: anniversary / technology special

TheDailyJournal

President and Editor-in-Chief
Julio Augusto López Enríquez,
jlopez@dj.com.ve

Supplement Coord.:
Cira Apitz

Edition Assistentant:
Yajaira Caña

Design Coord.:
Franklin Lares

Pagination:
Yumelis Moreno
Frandys Marciales
diagramacion@dj.com.ve

Proofreading:
Rufus Trotman

Advertising and Marketing Manager:
Paola Reina,
preina@dj.com.ve
publicidad@dj.com.ve

Commercial Coordinator:
Denys Gutiérrez,
dgutierrez@dj.com.ve

Circulation Manager:
Manuel Silva
circulacion@dj.com.ve

COLABORATORS:
Luis Manuel García
María Cristina Sánchez
Fran Monroy Moret

CARACAS:
Master phone: (0212) 237-9644
Newsroom fax: (0212) 232-6831
Advertising fax: (0212) 232-7201
Classifieds: (0212) 237-9644 Extn: (145)
Newsroom e-mail: redaccion@dj.com.ve
Edificio The Daily Journal
Avenida Principal de Boleíta Norte
Caracas, Venezuela

U.S. mailing address:
The Daily Journal
Letter Express International
2111 NW 79TH AVE
MIAMI FL 33122-1611
Depósito Legal: pp195601CS405
ISSN: 1317-3561

THE DAILY JOURNAL is not necessarily in agreement with the views expressed in the signed columns on these pages. Only DJ editorials express the opinion of the newspaper.

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Editorial 

Catching up with the ICT

After a little over six decades, 63 to be precise, The Daily Journal is still the only all-English newspaper in the country. It was born in 1945, thanks to Jules Waldman, whose vision encompassed a lot more than his immediate time and surroundings.
On February 17, 1945, in the first issue of The Caracas Journal (as it was then known) was rolling off the press and for that occasion Waldman wrote the following "This is just to tell you that we are not going to write a long, pompous declaration of our aims and policies. This first issue of The Caracas Journal ought to speak for itself. We aim to cover the news, to offer you interesting articles, to inform you about the local goings-on. This is your paper – the paper of all English-reading people in Venezuela. As such it will include among its readers people of all nationalities, for English is fast becoming the international language of the world. And if it is informative, enjoyable and entertaining, it will automatically be a link among the peoples in Venezuela. We could really wish for no more."
After all these years The DJ, as some of us call it, has met the challenges of being up to date with technology in order to keep bringing our readers a quality product. I am sure that Mr. Waldman, and later, Hans Neumann intended for the paper to leave a mark on Venezuelan journalism, and it has certainly done so.
As we celebrate this anniversary, we decided to tackle Information and Communications Technology, ICT, to reflect upon the long road communications have traveled since 1945. Certainly Waldman did not dream of having such a globalized access to information as we have today with Internet, Venezuelan satellites being launched from China, instant access to images from all over, etc. And where does a newspaper stand now! It’s still made of paper, but we used so much technology to put it together, and what you now hold in your hands is the result of a man’s vision 63 years ago and what today’s generations have learned to use so easily.
I hope you enjoy this Anniversary Special Edition on ICT, which is very different from others, but the world has moved on and so do we as 90 percent of our readers are top managers and plenty of them work in leading technology companies.
Happy Birthday DJ!

Running to catch up with the ICT
The race is on for the Information and Communications Technology, how we keep up with it, it's still a personal matter, which depends much on age and willingness to accept the fast changes coming our way. Some say today's kids are born knowing how to use a computer; while most grandparents (and even parents depending on the generation) are reluctant to even talk on a cell phone, and can't bear the idea of typing on a squishy silicon keyboard!
Getting the information we need has always been a matter of knowing where and how to look for it; the thing is that nowadays, we just don't look in the nearest library's card catalogs or through yellowed newspapers (well, some diehards still do it) or consult heavy encyclopedias.
I bet you're ready to say that's not so! And who am I to deny it? Today the access to internet and the use of computers and mobile devices make getting the information and passing it to others as easy as you can send a text message. The World Wide Web is full of sites, both public and private, where we can obtain what we need, and even make contact with a particular scholar, ask a teacher, send our homework, and you can even participate in a conference thousands of miles away, or getting a degree through what is called E-Learning.
Every year the companies bombard us with countless devices to get you wireless, to help you navigate, to store the millions of bytes in pictures, music, presentations, etc. You can now take your memory with you, literally speaking it's true. If it's not so, I'd ask you how many phone numbers have you memorized in the last decade? Right, you got it all in the mobile phone's memory and in the PDA.
The trick is to know which one is the right one for you and your needs, and here in Venezuela where we crave every new bit of technology, we just buy it mostly because it's new and trendy. So this Christmas we'll probably see Santa's bag loaded with gadgetry like newer Ipods, BlackBerries, High Definition TVs (even if we just have a limited access to the HD signal), anything with BlueRay, new mobile phones with all you can fit into them on your Ipod – which you still carry along- and even a refrigerator with Internet access.
Well, this is not a guide to help you buy; this is merely a collection of articles showcasing what technology has in store for us in areas like security, home entertainment, mobile devices, etc. The idea was to have a quick look at what we have today in e-banking, social networks, blogs, security, etc. besides cell phones, TVs, computers, laptops and so on.

How is ICT defined?
Well according to information found on the internet (where else?) Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is defined as "The technology and tools that people use to share, distribute, gathering information and to communicate with one another, one on one, or in groups.