Comfortalbe With Purchses Made Online?

To tell you the truth, i purchased my first car online; well my parents bought it. However, i think that gives you a good idea about my comfort level with the market system on the web. EBay was the enabler of this purchase and through this system we used a secure payment plan that kept our information personal.
After few background checks of this long distance offer we were able to send a cashiers check through the mail to the dealership that was selling the car. Carfax is a firm that actually looks at the vehicle and writes a detailed description of the car including a rating from 1-10. This told us that the car was in good condition and we were being told by a firm in which we could trust. The most uncomfortable part about the situation was that the car was coming from Virginia; so in order for the car to arrive in our hometown safely we had to use dependable auto shippers to transport the bulk. This was a little scary because we were misinformed about the estimated time of arrival of the car, and we were also unsure about the condition. Turns out the car was fine and i had the best 16th birthday present i could've asked for.
Overall the purchase of the car online wasn't so bad because of all the precautions we took during the process; from the secure payment system, to the background check through a trusted company, we felt pretty comfortable with the purchase. If we changed some of the characteristics of the buying process, such as a for sale by owner, or sending the payment directly to the personal seller, the situation becomes much more uncomfortable.
Other purchases that i have made online include music, software, and clothes from large, well known companies. Clearly there is a boundary i will not cross when it comes to online buying. I wont give random sellers my personal identifiable information, unless its through a trusted company in which i am familiar with, or if much thought and research has been conducted through a questionable company. No major problems have occurred within the lines of my online purchase history, otherwise i would not be comfortable with purchsing online.

Vanity Search "Gabrielle Baldwin"

The vanity search directed me to many unexpected surprises. I learned there is a pediatrician that specializes in adolescent medicine named Gabrielle Baldwin who lives in Andalusia, Alabama. I also found a journalist named Gabrielle Baldwin who writes for the Journal of Tertiary Educational Administration. A number of newspaper articles showed up in this particular search engine, google, which were presented by the Eatonville newspaper about the night I was crowned as daffodil princess of EHS. The next search engine i explored was yahoo. The first link that was listed was a Star trek Simulations group on the Internet in which Gabrielle Baldwin was the lieutenant commander. Listed after this were the large array of newspaper articles involving the daffodil festival, including the names of the girls involved. Many more articles about me were listed in this search engine which surprised me. It seems that google would have more to offer because of its familiarity and publicity. Ask Jeeves contained more information about the pediatrician from Alabama but had no news about me personally. When i clicked on images to see if my picture showed up, sure enough, my official daffodil picture is the first to be listed, which isn't so bad, because the articles already showed my face. Next i explored google earth. This was a little more difficult to navigate because when i plugged my address into the search bar, i was directed to a totally different 62ND street between Parkland and Tacoma, however i live in Graham. In order to find my true destination i had to follow Pacific Avenue all the way to the desired street. Here i was able to find my house which was fascinating. Its scary to think that a simple software that's easy to download could find my house without my permission. My Myspace and Facebook continue to be private so for all i know nobody has any dirt on me on the world wide web.
Before completing the vanity search, i didn't think much about the information that is shared online about ones personal life. Even though this is being realized by more people everyday, i think it was an unexpected reality. What is interesting is that the most information i found about myself was presented through newspaper articles, which could be one of the unfortunate things about the paper switching to the Internet. What is to come when background checks are to be conducted? Nobody will have any secrets. This is a perfect example of that saying "You can run, but you can't hide." The Internet will keep track of you and ironically, online newspapers are a big part of the tracking system.

The Future of Newspapers in Regards of the Web

Computers have become a convenience to everyone who has one sitting in front of them. News has become incorporated into that convenience being just a click away from the curiosity of the surfer. My personal computer has an option on my desktop tool bar that automatically posts news feed, stocks and other national headlines that may be of my liking. Ever since news has become a part of the Internet the actual newspaper has become second hand to younger daily readers.
Seattle Times, Google News, Hotwired, Seattle PI have all become popular websites in which tech savvy people enjoy reading everyday. In a sense it seems as though these sights have replaced the printed newspapers especially for citizens that spend time in a workplace which incorporates a desk, a computer, and Internet access. This is the reason why printed newspapers have a generational aspect. Younger people with jobs dealing with tip top technology have the ability to use the Internet which stares back at them on a day to day basis. Older people who have had a subscription to their local paper for as long as they can remember continue to read the printed papers. This generational statistic may be the only reason our nation still has active newspapers.
As the world wide web continues to grow, so will the news that it encompasses. Classic newspapers will be forgotten as the older generation begins to expire, as the younger generations surround their lives with the newest technology available and take advantage of its abilities. Instead of a fixed amount of writers per paper there may be more freelanced writers who contribute to the paper, similar to the system of Wikepedia. Advantages with this system will be the almost instant ability to post news. This will give the nation more news that is happening live instead of having to read all of the news the next day on a piece of obnoxious paper that turns your fingers black. Disadvantages within the new paperless system will be portability issues. Nobody honestly wants to carry a laptop around.
Even though significant changes will be made, the news will maintain some similarities. Current established newspapers wont go out of business, they will just need to change their business model. Other similarities include subscription to the websites so the industry wont go out of business.
The newspaper has influenced our nation by giving us up to date information on what is happening within our community. Now that technology is growing beyond belief, the news is being transformed into a convenient fashion which at one point we were unable to imagine. The news, however, will continue to inform us of our surroundings, but in a brighter light.