Argos

Last week, my parents ordered a bed from www.argos.co.uk. All they did was look in the catalogue and find the bed they wanted. They then noted down the catalogue number and entered it online. Then they proceeded with the ordering formalities such as name, address and credit card details and were sent a comfirmation e-mail. On saturday the bed arrived and it was as easy as that!

Ambulance Services

UK ambulance services have experienced a revolution in working styles as a result of technology. ICT has been used extensively in command and control centres to make the service more efficient and responsive. New secure digital communications systems have replaced crackly broadcast systems. Satellite tracking of resources (such as ambulances, helicopters, paramedic cars and bikes) and geographical information systems allow the optimal resource to be deployed at all times by centre staff. Technology is used to analyse patterns of usage to roster (call in) the exact number of staff required. It uses geographical analysis to decide where it is best to position ambulances and other resources so that they can be deployed to nearby locations very quickly. Ambulances are placed at points that are closed in travel time to places of peak demand and are tracked at all times to show where they are.

The Staffordshire ambulance service says of the impact of new technology: “The adopting of this modern approach has resulted in remarkable results in the Trust performance in recorded response times. This has given the Trust the lead position in national ambulance table’s fir the last seven years. It has also seen dramatic improvements in the cardiac survival figures.”

The introduction of this system in London in the 1990s, however, was extremely problematic, not least because of the working practices that were brought about by the introduction of these measures.

Tool Man

John is a sales representative selling tools to garden centres and DIY stores. He travels over 1000 miles a week to see new and existing clients. For the past 20 years he has carried around a large diary, an address book, a large road atlas and numerous A-Zs as well as numerous small coins for phones. He prides himself on his punctuality, but even he is occasionally late as he struggles to find a new client or is delayed by traffic. He always takes along a calculator, and a bulky sales catalogue with the latest price lists and order forms. He is usually on the road four days a week, six hours a day and spends every Friday in the office ensuring all his administration and sales are handled properly. He has always said he quite likes the time spent in his car between appointments, as it is his time when he can listen to CDs undisturbed.

John could use various electronic items such as a PDA, GPS, Laptop, software, Mobile phone, and the internet to make his life easier. He would not have to carry around a large diary, an address book, a large road atlas and numerous A-Zs if he used a Laptop. He would only need to set up a database with his adddresses in it and a word document or an online service instead of a diary. He would not need to carry the A-Zs around if he used the internet through such sites as www.multimap.com. He could buy a mobile phone for diary entries and instead of a calculator as most phones nowadays have calendars and calculators built in on them. Using a laptop would avoid him having to spend all day on a Friday sorting out his paper work.

Disadvantages could be that he may not be able to afford a laptop and wireless internet connections are not guaranteed and sometimes can be unreliable. He may not have the I.C.T skills required to make the laptop an easier way to work. As he is on the road alot, he may not have access to mains electricity whenever he wants so cgarging the batteries could be a problem

Entertainment

In the last three months I have used many types of differnet online enternainment technologies. The one I use most frequently is www.youtube.com. This is the site I visit the most because it has so many different uses. I watch the latest music videos, watch geography related documentaries and just funny clips. The latest online technology I have used is the Xbox 360. I downloaded the Fifa 09 demo through Xbox live. Xbox live is a great bit of technology because you can play anyone all over the world from the comfort of your own sitting room.

Downloads

The rest of my family do not download many things but I use downloads quite often. I download songs from itunes, the latest itunes software, updates for my psp and many other things.

I download songs from itunes because it is a lot easier than going to a shop and buying it and it is also cheaper because it cuts out the middle man (the shop). The only downside to downloading songs off itunes is that you do not have a hard copy of it such as a compact disc if the computer breaks or loses your files. The way to solve this problem is by everytime you buy a different album on itunes, you should rip the music to a blank disc. Blank discs are very cheap and overall it is still cheaper than buying the compact disc from a shop because you would also have to add in costs such as petrol or bus fare etc.

Online Education

I have found five different types of online education:
http://www.samlearning.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/
http://www.s-cool.co.uk
http://www.mathsrevision.net/gcse
http://www.linguastars.com/

Rankings: Best = 1 Worst = 5
1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/
2 http://www.linguastars.com/
3 http://www.samlearning.com/
4 http://www.mathsrevision.net/gcse
5 http://www.s-cool.co.uk

When revising for my GCSEs, I used many websites to aid me with this. I found that bbc's bitesize website was the most productive for most subjects and linguastars was very good for language revision. Samlearning is overall very good but I don't like their 'drag and drop' technique as it is very unlike the actual examinations.

Ticketmaster

On Monday night, I purchased some concert tickets on www.ticketmaster.co.uk. My dad had to use his credit card to buy them because this is the only method of transaction available. They send you a comfirmation e-mail with your order number on it and they guarantee that your tickets will be posted to you and arrive at least 48 hours before the event.