Kenny's CS 404 Blog

Charity Never Fails Us

2010-04-08T02:40:00.002-06:00

Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, once said, "he who wishes to secure the good of others, has already secured his own." When we are too invested in what we want, we lose track of what is really important, our relationship. Loneliness brings so much sadness into this world. If we looked after one another the world would be a happier place.

Cat Walk

2010-04-04T22:05:00.002-06:00

Open Source Vs. Commercial Software

2010-03-30T11:49:00.002-06:00

Efficient Inefficiency

2010-03-22T09:32:00.002-06:00

Brother Dean R. Cannon said, concerning using technology in the church, “we must first understand the technology and know how it can be used.” Technology can save and waste time depending on how we use them. Some technologies help us plan church projects, meetings, and events. Though, if we spend more time planning how we will spend our time than how we actually do spend our time, then this technology has not been used properly. Technology is there to make our lives easier and we should know how it can make our lives easier. Just because technology is applied science, doesn’t mean it applies to you or applies to you in the way you may think it does. We must know how these management tools can help, if at all, before we utilize them.

Brilliant Minds Working Together

2010-03-17T20:11:00.000-06:00

Two minds are usually better than one. This seems to be the case with Linux and APACHE. Looking at these two examples of team collaboration, it is amazing what can be accomplished. The motivation behind their collaboration is more amazing. Software of the caliber of Linux and APACHE are usually motivated by monetary gain. Although, the motivation of freeware seem to have little to do with monetary gain and has much to do with taking pride in what they accomplish. If we can have this sense of pride in all that we do, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

It's a Small World After All

2010-03-15T21:27:00.000-06:00

Could we survive reliving the 80’s knowing what we know now? Think about all the technology we take for granted. I am reminded of a movie preview of “Hot Tub Time Machine”, a movie about four friends that travel back in time through a hot tub time machine. In this preview one of the four friends is dancing with a girl from the 80’s, and he asked her if he could reach her by email, text, or some means of contact. Of course if we revisit what existed in the 80’s, concerning technology, we would already have guessed the confusion on this girls face. She answered by telling him that he could just come find her as a means of contact. Of course, his reply was, “that sounds exhausting.”
We sometimes forget what we have until we lose it. These days we have so many things available to put us in contact with others. We have cell phones, instant messaging, email, V.O.I.P. (Voice over Internet Protocol), and social networks like facebook.com. We have so many means of communication. If we were to list them all, we would have to stop to think for a while. These days a cell phone is another appendage of our body. Once we lose it, we feel disoriented and lost. We have no idea how we ever got by without a cell phone.
Now that we have these advantages, if we are not careful, we could turn these advantages into disadvantages. The technology might bring us together virtually, but in many instances they pull us apart physically. We need social interaction, and these advances help us to interact. Face to face interaction is a vital part of social interaction. Having virtual friends is good, but to have no physical friendships is a waste of life. Balance is a key in obtaining a meaningful life. So, as you use technology to better your life, make sure you don’t back track your progress with the same means that provided that progression.

Shooting Yourself in the Foot

2010-03-03T17:14:00.004-07:00

It’s amazing how easy our decisions can bring us the exact misfortune we were, most desperately, trying to avoid. Self sabotage can come swiftly upon us if we do not see the big picture. We see this form of sabotage in the movie and music industry as producers lash out at their customer demographic. They fear even the slightest sight of mercy will lead to the destruction of their company. So in their rage, these producer wage war against the slightest degree of copy right infringement and slap on the maximum penalty possible by law. What these producers don’t realize is they are punishing the people who may have become their own form of free advertisement. No need to mention, but I will, they have paid good money for bad publicity. Everyone should always weigh the consequences of their action before they act, or they may shoot themselves in the foot.

“People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.” -Eric Hoffer

Progress

2010-03-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

Progress is extremely important to us. Oliver Holmes once said concerning progress, “the great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” This statement helps us understand that we can have a purpose in life. If we look at the progress of computer science during this last century, we see that technological advances are pushing forward like a freight train. It is important to continue to expand our levels of scientific research. Most nations have relied primarily on government research as our means for scientific advances. Now some countries, including the United States of America, are pushing for incentives to expand private research. This opens the door for many interesting questions to be answered. Some scientific discoveries may not yet have a known application. However, some day these discoveries may be combined to create an application that would not have been discovered without first finding these unknown applied discoveries. This is why we also need to give incentives to scientists to answer interesting questions that may not have immediate application. It is good to know that progress is in our grasp and only we can stop ourselves.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2010/02/09/bittermann.france.r.and.d.cnn?iref=videosearch

Hacking Hackers

2010-02-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

Ever since computers have been networked together with access to the internet someone has been there using their creativity to destroy. When will these senseless acts end? I would presume hackers will always exist as long as computers do. When we think of some of the hackers’ motives, we see that some hack to feel smart and sophisticated. Unfortunately, these hackers’ curiosity causes monetary damage. A recent example of this is a spyware program called ZeuS, which has infected over 75,000 computers worldwide. ZeuS has been responsible for stolen financial information, email accounts, sensitive business records, and intellectual property. ZeuS has been attributed to accessing computers remotely without the computer owners’ consent. ZeuS brings back memories of a worm called Conficker. History does repeat itself. Right now we have program patches and antivirus programs to help prevent some of these viruses from spreading. Although these prevention techniques help, they don’t make us bullet proof from these attacks. Who knows what pivotal event might slow or extinguish these attacks? We should still take the precautions that are available now and hope that one day hacking will cease to exist.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704398804575071103834150536.html

Computer Evolution

2010-02-18T03:49:00.000-07:00

The widespread access of data over the internet has become an origin of many ethical issues. These issues range from copyright infringement, invasion of privacy, loss of intellectual property, identity theft, network hijacking, to stolen national secrets. It is no surprise, three decades after the first personal computer, that network security is source of research and development. Unfortunately, when computer networks were being established for the first time, these issues were not thought of as serious as they are now.
In the account of Cliff Stoll, author of “The Cuckoo’s Egg”, such agencies as the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and the N.S.A. didn’t see the severity of network invasion. Cliff Stoll came across a hacker using his networks to infiltrate government computers, and in turn sold national secrets to Russia. Since there was no proof that the hacker had infiltrated top secret computers, no action had been taken. Now even the attempt to break into government computers, containing sensitive data, is means for prosecution. Computer espionage is and will always be a pivotal concern to all governments and businesses.
We would be wise to be aware of many ethical issues pertaining to computers and how they affect those that use computers to exchange data. Wither you are the predator or the prey, the effects of network hacking are the same. Some predators don’t even know they are predators. They think their actions have little or no real change. Even the invasion of privacy attacks trust the users put into their networking communities. As our dependency on computers increases, we need to know that we are safe.
With great blessings comes great responsibility, and computers are a great blessing. We need to fortify computers so we can be confident in their use. We need to be respectful of others property, wither it is tangible or virtual. We need to feel free to use our computers without the pains of malicious attacks. As computers evolve, we need to keep our guard up against impending attacks, and once we have done all that we can do than we are free of regret.

Modern Warfare

2010-01-27T21:41:00.000-07:00

Video games have unforeseen consequences. If video games came up in a moral debate, many would say that they have no value. On the contrary, many would say that they destroy lives of families and couples. The value that most would welcome to the other side of this debate is games have the ability to release stress and provide great entertainment. Until the O.N.R. (U.S. Office of Naval Research) had announced their finding on the correlation between gamers and soldiers, there might not be much more to add to the pro-gamer’s side of the debate. The O.N.R. has found that gamers are more capable for combat than non-gamers. They found soldiers that are gamers score 10 to 20 percent higher on test of their perceptual and cognitive abilities than soldiers who don’t play games. This correlation between gamers and soldiers may provide great insight to how the military might recruit and train soldiers. Until more research is gathered, we can only speculate about the future of modern warfare.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10442070-17.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

Hopeful Future

2010-01-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

The future is a mysterious concept. No one truly knows what the future has in store for them. Some may object to this previous claim, suggesting to know what lies ahead. For a while this might be so, but soon they will be met with disappointment. All of us have to come back to reality. This is what contributes to making big decisions so difficult. Once the future has reached the present and the present disappears into the past, time is gone forever. The one thing that helps us face the future is the trust we put in ourselves to make good decisions. We need to develop that trust because it is essential to living a longer, fuller, and more prosperous life. We can’t be optimistic that life will bring us good fortune without trusting in ourselves. This doesn’t mean we won’t all have our misfortunes, but life is too precious to focus on the bad. So trust yourself, make wise decisions, and be happy.

Friendly Competition

2010-01-21T01:24:00.000-07:00

Herbert Hoover once said, “Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress.” Progress may come for Apple and Google, as some recent disagreements between them has lead them to some “friendly” competition. We see the advances we have had from the competition between companies such as Microsoft, Apple, IBM, and Google; each one has strived to capitalize on being the best. Competition brings us lower prices, better products, and astounding services. How great is that? Unfortunately, the torn alliance between Apple and Google might not bring their consumers lower prices or better services. Nick Bilton, journalist at the New York Times, thinks it might bring a “format war” between the two. One thing is for sure, if this completion doesn’t bring on desired results for the consumer, then Apple and Google have misunderstood how this could have helped their development. Only competition that is aimed at winning over the customer will bring them success. If a competing company gets enveloped in its enmity toward another company, it may prove to be its downfall.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/the-war-between-apple-and-google-has-just-begun/?ref=technology

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/competition_is_not_only_the_basis_of_protection/209058.html

Where would we be without technology?

2010-01-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

Technology has helped us do many great things. On the other hand, it has brought much harm to the world. Is it technology’s fault, or is it our capacity for taking something good and finding the bad in it? Technology brings us out of ignorance, helps us accomplish things that take days instead of years, and allows us to obtain vast amounts of information with the click of a mouse. It also has brought into our lives access to pornography, envelopes our minds with useless, unimportant information, and creates forms of media addictions. Whether technology can be used for good or bad, we have a choice for how it is used in our lives. Let us use technology instead of being used by it.

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2010-01-12T15:26:00.001-07:00

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