Bin Laden news on Twitter

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/05/02/osama.bin.laden.twitter/index.html

The CNN article says how analysts say the news of Osama bin Laden's death broke on Twitter. It showed that many people found out about the news of his death through a social media such as Twitter or Facebook. Also, the Ex-defense department official's tweet about the death gave credibility to rumors. Lastly, the Twitter was chattering about the news before President Obama's speech Sunday.

Big News

So the big news last night was that the US kileld Osama Bin Laden! Basically, he was found in a mansion and was killed. His body was put in the sea.

Brain Teasers

Well basically---> I do NOT understand the brain teasers. ahha. I guess they are good to get you thinking though. I just have trouble with them. I feel if we would do them more often, they would be more of a success for us. We just have to get into that habit of thinking. We have to learn how to think more outside of the box.

Schools of the Future

I think school will still exist in about 20 years, but it will not be as long. I feel we will just come to school to take test and quizzes, but not all day. I think most of the material will be on the computer or rather a new device. I think people will be so engaged and into technology that people will become less social altogether. I hope that does not happen though. I really hope that some of the iphone, itouch, wii, and kinect devices are just a trend and will decrease. People are already too invovled in technology, I think. I think it will start to be used for worse things down the line instead of for useful information. I also think that schools will no longer be divided by age, rather it will be divded by how smart you are. If you are a second grader and really smart, I think you will be given 5th or 6th grade work.

Helpdesk

I feel that our helpdesk at school is really helpful. Although I do not have to go there alot, which is a good thing, I feel they do a great job. Sometimes I find that students take the helpdesk for granted and complain about it being slow and not getting their computers back quickly. I think our school is privilaged to have such an amazing group of people that are able to fix any problems we have with our computers. SJA has truley done a phenominal job with this feature of the helpdesk.

Lockdown

So, I pretty much think what happened today deserves to be on the blog. So, we had a lockdown at school! Very interesting how everything was handled. I think Mrs. Harvison and the staff did a very good job with everything. I also feel the way they handled lunch went smooth. I just wanted to put that I was in Physics class with Kirwan....and we watched "Mean Girls".
yayayay for school!!! :)
rest of our classes were like 20 minutes each.

Topic to brainstorm for tomorrow "Look forward 20 years from now and imagine that your daughter is coming to SJA. Describe the technology realted experience of her school day."

Technology facts

http://www.productusp.com/some-interesting-facts-about-technology.html

The article has 10 intersting facts about technology.

To remove a Virus

Yesterday and today in class, we made a folder on our desktop called "to remove a virus." We downloaded four things from downloads.com.

These are the four we downloaded:
1. Rkill
2. Malware bites
3. Avgfree
4. Ad-aware

Tomorrow we are going to put these on a CD to have for life so that we will be able to get rid of viruses.

Important Site

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/

Mr. John gave us this site today in class and told us to bookmark it. It is a good site to go to if you ever get a virus.

Windows 8

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/04/technology/windows_8/index.htm
I came across this article today. It talked about how Microsoft may be coming out with Windows 8. Analysts expect Windows 8 to feature enhanced graphics, 3-D support, facial recognition, instant-on capability, and a Windows app store. They also predict that Microsoft will release Windows 8 to the public sometime between this summer and the first quarter of 2012, with a tablet-compatible version likely to come in the summer of 2012.

Once again, technology is not slowing down! New creations are constantly being made.

+1 Google wants to be your friend.

So the basic points about the article are listed below:

Google announces a new social feature called +1

The company has tried before to use people as a way to organize info

That's an area traditionally dominated by Facebook

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/03/31/google.friendship.plus1/index.html

Google making app that would identify people's faces

The article is basically about how Google is working on a smartphone app that would identify people's faces in photos. Due to privacy concerns, people will have to opt in to Googl'e database to be identified. The article says how identifying faces using pages that are publicaly available on the internet is technically feasible.

This article pretty much scared me to death. I hope Google does not go through with this app. It is a scary thought to think about. People can take a picture of you and know information about you. I feel that this app will cause more grief and trouble than actually be used for good.

Former truck driver deciphers top secrets of first atomic bombs

I found this article on CNN and I thought it was intersting and it caught my eye. I pasted it to on this post.

 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Truck driver John Coster-Mullen deciphers exact specifications of the first atomic bombs
• Technology behind the bombs that fell on Nagasaki and Hiroshima are a state secret
• Coster-Mullen spent years researching and reconstructing bombs, wrote book on findings

Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- Two decades after helping to design the first atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Manhattan Project, was asked to describe how he felt after the bomb's first test. "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky," he quoted from the Hindu scripture, Bhagavad Gita, "that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds."
When bombs that he helped design were unleashed over two cities in Japan in August 1945, they detonated at temperatures 10,000 times hotter than the surface of the sun. So began the Atomic Age, a period that would blow apart our ideas about warfare and technology, send the Americans and Russians into a perpetual state of fear, and set the world on a course of nuclear power, the unintended effects of which are being felt once again in Japan.
While the Fukushima disaster reawakens global concerns over nuclear power, the separate but related threat of nuclear weapons has been mostly lost in the shuffle. Political treaties and protected weapons caches aside, there is no telling what North Korea and Iran might do with their atomic caches -- or what a terrorist could do with the right ingredients and know-how.
Watch the rest of Atomic Trucker at Motherboard.tv
A lot, says John Coster-Mullen. A former truck driver with no college education, Coster-Mullen taught himself how to build an A-bomb. "The secret of the atomic bomb," he says, "is how easy they are to make."
Last year, Motherboard visited Coster-Mullen to talk with him about his life project: reverse engineering the atomic bombs America dropped on Japan. His findings are available in a book he continuously updates and publishes himself called "Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man," which has received rave reviews from the National Resource Defense Council: "Nothing else in the Manhattan Project literature comes close to his exacting breakdown of the bomb's parts."
After years of research into the bomb's classified plans, Coster-Mullen has been able to create an intensely technical history of the atomic bomb, centered around a detailed explanation of how the bombs were built, including exact dimensions and configurations, inside and out. For almost 10 years, Coster-Mullen painstakingly analyzed photographs and interviewed more than 150 scientists, engineers and others involved in their development. The result is an unprecedented and highly accurate recreation of the bomb on paper, both in its mechanics and history.

Certainly Coster-Mullen's ambitious project is a neat example of the ingenuity that led America to be the first to develop the atomic bomb. But it's also a stark reminder that our most powerful technologies can end up being reworked and used in other ways, by people much less friendly than truck drivers with lots of time on their hands.

Task Manager

Today, we talked about Task Manager. When you open it, it has different tabs: Applications, Processes, Services, Performance, Networking, and Users. We talked a little bit about the Applications Processess, and Performance tabs. The Processes tab shows you what your computer runs when you turn in on. We looked at the CPU and memory for the Performance tab. We will begin to further examine the Processes tab to see what each image name means.

Life Lesson

Basically, do not post anything on the internet that you don't want people to see. Avoid posting pictures that are not appropriate. Have respect for yourself as well as others. Once you post something on the internet, it is there FOREVER!! Just keep that in mind. When you go on an interview for a job, they will probably look at your Facebook. The internet is a good souce, but do not abuse it. Just be careful about what you post because everyone can see it.

What I learned so far...

      A browser is a program you use to surf the internet and within the browser there is a search engine. The top five browsers are Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera. Opera has a low profile which means it is a small program and does not take up a lot of space. Ad-ons are mini apps for your browser. You can use two types of software: one that you pay for and one that you can download for free. Free software is part of a project called open source software. A bit is the smallest amount of information a computer processes and is equal to a zero or one. It is also equal to the state of electricity on or off as zero is off and one is on. A byte is equal to eight bits. An AC adapter is known as an alternating current which is coming out of the wall. An AC adapter current has the ability to kill you. DC means direct current and will not kill you, just shock you. A system board is the core of the computer. The CPU is also known as the chip and a cord works faster than wireless.
      Desktops have motherboards and laptops have system boards. Motherboards are bigger than system boards and use expansion cards. Some examples of expansion cards are USB, sound expansion card, video expansion car, NIC (network interface card), and modem (for dialup). If a system board goes bad, then you have to replace the whole thing. Another name for a processor is the chip or CPU which is the central processing unit. It is the brain of the computer and does all the work. The hard drive stores all the long term information and the RAM or random access memory does short term information.

Definitions:

• Hard drive:
- An inflexible magnetic disk with greater storage capacity than a CD; can be internal to the computer or external
- A device used for storing large amounts of data for a computer that persist while the computer is turned off.

• RAM:
- Random access memory, This is a type of computer memory that allows data to be stored and retrieved as required. It is called random access because any part of the memory can be located without having to go through everything that comes before it.

• Processor:
- The Central Processing Unit (CPU) or the processor is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, and is the primary element carrying out the computer's functions.

• System board:
- A motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals.

• Sound card:
- Is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs.

• Video card:
- A piece of hardware installed into a personal computer to allow it to send video signals to an external output device such as a monitor or projector

• Power supply:
- is a device that supplies electrical energy to one or more electric loads. The term is most commonly applied to devices that convert one form of electrical energy to another, though it may also refer to devices that convert another form of energy (e.g., mechanical, chemical, solar) to electrical energy.

TED

Today we watched a video on TED. It was about a guy who made videos that ended up benefiting a lot of people. Teachers even started using the videos to teach the students. They had ways to monitor the progress of the students for the teachers so they knew what areas the chidlren needed help in. It provided the kids with a good sense of learning as they could go at their own paces. I, however, do not like to learn from videos on the computer. I rather have a teacher teaching it in class. That is just my personal preferance.

RIM PlayBook tablet coming April 19 for $499

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/22/technology/rim_playbook_release_date/index.htm
I found this article on the CNN website. It basically says that the Blackberry Playbook is going to become on sale on April 19th. It is going to be sold starting at about 500 dollars. It has a 7-inch screen which is smaller than the ipad. If RIM does not sell 1 million playbooks by the end of 2011, they expect that investors will be soured on the whole tablet thing. I found the article somewhat interesting. It really just shows that technology is not slowing down, but continuing to advance.

Kinect

Today in class, a few students set up Kinect. It is the first time that I even heard of it. It is like the wii, yet you do not need a remote. The machine functions by your movements. A few classmates played the games, and it was quite interesting to watch. The game just showed me how fast technology is improving each day. The Kinect system is going to be the "new" thing for a while, just like the wii was.

Japan

I was just thinking today about the disaster of Japan and the effects. Considering all of the damage that they have, we will probably not be able to get our computer parts as quick as we usually do. Japan is saving money since they need all the money they can get right now. Also, our SJA computers are Fujitsu, which is made in Japan. So, the disaster in Japan definitley affects the world, not just Japan.

Guess the Google

So, Mr. John introduced us to "Guess the Google" today in class. It is really fun but addicting. It is good, I guess to get you to think though. I found it interesting. It gives you about 16 pictures and you have to guess what word was googled. So, it's basically backwards. So, it can give you 16 pictures of the beach and you would have to guess that.
Its really fun and entertaining so check it out at:
http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google/

Technology at the Table

I personally feel that technology has gone too far when you cannot simply have dinner without the phones in your hand. My family does not eat together too often as my brother and I are involved in sports, and so we are never home at the same time. Therefore, mom or dad is usually with me and the other is with my brother. So, when we do have a family dinner together, I feel it is really nice and we enjoy it. We do not bring our phones or any distractions to the dinner table, becuase it is simply family time and time that we have all together. Family time is very precious to me as my family is extremley close!

The 'killer app' that can help save lives

The UCLA provessor invented a cheap, portable microscope that uses the cell phone camera sensor. LUCAS negates need for bulky, expensive optical lenses, instead he uses halograms. Aydogan Ozcan predicts that the device could only cost about $5 and may reach the market within only two years. The microscope could revolutionize the treatment of diseases such as malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis. This article was really interesting and amazing. I hope it works and helps to treat those insane diseases that are out there.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/03/04/mobile.microscope.ozcan.malaria/index.html

Facebook helps your self-esteem

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/03/01/facebook.self.esteem/index.html

The Cornell study shows higher levels of self-esteem for subjects who spent time with Facebook. The result could be because people present their best selves on the site. Also, some have reported Facebook having negative impact, like promoting addictive behavior. I however, liked this short article. It gave me a sense that Facebook is actually a good thing if viewed in the sense that it helps your self-esteem.

One in three mobile phone owners is a regular mobile gamer

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/03/01/mobile.gaming.study.mashable/index.html

The article was about how a survey showed high percentage of adults in the UK and the US into mobile gaming. About 31% of U.S. mobile users now have and own a smartphone. Half of the gamers said they had upgraded a free trial game to the full or paid version. Lastly, a smartphone crowd said that they spent more money on games ($25.75) per user for the year, compared to ($15.70) from feature phone owners. This article sparked me because it made me aware of how games on phones are taking over our generation.

Google nukes thousands of Gmail accounts

Basically, about 150,000 Gmail users lost all of their emails throughout the past day. People wrote about what they recently experienced and it is sad that they lost so many pictures and important information. People are now wondering if "the cloud" will fail. People will be less likely to trust the anonymous servers. The simple moral of the story would be to be sure to back up information that is important to you daily.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/28/technology/gmail_outage/index.htm

Technology

Mr. John was back today. He talked to us about the technology that we have at our fingertips, yet do not use properly. I totally agree with him. By attending SJA, we are given laptops that should be used for learning instead of facebook 24/7. I personally feel that technology in general has gone too far, however, I do not think it is going to stop or go out of style. By using our computers for good and learning, we will be better informed about what is going on in the world. School is important, yet if we just use the laptops we have to look up news around the world once a day, we will be better informed individuals. I love SJA, yet I sometimes miss eye to eye contact that I feel is lost in our community. I mean in middle school, we actually had to talk all day instead of being in our computers. Basically, his little talk was another eyeopener to me! :)

Is 'American Idol' voting about to hit Facebook?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/02/24/american.idol.facebook/index.html

The article said that Facebook could be the new place to vote for American Idol. EW reports viewers will be able to vote for contestants 50 times on the site. Lastly, according to leaks reported by People magazine, "X Factor," the upcoming talent show to be hosted by former "Idol" judge Simon Cowell, also plans to introduce Facebook voting. Therefore, the article shows that everyone wants to be involved with Facebook to better further their shows. I think it is funny that the internet has gone so far! :)

Sports fans could soon tune in to YouTube

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/23/sports.youtube.mashable/index.html

Basically, the article said that YouTube has been talking with the NBA and NHL to broadcast games live. Last year, YouTube started live-streaming Indian Premier League cricket matches and received a good number of viewers. Lastly, Google is apparently talking with other pro sports leagues. I love sports so this article struck my eye and point of interest.

The Smithsonian wants your favorite video games

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/02/22/smithsonian.video.games/index.html
I found this article today and it is about how the Smithsonian Art Museum is going to debut "The Art of Video Games" next month. You can basically go onto their link and vote for 80 out of 240 games to be assembled in the museum. It is pretty random, yet it caught my eye today. :)

Teacher's Blog Sparked Debate

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2052123,00.html
The article is about a teacher who posted some comments on her blog that were not very nice about her students. She now has to go to court. Basically, this article allowed me to realize that I need to be careful about what I post on my blog as well as anything on the internet.

What I want to learn about in Comp Arch

1. How do you fix a latch?

2. What are the parts of a computer?

3. How do you take apart a computer?

4. What is the coolest thing that you have ever learned about computers?

5. How to legally get free music?

Google gives Google Earth, Picasa, and Chrome Downloads to Iran

I found the article a while back, but thought it was intersting. Google made Google available to Iran. The company will continue to block IP addresses associated with the Iranian government. Print Journalism and cell phone lines were closed during the rise of the protests that erupted in Iran following the presidential election in June 2009. YouTube and Twitter were cited by journalists, activists and bloggers as the best source for firshand accounts and on-the-scene footage of the protests and violence across the country. United States export controls and sanctions programs prohibited software downloads to Iran. The products are specifically designed to help people create, communicate, and share opinions and find information. The U.S. began allowing tech companies to export online services like instant messaging, chat, and photo sharing to Iran.

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2011/01/19/google-gives-google-earth-picasa-chrome-downloads-to-iran

Cleaning up

Today, we helped clean up a little bit. We tested different computers and monitors to see if they worked. Also, some of the girls hooked up some printers to test them as well. Layne and I spend most of the hour transfering differernt things up and down from the library to the classroom. Also, we went with Mr. John to get another computer, monitor,and keyboard. It was moreover a very productive hour. :)

Desktop

Today in Class, Claire was our moderator or teacher. Mr. John was showing some people around the school. So, she had us look at at the inside of a Dell Desktop. We were in groups and she came around and pointed a few things out to us. We saw the hard drive and the Ram and some other pieces. It was pretty interesting, although it was dusty. She let our group actually take take apart the hard drive which was also really neat.

Watson

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/watson-technology-jeopardy/story?id=12869629&page=1 The link above is a story Mr. John told us about today in class. Watson, the computer, will play on Jeopardy against the all time champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Although Watson is only a computer, it is thought that it can will jeopardy. The article is really interesting and creepy in the same way. They also have some video links on it as well about Watson. I was pretty amazed by the article and will have to keep track of Watson. :)

PC vs. Apple

I think more people in the world probably have PC's rather than Apple. PC has more to offer such as Dell, Fujitsu, and Tashiba. Apple is pretty much just Apple. Basically, PC is probably better overall.

Online Storage

Are online storage places safe?

I personally do not really know, but would probably say "NO" they are not safe. Someone can hack into it. My famous thing is "If you want something done right, do it yourself." Basically, I would probably never use an online storage place. I honestly didn't even know they existed until today. :)

Skype

I finally got a skype today. I have been hearing about it and see people use it all the time, just never took the time to get one. It is basically a way to chat and you can have a status like facebook. You can also video chat with somone who has a web cam. It is a pretty cool program and I can't wait to actually play around with it and use it more.

Crossover Cable

No class today because of icy roads. We made a crossover cable yesterday in class. You leave one end of the cable as a Cat5 and put the other one as a Cat 6. The colors for the Cat 6 side are as follows: 

White-green, green

White-orange, blue

White-blue, orange

White-brown, brown

Then when you check to see if you have it correct, you put both sides into the little orange device that Robin has and the numbers should appear as follows:

3/1

6/2

1/3

4/4

5/5

2/6

7/7

8/8

If this pattern is correct, then you have successfully made a crossover cable.

Attempt at Network Cable

Today, I attempted to make the network cable. When I tried it out, it did not work. So, tomorrow I have to try again. Robin tested it with this orange contraption and was able to show me which color wire was not appearing. All I have to do is fix one of the ends, which is a good sign. I guess practice makes perfect!

Land Cable

Today in class we learned how to make a land, patch, or network cable. I am ready to try it out! I thought the process was going to be long and tedious, yet it was rather quick. First, you just have  to cut about 3 meters of cable and score the cable. Then you cut off part of sheath. Then you cut off thread and you have 4 pairs of wires. You seperate them and make them straight. You put them in the order from left to right: white-orange, orange, white-green, blue, white-blue, green, and white-brown, brown. You then make all the wires even by cutting them straight across. You put the white piece on. You then use the Cat 5 crimper to make sure the white piece stays secure. Lastly, you do the same thing to the other side and then you can test it out to see if it works. You turn off your internet and plug your cable in and test it.
I really liked learning this and can't wait to try it on my own tomorrow!

Binary

There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

This was the sentence that Mr. John and Robin wanted us to put in binary. Basically the whole thing is a joke, yet I did not figure that out until after I finished writing out the whole sentence in binary. Anyways, the part that says "there are 10 types of people in this world" refers to our decimal system as the number 10 is our base number. Binary is how the computer communicates and only has zero's and one's. The binary system is based off of the base number 2. I understand binary and appreciate what our computers are able to do as it would take me a year to figure out a paragraph in binary.

One red paperclip

I thought the story of the "one red paperclip" was really interesting. At first, I was confused and did not understand why he was trying to trade a red paperclip for a house. I really did not think that was going to happen. However, he did indeed trade the red paperclip for an item and then continued trading. He eventually did get a house. Therefore, he got a house for a red paperclip. The story really is crazy, yet amazing at the same time. Some people's junk are other people's treasure. So, although he may have been seen as a slacker and lazy, he ended up with a house becuase he posted a picture of a red paperclip and explained his story of how he wanted a house. Wow...crazy stuff.

Binary Code

I was amazed at how computers talk in binary code. At first, I thought it was going to be difficult, yet Mr. John helped us understand the way it communicates. Binary code, the way computers communicate, is all zero's and one's. It is eight numbers because one byte is eight bits. By better understanding the way the computer talks will help me better understand about the computer as a whole. By using the site below, you can look at the decminal column and can figure out what the binary code would be in correspondence to it.
http://www.asciitable.com/

The Social Network

I started watching "The Social Network" today, altough I did not have time to finish it. Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history today, which is crazy. I found his story, the part that I saw, to be interesting. He got into a lot of trouble for what he did at school. Also, I did not know that he practically stole the Facebook idea from someone else. That alone was the most interesting fact that I noticed in the movie. I had no idea that he wasn't necessarily the founder of Facebook.

Google awards $100 million to Eric Schmidt

Google awarded $100 million of equity to Eric Schmidt who is stepping aside as the CEO. He is going to stay as the company chairman. He is being replaced as Google's CEO by the co-founder Larry Page. Larry Page will take over as CEO in April. An interesting fact is that Schmidt held about 9.2 million of Google's shares as of December 31, 2010.
I thought the article about this was interesting as Google consumes most of my time at school. The job of CEO is a big deal, so I hope Larry Page is ready for what he is getting into.

Logos Bible Atlas

I recently discovered the Logos Bible Atlas on our computer. It is already a feature on our computer and I opened it to discover what it was. I think it is a really neat program and can teach us alot about the Bible and about Jesus. We used it today in World Religions to help us go back to the beginning to learn about Jesus. It gives maps as well as easy little explanations.

Google vs Bing

I always use google, yet Bing always seems to pop up. Bing is the new search engine, yet I do not like it. I find google more efficient and easier to use. I guess I am more accustomed to it, and have a hard time changing what I use. Basically, I feel I use Google about 30 or more times a day.

10 tech sites

http://quizlet.com/
http://www.learnerstv.com/lectures.php?course=ltv081&cat=Physics&page=1
http://www.facebook.com/
http://www.tumblr.com/
http://www.ted.com/
http://www.flickr.com/
http://www.webpronews.com/tag/technology
http://www.bluefly.com/Designer-Clothing/cat80012/department.fly
http://www.google.com/
http://www.yahoo.com/