used for downloading purposes are increasing and have increased a great deal within recent years. There are many different types of downloading services too, such as: Add-ons, Upgrades, Torrents, Open Source and Patches.

Patches
A patch is a type of software that has specifically been designed to fix occurring problems. As well as fixing problems this software also updates programs that you have on your computer. With the patch you'd be able to fix any bugs or security issues. However if the patch is incorrectly designed then it won't be able to do these tasks and it could even cause more problems.

Advantages of having a patch:

• They can add new features and software
• They fix the software if there are any problems
• They can update any out of date software
• It automatically updates

Disadvantages of having a patch:

• Instead of fixing problems, it can cause them
• They take up memory on your computer
• dependent on the size of the patch it could take a while.

Personally i have never used a patch before and i don't think i would be likely to because of the risk of there being problems made rather than solved.

Bit Torrent

Bit Torrent is a peer-to-peer sharing protocol. It is used to share files that are of a large format, you share the files over Internet and where the Internet is concerned there are always risks that could occur so when you make the decision to use bit torrent you need to make sure you are secure. Bit torrent is one of the most common protocols for transferring large files. Bit Torrent has also on average has more active users than YouTube and facbook combined.


The only data that the torrent holds is information about the location of different pieces of target file. They work by all the information needed into smaller pieces which will be stored on different hosts. Because of the pieces of data being separated and broken up into smaller pieces the time it takes to download will be quicker than if the file were to be at its normal larger size. You are also given reviews by other people all that will reassure you that the download will be alright and wont harm your computer.


Advantages of using Bit Torrent:

• It's peer-to-peer so you can download your files from hosts that you trust
• Downloading will be a lot faster

Disadvantages of using Bit Torrent:

• Some people use it for illegal purposes
• There is a risk of getting a virus
• Not all downloads have been reviewed.

Personally i feel that the risks are too high and there is quite a big chance of receiving a virus so i don't think i would feel comfortable or safe using Bit Torrent.

Contemporary IT Issues

Blackberry Blackout

Recently there has been a number of issues that Blackberry users have encountered. This resulted in Blackberry users not being able to use their Blackberrys for simple tasks like BBM which is the free way of comunicating, Blackberry to Blackberry, and even affected how fast their Blackberrys worked, this "embarrassing" scenario lasted 36 hours.

Because of all the Blackberry users became outraged to say sorry Blackberry then gave a free £63 to all Blackberry users which they would be able to buy apps with, but only until December 31st. Because of this problem occurring and it not being the first time something like this there were even Blackberry users contemplating getting rid of their Blackberrys and because of the free £63 they were convinced to stay. This caused huge controversy and there were headlines in every newspaper and news site updating everyone on the latest news and on what was actually happening and was going to be done.

Hospitals Using IT

"Better use of information technology in England's hospitals could help prevent 16,000 deaths a year" was reported on the BBC website.

And The trust has said that they "saw 17% fall in deaths among emergency patients over 12 months which would equate to 16,000 deaths prevented across England"

Advantages of having a new IT system:

• Reminders - patients will be given reminders to take all of their needed medicines
• There will be a higher sivival rate in hospitals, because of the new IT system
• Medical History - the machines will have a history of all of the previous medicines their patients have had.
• Alarms - there is also an immediate alarm that will sound if the patient becomes ill and needs immediate help.

Disadvantages of having a new IT system:

• Cost - it would be very costly to have such high technology and this will be the main disadvantage to having the new IT system.

I believe that it would be worth paying a big amount of money for such technology as it will be beneficial and worth it in the long run as it will be saving millions of lives.

Six million people in UK have overpaid or underpaid tax

In recent news there have been 6 million people that have paid the wrong amount of money, whether that be too much or too little. There has roughly been £2billion worth of unpaid tax within the past 2 years and roughly £1.8billion of money that has been overpaid and because they have underpaid they will receive a bill for however much they underpaid. And for the people who have overpaid they will be repaid the money that they are owed.

This has been found out because of the new computer that has been introduced by HMRC, and as well as every other piece of technology there are advantages and disadvantage which would include. The advantages of this new technology would mainly be for the people that will be owed money as they will then be given the money that they are owed and the estimated amount that everyone will get is £1,500. The disadvantages however would be that they will receive a bill which they will have to pay as they owe tax money.

However, in my opinion i believe that there shouldn't be any rewards or bills being sent and they paid the amount that they paid was the amount that they were told to pay by the government so it wasn't their fault if they underpaid, so they shouldn't get punished.

Online Banking

Over recent years the way in which people check their bank account and transfer their money has become more reliant on the use of technology and  they are using online banking rather that physically going into a bank. And there is a multiple option which enables you to pick the one that is best suited to you.

• First Direct
• Egg
• ING Direct
• Rabo Direct

These would be the selection that you would be able to chose from, personally i have not used any of these but i would do a bit of research on each of them to find out which one is best suited to me and i would also take into consideration which one i think would be the most safe and the one i would trust the most.


There are advantages of doing your banking online, these would include:

• Convenience - You are able to do your banking at a time that suits you, and you don't have to have restricted times of when you do your banking.
• Efficiency - When you make the transactions online it is immediate whereas if you were do this by going to your bank physically it would not be as efficient and the transaction would not be made immediately.
• No travel cost - As you will be doing this from the comfort of your own home you wont have to spend money on travel or fuel cost.
• No queuing - As well as the above reasons this can be seen as a huge advantage as it can be done at an even quicker pace as you wont have to wait in a queue and multiple people can be doing the same thing as you.
• Easy to find information - You will also be able to find out specific information that you want more or less immediately as there will be a search bar and the answers to your question will appear without having to explain your question over and over to a member of staff.
• No language barrier - If English is not your first language it might become a better option to do banking online as it will be a big advantage for you.
• Check from abroard - As your bank details will be online you would be able to check your bank account even if you are in a different country which will be the most useful advantage if you find yourself traveling a lot.

However there are disadvantages to banking online which would include:

• Security issues - As you are online there are security issues and when dealing with such personal data and information and you might not be as safe as you would like to be especially not in comparison to doing your banking in the bank.
• Difficulty using site - There are some people that would prefer to do their banking in a physical bank rather that online as they are unable to use the site and find it difficult to do what other people may think to be simple tasks.
• Hackers - This can be seen as a huge disadvantage and can even be a common factor of why people do not want to do banking online as if your personal information gets into the wrong hands it may be extremely hard to rectify .
• Errors - As this is a relatively new way of using technology there are people who do not know quite how to use the site and because of this there is a high risk of making errors, especially when entereing data and when you make errors when using this online service the errors can be hard to rectify.   
• Digital Divide - Because of the digital divide there are people who just do not trust online banking as they are entering personal information that they would rather give face-to-face.

As well as there being advantages for the customers there are also ones for the bank itself which would consist of:

• Save money - As they are not in need of as many employees as more and more people are using the online bank more they will not have to spend so much on paying their workers.
• Wider customer base - As they are going online there will be an opportunity to appeal to a wider range of customers as there are people that prefer doing things online, whether it be because they don't like face-to-face communication or whether they physically cant get to the bank.
• Cut down on brick - As there are more and more people banking online instead there is a less need to have a physical building and they would be able to cut down, especially on the ones that are not as popular and just keep the ones that have more of a customer base.

Disadvantages for the bank would consist of:

• Errors - As well as online there are risks of error making in the bank and if these errors are to happen it is the banks fault and this could sway the customers opinion of the bank and they could then decide to do online banking instead or even take a more drastic action and transfer to another bank.
• Digital Divide - As well as being an disadvantage for the customers this is also a disadvantage for the bank as the bank will get fewer customers as they are unable to use the technology.
• No relationship with the customers - This can be seen as a huge disadvantage as you would not get a sense of loyalty.

In my opinion i think online banking is a great way of banking and a great use of technology as it appeals to a wider range of people and i would be more likely to use the online banking more as i'd prefer to not have to depend on a member of staff to enter my details. As well as this, i'd also prefer to do online banking as i would be able to do it whenever i wish and not have to worry about opening and closing times.

Banks are always making improvements that they think will be a hit with their forever expanding customer base. One of the most improvement being: the PINsentry which is a dedicated entry level to your bank account which gives you a unique pin number to enter upon inserting your barclays bank card into a small numeric keypad. This is part of a dedicated teams effort into being it out solutions for a lot of people concern in computer hacking. this was introduced by barclays but other banks have adopted this idea in improving their own customer security and peace of mind.

E Government

Direct Gov


with the help of technology the government can now supply us the information we need about a variety of different things that we would need in every day life, such as:

• taxes - inland revenue and car tax
• voting
• pensions
• employment
• crime and justice
• EAS (electronic application services)
• UCAS
• driving application
• online statistics
• environment

Crime and Justice

There are many different types of crime, these mostly consist of:

• buglary
• robbery
• domestic violence
• anti social behaviour
• rape and sexual assault
• knife crime
• gun crime
• identity fraud

·  

With the help of DirectGov.com you are able to find out important information about how you can stay safe in your environment. And as well as keeping yourself safe, you are given information about how to keep your personal information safe so that it doesn’t get into the wrong hands as you are the only person that should know your details.

You can also find out local crime information so it isn’t just general information, it becomes personal. And you are also given a number of how many different crimes has happened in that area, this can be very useful to know so that you know what precautions to take as there will be different ones suited to everyone as different areas will have different types of crime.

Through the DirecGov website you are able to report crime and anti-social behaviour. With the help of this site it tells you what the steps are of reporting a crime or anti-social behaviour.

Employment

Job seekers

There are plenty of ways in which the online government can help you and give you the information you need when you are seeking a job. The ways in which this site can help you are to do with: your CV, letters and job application forms, applying jobs online and even where to look for a job.

CV

When writing a CV it is imperative that you have done it correctly so having this online service can only have its advantages. You are told what type of font to use, and how long your roughly your CV should be. You are also told what you should include within your CV which would include such things as your basic details and what you have previously done that you think would be helpful for the job you want to do. And you are also given examples of CV’s so that if you’re still unsure of what it is you need to include you can get more of an idea, I have found this very helpful and I would use the information I have found out in later life when I have to fill out a CV for myself.

Letters and job application forms

As well as the CV information that can be found on the online government site you are also give the basic information that you would need to include when thinking about writing a letter or filling in a job application form. And you are also given another document file which will give you more help if you needed it, the advantages of using the directgov website to do things like these are:

• If you are unsure of what you need to include you are given a list
• If you are still unsure you are given old documents of the same nature
• The website is constantly being updated with the most recent changes

Education and Learning

this site also helps people who need information about education and learning and just so that the right information is there, there are multiple options to select from.

university and higher education

this includes student finance which is money that the government give you when you chose to go to university. By having this allowance you are able to afford the privilege of going to university, this is because you are able to borrow money from the government which they then pay for your course with. This is a huge advantage as instead of paying the huge sum of money for your course in one big payment you are able to pay back the government in small amounts which are suited to the individual person. The way in which you apply for this student load is through the website so it is done at your convenience and from the comfort of your own home which can be seen as a huge advantage for some people.

Education

The way in which we use the Internet for educational purposes has risen in recent years and is slowly becoming an essential skill that is needed in todays every day life. The ways in which we use the Internet for educational purposes are: for revision, research, VLE (virtual learning environment), my maths and e.mail.

Revision
This would include such websites as BBC Bitesize. This site can provide you with help for almost every subject such as: English, Maths, Geography, Spanish and ICT. As well as catering for every subject there is also a choice of what level to chose from which includes: KS3 and GCSE. This site can help you with revision as it offers a wide range of topics as well as a choice of "revise" "activity" or "test" as some would suit people better then others.

As well as BBC Bitesize there is another site purely for the benefit of revision which is My Maths. this site allows you to do log onto your own account and do your homework online which will then get logged, you are given help before you actually start answering questions so that you would hopefully then be able to understand what it is that you need to do in order to answer the questions correctly. This site also allows you to find out what your strengths and weaknesses are and then will enable you to focus on the topics that you struggle with.

VLE
This would include the virtual learning environment called Frog, you have your own account which you are able to log into and then use for a number of different reasons including: to check your time table, this enables you to know what lesson you have that day, who with and what room. Another way of using frog is to set homework which will appear in "my set tasks" as well as this you are able to access your school documents which is a huge advantage as you will be able to do this all from the comfort of your own home.

E-Mail
E.Mail has become a very important part of online education as if you do not attend a lesson you can e.mail your teacher and ask them what they did in class, this is important because if you do not keep up to date with your work you will fall behind. As well as this you could also use e.mail to ask your teacher for help if you don't understand the homework that has been set.

E Commerce

Electronic commerce (most commonly known as ecommerce) is any commercial activity that can be done online. It has become very popular in recent years especially with shops and the majority of shops have now become a “click” as well as a “brick” as they feel like it will increase their customer base as they are appealing to more people and some are just a “click” for example: Amazon and Ebay. As well as shops banks are also going online as they too believe that it will appeal to more people. There are many advantages and disadvantages to shopping online and going to a shop.

The advantages of physically going to a shop are:

• You can try out the products
• You don’t have to pay postage and packaging
• You don’t have to wait for delivery
• You can pay with cash

However there are disadvantages of going to a shop would include:

• You’d have to queue
• You spend money on fuel

The advantages of shopping online are that:

• You don’t need to travel which would save you fuel
• You don’t have to queue
• You can shop 24/7
• You can instantly compare on prices/ brands/ bus fare
• You don’t have to worry about carrying your items – you have them delivered
• You are able to shop on your mobile
• You can do it in your own convenience
• You may get better offers online
• You can also review other customer reviews so that you know what to expect
• The products you buy regularly are stored to your favourites
• There is a wider range of products
• It is easy to find what you are looking for as there is a search bar

The disadvantages however of shopping online are:

• You cant try out the products
• You have to spend a certain amount so that you get free postage and packaging
• You might miss out on store offers
• There are security risks

Banking

There is now an option to do you personal banking online rather than physically going into a bank which has its advantages.

Advantages which would include:

• Convenience: it will save you travel costs and time as well as being able to visit the bank from the comfort of your home.
• Open 24/7- this means that you will be able to access your bank account when best suited to you.
• As well as these two the other advantage to banking online is that when you transfer money from one account to another it is done instantly, you don't have to fill out any forms and you don't have to queue up.

However there are disadvantages to banking online which include:

• Difficulties using the site: sometimes it isn't simple when doing things online and you can be unsure of whether transactions have been successful or not or if you have done things correctly.
• The biggest disadvantage when banking online is that you can be unsure if the site can be trusted and you would need it to be as you are inputting personal details. As well as this there are possibilities of identity theft.

Ebay

Ebay is only a “click” which can be seen as a great advantage. It was founded in 1995, they're slogans include: "Connecting buyers and sellers globally." "What ever it is, you can get it on eBay." "Buy it, sell it, love it"

Advantages of using EBay

• Wide ranges of products: this is a huge benefit as when you shop on their store you are more than likely to find something that you want.
• Good deals- with this site you 'bid' for the item that you want and by doing this you will pay a price that you want to pay and not have to pay a set price and as soon as the product you want to buy is out of your price range you no longer have to bid for it.
• As well as buying items you can also use this site to sell your unwanted items.

Disadvantages of using EBay:

• Unable to view products: this is seen to be a huge disadvantage as you don't know the seller and they might not be trust worthy so you don't know for sure what it is you're buying.
• Scams: because you can't see the product you could be scammed into buying something that isn't what you wanted.