Weekly New/Digital Media homework Week 14

WEEK 14

1. Has social media ruined the web?

• Hossein Derakhshan mourned the loss of the web as he knew it, particularly the lessened power of the hyperlink, something he believes had a democratising effect on the access and sharing of information.

"Nearly every social network now treats a link as just the same as it treats any other object – the same as a photo, or a piece of text. You’re encouraged to post one single hyperlink and expose it to a quasi-democratic process of liking and plussing and hearting. But links are not objects, they are relations between objects. This objectivisation has stripped hyperlinks of their immense powers."

• During his time in prison, the rise of smartphones and apps had changed the online world

2. Apple Pay

• Apple could be about to let people pay other iPhone users with just a text or a phone call.
• The company has filed for a patent that shows the company exploring options for sending money over its text messaging service, iMessage, as well as other iPhone tools like phone calls, email or calendar invites.
• The tool will probably make use of Apple Pay, the company’s payment system which is built into the iPhone.