Week #1: Introduction to the Information Age and Social Media

We started out our first week talking about how the first computer, Mark 1 (1944), was 51 feet long and weighed about 5 tons. It's primary, and only, function was to do mathematical calculations, some of which it took over a minute to process. Almost 70 years later, a TI-83 calculator, about the size of some of the first cell phones, can do even more complex calculations than the Mark 1 could do, in only a few seconds. Not only that, but the computers of today can do far more than math problems. You can hook up to the internet to do a plethora of things, play games, create word documents in various formats, save and organize personal information, and so on and so forth. The possibilities are nearly endless.

Next, we began to discuss social media, primarily Twitter. Why do we use it? For one thing, it's a great way to not only connect with people we already know, but to meet new ones as well. We could meet our future spouse, or even find a new job. Being able to interact with so many different people from all corners of a globe is a great way to find people who may be into the same obscure music as we are, or hear about a new book that we never would have read otherwise. Is Emma Watson getting engaged? What's a better way to find out than directly from her Twitter?

My entrepreneurial idea is to create some kind of small tracking chip to place on items that one might frequently lose (cellphone, keys, wallet, etc.), and have it connected to a website that you can easily get on, type in a username and password, and be able to find out where the lost item is in relation to where you (or your laptop) are at the very moment down to the inch. It should not be obstructive to the item at all (like a sticker), and be durable, so that it doesn't fall off. I think it shall be called IFoundIt.